Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Tubacex results release for the first half of 2026. My name is Raquel Ruiz, and I'm responsible for Investor Relations. I have Josu Imaz, CEO, and Guillermo Ruiz-Longarte, CFO. We'll start with a brief presentation on the main figures and events during the period, then we'll move on to the Q&A. I want to remind you that questions should be sent in writing, and you can use the tool that has been provided on the website.
I'll hand over now to Josu Imaz.
Thank you very much, Raquel, and good morning, everyone. As Raquel said, we start with a review of the main messages for this first half of 2026. Regarding figures, we closed the half year with sales of EUR 323 million and EBITDA of EUR 37.9 million, with a margin of 11.7% in a very complex global environment, as is obvious and well known. We continue to live in a scenario with new tariffs and regulatory policies, with a slowdown in projects and investment decisions. Therefore, there is a lower order entry in this first half of the year. Profitability was pressured by lower activity volumes and also by higher logistic costs, obviously, connected to the conflict in the Middle East. The premium mix of projects and products allows us to continue to support double-digit margins in this first half.
As I said, since March, the half year has been affected by disruptions linked to the conflict in the Middle East that have affected planning, scheduling, production, logistics, and billing across the group's entire value chain. In spite of this, our OCTG division has maintained very robust and growing sales, supported mainly by Abu Dhabi, which continues to be a strength for the group and an absolutely strategic asset. However, in less value-added products, we've had more exposure to the competitive tension and pressure on the market. We continue to trust in the strength that our industrial and geographic diversification gives us, which helps us to reinforce the resilience of the model, we have moved forward in the consolidation of that position in key markets and products for the energy sector, which expects to recover activity and results as geopolitical risks and uncertainty stabilize.
The short-term will obviously continue to be affected by seasonality and by a still demanding commercial and geopolitical environment. As the geopolitical context normalizes and uncertainty disappears and logistic flows stabilize, we have full trust in a gradual improvement in activity and results.
Guillermo, I'll hand over to you so that you can give us some more details on the figures.
Thank you very much, Josu, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. As Josu said, we're going to try to give a little bit of color to the financial magnitude of the company. We're going to give a presentation of the P&L and talk about the main influencing factors, also an overview of the balance sheet and the situation of the company regarding equity and debt. In line with the messages from Josu at the beginning, we're going to try to give a number of ideas on the here and now, the immediate future, and the long-term for the company.
Also in line with what he said, we clearly have to say that we continue to be in a very deep uncertainty. On the right of the slide, you can see current factors such as the disruption in the supply chain at our Abu Dhabi plant. But I would like to focus only on that. This is an accumulative factor added to other factors, such as the tariff policies in the U.S. in the middle of 2025. Today, we have new generic tariffs from the American administration and in general, the geopolitical environment with very large uncertainties, delays in very significant projects, and especially the effect on decision-making. In the end, overall legal uncertainty has a repercussion on decisions in major investment projects that, in general, are not being canceled, but they're being postponed.
Going into the main figures in the P&L, you can see regarding the comparison with the first half of 2025, a reduction in sales of 10.5%, mainly due to the volumes in the market resulting from the conditions I just mentioned. A reduction in operating profit, EBITDA, of almost 38% from 16.9% to 11.7% . Of course, the economy of scale and the operating leverage levels of the company have a major influence. The margin for products taken one by one and the positioning of the key sectors, such as umbilical, nuclear, or OCTG, remain intact. This is a clear message that the company is currently suffering because of the volumes and the distribution markets in Europe, distribution in the United States, general uncertainty, but not with regard to its position in the strategic niches for future development.
Said in other words, we're not seeing in those niches an erosion in the margin or prices. What we are seeing is the effect on the general business volumes because of the factors I mentioned. Obviously, a drop in operating profit has a repercussion on EBIT and profits before tax and net profit, which is practically at a break-even point at the bottom line. In the 26 years of the company, I've seen all kinds of operating results, very good, very poor, mediocre. What we have in our hands today, which obviously looks much worse in general than 2025. On the other hand, this responds to a very major effort done by everyone in the group to sustain a great deal of activity in very complex uncertainty environments.
