Good morning, and welcome to the Sigma Foods Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. All participants are currently in listen-only mode. After the company's prepared remarks, we will open the call for a question and answer session. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. The replay will be available on Sigma Foods' investor relations website later today. I will now turn the call over to Hernán Lozano, Sigma Foods' IRO.
Thank you, Operator, and good morning to everyone joining us today. Further details regarding our second quarter results can be found in the press release and earnings presentation that were distributed yesterday. Both documents are available in the investor relations section of our website. Before we begin, please know that today's discussion will include forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. Sigma Foods undertakes no obligation to update these statements. It is my pleasure to participate in today's call together with Rodrigo Fernández, Chief Executive Officer, and Roberto Olivares, Chief Financial Officer. Today's agenda is straightforward. Rodrigo will start a strategic overview, Roberto will follow with a financial review, and we will conclude with Q&A. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rodrigo.
Thanks, Hernán, and good morning, everyone. Sigma Foods continued to build on the strong start of 2026, delivering record second quarter volume, revenues, and comparable EBITDA. This good performance reflects the adaptability of our diversified business model and reinforces a clear trajectory toward our financial objectives. During the quarter, we also made meaningful progress on several strategic priorities by investing in strengthening our manufacturing network and complementing our portfolio through a disciplined acquisition. In Europe, we reached important milestones in our capacity recovery plan. We advanced in the startup process of new bacon production capacity at La Bureba plant and continued the construction of our new facility in Valencia to begin production in summer of 2027 as planned. Together, these assets will restore the capacity lost in the Torrente plant flooding and support the long-term profitability and growth of our European business.
In the United States, we completed the acquisition of Roger Wood Foods, a sausage producer with a leading brand in the Southeast region. This bolt-on transaction complements ongoing organic initiatives, including a recent nationwide Sigma product launch as we expand our participation in dinner sausage category, which represents a high potential opportunity for U.S. operations. In addition to disciplined investment in high return projects, returning capital to shareholders is a core component of our capital allocation strategy, with cash dividends representing the primary mechanism. During the second quarter, we paid the first installment of our approved annual cash dividend, totaling $76 million. The second installment will be pending approval. We also executed opportunistic share buybacks reflecting our constructive view of the underlying value of the business, particularly in the context of the recent share price trends.
From a valuation perspective, we're actively engaging with consumer sector investors and analysts to strengthen awareness of Sigma Foods as a leading global food company. These efforts have contributed to expanding our sell-side coverage, enhancing our reach within the investing community, and supporting a greater understanding of our long-term value proposition. We appreciate the opportunity to connect with all market participants. As we reflect on the first half of 2026, Sigma Foods has made encouraging progress across multiple fronts. Our diversified business is well positioned to navigate a fluid market environment where we continue to see a healthy balance between external tailwinds and headwinds. Looking ahead, we have greater confidence in delivering our full year EBITDA guidance of $1.1 billion. With that, I will now turn the call over to Roberto for a more detailed review of our first quarter financial results.
Thank you, Rodrigo, and good morning, everyone. The second quarter represents another period of solid consolidated results, driven by consistent execution and the positive effect of currency translation. Revenues were up 6% versus second Q 2025 and increased 10% in the first half of the year, reflecting moderate volume growth and stable currency-neutral average prices and a favorable foreign exchange conversion effect. Importantly, comparable EBITDA was 17% higher, both on a quarterly and accumulated basis, with a strong contribution from Mexico, Europe, and Latin America. Let me walk you through key results by region. Mexico delivered another outstanding performance with record high second quarter volume, revenues, and EBITDA. In the current consumer environment, we continue to see different volume dynamics by channel, categories, and brand segments, with a stronger momentum in retail relative to food service, in the dairy category, and in value-oriented brands.
Positive volume growth, improving input costs, and a favorable currency translation effect boosted accumulated EBITDA by 23% versus the first half of 2025. In Europe, volume and comparable EBITDA continue to grow, supported by the fresh meat business, which benefited from a temporary decline in the live hog prices in Spain. The business delivered its highest second quarter comparable EBITDA since 2021, reflecting the continued progress of our turnaround efforts. Year-to-date, comparable EBITDA is 66% higher than the first half of 2025. In the U.S., seasonal trends supported sequential increase of 12% in volume, 9% in revenues, and 12% in EBITDA, excluding the integration of Roger Wood Foods. Toward the end of the quarter, we also observed early signs of year-over-year improvement in monthly volume trends. We expect further improvement in year-over-year trends during the second half of 2026.
