Finning International Q1 2026 Earnings Report

Finning International EPS Results

• Actual EPS: C$1.02
• Consensus EPS: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Finning International Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $2.50 billion
• Expected Revenue: N/A
• Beat/Miss: N/A
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Finning International Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q1 2026
• Date: 5/12/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

Finning International (TSE:FTT) Inc is a dealer and distributor of heavy-duty machinery and parts of the Caterpillar brand. The company sells and rents Caterpillar machinery to the mining, construction, petroleum, forestry, and power system application industries. Finning International further provides parts and services for equipment and engines to its customers via its owned distribution network and buys and sells used equipment domestically and internationally after reconditioning or rebuilding the machinery. The company operates in Canada, South America, UK and Ireland, and others.

Finning International Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Finning reported its strongest Q1 adjusted EPS of CAD 1.02, with revenue of CAD 2.5 billion and adjusted EBIT comparable to last year excluding one-time severance costs.
• Positive Sentiment: Product support revenue rose 6% globally and 13% in Canada, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth and reinforcing the company’s focus on a larger installed base.
• Positive Sentiment: Backlog hit a record CAD 3.8 billion, up 32% year over year and 20% sequentially, supported by strong order intake in mining, construction, and power and energy.
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlighted strength in Canada mining and emerging opportunities in Argentina and power/data centers, including a large Codelco dynamic energy transfer trial and growing interest in prime power for data centers.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company continued to invest in growth while keeping leverage and shareholder returns in check, with net debt to adjusted EBITDA at 1.6x, a 7.4% dividend increase, and ongoing share buybacks under an active NCIB.

Presentation

[Operator]

Thank you for standing by. This is the conference operator. Welcome to the Finning International Inc. Q1 2026 investor call and webcast. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Analysts who wish to join the question queue may press star then one on their telephone keypad. Should you need assistance during the conference call, you may reach an operator by pressing star then zero. I would now like to turn the conference over to David Primrose, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Finning's Q1 earnings call. Joining me on today's call is Kevin Parkes, our President and CEO. Following our remarks, we will open the line to questions. This call is being webcast on the investor relations section of finning.com. We have also provided a set of slides on our website that we will reference, and an audio file of this call and the accompanying slides will be archived. Before I turn it over to Kevin, I want to remind everyone that some of the statements provided during this call are forward-looking. Please refer to slides 10 and 11 for important disclosures about forward-looking information as well as currency and specified financial measures, including non-GAAP financial measures.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Please note that forward-looking information is subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors as discussed in our annual information form under key business risks and in our MD&A under Risk Factors and Management and Forward-Looking Information Disclaimer. Please treat this information with caution as our actual results could differ materially from current expectations. Unless otherwise noted, this presentation reflects the results of continuing operations only. Kevin, over to you.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thank you, Dave. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and thank you to our teams, our customers and Caterpillar for your hard work, support and partnership. Let me start with the headline. Finning is executing. We delivered our strongest Q1 adjusted EPS of CAD 1.02. Year-over-year product support grew for the eighth consecutive quarter, and we maintained our disciplined approach to cost and capital allocation. Most importantly, we continue to build the installed base and backlog in our operating regions, driving long-term product support opportunities and value. Helping our customers solve their toughest challenges and increase the performance from their investors is the foundation of what we do, which in turn helps build population, improve utilization, and increase product support opportunities. As with the last quarter, my prepared remarks will concentrate on the long term.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

I'll turn the call over to Dave, who will provide details on our results in the quarter. Please turn to slide 2. Momentum from 2025 carried into Q1. Revenue was CAD 2.5 billion, driven by strong product support growth, up 6% globally and 13% in Canada. Our mining business is a real strength. Over the past two years, we increased the Canadian large mining truck population by 25%. These assets operate in high intensity applications and create decades of product support opportunities. Mining in Chile moderated as expected, driven by a few of our large mining customers who are recalibrating their mining plans and equipment requirements. We are excited about mining in Argentina. Last week, I attended a very important mining conference in the San Juan province, and we are pleased to see investment starting to flow.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Backlog was up 32% year-over-year, up in all segments, most notably more than doubling in mining and power and energy in Canada. Sequentially, backlog is up 20% from December 31, 2025, up in all regions driven by Canada mining. I want to highlight our power and energy business. Backlog ended in the quarter at CAD 1.2 billion across prime power opportunity with customers where our penetration is high even in standby applications. It is also pleasing to see construction backlog building in all regions, with South America and the U.K. and Ireland both up more than 50% since the end of the year. Construction performance remains solid across all regions, despite the lack of any shovel-ready major projects. We are controlling what we can by expanding coverage and taking share. Rental discipline remains a real priority.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