Above all, we haven't taken a single step back with regard to the strategic position of the company and the operating discipline in cost control. On the debt side, the effect is more direct. In the global accounts, the effects come from many places and many markets. In the case of debt, the logistic disruption in Abu Dhabi has a direct impact. Why? Because as you are perfectly aware, the fact that the material can be delivered from Spain by boat to the Emirate has been very difficult. We've never stopped doing it. We've even taken on significant additional costs, significant additional inventory, and all kinds of logistic problems. I remember when we gave the results release for the first quarter, we had doubts as to whether the plant would shut down or not.
The fact is that it hasn't. We've had to suffer interruptions in production during the first days of the war in March, and permanent logistic shifts in cost and volume during the entire period from March until the present time, with ups and downs in the general traffic situation in the Gulf. This effect, remember, is conditioned by a long-term project. It's a take-or-pay project. It's a project guaranteed by one of the agencies with the best rating in the world, [Sandock]. This always corresponds to the working capital, which is a working capital that always presents a timing between the establishment of that working capital and its materialization in results and debt. One of the most more detailed aspects I've just mentioned are detailed on this slide, which obviously is available and has been published.
I'm going to focus on the quantitative and qualitative aspects that are most relevant from the point of view of today's snapshot, also anticipating what it might be tomorrow. The sales factors have been mentioned. They're associated to market volumes, the Abu Dhabi disruptions we've mentioned. We continue to clearly maintain a differential position and, let's say, with a presence that is ever greater with the main operating customers in the strategic sectors at the company. The EBITDA or operating results is affected by that operating leverage aspect that I mentioned. The disruption in Abu Dhabi, obviously, with higher logistic costs and production inefficiencies. Our production model is an integrated model where any part of it is affected.
It has a repercussion on our steel plant, on our hot and cold production facilities, in the final product in the Emirates, both in cold rolling and threading or pipe connections. What happens in this case? At the end, all areas are affected, a number of decisions have to be made. In other words, often the things that we've done have meant added cost, always with a goal in mind. That is not to fail the supply to the end customer. There are times where you have to decide whether you go for more working capital, higher operating costs. We've had freight costs that were five times higher than a normal freight, our obsession in the long-term relationship is for the material to be delivered on time to the ADNOC wells, both in their offshore and onshore infrastructures.
This obviously has had a cost and a repercussion on the first half, there are times when accepting a cost or an added cost means being in a much better position with that customer in the future. This is clearly translated in the debt or in the working capital when there's a disruption or a total inefficiency in shipping to the Emirates. What decision should be made? At the beginning of March, there were ships that had to unload in the Emirates, they were sent to Sri Lanka or India. We've had to supply through Saudi Arabia, 2,000 km by truck, or Oman via Fujairah or Khor Fakkan. We've looked for any possible route to be able to deliver the material, often the material delivered to the plant isn't what was immediately needed for production.
This meant an added inventory, and what we wanted to produce for a certain well arrived later. The effort always goes along the same lines, to reach the customer, and the priority is the long-term relationship. I'm giving a real example from March to today with ADNOC. If we talk about other customers such as EDF or Westinghouse or Petrobras, Arctic-Solutions, our solution will always be the same. The customer will be ahead of the figures. In our group, we'll do everything we can for the material to be delivered on time and to meet our commitments, even if at the expense of high levels of working capital and net financial debt.
Also our CapEx, around EUR 26 million. I'd just like to say that we are currently investing internally only in two lines. Obviously, the maintenance of all our production structure on the one hand, but also added value elements in our steel production, in our umbilical finishing lines, and everything that means to a better service or a better lead time for the end customer. I think that in the end, this kind of approach in the long term is what actually gives a company value. Regarding the financial strength, again, with the idea that our working capital and net financial debt is a mirror, they reflect each other. Cash and liquidity in unused lines is more than EUR 200 million. The equity solvency of 33% and our structural net financial debt, excluding working capital, is very low.