Also, the integration of Roger Wood Foods is advancing as planned, with results during the first two months of operation in line with our expectations. On a final note, Latin America continued its positive momentum, delivering record second quarter volume and the fourth consecutive quarter of sequential EBITDA improvement, supported by better price-cost alignment and operational efficiencies across the region. Moving on to selected items below the EBITDA line. Our accumulated net financial cost was $123 million, compared to $57 million in the first half of 2025. This increase was primarily driven by lower foreign exchange gains, reflecting a more stable Mexican peso in the current period. Accumulated net income was $164 million, compared to $209 million in the first half of 2025, which benefited from extraordinary items, including insurance reimbursements related to property damage, as well as higher foreign exchange gains.
Let me close with a brief comment regarding our strong balance sheet. Net debt ended the quarter at approximately $2.9 billion, up $78 million quarter-on-quarter, reflecting primarily a non-cash foreign exchange conversion effect related to our peso-denominated debt. Our net leverage ratio stood at 2.7 x at the close of the second quarter. We expect this key metric to trend lower, closer to our long-term target of 2.5 x by year-end, supported by strong cash generation. Sigma Foods remains well-positioned to continue investing in its business model, backed by solid cash flow and ample liquidity. I now turn the call back to Hernán for Q&A session. Please, Hernán.
Thank you, Roberto. We will now open the line for questions. Operator, please.
Dear participant, if you'd like to ask a question, please use the raise your hand button of your Zoom tool.
Our first question comes from Ben Theurer of Barclays. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Rodrigo, Roberto, Hernán. Thanks for taking my question. Two quick ones I had for you. First of all, you've highlighted some of the sequential improvement in your prepared remarks, and particularly in the U.S. As we're looking into the back half and thinking of just normal seasonality, but still kind of like a protein market, that it's somewhat stretched too thin, particularly on the beef side, are you seeing any opportunities as it relates to some sort of share gains within your portfolio against other core proteins? Within that, what is your cost outlook from a raw material piece? Because you obviously highlighted the lower chick prices, et cetera. Just as you look into the second half, what's your outlook volume and cost? I have a quick follow-up on Europe. Thank you.
Hi, Ben. Good morning. This is Roberto. Let me answer the question from the end of your question. I will move to the beginning. Starting with cost, yes, we are seeing a better dynamic in raw material, particularly in the turkey segment, as we reported in our earnings release. Turkey thigh and turkey breast has increased significantly during the quarter. We're seeing that new level of prices, at least to continue at that level, if not to continue a little bit lower. In the case of pork, which is also a relevant component of our cost structure, particularly in Europe, we are also seeing a better dynamic there, given the excess in Spain that is helping us to mitigate any impact there. In the dairy segment, I will say particularly some meat proteins and nonfat dry milk during the quarter was a little bit tighter, the market.
Hopefully, by the second half of the year, we will see a better dynamics there. In regards to the sequential improvement, there is some seasonality, I would say, particularly in the second quarter in the U.S. because of the summer season and how volume trends higher in that segment. For the second half of the year, we do expect that the year-on-year trends on volume for the U.S. to get better due to two things. First, a better comparable base or lower comparable base.
The second one, as well, new listings that we are getting into the main retailers in our categories, and I will say in adjacent categories or high potential opportunities, for us in the U.S., like the case of cooked dinner sausage. In regards to market share, I will say that in most of our categories in the U.S. or in our biggest category in the U.S., which is hot dogs, we're pretty much in line with the industry. Our market share has remained solid there. In other categories where we see high potential opportunities, as in the case of ham and poultry or dinner sausage, we are gaining some share in those categories, which is still a small portion of our sales, but where we want to continue growing in those segments.
Just as a complement, Ben, I would say that by the end of the quarter, by June we saw almost flat compared to last quarter. We expect something similar in the third quarter, seeing almost flat in the U.S., and we see a positive comparison compared to the fourth quarter 2025, volume wise.
Okay, perfect. In Europe, real quick, you had again, a quarter with higher fresh contribution, which kind of brought your prices down. For how long should we expect this to last? Is that still something that's probably going to be a drag on pricing, just average pricing in the third quarter, just given what the dynamics are right now? How should we think about the pricing dynamics as it relates to the fresh business?