We are investing in our capabilities and capacity to support our growth. We will open two new branches in Canada this month alone and continue to make thoughtful investments in our inventory. Despite these targeted investments and higher LTIP expense on a trailing 12-month basis, our SG&A margin declined 60 basis points, evidencing our progress in optimizing our cost structure. Invested capital turns held at 2.3% as we continue to see further opportunity to optimize both cost and capital intensity. Maintaining a lower fixed cost base and turning our larger invested capital base with more velocity will support more resilient earnings and return on invested capital in the future. Turning to slide 3. Here we are illustrating the growth in ultra-class and large mining trucks across our Western Canada and South American regions since 2021.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

As I commented earlier, a growing truck population is critical as a base for future product support revenue. You can see from the chart that truck population has consistently grown year-over-year, suggesting that that growth is influenced by a broader set of factors beyond mining production volumes and commodity prices. As customers evolve their brownfield operations, mining operations can move further away from the processing facilities. This, combined with, in some cases, with lower ore grades, can lead to opportunities for increased equipment requirements. We're also seeing greenfield operations and contractors add to their fleet population. As you can see on the slide, since 2021, mining truck population in our Western Canada and South America regions has increased driver for product support growth. Of course, we remain committed to supporting our customers to lower their cost per ton through increased truck utilization.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Optimizing repair and maintenance and deploying technology are essential to helping our customers solve this difficult challenge. A good example of this, and partnering with our customers, is the upcoming trial with Codelco in Chile for the innovative Cat Dynamic Energy Transfer system. This system transfers electricity directly to the trucks while they're in motion and is designed to enhance efficiencies while managing energy demands. This trial will involve 798 trucks and is expected to start in Q2 2026. To close and to reinforce my remarks, we are building population, helping our customers increase utilization and lowering costs, and penetrating the aftermarket more than ever while remaining disciplined on cost and capital. This is how we compare value over the long term. With that, I'll hand the call back over to Dave.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thank you, Kevin. I'll now turn to slide 4. Our Q1 revenue of CAD 2.5 billion was up 2% compared to Q1 2025, primarily driven by higher product support revenue in Canada, offset by lower mining equipment deliveries in South America. We are pleased with our consistent execution momentum as we start 2026, where our team continues to deliver outstanding results under our strategic pillars. We are also encouraged by the overall positive business momentum across our diversified end markets, with notable growth in power and energy opportunities, as well as improving construction activities. Our Q1 earnings were adjusted for CAD 16 million of severance costs in South America for headcount reductions related to changes in our organizational structure aimed at simplification and consolidation while strengthening service resiliency. Excluding the severance cost, adjusted EBIT was comparable to Q1 2025.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

LTIP expense was CAD 15 million this quarter, or CAD 0.09 per share of earnings, driven by strong share price appreciation. In Q1 2025, LTIP expense was CAD 7 million or CAD 0.04 finance cost on lower average debt level and the benefit of share repurchases. Meanwhile, our balance sheet and working capital velocity remain healthy. Working capital velocity remains healthy despite planned inventory investment to support backlog growth, enabling us to continue funding the business and increase our shareholder returns to our 7.4% dividend increase, marking our 25th consecutive year of dividend growth. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 1.6x at the end of March. Our invested capital turns and adjusted return on invested capital were 2.3x and 18.7% respectively, all within our target ranges.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

On slide 5, we show changes in our revenue by line of business compared to Q1 2025 and the composition of our equipment backlog by market sector. New equipment sales were down 4%, primarily due to lower mining equipment deliveries in South America, partially offset by strong sales in Canada across all market sectors. Used equipment sales were down 13% as Q1 2025 had higher conversions of rental equipment with purchase options in Canada. Product support was up 6%, primarily driven by strong mining activity in Canada. Our equipment backlog reached a new record of CAD 3.8 billion at the end of March, up 32% from March 2025 and up 20% from December 2025, reflecting order intake outpacing deliveries across all market sectors, particularly in mining and construction sectors.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

