Ituran Location & Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) held its second-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.
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View the webcast at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mE4jXN-IS0ufW5K5ZyeaUg#/registration
Summary
Ituran Location & Control reported record revenue of $104.8 million for Q2 2026, a 21% increase year-over-year, with a 25% rise in recurring subscription revenue.
The company added 41,000 net new subscribers, bringing the total to 2.711 million, alongside ramping up OEM programs, particularly with Stellantis for the Fiat Strada.
Strategic initiatives include expanding IturanMob in the US, advancing big data projects, and exploring new market segments, with ongoing pilots and discussions for big data utilization.
The company declared a $10 million dividend and executed a $3 million share buyback, reflecting strong cash flow and a robust financial position.
Management expressed confidence in continued growth and profitability, supported by expanding OEM partnerships and leveraging big data capabilities.
Full Transcript
Kenny Green, Investor Relations
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Kenny Green and I'm part of the investor relations team at Ituran Location & Control. I'd like to welcome all of you to Ituran Location & Control's results Zoom webinar, and I would like to thank Ituran Location & Control's management for hosting this conference call. All participants other than the presenters are currently muted. Following the formal presentation, I'll provide some instructions for participating in the live question and answer session.
I would like to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded and the recording will be available from the link in the earnings press release and on Ituran Location & Control's website from tomorrow. With me today on the call are Mr. Eyal Sharadsky, CEO, Mr. Udi Mizrahi, Deputy CEO and VP Finance, and Mr. Eli Kamar, CFO of Ituran Location & Control. Eyal will begin with a summary of the quarter's results, followed by Eli with a summary of the financials.
We'll then open the call for the question and answer session. You should have all received by now the company's press release. If not, please view it on the company's website. I would like to remind everyone the safe harbor statement in today's press release also covers the contents of this conference call and the associated presentation. And now, Eyal, would you like to begin please?
Eyal Sharadsky, CEO
Thank you, Kenny. I'd like to welcome all of you to our second quarter 2026 results call and thank you for joining us today. We are very pleased to report an excellent second quarter for Ituran Location & Control with record revenue and profitability, with strong growth across every line of our income statement. For the quarter, overall revenue grew 21% year over year to a record of $104.8 million. Our recurring subscription revenue grew by 25% to $80 million, making up 76% of our total revenues.
Beyond that, we grew all of our profit metrics, operating income, EBITDA and net income all ahead of revenue, allowing the operating leverage built into our business model to shine through. During the quarter we added 41,000 net new subscribers, bringing our total subscriber base to 2,711,000 at the end of June 2026. This is in line with our expected run rate and shows continued healthy organic growth across our core markets. Our long-term success in growing our global subscriber base constantly is due to our ongoing efforts in offering new products and value-added services to our customer base while at the same time tapping into new market segments and new regions. Our OEM relationships remain a key growth driver. During the second quarter we continued to ramp our existing OEM program across South America, including Connect Fiat, our new program with Stellantis launched earlier this year exclusive to the Fiat Strada. We remain in active discussions with additional OEMs that you do not see on this list, while at the same time looking to expand our existing relationships with Nissan, Renault, General Motors, Yamaha, BMW and others.
Growing our OEM roster has been and continues to be the main vector for Ituran Location & Control's long-term growth. Beyond our core subscriber-based telematics business, we continue to advance the growth initiatives I have discussed on previous calls, which we believe can become meaningful long-term contributors to Ituran Location & Control: IturanMob, our car rental solution which we recently launched in the US market; Credit Carbon, our platform that lets drivers of electric and zero-emission vehicles generate and sell verified carbon savings, connecting them with the companies that need to offset emissions; and leveraging our big data capabilities, all of which significantly grow our addressable markets. On the big data side, following the initial agreement we announced last quarter, we're continuing in advanced discussions with a number of potential customers and we are active on a number of pilot projects. We would hope to be able to announce a further big data agreement with one of these in the near term. Our big data capabilities have significant long-term potential to support governments, transport authorities, commercial centers, OEMs and other customers, enabling them to make better decisions based on vast amounts of transportation data while creating revenue opportunities that can grow beyond our traditional subscription model. Ituran Location & Control continues to be a strongly cash-generating business and we generated our highest ever cash flow from operations during the quarter amounting to $32.2 million, reflecting our continuing strong profitability, ongoing and significant positive cash flow and strong balance sheet. The Board of Directors declared a dividend of $10 million for the quarter, which represents $0.50 per share, in line with our standard dividend policy.
In addition, $3 million in shares were purchased under our buyback program, which is another return of capital to shareholders to enhance value. We see our ongoing dividends and buyback program as a reward to our shareholders for their loyalty and long-term support of our company. In summary, we are very pleased with our performance in the second quarter with record revenue and record profitability and continued healthy subscriber additions. At the same time, we continue to look for new revenues to drive further growth across all of our regions.
