Athens International Airport Aktie

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Gailey, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Athens International Airport Conference Call and live webcast to present and discuss the first half 2026 financial results. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. George Eleftheriou, Manager, Investor Relations. Mr. Eleftheriou, you may now proceed.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and good morning to those of you listening to us across the globe. Welcome to our conference call of Athens International Airport financial results for the first half of 2026. Please note that the digital playback of the conference will be available from about 1 hour after the conference call ends until September 19.

Today on the call, I'm joined by our CEO, Mr. George Kallimasias; and our CFO, Mrs. Nadia Xirogianni. Let me mention that the presentation today is available on our website under the section of quarterly results under the Financial Information page.

With that, I would like to pass over to the CEO.

Thank you, George, and hello, everybody, and thank you for attending this earnings call for the first half of the current year. Let's start with the presentation with the first summary slide in Slide #4. The key messages for the period are our solid traffic growth with healthy profitability on target and in line with our regulatory framework as well as a resilient commercial segment despite the headwinds that we are facing in the geopolitics.

During the first half of '26, traffic grew by 4.5% and reached 15.8 million passengers, which is a record number for the airport with solid international traffic of 4.2% growth and an even stronger domestic traffic of 5.1%. Our revenue declined slightly by 2.8% to almost EUR 300 million, but this was broadly in line with our projections. The Air Activities revenue was lower by 4.9%, driven by the airport charges adjustments, which we made further to the depletion of the Carry Forward mechanism. While at the same time, our Non-Air Activities revenues remained resilient, growing marginally below the traffic growth levels.

Our adjusted EBITDA was EUR 168.5 million, reflecting the planned adjustment of the revenue segment, which was primarily driven by the PTF discount, which ended in April, which means that we expect the adjusted EBITDA performance to strengthen in the second half of the year, but this we will discuss further into -- later into the presentation during the Financial section.

Let's move to Slide #5 with the traffic, a few more details on the traffic. As we mentioned, traffic continued to perform strongly in the first half of '26, marking another record for the period within a rather challenging geopolitical environment. On the right-hand side of the slide, you can see the monthly performance which illustrates the resilience of the demand since traffic remained above the 2025 levels throughout the period, including the months that were most affected by the Middle East war. And another thing which I think is important to mention is that August was the first month in the airport's history to exceed the 4 million passenger threshold. And year-to-date traffic, including August, was up by 4.4%.

If we move to the next Slide #6, please. I will not go into detail with that because we have -- you are familiar with this slide in the sense that we have demonstrated our strong recovery versus pre-pandemic levels, including the increased connectivity. What I think is important to highlight as new information is what you see in the top left of this slide with Athens Airport continuing to outperform the European market with an average traffic growth of 4.5% in the first half of the year compared with 2.6% for the European airports overall. And this is on top of the 33% traffic growth versus pre-COVID levels that we have experienced between '19 and 2025, which is also much higher than the recovery of our Pier.

Let's move to Slide #7. So during '26, we continued to make some good progress across our -- both our aeronautical and commercial activities, Non-Air Activities. On the airline side, our home-based carriers continue to expand their networks, Aegean and Sky Express, they have added 3 new destinations. While in the visiting -- in the sector of the visiting carriers, we welcomed 4 new airlines, IndiGo, TAP, AnimaWings and Air Cairo and also 11 new destinations.

I think it's important in this development and destinations, additional destinations to stress the point about our long-haul footprint, which continued to strengthen. So we had new services to New Delhi and Mumbai with IndiGo and to Dallas with American Airlines. And all of this is not affecting 2026. We have announced for next year a new long-haul route for 2027 with Alaska Airlines to Seattle.

On the commercial side, we continued to enhance the passenger experience with new concepts, store upgrades and the further development of our Best of Greece strategy, our Best of Greece proposition with 3 out of the 6 new concepts being part of this Best of Greece strategy. And we also benefited from the improved traffic mix coming especially from the high-spending markets.

And overall, our efforts were once again recognized by the industry with Athens Airport ranking first at Routes Europe 2026 among airports serving more than 20 million passengers, following a number of distinctions that we also received in 2025.

Finally, what you see also the information at the bottom of the slide, I think it's important to note an operational development relating to our change of status from non-coordinated airport to schedules facilitated during summer, allowing for a smoother traffic growth during the nonpeak hours, also addressing ATC constraints. Furthermore, for the upcoming winter season of '26, '27, we will transition to coordinated airport due to the scheduled heavy maintenance works on our runways.

Moving to the next Slide #8. Allow me to highlight a couple of important corporate developments. First of all, with regards to the Scrip Dividend program, following the strong shareholder participation in '25, we saw another very high take-up in '26 at almost 88%, generating approximately EUR 83 million of additional Air Activities capital. Combining this with the 2025 contribution from the program, this brings the total capital generated through our Scrip program to approximately EUR 168 million over the next -- over the first 2 years. And just as a reminder, the program continues to support the funding of our long-term investment plan and remains fully aligned with our regulatory framework eligible for the 15% return on equity.

The second important development was our successful debut participation in the international debt capital markets. In June, we issued a EUR 500 million senior unsecured bond with a 3.75% coupon. We experienced a very strong demand. Orders exceeded EUR 2.6 billion, which is more than 5x oversubscription. The proceeds of this bond will be used primarily to refinance existing debt and general corporate purposes. I think it's important also to note that AIA was also assigned its inaugural investment-grade ratings by S&P with BBB+ and stable outlook and by Moody's with Baa1, also stable outlook, which is an important recognition. We think this is an important recognition for the company's robust financial profile and our strong traffic performance.

Now moving to Slide #8. I would like here to share an important update on our airport expansion program. Following a strategic review, our Board decided to restructure the implementation of the 40MAP expansion plan towards a more phased and modular approach. I think it's important to mention here that the first phase of investments will commence immediately, while in parallel, we will assess strategic opportunities for additional capacity beyond 40MAP.

Let me get into a few more details about the rationale of this strategic decision. It's driven by 3 main factors. Firstly, traffic. Traffic continues to grow faster than originally expected and despite the geopolitical tension and the high fuel prices. And this creates an opportunity for the company to evaluate the potential for further capacity development. Secondly, we aim to minimize disruptions, taking into account, first of all, evolving design parameters such as the entry-exit system and the capacity constraints and delays from ATC, together with valuable information we received through the ECI process related to constructability challenges and impact on operations and commercial activities. This together reinforced the case for a more phased approach with lower construction impact on the core and the existing core terminal areas.

Finally, as a third factor, the geopolitical developments, although they have not materially affected traffic growth so far, there is continued uncertainty, which further justifies the value of maintaining greater flexibility before committing to large-scale CapEx contracts. So our strategic objectives are quite clear. We deliver near-term capacity required, preserving maximum flexibility and strategic optionality for the airport's longer-term development. This means that we will be accommodating current and future demand, reduce construction risks, protect airport operations and service quality through construction, throughout construction and during the construction period, and we will minimize the adverse impact on commercial activities during construction, the latter being a very important value driver.

So we will proceed immediately. We will -- with the following actions, we will discontinue -- we have decided to discontinue the current ECI process and immediately launch an open construction tender for the first phase of the 40MAP program, which comprises the South Terminal Pier, the expansion of the Satellite building and associated works in the surrounding area. This first phase is consistent with the 40MAP implementation plan and ensures that near-term capacity delivery continues without delay. In parallel, we will launch a thorough evaluation of alternative expansion configurations and alternative implementation strategies, including options offering additional capacity beyond 40MAP, taking the opportunity from the higher traffic-growth rate.

At the same time, the expansion works which are underway continue as planned. These include the Northwest Apron, the Multi-Storey Car Park and the VIP Terminal. And we will also accelerate targeted investments in certain passenger processing facilities, which include passport control and security screening upgrading and capacity.

And finally, we will -- we plan to launch next year in the second half of 2027, a new tender for the initial phase of the North Terminal expansion site to address -- this is going to be sized to address our midterm capacity requirement. Again, this phase is in line with the sequence of investments comprising the 40MAP capacity [indiscernible] expansion plan. So as a key message, we maintain momentum, immediately proceeding with the first phase of the 40MAP expansion plan, which we restructure towards a more phased and modular approach. We lower execution risk, we reduce disruption and we maintain flexibility to capture future capacity opportunities beyond 40MAP. The total CapEx until 2030 for airport expansion projects is estimated at EUR 950 million from '26 until 2030 included.

Now let's move to the next slide. This is a picture of the key projects to be implemented over the next years. The key point to remember here again, is that 40MAP remains our reference plan and is subject to improved strategic alternatives that can get us to further capacity development and additional strategic value for the company. So the first phase, which you see in green color includes the South Pier of the main terminal building and the expansion of the Satellite Terminal and also some works, some targeted investments in passenger processing facilities within the terminal, but which will not cause any material disruptions.

