Borregaard Asa

Good morning and welcome to the third quarter 2025 presentation for Borgard. My name is Tom-Erik Foss Jakobsen. I'm the new CEO since 1st of August, and I'll be joined today by Per-Bjarne Lyngstad, our CFO, and we will take you through this agenda. I'll begin with the key highlights from the quarter and provide an update on the market situation across our business segments. I will then share details on our second investment to increase capacity at our site in Salzburg, which has recently been approved on the board level, as well as our participation in a convertible loan to Algenor. Finally, I'll summarize the outlook for the remainder of the year before handing over to Per Bjarne, who will walk you through the financial performance in more detail. Before we continue, I just would like to remind those of you watching the webcast live that you're welcome to submit questions at any time during the presentation, and we'll address them at the end of the presentation. Let's begin with the highlights for the third quarter. EBITDA came in at 440 million, down from 524 million in the same quarter last year. The overall result was reduced due to lower bioethanol prices and disruption in cell-lose production. The disruption had a negative EBITDA impact of approximately 40 million. We saw solid performance in biosolutions, driven by continued sales growth in agriculture, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of growth in that area. In biomaterials, we continued to see increased sales prices. Our fine chemical intermediates delivered a strong result. Across all business areas, we had positive net currency effects. Now let's turn to the market situation, starting with BioSolutions. Sales volume increased 4% compared to the same quarter last year. This growth was again driven by our broad agriculture portfolio, with no single product group or single market standing out. We offer a broad portfolio to the agricultural sector. It's comprising approximately 200 different products and we are serving around 1,000 customers within agriculture. The average price in sales currency and the product mix were in line with the same quarter last year. Q3 typically sees a seasonally weaker product mix, which may slightly dampen the average sales price. The anti-dumping duties on Vanlin from China continued to have a positive, though limited, impact on Borgard's Vanlin products. We also saw positive net currency effects across the segment in the quarter. Then next over to biomaterials, where performance was weaker in the quarter. The average price in sales currency was 9% higher than in the third quarter 2024, primarily driven by price increases. However, higher sales prices and an improved product mix were more than offset by a significant decline in sales volume compared to the same quarter last year. The lower sales volume was due to the temporary disruption in sales production and strong deliveries in the corresponding quarter last year. Net currency effects were positive for biomaterials in the quarter. Then I would like to address the recent developments regarding allegations of dumping of specialty cellulose products from Norway, specifically Borgaard, into the US market. In August, RIEM and the United Steelworkers Union filed petitions in the US requesting anti-dumping and countervailing duties on specialty cellulose imports. The petition targets products from both Norway, meaning Borgard as a company, and also Brazil, where we have a company named Bracel, which is the target. For Borgard, this means anti-dumping duties, while Brazil faces both anti-dumping and countervailing duties. Borgard does not recognize the basis for these claims and have engaged both legal and accounting specialists to defend our position. It's important to note that Borgard's historical sales of specialty cellulose to the U.S. have been limited. However, there was a moderate increase in sales in 2024, driven by higher demand following the closure of Georgia Pacific's Foley plant in Florida. Regardless of the petition, our exports to the U.S. will decrease in 2025. As of 1 August, specialty cellulose products from Norway are already subject to a 15% import duty, and any additional anti-dumping duties beyond that are expected to have a limited impact on our export volumes to the US. A preliminary decision is expected late in Q1 2026, at the earliest. with a final decision expected likely late in Q3 next year. Now moving on to fine chemicals, where performance was weaker in the quarter. The main driver here was the continued lower sales prices for our advanced bioethanol. In addition, deliveries of bioethanol were lower compared to the high volumes in the same quarter last year. As previously explained, the decline in sales prices for our advanced bioethanol is largely due to a significant increase in market supply driven by the favorable incentives we have seen in Europe. In fine chemical intermediates, we saw a strong quarter supported by a more favorable product mix and higher sales prices compared to the same period last year. The net currency impact in fine chemicals was positive. Then I would like to update you on the progress of our capacity expansion at the Salzburg site, which is a key part of Borgard's long-term growth strategy. We have now committed to the second step of our two-phase expansion plan at Salzburg with an investment of 308 million. This follows the first investment of 490 million, which was launched in Q3 last year as part of the investment plan that we announced at our Capital Markets Day. The main goal for us here is to de-bottleneck and increase production capacity at the site. When both steps are completed, we expect a total capacity increase of 5 to 10%. The expansion covers our core product areas, lignin-based biopolymers, specialty cellulose and bioethanol. Production output is expected to increase gradually from second half 2026. In addition to higher capacity, these investments will also deliver environmental and cost benefits, including reduced costs and volume of residuals, energy savings, and also reduced caustic soda consumption. We also anticipate a reduction in COD effluents, supporting our ambitious sustainability targets. Then I would also like to update you on Borgard's participation in the recent financing solution for Alginor, which is an important step in supporting their ongoing investments. The financing package is designed to ensure Alginor can complete and commission its commercial scale demonstration plant for alginates. As part of the financing solution, the convertible loan is being guaranteed by three main shareholders, Borgard, Must Invest and Hatteland Group. Our share of the loan will be between 83 and 111 million, depending on the level of participation from other shareholders. Then finally, I will share our outlook for Q4. In BioSolutions, we anticipate Q4 sales volumes to range between 70 and 75,000 tons, which means below the 77,000 tons recorded in the same quarter last year. Anti-dumping duties on vanillin from China are anticipated to continue having a positive but limited impact for Borgard's vanillin products. In biomaterials, Q4 sales volume is expected to be in the range 35 to 38,000 tons. We anticipate a higher share of highly specialized grades compared to Q4 last year, and the average sales price should remain largely in line with Q3 this year. For fine chemicals, sales prices for bioethanol will continue to be significantly lower than last year, The product mix for fine chemicals intermediates in Q4 is expected to be weaker than in Q3. On the cost side, wood costs in Q4 will be slightly lower than in Q4 last year. However, we expect energy consumption, spot energy prices and energy-related raw material prices to increase seasonally in Q4 compared to Q3 this year. The annual maintenance stop at the Sarge Pro site will also affect production volumes in Q4. Finally, we will continue to monitor the uncertainty in the global economy, particularly related to tariffs, war and conflict, which may impact our markets and costs. With that, I'll hand it over to our CFO, Per-Bjarne Lyngstad, who will take you through our financial performance and key figures for the quarter. Thank you.