I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank the financial organizations that are supporting this effort on a European level. The main institutions of the [audio distortion ] in Spain, BBVA, Banco Santander, CaixaBank, Kutxabank. These are institutions that are absolutely relevant at this time for the present and the future of the company. I would like to especially mention HSBC for their flexibility and support in the working capital management and financial debt linked to the Emirate project, with interaction between the European Union and the Emirates, which has been top class. The financial investment in the end is not the same. The long-term view and the relationship with customers, suppliers, and banks.
Now, after commenting on the results and the balance sheet, I'll hand over to Raquel, who's going to give us a view of where the group is positioned and what its main activity sectors are.
Thank you, Guillermo. If we zoom in on the sales breakdown, we can see that by sectors, the strategic sectors maintain a more relevant weight in our sales structure. Here we have gas extraction and production as the main contributor. By markets linked to gas production in the sector in the Middle East, we have the main market of the company followed very closely by Europe and America. This idea is important to effects because it means that the positioning in premium products, the geographic diversification, and the proximity to the company allows us to maintain our company profile and reduce cyclicity. In the order book, we closed at EUR 1,148 million, still at very relevant levels.
The important thing is the makeup. We have a high percentage of very high added value products in the portfolio, especially aimed at gas extraction. We continue to see a very solid pipeline in the future, especially in strategic segments such as subsea, nuclear, aerospace, et cetera. What we also see is uncertainty in that conversion schedule for the projects and the execution and translation into orders. In the commercial area, as mentioned, the first half was marked by a very complex environment and with still limited visibility in some markets. We see better performance in premium businesses and long execution projects. We have, for example, the products linked to OCTG, nuclear generation or aerospace, while there are other markets that are more subject to the cycle pressure and the geopolitical environment.
That's why we are cautious in the short term, but we still see a potential for improvement in activity as the geopolitical context normalizes. Here I'm going to only focus on a couple of messages I would like to highlight. On the one hand, the contribution of the E&P business, here the solid activity of OCTG, both in Abu Dhabi as a customer and the progress in Brazil and Petrobras.
Also in SURF. Here we have an 18-month backlog, during the half year, we have included over EUR 100 million in umbilical tube orders. In aerospace and defense, another market that has evolved very well in the second quarter, especially the nuclear business, where we see it's the market with a structural capacity for growth that is greater than any others. During the half year, we've continued to deliver relevant products to EDF, we've had a landmark, the first order for a part from a component for a Small Modular Reactor in Canada. Regarding sustainability, we continue to move forward on all fronts, energy, circular economy, diversity, supply chain.
All the indicators show a consistent improvement that enable us to move forward towards our 2030 goal. Here there's another new landmark in the half year. We have obtained the highest qualification, A, recognizing our climate governance, our decarbonization strategy, and the execution of that strategy. Regarding stock market performance, the share price has been resistant during this first half year. A half year, as I said, characterized by the limited visibility and by a complex environment. We've closed June at EUR 3.35 per share, which means a slight revaluation compared to the closing for the year after having reached a minimum for the year of EUR 2.77 in March.
In the midterm, we're optimistic, we believe that there continues to be a potential for revaluation based on the quality of our portfolio, our structural strengths, and the necessary normalization of the environment. In fact, the market consensus shows EUR 4.3, which means a potential revaluation of close to 30%.
Thank you very much, Raquel. To close the presentation on this first half of 2026, I would underline five elements. After what has been explained in detail by Guillermo and Raquel. First of all, the market environment. We've said it several times, we continue to have a weak and volatile, unstable environment with geopolitical uncertainty and with a new scenario of tariff and regulatory policies, which, as Guillermo said, seemed to have been defined. This week, again, there's a new version. A market environment that's complicated and which obviously makes the goals difficult to achieve and makes the everyday operations of the company more difficult.
Second point, Abu Dhabi. In spite of everything that's happening in the Middle East, as I said at the beginning, it's a strategic asset and an enormous strength for the company. In spite of the disruptions, interruptions, and logistic difficulties, we have been able not to break the supply to our client, ADNOC. We've suffered additional costs. We're suffering an increase in working capital circumstantially, but ADNOC continues to order under take-or-pay contracts, and the relationship is very solid and long-term.