In mining, order intake was up approximately 70% compared to Q1 2025, led by Argentina, as Kevin mentioned earlier, and also the oil sands in Canada. We currently have over 140 ultra-class and large mining trucks in backlog with deliveries into 2027 and 2028, demonstrating strong customer confidence in their markets and our partnership. In construction, order intake was up approximately 30% compared to Q1 2025, higher across all regions, reflecting early signs of increased activity level and emerging new projects. In Canada, we are also pleased to see our team capturing a higher market share with a refreshed sales and marketing strategy. In the power and energy sector, our backlog is approaching CAD 1.2 billion, primarily supported by data center orders in the U.K. and Ireland, as well as gas compression equipment orders in Canada.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Overall, our current backlog continues to provide confidence for our business in terms of activity levels and future product support opportunities. We expect to deliver the majority of our backlog in 2026. Turning to our EBIT performance on slide 6. Reflecting higher people costs to support business growth, along with CAD 8 million higher LTIP expense, accounting for approximately 30 basis points of SG&A margin. Looking ahead, we will continue to seek opportunities to reduce overheads, improve efficiency and operating leverage, and build more resilience to drive higher earnings capacity. Q1 adjusted EBIT margin was 11.1% in South America, 8.1% in Canada, and 5.1% in U.K. and Ireland. Moving to our South America from Q1 2025, primarily due to lower mining deliveries.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

In addition, we delivered a large equipment package to a construction customer in Q1 2025, which did not repeat. Product support revenue was up 2%, driven by higher construction activity and mining rebuilds in Chile. Adjusted EBIT margin at 11.1% was up 50 basis points from Q1 2025 EBIT margin, primarily driven by a higher mix of product support revenue, partially offset by higher SG&A margin. In Chile, our outlook for longer term remains positive, underpinned by growing global demand for copper, strong copper prices, capital deployment into large-scale brownfield expansions under supportive priorities from the new government and customer confidence to invest in greenfield projects. We are seeing a broad- expect some moderation in product support activity levels as customers adjust their buying plans and existing equipment fleets.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

While demand for skilled labor remains high, we expect a more stabilized labor environment through 2028, as we have successfully concluded negotiations with all major unions as of Q1 2026. In the Chilean construction sector, we continue to see healthy demand from large contractors supporting mining operations, and we expect infrastructure and construction activity to remain steady. In the power and energy sector, activity remains strong in the industrial and data center markets. In Argentina, we continue to closely monitor the government's rules and policies and are carefully positioning our business to capture growth opportunities, particularly in the oil and gas and mining sectors. We are seeing an increase in quoting activity for equipment and encouraged by a recent win with Glencore's Alumbrera copper mine. We expect activity levels to continue to improve in the coming years, subject to a constructive investment environment.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Now turning to Canada on slide 8. New equipment sales were up 23% from Q1 2025, with strong sales across all market sectors led by construction on higher market share and activity level. Additionally, power and energy sales nearly doubled year-over-year. Used equipment sales were down 21% as Q1 2025 had higher conversion of rental equipment with purchase options. Rental revenue was up 20%, reflecting improving construction and power and energy activity. Product support revenue was up 13%, primarily driven by strong demand from mining customers and increased rebuild activities. EBIT margin of 8.1% was down 30 basis points, driven primarily by lower product support margins on strong volume growth, partially offset by improved SG&A margin.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Adjusted return on invested capital from continuing operations of 18.2% improved 230 basis points from Q1 2025, driven by both improved trailing 12-month profitability and higher invested capital turns. Our outlook for Western Canada is positive. We expect strong activity levels in our mining business as customers renew, maintain, and rebuild aging equipment. In the power and energy sectors on both primary and backup power generation opportunities, we are leveraging the expertise of our U.K. and Ireland team with over a decade of experience in the data center space to become a trusted and value-added partner to our customers. Construction sector activity is showing signs of improvement.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

We are encouraged by recent announcements regarding the potential to accelerate resource development and infrastructure project activity, we remain cautious with respect to the exact timing and magnitude. Finally, we remain focused on managing costs and invested capital levels while driving productivity improvements. Please turn to slide 9 for our results in the U.K. and Ireland. In functional currency, new equipment sales were down 6% from Q1 2025 due to a shift in timing of order backlog delivery into Q2. Product support revenue overall was comparable with power and energy up 5%. EBIT margin of 5.1% was up 40 basis points, primarily driven by higher new equipment margins and a higher proportion of product support revenue. Adjusted return on invested capital of 19.3% was up 240 basis points year-over-year, primarily reflecting the optimization of pension assets.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