We expect to launch the tender for the South and the Satellite Terminal building immediately within October 2026. And in parallel, we plan to launch the North Wing expansion tender in the second half of '27. Together, these projects are designed to address our short to midterm capacity needs, delivering approximately 60% additional commercial space by 2030, '31, significantly limiting disruption to airport operations and also significantly reducing disruption to our commercial activities during the construction period.

The remaining elements of the 40MAP plan, including this North Oculus and the East Wing expansion remain part of the reference plan, but their implementation will be evaluated in the context of the strategic alternatives we will be evaluating over the upcoming period. I think it's important also to mention here that this approach is in full coordination with our regulator, HCAA, which allowing us to continue investing in capacity now and preserving the flexibility to evaluate and improve strategic configuration if one is identified.

And with that, I would like to hand over to Nadia for the next section on the financial performance.

Okay. Thank you, George. So going into more detail on the financial results during the first half of the year in Page 12. Total revenues recorded during the H1, excluding the IFRIC impact, is at EUR 299.6 million. 75% of this revenue comes from the regulated part of the business, the Air Activities and the remaining from the Non-Air Activities. The drop recorded compared to the previous year is 2.8%. It was expected, as the CEO mentioned before, and is mainly attributed to the Air Activities performance and the temporary reduction of our passenger terminal fee until the end of April 2026 and this targeted reduction aims to align the full-year activity performance with the regulatory cap.

At the same time, Non-Air Activities increased compared to the previous year, marginally below the traffic increase by 3.5%. First of all, the Commercial -- the Terminal Commercial segment was solid despite the geopolitical headwinds. It was affected by the good strong performance of F&B and specialty retail. At the same time, we had some benefit from initiatives, our initiatives, including improved terms from renewed concession agreements. As regards to another segment of the Non-Air stream, the property and other revenues, this recorded a significant increase, helped by the strong performance of the exhibition center. And at the same time, as expected, the parking -- the car parking revenues recorded a decrease because they are affected by the capacity impact we have due to ongoing works for the construction of the Multi-Storey Car Park that commenced during the summer of 2025.

Moving on to the next page, Page 13. Total operating expenses recorded during the first half of the year was at EUR 123.7 million. They demonstrated an increase compared to the previous year, 4.4%. This number includes also the variable portion of the Grant of Rights Fee, the concession fee that the company pays to the Greek state. This was decreased this year compared to the previous year because it is based on lower profitability. Excluding the variable portion of the Grant of Rights Fee, operating expenses were at EUR 101 million, recording an increase of 7.5%, and this mainly reflects the continued investment of the company in our operations to preserve quality of the service.

In more detail, this is linked with additional resources we need to have to support traffic volumes and to manage effectively the entry-exit system impact on operations, on inflationary pressures and also on the increases in minimum salaries implemented in Greece in April 2026, and of course, the full-year effect of the increases we had in April 2025. All this additional cost was partly offset by lower utility costs as is the outcome of the implementation of the Net Zero Carbon Emission project that includes energy-saving initiatives.

Moving on to the next page, Page 14. We recorded adjusted EBITDA EUR 168.5 million and net profit EUR 81.4 million. Both demonstrated a decrease compared to the previous year. It was expected. As we said for the revenues performance, this is fully linked with the performance of the regulated part of the business. It is important to note here that both the share, the contribution of the Air Activities in the -- on the profitability as the -- also the comparison with the previous year that one can see for the first half of the year does not really reflect the expectation we have for the full year since this temporary reduction of the airport charges ended in April. And we expect to fully realize our potential for maximum profitability as allowed by regulation at full-year level.

Now moving to the next page and focusing on the Air Activities and the status of the regulated till following the second-year implementation of the Scrip Dividend program. And after taking into account also inflation in 2026, the inflated equity, the Air Activities capital upon which we are allowed to have up to 15% net profit from the regulated part of the business is at EUR 737.7 million.

With the performance of the Air Activity segment during the first half of the year, we left an unrecovered the so-called Carry Forward amount we recovered in the following period of EUR 16 million. So this is the status of the Air Activities till at the end of June. And in line with what we said before, we expect this to be fully depleted by the end of the year.

Moving on to Page 16. The net debt of the Company at the end of June was at the level of EUR 690.8 million with low leverage, net debt to adjusted EBITDA at 1.8x. As the CEO mentioned at the beginning, we had also the issuance of a bond in June, and this expanded the company's international investor base and reinforced the financial flexibility. The profitability performance of the company, the healthy profitability is also linked with healthy cash flow generation. Overall, the free cash flow in the first half of the year was EUR 127.5 million and cash conversion close to 76%.

The CapEx we spent during the first half of the year was EUR 41 million. As we will continue to invest in expanding the airport, one can expect that the conversion -- cash conversion rates will be lower. But generally, the company's financial stability is fully safeguarded because we have secured debt financing. We have the Scrip Dividend program. We have also the access now we have broadened the company's access to diversified funding sources. And of course, we also have a strong financial position.

And with that, I will hand it back to the CEO for the outlook and the final remarks.

Thank you, Nadia. Let's have a look at the -- to the outlook for 2026. First of all, in terms of traffic forecast, we expect passenger traffic to grow in the mid-single digits, which is an upward revision from our previous low single-digit guidance. The underlying demand fundamentals remain supportive, although we continue to monitor the geopolitical situation closely.

Now despite the regional uncertainty, traffic performance has indeed remained resilient and our medium- to long-term traffic growth assumption remains in the low single-digit area. On the airport expansion program, we discussed that extensively earlier. We are restructuring the implementation of the 40MAP plan towards a more phased and modular approach, preserving our flexibility to assess capacity opportunities beyond the 40MAP. We discussed immediate actions in detail. We are -- we have discontinued. We have decided -- our Board decided yesterday to discontinue the current ECI tender process, and we will immediately launch the tender for the first phase of expansion of the terminals. We are also launching a comprehensive evaluation of the alternatives beyond 40MAP.

At the same time, the ongoing works continue as planned, the Multi-Storey Car Park, the VIP Terminal and the Northwest Apron projects. While in parallel, we are accelerating targeted investments in specific passenger processing facilities. And we plan to launch the tender for the initial phase of the North Terminal expansion in the second half of 2027.

The total CapEx through the end of 2030 for capacity expansion is currently expected at approximately EUR 950 million. Looking to the revenues. In Air Activities, we continue to expect broadly stable yield per passenger from airport aeronautical charges in ADF. Our annual Air Activities profitability is expected to be aligned with a 15% return on equity regulatory framework, and this is also supported by the multiyear Scrip Dividend program. In the Non-Air Activities, we expect revenue per passenger to remain broadly flat in 2026. This is an improved projection versus the original. And importantly, this -- the revised expansion approach is expected to materially reduce disruption during the construction phase, and we expect approximately 60% additional commercial space targeted for delivery by 2030, '31.

On the EBITDA level, we continue to expect the adjusted EBITDA margin to remain approximately 100 basis points below our long-term 60% target, reflecting the continued investments in operations in order to preserve the service quality as traffic continues to grow and the expansion program progresses. And finally, for net income, we continue to expect approximately EUR 200 million net profit for 2026. And of course, we remain committed to our dividend policy of distributing 100% of profits available for distribution.

Moving to the last slide. I would like to -- here to leave you with 7 key messages. First, our traffic remains strong, another year, a record year despite the geopolitical headwinds. Second, our financial performance remains healthy with solid fundamentals broadly in line with our targets and regulatory framework. Third, the airport expansion program continues. The first phase is moving forward immediately, while the projects already underway continue as planned. Fourth, 40MAP remains our reference plan, while we thoroughly evaluate strategic alternatives for further capacity development.

Fifth, the more modular approach materially de-risks the investment program, reducing execution risk, better protecting our airport operations and our service levels during construction. Number six, we minimize disruptions during construction of the first phases, avoiding interventions in the core terminal areas and providing material upside in our commercial activities during 2030, '31. And finally, we are preserving long-term strategic flexibility. Any alternative configuration will be pursued if it demonstrates clear strategic and financial benefits and will be meeting all technical, regulatory and approval requirements.

So overall, we believe we are entering an exciting phase of AIA's development with strong position and momentum, solid traffic, healthy profitability, continued investment and greater flexibility to support our airports long-term growth. And with that, I would like to thank you for your attention, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Stamatios Draziotis with Eurobank Equities.

Firstly, on the expansion strategy, you explicitly referred to configurations that could provide capacity beyond 40 million passengers. Should we interpret this as an indication that the 40 million passengers plan may ultimately be replaced by a larger capacity solution? Or is this simply preserving optionality at this stage? And related to that is how should we reconcile the EUR 950 million CapEx envelope with the previous budgets and timing? So is the EUR 950 million a lower cumulative spend because of deferral? Or does it reflect a potentially more efficient design?