Thank you, Tom-Erik, and good morning, everyone. Border Guard's operating revenues in the third quarter declined by 8% compared with the third quarter of 2024, mainly due to lower sales volume in biomaterials and lower sales prices for bioethanol. EBITDA was 440 million NOC, down from 524 million in the third quarter last year. Biosolutions delivered a slightly improved result, while biomaterials and fine chemicals had weaker performance. Net currency effects were positive by about 30 million NOC compared with the third quarter of 2024. In September, an unexpected outage occurred at a facility at the SARSBOR site, which supplies a key chemical used in cellulose production. During the outage, we produced cellulose grades outside specifications, leading to delayed deliveries of certain grades. Production of lignin-based biopolymers, biovanillin and bioethanol, remained unaffected by the outage. The EBITDA impact from the production disruption was about 40 million NOC, as previously mentioned by Tom Jarek. The EBITDA margin ended at 24.5%, close to the margins we've had in previous quarters this year, but below the margin in the same quarter last year. Earnings per share were 1.96 NOC compared with 2.51 in the third quarter last year. The reduction in earnings per share was mainly due to the decrease in EBITDA adjusted for tax. In bio-solutions, operating revenues increased by 3%, primarily driven by higher sales volume. EBITDA was 277 million NOK, a slight improvement of 6 million NOK compared with the third quarter last year. Continued growth in sales to agriculture was offset by cost increases exceeding the general inflation. These cost increases were mainly due to higher input and manning costs at our US manufacturing sites. Anti-dumping duties on Vanlin from China had a positive but limited impact on Vanlin products. The net currency impact was positive for BioSolutions in the quarter. And the EBITDA margin in the third quarter was 26.2% in line with the same quarter last year. A lower sales volume due to the disruption in cellulose prediction and high deliveries in the third quarter last year resulted in 15% lower operating revenues in the third quarter for biomaterials. EBITDA was 112 million NOC, 19 million lower than in the same quarter last year. On the positive side, we had higher sales prices and an improved product mix. However, this was more than offset by the lower sales volume, in addition to higher wood costs. The wood costs were impacted by an above normal inventory level at higher prices at the beginning of the quarter, in addition to an unfavorable mix of wood in the quarter. The net currency effects were positive for biomaterials. The EBITDA margin was 19.2% in line with the third quarter of last year. Operating revenues in fine chemicals declined by more than 30% compared with the third quarter of 2024, primarily due to lower sales prices for bioethanol. EBITDA ended at 51 million NOC, compared with 122 million last year. The reduction in EBITDA was mainly driven by continued lower sales prices for bioethanol. Lower deliveries of bioethanol compared with the high deliveries in the third quarter last year also contributed to the decline. Fine chemical intermediates delivered a strong result, supported by a more favorable product mix and price increases compared with the third quarter last year. Net currency effects were positive also for fine chemicals. The EBITDA margin was 30.5% in this area, close to 20 percentage points below the same quarter last year. As mentioned earlier, the net currency impact on EBITDA was positive by about 30 million NOC compared with the third quarter last year. The positive impact was primarily due to reduced currency hedging losses. Hedging losses were 21 million NOK in the third quarter, compared with a loss of 86 million in the same quarter last year. The positive impact from lower hedging losses was partly offset by a stronger Norwegian kroner, particularly against the dollar. Based on Borregaard's currency basket, the NOC was about 4% stronger compared with the same quarter last year. Using currency rates as of yesterday, the estimated net currency effect for the full year of 2025 is now positive by 115 million NOK compared with 2024. The corresponding impact for the fourth quarter is estimated to be positive by about 5 million NOK. Borregaard had a cash flow from operating activities of 423 million NOK in the third quarter. The relatively strong cash flow was driven by the cash effect from EBITDA and a reduction in networking capital. Investments were 160 million NOK in the quarter. The largest expenditures were related to the SARS-CoV-2 site and ongoing environmental investments, the de-bottlenecking project, and specialization projects in biosolutions. In addition, Borregaard participated with NOK 23 million in the repair offering in Alginor's capital's arrays. Net interest bearing debt decreased by as much as 283 million NOK in the quarter. At the end of the quarter, Borregaard remained well capitalized with an equity ratio of 60% and a leverage ratio, which is net interest bearing debt over EBITDA, of 1.11%. And that concludes today's presentation. Tom-Erik and I will now be ready to answer any questions, both from the audience present here in Oslo and from those who follow the webcast. Our Vice President Finance, Veronica Sjevik-Frey, will moderate the webcast questions.