Sure. Thank you, Ben. I think the first reason it's important to think about price cost alignment. At the end, price cost alignment, volume, and at the end, what is most important is if you see EBIT per ton. If you see, for example, this quarter, and you see total Europe, you do see a different price. Again, that's coming from the cost dynamics in fresh meats. At the end, when you see price cost and you see volume, you see EBIT per ton positive 7%. At the end, that is a number that we should be consistent with. If price of raw materials go up or down, I think what is important is just to follow through on the EBIT per ton.
Okay. Makes sense. Thank you very much. Congrats on the results.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Rodolfo Ramos, Bradesco. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Hey, Rodrigo, Roberto, Hernán. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on the great results. It was interesting to see the slide with the marketing campaign with Luis García. Would you say that there was a notable influence from the World Cup on volumes? Or in other words, should we expect a moderation or weakness in the second half? Also on revenue potential, can you talk a little bit about the drivers of sales growth in Mexico during the quarter, between pricing and mix, just to understand that very strong top line? That's the first question. The second one is a bit on the cost side. You're getting clearly breathing room on some of your import cost. Does the news around the Strait of Hormuz or El Niño, does that make you worry at all for the second half or maybe even next year? Thank you.
Thank you, Rodolfo. Let me start with the first one, and I'll leave the second one for Roberto. The campaign with Luis García actually was pretty good. The foot instead of food, and it was very viral. At the end, I would say that we do have campaigns for the rest of the year. That was a good campaign, but we do have campaigns also for the rest of the year in the different geographies. It is important to support the brands all over the place. We do see sales growth in other regions for the rest of the year. Low single digit volume, but we do see positive in other geographies. Again, all of them supported with some campaigns.
As far as Mexico for this quarter, we do see, depending on the categories, we do see very good growth on dairy, especially if you think about it in volume, in yogurt. We do see a lot of growth in yogurt, such as the Griego, which has very nice contribution on the plan. What we do see is that people are using some dairy products like yogurt for different occasions. Before it used to be for breakfast, for example, now they use it between the day and some other things. We do see a positive, stable change for the future in yogurt. We also see some positive trends on the proximity channel within Mexico and also in value brands. If you think about the case of pricing and mix, it also depends a lot on raw materials.
We have been increasing prices, for example, in the case of Turkey in the last couple of months, years. What we see forward, again, it is having a good price-cost alignment, which at the end will allow us to have some volume growth, which is important. Margins that comes from price-cost alignment, but at the end, EBITDA return. If you think about what we think going forward, it is both balancing the volume for having revenues growth in the medium long term, but at the same time with very nice EBITDA return going forward.
If I can just complement a little bit on the question, Rodolfo, on volume regarding the World Cup. We were expecting a little bit more volume coming from the food service sector. We did not see that much as we expected, so we have a limited benefit from there. We saw, this was all over the news, lower expected international tourists, in particularly Mexico or shorter stays if they were vacationing and higher ticket prices that we think that affected the overall performance of the industry. However, as Rodrigo mentioned, a lot of the growth that we saw in Mexico during the quarter has to do with retail and has to do more with dairy and category. That is the good part about the diversification, that we have different levers that we can pull out, in case someone performs lower than expected. Let me move to the cost side.
If you see there is a lot of volatility in the market. You just mentioned two different drivers of that volatility. We have seen some impact in some of our costs, particularly those related to freight, in some regions in the U.S., in Mexico. We have seen some additional costs as well in some of the plastic packaging for our products. However, as we have said in the past, we do not see this impact as something that we cannot manage through our even revenue management initiatives or efficiencies that we are looking in the organization. There is still some headwinds, I will say, in the second half of the year, but as we mentioned in our initial remarks, we remain confident that the tailwinds, particularly in meat, raw material, is going to help us offset that headwind.
Thank you. Then maybe one last one, if I may. Can you remind us your FX sensitivity?
Sure. For each peso of depreciation, the translation effect is around $30 million-$35 million of translation in EBITDA.
Wonderful. Thank you, congrats on the results.
Thank you, Rodolfo.
Our next question comes from Nicolas Rodrigues of Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi, Rodrigo, Roberto, Hernán. With first half compared to EBITDA effectively halfway to $1.1 billion target, could you discuss which regions are tracking ahead or your original plan, and where you still see the greatest execution risk? Does achieving guidance require meaningful U.S. recovery, or can the other regions offset this? My first question.