Thank you. First of all, the evaluation of additional capacity is something that we're going to start immediately. So we cannot provide currently specific capacity, which we would like to invest in. This is something that we will be able in the upcoming period to evaluate. But as I said earlier, we are -- because of the additional traffic growth, we want to be able to capitalize on this opportunity and build further capacity beyond 40MAP. So we are implementing based on the 40MAP plan, which remains, as I said, the reference plan, we are implementing the first phases. These 2 parts of the 40MAP plan that I showed earlier, the one in the green color are exactly the first phases that were planned to be executed through the ECI process. But of course, we want to retain our flexibility and the modular approach that we mentioned earlier in case we decide eventually to build more capacity than the existing -- than the one reserved in the existing 40MAP plan.

The EUR 950 million is, of course, part of the total expansion cost, total part of the 40MAP. So this is the cost that is -- that includes the ongoing works, the MSP, the Northwest Apron, the VIP Terminal plus the cost for this development that you see on the picture here with green color until 2030. I think it's important also to mention that with this restructuring of our plan, we are not causing any further delays. The overall time line is, to a large part, respected. Of course, we are currently at the second half of 2026. Our projection for fully finalizing a 40MAP, I would think it would be reasonable to expect that this can be now realized with, let's say, around the end of 2033. So this is the overall time plan for -- in case we proceed with the full implementation of the 40MAP. I think this sums up the answer to your questions, hopefully.

Just a follow-up. The -- if the eventual capacity solution extends materially beyond EUR 40 million, should we assume that the current Scrip program could be extended? Or would you initially prefer to use the available debt headroom, which admittedly is still very comfortable?

It's very premature to say. I think based on the ADA, on the Concession Agreement, we will obviously try to see whether we can use further Scrip -- proceed from a further Scrip program. But currently, we cannot commit to anything. Currently, we only have this 4-year program that has been approved by the general assembly 2 years ago.

Great. And just a final question on the -- on Non-Air yields, which you flagged they have been quite resilient given the circumstances and you basically say that one of the objectives of the revised plan is to minimize disruption to commercial activities. Can you maybe quantify the yield drag embedded in the previous plan that you actually now hope to avoid? And in essence, how this should lead us to think differently about Non-Air revenue per passenger over the next 3, 4 years compared to the previous situation?

During the previous situation, we had assumed that during the construction, we would lose some commercial space within the terminal. So this would mean that we would have lower revenue per passenger during the year. While what we say now is that we will start investing in the South and the North. We will not intervene in the core terminal. So we will not lose capacity -- commercial capacity, commercial spaces, and we will target to have revenue per passenger stable throughout the years. And of course, following the additional square meters built with the expansion, we expect 60% growth of the commercial square meters, and we guide for an upside and increase after completion of high single-digit growth on spending per passenger and revenue per passenger for 2 consecutive years. This is the guidance.

The next question is from the line of Dario Maglione with BNP Paribas.

Can I clarify on the CapEx? So the EUR 950 million that you talked about, this is not to bring the capacity to 40 million. There needs to be more CapEx to bring the capacity to 40 million or maybe more? So that's the first question, just to clarify. And then in terms of OpEx per passenger, as you mentioned, when you exclude the variable fee, the growth was around 7.5% year-on-year in H1. Shall we expect something similar in H2?

Yes. As regard the second question, for the OpEx per passenger, excluding the variable portion of the Grant of Rights Fee during the first half of the year, we recorded EUR 6.42 per passenger. And this is more or less we expect that this will remain broadly at this level throughout the year also during the second half of the year. Now with regards to the first question, so for the implementation of the 40MAP eventually, we would need more CapEx than EUR 950 million. And as the CEO said, EUR 950 million includes the part of the first plan of the terminal expansion that we mentioned plus the ongoing works for the MSP, Northwest Apron, VIP.

Now as regards to the overall cost, the original estimate we had back in 2023, we were seeing EUR 1.3 billion total 40MAP expansion CapEx in 2024 prices. Now based on the construction cost inflation and the feedback and the insight we have during design, ECI process, we expect that the overall cost would be 30% higher than originally estimated. So, in '26, prices is the EUR 950 million. So you can do the -- you can see the remaining part of the CapEx when we will need to complete the 40MAP or if we enter into another route for further capacity increase, there will be another estimate.

Obviously, if we decide that there is a strategic alternative for more capacity that provides better value for the airport and for the company, obviously, once we have that, we'll provide revised guidance.

And just to confirm this increase of 30% compared to the EUR 1.3 billion, which was in 2024.

Excuse me, we cannot hear you very clearly. Can you please repeat?

Yes. Can you hear me now?

Yes. Much better. Yes, yes.

Perfect. I was saying about this 30% increase compared to the EUR 1.3 billion, which was in 2024 prices. What's the main driver of the increase? Is it inflation? Is it change in the requirements, anything else?

I would say it's a number of things. First of all, construction inflation has been considerable, especially during the last months with -- and higher energy prices. So there is a considerable increase in price of materials. Of course, once you go into more detailed designs and also when you have detailed talks with the contractors, and this is the value we received from the ECI process that we moved away from the design, let's say, sphere to the actual world of contractors, we have a much better estimate of the cost. So this is a significant input that we received. And of course, this also interaction with the contractors gave us a much better view also of the constructability and disruptions that could be expected during construction. So overall, the input from the ECI was at considerable value for the company.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Nicolas Mora with Morgan Stanley.

Maybe just a first question on the commercial performance, which was -- which on our part was pretty solid in the first half. You talk obviously a lot about so better food and beverage, the better product offering. You also talked about the better traffic mix, which is a bit surprising because you were quite exposed to Middle East traffic and what I consider to be high spenders. Who are the customers who have been able to pick up the slack of these Middle Eastern high spenders? Is it mostly your American traffic? I'm just trying to -- or Asian traffic, I'm trying to understand a bit better what has been the offset on the traffic mix. And then I'll come back to the 40MAP, but I will let you answer on commercial first.

I think you picked it up correctly. I think it's increased share of Americans and a number of other, let's say, nationalities, including some of the nationalities of the Middle East, which continue to -- we had an impact only significant impact only for a couple of months. And the connectivity with the Middle East was restored around June. So during the high, let's say, traffic months of the summer, we had a very satisfactory mix of passengers. So I hope this answers your question.

Okay. And switching to the 40MAP plan. So I struggle a little bit to -- in the balancing act. So you -- traffic is ahead of initial plans, but also the cost to build and the implied disruption. So do you want more flexibility, but you still -- do you want to build at the end more, but in a more modular way, so more regularly over the next 10 years or just totally differently? I mean it's just trying to gauge a little bit what the plan is there. I mean the plan so far was a big expansion, taking 6 years. And then after that, a bit of a CapEx holiday. Are you thinking about totally changing that into something maybe less ambitious in the short term, but in the long term, something even bigger?

I think the situation is as follows. First of all, if we were to complete in a single contract, the existing 40MAP plan, this would most likely not allow us -- despite all the other issues with operational disruption and commercial disruption, we would be bound, let's say, to a specific plan with limited flexibility if we wanted because of the traffic growth in the midterm to go for a bigger capacity.

Now what we want to do is build it in phases, evaluate something different. If that is feasible and compatible with the plan or we will, let's say, adjust the plan to make it compatible or we will continue with the existing plan. So we have our options open. This is, I think, a key message. We build short- to medium-term capacity requirements, but we have our options open for the longer term. This is protecting the company for the current view, which is that traffic is going to continue to grow. But obviously, it's also a good hedging for -- in case of a downside scenario. We don't see something like that happening, but it's also in our industry, these things also happen.

So I think this is a much improved strategy in terms of flexibility, minimizing disruptions with no material impact on the overall time plan and gives us the option to build more should we see that the traffic continues to grow and we can build something in a different way for higher capacity.

Okay. But the initial plan anyway as you acknowledge has changed, meaning it will be, obviously, the northern expansion will be launched a bit later at a higher cost. So that default option stays, but it stays, it's lengthier and at a higher cost.

No. But let me -- no, no. First of all, the plan, the sequence of construction in the existing 40MAP and the one that we were discussing over the last couple of years, the sequence of construction is the same as the one that we presented. So we start with the South, build this North Wing and then we move with the Oculus and the Pier.

Now the South will be tendered out immediately as it is planned in the 40MAP. We will see what kind of adjustments we need to make to the North Wing to make it sustainable for the medium to long term in case we decide to move to a different configuration. But that does not mean that the plan does not -- the plan remains more or less the same, subject, of course, to something for higher capacity if this provides benefit to the company. This is the idea.

[Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Kallimasias for any closing comments. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for your attention. I think this is -- this marks an important milestone in the company, having a very good performance over the first half of the year and a very exciting way forward for the, let's say, the opportunities that lie ahead with growth in traffic and our CapEx plan. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a pleasant evening.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Gailey, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Athens International Airport Conference Call and Live Webcast to present and discuss the full year 2025 financial results. [Operator Instructions]. The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. George Eleftheriou, Manager, Investor Relations. Mr. Eleftheriou, you may now proceed.

Thank you. Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and good morning to those of you listening to us across the globe. Welcome to our conference call of Athens International Airport financial results for the fiscal year of 2025. Please note that the digital playback of the conference will be available from about 1 hour after the conference call has ended until April of 6.

Today, in the call, I'm joined by our new CEO, Mr. George Kallimasias; our CFO, Mr. Panagiotis Michalarogiannis; our Director of Financial Services, Mrs. Nadia Xirogianni. Also, let me mention that the presentation today is available on our website on the section of quarterly results under the Financial Information page.

With that, I would like to pass over to our new CEO.

Thank you, George. Hello, everybody. Thank you for attending this earnings call for the year 2025. Starting with the summary Slide #4 with the key messages for 2025. I would say these are strong traffic growth, on target financial performance with solid profitability and commencement of the airport expansion construction.

Last year, traffic grew by 6.7%, reaching 34 million passengers, which is a record number with main growth driver our international traffic. Our key traffic characteristics have remained unchanged. We are mainly a leisure airports, leisure traffic airport with a high share of O&D and a relatively small transfer segment feeding the key tourism destinations and with a growing portion of international traffic. Our revenue last year grew by 1.5%, which was in line with our expectations. Air Activities revenue growth was below traffic levels, and this was aligned with our targets, reflecting the airport charges adjustments further to the carryforward depletion. We will talk more about this later in the presentation.

Our Non-Air Activities revenues grew more or less in line with the traffic growth. Adjusted EBITDA at EUR 394.5 million, reflecting the aforementioned planned adjustment of the Air revenue segment, and we spent EUR 161 million in CapEx, mainly driven by the airport expansion project and the Routes 2025 investments. And following solid profitability in line with our dividend commitment, we will propose distribution of a gross dividend at approximately EUR 0.66 per share.

Moving on to the next Slide #5. As mentioned, traffic grew by 6.7%. International segment grew faster with 8.6%, and we saw a modest growth in the Domestic segment by 2.2%. We have a remarkable growth from the post-pandemic period of 33%, and we will discuss this also further in the context of European airports performance. Our network grew to 164 routes in 2025, up from 157 routes in the context of prior years, and this reflects enhanced connectivity and market demand and of course, a successful airline marketing and route development strategy of the company.

In terms of seasonality, if you look at the chart on the right-hand side, we remain a relatively seasonal airport. However, as you can observe, the growth rates were stronger in the off-season months, aligned with our airports for a smoother seasonality profile.

Moving on to the next slide, Slide 6. In 2025, we made progress -- we made progress in our aeronautical and commercial activities. We had a significant increase of destinations and routes. We also had progress in commercial activities, industry recognition and operational planning. Our home-based carriers expanded further, adding 10 new destinations on existing routes, while the airports added 6 new destinations overall. We also welcomed several new airlines contributing 17 new network developments, including 10 new destinations. I think important developments were related to our long-haul footprint with new services such as Charlotte with American Airlines in the U.S. and Chengdu in China by Sichuan Airlines.

In the commercial development, we continue to upgrade the passenger experience with new concepts, store enhancements and a stronger Best of Greece proposition while also benefiting from improved traffic mix coming especially from the high-spending markets. These achievements overall have been recognized last year with major distinctions from Routes World and ACI Europe, and I think it's important also to note on operational development, which relates to our change of status from non-coordinated to schedule facilitated, which allows for a smoother traffic growth during nonpeak hours, addressing also our ATC constraints. We have also applied for becoming coordinated airport for the winter season of '26, '27 due to the scheduled-heavy maintenance works on our runways.

Let us move now to Slide 7, which shows the performance of our airports in the broader European context, where our '25 results show the strength of our recovery, our competitiveness and the growing relevance of Athens within the European airport landscape. In 2025, as we mentioned earlier, we had a 6.7% growth and Athens outperformed most of its direct peer group and the wider European airport market. But I think it's more important when we compare our traffic development with pre-pandemic 2019 levels, where Athens demonstrated a growth of 33%, significantly ahead of all benchmark groups, which remained in the mid- to low single-digit range, and this makes Athens the airport with the strongest rebound momentum in Europe within our peer segment.

Very important to look at the bottom chart as well. Among the European mega airports, Athens moved in terms of connectivity from 21st place in 2019 to the 2nd place in 2025, and these connectivity gains confirm that the progress that we have demonstrated over the last year is structural and not temporary. We are becoming an increasingly important aviation hub with one of the strongest connectivity profiles in Europe within our segment group.

Moving on to Slide 8 with a few important developments of the company last year. First of all, our 2025 Scrip Dividend Program, which we launched last year after the relevant approval from the general meeting. This program in the last year showed a very strong shareholder participation at 89.2% and generated almost EUR 85 million for Air Activities Capital. As I said, this was the first year of implementation of this 4-year Scrip Dividend Program, which was announced last year, and this program supports our accelerated long-term investment program and is in line with our regulatory framework.

Second development with regards to the depletion of the carryforward amounts, again, in line with our regulation and further the consultations with the airlines, we introduced a temporary 30% reduction in the passenger terminal facility charge to incentivize growth during the offpeak period. And we also introduced a Sustainability Support Scheme that rewards higher load factors and more fuel-efficient aircraft with a rebate on a per departing passenger again on the PTF. These initiatives intend to support competitiveness, off-peak growth, as I mentioned, and of course, environmental objectives.

Third, on leadership, Yiannis Paraschis stepped down at the end of January '26 after 19 years of a highly successful term as AIA CEO. And finally, following the London Court of International Arbitration ruling on the Greek state rentals, the company recognized a EUR 16.3 million one-off impact in 2025, which was effectively neutralized through the allocation of this cost to the air activities till.

Moving on to the next Slide 9 with our expansion program, which is advancing in line with our long-term strategy. This is a EUR 1.3 billion investment program in terms of 2024 prices, bringing together our MAP33 and MAP 40 plants into a unified development road map with full completion targeted for 2032. We have already started making tangible progress across the different components of this program.

First of all, let me start with the projects that have been awarded and are already under construction. The VIP Terminal and Apron with completion expected in 2027, also the new apron area, which has also been awarded and construction has commenced. This project will add 32 code C remote stands in the northwest part of our airport and is also expected to be completed in 2027. Third, the multi-story car park with construction also underway. This will provide approximately 3,500 parking positions and is also scheduled for completion in 2027. The largest element of the expansion is the expansion of the Main and Satellite Terminal buildings. Once completed, this project will add approximately 150,000 square meters to our facilities and will more than double our commercial space. The outline design has been completed in 2025 as planned, and we are currently at a tender process through an early contractor investment approach with the design and build award expected in the second half of 2026. This time shift to the second half is mainly driven by the request of the bidders to ensure that their proposals are aligned with our requirements for construction-phasing and gradual capacity delivery.

Very importantly, for our total project, totalized project, capital deployment is phased with about 50% of the CapEx expected by 2028 and the remainder by 2032. And in terms of funding, we have secured EUR 800 million financing through a bank loan, and we have additional support of EUR 240 million scrip through our Scrip Dividend Program.

Moving on to Slide #10 with our proposed dividend distribution and the 2026 Scrip Dividend Program. This, as I said, is the second year of our approved 4-year Scrip Dividend Program to collect up to EUR 240 million. The Board is proposing -- the Board of Directors is proposing the distribution of 100% of available for distribution net profits equivalent to approximately EUR 0.66 per share. And as in the previous year, the proposed structure combines a cash dividend with a voluntary scrip alternative using the same pricing calculation methodology that we applied successfully last year. For 2025, the total proposed dividend amounts to EUR 204.86 million, comprising a cash component of EUR 104.86 million and a voluntary scrip component of EUR 100 million. This structure gives shareholders the flexibility to elect either shares or cash, supporting the company's capital planning and regulatory returns.

I think it's important to note here that we have received favorable intentions of participation from our two major shareholders, AviAlliance and the Growthfund. And in terms of process, the Ordinary General Meeting is scheduled to take place on the 15th of April, and subject to approval, of course, the dividend distribution process will run from late April until mid-May, with payment and new shares trading commencement planned and expected for 15th of May 2026.

