글로벌 워터 리소스(GWRS) 2026년 2분기 실적 발표회: 매출 24.8% 증가, 요금 조정안 진전

주요 핵심 내용

• 2026년 2분기 매출은 기반 시설 협력 및 자금 조달 협정(ICFA)에 따라 인식된 이연수익 210만 달러를 포함해 전년 동기 대비 24.8% 증가한 1,780만 달러를 기록했습니다.
• 규제 대상 매출은 2025년 7월 투손 워터(Tucson Water) 시스템 7개 인수, 자체 연결 건수 증가, 소비량 증가 및 요금 인상에 힘입어 9.9% 증가한 1,570만 달러를 기록했습니다.
• 당기순이익은 2025년 2분기의 160만 달러(희석주당순이익 $0.06) 대비 증가한 270만 달러(희석주당순이익 $0.10)를 기록했습니다. 조정 EBITDA는 15% 증가한 790만 달러를 기록했습니다.
• 2026년 6월 30일 기준 활성 서비스 연결 건수는 전년 동기 대비 5.8% 증가한 6만 9,429건을 기록했습니다. 자체 활성 연결 건수는 2.7% 증가했으며, 경영진은 최근 3개월간 자체 성장률이 3.2%에 달했다고 밝혔습니다.
• GW-산타크루즈(GW-Santa Cruz)의 만장일치 요금 합의안은 남은 규제 절차 결과에 따라 2026년 11월 1일부터 연간 약 190만 달러의 순추가 매출 발생을 예상하고 있습니다.
• 2025년 대규모 자본 투자 이후 감가상각비, 의료비, 전력 구입비 및 이자 비용 증가가 지속적인 주요 압박 요인으로 작용했습니다.

주요 재무 데이터

2026년 상반기 매출은 16.3% 증가한 3,110만 달러를 기록했으며, 규제 대상 매출은 8.4% 증가한 2,890만 달러를 기록했습니다. 당기순이익은 240만 달러(희석주당순이익 $0.08)로 전년 동기의 220만 달러(희석주당순이익 $0.08) 대비 증가했습니다. 조정 EBITDA는 8% 증가한 1,350만 달러를 기록했습니다.

사업 및 영업 실적

210만 달러의 ICFA 매출 기여는 GW-하사얌파(GW-Hassayampa)의 첫 하수처리장 시운전에 따른 것으로, 글로벌 워터 리소스(Global Water Resources)는 계약상 의무를 이행함에 따라 이전에 이연되었던 매출을 인식할 수 있게 되었습니다.

회사는 2분기 중 기존 유틸리티 인프라에 660만 달러를 투자했습니다. 감가상각비, 상각비 및 자산철거채무상각비는 전년 동기 대비 110만 달러 증가했는데, 이는 주로 2025년 자본 개선 프로그램 이후 가동에 들어간 유틸리티 자산 때문입니다.

운영 및 유지보수 비용은 약 60만 달러 증가했습니다. 경영진은 의료비 증가, 신규 가동 시설 및 소비량 증가에 따른 전력 구입비 상승, 유틸리티 설비 처분 손실을 원인으로 꼽았습니다.

2분기 피닉스 대도시권의 단독주택 건축 허가 건수는 전년 동기 대비 4.7% 감소한 5,653건을 기록한 반면, 마리코파 지역의 허가 건수는 5.7% 증가한 185건을 기록했습니다. 경영진은 전반적인 둔화세가 일시적일 것으로 보고 있으며, 주택 가격 부담 완화, 고용 성장, 347번 주도(State Route 347) 개선 및 이용 가능한 용수 공급에 힘입어 회사의 서비스 지역이 수혜를 입을 것으로 예상합니다.

경영진은 또한 다가구 주택 및 상업용 개발 증가로 인해 규제 대상 매출 성장률과 계량기 연결 건수 성장률 간의 차이가 발생하고 있다고 지적했습니다.

