Operator
Good morning, and welcome to AUNA's fourth quarter 2025 earnings conference call. My name is Ellie, and I will be your operator for today's call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Please note that this call is being recorded. There will be an opportunity for you to ask a question at the end of today's presentation. Now, I would like to turn the call over to AUNA Maria Mora, Head of Investor Relations. Ma'am, you may now go ahead, please.
Thank you, Operator. Hello, everyone, and welcome to AUNA's conference call to review our fourth quarter and full-year results. Please note that there is a webcast presentation to accompany the discussion during this call. If you need a copy of the presentation, please go to our Investor Relations website or contact AUNA's Investor Relations team. Please note that when we discuss parent test, we will be doing so on a year-over-year basis and in FX-neutral or local currency terms with regard to Mexico and Colombia, unless we note otherwise. Let's move to slide two. In addition to reporting and audited financial results in accordance with international financial reporting standards, we will discuss certain non-IFRS financial measures and operating metrics, including foreign exchange neutral calculations. Investors should carefully read the definitions of these measures and metrics included in our earnings press release of yesterday to ensure that they understand them. Non-IFRS financial measures and operating metrics should not be considered in isolation as a substitute for or superior to IFRS financial measures and are provided as supplemental information only. Before we begin our remarks, please also note that certain statements made during the course of today's discussion may constitute forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current expectations and beliefs, and which are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to materially differ, including factors that may be beyond the company's control. This includes, but are not limited to, our target leverage ratio, the expected resolution of the issues with physicians, suppliers, and information systems in Mexico, the results of the key initiatives we're implementing in Mexico, Colombia, and Peru, the expected capacity and market of Torre Treca when built, the execution of our strategic plan, including the recovery of our growth levels and the rollout of the Aunaway in Mexico, our planned investments in Mexico, expected revenue growth and EBTA guidance, and the creation of further growth and sustainable value for all stakeholders. For a description of these risks, please refer to our Form 20F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and our earnings press release. Slide three, please. On today's call, we have Susa Zamora, our Executive Chairman and President, Giselle Remy, our Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, and Lorenzo Mazart, our Executive Vice President of Strategy and Equity Capital Markets. They will discuss AUNAS Consolidated and Segment Financial and Operating Results for the fourth quarter and full year, and will also provide updates on our various strategic growth initiatives. After that, we will open the call for your questions. Susa, please go ahead.
Thanks, Annie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to review our 2025 results. During the fourth quarter, we stabilized our Mexico operations, which are now on a clear path to sustained top-line and EBITDA growth in 2026. Under the leadership of our new management team in Mexico, we have focused on expanding our reach into the larger segments of privately insured families and furthering our alignment with certain physician groups. These initiatives were implemented late in the year and therefore did not offset the volume losses experienced earlier in 2025 resulting in disappointing results for the year evidence of progress in mexico includes auna being again included in the policies that serve the larger segment of the privately insured markets additional evidence is award for the extension of a healthcare plan to cover on an exclusive basis for most of the services Este León, the social security institution covering all state employees of the state of Nuevo León. During the quarter, Peru continued to outperform and underpin AUNA's overall performance, driven primarily by a strong pricing mix in health care services and a record low medical loss ratio. Peru has operational scale and significant runway for growth. As recently announced, we signed an agreement with eSalud under a public-private partnership framework to refurbish and operate a 600,000-square-foot high-complexity outpatient facility in Lima, expanding access to care for approximately 3 million patients currently served by eSalud. Colombia's results came in line with our objectives to grow yet improve cash flow. with a higher mix of risk-sharing contracts and reduced reliance on intervened payers. These are promising results. Consolidated adjusted net income reached 136 million solids in the quarter, compared with 36 million solids in the same quarter last year. For the four-year, adjusted net income more than tripled to 336 million solids. We also strengthened our unus capital structure during the quarter through the $825 million debt refinancing, which improved our maturity profile and lowered our interest expense. Despite the premiums and costs associated with the refinancing, we maintained our leverage ratio at 3.6 times, supported by a strong free cash flow generation that increased our cash position by 42%. Let's move to our consolidated results on slide 5. Peru's strong performance and Colombia's resilience helped upset last year's setbacks in Mexico, which is now well-positioned for a strong recovery this year. Consolidated revenue grew 6% and FX neutral in the quarter, while adjusted EBITDA declined 14% FX neutral, mainly reflecting Mexico's underperformance, as well as an unfavorable year-over-year comparison in Colombia related to extraordinary items recorded in the prior year quarter. For the full year, revenue grew 4 percent, while EBITDA declined 3 percent. As shown in the bottom half of the slide, capacity utilization in healthcare services decreased 2.3 percentage points to 64 percent, reflecting lower utilization, particularly in Colombia as part of our focus to reduce reliance on the intervened payers. At OncoSalud in Peru, planned memberships increased 4.4%, while the oncology MLR continued to improve, reaching a record