Heidelberg Materials Ag

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Heidelberg Materials First Quarter Results 2026 conference call. I am Sandra, the call school operator. I would like to remind you that all participants have been listened only mode and the conference has been recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and 1 on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and 0. The content must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it is my pleasure to hand over to Christoph Beumelburg. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Sandra, and welcome from Heidelberg. We're here with, as usual, Dominik Van Aften, CEO, and our CFO in the IR team. And after going through some prepared remarks, we get ample time for your questions. So with that, Very short intro over to you, Dominik.

Thanks. Hello, everybody. Great to have you on the call. Thanks for joining. Look, we had an interesting quarter in the start for 2026. Robust performance from our perspective, but quite significantly impacted by weather in U.S., Europe, and partially in Africa. So the revenues are at $4.5 billion, RCO $0.2 billion, down from prior year quarter, but important for us, positive price over cost, and that to a large extent mitigates the volume impact that has been driven by the weather. I don't have to tell you northeast. You saw the pictures from New York. You saw how northern Europe and eastern Europe were under snow for a long time. So that's our footprint in that respect. So for us, I would say normal course of business. Transformation accelerator, I think, has taken off, but from my seat and our seat, I think there is still ample room for maneuver on the cost side as we go through the year, especially given the volume developments in the first quarter. So we should expect further good traction on the transformation accelerator. More than 400 million are already on the clock, and we are very confident that we will surpass the 500 million by year end, and that's important for us, especially in the current environment. Share buyback, we set up our last year's buyback of about 400 million now to 450 million with the next tranche that will start after next week's AGM. Important for us, as we always said, we want to grow organically with our sustainable product focus, but we also want to grow externally and great acquisition down under in Australia with masks. that's going through the antitrust process right now, everything on track. And then we have Accenture, I think a very interesting step up into the majority position of a company we know very well, of a market position in Turkey we know very well, and from an expert platform we know super well, and we can leverage for growth not only in Africa, but also in other parts of the world, including . A little bit behind the scenes, we sneaked our French Evo plants through a massive rebuild. Significant investment will be on 300 million euros. Step change in efficiency and decarbonization. The plant is now running. The kiln is running. clinkers produced, alternative fuel are running. So I think in that respect we are really, we'll see a big change in the performance of France, not only in the financial side, but also in terms of carbon footprint. Keep in mind the carbon footprint of this new setup is 30%, 30% better than the old plan, so a massive change. That's why we said step change. And with that, we confirm our outlook between 3.4 and 3.75 billion, where it will be above 10%, and the CO2 emissions will be slightly reduced. If you go to the details on page three, I don't think I have to go through that. EBITDA at 484, 13% down. Operating margin slightly down to 10.7%. And then on the RCO, down to 163 million. If you see on page four, this is mainly driven by volumes. That's the impact that I was describing. From my seat, that is mainly and predominantly weather-related. There are some markets that are a little bit sluggish. We'll come to that, I guess, through the discussion. But in general, this is weather-impacted in Q1. Important that the price of our costs remain positive. If you then go to the margin, you see that LTM, so last 12 months, the margin is actually moving in the right direction in all business lines. So cement is moving in the right direction up to 27.5. Aggregates is up to 25.7. And for the group, then, that means an increase to 21.6. So from our perspective, the green light, the train is moving in the right direction despite all the headwinds. Transformation accelerator, as I said, 380 million of last year, so more than on track. You know, because normally if you have the 500, you would have expected 250 to 300. So 380, a fantastic job, and we just need to do it again. And that's what we are fighting for this year. So we, as I said earlier, we should expect to surpass the 500 million by year end. If you then go through the different areas, Europe is the one that has had harsh weather and where the results really came down. I think Europe is large, a large footprint, and the markets are quite different. From our perspective, the sluggishness of the market sits a little bit in a in a line between the UK and Germany and Benelux in between. The rest of Europe is actually okay, and then in the east, maybe Poland and Romania, that is a little bit slower. The rest is actually going quite well, if not very well. So in that respect, the big countries for us are a little bit hit by the weather and some sluggishness in their performance. I'm sure we'll come back to that during the discussion. Then if you go to North America, the result is below last year, and I would say that's all about the northeast, and that's why, you know, it's for us the biggest region by far. and it is the one that has been hit the hardest by the weather. That's why I think we are on it. April looks good, so I think From my seat and our seat, this is going in the right direction. There are also large projects that are now kicking in and really seeing the material pull. So I'm actually quite optimistic that North America in general, but also the Northeast, will turn the corner. Asia Pacific, I would say stable with some ups and downs in the different countries. Then you can maybe later on say something to Australia, but also there we see movement in the right direction. So overall, I think we've seen the worst in Asia and Australia, but the question is how much uptake we'll see throughout the year. Volume development also in April was actually good. Africa, despite the fact that volumes were a little bit under pressure, especially in the northern half of Africa, but also in some parts of sub-Sahara, given by the weather. In the end, the result was quite stable. And also there, April looks significantly better. So I'm pretty confident that also Africa, or AMSA for us, will continue to deliver well during 2025. And then on the guidance, as I said earlier on, we absolutely stick to our guidance at 3.4 to 3.75 RTO, above 10% ROE, a slight reduction in CO2 emissions, and then on the capex, 1.2 to 1.3, and the leverage around 1.5 times. That's it from our side. René, do you have anything to add?