On the next Slide #11 on sustainability. This was an important year because we completed our Route 2025 plan. And as a result, we achieved Net Zero carbon emissions from the beginning of 2026. This was a milestone that was supported by major investments in clean energy infrastructure, which included the completion and operation in '25 of a solar park of 35.5-megawatts together with an 82-megawatt hour battery energy storage facility as well as heat pumps, which substitutes the natural gas consumption with clean energy and electrification of vehicles. The Route 2025 initiative was not just a bold achievement in sustainability, but has also a positive financial impact for the company. So by the end of 2025, we have reduced our CO2 emissions by 60% compared to baseline year of 2005. And I think it's important to note that we are the first European airport to cover 100% of our electricity needs through on-site clean energy production. Overall, this Route 2025 milestone strengthens not just our environmental leadership, but also protects us and provide us resilience against energy costs and energy cost volatility.

And with that, I would like to hand over to Nadia for the financial performance overview.

Thank you. So turning to the company financial performance over the last year. We recorded total operating revenues, excluding the accounting treatment of the -- for the airport expansion according to IFRS. Total revenues of EUR 675.6 million, this is a year-on-year growth of 1.5%, demonstrating the airport charges pricing policy and the very good performance of the Nonregulated segment. In more detail, the Regulated segment represented 75% in terms of revenue, broadly stable compared to the previous year as we had proceeded as the CEO, explained at the beginning with temporary reductions, temporary incentives in the airport charges -- and we -- you will also see in the following slide, we almost depleted the carryforward amount, the unrealized profit of the previous year. And this brought the Air Activity segment very close to the regulated cap.

The Non-Air Activities, the Nonregulated segment, the remaining 25% of our revenues increased year-on-year in line with traffic, 6.5%. So overall, we achieved the guidance, our target of EUR 5 per passenger on the Non-Air Activities. The successful performance mainly -- is mainly driven by the terminal retail performance, with main drivers, the well-balanced commercial offering portfolio we have, the increase we experienced in the International segment and especially in handing in high spending markets and of course, inflation. At the same time, the terminal retail performance managed to more or less offset some headwinds we experienced due to the fact that we closed the short-term P1 car parking area because we started construction for the multi-story car parking, so the overall growth of this segment experienced a slowdown.

If we move now to the operating cost of the company. Overall, in 2025, we recorded operating expenses, again, excluding the IFRS impact of the airport expansion at EUR 265.6. This includes the variable portion of the Grant of Rights Fee, EUR 48.6 million. This is calculated on a formula and is increased compared to the previous year because this is based on increased profitability. Additionally, we recorded on the operating cost, the one-off item, the net effect of the unfavorable outcome of the LCIA arbitration in relation to the Greek State rental, EUR 16.3 million.

But I need to repeat here that the impact -- this impact is effectively neutralized at profitability level. Excluding Grant of Right Fee and the Greek State rentals impact, the remaining operating costs were at EUR 200.7 million which is an increase of 7.9% year-on-year. The overall operating cost per passenger is at EUR 5.90 per passenger, and the increase is mainly driven by the fact that we need to deploy additional resources to address high traffic and protect our service levels. We adjusted several outsourcing contracts to reflect the increase in minimum wages increased over the last year. And we increased also the provision for major restoration, major reservicing in the runway that we'll perform and the full replacement of the airfield lighting.

Now in relation to our profitability, we recorded profitability on target in terms of adjusted EBITDA, this is at EUR 394.9 million with adjusted EBITDA margins 58.5% in line with our short-term target. And in terms of net profit overall at EUR 207.3 million, we see now a structural shift in the share of Air Activities and Non-Air Activities in net profitability. Air Activities now account for 54% of total net revenues and there is growing share of Non-Air Activities profitability. So Non-Air increased from EUR 90.9 million net profit in 2024 to EUR 95.5 million, while in Air Activities because of the distribution of the carryforward amount, we, as expected, recorded a decrease overall. The dividend per share as proposed is EUR 0.66 per share.

Some more details on the regulated fee in the following page, Page 16. The Air Activities Capital following the successful implementation during the first year of the increase of the equity through the Scrip Dividend Program at the end of 2024 was at EUR 641 million. This, as you remember, is inflated every year with the new inflation and now increased through the Scrip Dividend Program. We managed in 2025 to deplete the carryforward amount that was at EUR 22.4 million at the end of 2024. So we leave a marginal amount of EUR 2.6 million at the end of 2025. So the implied return on Air Activities Capital in 2025 was EUR 18.3 million, and just to note here that 1st of January 2026, following the inflation we apply in Air Activities Capital, we have EUR 655.5 million Air Activities Capital, which hopefully will be further increased with the second year implementation of the Scrip Dividend Program.

Now in the next page, you may also find some more information on the cash flow and financial position of the company. Apart from the very healthy profitability, we also have strong operating cash flow generation. In terms of free cash flow, the metric we have, which is the adjusted EBITDA minus the CapEx in 2025 was at the level of EUR 233.9 million. It represents a decrease compared to the previous year as expected because we are now entering in a CapEx-intensive era. However, we need to stress again that at this point of time, we have secured financing through the debt agreement arrangement we have and the Scrip Dividend Program until 2028 and 2029. So financial stability is fully safeguarded. And also another metric in relation to net debt at the end of 2025, net debt is at EUR 614 million with leverage, the net debt to adjusted EBITDA metric still low, very stable with previous year, 1.6x, leaving more headroom -- leaving headroom for additional leverage.

And with that, we go now to the final remarks for the outlook, which the CEO will present.

Thank you. Thank you, Nadia. Thank you very much. Looking into the outlook for 2026, but also for the medium term. I think this reflects a balanced view of what we see as growth opportunities and disciplined execution of our business plan, but within a more uncertain external environment, which is protected to a significant extent by our regulation.

Now for our passenger traffic, we expect low single-digit growth for 2026, which is in line with our medium- to long-term projections. Our demand fundamentals remain supportive. However, we continue to monitor the geopolitical development very closely. The tensions in the region have added an element of uncertainty. And as a point of reference, we mentioned that traffic from the affected traffic -- affected countries in the Middle East accounted in 2025 for about 7.5%. However, we need to stress here again that our regulatory framework offers considerable downside protection.

Now from a revenue perspective, in Air Activities, we expect broadly a flat yield per passenger within our stable regulatory framework. Our regulated profits are expected to be aligned with our 15% return on equity target, supported also by the multiyear Scrip Dividend Program. In the Non-Air Activities, we see more limited upside in the medium term, particularly in the Terminal Commercial revenues, reflecting space, the current space constraints that we are facing and the impact of the early-stage construction activity. The Car Parking revenues will also be modestly affected during the multi-story parking construction period, although this is partly offset by the additional parking capacity that we have offered.

At the EBITDA level, we expect some temporary pressure as construction activity under the Airport Expansion Program will intensify. So as a result, the adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be around 100 basis points below our long-term target of 60%. For the net income, we project currently a level of approximately EUR 200 million for 2026. And we maintain, of course, our commitment to dividend policy at 100% of available profits for distribution. The execution of the Airport Expansion Program remains a central strategic priority for the company. For the Main Terminal and Satellite Terminal with the expansions, as mentioned earlier, we expect to complete the ACI tender and award the design and build contract in the second half of 2026. Our capital deployment remains phased and disciplined with up to 50% of totalized CapEx expected by the end of 2028 and the remaining balance through the end of 2032. And I think it's important also to stress here the fact that we have secured already financing for the AEP through to '28 to '29.

Overall, we remain confident in the resilience of the business and our ability to deliver sustainable long-term growth. So thank you very much for your attention, and now we are happy to answer to any questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Draziotis Stamatios Eurobank Equities.

A couple from my side, please. Firstly, on inflation, I understand that the Aviation segment is structurally protected through the indexation of the regulatory equity base. But could you elaborate more specifically on the Non-Air segment where the dynamics are less straightforward. I mean, how should we think about the balance between cost inflation and your ability to pass this through to concessionaires either via minimum guarantees or revenue sharing mechanisms? And I guess, ultimately, do you see inflation as net margin accretive, neutral or dilutive for the Non-Air business? So that's the first question.

And secondly, I'm just wondering about the current terminal capacity constraints and the passenger flow dynamics. So I'm just wondering, could a softer traffic environment due to the Middle East situation actually support higher per passenger monetization as passenger experience improves basically? That's my question.

May I answer the second question, and Nadia can take the first one. Well, no, I think, of course, as you correctly mentioned, there are limitations in our terminal space, and we have explained that in the past also. And for this purpose, we have launched and we are implementing our expansion programs. We do not think that this -- any shortfall in traffic from these segments is going to be essentially, how to say, supporting the considerably the ability of the other passengers to -- for commercial spending. I think this is -- the Middle East traffic is not materially important in terms of traffic numbers. As we said, it's 7.5%. It's not insignificant, but it's not a dramatic amount of passengers. But I would say that there also good spenders in retail. So I would not see a significant positive sign from that. And Nadia, maybe you want to answer...

