Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Enel Américas' Q1 2026 results conference call. My name is Victor, and I'll be your operator for today. This presentation contains statements that could constitute forward-looking statements. These statements appear in a number of places in this presentation and include statements regarding the intent, belief, or current expectations of Enel Américas and its management with respect to, among other things, Enel Américas' business plans, trends affecting Enel Américas' financial condition or results of operations, including market trends in the electricity sector and Chile, the countries where the company operates or elsewhere, supervision and regulation of the electricity sector in Chile, the countries where the company operates or elsewhere, and the future effect of any changes in the laws and regulations applicable to Enel Américas or its subsidiaries.
Such forward-looking statements reflect only our current expectations, are not guarantees of future performance, and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These factors include a decline in the equity capital markets, an increase in the market rates of interest in the United States or elsewhere, adverse decisions by government regulators in Chile, the countries where the company operates or elsewhere, and other factors described in Enel Américas' integrated annual report. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on those forward-looking statements, which state only as of their dates. Enel Américas undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to those forward-looking statements, except as required by law. I will now turn the presentation over to Mr. Jorge Velis, Enel Américas' Head of Investor Relations. Please proceed.
Thank you, Victor. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our Q1 2026 results presentation. I'm Jorge Velis, Head of Investor Relations of Enel Américas. In the coming slides, our CEO, Giuseppe Turchiarelli, and our CFO, Rafael de la Haza, will be presenting the main figures for this period. Let me remind you that this presentation will follow the slides that have already been uploaded to the company's website. Following the presentation, we will have the Q&A session. If you want to make a question, please send it through the webcast or write us to our corporate email, ir.enelamericas@enel.com. Let me hand over the call to Giuseppe, who will start by outlining the main highlights of the period on slide three.
Thank you, Jorge. During the Q1 of this year, our results reflect solid execution across investment, financial performance, and profitability, fully aligned to our strategic plan. Regarding investment, total CapEx reached $0.45 billion, representing a 10% year-on-year increase. In Argentina, we increased our investment in grid, supported by implementation of the new tariff scheme. In Brazil, we saw a 42% increase in grid CapEx focused on digitalization and network resilience. This was partially offset by lower investment in generation in Colombia, mainly due to the completion of Guayepo III project. Regarding our financial performance, EBITDA reached $1.17 billion, an increase of 16% compared to the same period of 2025. Growth was driven by strong results in grid due to better tariff indexation and higher energy distributed, and the positive effect of the currency appreciation, particularly in Brazil and Colombia.
Finally, net income increased 9% compared to the same period of the last year, reaching $0.27 billion, supported by higher EBITDA and stable financial results. Let me also highlight that this morning, our shareholder meeting approved the final dividend for the year 2025, which implies a total payment of our shareholder of $280 million. In addition to this, our shareholder approved the cancellation of the 4% of treasury shares in connection with the buyback program that we executed last year. In the coming slide, let's see the main regulatory news for the period. Starting with Argentina, Edesur reached a framework agreement with the Energy Secretariat that recognized electricity consumption in low-income neighborhoods with compensation through energy purchases from CAMMESA during 2024, 2025, and Q1 2026.
This agreement corresponds to the subsidies given by the state and translates into a positive EBITDA effect of approximately $18 million. There is still pending to reach an agreement with the province authority of Buenos Aires. In Brazil, ANEEL has initiated an administrative process to assess a possible recommendation regarding the termination of the São Paulo distribution concession. We expect to present our defense to the regulator before May 13th. We expect to have more visibility regarding the coming steps of the process. Concession renewal processes continue at the different stages. We are waiting for the Minister of Energy approval for Rio and Ceará after ANEEL gave its positive recommendation.
For São Paulo, process is currently suspended. At the same time, annual tariff adjustments were concluded for Enel Rio and Enel Ceará, with an average increase of 15.5% and 5.8% respectively, while São Paulo is expected by July 2026. Finally, in Colombia, the recent domestic decree issued in February 2026 foresees a direct one-time impact for Enel Colombia through Decree 0173 related to the wealth tax of $90 million on EBITDA for this Q1 . Now, let's analyze our investment for the period on the coming slide. During the Q1 of the year, CapEx increased by 10% year-on-year, reaching $446 million, mainly driven by higher investment in grid business.