In terms of outlook, we expect demand for new construction equipment in the U.K. and Ireland to remain soft in line with low projected GDP growth. We continue to expect a growing contribution from power and energy, driven by our strategic execution and healthy demand for both primary and backup power generation, particularly in the data center market. Our product support business is expected to remain stable. I will now turn it back to Kevin for some closing remarks.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thanks, Dave. We are pleased with our business performance and encouraged about the future prospects for our company. Our core business is performing well, and we have exciting growth opportunities both in mining and power generation and in expanding construction market share. Today, we have highlighted the increased mining truck population and how that is a driver of product support growth. We've talked about our backlog, which is driven by mining in Canada right now after a strong period of growth in Chile. We are encouraged about the new government in Chile and incrementally more positive about mining in Argentina. Three weeks ago, I attended the CESCO conference in Chile, and last week I attended a very important mining conference in the San Juan province of Argentina, where we held discussions with federal and local politicians, economic chambers, and education establishments.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

We also had productive discussions with customers who are actively working in Argentina and others that are preparing for their mine developments. We are pleased that our commitment to our business, customers, and employees in Argentina is positioning us well for future growth opportunities in both mining and oil and gas. We are now pleased to see investment starting to flow. This includes a recent order for more than 20 mining trucks that is in our backlog, and we expect deliveries to start later this year and continue through 2028. The mining outlook in both of our territories and the incremental power and energy opportunities ahead of us provide a level of confidence that we can continue to grow our product support for future.

[Operator]

We'll now begin the question-and-answer session. Our first question is from Cherilyn Radbourne with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.

[Cherilyn Radbourne, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen]

Thanks very much. Good morning. Kevin, I was hoping you could elaborate a little bit more on what you're seeing in terms of nation-building infrastructure projects in Canada and, you know, particularly the momentum behind the potential for a pipeline.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah, sure. Thanks, Cherilyn. I guess our position on nation-building projects is that we are really encouraged by the government stance and the discussions that are going around the importance of building nation building and strong infrastructure for Canada. It's certainly demonstrably more encouraged for customers who win those awards and start to build those projects. That being said, you know, there's not a lot of shovel-ready projects that we're working on right now. You know, we'd like to see that speed up.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

We'd like to see not only speed up so we can get working, but speed up so companies like Finning can get organized, both in terms of labor supply and equipment supply, so we can get some commitments and get some things moving in Canada. Yeah, we are encouraged by it. You mentioned pipelines there. I mean, ultimately, you know, that's the area where we are seeing some more activity right now, pipelines tend to get shovel-ready relatively quickly. You know, some of that construction activity, particularly in heavy rents, actually, Cherilyn, is driven by increased Not just the major pipelines that have been announced, but there's a lot of activity in pipeline maintenance and expansion.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

You know, I would say that pipelines are closer to us in terms of impacts on our business for the remainder of this year. We are encouraged in the long term about the other nation-building projects. That includes the more positive outlook about mining in northern B.C.

[Cherilyn Radbourne, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen]

That was actually a really nice segue into my next question, which was in terms of the strong order intake in Canada, how much of that is still the oil sands? To what extent are you seeing things in the Golden Triangle?

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah, actually. It is very, very much dominated by the oil sands, Cherilyn Radbourne. That's the benefit of having that amazing resource and opportunity in our territory and the strong relationships we have with our customers. We're really encouraged to see the success that our customers are seeing in the oil sands and the small contribution we can pay to helping them be more successful. It is mostly oil sands. That being said, we're actually seeing some of the orders in our backlog are actually from coal. That would be the second biggest contribution to our backlog. There's a lot of work going on in the metals and critical mineral space. I would say that's a small part of the backlog build right now, so that's an upside.

[Cherilyn Radbourne, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen]

Thanks for the time.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thanks, Cherilyn.

[Operator]

The next question is from Steve Hansen with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

[Steve Hansen, Managing Director and Equity Analyst at Raymond James]

Yes, morning, guys. Thanks for the time. Kevin, Canadian product support growth has clearly been outstanding here, up 13 on the quarter. I think you referenced some market share gains in your opening remarks. I have to assume that the market is growing given some of the data you provided. Just, you know, again, can you perhaps speak to the two or three key drivers here that are driving the market share gains within your new sales approach? The type of work you're going after, the implications around that, how much further is to go. Just trying to get a sense for what inning we're in this sort of broader push for market share and what's driving it. Thanks.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah, sure. Just to be clear, you know, in terms of that product support growth for Canada, that is more driven by truck population. We have good market share in truck population in Canada, and that continues. You know, the recent wins evidence that and the backlog build. You know that the majority of that growth there is in mining and it's in truck population, which is kind of market share, I guess. It's, I wouldn't say we're making big gains there, but we are maintaining our strong position of market share in the oil sands, in trucks particularly. You know, then in power and generation, you know, power and energy, we have very strong market share from a prime products perspective in that.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