Yes. As regards the inflation, as you, of course, correctly said, this is taken into account in the Air Activities segment in the inflation of the Air Activities Capital. So the return is on the inflated equity. And then on the Non-Air Activities, the terminal retail sales are adjusted, of course, you can imagine, according to inflation. Prices are adjusted. Our minimum annual guarantees are also taking into account inflation, rentals. And generally, the margins of the Non-Air segment are significant. So one can expect that we recover the impact of inflation also in the Non-Air Activities.

Okay. So just to follow up and conclude. So as a total for your business, the inflation should be a net positive clearly, right?

Yes.

The next question is from the line of Lobbenberg Andrew with Barclays.

Can I ask one simple question on the numbers, I guess, for Nadia. Can you -- I know you've told us half the CapEx by '28. Can you give us an indication of what the total CapEx will be for '26, for '27, for '28? Can you phase it over that period, please?

Second question, how confident are you that you will have kerosene available at Athens into the future? Given the challenges in the Gulf. How long have you got confidence that you'll continue to have kerosene? How do you see the kerosene availability playing out?

And then a third question, and it's pretty obvious, I guess. How are you -- what assumptions are you making about the loss of Mid East traffic in giving us this low single-digit guide? Because obviously, that looks incredibly low compared to what we saw in Jan and Feb before the war. So yes, how much loss of that 7.5% have you baked into that low single-digit estimate?

As regards to the first one, just as a reminder, at this point of time, we have the total estimate of EUR 1.3 billion at 2024 prices for the entire expansion. What we have spent in 2025 was less than EUR 100 million. We say, we keep the guidance of 50% until 2028, and we will have more visibility following the award of the terminal expansion in the second half of the year. So unfortunately, at this point of time, I cannot give more clarity on the year-on-year projection.

And on the second and third, Andrew, thank you for your questions. On kerosene, well, I don't think we're any better or worse than other European countries. I can say the following. We have production of kerosene in Greek distilleries. There are strategic reserves both in the airport of aviation fuel, but also in the distilleries, there are strategic reserves of fuel. I would say that we don't see currently any alarming signs.

But as I said before, I don't think notwithstanding the fact, as I said, that we do produce kerosene in Greece from the distilleries. I don't see that we are -- if there is a global or European crisis in the availability of kerosene, I think that we will more or less be in the same situation with the rest of the Europe and European countries. In terms of the traffic with low-single-digits. This is in accordance with the projection, in accordance with information available. In March, we expect a growth of mid- to low single digits, which is less, however, than the average, as you mentioned, that we experienced in the first 2 months. So this is the impact of the crisis in March. Obviously, this can change subject to the events developing.

Okay. So does that imply that your traffic forecast allows for the continued loss of Mid East traffic going forward?

I would say it allows for a similar scale of effect that we are experiencing now. We see also that there is a partial reinstatement of operations from some of the countries, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. We don't have any operations in with Bahrain and Iraq. And -- but of course, the load factors are lower and Aegean and Sky Express have suspended operations to the Middle East. So this is overall the impact. Of course, we have some positive impact from repatriations. But overall, at the current level of impact, we are confident that our low single-digit growth that we project is achievable.

The next question is from the line of Shankarhari (sic) [ Harishankar ] with Deutsche Bank.

A few from my side. Firstly, on the capital Scrip Dividend Program, you're into EUR 200 million -- close to EUR 200 million out of the EUR 240 million now. Any scope for further expansion there?

And then secondly, on to your operating expenses. I believe that some times back, you probably guided to around EUR 6.3 in OpEx per [indiscernible] for 2025. And on an underlying basis, you probably land at EUR 5.9. So any indication on what that could be for 2026?

And maybe continuing on the theme of operating expenses. In terms of the allocation between Air segment and Non-Air, do you see similar trends continuing into the next year as we have seen in '25?

So as regards to the first one, the scrip dividend, the program now is, as we said also last year, for a total EUR 240 million, there is no plan at this point of time for any additional equity increase or further Scrip Dividend Program.

As regards to the operating costs, which you -- yes, it's correct. We managed to be more cost efficient compared to what we had expected. We contained cost and therefore, we have achieved this EUR 5.90 per passenger, excluding the one-off impact. We will continue to monitor the cost very closely. And we will target, of course, to the best margins, both in Air and Non-Air Activities.

As regards to the allocation, there is no expected change in the drivers, in the main drivers of the allocation between Air and Non-Air Activities in 2026. There are expected shifts following the completion of terminal expansion. So for the time-being, we expect allocation to be similar to the ones we have now.

The next question is from the line of Mora Nicolas with Morgan Stanley.

Just a couple on my side. First on the tariff guidance for '26. So you're pointing to flat tariff in aviation. Does it mean that you want to signal the first tariff hike for airlines from summer schedule '26? Is that -- and looking even beyond '26, is that for you the start of an uptick in tariff going forward? That's the first question.

The second, just coming back on the impact of Middle East and on -- especially on retail. So Middle East makes up 7.5% of traffic, but I suspect they make up a larger amount of the retail spend. Could you -- I mean, is it 2x the traffic share, so around 15%? Just trying to gauge also the -- not just the impact on traffic and aviation, but also on your Non-Air Activities?

So as regards to tariff, we also continue the Sustainability Support Scheme in 2026. The temporary reduction in the passenger charge, the 30% continues until the end of April. And other than that, charges will not change in the remaining of the year. So we will reinstate the previous level of passenger charge and all the remaining charges.

Overall, the -- what we expect as revenues per passenger from the Air Activities segment in 2026 is similar to the one we had achieved in 2025. And we expect that we will reach this way, the maximum allowable profit.

Now in relation to -- I don't know if this answers your question in relation to the tariffs. And going to the Middle East, the impact of the Middle East traffic, of course, it's an impact on traffic and the aeronautical revenues. And this also has a proportionately higher impact on the Non-Air since we experienced higher spending per passenger from this segment. So yes, the impact will be proportionally higher than the aeronautical -- than in the aeronautical segment.

On that front, is that -- I mean, we've heard from other airports talking about potentially up to 2x, 2.5x higher share of retail. Is this something you would confirm? Or this is potentially higher or lower versus your typical average spender?

No, we cannot provide exact numbers of the segments. We don't have exact data of each segment on our overall retail. So no, we cannot confirm exactly these amounts.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Memisoglu Osman with Ambrosia Capital.

Just on the Airport Expansion Program timing and the related impact on Non-Air. So you mentioned awards in H2. Are you able to give a bit more color on when in H2, early, late? Any color there would be helpful. And then related to that, when do you expect -- you guide for some limitation on Non-Air revenue growth because of this. When do you expect the construction work to start? And when do you expect to see the biggest impact on Non-Air from the expansion program?

Thank you, Osman. Well, no, we cannot say exactly when in H2, we will have the awards as this is also a tender ongoing, it's rather also sensitive information to disclose. Now on the construction, so if we have a commencement -- or sorry, award of the project in H2, it's reasonable to expect because it's a design-build project to expect construction to start in '27. The main impact on retail will be around, I think Nadia its '28 to '30...

'28, '26. So we do not expect impact from construction definitely in 2026.

No. That's why we said in our guidance, we are talking about the midterm impact on our retail activities.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Kallimasias for any closing comments. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your interest in our company. Our team remains available with George Eleftheriou also for any further clarifications in the future. Thank you once again for your consistent interest and support to the company. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a pleasant evening.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Geli, your Chorus Call operator.

Welcome, and thank you for joining the Athens International Airport conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the first half 2025 financial results. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. George Eleftheriou, Manager, Investor Relations. Mr. Eleftheriou, you may now proceed.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and good morning to those of you listening to us across the globe.

Welcome to our conference call of Athens International Airport Financial Reports for the first half of 2025. Please note that the digital playback of the conference will be available from about 1 hour after the conference call has ended until September '19.

Today, in this conference, I'm joined by our CEO, Mr. Ioannis Paraschis; our CFO, Mr. Panagiotis Michalarogiannis; our CSO, Mr. George Kallimasias, and our Director of Financial Services, Mrs. Nadia Xirogianni. Also, let me mention that our presentation is available on our website, on the section of quarterly results, under the Financial Information page.

And with that, I would like to hand over to our CEO.

Thank you, George. Thank you, everyone, for attending today's call for the half year results. Three key messages at the beginning, robust traffic growth, on target operational performance and commencement of our airport expansion program.

