CSNA3 after 2Q26: rising EBITDA, a deeper net loss, and a free-cash-flow print that includes a bridge loan

On 12 August 2026, Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional released its 2Q26 results. Net revenue was R$ 11.306 billion, up 5.7% year on year and 6.6% quarter on quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was R$ 2.773 billion, a 23.4% margin. Net income was a R$ 773.1 million loss — deeper than the R$ 130.4 million loss a year earlier and deeper than the first-quarter loss. Free cash flow, on the company’s own definition, flipped to a R$ 808.1 million inflow. Those four sentences answer four different questions. Keep them apart: the operating tape, the financial line that FX and derivatives can swing, the cash bridge that counts funding, and the balance-sheet stock of net debt. On the 13 August session after the release, CSNA3 closed at R$ 4.55, up about 5.6%, according to the financial press.

What the earnings package actually shows

Figures below follow the English earnings release furnished to the SEC as a Form 6-K (reference date 30 June 2026):

First-half adjusted EBITDA was R$ 5.4 billion (+5.2% year on year). First-half net loss was about R$ 1.3 billion, versus R$ 862 million in 1H25. The year-ago quarter also had a cleaner base for the bottom line: 2Q25 “other operating” income was lifted by contingency reversals that did not repeat.

"Adjusted EBITDA" here starts from net income and adds back depreciation, taxes, the net financial result, equity income and other operating items, and it consolidates 37.49% of MRS Logística’s EBITDA. When a table says EBITDA, check whether that proportional MRS line is inside.

Five segments, five stories

The consolidated print is not one business. The release itself flags four operating messages and one caveat:

Steel. Sales were 1.182 million tonnes (+16.7% year on year). Domestic shipments cleared 825 thousand tonnes, the first print above 800 thousand since 4Q24. Export volumes were the highest since 1Q23. Domestic average price was R$ 4,966/t (+3.5% versus 1Q26, −5.7% versus 2Q25). Slab cash cost was R$ 3,382/t. Adjusted steel EBITDA rose 61.7% quarter on quarter. The company ties part of the volume recovery to antidumping measures that cut import inflows at Brazilian ports. A double-digit steel margin in one quarter is a sequential repair, not proof that the import problem is closed.

Mining. Sales hit 11.849 million tonnes, the fourth-highest quarter on record, even with a 15-day maintenance stop. Adjusted mining EBITDA margin still compressed to 32.0% (−11.1 p.p. versus 1Q26, so roughly 43% in the prior quarter). Unit net revenue was US$ 49.09/t. Seaborne freight on the Tubarão–Qingdao route averaged about US$ 33.98/t, versus US$ 20.85/t a year earlier. Volume excellence and margin compression can sit in the same quarter.

Cement. Tonnes sold fell 9.9% year on year; net revenue still rose 14.3%. Management calls that a deliberate “value over volume” mix. Adjusted EBITDA was a segment record.

Energy. Net revenue nearly doubled year on year to R$ 395.5 million. The driver is not a new power-market cycle. It is the recognition of retroactive Jacuí plant invoices after an administrative outcome at ANEEL — revenue that had been sitting provisioned since October 2025. Strip that line before you annualize group EBITDA.

The loss is mostly below EBITDA

The financial result was a R$ 1.843 billion expense. That is 41% heavier than in 1Q26, even though the spot dollar barely moved over the quarter: the release’s reference rates are R$ 5.22 at end-March and R$ 5.18 at end-June. The company points to exchange-rate effects on monetary variations and derivatives, not to a collapse in steel or cement EBITDA.

Read the R$ 773 million loss as net income after that financial line (and after a year-ago base that still had contingency reversals), not as “operations earned 495% less.” Adjusted EBITDA is the cleaner operating comparison, and even that line needs the Jacuí asterisk.

Equity income from MRS helped (R$ 138.2 million, up sharply versus a weak 1Q), but it does not offset a nearly R$ 1.8 billion financial expense.

Positive company FCF is not the same as deleveraging

CSN reports free cash flow of +R$ 808.1 million. The same paragraph says the turnaround reflects operating performance, working-capital release and funding transactions, “mainly related to the bridge loan.” In mid-April the group signed a US$ 1.2 billion bridge facility. Late July it launched an exchange offer to push out by two years US$ 1.3 billion of notes originally due in 2028.

So the cash bridge that prints positive can still coexist with:

• net debt rising to R$ 42.1 billion;
• leverage at 3.49x;
• capex of R$ 1.414 billion (up 25.6% quarter on quarter, with P15 in focus);
• an R$ 495 million advance for future capital increase into Transnordestina;
• amortization of iron-ore prepayment contracts.

Working capital allocated to the business did fall 21.8% sequentially, to R$ 3.046 billion, largely as steel inventories came down. That is real operating cash. It is not, by itself, a deleveraging quarter. Cash on the balance sheet remained large at about R$ 15.4 billion. Liquidity and net leverage are different objects.

Net foreign-exchange exposure on the consolidated balance sheet was −US$ 1.2905 billion. Hedge accounting matches projected dollar export cash flows with dollar debt maturities, so some FX on debt sits in equity until the related exports hit the P&L. That accounting choice is why the financial line and the spot FX move in the quarter need not tell the same story.

How to use the explorer on this package

1. Open CSNA3. Find the ITR with reference 30/06/2026 and the 12/08/2026 earnings materials.
2. Separate adjusted EBITDA from net loss. The bridge between them is mostly financial result and non-operating items, not a missing steel shipment.
3. Inside EBITDA, haircut Energy for Jacuí before you treat 23.4% as the run-rate group margin.
4. When the release says FCF was +R$ 808 million, read the funding clause in the same paragraph. Then look at whether net debt and 3.49x moved the way a clean FCF print would imply.
5. Read steel 10.5% as a sequential margin recovery aided by trade defense and mix, and mining 32% as a high-volume quarter with freight and FX in the unit margin.
6. For a live quote, use the company page. This article only anchors the 13 August close already reported in the press.

Limits of this reading

• A smaller-than-feared loss is not a profit. Consensus in the press was near a R$ 1.1 billion loss; the print was still red.
• Record cement and a repaired steel margin do not refinance R$ 42 billion of net debt.
• Company FCF that includes a bridge loan is not a substitute for asset-sale proceeds or sustained operating cash after interest and prepays.
• CMIN3 is a related but separate listing. Mining volumes in the CSN package are not a full substitute for reading CSN Mineração on its own.
• One quarter of antidumping relief does not define the multi-year import cycle for flat steel.

Where to view in the explorer

• CSNA3 — Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional
• Company list
• Blog

Sources

• CSN 2Q26 earnings release (English), furnished as SEC Form 6-K, 12/08/2026 — consolidated P&L, adjusted EBITDA definition, segment results, FCF, net debt, FX exposure, Jacuí/energy note, liability-management items
• InfoMoney, 13/08/2026 — Portuguese recap of the net loss, year-on-year EBITDA comparison, net debt, and the R$ 4.55 session close (+5.56%)
• Folha de S.Paulo, 13/08/2026 — consensus loss context and operational-versus-financial framing
• CSNA3 on the explorer — filings and quote

Disclaimer

This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment advice. Adjusted EBITDA, IFRS net income, company-defined free cash flow and net debt are different layers; Energy in 2Q26 includes a non-recurring item. When in doubt, the official CVM filings prevail. Refer to those documents and, if needed, a licensed professional.