Our expanding OEM programs, our growth engines and opportunities to monetize our big data assets are all examples of this. We remain confident in our ability to deliver continued growth and profitability through 2026 and in our long-term strategy to transform Ituran Location & Control into a significantly larger company. And with that I hand over to Eli. Eli, please go ahead.
Eli Kamar, CFO
Thanks, Eyal. I will provide a short summary of the financial results. You can find the more detailed results in the press release that we issued earlier today. Second quarter revenues were a record $104.8 million, a 21% increase compared with revenues of $86.8 million in the second quarter of last year. Revenues from subscription fees in the quarter were $79.8 million, an increase of 25% year over year, and represented 76% of total revenues. Product revenues in the quarter were $25 million, an increase of 8% year over year.
The subscriber base expanded to 2,711,000 by the end of the second quarter, an increase of 41,000 from the end of the previous quarter. The geographic breakdown of revenues in the second quarter was: Israel 56%, Brazil 22%, Rest of World 22%. EBITDA for the quarter was $28.5 million, or 27.2% of revenues, an increase of 24% compared with EBITDA of $22.9 million, or 26.4% of revenues in the second quarter of last year. Finance expenses in the second quarter were $1.3 million, in line with finance expenses of $1.3 million in the second quarter of last year.
The expense this quarter was mainly due to the strengthening of the Israeli shekel against the US dollar, which lowered the value of US dollar–linked deposits held in Israel, resulting in a finance expense on those deposits. Net income for the second quarter was $17.3 million, or 16.5% of revenues, or diluted earnings per share of $0.88, an increase of 29% compared with $13.5 million, or 15.5% of revenues, or diluted earnings per share of $0.68 in the second quarter of last year.
Cash flow from operations for the second quarter of 2026 was $32.2 million. As of June 30, 2026, the company had net cash, including marketable securities, of $103.7 million, which includes no debt. This is compared with net cash, including marketable securities, of $107.6 million as of year end 2025. The Board of Directors declared a dividend of $10 million for the quarter, or $0.50 per share. The current dividend takes into account the company's continuing strong profitability, ongoing positive cash flow and a strong balance sheet.
During the quarter, $3 million in shares were purchased under the buyback program. The total remaining authorization is about $10 million. Share buybacks will be funded by available cash and will be made in line with SEC Rule 10b-18. And with that I'd like to open the call for a question and answer session.
OPERATOR (Operator)
Okay, we'll now open the call for the question and answer session. Yeah, we'll poll for questions. Our first question will be from Derek Greenberg from Maxim. Derek, please go ahead.
Derek Greenberg, Analyst at Maxim Group
Hi guys. Good morning, good afternoon in Israel. I wanted to start just on the big data opportunity you're pursuing. I was wondering first if you could just talk about the engagement you already had with the Ministry of Transportation in Israel. I was wondering if that had concluded, any feedback you had received, and if that's concluded where that might show up on the income statement.
Eyal Sharadsky, CEO
This deal transaction was already concluded in the end in Q1 and it was not, as we said, it was not a very large deal, but still it was few millions of shekels and it was basically a need of a specific division in this ministry to look for places where trucks in Israel are making specific accidents in order to analyze where is the best place to open rest areas. In Israel there are no rest areas for trucks like in the States or in Europe. And this is the next phase they want to do in order to prevent accidents and fatigue of drivers, etc. And based on historical data, by the way, because we have different prices for real-time data, one-year-old data, etc. And in that case we sold data a few years old for these millions of shekels and this was their first needs. And as I said in my speech, we see more needs of public transportation agents or governmental, which we have discussions and as I said, we are optimistic that soon we will have—we are expecting to have—more deal or deals which can be more valuable and larger deals in different aspects of public transportation, municipality needs, etc.
Derek Greenberg, Analyst at Maxim Group
Okay, great. And just on the pipeline, I was curious, do you think the majority of opportunities currently are predominantly in Israel? Are you seeing opportunities internationally as well?
Eyal Sharadsky, CEO
Currently we started in Israel. The advantage that we have to start in Israel is that in Israel the portion, or the ratio, between the total vehicles on roads with Ituran Location & Control cars—I mean Ituran Location & Control subscriber base—is very high. We have about a million subscribers, a million cars among 3 million. So it means that we have a lot of data when we talk about roads, when we talk about cars, we talk about preferences, etc. So first it's something which we can create more confidence and we can really start with specific agents such as governmental, etc. But our goal is after we will create a substantial market in Israel and we will have some experience of more and more commercial deals to take it out to our next geographies, which typically should be Brazil and Mexico. But in that case we will have to focus on specific customers which our customer base in those countries will allow us to provide very accurate data.
Just remind you if we have about half a million subscribers in Brazil, it represents a much lower percentage of the total cars and they drive in a lower number of places in Brazil. But still we have a lot to contribute to customers and we will do it. But we start with Israel.