Okay, just a short info about the next tranche. We'll start this after the AGM in May. You remember the last one was around the last New ones were around 400 million. This one will be 450 million. So that's a significant or it's a nice uptick. And together with the dividend, I think we stick to our commitment that we want to increase the shareholder return, which we are de facto doing. And that's just what I wanted to add to Dominic's explanation. Thank you, Dominic. Thanks, René. So, we can start the Q&A process, please.

Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on the telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Questions on the phone are requested to disable the loudspeaker mode while asking a question. Anyone who has a question may press star and 1 at this time.

Thank you, operator. So as the line is pretty full, as usual, please stick to two questions at a time. And we start with Ben Radamatin from Goldman Sachs.

Hey, Ben. Hi, Ben. Great. Good afternoon, Dominic, Renan, and Christopher. Thanks for the questions today. My first was on energy inflation. I know in the press release you spoke about expectations of cost inflation and a partial offset from pricing and surcharges. I guess it would be helpful, could you quantify what the kind of base case of inflation is on your €2 billion energy bill and I guess your €2 billion or so transport bill as we sit today? And then the second one would just be on pricing. It'd be helpful to touch on how you saw pricing realisation in the first few months of the year in Europe and North America, please. Thank you.

Yeah, let me take the first and then let me take the second and really take the first. So, Dominik, Ben, on the pricing, I think pricing in Europe is intact for us. That's okay. The only, to be honest, the only sluggish market a little bit is maybe the UK. The rest is absolutely intact from our perspective. The one more, the other a little bit less, but no change from what we have indicated earlier on pricing in Europe. We continue to do value before volume. For us, it's important to move the price also because, you look, the carbon certificate is still at 75 euros, so from our seats, the cost position is pushing, especially for those who are short. So in that respect, no change from our pricing approach. And for North America, pricing, you saw this, pricing in aggregate is very strong. I think also, you know, in comparison, I think our pricing in aggregate, go to the details, I think top performance of the team in North America, which is important for us. In cement, you can always dream more, but also there, if you take the benchmark, I think, top drop of the team, pricing is moving fast in positive territory. North America pricing is up also in cement. Remember, last year we were down. So we've said we're going to target a single, low single-digit increase in cement in North America. So we are actually on track with pricing also in North America, Ben.

And regarding the energy inflation, first of all, I want to clarify something. We read here partial offset, but the clear target is to fully offset the cost. And as you know, I'm managing the Australian business, and I can assure you, and I have the numbers in April, to fully offset the additional fuel cost we got direct and indirectly from supply. So that's number one. Number two, you know, how much is this affecting us? It's interesting. The oil price is now 10% down today, so this moves every hour. And now to give you a precise number is difficult, but I'll give you a little bit of a preview here how you need to think about this. First of all, fuel and diesel and oil is only 15% of our energy bill. So if you take 2.2 billion, it's 300-something million. And you can imagine that we learned from the Russia-Ukraine conflict and our hedge levels were never as high as they have been in 2026. So only a certain part is affected by the Iran, let's say, conflict. And I would have said, you know, we want to recover the full impact. probably from a direct fuel and energy cost impact is probably low, low single-digit cost increase on our energy bill, which we want to offset. And now with the 10% oil price decrease, that will be even lower. So it's clear we want to offset, but, you know, mathematically it's clear. If you just offset one-to-one, that's marginal. It's very clear that's the mathematics of this, but that should not impact us big time. And so we seem here very comfortable. Thanks, Ben.

