Acerinox, S.A.

Acerinox reported Q2 EBITDA of EUR 176 million, up 85% sequentially from Q1, and first-half EBITDA of EUR 271 million, up 27% year over year. In stainless steel, Q2 EBITDA was 80% higher than Q1, with margins at 12%; HPA EBITDA was EUR 22 million, 76% better than Q2 last year. Melting production rose more than 10% quarter over quarter to 540,000 tonnes, and first-half output was about 1 million tonnes, 2% above last year. Net financial debt ended at EUR 1.266 billion, up EUR 173 million, and debt-to-EBITDA was 2.5x as of June. For guidance, management said Q3 EBITDA should be slightly higher than Q2, and the annualized EBITDA figure should be above EUR 500 million.

Bernardo Velázquez emphasized that Acerinox is sticking to its long-term strategy despite tariffs, sanctions, conflicts, and weak demand. He highlighted the U.S. strength, Europe’s recovery, and operational efficiency as the core reasons the company is still producing strong results in a low-cycle environment. He was notably upbeat on Europe, calling the new trade measures and CBAM a “game changer,” but said the near term still requires caution because summer seasonality and soft demand remain.

Esther Camós said the quarter was better across production, sales, EBITDA, and EBIT, with stainless steel benefiting from higher U.S. volumes and margins plus the recovery in Europe. She noted that Q2 did not require any new inventory adjustment beyond the EUR 25 million adjustment previously announced in Q1, and said Q2 operating cash flow improved despite higher working capital, taxes, and CapEx. She also said HPA’s cumulative synergies reached EUR 16 million, or 70% of the EUR 23 million full-year target, and reiterated that working capital should come down in Q3, helping debt seasonally.

Analysts focused on Europe’s order book, the pace of margin recovery, the HPA backlog conversion, pricing, and the inventory adjustment issue from Q1. Management said Europe’s order book is stable but visibility is only 2-3 months, and that positive EBITDA in Europe was already achieved in June, though the accumulated numbers remain negative. On HPA, management said the strong backlog will translate into stronger P&L contribution mainly toward year-end and into 2026 because of longer lead times; on the Q1 adjustment, they clarified that there was no new inventory devaluation in Q2 and that the prior EUR 25 million adjustment remained unchanged.