Rai Way (Milan:RWAY) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Welcome, and thank you for joining the Rai Way First Quarter twenty twenty six Results Webcast. All participants are in listen only mode. And after the presentation, there will be a Q and A session. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Andrea Moretti, Head of IR. Please go ahead, sir.

0:21 Thank you, operator. Good evening, and welcome to everyone. As we presented our yearly results, a comprehensive operational update and the 2026 guidance only few weeks ago, today's presentation will be relatively short and focused on the financial performance of the first three months of the year, leaving time for the final Q and A. As usual, today's speakers will be Rai Way's CEO, Roberto Ciacatto our CFO, Adalberto Pellegrino as well as Giancarlo Benucci, our Chief Corporate Development Officer. Let's first start with an overview of the quarter. Please, Mr. Ceccato, the floor is yours. Thank you. Good evening to everyone from me as well.

1:08 With the financial results, which will be explained in detail by our CFO. The trends and the drivers observed in the first quarter are fully in line with expectation.

1:22 Revenues grew by 2.6 year on year, supported by the contribution of both of our segments. Considering a 1% applicable CPI, it's clear that Rai Way continues to outpace the contribution from inflation, thanks to the new businesses such as DAB and diversified assets. Looking at the adjusted EBITDA, it grew by €400,000 or 1%. Even excluding the positive impact from energy tariffs providing for EUR 200,000 compared to the previous year, the performance was positive despite a negative year on year impact from the level of non core items, which accounted for almost EUR 1,000,000.

2:17 This means that on a pure underlying basis, in the first quarter, the adjusted EBITDA rose by over €1,000,000 driven by the positive trend of traditional business and as well as the progressively slower absorption from diversification initiatives. CapEx was relatively low, which is usually in our first quarter. However, we recorded a slight acceleration in development investments currently with the guidance. In particular, we kept on investing on the DAB network extension and the expansion of our CDN. Finally, the free cash flow generation was strong in the quarter and reached €34,000,000 bringing down the net debt as it typically happens in our first quarter, given the absence of dividend payments, low CapEx and limited maintenance activity.

3:20 From an operational standpoint, we continue to make progress across our key development projects. The DAB, the Radio DAB network from Rai further expanded its coverage during the quarter. We started to deploy the project in the second quarter of last year and we plan to complete it by the end of twenty twenty seven. Let me remind you that we plan to invest a total of EUR 30,000,000. At the same time, we have started the construction work in the already authorized sites involved in the solar power project. In the meantime, we continue to move forward with the authorization process for the remaining four sites of the eight included in the first phase.

4:12 The commercial activities continue for both the content delivery network and the edge data center that is starting to be reflected in a still small but encouraging improvement in term of quarterly revenues, which amounted to EUR 300,000. In parallel, we have completed the preparatory work for the launch of the Everscale Data Centers marketing campaign, and we have scheduled the first meetings with key prospects, with key possible client or partner for the coming weeks.

4:46 To ensure the capital in view of the deployment of all this projects, we also signed the extension to April 2028 of our current credit lines preserving the favorable term and condition. Adalberto, the CFO, will provide some more color on the matter. The quarterly financial result and operational achievements that I have just summarized allow us to confirm the expectation for 2026, which I will reiterate in more detail at the end of the presentation. Again, in term of outlook, let me also remind that the last March 30, Rai, F2I and Medial for Europe announced the extension to 06/15/2026 of the Memorandum of Understanding concerning the potential integration between railway and eight hours.

5:46 Let me say that after completing the industrial analysis, as already we told you several times, the shareholders are now discussing on the one hand the identification of principles of the deal structure and governance that are consistent also with the relevant legislation, the DPCM. And on the other hand, a framework of relationship with the operating companies that is industrially sound and sustainable in the long term. That said, I will now leave the floor to our CFO, who will go through a much detailed overview of results. Please, Alberto, go ahead.

