Corporate profits soar while Chilean household insolvencies hit historic highs.

The Chilean corporate edifice today displays cracks and foundations simultaneously: while large IPSA-listed companies report historic earnings and the benchmark index breaks through 11,000 points for the first time in weeks, insolvency data reveal that the real economy is operating under financial pressure that finds no relief in market headlines. That fracture between corporate Chile and the Chile of indebted households is the central tension of the day.

The IPSA closed higher, touching 11,000 points in a volatile session that drew momentum from Wall Street—where the S&P 500 reached record highs after softer-than-expected US producer price data—with the Nasdaq gaining 0.8% and Treasury yields easing between five and six basis points. The dollar closed flat in Santiago, with no meaningful moves to disturb the FX picture. But beneath that market calm, the Superintendencia de Insolvencia y Reemprendimiento revealed that personal debt renegotiations soared 131% in the first half of 2026 versus the prior year, from 1,649 to 3,815 cases. Corporate bankruptcies climbed 28.4% over the same period, and asset liquidations of individuals grew nearly 23%. Insolvency practitioner Valeria Cañas attributes this to "the accumulation of high living costs, stagnant real incomes and elevated interest rates," factors that have pushed debt service to levels unsustainable for households that previously managed to stay current. The June Consumer Insight report confirmed the picture: purchase volumes among Chilean consumers fell 2.7% year-on-year, and Falabella CEO Alejandro González made no attempt to sugarcoat reality, forecasting that "the sales environment in Chile will remain mixed" in the second half, with non-essential categories—apparel, tech, home goods—operating on difficult terrain.

Paradoxically, that same Falabella has just reported its best second quarter in history at the operating level, with operating income growing 8% to US$423 million and an operating margin of 11.2% on consolidated revenue of US$3.117 billion. Sisters Paola and Giorgiana Cúneo took advantage of those results to sell 1% of the company on the exchange, raising more than US$170 million between them and reducing their combined stake to 7.95% across all their vehicles. So far this year, the retailer's shareholders have divested nearly US$440 million in stock, a process that began with the dissolution of the historic controlling pact in July 2025 and continues under its own logic. González's message on the second half, read alongside the insider sales, sketches a picture of cautious internal optimism and outward financial pragmatism.

Empresas Copec, the Angelini group's holding company, offered the sharpest counterpoint to the strong corporate moment. The company reported half-year profits of US$712 million, up 63% versus the first half of 2025, with adjusted EBITDA of US$1.917 billion, exceeding the same period last year by 20.7%. The second quarter was even more striking: earnings attributable to owners grew 93% to US$440 million. CEO Eduardo Navarro attributed the performance to "strategic portfolio diversification," with the energy segment offsetting weakness in the Arauco forestry business. The alliance Cabify just sealed precisely with Copec—incorporating access to EV charging infrastructure and reduced operating costs for drivers—illustrates how that energy portfolio continues to extend its reach into the platform economy.

In the mining sector, the day brought mixed signals. Antofagasta plc, the Luksic family group listed on the London Stock Exchange, reported pre-tax profits of US$1.996 billion in the first half, a 72% jump driven by higher prices for copper, molybdenum and gold, with revenues of US$4.479 billion. However, the group cut its 2026 copper production target, a signal of operational constraints the market cannot ignore. On the same day, Minera Escondida—operated by BHP and the world's largest copper producer—confirmed it will enter a production trough this year, with a projection of between one million and 1.1 million tonnes for fiscal year 2027, a reduction of up to 300,000 tonnes from prior levels. Escondida's temporary decline comes at a moment when Biminister Daniel Mas announced that 16 mining projects worth more than US$24 billion have entered environmental assessment so far this year—the highest figure on record—reigniting the debate over whether Chile can reach six million tonnes of annual copper production. The experts gathered at the Clapes UC seminar responded with a "Yes, we can" that blends ambition with the implicit warnings of the current production cycle.

The Constitutional Court delivered a ruling today with meaningful implications for the investment climate: it upheld nearly all of the tax invariability mechanisms included in the reconstruction and reactivation law, exempting only two articles related to connected projects and timeframes for repatriating capital. At the same time, it declared unconstitutional the salmon farming microrelocations contemplated in the bill, a setback for a sector whose exports, nonetheless, set records: Chilean food shipments surpassed US$8.306 billion accumulated between January and July, a new all-time high, with the United States positioned as the leading destination at US$2.335 billion across 290 different products. Salmonids led the growth in value, situating the Constitutional Court's decision on salmon farmers within a context of export expansion that is urgently seeking regulatory certainty.

Latin American airline consolidation took another firm step with Peru's Indecopi approving Grupo Abra's absorption of SKY Airlines—the group already includes Avianca, Gol and Wamos Air—following prior clearances from Chile's FNE and Brazil's CADE. Still pending is the definition of the stake the Paulmann Mast family will retain on the board of the resulting airline.

On the immediate horizon, the market will have to process the arrival of the USTR representative to negotiate tariff exemptions with the Kast administration—an effort Senator Iván Moreira publicly described as requiring the Foreign Ministry to "dress up in its finery"—while the Cámara Chilena de la Construcción cuts its 2026 investment projections due to a weaker-than-expected first half. SOFOFA, for its part, is pressing for a four-point reduction in the corporate tax rate, arguing it would generate up to 210,000 jobs over four years. With the IPSA at recent highs but insolvency at all-time highs, the question that will frame the second-half economic debate is whether corporate strength has the capacity—or the willingness—to filter through to the rest of the economy.

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**Empresas Copec (SSE: COPEC)** — The Angelini group's holding company reported half-year profits of US$712 million, up 63% year-on-year, with adjusted EBITDA of US$1.917 billion driven by the energy segment and partially offset by weakness in Arauco's forestry business. The company, with exposure to fuel, timber and mining markets in North America, South America and Europe, reported half-year revenues of US$17.097 billion.

**Antofagasta plc (LSE: ANTO)** — The Luksic family's mining group posted pre-tax profits of US$1.996 billion in the first half, a 72% jump backed by elevated prices for copper, molybdenum and gold, but cut its 2026 copper production target, introducing a note of operational caution at a moment of peak profitability.

**SKY Airline / Abra Group** — Peru's Indecopi approved the absorption of the Chilean airline by Abra Group, completing the regulatory cycle in three jurisdictions—Chile, Brazil and Peru—and consolidating a Latin American consortium that integrates Avianca, Gol and Wamos Air; still pending is the definition of the Paulmann Mast family's residual role on the board of the resulting entity.