Bekaert Sa Unsp/Adr

Good morning and welcome to the Bekaert Q1 2026 trading update call. At this time all participants are in a listen only mode and we will open the floor for your questions after the presentation. If you require operator assistance you may press star 0 on your keypad at any time and an operator will assist you. If you wish to join the queue to ask a question at any time you may press star 1. Should you wish to remove yourself from the queue, press star 2. And as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Mr. Dries Van Amme, Director of Investor Relations. Sir, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much and welcome everyone to our Q1 Trading Update call. I will first read out the safe harbor statement as usual before handing over. This presentation may contain forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect current views of management regarding future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Bekaert is providing the information in this presentation as of its date and does not take any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in it in light of new information, future events or otherwise. Bekaert disclaims any liability for statements made or published by third parties and does not undertake any obligation to correct inaccurate data, information, conclusions or opinions published by these Thank you, Grace, and also a warm welcome from our side on the trading update.

So for quarter one, we delivered the top line of 917 million euros. So on a like-for-like basis, stable business, volume growth of 3%, mainly in areas like rubber reinforcements, steel wire solution in the transmission, We continue and of course and Seppo will give some more comments also on the ethics impact and also of the impact of the top line of our Latin American disposal which we still have consolidated in first quarter 2025. So in that period, in this period of Q1, we continue to work on the actions to make the company more sustainable and in terms of profitability and resilience. We all know the geopolitical tensions and the trade changes that are happening in the market around us. So we've been continuously navigating that by additional initiatives on optimization of the cost structure and our conversion costs. We've seen that the conflict in the Middle East has so far not impacted our business in the sense that the projects mainly in the construction area continue to be executed. Of course, we see an increase in the cost like transportation costs or energy costs. So we are carefully watching the indirect impact of this conflict in the Middle East on the rest of the world in terms of inflation and cost changes. We remain flexible in our supply chain and trade flows to serve our customers. From a financial point of view, we continue to drive with working capital, CapEx, we estimate around 140 million euro, and we propose today, during the General Assembly in the Leveringham headquarters, a dividend of 1.95 euros per share, which is a continuous increase of 3% versus last year, and continuing the share buyback of 200 million, finalizing this program by the end of this year. So now I hand over to Seppo for more coverage by business and on the financials.