low of 48.5%. Let's move to our segment results, beginning with Mexico on slide 7. As we further integrated Opción Oncología, and partly as a result of launching our new Oncocenter at Doctors' Hospital, oncology revenues grew again in the fourth quarter, increasing 35% compared with the previous quarter. Notably, out-of-pocket revenues also increased, reaching 12% of total revenues in Mexico in December. This growth reflects the early stages of Mexico's recovery and helped offset some of the legacy volume and margin pressures related to physician and supplier relationships that we are gradually putting behind us. We expect our oncology growth initiatives to continue gaining traction in 2026 as we further integrate the OncoCenter into our healthcare network in Mexico. market conditions remain soft in mexico affecting the number of surgeries and emergency visits and contributing to a three percent decline in fourth quarter revenues in local currency it is important to note however the revenues were unchanged from the previous quarter reflecting the stabilization of our operations as shown on the right side of the slide On slide, fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA declined 36% and was down 18% for the full year. Lower revenues throughout the year and lower profitability in the last quarter resulted from higher costs and lower margins under our previous healthcare plan with Yiste Leon. On slide eight, we provide an update on the various initiatives underway to get back on track toward achieving these goals. We have strengthened our leadership team in Mexico with a commercial operational and clinical experience and skill set required to lead Mexico and with a reinforced team we have implemented very successful actions that give us confidence we have achieved a turnaround of our operations in Mexico. The team includes a new chief medical officer who is helping deepen physician engagement increase productivity, and improve medical outcomes across our facilities. These actions position as well to resume growth in 2026. The fourth quarter results evidence the turnaround of our operations in Mexico. I highlight the inclusion of our hospital network in the preferred provider tiers, policies covering the larger segments of the privately insured population, and the rollout of various package services to better penetrate several market segments, particularly the out-of-pocket segment. Through targeted pricing initiatives and pre-negotiated physician rates, this high-margin segment reached 12% of revenues in Mexico in December, up from 8% in the third quarter. Corporate and government agencies represent another important opportunity. The most immediate impact of this strategy was the extension of the healthcare plan to cover, on an exclusive basis for most services, ISTE-Leon, the social security institution covering all state employees of the state of Nuevo León, which resulted in a double-digit price increase for the year. We are currently in discussions with other governmental agencies. As mentioned earlier, we moved into the preferred tier with two major insurers, which should produce higher patient volumes going forward. We also signed an agreement with a leading insurer to direct policyholders to owners oncology services through targeted deductible structures and financial incentives. This will help further scale our oncology franchise, including the Oncocenter in Monterrey, where we plan to double the medical staff this year. Physician engagement and productivity continued to grow, and during the quarter, we confirmed volume and margin improvements from approximately 250 physicians who account for about 80% of revenues in the hospital network. These alignment incentives support higher productivity, improved clinical outcomes, and stronger operating performance. Let's turn to slide nine to discuss Peru's performance. Operating at scale, Peru continues to outperform in both revenue and EBITDA. Revenue increased 11 percent during the quarter, driven by growth and high complexity services that lifted the average ticket, as well as higher volume supported by investments in new medical equipment, increased bed capacity, and targeted marketing initiatives. On the insurance side, OncoSalud's revenues grew 10%, supported by a 4% increase in plan memberships and annual price adjustments. Oncology's MLR also declined 4.4 percentage points to 48.5%, reflecting a sixth consecutive quarterly decrease in the MLR. This improvement was driven by a combination of higher tickets and continued moderation in pharmaceutical costs. Total adjusted EBITDA increased 14% in the quarter and 14% for the full year. As we further penetrate Peru's healthcare market and expand relationships, we expect this segment of our regional platform to remain an important driver of growth going forward. Now let's move to Colombia on slide 10. During the quarter, we constrained our services to government-intervened payers and thus effectively managed the risks posed by them in our accounts receivable, and this resulted in a healthy cash cycle in Colombia. In addition, we expanded risk-sharing models such as PGPs, which grew four percentage points to represent 21% of segment revenue. Higher tickets in surgeries and emergency treatments more than offset lower volumes, supported by growth in chemotherapy and imaging. in addition serving the patient population of new payer and the expansion of pgps contributed to a six percent increase in columbia's revenue for the quarter for the full year revenue increased four percent mainly driven by higher tickets the decreases in adjusted EBITDA and margins shown on the right side of the slide reflect an unfavorable comparison with the fourth quarter of 2024 which benefited from extraordinary price adjustments and the year-end recognition of