Thanks, Ben.

Next one is from Luis Prieto from Kepler. Hey, Luis. Hi, Luis.

Hey, good afternoon. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. Just a couple of them very briefly. The first one, coming back to pricing. Is there a scenario in which we see further initiatives implemented in the second half of the year? Things are changing a lot, but is that something that is likely? And the second one, if I recall correctly, you mentioned in Q4 results that you were optimistic for the year with a conservative initial guidance. Has your stance at all changed due to geopolitical risks? In other words, can we still categorize the confirmed outlook as a conservative initial guidance? Thank you.

Luis, let's get one after the other. Pricing. You know, we never give up on pricing, to be very clear. So there is no rule that we can't move in the second half. We try every day to advance our pricing. But we need to react to the volatilities, and that depends a little bit on what René said earlier. You know, it depends also on the geopolitical legal room that we have. that we can't manage, and we'll navigate well through the fork as we did in the past. But the clear message to you is we never give up until the 31st of December, and then the work starts on January 1. So pricing is a continuous movement in the right direction, ideally. So no question around this. Look, early days on the guidance, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We stick to what we have said end of last year, and let's not now speculate about too many potential upsides or deviations from that. Let us deliver, and as we go through the year, we keep you updated. But given also the geopolitical volatility, I ask for your understanding that it's You know, it's still a way to go until the year end, and we need to manage all the ups and downs. We are confident we can get there, absolutely confident we can get there. Otherwise, we would not tell you, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Super clear. Thank you.

Thank you. Next question comes from Paul Roger from BNP Paribas.

Hey, Paul. Hello. Hello, team. Yeah, I hope you're well. Thank you for taking the questions. So that's one short term, one long term then. So on the short term, pleasing to hear there was a significant recovery in April or in Q2. I wonder if you could be a bit more specific and maybe even quantify the volume growth and also talk a bit about some of the recent trends and if they differ by market. And then secondly, on the longer term, you referenced a bit the deal in Turkey. Can you say a bit more about the rationale for that and also whether there will be any strategic changes following that deal? Thank you.

So, just because the line was not super clear, Paul, just to repeat your question, the first one was recovery in April, and what was the second half of that first question?

Can you quantify and talk about the hot spots and maybe some of the weaker spots as well?

Yeah. And then the other one was like sunshine. Okay, perfect. So, Paul, on the recovery in April, you know, we are clearly above prior year and also our plan in April in terms of volume. Let me not get into too many specifics, but it's not just a small kick-up. From our seat, it's a significant kick-up. So I think that goes in the right direction. But I think there also, to your second part of the point, there are markets that are still sluggish. And I indicated them to you earlier. So if I look at Europe, it's this axis all the way between UK and Romania. You can almost draw a line, and that is the one that I think we are waiting for a significant recovery. I think I get some good indications here in Germany on housing here and there a little bit. There is movement below the hood, but we don't see it yet in our numbers. So the sluggishness, Paul, sits predominantly there. And then I think that is probably the weakest spot, which I can take a smile now and say, hey, that gives us the biggest upside, but let's fix that problem first. So those are probably the weakest links. The rest, nothing to mind-boggle about. It's ups and downs. but it's nothing to be either too happy or worried about. And then on Aksancha, let me start and then René adds, because he knows the business also quite well. He's also involved in that. So, for us, why did we do this? You know that we know the business for 30 years. We had a joint venture with Savanchi, and we have now the opportunity to take over their shares. That's what we are doing. which then puts us into almost 80% share, so predominantly ownership. From our seat, the business has been underperforming. That's also why we were forcing a little bit a solution here, and we do believe we are the best owner for this. You know that we have also a Turkish board member who knows the business and the surroundings in Turkey very well. So the team setup is also good. The assets we know very well. We know the upsides of the assets. We know the market position in Turkey very well. We know the surrounding markets of Turkey, and that's important, the plant in Çanakkale sits at the water and is a powerhouse when it comes to exports. both in terms of serving Africa, Asia, and even North America. And I think that's important for us to get a grip on that because with all the vulnerabilities, you know, Texas here imports absolutely blah, blah, blah. There is a lot of middle room that you get and flexibility you gain in your network. And you know that we have a very powerful trading arm. that is deepened globally under HM Trading. But really, maybe you have something to add also financially.

