Nokian Tyres Plc

Hello and welcome to the Nokian Tyres Q2 2021 interim report. Throughout the call, all participants will be in listen-only mode and afterwards there will be a question and answer session. Just to remind you, this conference is being recorded. Today I am pleased to present Parvi Antalla. Please go ahead with your meeting.

Good afternoon from Helsinki and welcome to Nokian Tyres Q2 2021 results conference call. My name is Päivi Antola, and I am the Head of Investor Relations in Nokian Tyres. And together with me in the call, I have Jukka Moisio, the President and CEO of the company, and Teemu Kangaskärki, the CFO of Nokian Tyres. In this call, we will go through the Q2 results, followed by a Q&A. So, Jukka, please go ahead.

Thank you, Päivi, and good afternoon on my behalf. Welcome to Nokian Tyres results call. I'll start with the prepared notes and I move to page two and just reflect the highlights of this quarter. So net sales and operating profit increased significantly. Net sales were $416 million, about 55% up with comparable currencies compared to 2022. That was driven by strong demand. for the business units and business areas contributed to growth, keeping in mind that Q2 in 2020 was particularly hit by COVID pandemic. Segment operating profit was at 89.6 million, up from 24.4 million in 2020 Q2. The biggest impact came from increased sales volume, and then we had some headwind from currencies by 5 million euro in the negative territory. I move to page three, some of the financial highlights, call out some key numbers. As mentioned, the top line up and the segment operating profit up. The percentage in segment operating profit was 1.5% versus 9% in second quarter 2020 and segments earnings per share 51 cents versus 9 cents a year ago. good development in cash flow despite the fact that we increased quite a bit of receivables and working capital as the business picked up compared to 2020. Nevertheless, we delivered positive cash flow in the quarter. Capital expenditure in the quarter were below prior year and this reflects the fact that some of the major investments that we were still completing in 2020, these programs are now behind and we are working to get the benefit from those. to mention particularly the Dayton factory and as well as Spanish test track of the two investments that we've completed since the second quarter 2020. Half year numbers, top line is up by 41.5% in constant currencies. Segments operating profit at 18.5% in six months versus 7.4% a year ago, and segments EPS at 80 cents per share versus 16 cents a year ago. Return on capital employed at this point of time, stock market rolling is at 13.9% versus 10.6% a year ago, and equity ratio after six months strong 66%, as well as gearing low at 9.4%. It is their net debt at this moment after six months is 140 million, and capital expenditure year-to-date six months is slightly below 40 million. With Thelma and Rowling, our net sales are now at 1.52 billion versus 1.3 billion in full year 2020. This point I hand over to Teemu. our CFO to talk about the financial results of the segment and other financial details. Teemu, please go ahead.