procurement rebates that concludes my review of the quarter and the year i will now turn the call over to gisette who will discuss our results in greater detail thank you suso as the graphs show on slide 12, the diversity of AUNA's regional platform enabled us to deliver 6% revenue growth in the quarter and 4% for the year. Looking at the quarter, the 11% growth in Peru and 6% growth in Colombia offset the 3% decline in Mexico, where we have achieved steadier results in the operations. And although demand in the country remains soft, our business there has established a strong foundation for profitable growth this year and beyond as suso explained earlier now let's please turn to slide 13. fourth quarter adjusted ebitda decreased 14 percent in fx neutral to 220 million sueles with the margin contracting 4.5 percentage points to 19.5%. Margin expansion and EBITDA growth in our Peru business was more than offset by Mexico's margin decline related to the mix of services and specialties, our previous health care plan to cover East León, and our efforts to improve the operation in Mexico through the adjustments to our leadership and new IT systems. Also contributing to our EBITDA decline in the quarter was a higher proportion of risk-sharing contracts in Colombia, as well as the rebates recognized in the fourth quarter of last year in Colombia, which created an unfavorable year-over-year comparison. When excluding extraordinary impacts in both periods, Colombia's EBITDA would have been relatively flat in the fourth quarter 2025 versus the fourth quarter 2024. Slide 14, please. For the year, adjusted EBITDA remained relatively flat, decreasing 3% in FX neutral to 917 million soles with margin decreasing 1.7 percentage points to just under 21 percent. The trend in EBITDA was largely due to the same reasons that I explained for the fourth quarter.
Let's now move to slide 15.
Our adjusted net income increased more than three times in the fourth quarter, aided by non-cash FX gains. On this slide, we break down the year-over-year change. Starting at the left of the bridge is operating income. The 46 million soles decrease was primarily driven by Mexico's underperformance in the quarter, as well as the extraordinary pricing that Colombia benefited from in last year's quarter. The positive 71 million soles non-cash FX variance is primarily related to the appreciation of the Peruvian sol against the U.S. dollar outside the range of the previous call spreads we had in place. The 154 million soles delta in net interest expenses that you see in the middle of the bridge was mainly due to 170 of extraordinary expenses related to our refinancing, including not only the tender premiums paid, but also non-cash accounting impacts of derivative unwinds and derivative rollovers in order to effectively hedge the newly issued instruments, as well as the recognition of the unamortized costs of the previous term loan, which was repaid. These impacts are also a part of the 187 million soles in extraordinary items and adjustments, along with the incentive payments related to the Opción Oncología doctors. The 41 million soles in less income taxes are related to negative pre-tax profit in the quarter due to the extraordinary refinancing impacts, which resulted in an income tax credit. Slide 16, please. For the year, adjusted net income grew thanks to greater financial discipline and the steps we took to improve AUNA's debt structure. The 158 million soles decrease in operating profit was driven primarily by Mexico's aforementioned stabilization. The 235 million soles difference in FX reflects a positive non-cash amount of 193 million in 2025 compared to a negative 42 million soles impact in 2024 and is related to the appreciation of the Peruvian sol as I explained before. It is important to note that following the refinancing, we have adjusted the range on the Peruvian Sol call spread hedges closer to current FX levels, which means we will likely not see these swings in 2026. The 62 million Soles increase in net interest expense was mainly driven by the extraordinary expenses related to the refinancing. Importantly, excluding net finance costs from exchange rate differences, as well as extraordinary refinancing costs, net finance costs would have been 459 million soles in the full year 2025 and 561 million soles in the full year 2024, representing a decrease of 102 million soles or 18.2%. The 205 million in non-cash and extraordinary items mostly reflects the partial repayment of the 2029 notes but also a 24 million soles adjustment to business development expenses in the first quarter of 2025 that was related to payments to the Opción Oncología doctors. Lastly on this slide, the 29 million soles increase in income tax simply reflects higher pre-tax profit in 2025. The 2025 effective tax rate was unfavorably impacted by the refinancing exercise in the fourth quarter. When excluding the impacts of the refinancing, our effective tax rate would have been largely in line with statutory rates and within our target range of 35 to 40%. Let's now move to the cash flow bridge on slide 17. Free cash flow grew 35% to 582 million soles while our year-end cash position increased 42% to 335 million soles. This means we have adequate funds to continue investing in our strategic growth initiatives in Mexico and Peru. Pre-tax operating cash flow increased nearly two percent on improved cash conversion. Organic maintenance capex was 145 million sueles, or 3.3 percent of revenues. This mostly included 86 million sueles of infrastructure capex, 51 million sueles for the implementation of SAP and hospital information systems in Monterrey and 15 million soles of the OCA holdback obligations. Free cash flow also benefited from 76 million soles of cash resulting from a rebalancing of a UNAS Seguros investment portfolio. The 454 million soles in interest paid, which net of refinancing fees would have been 407 million soles, reflects an almost 90 million soles decrease versus the 498 million soles in interest paid in the 12-month period of 2024, also net of extraordinary items. This represents a material reduction in interest expense with increased interest coverage, leaving AUNA in a solid position to continue deleveraging into 2026 off the back of growing cash flows and reduced interest expenses. Now a few words about AUNA's new debt structure on slide 18. Our $825 million equivalent debt refinancing has significantly reinforced our own capital structure by reducing interest expense, extending our maturity profile, increasing short-term liquidity, and as a result, freeing up a material portion of short-term revolving credit facilities. I'd like to point out again that when excluding premiums and expenses resulting from the 2025 refinancing, we have successfully generated cash after interest payments in 2025 and are well positioned to increase that cash generation in 2026. Finally, all of the aforementioned impacts have moved us closer to achieving our target leverage ratio of three times net debt to EBITDA in the medium term. That concludes my review. I'll now turn the call back to Suso, who would like to wrap up our presentation before we open the call for questions.