경영진 전망

경영진은 2026년 남은 기간 동안 일반관리비를 가능한 한 일정 수준으로 유지하는 것을 목표로 하고 있습니다. 회사는 구체적인 설비투자(CAPEX) 전망 수치를 제시하지는 않았으나, 2027년 투자는 높은 수준이었던 2025년보다는 낮아지고 과거 평균 수준에 가까워질 것이라고 밝혔습니다.

글로벌 워터 리소스는 2027년 상반기에 GW-팔로버디(GW-Palo Verde), GW-사구아로(GW-Saguaro), GW-파머스(GW-Farmers), GW-오코티요(GW-Ocotillo)에 대한 4건의 요금 재검토 신청서가 제출될 것으로 예상하고 있습니다. 이 신청서들은 2026년 산정기준연도(test year)와 2027년 사후 기준연도를 활용할 것으로 예상되며, 이에 따라 새로운 요금은 2028년에 적용될 것으로 추정됩니다.

회사는 또한 2027년 산정기준연도를 활용하는 또 다른 GW-산타크루즈 요금 재검토의 사전 계획을 진행 중이며, 2028년 신청 및 2029년 새 요금 적용을 추정하고 있습니다.

리스크 및 주시해야 할 항목

• 애리조나주의 과거 산정기준연도 규제 프레임워크는 자본 투자 및 인플레이션 관련 비용의 회수를 지연시킵니다. 경영진은 이러한 시차가 당기순이익과 EPS에 지속적인 압박을 가했다고 밝혔습니다.
• 서남부 수자원 재활용 시설(Southwest Plant Water Reclamation Facility)의 재가동을 포함하여 2025년의 대규모 투자 이후 감가상각비는 높은 수준을 유지하고 있습니다.
• 의료비, 전력 구입비, 이자 비용은 증가한 반면, 이자 수익은 감소했습니다.
• 경영진은 최근 자체 연결 건수 성장이 개선되었다고 언급했지만, 피닉스 대도시권 전역의 신축 주택 허가 활동은 2026년에 둔화되었습니다.
• 서남부 시설(Southwest Plant)과 관련된 회수 시점을 둘러싼 이견으로 인해 GW-팔로버디의 요금 회수가 지연되었습니다.

애널리스트 Q&A 주요 내용

경영진은 최근의 경제 개발과 347번 주도 확장 공사가 더 강력한 고객 성장을 뒷받침할 수 있다고 말했습니다. 대규모 고용 프로젝트 및 관련 주택 개발은 일반적으로 2~3년 주기에 걸쳐 유틸리티 수요로 이어지는 것으로 추정했습니다.

인수합병과 관련해 회사는 현재 최우선 과제가 인수된 시스템의 통합, 필요한 요금 재검토 완료, 해당 유틸리티에 투자된 자본 회수라고 밝혔습니다.

자금 조달에 대해 경영진은 일반적으로 자기자본 50%, 부채 50%의 목표 자본 구조에서 출발한다고 설명했습니다. 최종 비중은 주가, 자본시장 여건, 차입 금리 및 잠재적 주주 지분 희석 여부에 따라 달라집니다.

실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 전문

전체 실적 발표 컨퍼런스 콜 녹취록

경영진 발표

Operator

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Global Water Resources, Inc. 2026 Second Quarter Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded on August 13, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Kyle Upchurch, Controller. Please go ahead.

Kyle Upchurch

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining us on today's call. Yesterday, we issued our 2026 second quarter financial results by press release, a copy of which is available on our website at gwresources.com. Speaking today is Ron Fleming, President and Chief Executive Officer; Mike Liebman, Chief Financial Officer; and Chris Krygier, Chief Operating Officer. Ron will summarize key operational events, Mike will review the financial results for the second quarter, and Chris will review Arizona Corporation Commission activities.

