Finning International (TSX:FTT) reported first-quarter financial results on Wednesday. The transcript from the company's first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.
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Summary
Finning International delivered its strongest Q1 adjusted EPS of $1.02, with a 6% increase in global product support and a 13% rise in Canada.
The company's mining business, particularly in Canada, saw a significant increase in truck population, contributing to long-term product support opportunities.
Revenue for Q1 was $2.5 billion, with strong growth in product support and a 32% year-over-year increase in backlog, driven by mining and power segments in Canada.
Finning International is opening new branches in Canada and investing in inventory to support growth, while maintaining a disciplined approach to cost and capital.
The company reported a 2% rise in Q1 revenue year-over-year, driven by higher product support, despite lower equipment sales in South America.
Finning International's net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 1.6 times, and the company announced a 7.4% dividend increase, marking 25 consecutive years of dividend growth.
The company is optimistic about future growth in mining and power sectors, particularly in Canada and Argentina, despite some moderation in Chile.
Management highlighted strategic market share gains in construction equipment sales, particularly in Canada.
Full Transcript
David Primrose (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)
Thank you Operator. Good morning everyone and welcome to Finning's first quarter earnings call. Joining me on today's call is Kevin Parks, 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. 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 MDA 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. In addition, unless otherwise noted, this presentation reflects the results of continuing operations only. Kevin, over to you.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Thank you Dave and 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 $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 investments 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. I'll then 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 $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. 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 $1.2 billion across. Prime Power, oil and gas and data center standby solutions similar to mining engines deployed within our operating regions create a long term population and product support 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 UK 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. 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 twelve month basis, our SGA margin declined 60 basis points, evidence in 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 three, here we are illustrating the growth in ultra class and large mining trucks across our Western Canada and and South American regions since 2021. 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 in some cases with lower ore grades, can lead to opportunities for increased equipment requirements. We are 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 35% and during the same period our total product support revenue has increased by 59%, demonstrating the importance of equipment population as a key driver for product. Of course, we remain committed to supporting our customers to lower their cost per tonne through increased truck utilization. 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.
David Primrose (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)
Thank you, Kevin. I'll now turn to slide 4. Our Q1 revenue of $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. 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 first quarter earnings were adjusted for $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. LTIP expense, was $15 million this quarter or $0.09 per share of earnings driven by strong share price apprecia in Q1 2025 LTIP expense, was $7 million or $0.04 per share of earnings. Adjusted EPS of $1.02 was up 7% from Q1 2025 EPS, primarily reflecting lower finance cost on lower average debt level and the benefit of share repurchases. Meanwhile, our balance sheet and working capital velocity remained business and increase our shareholder returns through our 7.4% dividend increase, marking our 25th consecutive year of dividend growth. Our net debt to adjusted ebitda ratio was 1.6 times at the end of March. Our invested capital turns and adjusted return on invested capital were 2.3 times and 18.7% respectively, all within our target ranges. 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 $3.8 billion at the end of March, up 32% from March 2025 and up 20% from December 25, reflecting order intake outpacing deliveries across all market sectors, particularly in mining and construction sectors. 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 28 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 $1.2 billion, primarily supported by data center orders in the UK and Ireland as well as gas compression equipment orders in Canada. 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, gross profit margin was comparable to Q1 2025SG and a margin was up 20 basis points to 16%, primarily reflecting higher people costs to support business growth along with $8 million higher LTIP expense, accounting for approximately 30 basis points of SG and 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 UK and Ireland. Moving to our South American results and outlook which are Summarized on slide 7 in functional currency, new equipment sales were down 26% from Q1 2025 primarily due to lower mining deliveries. 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 of 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 SGA 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 based level of quoting tender and award activity for mining equipment, product support and technology solutions. However, in the near term we expect some moderation of product support activity levels as customers adjust the line plans and existing equipment fleets. 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 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 El Embraera copper mine. We expect activity levels to continue to improve in the coming years subject to a constructive investment environment. 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 SGA margin. Adjusted return on invested capital from continuing operations of 18.2% improved 230 basis points from Q1 2025 driven by both improved trailing twelve 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 sector. Activity remains steady in the oil and gas market with longer term potential in the data center market where we have started active discussions with numerous customers 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. We are encouraged by recent announcements regarding the potential to accelerate resource development and infrastructure project activity, but we remain cautious with respect to the exact timing and magnitude and 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 UK 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 performance portion 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. In terms of outlook, we expect demand for new construction equipment in the UK 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 Parks (President and CEO)
Thanks Dave. We are pleased with our business performance and encouraged about the future prospects for our company. 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. 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. And 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 years. With that, that concludes our remarks and we can open the call for question and answers.
OPERATOR
Thank you. We'll now begin the question and answer session. Analysts who wish to join the question queue May press star then 1. On their telephone keypad you'll hear a tone acknowledging your request. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing any keys. To withdraw your question, press star then two. Our first question is from Sherrilyn Radburn with TD Cowen. Please go ahead.