From a geographical perspective, 68% of the total investments were allocated to Brazil, 21% to Colombia, and the remaining 11% to Argentina. By business line, grids represent 88% of the total CapEx, while the integrated business accounted for the remaining 12%. Focusing on grid, investment rose by 3% compared to the same period last year, with network upgrade initiative increasing by a strong 50%, reflecting our continued commitment to improving quality, reliability, and resilience across our network. Let's now analyze grid operational highlights on slide six. Electricity distributed reached 28.2 TWh in the Q1 , an increase of 2% compared to the same period of the last year. This is explained by higher sales in Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina.
Regarding number of customers, we had an increase of 377,000 in the last 12 months, reaching 23.1 million customers. Smart meters increased by 65%, reaching almost 2.5 million in this period, due to our deployment plan in São Paulo. Net RAB and Net RAB per customer increased 11% and 9% respectively, isolating the impact of exchange rates. This reflects the significant investment that we are making in our grid. In terms of quality indicator, we can see that SAIDI improved in all subsidiaries except for São Paulo and Edesur. In the case of São Paulo, it is explained by the severe climate event in December 2025, while in Edesur, this KPI had a worse performance during the winter months of the last year.
SAIFI improved in Colombia and Enel Rio, while Edesur and São Paulo and Enel Ceará increased due to climate events and a transmission line failure in the case of Ceará. Finally, regarding energy losses, improved in Edesur, while the rest of subsidiary presented an increase in the losses. Let's continue with generation operational highlights on slide seven. Installed capacity reached 12.1 GW, from which 96% is renewable. Compared to the last year, we added 0.3 GW of solar capacity on portfolio 3 projects in Colombia, and saw a decrease of 1.3 GW of hydro capacity related to the non-renewal of El Chocón hydropower plant in Argentina. We are currently working on additional 0.3 GW capacity related to the Guayepo project, a solar power plant in Colombia. Regarding the net production, we recorded an 8% decrease at the consolidated level.
This was mainly driven by lower wind output in Brazil due to a weaker wind condition during the period, as well as reduced hydro generation in Colombia. Let's see our energy balance on the next slide. At a consolidated level, energy sales declined by 8% year-on-year. This decrease was mainly driven by lower production already discussed, together with a strategic reduction in our trading activity, as we outlined during our strategic plan presented in February. On the sourcing side, total energy availability fell from 12 TWh to 11 TWh. This reflects both lower generation output and reduced third party purchases, with very limited net spot activity during the quarter. From a sales mix perspective, we observed a decline in non-regulated sales, partially offset by an increase in regulated sales consistent with our commercial strategy.
Looking at individual markets, energy sales in Brazil decreased by 9% year-on-year, while in Colombia and Central America, sales were down 5%. Now, Rafael will comment on financial results for the period in the coming slides.
Thank you, Giuseppe Turchiarelli. Buenas tardes. EBITDA this quarter reached $1.2 billion, which represents an increase of 16% compared to the Q1 of 2025. This result is mainly explained by better results in grids in Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia due to improvements in tariff indexation and higher sales. Currency appreciation also helped to boost EBITDA. Net income reached $0.3 billion in this quarter, which is 9% higher than the Q1 of last year. This is mainly explained by better EBITDA. This was partially offset by higher tax expenses due to the better results that the company presented. Cash from operations remained positive in this period, reaching $0.1 billion.
This represents a decrease of 84% compared to last year, mainly explained by higher net working capital in Brazil due to temporarily higher CVAs related to the higher energy cost in 2026. Let me remind you that CVA is a regulatory balancing account that records differences between actual and tariff recognized energy purchases cost. On this presentation, we will see more details about platform operations. On slide 11, we will see this quarter's EBITDA evolution and breakdown. Page 11, starting from an EBITDA of around $1 billion in the Q1 of 2025, we can see the year-over-year evolution by business line. Integrated business recorded a decline of $64 million, mainly driven by generation, reflecting lower energy production in Brazil and Colombia, as previously discussed.