Ron, Mike, and Chris will be available for questions at the end of the call. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that certain information presented today may include forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions regarding future events. These forward-looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks, uncertainties, estimates, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which reflect management's views as of the date hereof and are not guarantees of future performance. For additional information regarding factors that may affect future results, please read the risk factors and MD&A sections of our periodic SEC filings. Additionally, certain non-GAAP measures may be included within today's call. For reconciliation of those measures to the comparable GAAP measures, please see the tables included in yesterday's earnings release, which is available on our website.

I'll now turn the call over to Ron.

Ron Fleming

Thank you, Kyle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. First, before jumping to our normal operating highlights, I would like to emphasize our focus on earnings growth. While many key metrics of our business have experienced -- excuse me, we've experienced strong growth over the last five years, our goal is to also achieve long-term earnings growth. We are committed to this objective, which we believe will allow us to enhance shareholder value.

As we reported previously in 2025, we had a near-record year for capital investments that were critical to complete. This included the investment necessary to recommission our Southwest Plant Water Reclamation Facility, which was originally constructed 20 years ago but was mothballed during the Great Recession. Although these investments grow rate base considerably and ensure we can provide safe and reliable service to our customers and communities we have the privilege to serve, these investments increase certain operating expenses and, most notably, depreciation expense.

Such expenses continue to adversely impact net income and earnings per share in the second quarter of 2026. This is an unfortunate yet necessary part of the historical test year environment here in Arizona. Additionally, certain company expenses, such as medical, continue to grow at an unprecedented pace. As I have been saying for many quarters now, we need new rates to keep up with all the investment and inflation that we have experienced in our utilities.

To this end, while it represents a diversion from our original rate application, the recently announced rate case settlement provides a clearer path to a notable rate increase for our largest water utility, GW-Santa Cruz, later this year. For GW-Palo Verde, while delayed, the delay deals with the primary difference of opinion on the timing of rate recovery as it relates to that historical Southwest Plant issue. Thus, the new schedule provides a clearer path to setting appropriate rates for our largest wastewater utility in 2028.

Together, this will allow us to better realize recovery of inflationary expenses and return on and return of our plant investments, including the Southwest Plant, resulting in years of meaningful earnings growth ahead. Chris will discuss the rate case further and our planned rate case activity for other utilities later on the call. In the meantime, 2026 is about working hard to control G&A expenses, which we achieved in Q2. In the years to come, we believe we can maintain solid revenue and earnings growth as we seek to obtain appropriate rate increases combined with our anticipated organic growth. Now, I will provide a few operational highlights.

Total active service connections increased 5.8% to 69,429 as of June 30, 2026, from the 12 months prior. In 2026, we achieved an annualized 2.6% total active service connection growth rate, excluding the acquisition of the seven Tucson Water systems. Specifically, we invested $6.6 million into infrastructure improvements in existing utilities in the second quarter of 2026 to provide safe and reliable service. Now, I want to discuss organic customer growth and what is going on in our core utilities further.

The single-family dwelling unit market ended 2025 with approximately 21,815 building permits issued in the Phoenix Greater Metro statistical area. In the second quarter of 2026, this market realized 5,653 building permits, representing a 4.7% decrease compared to the same period in 2025. Meanwhile, the Maricopa market realized 185 building permits, representing a 5.7% increase from the same period in 2025.

While new permit activity across the Phoenix MSA has slowed in 2026 and particularly in the city of Maricopa is reflected in the company's 2.7% year-over-year organic increase in active connections. We believe the decline in permits is temporary, as we remain well-positioned to benefit from the anticipated long-term growth of the Phoenix MSA and our specific area drivers, including job growth, affordability, and improving transportation, including State Route 347 widening, and our large assured water supply.

I will now turn the call over to Mike for financial highlights.

Michael Liebman

Thanks, Ron. Hello, everyone. Total revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was $17.8 million, which was up $3.5 million, or 24.8%, compared to Q2 2025. Total revenue for the year-to-date period increased $4.4 million, or 16.3%, to $31.1 million. The revenue increase in both periods was primarily attributable to unregulated revenue recognition of $2.1 million related to infrastructure coordination and financing agreements, also known as ICFAs, the acquisition of seven water systems from Tucson Water in July 2025, organic connection growth, increased consumption, and higher rates.