Thank you, Nicolas. I will say we are on track on all geographies in regards to what we expected in guidance. I know that the U.S. is performing a little bit softer than the rest of the region, That was our initial assumption since the beginning of the year. We see better dynamics, particularly in Mexico, that could potentially help a little bit more, In general, all of the regions are tracking in line with what we expected since the beginning.
Okay, thank you. If I may, another. You highlight an improvement in U.S. trends during June. Could you discuss what changed during this month? What's happening in June, please?
There are two things, Nicolas. On one side, as Roberto mentioned, we had a higher comparison base. Last year, we lowered a little the inventories that we had through some promotions, and taking away that, June, as I said, was almost flat. At the same time, Roberto also mentioned that we have had new listings, in national retailers. Those new listings have been going through the months of the quarter. By now, most of them are on, and therefore, we expect those listings also to help us out within the next months until the end of the year. Thank you so much, you guys.
Thank you, Nicolas.
Our next question comes from Henrique Morello of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for taking my question. I have two follow-ups here. The first one on Mexico top-line growth, more specific on pricing. You mentioned some price increases in some categories, some discounts in others, and the idea that you have been conveying for a while of passing through the lower costs for consumers as well. Thinking about the prices for this quarter specifically, were there any mixed effects or something like that impacted the unit revenue growth, having in mind the deceleration? Considering the favorable costs on a sequential basis that you mentioned as well, and considering that even with lower accelerating unit costs, you also grew margins a lot in Mexico. If you could also comment on how are you thinking about the magnitude of potential additional discounts going forward?
What are you expecting in terms of elasticity from the consumer or volume growth coming from those discounts, in the second half of the year? That would be very helpful. My second follow-up on the below the line dynamics. We noticed the higher net financial results that you mentioned in the initial remarks. I understand as well the higher FX results you mentioned, but just make sure if there was any one-off effect or non-cash effect that impacted that line, during the quarter, and how should we think about that normalized behavior going forward? Those are my two follow-ups. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Henrique. This is Roberto. Let me go first through your second question, the net financial cost. If you see, almost 90% of the change has to do with lower FX gains, in second Q 2026. That has to do with the appreciation of the Mexican peso. In the second Q 2025, the Mexican peso appreciated around MXN 1.43, while in the second quarter 2026, the peso appreciated around MXN 0.60. In the second quarter 2026, we have a lower appreciation of the Mexican peso. Our U.S.-denominated debt is translated into a lower peso figure as the peso appreciates. This is reflected in the net financial cost as an FX gain. Most of the effect, again, in the net financial cost, has to do with that effect.
The remaining 10%, has to do with higher interest expense coming from a large proportion of peso-denominated debt as in this year, we move a little bit more of our debt into Mexican peso, to be more in line with our EBITDA generation. Let me move now to your first question regarding Mexico's top line and additional volume dynamics. Let me just say that Rodrigo was mentioning that in previous years, due to the inflation of Turkey, we had increased prices. Actually, this quarter, prices, if you compare it to last year, in currency neutral, are around 1% higher. That has to do a lot with mix because we're seeing higher volume in yogurt. Yogurt in general has lower prices than processed meats and cheese.
If you see how we're managing margin going forward, as we have said in the past, we are very conscious of trying to incentivize volume. We will try to manage our revenue management initiatives in order to also capture a good margin, but also being able to incentivize volume in the long term.
That's helpful. Thank you very much.
Henrique, I think that the last thing that Roberto said, it's very important and it's a good way of thinking about it. How we think about it is just how to make sure that we can have sustainable volume growth for the long term, but balanced with a good EBITDA return. At the end, those are most of the two check balances that we do very often in other geographies, for the present and for the future.
Our next question comes from Felipe Ucros of Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Thanks, Operator. Good morning, Rodrigo, Roberto, Hernán. Quick question on SG&A. As a percentage of sales, SG&A has been running a little bit hotter than historically. I asked about that last quarter. It's mostly been coming on the sales and distribution front. You explained that a lot of that had to do with product mix. Just wondering if there are other things in play there. Not sure if perhaps you shifted the timing of your marketing spend because of the World Cup. If there's any shift across regions that is probably making regions with higher SG&A profiles take a bigger chunk of the participation.