6:35 Thank you, Roberto, and good afternoon to everyone. To go fast, I will skip Page five, KPI overview, and I jump directly to Slide six, covers the details and the following slides that basically cover all the details of Slide five. So Slide six, as shown, our first quarter core revenues increased by 2.6%, reaching almost EUR 72,000,000 in the first three months of the year. When excluding non recurring effects that had a positive impact last year due to prior year adjustment, media distribution services were up by 2.4%.

7:27 This reflects the extension of Rai's dub network coverage, is included in the new services for Rai, up by approximately EUR 1,000,000, reaching EUR 2,800,000. On the other hand, we have the well known 1% increase in Rai fixed consideration coming from CPI indexation. As part as concerned, the Digital Infra segment, revenues reached EUR 8,800,000, up 5.3% compared to last year on underlying basis.

8:13 Such growth was supported by tower hosting, which increased by approximately 2.4% confirming an ad of inflation performance to get the growing contribution from connectivity services and data center. Altogether, which means data center and CDN, diversification initiatives provided an increasingly meaningful contribution, although still limited in absolute terms, 300,000 compared to EUR 100,000 last year in the first three months. Moving now to OpEx, Slide seven, we had a EUR 6,300,000 increase of total cost, which landed at EUR 24,700,000.

9:10 Breaking them down, we noticed that personnel costs were up 3.7%, mainly because of the economic impact of the renewal of the collective labor agreement. Diversification initiative that requires specific competence contributed by only EUR 100,000 to the increase to the overall increase in our labor cost. Other operating costs were up by 9.6%.

9:46 But here, there are many trends to be commented in order to have a proper understanding of the run rate level and the run rate trend. From one side, we had the benefit of EUR 200,000 from energy price change. This probably could seem strange, we have to remember that in the first quarter of twenty twenty five, unit cost for electricity had in fact risen significantly following the interruption of gas flows that Russia was transporting to Europe via Ukraine. The increasing cost during the first three months of twenty twenty six on the other side remains limited because the conflict in Iran began in the last days of February, so with a limited impact in the quarter.

10:42 So excluding the commented benefit on the energy excluding also the negative impact from the level of non core items prior year adjustment, underlying external cost increased by only 2.4%, meaning EUR 300,000, almost half of which depending from the diversification initiatives. That so has a negligible impact on the overall trend. Slide eight, here we have a clear visual summary of what we have discussed so far.

11:31 As you can see, the traditional business remains healthy and continue to grow, confirming the resilience of our core activities. The stand alone increase in adjusted EBITDA is 1,100,000 out of a 1,700,000 increase in revenues that you see on the left. At the same time, diversification

11:55 didn't have any impact on the EBITDA in this quarter. Let me clarify, diversification activities EBITDA, of course, is still negative in absolute terms, but reach basically the same level that we had in the first quarter last year. And this is thanks to the increasing revenues and cost control. This slide also highlights the impact of non core items amounting to

12:34 negative EUR 900,000, almost EUR 1,000,000 of negative impact. These, as I mentioned, is mainly referred to different values quarter on quarter in relation to the amount of the prior year adjustment. Finally, as anticipated, the effect from energy tariffs that was positive in the quarter and equal to EUR 200,000. But it is probably going to worsen going ahead due to the geopolitical scenario that

13:13 is giving an increase in the energy tariffs. On the next page, Slide nine, we recap the whole profit and loss, where we noticed that the dynamics just described translate into an adjusted EBITDA up by 1%, EUR47.3 million. We have EUR0.6 million adjustment that is related to the impact of the lease agreement mainly for our regional offices, which is temporarily accounted for as OpEx because the renewal is pending.

13:56 Once a new lease agreement is signed, they will be, of course, accounted as D and A and financial charge according to IFRS principle. That's why we adjust them now also to allow a proper comparable at the level of adjusted EBITDA. Talking about D and A, they continue to grow quarter after quarter, reflecting the increase in CapEx related both to diversification and to development initiatives in the core business.

