Aryzta AG

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to 17 Months Results to December 2023. The call will be hosted by Leo Sigorti, Chairman and CEO, and Martin Huber, the CFO. There'll be a presentation followed by Q&A. This call is being recorded. Now I'd like to hand over the call to Paul Mead, Head of Investor Relations, to open the call. Please go ahead, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. Good morning, everybody, and welcome. I'd just like to point out that today's discussions are governed by the forward-looking statement in terms of all the risks associated with reporting. And I'd now like to hand over to Urs Jordi to present.

Good morning, all. Let me welcome you to this year's result presentation. We will start on page four of the presentation. with the strategy and the delivering of the goals. The performance arrives the way we have planned. Take-off business remains attractive and is creating sustainable value. Arvista is on track to deliver its mid-term targets 2025. On the page number five, You can see the key highlights for the 17-month period to December 2023. Revenue of 3 billion and 46 million was achieved. An organic growth of 17.3% is there. An EBITDA of 400.8 million. An EBITDA margin of 13.2%. and free cash flow of €139.6 million was achieved. Profit for the period amounted to €160.5 million. On the next page then, page number 6, the key highlights for the 12-month period to December 23. The revenue amounted to 2,192,000,000. The organic growth stands with 14.7%. An EBITDA of 304.5 million was achieved, which is a margin of 13.9%. A free cash flow of 132.4 million was achieved, profit for the period 125.7 million. These are the key highlights for the 12-month period. On page 7, then, the organic growth strategy, which is working in our core categories. Innovations are impacting revenue heavily. This impact almost doubled over the year. With this, we gain market share. Core channels remain the same, quick serve restaurant, other food service and retail. There are significant improvements in customer feedback ratings, which we are doing on a yearly basis. Customers seem to appreciate our activities. Both core regions performed well. Several growth initiatives are underway. You may have read the investment in Perth into a burger bun line. We invest in capacities in Switzerland, in Germany, and in Poland. On page 8, then, the operational improvements on all levels. We are still in a challenging environment. There is still significant labor inflation in place. There are supply chain disruptions appearing from time to time. Commodity largely remain stable but still on an elevated level. There is an increasing regulatory complexity and with these costs in the system, pricing effects are becoming flattish but not deflating. On page number nine concerning governance, The board composition proposal will be listed in the AGM invitation. A new permanent group CEO will take over the business January 2025 onwards. There will be a smooth and orderly transition granted from this dual role. there will be a strong oversight and support from Chairman and the Board to this new CEO. The guidance for 2024, there will be further improvements in all QE metrics expected in the current year. The organic growth will normalize into the low to mid single digit range driven mainly by volume and mix The EBITDA margin expansion will normalize, supported by growth, efficiency, and cost discipline. Further improvement in free cash flow and total net debt leverage we will see. Sequential improvement in ROIC we will target. On page number 11, you know this page with the targets 2025. they will remain the same. ARISTA is on track to achieve all these targets. There is an ESG strategy in place based on three pillars supported by 13 goals. There is an environmental efficiency pillar, I apologize, an innovation pillar, and people and community pillar, All of these supported again by 13 goals, greenhouse gas and water footprint improvements, enhanced sustainable sourcing about people and communities, health and nutrition. The key targets on this ESG initiative you find on page 13. In the environmental part, a greenhouse gas reduction, a food waste reduction, and a water reduction. In the innovation part, a share of regenerative wheat on a mass balance basis, reduction of virgin plastic usage, and an achievement of 40% share of new products aligned with Arista, better for you. means healthier products. People and communities, we work on work-related incidences to take care for our employees. And on supply chain diligence, each of our sites are reporting through ZX and will achieve a score of at least 3.5 out of 5. On page number 14 you can see the improvement in energy mix, greenhouse gas emissions and food waste. On the left side the renewable and non-renewable energy usage. Then in the middle the greenhouse gas emissions and on the right side the food waste reduction in our business. I would now hand over to Martin Huber for the financial review.