A more fulsome explanation of ICFAs can be found in our most recent Form 10-K filing. However, just for some background, ICFAs are agreements we entered into with developers and homebuilders whereby Global Water provides services to plan, coordinate, and finance the water and wastewater infrastructure that would otherwise be required to be performed or subcontracted by the developer or homebuilder. During the quarter, our GW-Hassayampa utility put its first wastewater plant into service, allowing us to recognize deferred revenue as we met all of our contractual obligations under the related ICFA agreement.

Now turning to regulated revenue, which excludes ICFA revenue, for Q2 was $15.7 million, which was up $1.4 million, or 9.9%, compared to Q2 '25. Regulated revenue for the year-to-date period increased $2.2 million, or 8.4%, to $28.9 million. Operating expenses for Q2 2026 increased approximately $1.7 million, or 14.1%, to $13.3 million compared to $11.6 million in Q2 2025. Operating expenses for the year-to-date period increased approximately $3.3 million, or 14.6%, to $26.2 million compared to the same period in 2025.

Notable changes in operating expenses included depreciation, amortization, and accretion increased $1.1 million for Q2 and $2 million for the year-to-date period. The increase in both periods was substantially attributable to the additional depreciable utility plant placed in service last year as a result of our 2025 capital improvement plan and the commissioning of related projects. Operations and maintenance costs increased approximately $0.6 million for Q2 and $1.1 million for the year-to-date period.

The increase in both expense periods was primarily driven by: one, rising medical expenses; two, higher purchased power tied to newly operational plant and increased consumption; and three, a loss on the disposal of utility plants. G&A costs remained relatively flat at $4.3 million in Q2 '26 compared to $4.4 million in Q2 '25. G&A costs for the year-to-date period increased $0.2 million to $8.8 million.

Now to discuss other expense. Other expense for Q2 '26 was $0.8 million compared to $0.4 million in Q2 '25. Other expense for the year-to-date period was $1.6 million compared to $0.9 million in the same prior year period. The increase in both periods is primarily attributable to higher interest expense and lower interest income. Net income for Q2 of '26 was $2.7 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, as compared to net income of $1.6 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, in Q2 '25.

Net income for the year-to-date period was $2.4 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, as compared to net income of $2.2 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA adjusts for certain items such as the recognition of deferred ICFA revenue, the loss on disposal of utility plant, and restricted stock expense. Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 of '26 was $7.9 million compared to $6.9 million in Q2 of '25, an increase of $1 million, or 15%.

Adjusted EBITDA for the year-to-date period was $13.5 million compared to $12.6 million in the prior year period, an increase of $0.9 million, or 8%. Lastly, in light of recent events, I would like to share that Global Water Resources and its family of utility companies was not impacted by the recent cyberattacks against water and wastewater infrastructure across the United States. This concludes our update on the second quarter of 2026 financial results.

I'll now pass the call to Chris to review our regulatory activity for the quarter.

Christopher Krygier

Thank you, Mike, and hello, everyone. We continue making progress in our GW-Santa Cruz rate review. As you saw in our press release, we concluded the hearing on the settlement agreement on August 3, 2026, and the case is now pending a recommended opinion and order from the administrative law judge. Once the recommendation is issued, it will appear at a Commission open meeting, which we estimate will happen later this year. Recall that the unanimous settlement agreement contemplates net increased revenues of approximately $1.9 million effective November 1, 2026.

Turning to future rate filings, we have already started working on the rate reviews for four utilities which we anticipate filing in the first half of 2027, including GW-Palo Verde and our three Pima County utilities, GW-Saguaro, GW-Farmers, and GW-Ocotillo. All four of those applications contemplate a 2026 test year with a 2027 post-test year implying estimated new rates in 2028.