Thank you, Giselle. Let me close with a few key takeaways. We began 2026 well-positioned both operationally and financially. Our new leadership team in Mexico has a clear path to growth, While the risk mitigation measures in Colombia continue to protect our cash cycle, and where Peru continues to underpin our own vertically integrated platform, demonstrating the strength and predictability of our business model at scale. The addition of initiatives, such as the Central Ambulatorio, TRECA, will further expand our addressable market and improve and highlight the significant growth opportunities that remain, as do our PGP growth in Colombia and as do the East Leon Healthcare Plan Award in Monterrey. In Colombia, we will continue to diversify away from intervened payers and prioritize cash flows through PGP arrangements. We expect Mexico to recover in 2026, regaining volumes and margins. The team has increased AUNA's accessibility to more policyholders and coverage plans, be it with private insurance companies, employer groups, or eStilium. Finally, we enter the year with stronger liquidity and the financial flexibility needed to execute our growth strategy. Before turning to guidance, And as trading volumes strengthen our commercial and operational initiatives in high complexity gain traction, we expect AUNA's share price to more fully reflect the intrinsic value of our platform. We will continue to strengthen our engagement with the investment community to further the understanding of what AUNA is and can be in the future. Finally, let's turn to guidance on slide 20. Taking into account expected market conditions this year, our stronger position in Mexico, and AUNA's strengthened capital structure, we expect adjusted EBITDA to increase 12% FX neutral, supported by disciplined cost management and ongoing investments in our strategic growth initiatives. We are also projecting revenue growth of 12%, driven by sustained commercial momentum and operational execution. Finally, we expect CAPEX to remain at approximately 4% of revenue as we continue balancing growth investments with cash flow generation. With that, we will open the call for questions. Thank you very much.
Operator
Thank you. At this time, we will open the floor for question and answer sessions. As a reminder, please, you can also submit your questions online by using the Q&A function of the webcast platform. Your first question comes from the line of Arthur Alves of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open.
Good morning, Suso, Gisele, Lorenzo, and everybody else on the call. Thank you for taking your questions. We wanted to explore a little bit more your guidance, and if you're able to break down a little bit more by region or by business line, what are your growth and end-to-day expansion in each line? We would assume that a Mexico recovery is what drives most of this improvement year But if so, shouldn't we expect a little bit more on the margin side, especially since um revenues and and just a bit uh uh guidance imply flat margins but if mexico is recovering and this is a fixed business uh uh segment of the company shouldn't expect a little bit more in the a bit of growth versus the revenue growth and a second question also on the guidance what what are the risks uh to your 2026 guidance where where do you think things could could potentially
go wrong and and how are you assessing that thank you hello thank you um and good morning everybody and thank you for that call let me um um it's a lot it's a long um question and it's a long response let me let me address it in the following way you know um first of all on mexico no um So Mexico is off to a solid start for the year, you know, in line with our expectations and the part of everything we've done in 2025. So I see January and February 2026 versus 2025 metrics, you know, improved in various different lines. I mean, surgeries are up in single-digit growth. Emodynamics are up double-digit growth. And, of course, in oncology, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, in the double- to triple-digit growth, you know, and, of course, extremely high in comparison to last year because we did not have opcional oncology, I know. We see an occupancy utilization in Mexico, you know, also trending up. I see it in February. I'm reaching 41%. So overall, results in Mexico, revenues are up on high single digits versus the same last period. Of course, Iseleon is just kicking up its volume. So I'm excited about this. With respect to margin, and I'll get the guidance, but with respect to margin, you did also comment on that. So, Mexico's EBITDA margin reflects a mix of services and specialties that I'm referring to 2025. As we see 2026, with the extension of Viceno de León, with the preferred provider status now, and with all our cost containment strategies that we've mentioned as well in the earnings release, we see higher volumes and margin gains in 2026. Now, of course, as mentioned before, we see interesting and very promising growth in oncology. And of course, those are businesses that we have cost containment. And then with respect to guidance, to finish off the question, first of all in terms of what could prevent or delay our achievement guidance I think last year we didn't feel comfortable because there were many externalities and that's why we didn't provide guidance the political heads in Colombia the issues we had in Mexico as well today given all the plans and all the way we've affronted these challenges and made them into opportunities, I think we're very confident in the stability of the business and the outlook, and we feel very comfortable with the guidance. The main variables remain, of course, the pace of volume covering Mexico. We see that growing, as I mentioned before. The macroeconomic conditions in operating markets, definitely, but we see Mexico pretty stable in that front. And, of course, certain dynamics affecting payers that I think might even benefit us. I think with Peru continuing to perform strongly, Mexico way on its way to recovery, I'm very confident that guidance is achievable. I don't know, Ajise, would you want to compliment anything on this more open-ended question?
