Koninklijke Ahold Del Ord

Good morning. We are Ahold Delez. We operate in nine countries on three continents. We have 17 brands and well over 9,400 stores. And every day, 393,000 people work hard to serve over 72 million customers per week. You could say that we're a big company. And yet, we put all our efforts into being small. Because when you're small, you are a part of your local community. You can customize stores on a local level. And when you're small, you can connect with the people you work with. Small. What does it mean? Small means that we take the best local innovations and share them across the world. From being the first to bring the barcode from the U.S. to the Netherlands in the 70s, and introducing AI solutions to predict shelf life and limit food waste, to being open for everyone and sharing values, a passion for serving customers, and a love for peanut butter. Just not always with jelly. Okay, let's continue. Small means understanding our responsibility to provide access to essential products. It's about realizing that everything that happens in society affects us, our stores and our customers. and that works both ways with every small step we take we make giant leaps helping customers to make better choices by gradually reducing salt sugar and fat from products encouraging healthier and more sustainable shopping baskets and working together with suppliers and farmers towards a more sustainable food system Together, we inspire everyone to eat and live better for a healthier future for people and planet. Good morning. We are Ahold Deleuze. We operate in nine countries on three continents. We have 17 brands and well over 9,400 stores. And every day, 393,000 people work hard to serve over 72 million customers per week. You could say that we're a big company. And yet, we put all our efforts into being small. Because when you're small, you are a part of your local community. You can customize stores on a local level. And when you're small, you can connect with the people you work with. Small. What does it mean? Small means that we take the best local innovations and share them across the world. From being the first to bring the barcode from the US to the Netherlands in the 70s, and introducing AI solutions to predict shelf life and limit food waste, to being open for everyone and sharing values, a passion for serving customers, and a love for peanut butter. Just not always with jelly. Okay, let's continue. Small means understanding our responsibility to provide access to essential products. It's about realizing that everything that happens in society affects us, our stores, and our customers. and that works both ways with every small step we take we make giant leaps helping customers to make better choices by gradually reducing salt sugar and fat from products encouraging healthier and more sustainable shopping baskets and working together with suppliers and farmers towards a more sustainable food system Together, we inspire everyone to eat and live better for a healthier future for people and planet. Good morning. We are Ahold Delez. We operate in nine countries on three continents. We have 17 brands and well over 9,400 stores. And every day, 393,000 people work hard to serve over 72 million customers per week. You could say that we're a big company. And yet, we put all our efforts into being small. Because when you're small, you are a part of your local community. You can customize stores on a local level. And when you're small, you can connect with the people you work with. Small. What does it mean? Small means that we take the best local innovations and share them across the world. From being the first to bring the barcode from the US to the Netherlands in the 70s, and introducing AI solutions to predict shelf life and limit food waste, to being open for everyone and sharing values, a passion for serving customers, and a love for peanut butter. Just not always with jelly. Okay, let's continue. Small means understanding our responsibility to provide access to essential products. It's about realizing that everything that happens in society affects us, our stores, and our customers. and that works both ways with every small step we take we make giant leaps helping customers to make better choices by gradually reducing salt sugar and fat from products encouraging healthier and more sustainable shopping baskets and working together with suppliers and farmers towards a more sustainable food system Together, we inspire everyone to eat and live better for a healthier future for people and planet. Good morning. We are Ahold Delez. We operate in nine countries on three continents. We have 17 brands and well over 9,400 stores. And every day, 393,000 people work hard to serve over 72 million customers per week. You could say that we're a big company. And yet, we put all our efforts into being small. Because when you're small, you are a part of your local community. You can customize stores on a local level. And when you're small, you can connect with the people you work with. Small. What does it mean? Small means that we take the best local innovations and share them across the world. From being the first to bring the barcode from the U.S. to the Netherlands in the 70s, and introducing AI solutions to predict shelf life and limit food waste, to being open for everyone and sharing values, a passion for serving customers, and a love for peanut butter. Just not always with jelly. Small means understanding our responsibility to provide access to essential products. It's about realizing that everything that happens in society affects us, our stores, and our customers. and that works both ways. With every small step we take, we make giant leaps, helping customers to make better choices by gradually reducing salt, sugar and fat from products, encouraging healthier and more sustainable shopping baskets and working together with suppliers and farmers towards a more sustainable food system. Together, we inspire everyone to eat and live better for a healthier future for people and planet. Good morning. We are Ahold Delez. We operate in nine countries on three continents. We have 17...

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the analyst conference call on the second quarter 2026 results of Ahold Del Hez. Please note that this call is being webcast and recorded. During this call, Ahold Del Hez anticipates making projections and forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict and that may cause our actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. The introduction will be followed by a Q&A session. Any views expressed by those asking questions are not necessarily the views of Ahold Del Hez. At this time, I would like to hand the call over to JP O'Meara, Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, JP.

Yes, thank you very much, Sharon. Welcome back. We missed you last quarter and good morning to everyone joining us today. I'm delighted to welcome you to our Q2 2026 results conference call. On today's call are Frans Muller, our President and CEO, and Jolanda Poots-Bijl, our CFO. After a brief presentation, we would open the call for questions. In case you haven't seen it, the earnings release and the accompanying presentation slides can be accessed through the investor section of our website, aholdelez.com, which also provides extra disclosures and details for your convenience. To ensure everyone has the opportunity to get their questions answered today, I ask that you initially limit yourself to two questions and not four two-part questions to make sure everybody on the call will have sufficient time. If you have further questions, then feel free to re-enter the queue. To ensure ease of speaking, all growth rates mentioned in today's prepared remarks will be at constant exchange rates unless otherwise stated. And with that, Frans, over to you.