14:30 Slide 10, we show as usual our financial performance. As you know, the first quarter of the year typically generate cash as the dividend outflow take place in May and CapEx activity is usually relatively limited. This quarter is in line with this trend with CapEx amounting EUR 5,400,000, slightly up last year and mainly dedicated to development initiatives. Also considering the EUR 6,600,000 of working capital absorption, net debt at the end of March stood at EUR 113,500,000 compared to €136,500,000 at the end of twenty twenty five, bringing the leverage ratio to 0.6x.

15:28 The recurring free cash flow to equity that

15:32 we define as free cash flow net of maintenance CapEx and all non recurring cash items grew at around EUR 34,000,000 from EUR 32 recorded in the first quarter twenty twenty five. I will now hand the floor back to Roberto for the guidance and the final remarks. Roberto, please. Thank you, Roberto. So as anticipated, the full year guidance provided in March remained valid. Our company and our business have demonstrated in the past a strong resilience in any macroeconomic environment, especially when inflation rise.

16:21 The performance recorded in the first quarter is fully consistent with our expectation concerning the full year. Considering the persistent volatility in the energy market, the rationale for presenting and assessing our guidance at the constant electricity price is still consistent.

16:42 Under this assumption, we continue to expect adjusted EBITDA in 2026 to be broadly in line with the previous year with underlying business growth offset by the negative impact from the level of non core items. In other words, if we exclude the impact of non core items, we continue to foresee further year over year growth on an underlying basis as I told us in the past call, which you can assume more or less around EUR 3,000,000. Underlying growth that is expected to be driven mainly by traditional business, thanks to the CPI link and expansion of the AB networks with absorption from diversification stable or slightly improving.

17:32 As for the potential impacts from electricity price not included in this guidance, in addition to the sensitivity already provided, we can indicate that at the current level of power futures for the rest of the year, the headwind compared to 2025 would be limited to approximately €700,000

17:57 Moving to investments. The maintenance CapEx is expected to remain closer to 2025 levels, were significantly higher than historical average due to some extraordinary activities components. Development CapEx is expected to exceed the 2025 level in light of the acceleration as already mentioned on solar project, the extension of the IB network and the expansion of the CDN network.

18:30 I think that you will appreciate that we haven't taken up too much of your time. And now we can now open the line for the Q and A session. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. First question is from Giorgio Tavolini, Intermonte S. Go ahead. Hi, good evening, and thanks for taking my three questions, please. The first one is on the extension of the €85,000,000 lines to April 2028 under the same terms and conditions.

19:26 This means that we should expect we should not expect any material improvement in the net financial charges for next year. Don't know if it's fair to assume some you hear me? If it's fair to assume some €6,000,000 and the financial charges Giorgio, on excuse us, we cannot hear you properly. The line is very, very bad. Probably, it's a problem with your mobile, I suppose. I don't know. Yes, yes. I will try to reconnect, In case, we can also address after the call any question. Yes, yes, absolutely. Next question is from Fabio Pavana, Mediobanca.

20:20 Yes. I hope you can hear me. I would have two questions. First one is on the ongoing discussion surrounding the MoU. I was wondering if you guys are involved in this last mile of the conversation. And the second question is on the upper scalar, you flagged you're preparing for talks. Can you tell us more in terms of what is your expectations? First feedback from potential customers, Anything incremental would be welcome. Thank you. Thank you.

21:11 Let me say that, as I mentioned, at this stage, the shareholder discussion is focused on governance structure and some requirements that are related with the legislative regulatory provision. But I will let also with our support, we are supporting for the possible definition of mechanism including Control 1s, which depending on the stability they provide will determine risk profiles and consequent evaluation. Ciao Fabio, on the hyperscale, let me start with the market situation.

22:02 Let me say that the market situation continues to show a positive supply demand balance with demand remaining very strong in the cloud sector to which is being added the AI linked demand that at least in Italy is still limited, but set to grow. In terms of our expectations and feedback, so far no feedbacks given that we are starting in these days the engagement with prospects. Let me say that from this engagement in this engagement, we are keeping and we will keep all the options open in terms of potential model and cooperation.