In addition, we have started preliminary planning for our next GW-Santa Cruz rate review, tentatively scheduled to utilize a test year of 2027 to file in 2028 for estimated new rates in 2029. In all of these cases, we are notifying community stakeholders and the Arizona Corporation Commission staff on the importance of the investments being made and customer benefits. This concludes the update on regulatory activity for the quarter.

I'll now pass the call back to Ron.

Ron Fleming

Thank you, Chris. Despite the headwinds, our work continues and growth is strong. What we do and how we do what we do matters to our communities. We truly believe that expanding our total water management platform and applying our expertise throughout our regional service areas and to new utilities will be beneficial to all stakeholders involved. We appreciate your investment in and support of us as we grow Global Water to address important utility, water resource, and economic development matters along the Arizona Sun Corridor, allowing our communities to thrive.

These highlights conclude our prepared remarks. Thank you. We are now available to answer questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Brandon Rogers with ROTH Capital.

질의응답

Brandon B. Rogers

Hello, this is Brandon Rogers on for Gerry Sweeney. So first for me, so there's considerable development going on in the Phoenix metro area, like namely Intel, TSMC, as well as the State Route 347 improvement project. How do you see this development potentially impacting the region and Global Water as a whole?

Michael Liebman

Yes, Brandon. Hey, this is Mike. Happy to answer that question. So I think, as we've seen permits have kind of steadied out or flattened out, and we're starting to see a slight upward trajectory as Ron mentioned, in Q2 of this year. And so, with the acceleration of that 347 State Route and Intel and the likes that you mentioned, we are optimistic that that's going to continue to grow from where we're at right now.

Additionally, we'll point out that the Arizona Commerce Authority in FY '26, which ended in June, they just put a report out last month where it was the biggest economic development year yet. So there was about 26,000 projected new jobs coming, and there was an investment of more than $109 billion in the community statewide. So those are both single-year records. So that's a pretty significant development, not to mention the prior six years was about another $170 billion. So it's a pretty massive one year, and we're pretty excited to see the prospects of what comes from that.

Brandon B. Rogers

Thanks. I appreciate that color. Then another one I have is, your G&A was down slightly year-over-year as you continue bringing costs down. What should we think about as the run rate for G&A for the remainder of the year?

Michael Liebman

Yes, that's a great question, Brandon. It's Mike again. I'll take a first stab at that, and Ron, feel free to chime in. But I think, look, that's something that we've actively been working on this year, and we've done a pretty good job, and our plan is to continue that run rate. So to the extent that we can keep those as flat as possible, that's the goal. And so that's our plan.

Brandon B. Rogers

And then just one more from me. Given the company's significant 2025 capital investments, what is the 2026, '27 capital expenditure outlook?

Michael Liebman

So this is Mike again, Brandon. We don't really give guidance, but what we have said is, you know, '25, because it was part of a post-test year, we made pretty significant investments, that '27 would definitely be lower than that, kind of somewhere around what the normal norms have been. That's kind of the direction we give, but we don't really give guidance, so that's about as much color as I can give you on that.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Andrew McLaren with Viking Capital. Please go ahead.

Unknown Analyst

The first question I have is just in terms of the acquisition pipeline, how is that looking today versus like in, say, the last three to five years?

Christopher Krygier

Yes, thanks, Andrew. This is Chris. So, it's something that's always on our radar. Obviously, we had a pretty significant program over the past five years. We've really been, right now, focused on integrating those acquisitions, filing for the necessary reviews, and that's been our focus, and then recovering the capital investments that we've been making in those utilities along with the rest of the company, as you've heard earlier. So that's been our primary focus in the past coming up.

Unknown Analyst

Okay. And then I just have one more. In terms of, if additional capital is required, how are you evaluating equity versus potential debt at current share prices?