On Slide #4, we see the traffic evolution, 15.1 million passengers, 7.6% growth versus the first half year of '24, primarily driven by international traffic growth of 9.8%, and remark that Athens Airport has been awarded the Best European Airport award by ACI Europe in June of this year.

You see the revenue of EUR 308 million, growth of 5%. And the EBITDA at EUR 182.3 million, slightly below last year's levels in line with our targets, and our charges development that we will talk about in a minute. Now you see that those 7.6% of growth in the first half year were slightly different in the first half -- the first quarter where we had a growth of almost around 11%, and slightly lower growth in the second half year in the second quarter. And that momentum of around 4% to 7% continues also in July and August, which are our published results.

On the next Slide #6, you see that our performance, 7.6% is well above the European average, both for the bigger airports of our category, 25 million to 40 million passengers also the overall average performance. And that difference is even much bigger when we look at the growth of '25 versus 2019, where we are about 34% above the corresponding levels of the pre-COVID year, whereas the European total is at 5%.

Now when we look at also the more structural impact of the connectivity, which represents the investment of both the hub carriers in Athens, but also the visiting carriers, you see that as the ACI Europe airport connectivity study where Athens ranked #21 in '19. Meanwhile, it ranks #2 in 2025 behind Zurich, having experienced a very significant growth in productivity of about 32%.

On the next slide, you see some of the recent developments, both on our homebuild carriers, 8 new destinations, and 3 new routes for the airport, but also significant developments, in particular, with the long-haul high-yielding markets of American Airlines flying to Charlotte, and North to Los Angeles, and also Chengdu to Sichuan -- to Chengdu by Sichuan Airlines. This is part of our strategy also for the future to focus on those long-haul and high-yielding markets.

Also on the commercial side, it's important to see that we have improved and expanded our Best of Greece concept with positive results. Very important to mention that this year, we have changed our status from a non coordinated to a scheduled facilitated airports, which differs from a full coordination, but still allows for subordination of flights in order also to smoothen the peaks and the ATC constraints during peak hours.

Important to note on Slide #8, we have had a strong communication about that. Our Scrip Dividend Program, the fact that we've accelerated our expansion program to reach 40 million annual passengers, increased our overall investment, at the same time, choosing to -- in line with the regulation to finance part of that through the Air Activities Capital increase. The Scrip Dividend Program was very successful with the participation of 89.22%. And the Air Activities Capital of EUR 84.75 million became effective from the 16th of May onwards. As you know, this is the first year of a 4-year program of up to EUR 440 million.

Now in line with the regulation and the traffic growth, we had announced, and it's clear from our regulation and dual-till approach, that with the depletion of the carryforward amounts, we would have to introduce certain discounts in our airport charges that has been implemented in the spring of this year based on also the consultations with our airline users. In -- with 2 schemes, the one is a reduction of the Passenger Terminal Fee of 30% for the winter season from October 1 to April 30, '25 to '26. As well as a support to our airline partners through a sustainability support scheme, as we call it, where we encourage the use of more fuel-efficient and fuller aircraft, higher load factors between EUR 0.8 and EUR 1.5 per passenger, supporting the airlines in this first year of the well-known 2% EU SAF mandate that increases its -- there are fewer costs.

On the next slide, we talk about our airport expansion program, which is well on track. Three main pillars. On the one hand, the new apron areas that -- and the Multi-Storey Car Park where we have awarded the contract and where construction has commenced and is ongoing. And the main general building and satellite building expansion, where we have -- where we are in the completion of the design stage and the commencement of the construction through an early contractor involvement program.

Important to note that we have secured EUR 800 million financing through bank debt plus the EUR 240 million script growth in the years -- in the coming years, which is going to be used for funding of the expansion.

On the next slide, you see some [obvious strengthening] of what we consider to be an impressive program of airport of our terminal expansions, comprising the north expansion within North Oculus and Pier and the South Oculus [indiscernible] the North Wing expansion, as we call it, and also the satellite expansion. That will deliver an increase of more than 150,000 square meters in terminal space, more than 100% increase in commercial space towards the 40 million passengers in 2032.

On the next slide, important for us for this year, the completion of our Route 2025 program by December, where we'll hold also the respective inauguration ceremony towards net zero carbon emissions, a program that we had announced in 2019 and is now being completed. That relates to the use of photovoltaics of batteries for energy storage and the replacement of our fleet to electrical vehicles and also the heat pumps for heating and cooling. That is a very significant program, not only for our environmental and ESG footprint, but also it is an investment that will marginalize our exposure and volatility -- or to the volatility of energy costs.

And with that, please to hand over to Nadia for the financial performance.

Okay. Thank you, Ioannis. I will go through the highlights of the financial performance on the first half of the year.

First of all, in relation to the operating revenues, we recorded EUR 308.2 million, which is a growth of 5% year-on-year compared to previous year. 75% of this relates to the regulated part, the activity, which increased year-over-year by 3.2%, and in line with traffic development, but also in line with the airport charges adjustment as the CEO explained that we implemented from the beginning of the year. And aiming to gradually deplete the carry forward amount, but also taking into account the increase of Air Activities Capital through the successful implementation of the Scrip Dividend program.

The non-air segment is 25% of our revenues. And this actually performed even better than traffic, outpeformed traffic levels, presenting a growth of 10.6% year-on-year, helped by the very good -- the excellent performance of our terminal retail revenues, as a result of the successful new concepts that were introduced this year, but also in the first month -- during the first month of previous year.

We were also benefited by the increased passenger volumes of high-yielding destinations. But we should also note that when we compare to the previous year, we had some favorable effects because of the fact that we undergo major refurbishment during the first month of the prior year, which resulted in some disruptions. So the comparison is favorable with this year.

Next, if we go to the operating cost side. Overall, we reported for the first half of the year, EUR 118 million, a significant part of this EUR 24 million is the variable portion of the grant of right fee, the concession fee that is recorded in operating costs. This increased year-on-year because it is based on higher profitability level.

Except for the variable portion of the grant of rights fee, the remaining operating costs EUR 94 million. The majority is in-housing and outsourced costs and presented a growth as expected year-on-year by 13.5%. This is actually due to the fact that we continue to be focused on maintaining the level of service. And therefore, we went with additional resources year-on-year to address the higher traffic and additional requirements.

We had also an impact from the increase of minimum wages in Greece also this year and the full year effect of increases in April last year. We had a negative impact from high electricity prices. And finally, in view of major restoration that we will do in the airside pavements and the airfield lighting, we increased the provision this year, and this also affected the comparison year-on-year of the operating cost.

And -- as regards to the profitability, the adjusted EBITDA, we recorded EUR 182.3 million, with adjusted EBITDA margin 59.2%, which is aligned with our short-term target, a bit less than the 60% EBITDA margin, which is our long-term target. And in relation to the net income, net profit, we recorded EUR 92.2 million, which is actually a decrease compared to the previous year. This is in line with what we expected and what we targeted. And interestingly, the breakdown of the net income between the regulated and the nonregulated fee is now air activities represent 54% of the total net income, while the non-air 46%. The non-air segment has increased profitability year-on-year and higher margins. And the drop in the air activities is in line with the regulation and in line with the airport charges adjustments we implemented.

Some highlights of the regulation. The inflated equity, which represents the air activities capital upon which we have the entitlement of 15% return in the Air Activity segment was -- is for 2025, EUR 556 million, which is the originally paid in capital. And as of 16th of May, we added the EUR 84.8 million, the outcome of the Scrip Dividend Program. So overall, we have an activities capital of EUR 641 million. So we are allowed in practice to have 15% return on equity full year for the EUR 556 million. And for the month started from the mid of May, for the 15% for the additional increase in Air Activities Capital.

During the first half of the year, we reduced the carry-forward amount that was EUR 23 million in the beginning of this year. We have used it to EUR 16.5 million at the end of June.

Now going to Page 17. It's important to note that apart from the very healthy performance in terms of profitability. We also demonstrate a healthy cash performance with closing cap at the end of June at EUR 175 million. Net debt, EUR 767 million, with net debt to EBITDA ratio staying low, 1.8x, in line with our targets. And as regards to free cash flow, as expected, we have started -- we have launched the -- expanding the airports and with the design costs, we have additional capital expenditures during the first half of the year. This is in line with our expectation.

This reduces the free cash flow and the cash flow conversion to EUR 92 million for the first half of the year at 50.6% lower than the previous years, but it is in line with our expectations. And it is also important to note here that the company's financial stability is fully safeguarded since we have in place -- we have secured this financing for the expansion. And also, we have the Scrip Dividend Program, the 4 year, the remaining 3 years of the program. So we have secured our liquidity for the following years.

And with that, we can continue with the outlook and the CEO will present.

Thank you, Nadia. So looking at Slide # 19. In terms of traffic forecast, we expect a mid-single-digit growth for passenger traffic during full year '25. We are currently at about 6.5%. And so we also continue with our mid- to long-term traffic outlook in the low single digits.