Thank you, Per-Bjørne. We have some questions here. The first one is from Mr. Magnus Rasmussen at SCB regarding capex. You have a knock 1 billion capex guidance for 2025 and have spent just 542 million year to date. Should we expect the 450 million of capex in Q4? And if not, is it actually lower capex or just phasing?

Normally we put in a lot of equipment during the maintenance stop in October and we've always had a much higher number in the fourth quarter than in the three other quarters in the year. Whether it will reach 400 plus millions, it's a bit early to tell because we have, like you say, facing also here that some costs may go over to 2026. But we think it will be at least close to the 1 billion we have in the forecast.

Thank you. There's another question also from Magnus Rasmussen regarding biosolutions margins. Despite the foreign exchange tailwind, your biosolution margins are declining year on year. Why? And what should we expect going forward?

As I said, in agriculture, we offer a very broad portfolio. We have around 200 different products sold to 1,000 different customers. And this is also within a broad range of sub applications. So there will be mixed differences within agriculture. And I would say that's the main explanation for why you can see differences like that.

I think we should remind people that we have very high margins in this area, and they've been at well above 25% over quite a long period. And of course, we are hurt a little bit by the dollar, also on the top line, which also affects margins a little bit.

Thank you. Next question is regarding cost-based development, and it comes from Mr. Elliot Johns at Danske Bank. Given the margin developments across all quarters, could you please provide further color on cost-based developments, and if you expect any changes to these dynamics in the fourth quarter and beyond?

What we've seen this year is that we have had quite significant cost inflation like the rest of the country and the world. We've had some further increases in cost due to that we are, for instance, upgrading our facility in Wisconsin in the US. It's both an upgrade and an expansion. And we have also increased our sales force a little bit. So we have some additional costs in addition to the general inflation. And we've also seen that buying equipment in Norway seems like that has increased more than the general inflation. inflation, both when it goes to maintenance and also when it goes to investments. So we've seen some cost increases above inflation so far. Whether that will continue is difficult to say. Our aim is to keep our cost increases at or below the general inflation and expect more productivity gains. But it's a bit early to see how that will develop.

Thank you. Then there is a question on costs related to anti-dumping. It also comes from Elliot Jones at Danske Bank. With regards to the anti-dumping allegations, can you provide some color as to any potential costs you expect to realize, if any, in connection with this?