22:59 We can offer the standard colocation or an asset dedicated totally or partially dedicated to a client. We are open to consider an independent development or a co development with the user. So no feedback so far, also because we have already scheduled the meetings that we will have in the coming days and weeks. But the approach is the one that I just said. Thank you.

23:46 The next question is from Milo Silvestre, Equita. Yes. Good afternoon, everybody. Some questions concerning the potential consolidation. So if I'm not wrong, maybe the negotiable part, so the volatility part of the consolidation is not yet being discussed. And so I just wonder if you see the deadline of mid June as mandatory or it could be also extended? And the second question comes across your towers in the sense that team has provided an option to get an alternative network from Inuit.

24:37 So I'm just wondering if your towers could support Inuit or other operators in case of this transition. Okay. Thanks for the question. Let me say that, of course, this is a question more for the shareholders given that MoU is between them. Now we are providing, as I said, our support to speed up analysis. However, various condition and commitments fall within the responsibility of the shareholders and clients. Let's see if we can reach an agreement and within what timeframe. Considering the second question, let us start by saying that mobile operators are already our regular customers, particularly for coverage in remote areas where, by the way, they are gradually upgrading their point of presence to five gs.

25:47 That said, beyond our day to day business interaction, we believe that the best case scenario for the sector, the overall sector, and therefore also for Rai Way, is a win win resolution to the current situation between Inuit and its customer that reaffirms the soundness and the validity and the visibility of the MSAs. Thank you. The next question is from Giorgio Tavolini, Intermonte S. Hi, good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions again. So the first one was regarding the extension of the credit line maturities by to April 2028 under the same terms and conditions. So I was wondering if this means that we should not expect any material improvement in the net financial charges for the next year.

26:52 I have some idea of EUR 6,000,000 net financial charges on an annualized base. The second question is on the digital infrastructure revenue line. You talked about the rising contribution from data center and connectivity. I was wondering if you can provide an idea of the contribution outside the tower hosting revenues. So I guess, within the EUR 8,800,000 revenues in this digital infrastructure and other, if you can provide some, let's say, some indication regarding the data center and connectivity lines. The third one, I think, is a follow-up because I couldn't hear the previous previous answers.

27:41 But regarding I mean, last week, there was an interview to Mr. Rossi, the Rice CEO, regarding the forthcoming MoU deadline. He talked about the need, the goal for Rai to adopt choices that are industrially sound, sustainable over a long time. So I was wondering if we should expect, if we should assume that any, let's say, any deal could come along with a deeper revision or harmonization of economic terms within the of the existing MSAs.

28:28 For example, I mean, the CPI link that is one of the, let's say, differences between E8 Tower MSA and Rai Way S. MSA? Or a deeper revision also in considering the current industry backdrop when looking at what is going on with the team and fast forward discussions on the MSAs. So regarding the reference to the sustainability, long term sustainability of future contract between Rai and Rai Way? So let me take your first question on the credit lines.

29:22 Basically, had very interesting terms, and so we decided to extend the expiration date of our financing. This means that theoretically, should continue to expect that without theoretically, we should continue to expect a growing trend of our net debt, even if here really the game changer will be the hyperscale because it's the most important initiatives in term absorption of our financing needs. And so without that, I would say that the proxy that you mentioned, if I'm not wrong, you mentioned EUR 7,000,000 seems fair.

30:28 But of course, on top of this, to the extent we will start with the investment for the hyperscale, we should expect then a progressive increase. On the second question, on the digital infrastructure revenues, I would say that of the EUR 8,800,000 of revenues that we see in this slide, the majority, 8,400,000 is related is mainly related to data center sorry, to tower hosting, while the residual amount is half data center and half connectivity.

31:21 Concerning the third question, let me say that we cannot enter in some kind of details. I'm sorry, but it's evident. Let me tell you the spirit is that I think that this side is looking for stability environment for the company. According to that, there will be make all the evaluation between the shareholders. Okay. Many thanks for your answer. On your telephone.

32:31 Gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time. Thank you, Maria. It's okay. So we thank you all the attendees of the call and enjoy and wish you a pleasant evening. Goodbye. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your devices. Thank you.