Derek Greenberg, Analyst at Maxim Group
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. That was super helpful. Then I had one on just FX impacts in the quarter. I was wondering if there was anything noteworthy there. I know last quarter I think there was like a $1 million benefit from FX. I was wondering if there was anything to call out on that front.
Eli Kamar, CFO
It's almost the same as the last quarter, meaning almost an effect of $1 million on the EBIT.
Derek Greenberg, Analyst at Maxim Group
Okay, got it. And then lastly, just on IturanMob in the US, I was wondering if you could just talk about how that's progressing so far, the discussions you're having, and what you're seeing there.
Eyal Sharadsky, CEO
So from the side of the marketing side, the interest of the market, we see higher and higher attraction. On the other end, or the other part, is our parts to install to marketing and sales. We're still going in a very low mode in order to get our own confidence before we start spending more money, more budget basically on business development and sales. But compared to last quarter we have more and more pilots and more and more customers. The numbers in terms of—I mean when I monetize it from customers to money, we are still in a very low number.
So this is the reason why we are not yet providing specific data. We are in the beginning, but as I said the most important issue is the interest of the market, of the car rentals company, etc. We spread now and we expand our capabilities in more and more cities. And as I said at the beginning, this is a mid-term project. It's not something that will contribute substantial amount in 2026 and also in 2027, but once we will see that it's ramping with more material numbers of course I will inform everyone.
Derek Greenberg, Analyst at Maxim Group
Good, great. Thanks for taking my questions, guys.
OPERATOR (Operator)
Thanks. Thanks, Derek. Our next question is going to be from Sergey Minanov of Freedom Capital Markets. Sergey, please go ahead.
Sergey Minanov, Analyst at Freedom Capital Markets
Yeah, good afternoon, guys. So I'm just wondering how today such products and markets like the motorcycle market and UBI are trending. How is it trending for Ituran Location & Control?
Eyal Sharadsky, CEO
Regarding motorcycles, as you know, Sergey, and as we stated in the past, our main focus in the Brazilian market—we started with the OEM deals with Yamaha and BMW, and this is ramping up very impressively. We see that our customers, Yamaha and them, they are very satisfied with the capabilities, with no problems, etc. And it's now started to contribute to our growing subscriber base in Brazil. Our next phases will be, or already exist, talking and trying to expand those names to other names, and we have discussion.
Again, I don't have any new deal that I can report, but I hope and believe that we will continue to push and we will get it and then of course you will know. And this is regarding motorcycles and I really believe that it's start and going to be a major portion of our growth in subscribers in Brazil. Regarding UBI, we are still focusing in the Israeli market. We see a grow, but it's still something that I have to remind you: the ARPU is low and second, it goes to specific, usually segments of the second car at home or young people cars.
But it's still growing, but it's not yet something that we succeeded to expand to other geographies except Argentina, which is a smaller number as well.
Sergey Minanov, Analyst at Freedom Capital Markets
Okay, got it. And maybe you can share your thoughts on: could you use your big data project to accumulate the data for using it in UBI segments as well?
Eyal Sharadsky, CEO
The answer is absolutely yes. Currently we use the UBI based on personal data and of course we have discussions with insurance companies in Israel, showing them there is a lot of usage that they can do not only based on Ituran Location & Control subscriber and Ituran Location & Control hardware but also about the big data that Ituran Location & Control can provide. And this is something that can give for them a lot of benefits of how they can price new and old insurers based on where they live, how they drive, where they drive, etc. And they are looking at that. But like it was with the UBI, the insurance industry is a very, very traditional industry, very traditional ways of taking decision. It's changing, but it's changing slow. But this is what we believe will be the next phase after we will continue to close deals with the governmental authorities and public transportation authorities. And then we have two, I would say, two customers, which are today traditionally our channels, which are insurance companies and car dealers and car importers to Israel.
And this is something that will be the next phase and we put a lot of efforts on that.
Sergey Minanov, Analyst at Freedom Capital Markets
Okay, thank you for taking my question.
Kenny Green, Investor Relations
Thanks, Sergey. That looks like the end of the questions. So before I hand back to Eyal, I just want to let everybody know that this conference call will be available from tomorrow on Ituran Location & Control's website on the investor relations side, or alternatively, you can get through the Zoom link. And with that, I'd like to hand back to Eyal for the closing statement. Eyal, please go ahead.
Eyal Sharadsky, CEO
On behalf of the management of Ituran Location & Control, I would like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued interest and long-term support of our business. We look forward to continuing our success over the coming years. If you are interested in meeting or speaking with us, please feel free to reach out to our investor relations team. And with that, we end our call.
OPERATOR (Operator)
Have a good day. Thank you.
Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company's SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants' and analysts' statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.
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