You know, as Dominik said, the business was in 2025 underperforming. But if you look at the prior years, it was okay. And there's significant synergy potential if we manage this on our own. And I guess this is a strategically very, very good deal. And if they come to normal EBITDA levels as well financially, it's good. So we buy and own a known business. The risk downside is very low. And we have Hakan, who is working for our chance, and he knows everything. And now we can manage by ourselves. So it's a very good strategic acquisition, helping us with our growth story within our financial metrics.

That's great. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you. Next question comes from Elodie Rowe from Jeffy Morgan. Hey, Elodie.

Elodie, hello. Hello. Hi, hi, good afternoon. So just a follow-up first on Paul's question. April volume, does that mean that April volumes are up and in Europe as well? If you could just clarify, because I'm not sure I understand if you also said that overall European volumes are up in April. And then second question is on your overall marketing performance in Q1 and maybe going forward. Could you say that you're delivering on your cost initiatives But your EBITDA on the like-for-like basis is down in all regions, even in regions where you generated positive like-for-like sales. So, for example, in North America, like-for-like sales were up 3%, but like-for-like EBITDA is down 27%. What's going on there? And where are the cost savings basically going? Because it's a bit disappointing not to see that translated in. Maybe Q1 is exceptional and from here it's okay, but if you could give us a bit of color there, that would be quite useful. Thank you.

Okay, very good. Let me give you the first answer. The volumes are clearly up for the group. Europe is flat. And then, which is much better than the first quarter.

And, Elodie, second quarter regarding margins. Let's go through this. You say North America revenue is okay and margins are down. This is correct, but you know what? We have only one region in Q1 in North America which is down. All the others are nicely up. And which one is the region which is down heavily? It's the northeast. Dominic alluded to this. New York, what have you, snow, heavy snow. And this is by far our biggest region. And that is also, it's a cement region with high margins. And if this is heavily down, then it weighs on the average margin. It's very clear. And then we have as well, obviously, you know, this maintenance timing inventory. We don't need to go into this detail. So Q1, you know, was impacted by the northeast. All other regions were clearly up. So from our point of view, that is not a concern because in April that region as well volume-wise went nicely up. So that's a tick. And then you know what, in Europe we have 20 countries now to queue one for the weather report to go through margins from my perspective doesn't make any sense. The cost reduction focus is there. And we will push further, and as Dominic also said it, you know, the 500 is probably not the end number, but probably it will not be the end number. It will be nicely higher. And so the savings will show up. And what we have also done in Q1, you have seen this, we further optimize the European footprint. We have announced to close another cement plant in Germany. We have announced to, let's say, restructure, optimize our cement network in Sweden. So that will all come through. Don't worry. And if you look at the European cement margins, I think they are even improving. So I'm not worried about this. Even if in Q1, look at the slide 14 of the PEC, the cement margins are up in Europe with shitty volumes and weather. So that gives me confidence. And there you see the savings. Savings. Thank you. Thanks a lot. Next one comes from Arno Lehmann from Bank of America.

Hello, hello. Hello, hello. Thank you. Thank you for taking my questions, Tottenham. Firstly, just a clarification on your full year guidance. Do you include any contribution from Mass Group in Australia or AxonSign in Turkey in the guide for EBIT? Yes. Secondly, and if you can clarify maybe the timing of consolidation for these two assets, please. And secondly, just to finish the world tour, in Africa, you mentioned bad weather for declining sales. I thought it was always sunny in Morocco and Egypt, but maybe you can give us a bit of color. Thank you.

Okay, on the guidance, I think, no, it's not included. Maas, René, you want to say something?

Okay, Maas, you know, we have signed this after we have, let's say, decided on the guidance. And, you know, there's a cartel or the ACCC authority reviewing this. You know, earliest I would have said late Q3, beginning of Q4. So that's it for Maas.