You know, we're seeing the benefits of that come through that product support line. They're contributing more and more to the, you know, the product support overall number in Canada. My reference around market share growth is particularly focused around construction new equipment sales, where I believe the Q1 have seen us have, you know, some of the best market share we've seen for over 10 years, which is super encouraging when you think about the competitive nature of construction industries. It plays to the great work that the team are doing in Canada to get closer to customers, to reach more customers and expand our customer base. There's a lot of new business being won, particularly in the, in the smaller equipment and excavation areas.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

I think, you know, it's safe to say that we've had a, you know, a renewed and reinvigorated approach to winning market share in the construction equipment. That will play through in terms of product support growth in the future, which, you know, we are encouraged about the product support contribution from construction in Canada in Q1.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Steve, one thing I'll just add, you know, we talk a lot about the mining trucks. It's a bit of a proxy for overall population and, you know, we're really focused on increasing the population in the field, especially in high utilization environments like mining, and that's been the key driver for product support in Canada in recent times.

[Steve Hansen, Managing Director and Equity Analyst at Raymond James]

Okay. Very helpful. Thank you. Just as you start to contemplate this emerging power and data center opportunity, in particular for Western Canada, I'm just curious if you've thought about or contemplated whether you need to add any derivative products or services. Not speaking to maybe to that specifically, but is there any other services or products that you think you need to add that would help you in that growth profile going forward? Thanks.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah. Thanks, Steve. It's a great question, and it's good timing. We actually have a strategy day today with our board, where we're gonna engage in some more of those discussions about how we can participate more in this very vibrant sector. You know, just to remind, we do this today. We build enclosures. We've been packaging engines for a long time with Caterpillar in the U.K. and Ireland, and we've been packaging power generation in our Surrey branch for again, for decades, more than a decade. We have that skill, we have those capabilities, and so we are looking at how we expand those capabilities for this growing sector.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

You know, for us, you know, this could be an ever-increasing sector, and you can expand your capabilities far and wide. You know, I wanna make sure our strategy at Finning is to is remains the same. It's to populate our operating regions with Caterpillar equipment, and if we need to have additional capabilities to do that, we will or there's a bottleneck or a constraint, we will look at how we do that in the future. We're not actively looking to necessarily, you know, build a revenue stream from a different capability. Our focus is populating the market with high utilized assets, so we can then service those assets for the long term as we do with mining trucks.

[Steve Hansen, Managing Director and Equity Analyst at Raymond James]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thanks, Steve.

[Operator]

Once again, any analyst who has a question may press star then one on their telephone keypad. The next question is from Sabahat Khan with RBC. Please go ahead.

[Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Hi, good morning, guys. This is Patty on the line for Sabahat Khan. Just kind of on the demand environment for power systems and data centers in Canada, looks like the commentary kind of shifted from longer-term potential last quarter to more active discussions today with numerous customers. I was wondering if you could give a bit of additional color on this, specifically maybe the mix you're seeing between primary versus backup power, and the role you can play in each.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah, sure. Great question, Patty. Right now, I mean, we are seeing the discussions are incrementally more active, particularly in Western Canada. You might remember this has been, you know, we've had a very strong business in the U.K. and Ireland for a number of years now, more than a decade. That continues to be steady as well. We've got a good opportunity in Chile, which we've been executing well and is providing a good incremental boost to that business down there. You know, realistically, the headlines are around Canada and how that market evolves and grows. Right now, I would say the balance is weighted to more backup power as we use the grid capacity that's available in Western Canada.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

We're, we're very focused on supporting customers. You'll have seen announcements in Saskatchewan and in British Columbia in the last couple of weeks. You know, we're very close to those opportunities. We have good capabilities. It's a competitive environment, but we are, you know, I'd say quarter-on-quarter, the realization of the opportunity for data centers in Western Canada is more prevalent than it was. You know, for me, the big opportunity for us, though, as I go back to, you know, back to Steve's question, is the opportunity for prime gas power, particularly in Alberta.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

There the opportunities, all data center business is incremental and good, a prime power opportunity for us with a data center would be a huge lift for us at Finning. It provides that long-term product support opportunity in Alberta. We're really working hard with government to try and progress those and customers. In fact, Finning held and organized a data center conference about 10 days ago in Calgary, attended by more than 100 people. It was a Finning organized event. That shows you the opportunity and the encouragement that is in the building in that space.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

We hope to see it quickly transition into some more prime power gas opportunities in the future. That being said, in both cases, you know, it's important that you understand that, you know, the delivery schedules for these projects are, you know, they're into the 2028, 2029 period. This is a long term, I mean, it's a long term, you know, visibility of business that we wouldn't have typically had in the past. That's good. Important, too, that you understand some of the timing on that.

[Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

Okay. Great. Thanks. That's very helpful. Maybe switching gears to capital allocation. You continued to be active on the share buyback in the quarter, albeit at a slightly slower pace, it seems. You're looking to renew the NCIB. Just today, maybe your high-level thoughts with the stock trading north of CAD 100. Can you comment on maybe your capital allocation priorities and the value you see today in your own stock and how that stacks up against other initiatives or internal investments?

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Sure. I'll comment on that. I mean, we strongly believe returning capital to shareholders is important, and we've been consistently doing that. You know, as Kevin said earlier, our 25th consecutive year of dividend growth. We are active in the buybacks and, you know, it is dynamic. We look at a variety of factors there, you know, near-term cash flow, capital spending. You know, right now in particular, we look at growth opportunities and inventory purchases. It's dynamic. We look at it, you know, at least weekly, if not more frequently. We don't give guidance on buybacks, but we do believe consistency is important. As you noted, you know, we have pulled down the levels, but we have remained active.

[Analyst at RBC Capital Markets]

All right. Thanks very much.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question is from Krista Friesen. Friesen, sorry, with CIBC. Please go ahead.

[Krista Friesen, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe just back on the data center opportunity. It sounds like one of the advantages is the speed to market for a reciprocating engine versus some of other, some of the other, power generation sources. Are you seeing the wait times for reciprocating engines increase at all just as other regions, like in the U.S. are starting to use these engines for data center prime power as well?

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah. Thanks for the question, Krista. The demand, and you can read about it in the Caterpillar press release, is incrementally more positive. You're seeing some awards. You know, naturally we'll push out engine lead times. You know, Caterpillar announced last week that they're going from 2x manufacturing capacity to 3x on large engines. That will take some time to come on. You know, obviously, you know, that will push out lead times. That being said, you know, we're not trying to sell engines today for tomorrow, right? Discussions we're having have those lead times in mind, the data center builders are do anticipate and understand the late lead time performance. You know, we find, you know, they're planning for, you know, that 2028, 2029 period, which, you know, we can, we can get engines for that period. You, you're dead right. I mean, the, the opportunity here is speed to market and the that includes the approval to build and permitting of data centers.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

If you can, you know, the data center builders are looking at where they can get permits approved really quickly and how they can get power. You're right, the reciprocating engine does increase the speed to market. They are two advantages if we can get. You know, Western Canada, we're seeing some permitting, so that's good. You know, we've got the ability to supply in the time frames that customers are looking for. I think we're well-positioned. Of course, we've got the added benefit of the gas supply in Alberta, which, you know, should give Alberta an advantage in this space too. As I said, we're optimistic.

[Krista Friesen, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Okay, that's great. Then maybe just a follow-on of that. We've heard plenty of announcements of intentions for data centers in Alberta. I think there's 20 GW or 21 GW in the queue wanting power. What do you think is the biggest bottleneck at this point in time between the desire to build these data centers and actually getting shovels in the ground? I'll leave it there. Thank you.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah. Like I said before, I think it's permitting. You know, permitting, 'cause the quicker we can get moving and we can get the orders into the system, the quicker we can get the engines. For me, it's actually moving forward and permitting and government and data center and energy companies working together to get this thing moving so they can take advantage of this amazing opportunity.

[Krista Friesen, Analyst at CIBC World Markets]

Thanks. I appreciate the color.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thank you.

[Operator]

The next question is from Maxim Sytchev with National Bank Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

[Maxim Sytchev, Managing Director at National Bank Capital Markets]

Hi, good morning, gentlemen.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Hi.