Sure, Susa. Thank you. Thank you for the question. Perhaps what I would compliment there is kind of what's that mix behind the guidance from a country perspective and what are we expecting from margins is that I think normally when we set out our growth targets, it's very well balanced across the three geographies. So we are expecting solid growth from all three geographies off the back of all the strategic initiatives that we mentioned in the call. And in the case of margins, specifically when we talk about Mexico, as we noted in the call, the fourth quarter impacts had an impact on the fourth quarter margin, but we will see that margin recovering in the case of Mexico going into the first quarter of 2026 and the rest of the year, you know, from that fourth quarter level, right? So we will see both a mix of EBITDA growth across the three geographies, as well as all the strategic initiatives that we're taking in the case of Mexico also to contain costs and to finally increase volumes, which obviously will have a favorable impact on margin as And I think just to finalize, and we're not given guidance like country, you know, at At a certain moment, we might consider that, definitely.
But right now, just directionally, as I project the company five years out, I think Mexico and Peru will be the motors of the company. Colombia will be diminished because of the growth of Mexico and Peru. It's a critical part of our strategy in Colombia, but because of the scale, the cost efficiency it has that we take to the other two countries. But the growth opportunities in Mexico and in Peru as well continue to be the most important sources for growth in the next five years. Thank you.
That's very clear. Thank you.
Operator
Hello, everyone. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. That's star followed by one on your telephone keypad. We will pause for a brief moment to wait for the questions to come in. your next question comes from the line of giovanni vescovi of jp morgan your line is now open hello team can you hear me yes probably okay perfect uh so thank you for taking my question
to giselle and lorenzo uh my question regards to torre trecca which have seen some updates recently but i wanted to know more color more details in terms of margins revenue contribution and if the company already has a set date with the opening of the project maybe third quarter, fourth quarter of 2028 if I'm not mistaken and in terms, just for a recap on the Estelion price increase, you guys are expecting the double digit price increase for 2026, is this correct?
And that's it Thank you Thank you very much Thank you very much, Giovanni So going with the last question first, yes, it is for all of 2026. It's a much better award than we've had in the past. It allows us to control also prescription and devices. So I'm seeing qualitatively and quantitatively. It's a much improved contract. I think we're going to deliver great service to them, And we're going to also have attractive margins from a large contract, the largest contract you can get with respect to a counterparty like the state in the state of Nuevo León. So, yes, it is for all of 2026. And then with respect to Torre Treca, so this has to be viewed as a very attractive opportunity for AUNA. I want to step back and make sure the investor community understands. Aona is a healthcare player that has been very successful in B2B relationships with an insurance company, of course, large collective employers or groups, and then in Peru particularly with B2C. The biggest market, when you project out the next 10 years, is the B2G segment, state being the large payer for certain services. You have that everywhere in the world, and you have it as a very attractive segment in Peru, and particularly in Mexico as well. So this contract is also foundational for our development for the B2G segment. So Torre Treca, we don't want to call it Torre Treca anymore, we want to call it ambulatory center, Treca, is an ambulatory center that will deliver 3 million services for the salud population. ESALUD is Peru's social security system, and it's an ambulatory center that's very focused on few services, those that ESALUD has limitations to provide, with a very well-known and very stable system of payments through E-Salud, which are the issuance of some certificates for the operation every month and for the construction. As we make progress, the E-Salud will issue these certificates. They're easily discountable in the market. There are an implicit risk of the Republic of Peru, and there's no risk of payment. It's a system of private-public partnerships that works in Peru and has been proven for the last, I think, over 10 years. So there's no risk in payment.