In terms of revenues, the air activities and aeronautical charges are going to be adjusted through the gradual depletion of the carry forward amount. And our Air Activities profitability will align with a 15% return on equity, supported obviously by the growing level of equity through our Scrip Dividend Program.

At the same time, non-air activities, we retain our guidance for flat per pax yield for 2025 as we expect a certain deterioration of parking revenues through the construction of the Multi-Storey Parking, which has already started in the summer.

Now in terms of impact for retail revenues. Going forward, we expect certain pressure with the commencement of the terminal expansion.

We are -- as we move currently and as we project for 2025 and 2026, our adjusted EBITDA margins will be slightly below 60%. We're saying about 100 basis points.

There's net income, we maintained our guidance for EUR 200 million for the year '25 and '26, maintaining, obviously, our commitment to dividend.

And in terms of airport expansion, we have spoken about the commercial construction for the multi-storey and the apron areas, now the Main Terminal Building and Satellite Terminal Building outline design is in finalization stage, and we have started and the construction tender is ongoing through an ECI approach, and early contractual involvement approach that will allow us to involve experienced contractor in the finalization of the outline design before they produce their final offers.

And in terms of guidance for the CapEx spending, we expect 50% of that to be -- to happen through 2028 and the remaining until the end of '32.

That is the end of our presentation, and we are here for your questions. Thank you very much.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Draziotis Stamatios with EuroBank Equities.

Just a couple on my side, please. Firstly, if you could maybe give us some color on the phasing of the remaining EUR 16 million carryforward balance in the second half. So should we expect it to be front-loaded in Q3, or more evenly spread across the second half, the phasing out?

And the second question relates to the non-air segment. I mean you talked about how resilient units revenues were in the first half of the year. There was this easy comp effective you like as well. But I'm just wondering because you mentioned you reiterate that non-air activity should see per passenger yields shaping flattish year-on-year given the anticipated impact on parking revenues. But do you actually see upside risk to the full year numbers stemming from the greater resilience maybe than previously anticipated on the non-air side, please?

So first of all, as regards to the depletion of the carry forward amount, let me first say that our plan is to fully exhaust -- to fully deplete this carry forward during the remaining of the year by the end of 2025. And as according to our projection, it is -- and to the traffic, let's say, monthly phasing. It is expected that the majority will be depleted during the third quarter of the year compared to the last quarter of the year.

Now as regards to the non-air activities, what we try to stress is that during the first half of the year, we haven't yet any impact from the construction of the multi-storey parking in the parking revenues. And at the same time, we had a very good performance on the per passenger basis in the terminal retail.

During June, it was a month that especially during the days of the political turbulence, we have experienced some drop in per passenger spending. But overall, we didn't see any negative impact in the terminal retail. So these are the main reasons that we expect that the full year, let's say, terminal retail, we don't have -- we do not have any adverse impact and any benefit we had for the -- due to the favorable combination of the first half of the year will be covered by -- we'll cover, let's say, any loss we will experience because of the disruptions in the car parking during the second half of the year.

The next question is from the line of Lobbenberg Andrew with Barclays.

Could you talk a little bit about how the average...

Mr. Lobbenberg. I'm sorry to interrupt you. Can you please speak a little closer to your microphone? Because I'm not sure that management can hear you.

Yes, of course. Is that better?

A little bit better.

Can you offer some guidance on what we should expect for the aviation revenue per passenger in that fourth quarter, when you put in place that 30% reduction to passenger terminal charge? Because I appreciate the landing fees are not going to be impacted. And then once we've got that quite material drop to aviation revenues in the winter of '25 to '26, should our working expectation be that rebounds next winter? Or would we imagine that, that stays flattish?

And then just one other topic would be the Scrip Dividend. Obviously, you got nearly EUR 90 million done. And with the dividend for '24 what should we think about the timing of the remaining EUR 150 million of dividends. How fast will it come? How much next year and how much over the next 3 years?

Okay. So as regards the aviation revenue per passenger you have seen that although last year, the Air Activity revenue per passenger was EUR 15.9 per passenger. During the first half of 2025, we ended up with EUR 15.3. This drop actually represents the sustainability support scheme, the temporary scheme that we have introduced.

According to the price list and we see the target of the 30% decrease from -- for the last quarter of the year, we expect that the full year revenue per passenger of the air activities with the -- will have a further impact, so it will be an average close to EUR 14.7, EUR 14.8 per passenger. Based on the fact that the decrease that we introduced is on the passenger terminal fee, which is let's say, more or less close to 50% of our Air Activity revenues.

And what we have up to now is the plan for the price list and the incentives for this year and for the decrease of the 30%, this goes up to the end of April. We will proceed with further consultation and review for next year. So we don't have -- we don't provide any guidance in regards to the level of charges for next year. Although our guidance remains that our target will be to recover the allowable return of 15% return on equity. So this was the first question.

And the second, in relation to the Scrip Dividend. Generally, our targets, depending also on our financial results will be the implementation of the Scrip Dividend to be as frontloaded as we can assume without jeopardizing, of course, the level of cash dividend that the shareholders would like to receive.

I don't know if this answers your questions.

The next question is from the line of Maglione Dario with BNP Paribas.

I have 3 questions, actually 4, if you allow me. So one is on the winter schedule. What kind of capacity have airlines planned in terms of year-on-year growth? And also, if you could discuss about what is driving the growth, which airlines, which market segment?

The second question is around the OpEx, which, as you mentioned, when we exclude construction costs and variable concession fee was EUR 94 million in H1. So it's up 14%, while traffic is up 8%. So no operating leverage there. What should we expect for H2 and next year?

And then in terms of the guidance for the full year '25. At the net income level, you mentioned around EUR 200 million. Could you give us a sense of the split between air and non-air activities, just to double check our numbers?

And on the fourth last question. So after the equity raise is completed, what is the terminal value, the cash that the shareholders will receive in 2046? Assume the concession is not renewed. Should it be around EUR 500 million of capital -- paid in capital, plus EUR 100 million of legal results?

Well, as regard the traffic for the winter, I think what I can say at this point is obviously that airline capacity is plan by the airlines. And as we said, this has been announced basically in the Slot Conference of June for the upcoming winter. We try to support airlines to maintain being an airport where we are peaking during the summer to maintain as much as possible capacity in the winter. And that -- based on that knowledge and bottom up, let's say, calculation and projection of our traffic for the winter that leads us to our statement of a mid-single-digit number for the full year of 2025.

Now as regard to the operating costs, you're absolutely right in the sense of we saw an increase year-on-year during the first half of the year. We tried to explain. One important point to keep here is the fact that we won't -- given the level of our traffic and our capacity non-air capacity levels, we want to continue investing on operating costs in order to maintain the levels of service we target to have. So this means that we have additional resources. And this is why the -- this is one of the main reasons for this increase.

We expect that this cost per passenger excluding the variable portion of the ground of rights fee that we recorded in the first half of the year, EUR 6.24 per passenger will be maintained throughout the year. I think it's important here to remind you that a significant part of the operating cost close to 85% relates to the regulated fee. So it's recovered and this is a target to be fully recovered by the Air Activity revenues.

Now in relation to the net income. Our overall guidance for the EUR 200 million takes into account in relation to the air activities that we will produce the 15% return on equity, the increased equity, and the full utilization of the carryforward amount. So you can expect that it will be close to 50%, 50% the contribution of the air and non-air activities on the net income.

And finally, in relation to the end of the concession, and it's in line with what we had said even before the Scrip Dividend, if there is no continuation. And in case of the end, let's say, of the companies, we will -- there will be return of the equity. And now it is increased equity plus the legal reserve. And of course, any, let's say, cash after paid all the obligations.

[Operator Instructions] We have a follow-up question from the line of Maglione Dario with BNP Paribas.

Some follow-up questions. You mentioned about the change to noncoordinated airport this summer. Where there any operational issues, or have we went smoothly?

And then on the commercial activity, you mentioned that the terminal -- works on the terminal have not started yet. When will they start?

Well, as regards the switch from the non-coordinated to a scheduled facilitated airport has to do with the fact that there is -- there are ATC-related constraints on the number of flights and there is a significant demand during the peak hours. And there's a growing hubbing activity, let's say, by the hub carriers. And therefore, there is -- we need to make sure that we can maintain the service levels to the maximum possible extent, both on the air side, but also in terms of terminal operations.

The issue of the construction we expect the tender for the construction to be completed by early in '26 and works to commence thereafter for the main terminal.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Paraschis for any closing comments. Thank you.

Well, thank you very much again for your interest in Athens Airport, and we wish you all a happy autumn.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a pleasant evening.