[Maxim Sytchev, Managing Director at National Bank Capital Markets]

Is it possible to get a bit of I guess a cadence slash inflection point when it comes to product support? As obviously Canada is accelerating and LatAm is a little bit slow right now. How should we think about sort of the back half of the year and maybe more importantly, 2027? Thank you.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

I mean, Canada, you know, we see no reason for that to change. We see that continuing into the second half of the year. It is dynamic, Max. You know, slight decisions can change that, so it can be lumpy at times. That's what's happening in South America right now. You know, we've got 3 of our top 10 mines that have we're experiencing some moderation and some readjustment in the mine plans, that can have a disproportionate effect on the overall product support growth rate. We're always mindful of that as mines mine plans change. We are gonna deliver trucks into Canada, you know, in the second half of this year and into next year.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

You know, with the, you know, the deliveries to Alumbrera in Argentina. There's also, you know, existing trucks, I think eight or nine trucks in Alumbrera to reactivate as well. There's some work to do on those as well. I would say we're more, we'd like to see a slight uptick in the H2 of the year in South America and nothing to suggest that the approach in Canada, you know, changes in the H2 of the year other than you're always mindful that, you know, one customer making a different plan or a different change or even an event on site can change that. We stay close to that.

[Maxim Sytchev, Managing Director at National Bank Capital Markets]

Okay. Makes sense. Thank you so much. Quickly, you mentioned, you know, Argentina. Exciting to see, you know, a decent package there. Can you maybe talk about sort of like oil and gas versus, you know, mining opportunity and how we should be thinking about the timing in this obviously recovering geography? Thank you so much.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thanks for that, Max. The Argentina, the oil and gas activity has really carried us through for the last couple of years. It's an incremental opportunity. Argentina is developing its natural resources. You know, if you look at Argentina in Q1, new equipment sales were up 120%, rentals up 28%. Total business was up 17%. You know, and a lot of that is driven by even the construction activity 'cause there is zero public works going on right now. A lot of that activity is either driven by oil and gas enablement or oil and gas extraction or mining enablement, which is in the very early phases.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

You know, I would say that probably half of our business opportunity right now in Argentina is driven by oil and gas. We'd see, you know, I think over the next couple of years, you'll probably see mining be half and oil and gas be more like a third as mining activity ramps up down there. The net impact of that, Max, is just that it's a higher quality business. You know, we've been, you know, driven by construction activity which has been very cyclical and very much dependent on the government of the moment. We believe that these two resource developments, you know, expand beyond any administration development.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

I was there last week, and I got this question a lot: "What do you think about administration development?" We think, with the Riggy and Ricky and the benefit to the country of this resource development, it probably expands beyond any one government. Ultimately, we're a 93-year-old company, right? We don't make decisions based on one administration in any of our territories. We just think that, and we hope that Argentina is on a different path now, and that this resource development can change the face for the people who live there, for the companies who have been loyal and operate there. We just see the quality construct of our business in Argentina is so much different than it was in the past.

[Maxim Sytchev, Managing Director at National Bank Capital Markets]

For sure. I guess, I mean, as coffers are replenished in terms of hard currency, theoretically over time we should also see pickup in construction, i.e. public works, et cetera, right?

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah, I mean, public works is still difficult in Argentina. You know, the government are holding the very tight reins on that. It's, you know, I think as things I mean, like I said, our new equipment sales were up 120% in Q1. You know, there is activity going on, nothing to the extent that we've seen in the past. Construction is, you know, notably more competitive in Argentina than mining and oil and gas. It's, it's a more challenging market. You know, things like our rental business is up 28%. There are things going on, Max.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

You know, I kind of think of the business down there being like 50, 30, 20 in the future. You know, that's 50 mining, 30 oil and gas, and 20 construction. You know, it's a very broad estimate, but that's the kind of way we're thinking about it right now.

[Maxim Sytchev, Managing Director at National Bank Capital Markets]

Okay. Well, thank you so much.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Cheers, Max.

[Operator]

The next question is from Jonathan Goldman with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

[Jonathan Goldman, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Hey, good morning, team, and thanks for taking my questions. I joined a bit late, so I apologize kind of tracking copper production, in the region. With the elevated copper prices right now that we're seeing, do you expect production levels to accelerate, or could there be some bottlenecks on the supply side and, you know, sort of mine issues that are going on?