This was more than offset by a very strong performance in grids, which increased EBITDA by $124 million, supported by solid operational results across the three countries where Enel Américas operates. As a result, adjusted EBITDA reached $1,070 million, representing a 5% year-on-year increase. Currency appreciation had a positive impact of $103 million during the quarter, leaving a reported EBITDA of $1,174 million, up 16% compared to the Q1 of last year. In terms of geographical contribution, 50% of reported EBITDA came from Brazil, 39% of the total from Colombia, and approximately 5% from each Argentina and Central America.
By business line, grids accounted for 65% of the total EBITDA, while integrated business represented 34%, highlighting the increasingly relevant contribution of our regulated networks to overall performance of the company. Now, on slide number 12, we will focus on the cash flow of Enel Américas. Starting from an EBITDA of $1.17 billion, we see that net working capital for the period amounted to -$0.79 billion, higher than the last year, mainly explained by Brazil due to higher CVA, as explained before. Taxes, as you may see in this chart, paid during the period amounted to $0.18 billion, an increase of nearly $80 million, mainly due to better results in the period.
Net financial expenses slightly increased, reaching $0.13 billion, mainly explained by higher debt in Brazil. With this, cash flow operations remain positive, amounting to nearly $0.1 billion US dollars. After investments for $0.45 billion, we went to a free cash flow of -$0.37 billion. Let me now analyze the debt of our company in the following slide. Slide number 13. A gross debt amounted to $7.4 billion US dollars, an increase of 8% compared to December 2025, mainly explained by higher debt in Brazil and currency appreciation in Brazil and Colombia. Net debt reached $5.6 billion, an increase of 17% compared to the end of 2025.
This includes negative free cash flow for $0.4 billion, net dividends paid for $0.1 billion, and negative FX impact of $0.4 billion. In terms of currency and country, we see that Brazil remains as the largest contributor, while the debt at the holding level represents 8% of the total. Regarding the cost of debt, we can see an increase for this period going from $11.4 billion-$ 12.8 billion, explained by higher interest rates in Brazil and higher debt in Argentina. As you probably know, Brazil yesterday decreased the interest rate to 14.5%. On the next slide, Giuseppe will conclude this presentation with some closing remarks.
Well, disciplined capital allocation remains at the core of our strategy. We continue to prioritize investment in grids, focusing on improving resilience and quality for our customers. Q1 results demonstrate the strength of this strategy. Performance was solid across all countries, led by grids and further supported by favorable currency trends. Finally, we remain strongly focused on regulatory advocacy. Constructive engagement with regulators and stakeholders is essential to ensure business continuity and long-term sustainability. Now, I will give the floor to Jorge for the Q&A session.
Thank you, Giuseppe. Thank you, Rafa. We now begin the Q&A session. Let me remind you that you can send your questions to the webcast. First questions about the concessions in Brazil. We have some questions about this topic. Basically about an update on the status of the concession in São Paulo. Can you share an indication of the reimbursement you will receive in case the concession is not extended?
Thank you. As I said, in the beginning of the presentation, ANEEL, on April 7, decided to open an administrative procedure to assess a possible recommendation for an early termination of the concession. We are preparing our defense. We have time till May 13, and after that, we are going to see how which are the next steps. You have to consider that ANEEL doesn't have any kind of restriction in terms of time for taking this decision, so it's difficult to understand which will be the timing which we are going to receive the recommendation. For what concern the reimbursement, I mean, the regulation is pretty clear, even if it's never been applied.
According to the regulation, the company is entitled to be to receive the Net RAB. Consider that at December 2025, the amount of the Net RAB was $2.9 billion. Of course, it depends a lot of how many CapEx is going to be put in place and when the process will have the effective date. These are the rules.
Thank you, Giuseppe. Continuing with the situation in São Paulo, which would be the overall impact on your numbers in case the concession does not get renewed? Do you believe that the asset disposal is a possible solution to overcome the regulatory deadlock?
Okay. For what concern Rafael de la Haza, Rafa will answer to the first question. For what concern the second question, what I can say is that, as of today, there is no issue on the table about possible disposal, so it is not a matter of discussion. We are working hard to defend our concession. Brazil is a strategic country for Enel Américas, and so as of today, we don't have any kind of matter discussion about possible disposal. Rafa?