Sherrilyn Radburn
Thanks very much and 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 Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, sure. Thanks, Sherilyn. Yeah, so that are being discussed around the importance of building nation building and strong infrastructure for Canada. It's certainly demonstrably more encouraging and positive than it was a couple of years ago. And you know, we're monitoring those projects really carefully to make sure that we're well placed to support customers who win those awards and start to build those projects. That that being said, there's not a lot of lot of shovel ready projects that we're working on right now. And so we'd like to see that speed up. 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 some things moving in Canada. So yeah, we are encouraged by it. You mentioned pipelines there. I mean ultimately that's the area where we are seeing some more activity right now. And pipelines tend to get shovel ready relatively quickly and some of that construction activity, particularly in heavy rents,, actually, Sherilyn 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. So, you know, I would say that pipelines are closer to us in terms of impacts on our business for the remainder of this year. But we are encouraged in the long term about.
Sherrilyn Radburn
They're 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 and to what extent are you seeing things in the Golden Triangle?
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, actually so I mean it is very, very much dominated by the oil sands, Sherlyn. So and that's, you know, that's the benefit of having that amazing resource and opportunity in in our significant contribution we can pay to helping them be more successful. So it is, it is mostly oil sands. That being said, we're actually seeing some, some of the orders in our backlog are actually from coal and that would be the second biggest contribution to our backlog. But there's a lot of work going on in the coal and metals space. Sorry in the metals and critical mineral space. But I would say that's a small part of the backlog build right now. So that's an upside.
Sherrilyn Radburn
Thanks for the time.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Thanks, Sherlyn.
OPERATOR
The next question is from Steve Hanson with Raymond James. Please go ahead.
Steve Hanson
Yes, morning guys. Thanks for the time, Kevin. Canadian product support gross has clearly been outstanding here, data provided. But 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 in this sort of broader push for market share and what's driving it. Thanks.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, sure. So 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 by truck population in Canada and that continues, you know, the recent wins evidence that and the backlog build. So 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. 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 and then in power generation, power and energy. We have very strong market share from a prime products perspective in that and we're seeing the benefits of that come through that product support line. So 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 first quarter have seen us have, you know, Some of the best market share we've seen in over a decade, which is super encouraging when you think about the competitive nature of construction industries. And 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 smaller equipment and excavation areas. So I think it's safe to say that we've had a renewed and reinvigorated approach to winning market share in the construction equipment and that will play through in terms of product support growth in the future, which we are encouraged about the product support contribution from construction in Canada in Q1. Steve, one thing I'll just add, we talk a lot about the mining trucks. It's a bit of a proxy for overall population and 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 Hanson
Okay, very helpful, thank you. And just as you start to contemplate this emerging power and data center opportunity in particular for Western Canada, I'm just curious if you thought about or contemplated whether you need to add any derivative products or services to help your win rates as you sort of go after some of these new projects. As you're aware, one of your computers in Eastern Canada has added this enclosure business to their portfolio as just an example, but not speaking to maybe 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 Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, thanks Steve. It's a great question and it's good timing. We actually have a strategy day today with our, with our board where we're going to engage in some more of those discussions about how you, how we can participate more in, in this very vibrant sector. But I need, you know, just to remind we do this today. We build enclosures. We've been packaging engines for a long time with, with Caterpillar, particularly in the UK and Ireland and we've been packaging general power generation in our Surrey branch for again for decades, more than a decade. And so we have that skill, we have those capabilities. And so we are looking at how we expand those capabilities for this growing sector. I want to, for us, this could be an ever increasing sector and you can expand your capabilities extensively. You know, I want to make sure our strategy at Finnin remains the same. It's to populate our operating regions with Caterpillar equipment. And if we need to have Additional capabilities to do that or there's a bottleneck or a constraint. We will look at how we do that in the future. But 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 Hanson
Very helpful, thank you.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
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 Saba Khan with rbc. Please go ahead.