Also, there's an antitrust process running with the agencies in Turkey, so very hard to predict. Again, let's not get ahead of ourselves. It's not in the guidance, but it's very hard to predict when this will close. This can go fast, but this can also take longer, so I'm being cautious on this. We are not trying to overpromise here. So that would be an uptick if it comes earlier, but let's not speculate on too high hopes. On Africa, as I said, I think North Africa was actually good in April. Volume performance across the board was very positive. There was also Ramadan effects, you know, that's clear. In Sub-Sahara, Africa comes and goes a little bit, but overall, also in Sub-Sahara, there were parts of Sub-Sahara that were stronger than others, but overall, AMBA is clearly up in volumes for April. Thank you so much. Thanks.

Thank you. Next question comes from from Berthi.

Hi, thanks for taking my questions. So if we discuss the RCO margin, so Q1, you know, RCO obviously dipped quite a bit. And going back to your full year guidance, it implies, you know, almost like at the upper end, more than 10% increase. So my question is, what kind of volume, price, price-cost expectations are you baking in to take you to either the bottom end or the upper end of the guidance? So basically, how should we expect the remainder of the year to progress? And the second question is back on AMBA. So basically, you've discussed the Africa region, but The other markets in that segment, how are they doing? Is there any impact from the conflict? So, yeah, any color around that would be very helpful. Thank you.

Let me take the second one. Reni takes the first on the margins. Look, we are not in the direct conflict zone. The biggest impact we see for years now in Israel. Obviously, Israel is under a war scenario for quite some time now. So that's where we see the biggest impact. But Egypt is not impacted. at least not negative, I think even positively, because the market in Egypt is strong. Morocco, same thing. We are not in the Middle East. Turkey, no impact, other than the indirect impacts that René was describing earlier. Other than that, we are not in the Middle East with any presence, so no impact to us.

And then to your first question regarding our guidance. As Dominic said, it's We have one small quarter now. Yes, we are behind a prior year, but we could explain this. And April looks good. We will catch something up, what we have missed in Q1. And overall, you know, North America, as we said it, pricing is very, very good in aggregate. Our volumes, except Northeast, were good across all the regions. So no change to our assumptions in North America. AMBA also, you know, April very strong. catching up what we missed in Q1. Again, in Q1, you know, our highest margin biggest country was Morocco, and they had floodings the first two and a half months. So, and we see this catching up. So, as well here, no change to guidance. And then Europe, as Dominic also said, there are a few bigger countries not performing like we want to. But, you know, we will make this up with cost, and our pricing is okay. So, also here, you know, And overall, no change to what we said when we have given out the guidance. And probably there's maybe upside a little bit in Asia and Australia, so let's see. But overall, I think we will hit what we wanted to hit. Thanks. Thank you. Next on line is Yacine Torrey from Onfield Research.

Yes, good afternoon. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I think my first question would be on the cement margin in North America. I think the cement margin has been coming down for, I think, fourth quarter in a row now. And the compression that we see in the first quarter, it's like nearly 700 basis points. I understand it's like partly weather related. But again, it's very surprising. Is there any one-off in this or the timing of maintenance or anything that explains this collapsed margin in Q1? And when we look at the rest of the year, Do you feel that you're in a position where you could see a return to margin expansion in CEMENT, or at least margin stability? And then my second question would be, there is a press report suggesting that you might be looking at an acquisition in South Africa. Is it something that you can comment on? If you cannot comment on this specific press report, could you explain a little bit your strategy in emerging markets? Could we see more acquisition in emerging markets in CEMENT? or are you going to focus mostly on developed markets?

Yacine, let me take the second one, and then René takes the first one. As always, Yacine, no comments on any press speculations. That is also true for this one. And when it comes to M&A, you know, we've always said we are going to grow both in developed and in emerging markets. We have a global portfolio. There are ups and downs in each of those markets. We want to balance also things out. We focus on delivering our financial metrics and our growth ambition. And in that combination, we look at every opportunity in our core business. So we will not leave our focus on heavy building materials. That's what we always said. And that's our clear focus because we believe that's what we know best. That's where we'll have our global advantage. That's where enough growth sits. And with that, we speak to what we have said all along. So both developed and emerging markets are absolutely there. You see now, Mars was a developed market acquisition. I would say Turkey is probably counting somewhat to emerging markets, maybe stuck in the middle. But in that respect, you know, the full range is up for grabs. But it needs to deliver a contribution to the financial metrics. As Rene was explaining earlier, it's true both for MaaS and it's true for Aksansha and it's true for every acquisition that will come. So the pipeline is full and you should expect more acquisitions as we go through the year.