Michael Liebman

Yes, this is Mike. It's a great question. And obviously, we try to have a pretty smooth capital structure at 50-50 equity debt. That's the approach that we take going into it. Depending on the situation where we're at, where the stock price is, where the capital markets are, where the debt rates are, it all comes into the equation, because we're obviously being mindful of the dilutive nature of equity capital to our shareholders. So we try to find that balance. But we start at that 50-50.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Varyk Kutnick with Divyde Capital Partners.

Varyk Kutnick

So maybe give me a little color on what you're seeing on the ground from developers right now, permits, absorption, new communities. I guess I kind of want to get some timeline on the leading indicators, second-order effects, and where that starts to flow through to you guys.

Ron Fleming

Yes, hey, Varyk, happy to take that. This is Ron. So, as Mike kind of mentioned, and it was in some of the numbers we talked about earlier, it's been slow year-over-year for a while, but it kind of bottomed out a bit in 2025 and early '26 in the high 2% range. And I'm talking about the single-family permits. But it did increase a little bit in our major territory here in 2026. And I can just tell you over the last three months, our actual organic growth rate ticked back up to 3.2%, so north of 3%, which we hadn't seen in a few years.

So interestingly, despite the macro stuff, and we could spend all day debating that stuff in our specific areas, we think it's primarily just because of that economic development boom that continues in Phoenix and the fact that our areas have the best affordability in really the Metro Phoenix market. We did fine through kind of all of that headwind. So we think it's going to continue to pick up. Our development services team is as active as ever.

But the other thing I really want to focus everybody on is, we're also converting these communities more from single-family homes to large multifamily apartment complexes, etc. So we've seen more activity on that front than we ever have over the last two years. And that continues as well. And that's why kind of for the first time in our 20-ish year history, top-line revenue growth diverts a little bit from meter connection growth. And it's because these big projects are coming in, but also these communities are filling in very nicely with commercial property as well.

So again, regulated year-over-year revenue growth was 9.9%. Obviously, we acquired the Tucson systems and there's some other things going in there, but kind of have all of that data put together, it'll show like we're in a pretty good spot. We think it's -- growth is going to actually accelerate. And the last point I'll make on that, which we've talked about, issued press releases on, and someone brought it up earlier, is to have this type of economic development, this type of growth, the other key piece other than water, which we take care of here in Arizona, is transportation.

And I don't think I can say enough how important we think this 347 highway widening is to our biggest service area. Look, they're basically turning a highway into a freeway, 15 miles direct access to the Phoenix market, and yet our homes are 20%, 30% less than what it costs to be on the other side of that freeway system. So all things are kind of coming together, we think, pretty well, and so that's how good we feel about it. And that's all before all the rate cases that Chris walked you through earlier.

Varyk Kutnick

Right, so I mean, again, timing here. If a large employer announces a project, the second-order effects happen first, right? Household formation, multifamily, widening of the highway. How long before you see things actually showing up in your numbers? What is that cycle like?

Ron Fleming

Yes, I think you're starting to see it based on the large overall market economic development numbers that we've been talking about for two years now. But what's interesting is, as Mike mentioned, that's been accelerating, so there's more investment. So I think it goes like this, to answer your question specifically. The announcement's made, these type of projects don't let grass grow. They make the announcement because they are ready to go.

They build on an aggressive timeline, two-ish years. They're employing people a year out so they employ you when you're ready to turn the facility on. I think the economic development, horizontal piece that goes along with it from a housing perspective is usually about breaking ground to getting finished lots ready about 18 months. The developers know what's going on. They're doing that in parallel with the big projects.

So, I mean, it's really kind of a two to three-year cycle. I just think we're just now experiencing all the major stuff that's been announced and going on over the last two to three years. And over the next two to three years, it's going to accelerate because the numbers are going up.

Operator

At this time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to now turn the call back over to Mr. Fleming. Sir, please go ahead.

Ron Fleming

All right. Thank you, operator. I just want to thank everybody for participating on the call today and for your ongoing interest in Global Water. Thanks, and we look forward to speaking with you again.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.