Glanbia Plc Ord

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Glambier Half Year 2026 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 and 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd like to hand the conference over to Mr. Liam Hannigan, Group Secretary and Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning and welcome to the Dlanbia 2026 Half-Year Results Call. During today's call, the directors may make forward-looking statements. These statements have been made by the directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of the Glanbia half-year 2026 results announcement. Due to inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors underlying such forward-looking information, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The directors undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made on today's call, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. I'm now handing the call over to Hugh McGuire, CEO, Glambia Plc.

Thank you, Liam. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Glambia Half-Year 2026 results call and presentation. I'm joined on today's call by Mark Garvey. I will provide an overview of our performance for first half, and Mark will then cover the financials and outlook. At the end of our prepared remarks, we will be happy to take your questions. Overall, we delivered a strong performance in the first half of the year, with adjusted earnings per share of 81.24 cents, representing constant currency growth of 30% versus the prior year. This was driven by strong growth across all three of our operating segments, with very good demand for our better nutrition brands and ingredients. The group delivered revenues of 2.1 billion, representing an increase of 7% in the constant currency base. In performance nutrition, we saw continued momentum across our protein portfolio, with like-for-like revenue growth of 16.9%, driven primarily by our number one sports nutrition brand, Optimum Nutrition, which delivered double-digit volumes and strong pricing growth. In health and nutrition, we also continued to see good momentum, driven by demand in our core end-use markets, and saw like-for-like revenue growth of 12% in the period. In dairy nutrition, we also saw strong growth in protein solutions, translating to EBITDA of 92.3 million within DEN, an increase of 28.2% in the prior year. The group delivered pre-exceptional EBITDA of 275.4 million, representing an increase of 14.1%, and EBITDA margins of 13.2%, representing an increase of 80 basis points, with margin expansion across health and nutrition and dairy nutrition, while margins in performance nutrition were broadly in line with the prior year as we continue to navigate record weight protein costs. We continue to progress our strategic agenda and have made good progress on our group-wide transformation program. And as a result, we're increasing our target annual savings from 60 million to 70 million by 2027. We expect to deliver approximately 40% of savings by the end of this year. This improvement has been driven primarily through the implementation of our new global supply chain structure and our digital transformation. We continue to identify significant opportunity across the group to optimize our capacity across our blending footprint for both our B2B and B2C businesses and deliver above expected savings through operational efficiency, procurement effectiveness and supply planning. Our digital transformation is progressing well with the implementation of our new IT operating model, laying the foundation for greater automation, AI enabled support and enhanced service delivery. In addition, we have a focused set of AI deployments and agentic solutions working across innovation, planning, and consumer and customer journey as we continue to expand AI usage. We continued our strong track record of delivering returns to shareholders by raising the interim dividend by 10% and returning approximately $100 million to shareholders via our share buyback programs. And as a result of the strong performance across all three segments, We are today pleased to upgrade our fully adjusted earnings per share guidance to 17 to 20% constant currency growth. Mark will provide a detailed update and changes to segmental guidance. For performance nutrition, like for like revenue increased by 16.9% driven by a 9.3% increase in volume and a 7.6% increase in price. The volume growth was driven by strong category and velocity growth coupled with increased distribution innovation and some shipment timing in quarter two, and a lapping of a weaker comparative in the prior year. We implemented double-digit price increases in Q2 globally, and we started to see some early signs of elasticity concentrated in specific channels and pack sizes. But due to underlying consumer demand, the higher income skew of our shopper, and Optimum Nutrition's brand strength, consumption remains strong. In a recent survey we conducted in the U.S., Optimum Nutrition demonstrated the highest resilience to pricing out of all brands tested. We continue to monitor the situation closely, particularly as we implement further price increases in quarter three on our protein brands, which is supported by promotional efficiency, product mix, and price pack architecture. From a regional perspective, PN Americas, which represents 58% of revenue, grew like-for-like revenue by 9.2% versus last year due to strong growth in optimum nutrition, somewhat offset by declines in other portfolio brands. Our global brand footprint continues to be a key strength, and our international business, which represents 42% of revenue, delivered like-for-like revenue growth of 29.6%, with strong volume and pricing growth in the optimum nutrition brand across priority markets, particularly in the UK, Oceania, China, and India. For I2Pure, we continue to see double-digit U.S. consumption growth in online and FDM channels as we grow household penetration and we continue to gain market share in the protein powder category, growing ahead of the category. This was somewhat offset by declines in the club channel. Isopure is our premium high protein, low carb brand grounded in purity. This brand allows us to target an incremental consumer from Optum Nutrition with the consumer affluence and predominantly female that values high quality and great tasting solutions that they can incorporate into their daily nutrition regime. EBITDA in the first half of the year increased by 7.4%. with an EVDA margin of 12.6%, which is broadly in line with the prior year. While elevated way input costs continue to create headwinds for margins during the period, we were able to partially offset this by a range of decisive actions, including revenue growth management initiatives, marketing spend effectiveness, and our group-wide transformation program. We carefully manage our cost base to ensure we're efficient and adjust our marketing investment appropriately to ensure we prioritize spend on brand building initiatives. We also continue to look to broaden our product mix from whey protein to include other protein sources, such as collagen, milk, and plant protein, while also driving non-whey innovation, such as within our energy category, primarily driven by creating innovation and distribution gains globally. EBITDA margins are expected to increase in the second half of 2026 as the full impact of price increases flows through. Whey protein has remained elevated due to continued strong demand, and the group has contracted substantial supply through early quarter to 2027. We have seen new supply of high end way come on stream as expected, which has