Well, thank you. Thank you, Giuseppe, for your question. Okay. In relation to the numbers, the potential impact, as you know, in the strategic plan that we announced for the period 2026, 2028, in February this year, we announced that the total CapEx for the distribution business in Brazil that totalizes around $5 billion. This would be the impact in terms of... This is the CapEx announced by the company for the three-year period, for the three annual. In terms of the EBITDA, our, let me say, expectation is to reach an EBITDA for the entire period of around $6 billion in the distribution business in Brazil. I think that those are the most relevant indicators.
Of course, as Giuseppe mentioned before, in a potential case, that there is no solution for this concession, there is a mechanism to compensate the relevant number, as Giuseppe said before, which totalizes three, close to $3 billion at the moment.
Thank you. Still in Brazil, could you share an update also on the regulatory process to renew the other two concessions you have in Brazil, Enel Ceará and Enel Rio?
Well, for what concern Enel Rio and Enel Ceará, the situation is completely different because we have already received a positive recommendation from ANEEL for the renewal of the concession. Right now, we are waiting for the Minister of Mines and Energy in order to implement the early renewal of the concession. We believe that during this year, we are going to complete with this process.
Thank you, Giuseppe. Next question is the company considering some M&A operation also in light of the significantly low leverage ratio? In your view, which would be the best use of this balance sheet headroom?
Enel Américas is continuing monitoring of the opportunity that we can find in the market. M&A operation is a possible solution and opportunity. As of today, we don't have anything concrete, but definitely M&A is a possibility in order to improve our financials. Of course, M&A is not the only way in order to use our headrooms. We have also the construction of new projects, especially in Colombia, like we presented in the last strategic plan.
Thank you. Next question comes from Andrew MacCarty. Good afternoon. Thank you for the presentation. In light of the results and regulatory developments over the last few months, are you seeing any changes to EBITDA, CapEx or FFO strategic plan guidance for this year, 2026?
Well, thank you, Andrew, for the question. The answer is no. We do not foresee any changes to EBITDA, CapEx or cash flow operation at this moment. As you know, based on the results delivered under regulatory developments today, we are not seeing changes to our 2026 strategic plan guidance for EBITDA, CapEx or cash flow operation. It is important to underline that our current guidance already incorporates the main operational, regulatory and macroeconomic assumptions across all our geographies, the seven countries in which we operate, and we continue executing the plan as outlined here. No news here. For sure, we continue monitoring any potential effect from changes in regulation, macroeconomic conditions. As you know, Enel Américas has a matrix which is substantially renewable, 100%, close to 100% renewable also.
We could have indirect effects. Direct effects are completely isolated from our operational activities. We are not dependent on the prices of the commodities like oil, et cetera. Thank you, Andrew.
Thank you, Rafa. Next question from Isabela Pato from Bank of America. How will you proceed with the October 2026 bond maturity?
Well, thank you, Isabel. This is a very good question. As you know, Enel Américas is in a healthy situation from a financial perspective. Our metrics are really solid. At this moment, we have a positive cash position, so we are expecting in October 2026 to cover to pay the international bond, $600 million, to be paid this year. As of March 2026, Enel Américas has strong cash and liquidity levels. Both have consolidated at all the levels, supported also by committed credit lines, as you know. The 2026 funding plan is backed by expected dividend inflows from our subsidiaries in Brazil and Colombia. We are very comfortable, really comfortable from the situation, with the situation.
For sure, if we do not have different opportunities, the company will be paying this international bond in October.
Thank you, Rafa. Next question from Fernando Gonzalez from BTG. Do you see an opportunity to invest in generation in Argentina, or will you continue to focus exclusively on grids?
Thank you for the question. I mean, Argentina definitely remains an attractive market. Having said that, as of today, grid is our priority. We saw a lot of improvement in the market, and now we are focusing on increasing our CapEx in order to improve the quality of services. Grid is definitely priority number one. I believe it is too early to discuss about possible investment in different business as of today for Enel Argentina.
Thank you, Giuseppe. Well, as there are no more questions, I conclude the results conference call. Let me remind you that the investor relations team is available for any doubt that you may have. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.