The contract is very solid and very focused, as I said, in very few services, six services, six clinical services, scaled.
And yes, this will commence operation in the second semester of 2028. you know um and um i don't i can't i can't i don't i can't give numbers um and and um i think right now what we see is that um um will represent you know something like 20 25 percent of our business in peru you know at maturity so it is a significant business and then more importantly qualitatively it's a segment in which we have not been there people um people um sometimes i'm talking to me about you know the the private sector in um in health care in peru and the size of it and it's growing but it's growing it's not growing as fast as the other segments no but this is this is a substantial new opportunity for for auna uh in a major scale you know um serving the principal you know a payer in peru so it's a very important uh opportunity for for auna no doubt i don't know do you say if you want to add anything if i forgot if i forgot any parts of the question uh no so i think it's very clear.
I would just reinforce the point for the audience's benefit that the construction expenditures are reimbursed through progress certificates paid by Salud, which significantly reduces any capital risk that AUNA is exposed to. So it's fully funded.
And we're not the first public-private partnership in Peru that has this system.
Operator
So this is something we're we're taking on that works and has been working as i indicated before for years in peru thank you perfect thanks very much thank you there are no more questions from the phone lines so i will now turn to call over to anna maria mora from aona who will proceed with questions from the webcast platform thank you operator good morning everyone let me begin with the questions from the webcast.
Some of them have already been answered. I would still like to acknowledge them. So, and in case detail ensues, I would like to mention something else regarding the questions, the answers, please go ahead. Otherwise, I can move on. So, the first one is from Joaquin Riesco, and his question is, can you guys please detail more into the Torreteca treka project financing operating what is your view there and the second one it's related to break as well comes from julio lam he is a graduate from university at the pura thanks for the presentation i have a question related if you have expected capex that you will invest in torre treka this year and the next one and if it exists is it possible to watch it So maybe just quickly to reiterate, given that there are two questions, again, Centro Ambulatario Tereca, it's structured under a concession framework.
So predictable revenues, supported by minimum guaranteed payments from a salud.
As Jesus said, construction expenditures, they're all reimbursed by these progress certificates you mentioned.
This reduces capital risk. This is very much related to the large unmet demand for outpatient services in Lima. So we're taking a huge chunk of these unmet demand for outpatient services in Lima, and in a very de-risked way. Of course, as we make progress, we'd be happy to share the milestones that we're reaching. and with respect to, and if it exists, is it possible to watch it? I mean, of course, it's a tower that exists already. It hasn't been finished, and we will be refurbishing and finishing it. So, yes, of course, and we'll make sure that we post some photographs and some images of the insides and outside of what, as we progress, and maybe some virtual tours as well. Let's jot that one down, Annie, please. Thank you.
Thank you, Suso. The next question then would come from Christian Tessy. What is the expected CAPEX for 2026 and for 2027 and 2028? I recall you have mentioned an expansion of the business. What would be the expected CAPEX there?
Thank you, Ani. Yeah, so to give you a little bit more color on on capex as sus already mentioned our guidance for the year is approximately four percent of revenues so very much in line with what we've seen in previous years and that capex will be allocated to maintenance investments both across medical equipment as well as infrastructure It also includes our technology investments as we continue with systems implementations across Mexico as well as Colombia, and the rest of our recurring CapEx investments. We're not giving any specific guidance further on into 27 or 28, but as was mentioned in the question, we should expect investment for the expansion of our Lima network to begin in 2027, and we will give the market more information into that as the year progresses.
Maybe any important, with respect to Giselle's last comment, so Lima is reaching high levels of occupancy. And as we contend with that, we see ourselves considering certain options to expand urban ecosystem healthcare in Lima in 27 and 28. Thank you.
Thank you, Suso. The next question comes from Christian Tessy. When do you expect When do you expect to happen that Mexico total occupancy rate reached 40%?
Yeah. Thank you very much for that question. So, as I mentioned in a previous answer, I believe we're already at 41%. We're already at 41%. I've seen certain days, especially in doctor's hospital, our main higher complexity facility in Monterrey at a much higher rates of that. So again, I'm optimistic. We are already above 40. We're at 41%, and we continue to see some potential for growing that, of course, during the whole year.
Thank you, Susanne. The next question comes from Gerard Ford. Hi. Regarding Colombia, what conditions are required for provisions to be reversed? Could this materialize beginning in first half of 2026?
Thank you, Gerard, for the question. As we've previously mentioned to the market, our provisions are based on an expected loss model, and that is the case for all three of the geographies. Specifically, in the case of Colombia, within that expected loss model, there is separated methodology for the intervened entities. We continue to provision according to the expected loss model. And we think that even though this does not reflect a view on that we will not be able to collect on those accounts, it does permit us to de-risk the balance sheet and de-risk future results. We do not expect to have any reversions in impairments of accounts receivable in the first half of 2026.