Regarding the U.S. demand margin, and I think I thought I have somehow alluded to this. Delta is coming, again, only from our biggest region, cement region, we have in North America. And, you know, you are saying on NAMM level it's, what, 650 or whatever basis points. You know, in that region we are talking 200 basis points. 2,000 basis points, Delta, because there was not much going on there. So, again... Margin expansion, you know, that's obviously with increasing costs and you put two surcharges in, everything that's margin diluted is clear. So we need to get back to the margin path for North America. It should not go down, clear. And cement pricing needs to move better than it has last year, but that's not a problem in the whole industry. Cement pricing last year was not great. But it's clear, Yasin, and that we need to get better here, and we will. And again, Q1, don't use Q1, because there is the biggest region under heavy pressure with no de facto, not much sales. So I'm not so concerned. Again, so let's see.

When we look at the second quarter, the idea is that the volume should be better, at least in April. As a result, the margin pressure should be much less substantial, and it could even be potentially stable depending on the pricing execution. Is that the way to look at it?

Correct. You have summarized it better than I did. That's correct.

Thank you very much. Thanks, Stéphane.

But there are two more questions on the line. We're doing okay on time, so if you have any more questions, feel free to step back in line. The next question comes from Julian Radlinger from UBS.

Hey, Julian. Hello. Hey. Hey, guys. Morning. Thanks. So three for me, please. I think they should be relatively quick. The first one is a really easy one. So we've talked a lot about the cement margin decline in North America. The aggregate's margin decline in Europe, is there anything other behind that than just volume declines that you saw in Europe? Second question, if I'm looking at your segments, taking a step back from the Q1 now, APAC continues to be the one that sticks out as the one where earnings have been moving sideways for a long time now. I know you get this question a lot, but how happy are you with this region in general? Is the performance there meeting your expectations? And if the answer is no, what can you or are you doing about that? And how far are you considering portfolio actions there as well? And then my last question, and this is sort of similar to what Yasin asked about emerging market acquisitions. If you can kind of come back to that and elaborate a little bit, I'd love to understand a bit what makes certain emerging market assets look more attractive right now than, for instance, doing more aggregate bolt-ons or cement bolt-ons in the U.S. or contributing to European cement market consolidation in a region which is highly underutilized, things like that. If you can kind of help us understand a little bit the trade-offs there. Thank you.

Yeah. Okay, Julian. That's almost a textbook for the next half hour. So only a small three questions. Let me take a step and then René will jump in. when it comes to your second question. Aggregate margin decline in Europe, it's very simple. I indicated to you UK is sluggish, and that is one of our biggest aggregates. You know, the aggregate volumes, if you look a little bit where they sit, they sit predominantly in the markets that I described as being sluggish. So I think that's the main reason. So if you take that in the flip side of your argument, that's the volume pressure there. So I think overall, from my team, we should also see a recovery in aggregates in Europe and predominantly in the UK. It depends also on the specific market development. So I think overall, I think that's mainly the answer there. On APAC, let me give you the answer. And then René can again comment on Australia, because I would argue we do take portfolio measures quite substantially in APAC. You know that we've done an acquisition recently in Malaysia. You know that we have done moves in Indonesia, and when it will come to the moves in Australia. So we are growing that region quite substantially, and it has the beauty that it has a fairly stable market in Australia, and then the more emerging markets, you know, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, So I think that's the case. And maybe before we get to Australia, it's clear that we continue to work on our portfolio. That's also clear for APAC. The question was whether we are satisfied. No. Does it meet your expectations? No. But can we change or should we change overnight hastingly? No, because that's destroying shareholder value. That's not what we are paid for. So we are keeping an eye on what we can do from a portfolio perspective, but clearly portfolio management will continue also in APEC, and you should expect that. Not only in Australia, but also in Asia. But really, maybe you described a little bit of the situation in Australia now.

Okay. For Australia, you know, we have done the BGC acquisition by our auto invention system in Australia. That is a big, big, big success. And then, you know, following our strategy, we want to increase our our, let's say, presence in markets where we are, and where we can further improve, and that is the mass acquisition on the East Coast. I think that fits perfectly to our portfolio. And you've seen as well our other competitors in the building materials growing in Australia, and I guess we are doing the right thing. And, you know, we follow these acquisitions very, very closely, and they are all performing like we wanted to have it in Australia. I think that fits perfectly to the strategy.