been taken up by demand. We continue to engage with our suppliers for longer term supply investment and supply continues to increase. And as we mentioned previously, we're also investing in our own WPI capacity within our joint venture, which will come on stream in early 2027. In terms of brand performance, Optimum Nutrition, our largest brand at 79% performance nutrition revenue, delivered like-for-like revenue growth of 25.2%, with strong volume growth and increasing pricing growth following recent pricing actions. Optimum Nutrition US consumption grew by 23.5% in the 13 weeks to the 4th of July, 2026, with double digit growth across FGMC and online channels, growing ahead of the category and gaining market share. The protein powder category is growing strongly Part of the general shift in consumers seeking health and wellness solutions with the value proposition resonating well with consumers. We also continue to see new consumers enter the category as they see powders as an attractive and clean source of protein, where optimum nutrition is the number one driver of category growth across protein. I'm pleased to see ON delivered double digit growth in household penetration and TDP in the US with distribution gains across FDMC in particular. We are also seeing strong consumption growth across international regions with double digit measures sell out in our priority growth markets and we continue to increase our retail distribution with distribution gains for Optum Nutrition across major food drug mass retailers in the UK and continental Europe. Continued success in e-commerce channels across multiple markets and continued market share gains. We have a world leading portfolio of high quality products within the Optum Nutrition brand and we continue to focus on innovation in particular by expanding our usage occasions and we've launched a number of products in the first half of the year across our protein and energy offerings, including expansion of our creatine range, clear whey, electrolyzed hydration powder, and additional small pack sizes addressing affordability through opening price points. We are particularly pleased with the performance of ON Creatine, which is delivering very strong growth globally, with continued expansion of flavored offerings, new pack sizes, as well as a launch in creating gummies and creating stick packs in the US earlier this year. We continue to invest behind Optimum Nutrition and our focus is on driving recruitment and conversion and broadening the brand's appeal through increased campaign reach and education. During the first half of the year, we launched our Global Optimum Advantage campaign, which reinforces the brand's premium position and deep connection with elite athletes, such as McLaren Formula One star Landa Norris and U.S. Women's NBA star Cameron Brink. Early results from the campaign show ads rank in the top 2% of ads in the category, and we're seeing growth in both aided awareness and consideration across our top four markets. In India, for example, we launched the Optimal Advantage of Champions through our partnership with the RCB cricket team, with ON positioned as the team's official sports decision partner for the 2026 Premier League season. Our sports partnership in the US is anchored in football, leveraging our onstanding partnership with iFlag and high-impact activations, such as our successful activations with NFL standout Cooper Dejean, which together strengthens Optum Nutrition's credibility, cultural relevance, and connection to the next generation of athletes. This year, Optum Nutrition celebrates its 40th anniversary, making four decades of trusted, quality, innovation, and category leadership in nutrition. As protein and energy consumption continues to become more mainstream, our continued investment in brand building, innovation, and consumer engagement is helping us strengthen category leadership and capture the accelerating growth in performance and active nutrition. Turning to our health and nutrition segment, which comprises the pre-mix solutions and flavor platforms and focuses on priority high growth end-use markets such as active nutrition, functional beverages and vitamin minerals supplements. This segment delivered a very strong performance in the first half, delivering life-for-life revenue growth of 12%. This was driven by a 14.3% increase in volume and a 2.3% decrease in price. Total revenue increased by 15.6% as a result of a 3.6% increase from the acquisition of SweetMix and Sycor, which we completed in August 2025 and January 2026 respectively. The integration of both acquisitions is on track. We're very pleased with the strong performance in the quarter, which was driven by good growth across our end-use markets, supported by strong underlying category momentum in protein and broader health and wellness trends. A key driver of growth has been customer-led innovation, and we're collaborating closely with customers to support innovation pipelines with the co-development translating into incremental growth. We saw some benefit to revenues in quarter two pipeline fill as some of our customers expanded into new regions. Regionally, we saw strong growth, particularly in EMEA and Asia Pacific. Pricing was negative 2.3%, primarily as a result of tariff refunds provided to customers in the second quarter. This was a one-time effect and we expect pricing to revert to broadly neutral in the second half of the year. Health and nutrition EBITDA was 67.9 million of 9.5% cost of currency. EBITDA margins were 18.4% decrease of 110 basis points versus the prior year as a result of increased raw material costs which are expected to persist in the second half of the year. Suite mix and site core integrations are progressing well. We opened our new customer collaboration center in Montreal in the first half of the year. and our capacity expansions in the US, Europe and China are well underway and progressing well with new capacity expected by early 2027. Dairy Nutrition combines our US cheese and dairy proteins portfolios and is largely one integrated manufacturing footprint and is also the route to market for our joint venture supply of whey and cheese ingredients. This business provides a leadership position in dairy as a leading producer of whey protein isolate and American style cheddar cheese in the US. We continue to see sustained demand for high-quality whey and non-whey protein solutions, driven by global trends in active nutrition and everyday wellness. Our differentiated capabilities in protein science and manufacturing, combined with a proven track record to deliver consistent quality, functionality, and taste, position us as a trusted partner for customers' growing demand for premium protein solutions. In the first half of the year, Dairy Nutrition delivered like-for-like revenue growth of 3.8%, given by a 4.6% increase in volume and a 0.8% decrease in pricing. Our protein solutions business had double-digit volume and pricing growth, supported by favorable consumer trends and strong demand, particularly within the active nutrition end-use market of high-protein, ready-to-eat, and healthy snacking categories. The overall pricing decline was due to negative cheese markets, as cheese revenue represents approximately two-thirds of the revenue within dairy nutrition. We continue to optimize our product mix towards higher-value protein solutions leveraging the group's manufacturing expertise, customer relationships, and innovation capability, and saw good growth in existing and new customer wins in the first half of 2026. And with that, I will hand over to Mark to take you through the financials.