Any color that you can give on what things are moving there, perhaps more importantly, what you expect for the coming quarters and for the long run, given that had been such a stable number for five years, and it's been rising quite fast. The second one on M&A, the Roger Wood Foods acquisition, just wondering about the rationale behind this one. Clearly, it plays in a space where you're already present, and it complements the portfolio. It also called my attention that it's a local brand. Just wondering if this is something you're planning to bring to the national level. If you can discuss any footprint deficiencies that you can have, because obviously you're going to have a plant in your new location in the U.S. Just wondering if that's going to have any efficiencies as you probably reprofile your production.
Thank you.
Thank you, Felipe. This is Roberto. Let me answer the first one related to expenses. If you see expenses grew, how they grew over the quarter versus last year, around one-third of the effect has to do with the appreciation of the Mexican peso. If you see currency neutral, you still see a growth, but a lower one. A lot of that has to do with payroll increases inflation. There are some additional freight costs. As I explained, not only are we seeing higher freight costs due to fuel, but also availability, truckers availability, and in general, other dynamics in the freight industry that are impacting cost. We said as we move more yogurt volume, it's usually a little bit less efficient than processed meats. That also increases a little bit more freight.
Marketing, as Rodrigo mentioned, we have been investing a little bit more on marketing, as we're trying to incentivize volume and capture more market share. That has also increased a little bit the expenses.
Felipe, this is Rodrigo. On the Roger Wood side, first we have our first two months, we're very happy with the results we have had. It's important to talk about sausages. We do see a good opportunity in sausage in the U.S. We see it as a high potential opportunity. It's a market where the margins are healthy, at the same time, you do have some regional players in the different geographies within the U.S. Finally, we do see some opportunities of products and innovation within the whole market. The way we think about it is organically, we're going to continue delivering new innovation for now. For example, we have one called The Sausage Project. It's a chicken-based sausage. It's kind of a supplement or instead of rotisserie chicken that can be used for everything.
Things like that, we do see continue launching within the U.S. At the same time, as I mentioned, there is a lot of strong regional players that we think that inorganically we can pursue. All of them, just like Los Altos, we did in cheese, or like Roger Wood that we just did, these are bolt-on acquisitions that might happen. Once you get a couple of them, you can start looking at footprint. We don't see an opportunity in the short term in the footprint. On the opposite, we're going to use some of the available space that we have the plan to produce some of our sausages that we're launching organically. We do see that there might be some other bolt-on acquisitions that could happen in the U.S., with that, consolidate a couple of strong local regional players with amazing products.
With that, to be able to consolidate, to grow in the sausage category in the U.S.
I will only complement, Felipe, that Roger Wood Foods is very synergistic, in terms of cost synergies, SG&A synergies, we do expect to increase the margin in that business going forward.
Okay. Understood. Thanks for that. If I could do a follow-on on buybacks. Looks like you started making some purchases in the open market, it was still very small. Wondering if there are any plans that you can discuss about getting more aggressive on this side in the coming quarters, given that valuation has come down a little bit in the last few months? Or is it more or less the pace you want to maintain?
Yeah. Thank you, Felipe. Talking about share buybacks, they represent an additional mechanism for the company to return value to shareholders, complementing the primary channel of capital returns, which for us is cash dividends. As you mentioned, the business has delivered strong start of 2026, we maintain positive momentum through the rest of the year. At the same time, like you mentioned, the share price has declined since the start of the Iran conflict. We believe this temporary disconnect between the performance of the business and the market valuation does create an attractive opportunity to repurchase shares at levels that are in the best interest of the shareholders. Having said that, we would love to allocate maybe a little more capital to share repurchases on the current circumstances.
At the same time, we also recognize that the net leverage ratio remains slightly above the long-term target that we want of 2.5 x. This is why we have been executing buybacks selectively and opportunistically, and at the same time, having a commitment to a strong balance sheet. You might see something within similar levels for the rest of the year.
No, super clear. Makes all the sense. Thanks a lot.
Our next question comes from Alejandro Fuchs of Itaú. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Operator. Hola, Rodrigo, Roberto, Hernán. Thank you for the space for question and congratulations on the results. I only have two quick ones. The first one, maybe in Mexico in terms of competition, wanted to see, maybe Rodrigo, if you could elaborate a little bit more, what are you seeing currently for your main categories in terms of competition? Also, how does the market react when we see, let's say, improved cost environment for many of your categories? Do you see a little more maybe aggressiveness in terms of pricing for some of the competitors, or is it very, I'll say, rational competition going forward?