And then, Julian, on your last question, emerging markets acquisition versus, you know, aggregate bolt-ons and European consolidation moves, I think it's pretty straightforward. Again, going back to what we said, we want to grow, we want to meet the financial framework. The beauty about the emerging market acquisitions that we do, they are very quickly value-accretive, both in terms of margin and in terms of ROIC, because in most cases, these are asset-light steps, not everywhere, but in most cases. So that means that typically on a ROIC performance, you get a good return. That's especially true for the AMBA setup. And then aggregates and cement bolt-ons. Obviously, we are looking at everything that moves, but we do say no to a lot of things because we don't see the value and the value accretion for our financial framework. It's a matter of availability of the acquisitions, but it's also a matter of price. and the matter of synergies or missing synergies. So that's the way we look at that, and that's basically also true for European cement consolidation. Rest assured, we look at everything, but I haven't seen 10 deals in the last three months in that respect, so there is not a lot of this movement moving yet. But absolutely, we are looking at this same principle. If we are the best owner for the asset, if we can drive the biggest synergies, if we can get value accretion to our financial framework, then we absolutely move also in cement consolidation in Europe.

Thanks, Julian. Great. Thanks very much.

Next one comes from Harry Goat from Burnback.

Hey, Harry. Hello. Hello. Hi, good afternoon. I've got one question, please, on US federal funding of infrastructure, so specifically on the IIJA bill, where, although I appreciate there's quite considerable capital still to be spent, does it understand that the bill needs to be reauthorized this year? Is there any, you know, I guess first of all, can you give us any insights on what you're hearing on negotiations around reauthorization, and is there any risk on funding for not, let's say, 2026, but 2027 if negotiations sort of don't go as well as you would hope? Thank you.

Well, Harry, you know, I think it's hard to predict. It's never been harder to predict how these negotiations go. In general, and that's not a detail for many negotiations, in general, I'm quite optimistic that they will bridge it somehow, whether they do it through a reauthorization in September or October, or whether they do it, you know, in January. I don't think that's they have muddled through this in the past. You can go back to history. This has never led to a cut-off in investments. They somehow then do interim solutions or something. If I look at the general political setup and the desire of the current administration to at least not lower the chances for the ballot in November, I'm quite confident that there will not be a a dramatic swing to the one or the other point. I don't see that at all. So I think I would rather assume for now, don't quote me, but I would rather assume a fairly stable maneuvering. I wouldn't see a massive uptick, and I wouldn't also see a massive decline at this point. And from our main scenario, we would assume that the funding continues well through 2026. Okay.

Thank you very much. Thanks, Harry.

Next one comes from Glynis Johnson from Jeffery. Hey, Glynis. Glynis, hello.

Hello there. Two, if I may. The first one in terms of Transformation Accelerator, there have been some more recent plant closures that you've announced, and I just wanted to understand, are they part of the original Transformation Accelerator program? Are they supplementary to that? And if so, can you give us any additional quantification of what those potential savings could be. And then second of all, similar thematic actually is your friendly peer in Switzerland put a EBIT number on AI upside. You've obviously talked about digitalization very enthusiastically since the capital markets day at the very least. Do you feel confident enough to put a number on it yourself for what the upside could be in terms of digitalization and AI?

Do you want to take the first one and then I'll take the AI one?

It is for the transformation accelerator. These Plant closures we have announced in the Q1 will be additional savings to the original 500 million, and that's why Dominik and I say the 500 million will not be 500 million, it will be more. And, you know, we always said there's fixed and variable cost part components, and, you know, don't assume this is for the full year. There's a process. You know, we have unions. We have a lot of things to manage. There will be an impact in 2026, but the food run rate will come in 2027. Yeah.

And on the second topic is, you know that we've been on the topic of AI for quite some time now. We've given you very specific examples, and I'm always happy to see that others in the industry are also following that. I think that's fine. I think it will also increase the suppliers you're moving on this. The whole network will increase. will move down the road of AI, which I think is great. It's also great for us when we talk about our digital investments in terms of Command Alcon and other things. So I think in that respect, we are moving in the right direction. We have put a number on this at this point, partially. It also drives the transformation accelerator, but we have bigger hopes and dreams on AI, and let us continue to work on this in a diligent way along our processes and together with our customers, and then eventually we'll come up with something nice, but we should, at this point, that's the status from our side.

