Talgo, S.A. (BME: TLGO) reported turnover of 375.8 million euros for the first half of 2026 on 21 July, an increase of 39.1 percent on the 270.1 million euros of the same period of 2025, and put its order backlog at a record 6,239 million euros. EBITDA reached 31.7 million euros, a margin of 8.4 percent, or 34.9 million euros and 9.3 percent excluding extraordinary items. Net financial debt stood at 496.9 million euros.

The company confirmed its outlook for the year: revenue between 700 and 800 million euros, contract awards worth 1,500 to 2,000 million euros, and a ratio of net financial debt to EBITDA of 5.5 times. It has already booked 2,149 million euros of new orders, above the top of that award range, and reported EBITDA of 9.8 million euros in the first quarter.

Chairman Jose Antonio Jainaga said the company was taking “firm steps in our commitment to meet the objectives of the fiscal year in this new era at Talgo, focusing mainly on industrial activity, order deliveries and the search for new commercial opportunities”.

Where the orders came from

Three awards account for most of the intake. Saudi Arabia Railways awarded a project to manufacture 20 very high speed trains together with maintenance activity for a total of 1,332 million euros. Talgo announced that contract on 08/02/2026, describing it as adding 1.3 billion euros to the order book and coming from the Saudi ministries of transportation and logistics and of finance through the Spanish consortium responsible for phase II of the Haramain high speed railway between Mecca, Medina and Jeddah. The 20 trains have equivalent characteristics to the 35 the company supplied in 2018, each with two power cars and 13 coaches and 417 seats in two classes. Talgo will maintain a fleet of 55 units until 2033, with the possibility of extending to 2038.

Trafikverket in Sweden awarded a long distance contract worth 756 million euros for day and night trains from the Talgo 230 platform with 10 years of maintenance. In Uzbekistan, UTY awarded maintenance services for its 6 Talgo trains for 10 years, for nearly 80 million euros. The company also put its identified commercial opportunities at 13,600 million euros over the next two years.

On the delivery side, Talgo cited train compositions handed over under additional DSB orders in Denmark, deliveries on schedule under the DB contract in Germany, and manufacturing of the first units of the Flix project.

The dispute that closed in July

On 02/07/2026 Talgo and Renfe settled the Avril S106 project. Under the agreement, 15 of the 30 very high speed trains will be modified so that the whole fleet carries variable gauge technology. The reconfiguration raises by 29 percent the maintenance fee paid to Tarvia, the maintenance joint venture of Talgo and Renfe. The agreement also fixes a schedule for the penalties tied to delivery delays: payments do not begin until 2032, after the maturity of the recently restructured bank debt, and are then spread over the following six years. It sets the conditions for train acceptance, which releases contract payments and guarantees.

What the comparison base looks like

The first half of 2025 was not an ordinary period. Talgo reported revenue of 270.1 million euros then and said revenue would have been 307.6 million euros without an adjustment for a potential reduction in scope on the ICE L project, recorded as lower income. Deutsche Bahn and Talgo were in talks to cut the ICE L fleet from 79 to 60 units, and that reduction together with an agreement ending court proceedings in Los Angeles produced a negative EBITDA adjustment of 40 million euros for the period. Reported EBITDA for the half was negative at 16.5 million euros; without the two items the company put it at 23.4 million euros.

The backlog at that point was 4,967 million euros, itself an all-time high, driven by the Flixtrain award for up to 65 Talgo 230 trainsets with a firm order for 30 and 15 years of maintenance. The company was also restructuring its capital, describing a SEPI-subscribed capital increase and convertible bonds totalling 150 million euros, a new financing structure of 650 million euros with CESCE cover, a credit line of 120 million euros and a guarantee line of 500 million euros, alongside an investment consortium acquiring 29.8 percent from Pegaso Transportation International.

Analysis: two bases for the growth rate, one backlog figure

The 39.1 percent revenue increase is measured against a base of 270.1 million euros, a figure Talgo itself said would have been 307.6 million euros absent the ICE L scope adjustment. A reader comparing industrial output rather than accounting outcomes should hold 375.8 million euros against both numbers and note that the underlying acceleration is smaller than the headline rate. The EBITDA line runs the other way: 31.7 million euros against a negative 16.5 million euros is a swing driven by the absence of last year’s 40 million euro adjustment, while the cleaner comparison, 34.9 million euros against 23.4 million euros on the company’s own adjusted bases, is the one that describes operations.

The order intake is a genuine record and a concentrated one. Of 2,149 million euros booked in the half, the Saudi award alone accounts for 1,332 million euros, and it is a manufacturing plus maintenance package running to 2033 with an extension option to 2038. Backlog moved from 4,967 million euros a year earlier to 6,239 million euros. That is the durable part of the disclosure, because maintenance contracts of 10 and 15 years convert into revenue on schedules that do not depend on new commercial wins.

Two things the release does not settle. The first is the shape of the second half. Half-year revenue of 375.8 million euros sits inside a full-year target of 700 to 800 million euros, so the guidance requires the run rate to hold rather than to accelerate, and the company says turnover will continue to increase in line with project execution. The second is leverage. Net financial debt of 496.9 million euros is disclosed as a point figure, the target ratio of 5.5 times is for the year, and half-year EBITDA is 31.7 million euros. The relationship between those three numbers depends entirely on second-half earnings, and the company has not published the interim figure that would let a reader test it.

The Renfe settlement is the item with the longest tail. It removes an unresolved dispute, converts 15 fixed gauge units into variable gauge trains, lifts the Tarvia maintenance fee by 29 percent, and pushes the delay penalties beyond the maturity of the restructured bank debt to 2032. The cost is real and dated. It is also outside every ratio in the current half-year presentation.

The reporting frame

Article 100 of Ley 6/2023, de 17 de marzo, de los Mercados de Valores y de los Servicios de Inversion requires issuers admitted to trading on a regulated market, where Spain is the home member state, to publish and disseminate a half-yearly financial report for the first six months of the year within three months of the period end, and to keep it available to the public for at least ten years. The report comprises half-yearly financial statements, an interim management report and responsibility declarations on their content. That is the document against which the figures released on 21 July should be read.