The next question comes from Alexander Lewis, and also I'm going to bundle that with the question from Temo Tarrago, and this relates to the SOGITS MOU. Can you provide any update on the SOGITS MOU?
Great. Well, we actually had a meeting in the last few weeks in Mexico and elsewhere with Sojic on various alternatives. I think we're not ready to inform anything to the market, but I think we're getting traction there. I do think that we need to focus in the future, as we have in the past, to grow inorganically. And Sojit is offering an attractive potential capital increase that will sustain our growth in Mexico in particular. So we'll bring that back, but it is related to Mexico and how to allocate more dollars to Mexico and grow Mexico. So, well, and once we have it a little more built and defined with SOGIES, it would definitely bring it back to the investor community. That would be Temel Tarrago's question on SOGIES. I don't know, I think that's the situation there. Anything else?
Correct. No, nothing to add on my own.
So, moving along, the next question comes from Antonio Cardoso, and it relates to our debt. So what's the all-in-cost debt after the refinancing?
Thank you for that question. First of all, it's important to note that we, you know, after the refinancing exercise, which we executed last year, we increased the proportion of direct local currency funding, which now leaves us, as was mentioned during the call, with 56% of our total debt in direct local currency funding, and the remaining 44% of the debt is in U.S. dollar-denominated debt. However, that U.S. dollar-denominated debt is 85% hedged to the Peruvian soil via derivatives. As you will recall, our all-in rate, which again obviously reflects a mix of currencies and where rates are in each one of the three geographies. Our blended rate in 2025 was closer to approximately 12.5% with the old debt structure and as a product of the refinancing and now also including the new derivatives which have been put in place to hedge the new debt structure, that rate has dropped over 100 basis points. And that's from a blended perspective, including all of our debt, both short and long term.
Thank you, Gise. The next question comes from Facundo Turconi, and it's also related to cash flows. Facundo Turconi says, congratulations on the strong 2025 finish. Now that the company has officially reached a positive free cash flow inflection point and is guiding for 45 million USD in free cash flow for 2026, how is the board prioritizing capital allocation?
Specifically, given that the stock is trading significantly below its book value is there any internal discussion regarding a shared buyback program once the leverage ratio hits the 3x target that's a good um a good question for and thank you for that um i don't have a precise answer but um at the board we've been discussing the best use of capital and the different alternative allocations that we have. I think it's important to note that I think we mentioned in the earnings release, the stock has underperformed dramatically. We believe because of the selling pressure from a very large shareholder that now is officially no longer a shareholder and sold their position. So we believe that the share, given that there's no significant selling pressure from anybody, I think the stock will trade much better and closer to its book value, certainly not. But to be clear, the board has discussed, has analyzed, you know, share buyback programs. We think that given that this selling pressure has been solved, I'm not certain it would be a high priority. I think a higher priority would be to use the balance sheet once it's been below three to continue to grow at, you know, the rates that we've grown in the past, particularly in Mexico. In Mexico, we have a very rich um pipeline of growth opportunities um high complexity higher margin higher margin opportunities that's where we need to put um the money um to produce um i believe more appreciation in the stock price would you like to do you say um compliment my response yeah just to compliment Susan and Suso on the first part of the question with reference to free cash flow and what our expectations are.
While we have not specifically given any guidance related to free cash flow, as Suso already mentioned, we've given strong guidance with reference to revenues and EBITDA growth, which will obviously have a direct impact in free cash flow generation in 2026. and additional to this as we continue our disciplined working capital management as well as I already mentioned around the capex numbers which in 2026 will continue to be close to historical levels and limited to maintenance and IT investments we expect to see growth in in free cash flow also in line with with what we're guiding for for revenues and EBITDA. And given that, as I already mentioned, we've materially reduced interest expense, this does generate a virtuous cycle as far as deleveraging. So I do want to emphasize the point that the company already showed in 2025 that we were able to generate cash flow after interest payments and this will only grow going into 2026 permitting us to continue to deliver and um get closer to that three times net debt sweep it's our target thank you um okay the next question comes from thank you me one second here um the next question comes from joaquin barro um hello thank
you for this question. How are you planning the ramp up in occupancy in Mexico and the margins to come back up to 30 percent? What is the normalized level of occupancy you're looking for in 2026? Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Joaquin. So, these two levers of occupancy and margins, we manage particularly through mix, higher complexity mix. Of course, one can fill a hospital much faster, but with much lower margins. So we're very careful of that. But to fill a hospital and to maintain higher margins means to have a higher mix of higher complexity. And that's how we plan to manage the ramp-up of Alcambesina in Mexico. and, of course, the recovery of the margins. I think very importantly, I do want to say volume and volume growth is a foundation in which everything else comes, even higher complexity and margins, of course. So being in these much larger healthcare plans throughout Monterrey gives us a huge improvement in a total with our sole market with respect to the private policies. That will produce volume growth, and then the mix will produce the margin recovery. We have a very clear plan for 2026 to recover at least a couple points of the margin contraction that we have implemented it to make sure that we have a growing volume of all our services and treatments in our hospital network. So, I don't think we're giving guidance on the occupancy level, Gise. I definitely think that 40-41% that we have today is a really good base. We're going to be growing that. We're definitely going to be growing that. I don't know, Gise, should we comment on the occupancy in Mexico?