Patty
Hi, good morning guys. This is Patty on the line for Saba. So 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 and the role you can play in each.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, sure, great question, Paddy. So right now we, I mean we are seeing the discussions are incrementally more active, particularly in western Canada. Might remember this has been, you know, we've had a very strong business in the UK and Ireland for, for a number of years now, more than a decade, and that continues to be steady as well. And 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. But 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. And so we're very focused on supporting customers. And you'll have seen announcements in Saskatchewan and in British Columbia in the last couple of weeks. And so, you know, we're very close to those opportunities. We have good capabilities, it's a competitive environment. But we'll, 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 for me. The big opportunity for us though, as I go back to Steve's question, is the opportunity for prime gas power, particularly in Alberta. And they're the opportunities. All data center business is incremental and good. But a prime power opportunity for us with a data center would be a huge lift for us at Finnian. And it provides that long term product support opportunity, rebuild opportunity very much like a static mining truck. And so if you think about the opportunity to build campuses in Alberta, we're really working hard with government to try and progress those and customers. In fact we finished and held and organized a data center conference about 10 days ago in Calgary attended by more than 100 people. And that shows you the, it was a fully organized event and that shows you the opportunity and the encouragement that is in the building in that space. So I would say it's back up right now and you know, we'd like to see some things hit our backlog here in the second half of the year, but we hope to see it quickly transition into some more prime power gas opportunities in the future. That being said, in both cases, it's important that you understand that the delivery schedules for these projects are, they're into the 2028, 2029 period. So this is a long term, it's a long term visibility of business that we wouldn't have typically had in the past. So that's good, but important that you understand some of the timing on that.
Patty
Okay, great, thanks. That's very helpful. And then maybe switching gears to capital allocation. You continue to be active on the share buyback in the quarter, albeit at a slightly slower pace it seems, and you're looking to renew the ncib. So just today maybe your high level thoughts with the stock trading north of 100 bucks, 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?
David Primrose (Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer)
Sure, I'll comment on that. I mean we think, we strongly believe returning capital to shareholders is important and we've been consistently doing that. You know, as Kevin said earlier, 25th capital spending right now in particular, we look at growth opportunities and inventory purchases. So it's dynamic. We look at it at least weekly, if not more frequently. So we don't give guidance on buybacks. But we do believe consistency is important. And as you noted, we have pulled down the levels but we have remained active.
Patty
All right, thanks very much.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Thank you.
OPERATOR
The next question is from Krista Friesen, sorry, with cibc. Please go ahead.
Krista Friesen
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 US are starting to use these engines for data center prime power as well?
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, I mean obviously the demand. Thanks for the question, Krista. The demand, and you can read about it in the Caterpillar press release, is incrementally more positive and you've seen some rewards. So you know, naturally we'll push out Engine lead times. You know, Caterpillar announced last week that they're going from two times manufacturing capacity to three times on large engines. So that will take some time to come on. But, you know, obviously, you know, that will push out lead times. That being said, we're not trying to sell engines today for tomorrow. Discussions we're having have those lead times in mind. And so the data center builders are, they're planning for that 2028, 2029 period, which we can get engines for that period. But you're dead right. The opportunity here is speed to market and that includes the approval to build and permitting of data center. So if you can, you know, the data center builders are looking at where they can get permits approved really quickly and when they, how they can get power. And you're right, the reciprocating engine does increase the speed to market. So there are two advantages. If we can get, you know, western Canada, we're seeing some permitting, so that's good. And we've got the ability to supply in the time frames that customers are looking for. So I think we're well positioned. And of course, we've got the added benefit of the gas supply in Alberta, which should give Alberta an advantage in this space too. So as I said, we had the premier at one of our events, premier of Alberta, a few weeks ago and she's behind this too. So data centers in Alberta and I think there's 20 or 21 gigawatts in the queue for 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 And. I'll leave it there, thank you. Yeah, like I said before, I think it's just, it's permitting. So, you know, permitting and then because the quicker we can get moving and we can get the orders into the system, the quicker we can get the engine. So for me, it's actually moving forward and permitting and government and data center and. Thank you.
OPERATOR
The next question is from Maxim Sitchov with National Bank Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Maxim Sitchov
Hi, good morning, gentlemen. Is it possible to get a bit of, I guess a cadence inflection point when it comes to product support as obviously Canada is accelerating and Latam is a little bit slower right now, but how should we think about sort of the back half of the year and maybe more importantly 2027? Thank you.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, so I mean, Canada, you know, we see no reason to, for that to change. And so we see that continue into the second half of the year. It is dynamic match. You know, minor decisions can, you know, can change that. So it can be lumpy at times like that's that and that's what's happening in South America right now. You know, we've got three of our top ten mines that have. We're experiencing some moderation and some readjustment in the mine plans and that can have a, you know, a disproportionate effect on the overall product support growth rate. And so we're always mindful of that as mines, mine plans change. But we are going to deliver trucks into Canada, you know, the second half of this year and into next year, you know, with the, with the, you know, the deliveries to El Abra in Argentina. And there's also, you know, existing trucks, I think eight or nine trucks in El Abra to reactivate as well. So there's some work to do on those as well. So yeah, we're, I would say we're, we're more. We'd like to see a slight uptick in the second half but of the year in South America. And nothing to suggest that the approach in Canada changes in the second half of the year other than we're always mindful that one customer making a different plan or a different change or even an event on site can change that. So we stay close to that.