Thanks, Linus.

Thank you.

We go back to second round, this time from Elodie again, JP Morgan. Hey, Elodie. Elodie again. Hello.

Hello again. Thanks for letting me ask another question. So we haven't discussed benchmark, ETS, something that we all seem to have forgotten now, but Do you have any latest views that you can share with us on, first of all, when you think we'll get the benchmark, which we've been long awaited for, and what level you expect, and then the ETS reform to come, what kind of changes you have assumed, the timing, the news flow, which we should expect, basically. Thank you.

You know, we manage our business, but it's hard to manage the politicians. And I'm being careful with making assumptions on what will come out of Europe in this respect, you know, the discussions. I can only pick up what I'm sure you've also picked up, the rumor that the new benchmark will anyway sit around, what is it, 650, 660 or something. Let's wait and see. So that would be a little bit relief versus what the speculation was maybe a couple of months ago. But I can't tell you. My understanding is that they will try to come up with a decision here in the next couple of weeks. But again, it's hard to predict. There is no formal date, to the best of my knowledge. And then on EOATS, again, a lot of speculations back and forth. The market, at least, is not speculating at this point about a fundamental change because the CO2 certificate price has been pretty stubborn around 75 euros. And normally the market is pretty clever. I'm not trying to beat the market in that respect. So This, for me, gives an indication, maybe it's only one indication, that there is a revision coming, but clearly the market, at least, is not speculating on the revolution, nor do we. I think they probably will try to put some sort of relief in there. And you've discussed, you know, market stability reserve, linear reduction factor. You know all the ups and downs and gimmicks around this. But it really would be not professional for me to speculate on where they exactly land because there are so many discussions going on also behind closed doors. We are, wherever we can be, we are giving our input, absolutely. but it's hard to predict and ask for your understanding. I don't think this would be professional for me to say anything more than I've said now.

Okay. Thanks, Elodie.

Thanks, Elodie.

Then we go full circle and end with the one that asked the first question, Ben from Goldman Sachs.

Ben. Excellent. Thanks for the final few questions. My first was on Evo Zero. I know we haven't really spent much time on it today, but I'd be interested, you know, we're a few months into production with the product. How have the volume and I guess the green premium realisations been versus your expectations set at the C&D? And the second one is we've seen some press articles about admixture shortages in APAC and diesel shortages. Are there any geographies that you think are a risk from physical supply shortages of import materials? That's worth flagging. Thank you.

Ben, thanks a lot. Let me answer the first one, and then really, as he has procurement, he'll come to the second one. On Evo Zero, I think interesting dynamics continue. You know, first part of your question, production goes very well. So technically, it's a clear green tick in the box. Also, the integration with the cement plant, the team has done a fantastic job. We are producing, we are capturing the CO2, we are storing the CO2, so the carbon bank is filling. That's fantastic. You know, big innovation. Nobody has done this before, but it's really working. So I think in that respect, very, very encouraging, and we are working diligently on the sales side of things. We have very engaging customer discussions all across Europe and with some global tickets. that are also centered around their European footprint. So I think that's really the pipeline there is very full. And now, you know, to the price point discussion, it's clear and we've always said that we are demanding for this product a completely different price point. And we are very focused to get to that price point. And for now, that works very well. So let's wait and see. The good advantage that we have is that we don't have a pressure to act. And that's much different from if you start a cement plant and you have a silo of 20,000 tons. If the silo is full, you have two options. Either you sell the product or you stop your production. So that pressure is not there with EvoZero, to be very clear, because we can breathe over five years in terms of storage with the tokens. So that gives us also ample opportunity to pull every lever we can or want on finding the right projects, the right customers for the right price point.

Okay, and then regarding your question about editives, And for diesel supply security here, I have nothing to report. We have no shortages. Supply right now is okay, so nothing to report from that perspective right now. Thank you. Okay. This concludes our conference call. Thanks for your good questions. Just a reminder that, as always, we will be on the road following our AGM next week on, when is it, Wednesday next week? We will be at a couple of conferences in Frankfurt, also in the U.S., so stay tuned. If you're interested, please let the IR team know. And with that, have a good day. Thanks. Thanks, everybody. Thanks.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing Coral's Call, and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.