I would simply add SUSO both from an occupancy as well as a margin perspective. I would like to remind the market, as SUSO already said, that we have successfully been awarded the extension for the East Eleon Healthcare Plan with very improved economics. It's six o'clock. We are starting the year with preferred provider status with two major insurers. Cost containment strategies have been an integral part of the discussion with payers to secure the preferred provider status, and this will have a direct impact on the increase of volumes in 2026, as well as margin gains. And finally, as Susil already mentioned, in the first few months of 2026, we have continued to see growth across several services and utilization normalizing, as well as the cost-based stabilizing. So, therefore, we expect to gradually recover during 2026.
Thank you, Jesus. The next question comes from Constanza Ormeneta.
Could you please detail how IFTTT hurt your performance in Mexico in the Q4 and how this plant extension will be an improvement for 2026? great thank you constanza so um basically the improvement on the on the award of the east the contract for 2026 is related to um first of all we increased price to 30 percent and um we have and we included the agreement that we control the the pharma and the um device and prescription in the less critical for cost containment and of course for the increases in prices for margin for better margins now the end of the quarter on this con on this award on the previous award of 2025 was mainly affected by higher complexity you know volume in in that in that award you know that of course reduced margins but at a set price it was set in 2025 of course it reduced margins so i think um the 30 percent more than covers you know a very healthy margin for us with a large um insurer indirect insurer so we're very excited about what has occurred and and our relationship with the visa loan is every day much more intimate and much more and and and the and the nps we're getting from from the um the beneficiaries is very positive i think that's going to be a growing contract in the future a growing award in the future thank you suso we only have time for uh one or two more questions i realize the time is up So, the next question comes from Joaquin Barro.
I've noticed high impairment losses on trade receivables, not only in Colombia, but in Peru. Can you give us more color in this?
Yes, thank you for the question, Joaquin. I think we talked a little bit about the impairment losses in Colombia in the previous question, so I'll address the ones in Peru. The first thing I'd like to highlight is that it's very important to note that accounts receivable days in Peru have improved in the third and fourth quarter of 2025. And we expect to continue on that trend during 2026 as a product of several process and systems initiatives which we are rolling out specifically in the accounts receivable cycle. The higher impairment in the case of Peru in 2025 is more related to specific conciliations with some payers from previous years related to services around 2024 where we have had some specific negotiations related to those specific services, especially as a product of technology changes that have occurred in the insurance companies, as well as on our end, which led to a lag in recovering those accounts. And that's what impacted the impairment impact in Peru, specifically in 2025. It's a much more isolated effect, and we will be basically working on those conciliation impacts during the quarters of 2026. we should not expect to see impairment increase versus the 2020 to 2025 levels.
Thank you, Gise. And I do think we have time for one more question. And this question comes from Cesar Piedra. Peru continues to be the main growth driver for the group.
How much of that performance do you see as a structural versus temporary, whether for pricing mix or unusually favorable conditions so I feel I'm very comfortable in representing the Peru is a very solid and consistent part of own no so I'm a very predictable for us So, it's difficult for me to put Peru's performance with temporary or any, you know, unusual considerations. I think Peru works pretty much like clockwork, you know, with a model that's very mature, with brands, and the medical staff is very well known. And our integrated insurance business, we manage for an MLR, and again, that produces a lot of predictability. So, no, besides some upside from Treka and some other things in the future, I think it's a very stable operation with very few risks for surprises of any sort.
Thank you, Suso. This was our time for questions. and now I will leave it to you for your closing remarks.
Well, thank you very much, everybody. We know it's been a difficult year in 2025 for AUNA. We've done the work. It's been a year of introspection. It's been a year of a lot of internal work. We have built the foundations for continued and recovered growth for 2026 and onwards. I want to thank the investment community for supporting us and our mandate to transform healthcare in Latin America. Thank you again.
Operator
This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect. Goodbye.