Maxim Sitchov
Okay, makes sense. Thank you so much. Quickly, you mentioned Argentina. Exciting to see 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 Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, good. Yeah, so thanks for that, Max. Argentina. So the oil and gas activity has really carried us through for the last couple of years, yet it's an incremental opportunity. Argentina is developing its natural resources. If you look at Argentina in Q1, new equipment sales are up 120%, rentals up 28%. Total business was up 17%. A lot of that is driven by even the construction activity because there is zero public works going on right now. A lot of that activity is either driven by oil and gas enablement, an oil and gas extraction or mining enablement, which is in the very early phases. I would say that probably half of our business opportunity right now in Argentina is driven by oil and gas. But we'd see, 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, the net impact of that max is just that it's a higher Quality business. We've been 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 expand beyond any administration development. I was there last week and I got this question a lot. What do you think about administration development? And we think with the RIGI and Ricky and you know, the benefit to the country of this resource development, it probably expands beyond any one customer, any one government. Sorry. And ultimately, you know, we've been around there for. We're a 93 year old company, right. We don't make decisions based on one administration in any of our territories. So we just think that we hope and we've heard that Argentina is on a different path now and this resource development can change the face for the, for the people who live there, for the companies who've been loyal and operate there.
Maxim Sitchov
In terms of hard currency theoretical, over time we should also see pickup in construction, I.e. public works, etc.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Right? Yeah. I mean so public works is still difficult in Argentina. You know, the government is holding a very tight reins on that. But it's, you know, I think as things like I said, our new equipment sales were up 120% in Q1 and so there is activity going on but nothing to the extent that we've seen in the past. And construction is notably more competitive in Argentina than mining and oil and gas. So it's a more challenging market. But things like our rental business is up 28%. So there are things going on. Maxwell. I kind of think of the business down there being like 50%, 30%, 20% in the future. That's 50 mining, 30 oil and gas and 20 construction. That's a very broad estimate, but that's the kind of way we're thinking about it right now.
Maxim Sitchov
Okay, great. Paula, thank you so much.
OPERATOR
The next question is from Jonathan Goldman with Scotiabank. Please go ahead.
Jonathan Goldman
Hey, good morning team and thanks for taking my questions. I joined a bit late so I apologize if this has already been asked. But in South America, the product support, you know, the lower levels, a lot of disclosure there, you've telegraphed that well. But should we think about product support kind of tracking copper production in the region and 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 Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, so as I said, I attended sesco. You know, there are challenges to increasing copper production. There are bottlenecks, there are There are, you know, labor, labor challenges, there are equipment challenges. So we're trying to help our customers solve those challenges and, you know, build loyalty with our customers. I wouldn't necessarily say that you can draw a correlation between copper production and our product support rate because the correlation just hasn't happened over the last three years. The better correlation is the number of trucks which we've put in. We haven't broken that down by country, but the number of trucks in South America has grown demonstrably over the past three or four years and we expect that to continue. If you think about the net zero impact working from the zero in Argentina, we expect that to be a benefit in the future as well. I wouldn't say there's that correlation and I'm not sure when you join, but I think we've had the impact in Chile right now in the moderation of product support. Growth is actually 3 out of 10 mines that are seeing some moderation revenue. And like we've seen in the oil sands, we expect that to normalize over time. And you know, so we'd like to think that the second half of the year is slightly better in product support.
Jonathan Goldman
Okay, that's great color and then maybe related, you know, the actions you've taken in the region to rationalize headcount. How should we think about SGA levels or cost expense levels going forward if there's any sort of payback on those restructuring actions?
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, 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, 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. So in South America specifically, it's after a period of very strong growth and moderation, we're taking the opportunity to look at it, look at the business down there from a higher performance lens. And so most of the changes we're making in South America relate to increasing capability, capability and making sure we've got the very highest quality technicians that we possibly can be, can have. But we're always seeing opportunities to restructure and to reallocate resources. But 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 are going to be in for a little while here. But I think the allocation of cost and the work that we do will change over time. The big little add there Is 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. So this was an opportunity to go back and really focus on productivity.
Jonathan Goldman
Okay, that's, that's really good color and 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 two 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 23. 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 cba, because it does seem like those are accelerating and gaining traction.
Kevin Parks (President and CEO)
Yeah, yeah. So the impact of two years of very strong population growth in Canada and with our backlog, we see that continuing for another couple of years. And so population is the biggest driver. But you know, with Tim coming into the, into the business here, he's one of his three big drivers and three strategic stands, I guess, is to increase our labour sales. You know, when we provide labor, we win more product support. And so it's not so much that the CVA percentage of CVAs has gone up that much, but the percentage of CVAs with labour is increasing. They're adding a technician. 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 continued strong level of rebuilds in the area. More and more customers are considering rebuilds as an option as we move forward. So I would say really pleased with those product support initiatives, but boosted, boosted by this different approach to labour and the additional population.
Jonathan Goldman
It's definitely working. Next quarter, guys. I'll get back in queue, 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.
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