Q2 2025 Boralex Inc Earnings Call

Speaker #2: Bonjour, Mesdames et Messieurs, et bienvenue à la conférence téléphonique portant sur les résultats financiers du deuxième trimestre et de l'exercice 2025 de Boralex. Veuillez noter que toutes les lignes sont en mode d'écoute seulement.

Speaker #2: À la fin de la présentation, il y aura une période de questions-réponses au cours de laquelle les analystes financiers actionnaires et investisseurs seront invités à poser leurs estions en tapant sur étoile 1 et 1 sur leur téléphone.

Speaker #2: Si vous souhaitez poser une question sur le Web, veuillez utiliser la fenêtre de la boîte de questions-réponses sur le Web, car c'est à tout moment pendant la conférence.

Speaker #2: Veuillez également noter que cette conférence est enregistrée. Pour les participants à la webdiffusion, vous pouvez également poser des questions au cours de la conférence, mais celles-ci obtiendront réponse par courriel après l'appel.

Speaker #2: Enfin, les représentants des médias qui ont des questions sont invités à contacter directement Camille Laventure, conseillère principale, Affaires publiques et communication externe chez Boralex, au communiqué indiqué à la fin du communiqué trimestriel.

Speaker #2: J'aimerais maintenant passer la parole à Coline de Surmont, directrice des relations investisseurs de Boralex.

Speaker #3: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Boralex second quarter 2025 financial results conference call. Note that all lines will be in listen-only mode.

Speaker #3: Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. In which financial analyst, shareholders, and investors will be invited to ask their questions by pressing star 1 and 1 on the telephone and wait for their name to be announced.

Speaker #3: If you wish to ask your questions via the webcast, please type them in the question box and click submit. Please also note that today's conference is recorded.

Speaker #3: For webcast participants, you can also ask questions during the conference, but they will be answered by email after the call. Finally, media representatives are invited to contact Camille Laventure, Senior Advisor, Public Affairs and External Communications at Boralex.

Speaker #3: Her contact information is provided at the end of the quarterly press release. I would now like to turn the conference over to Coline de Surmont, director investor relations for Boralex.

Speaker #3: Please go ahead.

Speaker #4: Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Boralex's second quarter results conference call. On today's call, Patrick Decostre, our president and chief executive officer, will provide an update of our business.

Speaker #4: Afterwards, Bruno Guilmette, our ecutive vice president and chief financial officer, will present the financial highlights of the quarter. Then we will be available to answer your estions.

Speaker #4: During this call, we will discuss historical as well as forward-looking information. When talking about the future, there are a variety of risk factors that have been listed in our different filings, which can materially change our estimated results.

Speaker #4: These documents are all available for consultation on CEDAW. Mr. Decostre will now start with his comments. Please go head, Patrick.

Speaker #5: Thank you, Coline, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. Before we start, I would like to take some time to highlight the other announcements we made this morning.

Speaker #5: First, I would like to sincerely thank Bruno Guilmette for his outstanding contributions over the past seven years as our CFO. Bruno has played a key role in shaping our strong financial foundation and helping us double in size and hit major milestones.

Speaker #5: Under his leadership, the company completed several transactions and financings including the sale to Energy Infrastructure Partner, EIP, of a stake of 30% in Boralex operating assets and development project in France.

Speaker #5: We will miss him. Why we will miss him? We are in great hands with Stphane Milot, stepping in during the interim period. Stphane, as a strong financial background and solid experience in different finance and IR roles, he played in the past 30 years.

Speaker #5: He has worked closely with Bruno in the past years and knows our business inside out. Bruno, thank you for everything. And good luck for your new professional challenges.

Speaker #6: Thank you, Patrick.

Speaker #5: I would like also to take the opportunity to officially welcome André Courville as the new chair of the board of Boralex, effective September 30.

Speaker #5: André has been a valued member of our board since 2019 and brings deep experience that will be key as we move forward with our 2030 strategy.

Speaker #5: At the same time, I want to sincerely thank Alain Réaum for his remarkable leadership over the past 15 years, eight of which he served as chair of Boralex.

