Evonik Inds Ag Unsp/Adr

At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Christian Kuhlmann, CEO. Please go ahead.

Thanks a lot. Welcome and thanks for being with us today. Since we already published preliminary results three weeks ago, there's only limited news in the key financials, maybe apart from strong free cash flow. So we'll focus on the main drivers and the look ahead. Let me start with my, let's call it, two personal highlights in the results. First, of course, the strong earnings growth, a close to 30% improvement year on year, which stands out quite positively in the chemical space this quarter, I dare say. Second, the fact that Evonik has been the only company in our peer group to pre-release. Both underpins that the main drivers are less so a broad-based economic recovery, but rather some Evonik-specific factors. What were these about? First, we have seen the comeback of specialty additives. There were quite some discussions with you recently about the division. But the start into this year is the first proof point that the business model and our competitive position are very much intact. We felt our prices quite well over the last quarters and have been very disciplined on the cost side too. Now, with the first volumes coming back, the division benefits from its high operating leverage. In the last downturns, Specialty Additives has always proven most resilient in our portfolio. The first quarter finally confirms the high quality of this business. Second, we've seen the expected catch-up in nutrition and care, almost doubling ABTA year-on-year. The price increases from cyanine implemented over the last quarter is now bare fruits. In addition, our strong care portfolio returned to a double-digit ABTA growth track record. It has delivered over the last eight years, only briefly interrupted in the last year. So we have no doubt that this growth will continue. And animal nutrition will continue to benefit, not only from higher prices, but also and all the more from the continued ramp up of cost savings, especially with the completion of the backward integration at our US methionine plant in 2025. Finally, the contingency measures kicked off last year continue to deliver visible results on the bottom line. And the best is still to come. From the end of this year, you will also recognize a ramp up of the 400 million euros from our ebonic tailor-made program. And I already promised you today a very high drop through to the bottom line. Now, after my tiny and brief introduction, over to Michael.

Thanks, Christian, and good morning from my side as well. Also, I will keep it short and focus on the main new KPI for today, the free cash flow. It came in more than 100 million higher versus previous year. Obviously, we benefited from the higher earnings. But in a similar magnitude, we have achieved a lower net working capital outflow. Despite some restocking needs also on our side, we did not let loose on our strict networking capital management. On top, lower tax outflows helped to counter the higher cash out for capex, but being mainly driven by phasing though. For the full year, we continue to expect lower cash out for capex as well as for taxes, and both support the extension of our free cash flow track record. 40% cash conversion year for the year continues to be our short and mid-term aspiration level. After this record short period, apart from me, Christian, over to you again for the output.