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

As I said, I attended the CESCO conference in Chile three or four weeks ago, and I would say that the tone there was constructive realism. You know, to your point, you know, there are challenges to increasing copper production. There are bottlenecks. There are, you know, again, labor challenges. There are equipment challenges. We're trying to help our customers solve those challenges, and, you know, build loyalty with our customers there. I wouldn't necessarily say that you can draw a correlation between copper production and our product support, right? 'Cause the correlation just hasn't happened, you know, over the last three years. You know, the better correlation is the number of trucks which, you know, we've put in.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

We haven't broken that down by country. The number of trucks in South America has grown demonstrably over the past three or four years. We expect that to continue. You know, if you think about the net zero impact of, you know, from working from a zero in Argentina, we expect that to be a benefit in the future as well. I wouldn't say there's that correlation. I'm not sure when you joined, but I think we've had a impact in Chile right now in the moderation of product support growth is actually of, you know, 3 out of 10 mines that are seeing some moderation in activity due to mine planning and reorganization.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

You know, some of the larger mines can have a disproportionate effect on our overall product support revenue. Like we've seen in the Oil Sands, we expect that to normalize over time. You know, so we'd like to think that the H2 of the year is slightly better in Chile for mining product support.

[Jonathan Goldman, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. That's great color. Maybe related, you know, the actions you've taken in the region to rationalize headcount. How should we think about SG&A levels or cost expense levels going forward and if there's any sort of payback on those restructuring actions?

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

I wouldn't bank any payback from that necessarily. You know, for us, the work that we're doing, particularly in South America, but also in Canada, you know, for every opportunity we see to save money and to restructure, it's more about the type of work we're doing, and we need the right capabilities in the right places. You know, in South America specifically, you know, it's after a period of very strong growth and the moderation. You know, we're taking the opportunity to look at it, look at the business down there from a higher performance lens. Most of the changes we're making in South America relate to, you know, increasing capability and making sure we've got the very highest quality technicians that we possibly can have.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

We're always seeing opportunities to, you know, restructure and to reallocate resources. I don't think you should think about the SG&A level for the company. I think we're in the kind of range that we're, you know, that we are gonna be in for a little while here, but I think, you know, the allocation of cost and the work that we do will change over time.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

What I'll add there is the big. There were some back office as part of that, but a big focus there was service productivity. They had a few years of very high hiring rates and, you know, don't necessarily always make the right decisions at the time. This was an opportunity to go back and really focus on productivity.

[Jonathan Goldman, Analyst at Scotiabank]

Okay. That's really good color. I guess maybe one more, if I can squeeze it in. You know, the product support in Canada, pretty strong print here. I mean, it's been strong for a few quarters in a row now, I feel. Forgive the math, you'd probably be close to your Investor Day targets that you set out in 2023. Could you maybe give us an update on the progress of some of the initiatives that you laid out in product support on the Investor Day? You know, the share gains, the CVA. Because it does seem like those are accelerating and gaining traction.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, a lot of that growth, Jonathan, is, you know, like we highlight in the chart there. It really is, you know, the impact of two years of very strong population growth in Canada. With our backlog, we see that continuing for another couple of years. Population is the biggest driver. You know, with Tim coming into the business here, he's one of his three big drivers and three strategic stands, I guess, is to increase our labor sales. You know, when we provide labor, we win more product support. It's not so much the CVA, percentage of CVAs has gone up that much, but the percentage of CVAs with labor is increasing.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

They're adding, so if you think about the truck additions, and then you think about adding a technician a day right now, which is what they're doing in Canada, they're the two biggest drivers of product support growth in Canada, the population and the technicians. But we're seeing a, you know, a continued strong level of rebuilds in the area. More and more customers are considering rebuilds as an option as we move forward. I would say really pleased with those product support initiatives and what boosted by this different approach to labor and the additional population.

[Jonathan Goldman, Analyst at Scotiabank]

It's definitely working. Nice quarter, guys. I'll get back. Thank you.

[Kevin Parkes, President and CEO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thanks.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thanks.

[Operator]

This concludes the question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Primrose for any closing remarks.

[Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO at Finning International, Inc.]

Thank you, operator. This concludes our call today. I'd like to thank everyone for your participation. We appreciate you joining us today, and please have a safe day. Thank you.

[Operator]

This brings to a close today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines. Thank you for participating and have a pleasant day.

Participants

Executives

• Dave Primrose, EVP and CFO
• Kevin Parkes, President and CEO

Analysts

• Cherilyn Radbourne, Managing Director of Equity Research at TD Cowen
• Jonathan Goldman, Analyst at Scotiabank
• Krista Friesen, Analyst at CIBC World Markets
• Maxim Sytchev, Managing Director at National Bank Capital Markets
• Steve Hansen, Managing Director and Equity Analyst at Raymond James
• Analyst at RBC Capital Markets