Speaker #5: Alain played an extremely valuable role in shaping Boralex's growth, governance, and long-term vision. On behalf of the entire team, thank you, Alain, for your dedication, and welcome, André.

Speaker #5: Back to the quarter now. In the second quarter of 2025, we continued to make good progress on both development and construction activities. Our operating facilities faced mixed weather conditions across the various technologies and regions in which we operate, and a decrease in average selling prices as expected due to lower prices on our short-term contract in France.

Speaker #5: This quarter, total combined production increased by 10% compared to the same period of 2024, driven by a strong performance of our operating assets in North America and the contribution of newly commissioned sites in Europe.

Speaker #5: Combined EBITDA was 145 million down 7 million compared to Q2 2024. The increase in production in North America was not sufficient to offset the negative impact of lower prices of short-term power purchase agreements in France.

Speaker #5: Bruno will later provide a more detailed overview of our second quarter financial results. During this quarter, we were very pleased to announce the signing of two contracts with NYSERDA, for the fourth conviction and two reverse solar projects totaling 450 megawatts.

Speaker #5: New York State remains a strategic growth market for Boralex, and we are proud to support its renewed commitment to building a clean energy economy.

Speaker #5: While with the signing of the one big beautiful bill, we know have more clarity in the US market. As of today, we're confident that these two projects meet the safe harbor requirements enabling us to secure eligibility for tax credit.

Speaker #5: We're making solid progress in securing panels and BOP for the construction of these projects. This quarter, we were also thrilled to share that Boralex has been named Best Corporate Citizen in Canada by Corporate Knights.

Speaker #5: This recognition highlights our strong commitment to integrating corporate social responsibility and risk management at the core of our business strategy. I'm very grateful to our teams across North America and Europe for their dedication and hard work in building a more sustainable future.

Speaker #5: Finally, last June, we presented our strategic plan and financial objectives for 2030. Our strategy builds on significant efforts made over the past years to create a high-quality project development portfolio, enabling us to set fully organic growth targets across our four geographic markets, where demand for renewable energy is growing rapidly.

Speaker #5: For more details, please refer to the investor sections of our website. Regarding market updates, Québec recently enacted Bill 69 to accelerate energy development. It gives Hydro-Québec greater autonomy over its project and sets an electricity generation target of an additional 60 terawatt-hours.

Speaker #5: Also, under government approval, private renewable energy producers are now authorized to sell electricity directly to an adjacent private consumer, creating new opportunities for decentralized energy production and commercialization.

Speaker #5: In Ontario, ISO has launched the first window of its long-term 2RFP called LT2 aiming to secure 3 terawatt-hours of new energy generation and 600 megawatts of storage capacity with deadline in October 2025 for the first phase and December 2025 for the second.

Speaker #5: To encourage local participation, the RFPs include evaluation criteria to support Canadian companies. We're confident that our local expertise and strong relationships with local communities provide a solid foundation for upcoming bids in both markets.

Speaker #5: In the United Kingdom, the government concluded the review of electricity market arrangements (REMA) by deciding to reform the national pricing system, which will split the country into different pricing zones.

Speaker #5: It is a very positive signal for the renewable sector as the reform will improve the system while maintaining investors' confidence. The United Kingdom remains a key strategic market for Boralex with strong growth ambitions for the coming years.

Speaker #5: Our UK team is preparing to submit bids in the next AR7 RFP with binding submission scheduled from October through December. Now, looking at our project, I'm pleased to announce the commissioning of two wind farms Fontaine-les-Boulon 18 megawatts and Fab20 Palfard 11 megawatts in the north of France.

Speaker #5: Both projects began operations ahead of schedule and under the budget thanks to the dedication and expertise of our teams who have strong experience in the region.

Speaker #5: During the second quarter, we also continued to advance with the construction of our project in Canada. All the turbines of the Upwind project are now installed, and the commercial operation date is expected at the end of September.

Speaker #5: The construction in Ontario of two battery storage projects, Aigersville and Tilbury, is advancing as planned, with commissioning scheduled by the end of 2025.