As most of you know, US lawyers and experts are quite expensive compared to what we see here in this country. This will affect our costs going forward. It's still early days, so it's difficult for us to estimate how much this will cost. It's a limited number of products that are involved on our side, so that will bring the cost a bit down. But we are talking some millions in cost here. Whether it will be more than 10 millions in cost is too early to tell. But we are talking about low double-digit number, I would say.

Next question is related to wood costs. comes from Mr. Magnus Rasmussen at SEB. Is there a change in wood cost guidance versus what you said at the second quarter?

Not really. If we talk about the price reduction on wood, that's the same. But what we saw in the third quarter, and it will probably have an impact on the full quarter, is really that we had a change in the mix. We switched between chips and round wood when we buy wood. And transport distances is also a bit varying depending on where the wood is cut. And also this quarter we had quite a high and a higher than normal inventory of wood at old higher prices so that affected the third quarter. That was probably a bit more than we had expected also. So the fourth quarter should be better. It's still the mix is always a question. But I think we are pretty much in line with what we said. But maybe it will be a little bit higher due to the cost we saw in the third quarter.

Thank you. Next question is related to average sales price development in BioSolutions. It comes from Mr. Martin Granviken at Kepler Chevro. Could you elaborate on the average sales price development in BioSolutions? If AgChem sales continues to increase, why is the average sales price in sales currency flat year over year and the product mix stated to be in line with last year? Wouldn't higher AgChem sales imply a more favorable product mix?

Yeah, I think this is a very similar question to the one we responded to initially. So I can only repeat that we think that's related to mix within the Agri, where we have a very broad portfolio of a couple of hundred products and a thousand customers. So it will depend on which applications during the quarter takes more volume, which take less. And you had something on currency as well, Per-Bernard? Yeah.

So currency will have an impact also going forward here.

Thank you. There's another question on wood cost. Comes from Mr. Sam Bland at Moore. Could you talk about what you are seeing on wood cost, which you probably already answered? Is the cost in Q4 expected to be lower versus Q3 as well as Q4 last year? And will this continue to be a cost tailwind in 2026?

The fourth quarter I explained and the wood costs are on its way down from what we see in Norway. What you have to remember is that we have half year negotiations on price on wood. So our prices on what we buy will be the same in the fourth quarter as what we bought in the third quarter. So what brought it up in the third quarter was the mix. And what we see in the market now, the negotiations for next year, they will start from now until the end of the year. So we don't know at present what the wood price will be for next year. But what we see from Sweden and also here in Norway, we see sawmills closing down for at least a period. So there is a pressure on wood prices coming down. And of course, we hope to see more of that in 2026.

Thank you. Next question is also regarding CapEx. It comes from Mr. Andres Castanos at Berenberg. He also thank you for the presentation. Just wanted to confirm that second phase of Salzburg de-bottlenecking was already included in the CapEx guidance shared in the 2024 Capital Markets Day for the year 2026.

Yeah, and the answer is yes, it was.

Thank you. There is one more question regarding wood cost again. So I think you've already explained that. It comes from Mr. Niklas Gehin at the DNB Carnegie. Could you give a rough estimate of how much the effect of higher wood cost in the beginning of the quarter was relative to what it would have been with a new wood cost for the rest of the second half?

I would say that the additional cost we had compared to last year in the third quarter was in the range 10 to 15 million NOC. And it will be in that range, maybe even closer to 10 million lower in the fourth quarter compared to the third quarter. And pretty much the same compared to last year also.

Thank you. There are no more questions on the web.

Yeah, I just want to check if there are any questions from the audience here in Oslo.

Can you provide some color on how much deliveries were down of bioethanol in Q on Q or year on year?

I could give you a percentage. I think it was about 30%, but it was an extremely high delivery in the third quarter of last year. It's the highest delivery in one quarter that we ever had. So this was really more a normal delivery quarter for bioethanol. It was just that it was so high in the third quarter last year.

Thank you. And one last for me. What do you expect in terms of mix in biosolutions in Q4 on the agri side?

Well, we don't comment specifically on mix. We just give the volume range that we expect and average sales pricing to continue. But I can say in general that we are positive to the development we're seeing in Agri. As I said, it's the seventh consecutive quarter that we report growth in Agri. So the long-term picture for Agri is something we're very positive about and that our portfolio fits very well with the needs of that market.

Thank you.

I think that was the final question today. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you very much.