That'll be the first one. Then the second one, also on M&A, and I appreciate a lot of the color that you just gave, but wanted to know if should we expect more M&A going forward? If so, which countries and sectors would be you more interested in looking at? Thank you.
Thank you, Alejandro. Let me start by the second question, and talking about M&A. The strength that we have, which is growing the core, finding new areas of growth and enabling the company to do those two. At the end, we want to produce sustainable growth for the company, even without the money. That's very important, and that's what we work on a daily basis. Having said that, we always have conversations in different geographies. When we look at M&A, it's a couple of things. One is the amount of value that it can bring to the company. Most of these companies, usually, just like Los Altos or just like Roger Wood, are companies that were started by the founder, and the founder doesn't have a second generation to pass it to or something similar.
Those are the opportunities that we see that add a lot of value to the company. Those are the opportunities that, with the knowledge that we have of the market, with the knowledge that we have in formulation, with the scale that we have for buying some raw materials, with the structure that we have both on the central side, but at the same time on sales, bring a lot of synergies. We don't have anything huge in any of the geographies. We don't foresee anything closing in the short term, but we do have open conversations within the geographies of this type of bolt-on acquisitions that could happen in the future. That depend a lot on timing and depend a lot if the owner is at the time on selling the business or not.
We do see proactively, again, small acquisitions within the different geographies that when they come, we expect them to bring a lot of synergies, one by one.
Let me talk about your first question regarding Mexico and competition. I would say it depends a lot on the category. We have usually the leading position in the category, so whenever there's some cost fluctuation, volatility, usually it's us trying to be the price setters, and that has remained during this volatile time. I would say in yogurt particularly, and we have discussed that, we're gaining presence. We are particularly in those categories, subcategories of yogurt that are growing mostly Greek, as Rodrigo mentioned, and other functional yogurts. We see that as a very good dynamics. We have seen, in general, very rational and good competition in most of the categories.
Super clear. Muchas gracias, Rodrigo, Roberto.
Our next question comes from Fernando Olvera of Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hello. Can you hear me guys?
Hi, Fernando. Loud and clear .
Hi. Perfect. Thank you for the questions. I have a quick follow-up regarding cost. I would like to hear your thoughts and if you see any risk on meat cost given the increase of grain prices. My second question is related to the U.S. If you can give us some color about the volume performance of national and Hispanic brands, what is your outlook for coming quarters. Thank you.
Okay. Hi, Fernando. This is Roberto. Let me talk about cost. As I mentioned previously, there's a lot of dynamics and volatility, particularly in raw materials. We're seeing now a friendlier environment, but definitely there's a possibility for higher additional cost in the future. Due to grains and everything regarding what is happening in the Middle East. Let me just say that usually there's a lot of dynamics or levers that move the price of protein. Some of them definitely are the input cost, the grains, et cetera. What we have seen recently, more particularly in protein, is that external effects such as, or not external, but the other effects such as diseases, like what is happening with ASF in Spain or what happened with avian influenza in the U.S. at the beginning of last year.
Those type of things are the ones that move the prices, at least in what we have seen recently, in the recent history, more than higher input costs. Having said that, there's obviously a risk, and that depends on how deep or how long the conflict remains in that region. As we have done in the past, and we have proved it, if that happens, we will try to protect margin by having some revenue management initiatives and being very cautious about not affecting the consumer in the long term. In regard to U.S. volume outlook. We continue to see some growth in Hispanic brands, particularly as we are growing into some existing clients. We're also getting some new customers.
As we have mentioned in the past, we're getting more of our Hispanic brands portfolio into mainstream channels as Hispanic is becoming more mainstream in the U.S. In regards to national brands, as Rodrigo mentioned earlier, we saw a better dynamics in June than we saw at the beginning of the quarter. We do expect that the QoQ trends on volume get better in the second half of the year.
Okay, great. Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you, Fernando.
Our next question comes from Froylan Mendez of JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Hello, guys. Can you hear me well?
Yes, Froylan.
Excellent. Thank you so much for the space. Regarding free cash flow, in the first half, cash generation and deleveraging looked somewhat muted if you compare it with the EBITDA generation. Can you guide us through what specifically needs to happen in the second half to improve the free cash flow generation and the leverage reduction? My second question is more on Europe. Into the second half, what is the right margin cadence that we should expect given the new capacity ramp-up, and maybe what is left from insurance recovery, et cetera? Thank you so much.