Thirdly, backlog and pipeline. The order book is still around EUR 1,150 million, and as Raquel explained, a very solid pipeline in segments that are sure to grow in the medium and long term and with a high added value. With the uncertainty we've mentioned several times regarding the execution timeline, we have significant optimism regarding order entry in the short, medium, and long term, obviously, with a lower visibility. Profitability clearly affected by the lower activity levels, as Guillermo mentioned. We managed to maintain an EBITDA margin of double digits at 11.7%, which excluding the operating overcosts related to the conflict in the Middle East and with a normal level of activity, this would maintain us at the EBITDA levels that we have established within our strategic target range.
Therefore, there isn't a structural deterioration in profitability. It's a circumstantial reduction as a result of a lower activity and the additional costs related to the Middle East conflict. Finally, cash. EUR 26 million in CapEx, maintaining a significant financial discipline, the net financial debt at the levels mentioned by Guillermo, and a solid liquidity position with a focus, as we've explained in the various sessions, on capital normalization and cash generation. This is what we can tell you about the first half of the year, and we'd like to end with a brief overview of the second half and what we see in the short and medium term. We've said a lot about the market environment.
Obviously, we expect the third quarter to be affected by summer seasonality as usual, and still by changing and challenging commercial and geopolitical environment and also the new tariff and regulatory policies, as well as the conflict in the Middle East. Therefore, a short-term view that is still within a context of uncertainty and potential instability.
At the same time and during this same period, we expect the new defense measures adopted by the European Union that came into force in July will serve as a catalyst for activity in Europe and therefore for the demand from our various customers and markets we serve in Europe. Here, in the next months, we do expect a positive upward trend. As Raquel mentioned, and as we've said several times, the pipeline of offers and interesting projects we hope will continue to pick up speed, especially in subsea and nuclear, where we've seen a clear acceleration in the progress for opportunities during 2025.
Regarding what we've seen in the first four months, and we were able to go from words to deeds and give the news today of the signing of a MoU with EDF for the supply of key parts for two of the new nuclear conventional reactors in France. This is a qualitative and quantitative, very important project for the company, and in the coming weeks, we'll be able to provide much more detailed information. Moving on to the strengths. We repeat the strengths we've underlined over the last quarters and semesters. A solid order book, premium mix, and presence in key markets, strategic markets, growing markets, and therefore markets that are going to support the activity. Industrial and geographic diversification, which enables us to have less dependence on a specific sector, a specific market, a specific customer.
Energy security maintains its role as a structural vector for growth and investment worldwide and in the segments where we have a differential and solid position. Therefore, energy security, we trust, will continue to be a growth vector for the company too. And operational discipline, mentioned earlier by Guillermo, continues to be one of our strengths with a focus on cash generation as the main and central lever for the management of the company. And short-term priorities, firstly, obviously, to restore full operational normality in Abu Dhabi and ensure logistics flow. And until this happen, make sure that we're capable of supplying our customer, ADNOC, without any stock breakages, which we have done successfully so far. To continue to defend margins and continue to be very selective when it comes to selecting projects with different profiles.
And thirdly, the already mentioned cash conversion and reduction in working capital. Short term, we continue to live in a demanding environment, but we trust in the capacity to improve in the medium term and also trust in our structural strengths, which remain intact. Thank you.
Well, we don't have any questions, so I suppose that there are a lot of press releases taking place right now. I'd just like to ask you to close with the final message you want to give to the market when they watch the replay.
I would say that the message is the one we've just given. The first half has been a complicated half, a half marked by the geopolitical uncertainties and the conflict in the Middle East, and also a semester with less order entry than in 2025, and this leads to a semester with a lower level of activity and with an effect on working capital and added costs and lower activity, which has an effect on the results, but maintaining the structural solidity at expected levels. Regarding the short and medium term future, caution in the very short term, seasonality in the third quarter. We continue to have a turbulent context. This situation requires responsibility, caution, and a lot of operational and financial discipline.
In the medium and long term, we continue to be very optimistic. We confirm that the opportunity pipeline is speeding up, and therefore we trust in our strengths, in our position, and in the medium and long term, allowing activity and profitability and cash generation levels to be recovered.
Perfect. Well, thank you very much. Thank you all very much for joining us, and have a happy holiday.
Thank you, everyone.