Tubacex has warned that, if geopolitical instability continues for the rest of 2026 and continues to generate uncertainty in project award and execution schedules, it will analyze "different scenarios" due to the risk that the Abu Dhabi plant may have to suspend its activity due to raw material supply problems.
Furthermore, given "fewer sales and less activity," as was the case until March, the company does not rule out "temporary flexibility measures" for the workforces of the entire group, although "no decision has been made, pending how events unfold."
These reflections were made by the CEO of the Basque group, Josu Imaz, in a meeting with journalists prior to the shareholders' meeting held this Thursday in Bilbao. At this meeting, the proposal for shareholder remuneration corresponding to the 2025 financial year was approved, totaling 6.4 million euros, in line with Tubacex's dividend policy, which maintains a 'pay-out' of 40% on adjusted net profit.
Imaz was accompanied by the Chairman of Tubacex, Manuel Moreu, who clarified that, although they face the rest of the year with "concern," they also do so "with hope" thanks to their differential assets and their "better positioning in high value-added businesses such as corrosive gas production piping, the aerospace, nuclear, subsea, or defense sectors."
Moreu emphasized that, despite the persistent uncertainty and that what will happen "even Trump doesn't know," the Basque company "maintains a solid portfolio and a robust 'pipeline' in strategic segments, with a particular emphasis on high value-added solutions and applications linked to energy security, the energy transition, and high-specification industry."
Regarding the Abu Dhabi plant, where Tubacex operates through the 'joint venture' TBX Nexxia, the first industrial platform in the Middle East focused on advanced tubular solutions for corrosion-resistant alloys, Imaz recalled that its full operational status was announced this very month.
The local finishing and threading plant, backed by the sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and with long-term contracts with the state oil company ADNOC, is "operating normally" and shows "quite normal functioning," Imaz indicated. However, he acknowledged that events in the region over the last three months have had "a certain impact on logistics and operations."
In this context, he specified that the plant "has a risk" associated with the need to "ensure the continuity of the supply of its raw material, which is manufactured in our European plants."
After confirming that they have "a safety stock" with which "we are currently operating," he explained that Tubacex is working "intensely to find alternative logistical routes to ensure that all this ongoing product, which is in transit, arrives on time at the Abu Dhabi plant so that there are no disruptions."
As he emphasized, if the current conflict in Hormuz continues until the end of the year, "the plant will clearly have an interruption," since "it is unthinkable that an industrial project can have raw material for a year."
NO FORECAST FOR YEAR-END 2026
When asked about a possible update to the forecasts for the end of 2026, Imaz stated that "we still see that closing as far off, because the level of uncertainty is such that we have to be very cautious and prudent because it is proving to be a difficult year."
Along these lines, he recalled that the first-quarter data already reflected "clear pressure on sales, but we cannot venture to give forecasts about the year-end under these conditions."
For his part, President Manuel Moreu pointed out that "whenever there is a process of project retention and the initiation of purchase orders for a few years, the moment there is a slight release of pressure, the market quickly returns to normal, as happened after the pandemic," for which reason they are "optimistic."
AGREEMENTS AT THE BOARD MEETING
The general meeting, held in Bilbao, approved the new remuneration policy for the board of directors for this fiscal year and the next two, until 2028, as well as the individual annual accounts of Tubacex corresponding to 2025, along with those of the consolidated Group and their management reports, referring to the fiscal year ended December 31.
A capital increase has also been approved, free of charge, with a maximum reference market value of 7.5 million euros to "implement" the optional dividend system "Tubacex Flexible Remuneration" and the reduction of share capital "through the amortization of own shares in the context of the free capital increase".
The board has supported the ratification and appointment of Rafael Martín de Bustamante; Xabier Sagredo; Iván Martén Uliarte; Isabel López Paños, and Cristina Álvarez as independent directors for the statutory term of four years, and of Ángel Soria as a shareholder-appointed director for the same period. Likewise, the number of members of the Board of Directors has been set at twelve.
During the meeting, Tubacex presented the 2025 balance sheet, "a year marked by a complex market environment, with a lower level of global activity, pressure on lower value-added products, unfavorable evolution of the average nickel price and dollar depreciation," as detailed by Imaz.
Despite this scenario, the Group closed 2025 with sales of 719.3 million euros, 6.3% less than in 2024, and an adjusted Ebitda of 105.8 million euros, practically in line with the previous year. The adjusted EBITDA margin reached 14.7%, compared to 13.9% in 2024, mainly due to the greater weight of the premium product mix, operational discipline, and the contribution of strategic projects.
The CEO emphasized that 2025 was "a year of transition in which Tubacex has strengthened its profile as a more global, more technological industrial company, better positioned in highly technically demanding businesses".
Following this, Imaz indicated that Tubacex faces 2026 "with a clear roadmap, focused on cash generation, improving return on capital, and disciplined resource allocation, as we are operating in an environment still marked by geopolitical uncertainty, tariff pressure, and lower short-term commercial visibility".
According to what has been specified, this situation "demands prudence and rigor in execution", but it does not modify the Group's structural potential nor its main objective, which is "to convert activity into cash, drive profitable growth and continue building a more competitive, more efficient and better-positioned Tubacex to capture high value-added opportunities where we are present", since, it has concluded, "we now have a solid position in the energy sector, with premium solutions and strategic clients worldwide".