Speaker #5: The Dainese project wind farm is also progressing with commissioning planned in 2027. In May, we announced the financing of the project marking a key milestone in its development.

Speaker #5: I will now briefly review the main variances in our development project portfolio and growth paths. The increase in our development project portfolio was mainly due to the addition of 242 megawatts of wind and solar projects in the early stage.

Speaker #5: In total, our portfolio of early, mid, and advanced stage projects now consists of projects totaling nearly 7.3 gigawatts of wind, solar, and storage projects.

Speaker #5: In the second quarter, our growth path represents a capacity of 883 megawatts, reflecting a slight decrease of 4 megawatts compared to the previous quarter.

Speaker #5: Due to the commissioning of two wind farms in France, totaling 29 megawatts and partially offset by the transition to the secured stage of a 25 megawatt battery storage project in the UK.

Speaker #5: In addition, two solar projects in France, totaling 23 megawatts progressed from the secured stage to the construction already to build stage. This completes my part of the presentation.

Speaker #5: I will now end it over to Bruno who will provide a more detailed overview of our financial results, and I will be back for the Q&A session at the end.

Speaker #5: Thank you.

Speaker #7: Thank you, Patrick. Good morning, everyone. This quarter, total combined production was up 10% compared to the same quarter last year, driven by the strong performance from operating assets in North America and the contribution of newly commissioned sites in Europe.

Speaker #7: Production was nevertheless 9% lower than anticipated due to poor wind conditions in Europe and in the United States. Our combined EBITDA amounted to 145 million dollars down 7 million and discretionary cash flows amounted to 12 million dollars down 5 million compared to the second quarter of 2024.

Speaker #7: The financial results were negatively impacted by the lower prices of short-term contracts in France, and the reduced share in net earnings of joint ventures and associates.

Speaker #7: I will now provide a more detailed overview of our quarterly production. In North America, total combined production for the quarter was 9% higher than the same quarter last year, but 6% lower than anticipated.

Speaker #7: Production from wind assets in North America was 7% higher compared to the same quarter last year, but 10% lower than anticipated. The good performance from wind assets in Canada was not sufficient to offset the lower contribution from wind assets in the United States.

Speaker #7: And the delay in the commissioning of the EPRIT project. Production from hydro assets was 19% higher than last year and 8% higher than anticipated.

Speaker #7: Mainly due to favorable weather conditions in the United States. Production from solar assets in the US was 13% higher than the same quarter last year and 2% higher than anticipated.

Speaker #7: In Europe, total production was 13% higher compared the same quarter last year but 14% lower than anticipated, mainly attributable to unfavorable wind conditions in France.

Speaker #7: Regarding our balance sheet, available liquidity and authorized financing total $689 million as of June 30. This represents an increase of $166 million compared to December 31st of last year.

Speaker #7: Total debt increased to 4.3 billion with project debt accounting for 87% of the total. During the second quarter, our finance team has successfully signed several financings for a total of 1.2 billion to support our growth initiatives.

Speaker #7: While diversifying our sources of capital, in May, we announced alongside our partners Energy and Hydro-Québec and 960 million financing for the Dainese wind project currently under construction.

Speaker #7: Later in the quarter, we closed corporate financing of $250 million in the form of an unsecured subordinated loan maturing in 2033. The investment is jointly made by La Caisse, which is providing an amount of $200 million, and a new partner, Fonde Action, investing $50 million.

Speaker #7: In France, we are pleased to announce that in July, we closed a financing of an incremental tranche totaling 164 million under the term loans of two portfolios of wind farms and projects.

Speaker #7: Finally, on the CSR updates for the quarter, as already mentioned by Patrick, we are very proud to be recognized as best corporate citizen in Canada by Corporate Knights.

Speaker #7: I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our CSR commitments as we pursue our 2030 growth trajectory. We will continue to prioritize the safe, healthy, and inclusive workplace for our employees.

Speaker #7: We will also extend our engagement with local communities and make environmental responsibility central to how we operate. Looking ahead to 2050, the goal of achieving net zero emissions may seem very far, but it is already shaping the decisions we make today.

Speaker #7: Our commitment to net zero aligns fully with the mission and purpose of our company. In conclusion, we continue to develop and execute our projects in attractive markets, maintaining a good financial flexibility.

Speaker #7: We remain focused on delivering long-term growth to our investors in line with the targets of our 2030 strategic plan. As this is my last quarterly call with you, I want to thank you all for your continued support of Boralex.

Speaker #7: Over the last six years, I very much enjoyed interacting with all of our shareholders and analysts. I will leave on September 12th, leaving a very experienced group of colleagues who will continue to execute with discipline, you guys know I like this word, on our recently announced strategic plan for 2030.

Speaker #7: We have a strong balance sheet to execute on this plan. I want to take this opportunity to thank Patrick Lemaire who I first started working with as CEO of Boralex and Patrick Decostre who has been our CEO for the last few years.

Speaker #7: And my own finance team, which is a very strong team, and I'm very confident in the ability of this team and the transition plan we have put in place with Stphane Milot as the interim CFO.

Speaker #7: And I want to wish good luck to Stphane many of you know him well. And what you may not know as well is that Stphane and I joined approximately at the same time in early 2019 and we've been going on this incredible journey doubling the size of Boralex with the team with the management team and with the finance team since that time.

Speaker #7: Thank you all again. And good luck, Stphane.

Speaker #6: Bruno. Go ahead, more questions.

Speaker #7: Thank you. Sorry, Stphane. Thanks, Bruno. And I've very privileged to have you and work with you in the past six or seven years. So we'll continue for sure with the team and wish you all the best.

Speaker #7: And I'm thrilled for this new challenge. So very thrilled. So on the on this, I think we'll we'll go through the Q&A.

Speaker #8: Thank ou. As a reminder to ask a question on the phone, please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced.

Speaker #8: To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. Once again, please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced.

Speaker #8: To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type them in the estion box and click submit.

Speaker #8: Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. This will take a few moments. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our first question.

Speaker #8: And the questions come from the line of Sean Stewart from TD Cowen. Please ask your question. Your line is opened.

Speaker #9: Thank you. Good morning. Congratulations to both Bruno and Stphane. Patrick, I'm wondering if you can provide any update on the hydro sales process. I think last indications were there was quite a bit of interest.

Speaker #9: Any updated perspective on how that process is playing out?

Speaker #10: Hi, Sean. Patrick said today because of this change that he'll send all questions to me, especially the tough ones. No. As you know, we've mentioned and talked about asset recycling as a means of financing but we also talked a lot about discipline and we also want to emphasize that we always have options for different types of financings, but we're always focused on the lowest cost and the best opportunity to do our financings.

Speaker #10: So on the hydro sales specifically, the offers we received were not at the required price that we were looking for and essentially we said that we did not need to do the transaction because we had other options.

Speaker #10: Or these assets are very good and we'll keep them in the portfolio and offers good diversification. And you've seen that we closed on the subordinated finance debt financing for 250 million.

Speaker #10: And this gives us the best cost of financing in terms of alternatives and offers the liquidity needs to continue to grow our plan for the near future.

Speaker #9: Understood. And with respect to prospective growth, of the estor day, there was mention of wanting to build up the current regional platform and there was discussion of the US still being of interest even after the New York solar projects as a growth vehicle for company.

Speaker #9: Wondering about prospective whether it's the reconciliation bill or the subsequent executive order and investigation and the related rhetoric around that. Does that change your perspective on the US as a longer-term growth driver for this company?

Speaker #10: First, hi, Sean. It's on the project themselves in New York, as I mentioned, they are safe harbored and we are very confident with this because it was even prior to the bill so that is one important point and we are working on these projects to make them finalize them and take investment decisions in the following quarters, I would say.

Speaker #10: On the long-term part, what I think is clear is that the demand in the U.S. is still growing very quickly and is very important. So I think we have to continue to work on developing there.

Speaker #10: And the good news, I think, with the bill is there is less unknown than before the bill. You know, as you have the assumptions for the model, you can define the price and what is the price for every player bidding on the same level.

Speaker #10: So we will continue to develop in the U.S., and specifically in the state of New York, to create a platform there. We will obviously continue to look for alternatives in Canada, the U.K., and France if it's better for capital allocation.

Speaker #9: Okay. Understood. That's all I have for right . Thanks very much.

Speaker #10: Thank you.

Speaker #8: We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Nelson Ning from RBC Capital Markets. Please ask your question.

Speaker #9: Perfect. Thanks. And good morning, everyone. Bruno, I think we're all sad to see ou leave and I think that's being echoed the market just judging from the share price reaction.

Speaker #9: But good luck in your next role.

Speaker #10: Thank you. Thank you, Nelson. I'm pretty confident the price will recover in the next few minutes. Thank you.

Speaker #9: So first question is in France. Obviously, you guys flagged that one of the headwinds is the lower price short-term contracts. When we look at the rest of this year, should we expect the same type of headwinds?

Speaker #9: And can you just give a bit more color on the EBITDA headwinds you see from the short-term contracts in France?

Speaker #10: Thank you, Nelson, for your question. The essentially, we start from a high point where the prices in France were boosted by the different things that happened in France a few years ago and we've been able to profit from those higher prices.

Speaker #10: And contract for a few years, we're at that tail end on these contracts and that's why you see a difference because we contracted for three, four, five years and some instances and that's where you see the decline essentially from higher prices to what I would say a normal prices.

Speaker #10: So, there is a diminishing effect as we're at the tail end of this year, mainly of the trend of higher prices to normal prices. Therefore, you should see a diminishing effect in the next two to four quarters.

Speaker #9: Sorry. So the following quarters will see a smaller impact compared to.

Speaker #10: Very much so.

Speaker #9: Just the largest impact. Okay. Great. And then the next question just relates to the new New York solar projects I noticed that it's not on your growth path chart yet.

Speaker #9: What are some of the big milestones you need to achieve before you guys put it on the growth path?

Speaker #10: Yeah. Nelson, good evening. We are working closely with panel suppliers in the BOP contractors, quite advanced in engineering the project to finalize an investment decision at the end of this year or the beginning of next year, probably.

Speaker #10: And then start of the start of construction formally has been done because we have already ordered transformers at the beginning of this year. So that I will not use start of construction because but the really final investment decision will be taken at the beginning of next year.

Speaker #10: And then it will be in service in 2028 for both projects. We have a good local partner for BOP that we are working with.

Speaker #10: So it's an esting first project in New York for us.

Speaker #9: Great. Thanks, Patrick. And then just one last question, sticking to the U.S. Now that there is better renewable tax credit visibility, I presume there could still be some surprises later this month.

Speaker #9: But what are your thoughts on repowering the US wind projects in New Mexico and Texas? I think they are about 10 years old now.

Speaker #9: So they so those PTCs are rolling off. And I ess they like you were to repower them in the next few years, you'd probably need to do something about it to save harbor them.

Speaker #9: By July of next year. So, any thoughts there? And obviously, it's a decision between you and your partner, EDF. What are your initial thoughts on the repowering?

Speaker #10: Actually, yeah. We have to look at all those things. It depends, for sure, on the PTC and ITC situation. But it also depends on the price of electricity that we can get in Texas.

Speaker #10: And that is presently the price are lower than what we have experienced the last year. So we are working on different optimizations of these assets.

Speaker #10: We have contracted one of the small assets in Milo, New Mexico. So we are constantly working on this, and the team has the commercial team has different ideas.

Speaker #10: But the answer is yes, we're working on this. But no clear answer of any decision or orientation I can give today.

Speaker #9: Okay. Great. Thanks, Patrick. I'll leave there.

Speaker #10: Thank you. Thank ou.

Speaker #8: We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Mark Javi from CIBC. Please ask your question.

Speaker #11: Thanks. First, all the best, Bruno, and thanks for all the time in the last couple of years. And thanks for stepping in, Stphane.

Speaker #10: Thank you, Mark.

Speaker #11: There was a yeah, there was a media article suggesting that we were exploring potential partners in different options with the US or the New York projects.

Speaker #11: If you do go down that path, what would you be looking for in terms of partners? Is it risk sharing of capital? Is there something else that you're looking for in terms of partnerships specifically in the US and in New York?

Speaker #10: No. Essentially, it's that. It's a way of we have like all the time we're looking to you know the transaction. We are sometimes buyers, sometimes potential sellers.

Speaker #10: And we are monitoring the market there. It's a way to optimize the return and share some risk for good projects. I think that that's what we're looking for, essentially.

Speaker #10: We have a good team also for the development and construction and of this. So essentially, this is looking for a partner at the right valuation in this market.

Speaker #11: Can you do that at pre-completion or is this something you want to complete the projects crystallize the ue and then bring in a partner for sell down?

Speaker #10: Yeah. I will not go into these details, but it is a financial optimization process. So it will depend on what the willingness of the potential buyers is to take construction risk or not.

Speaker #10: And see the different value that they are giving to this and then we will look if it's interesting for Boralex or not. And if it is a way forward for us, it fits not, we will be very happy do the project because they have a good return and they are accretive on a free ash flow per share and they are accretive for the company.

Speaker #11: Makes sense. And then you had comment about safe harboring with the transformer investment. Was that done in 2024 or done at some point this year?

Speaker #10: No. It was done this year. I think we had it was three months before May because I remember that it was there was a delay.

Speaker #10: So early 2025, yes.

Speaker #11: Okay. And then just turning to Scotland, can you elaborate a little bit on the impacts of the REMA? Why do you think that's beneficial?

Speaker #11: And then you know, with the battery projects showing up in your advanced pipeline, just the pursuit of more battery projects, right? And how do you sort of see the mix of wind and battery development in the UK playing out over the next couple of years?

Speaker #10: Yeah. The risk of during the REMA consultation, specifically with the former government, there was a risk of some customer-oriented bodies that were lobbying for regional prices in the UK.

Speaker #10: And so prices could go, could be impacted the closer you are to the loads, and all the further you are to the loads, the lower the price would be.

Speaker #10: And this is not what the government has decided for many reasons, because otherwise, it would have impacted a lot the wind in Scotland specifically.

Speaker #10: So that is an important point for us. First of all, and the second point is they want to continue optimize the total cost of power in the UK.

Speaker #10: And definitely, some of the plan of the UK government is to go from 5 gigawatts to 25 gigawatts of storage in the UK because it's a small system compared to continental Europe.

Speaker #10: And in this small system, they need to have more support to the grid. And that's exactly what we are doing with our project, which is called Tofting Hall.

Speaker #10: It's not far away. It's probably 20 kilometers from Lime Kiln. It's in the same area of the grid, and it's an important add-on to the generation.

Speaker #10: And the market in the UK, as you know, is also quite sophisticated in terms of the day-ahead and balancing mechanism. We are, say, playing in this market, and this will give more options to play it with storage and wind at the same time.

Speaker #11: Would you storage returns in the UK are comparable or better than what you'd maybe try to get in Ontario or?

And and again, the on the financing side, uh we have we have always good options in terms of debt refinancing, uh, We've proven uh this this quarter and other previous quarters that uh there's quite a bit of of of different options to uh to leverage other corporate or projects and in terms of. Uh, so essentially we don't expect more Equity needs at the end. It's just a different different options. Different timings for the capital recycling.

Okay, that's great. And then just in regards to France, just giving more pricing is um, it it would there be expectations that these assets could be repowered or or stay on the market market or is the corporate PPA Market robust enough for your thoughts on that.

Yeah, we uh good morning. We had uh, different

Uh, options of reporting that we were already looking at in 2020 and 2021, and some of them have been.

Uh, shelved for a certain period because the the short-term price had been very very good and we have been able to contract shorter price for 2223 2425. Uh, definitely. We are, we are looking to this. We have, for example, bid the project over 100 megawatt in the last 10 or in France, which is uh repowering extension of 1 of these project that we put in service uh in 2005. And that we have extended with very good price, the last year. So so this is something we are uh, dynamically looking at and and monitoring to create the more value as possible.

Just one follow-up on that. So if repowering to the carrier, could you share any estimated cost estimates? Um, on an Omega basis? That's really the theory right now.

Yeah, referring to France. You have to look at that as.

Is 2.5 time. The power of the project that has been a notorious in 2004 and build 2002 and build in 2004, so it's completely different situation.

Uh, what is the real value of repairing is the fact that, uh, we have social acceptability, local community support and relations. Since in this case, 25 years old must and, uh, and that is that is the key point in France.

Obviously, you benefit from an existing grid connection, depending of the factor of power increase. Uh, but you need many times to add another grid connection, so even grid connection is not, uh, always an economy. It has been in some project that we have repowered the last years. Sometimes it's not, but it's a, it's each project. We have to look for and we are monitoring the best time to take the decision of referring.

Hello.

Yeah, that's great for me. All right, thank you.

Okay, thank you. So just, uh, it's in your modeling for per megawatt, you know, it's, it's like a...

It's like a new project. Yeah. But and and what is great, is you go. And you find you, you bid and you obtain the long-term contract at 22 for 20 years. So you can refinance. So we are taking everything into account to be sure that it's a creative uh and and and reducing the risk for the company.

We are not going to proceed with our next question.

And the question is come from the line of Benjamin south from BMO. Please ask a question.

All right, thanks. Good morning. Um, I wanted to touch base. Um,

On the the data center, uh, customer side of things.

For for boralex.

Is there any opportunity to get leverage to that industry?

either through corporate ppas, or

Some sort of sort of bilateral contract.

Yeah, it's it's not the, you know, the main, the main topic that we have commercially presently. I think, as I mentioned, I think in different, uh, uh, Q&A, uh, uh,

There is a lot of big players or people with firm power or working with data center, uh, what it left, a lot of plays for us, uh, because it's, it's, it's increased the demand, uh, on on the system. But, uh, we are not, uh, we're not specifically working on Data Center,

Okay, so it sounds like the company that are our opposition, they have more scale and...

Supplier, and not to say you don't have supplier relationships, but it sounds like it's more the bigger scale player. Their players are better positioned.

Yeah. On the on the scale side it is. It is the case on the on the the the you know, the contractual part uh we have uh we have shown that we have been able to sign many contract the last year's with a very good margin uh on on existing or new assets and I think it's the right strategy for boralex to concentrate on this instead of trying to compete with the big players who have indeed uh uh scale competitive advantage to us.

So, let's focus on price and margins, rather than volume in our case. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. I, I, and thanks for that. I know you. I know you've been, uh,

Discussing the Cane Hydro asset, the reasons for not selling, but I just wanted to.

Maybe expand on this a bit because I haven't been surprised. You didn't go for sale thinking that.

This is probably going to be the best multiple yet in your entire portfolio.

So, I'm, I'm wondering that.

Just given the amount of demand, was this just simply b*******? Had a certain multiple in mind.

and,

It wasn't reached.

Or is there something around some sort of maybe adding a reference to other optimization strategies that could create more value?

Uh, this is, uh, this will continue to operate the assets. Uh, there might be, uh, financing opportunities in the future also to optimize, uh, further. So I think in the end it's a question of timing, uh, of the process and, uh, and valuation. Uh, but we very much believe that these assets should have a higher value than.

Than what, uh, than what we've had during this process. At the same time, we were and are still working on different alternatives for financing. Uh, so we're never short on options, and we'll always take the best options for our shareholders.

We got it. Um, may, may, may, may my last one, uh,

And by the way, we're not going to congratulate you on your next adventure.

Uh, I'm just taking your part. You're probably quite intimate with the strategic plan and building it not too long ago.

Uh, but how does Borax then think about the transition now of a new CFO? And that's related to the plan, which Bruno would have been heavily involved with. Is there enough accountability across all your channels?

They developed a plan that allows for a seamless transition. As such, the new CFO doesn't have to go, and may not feel comfortable with the planner. I may have to recommend changes to it.

No, I think we've, uh, explained and demonstrated that, uh, there's a very clear transition plan. Both Stphane Milot and I, along with the whole management team, have been very intimately involved in preparing this Strategic Plan for 2030.

I'm extremely confident in the ability of the team and the skill sets to, uh, to uh, to execute on this plan and everyone in management in the finance, team worked closely together. So there's no, there's no surprise to be expected, uh, on on that front. This is, uh, this is a plan that will continue to be executed on and, and that doesn't change the, uh, targets. We've, we've put in place.

Exactly. And and I think we have uh Stefan is supervising the fpna since many months now have been involved himself with the fpna team in the the modelisation of of the of the thing kerik is is working as VP Finance for all the financing and has been involved since no years in the different financing. We have done and uh, and so there is no no question around this in the Pascal so that you have seen

Also, I was instrumental in saying, according to all the things with the strategic part of the project. There is a lot of people behind this. So, it's a... it was a...

A bottom up top down, bottom up top down process and I think we have margin and, and, and different ideas of optimization. So as I've mentioned, we will miss Bruno. But we were not alone and we have a strong team with this and, uh, and, you know, we have a, a mid to long term business. So, uh, you can look at our, uh, our growth, um, growth plan, our specific assets that are in the in the growth path and uh, you can see that uh this this is a this is a clear, clear path, uh, and a strategy.

Numbers based on the, uh, the actual projects that we have.

And the plan is based on organic growth, so there should not be...

And there will not be surprises on that front.

Yeah, I can add just 1, 1.1 point ban on, like, you know, when we present our plan.

It's like we have a source and use of funds, and we give a delegation of where we want to go.

But with Bruno, and it will continue with me and with the whole team.

We want to have options. We are always looking ahead. We are evaluating different financing options.

It's not going to track necessarily perfectly year-over-year what has been said. But overall, for the next five years,

We stayed the course, you know, like this is where we're going.

And we always select the option that is the most favorable for the company and the shareholders. So,

Just wanted to add that.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Two weeks ago, your question, please. Press star 1 and 1 again if you wish to ask a question by the webcast. Please type them in the question box and click submit.

We are now going to proceed with our next question.

And the questions come from the line of Robert Hooper from Scotiabank. Please ask a question.

Uh, good morning, and congratulations to Bruno and Stéphane. Um,

questions regarding

Collectibility of 69. Have you considered how the authorization of direct sales will impact the market there? And how will you set up the organization to better interact with large power users in the province?

Yeah, yeah. Essentially we are

we have been already in.

Different conversations with large customers during the last years. Uh,

and uh, because

The reason why there is this part, uh, of the low is because.

Customers and ipps have have been, you know, advocating that it's a way like in France in the UK in the US, uh, to do something directly and that is good for the system. Okay, uh and uh, that's a way to bring power quickly to the system. So I think

This is, this is one thing which is, uh, interesting. So we are already in, in, in relation with some customers and have experience of doing this in, in France specifically, and, and listen to customers, uh,

The the, the demand in Quebec is very high. As you have seen, uh, Hydro Quebec. The plan is, and the low is, is uh, uh, speaking about the 60 terawatt hour, increase of demand, which is really significant increase of demand. Uh, so, so there will be many opportunities for ipps even if Hydro Quebec is working as you know, on larger project but they are working and they are saying that they will continue to work with ipps because we have uh uh experience of doing that uh in in, in other places. So I think it's it will help also Hydro Quebec to uh uh build lines also, which is very important to bring more power on the system and all those things I think are good news at the end for for the industry.

Thank you. That's it for me.

Thank you.

We have no further questions on the phone. I will now hand back to you for any questions. The webcast that you may have. Thank you.

Thanks, everyone, for your attention. Our next conference call to announce third quarter results will be on Friday, November 7, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.

Have a nice day and a nice vacation for those waiting for the end of the quarterly reporting.

Thank you.

Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you, and have a great day.