Hi, Froylan. Let me talk about free cash flow first. In the first half of the year, we usually invest a little bit more on net working capital. If you see, because we're building some inventory in both the raw materials and products for the summer. The second half of the year usually has lower investment in net working capital. In regards to CapEx, we do expect to continue investing in CapEx to be very close to our guided number of CapEx, investment in CapEx of around $460 million. Just for everyone's benefit, remember that we are investing around $100 million more this year because of the Torrente, the Utiel plan, the Torrente recovery capacity that we're investing in Spain. Most of that investment was paid by the insurers last year.
If you see the second half of the year, we do not expect net debt to change that much of the figure that we reported in this quarter. We do expect a higher last 12 months EBITDA of $1.1 billion, which will lower the net leverage ratio closer to our long-term target. In regards to Europe, there's a lot of seasonality in European EBITDA. The second half of the year, and particularly the fourth quarter, is significantly higher than the rest of the year. We do expect to continue with that seasonality during this year. In regards to the insurance recovery, we are reflecting the payments that we receive from time to time in each month of the part of the business continuity or the business interruption part of the insurance. There's no change in there.
We do expect the seasonality to be in line with the previous one. At the end, we were seeing Europe very in line with what we expected since the beginning of the year in terms of guidance, which represent a significant increase versus last year.
Froylan, t he only thing I would add is that we do see business interruption until we have the facility back on track. What are those type of things that come in business interruption? Well, we're producing, for example, some of the hot dogs in Portugal, and it has an extra cost to send them from Portugal back to Spain. Those are the type of things that the insurance pay. Again, we see that until we have the facility back on track. As Roberto mentioned, the second part of the year is a lot stronger for seasonality in Europe. We do expect to see double-digit growth on the whole year in the European part.
If I could follow up just on the update on the sale of Grupo Bal, where are we, and when do you expect this to happen?
Now, it's under the Spanish Commission of Competition.
Competition.
Competition. We do expect to have it on the third quarter. To happen on the third quarter.
Perfect. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Froylan.
Our next question comes from Hinden Barredo of PGIM. Please go ahead.
Hey, how's it going? Quick one from me. Regarding the U.S. side, can you just tell me what happened, remind me on the reason for the weakness on a year-over-year basis, in organic terms? Thank you.
Thank you, Hinden. Yeah, I think it has to do mainly with last year, during the second quarter of 2025. I would say on top of the softer consumer environment that we're seeing in the U.S., last year we have a higher comparable base because we did some inventory optimization sale in the second quarter of 2025. We reduced our inventory days, our finished product inventory days, and that reflected the higher comparison base. If we remove that effect out of the numbers, again, as we have mentioned of June, we saw a significant improvement in volume results. I would say June is almost flat versus last year in terms of volume. Again, with what we're seeing in terms of listings, particularly in the national brands business, we do expect that the second half of the year to be better.
Just, Hinden, this is the way we thought about it from the beginning of the year. Even though it's a little bit low last year, it's on track on what we're expecting. As Roberto mentioned, we do see both volume growth and EBITDA growth on the U.S. compared to last year on the second half of the year.
Great. Thanks. Just to quickly follow up on that. You mentioned more kind of promotions last year, but when I'm looking at margins, looks like there was actually slight compression compared to last year. Am I seeing that right?
In terms of margin, there's some mix effect, I would say, particularly in the Hispanic branch business, that has to do with two things. First, I would say, lower sales of Hispanic product in independent retail stores versus big chains in the U.S. As well as, I would say a little bit lower margin in the dairy category in the U.S. just because milk is a little bit higher than last year.
Great. Thank you so much.
On a similar basis, if you see the rest of the year compared to 2026 compared to 2025, the second half, you might see an EBITDA per ton on the second half better compared to 2025 in the U.S.
Great. Thank you again.
There being no further questions. I would like to return the call to management.
Let me turn the call back to Rodrigo for closing comments.
Thank you, Hernán. We're pleased with the positive momentum we have built through the first half of the year. Strong operating execution, disciplined capital allocation, and a healthy balance sheet position as well to continue delivering consistent results. We greatly appreciate the continued support of our investors and business partners. We look forward to updating you next quarter. Thank you all for your interest in Sigma Foods.
This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect.