Novonesis A S

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the NovoNezis conference call regarding the first half 2025 financial result as well as the 2030 growth strategy. My name is Yousef, the course call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode and that this conference will be recorded. The presentations will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star followed by one on your telephone. For operator assistance... This conference must not be recorded for publication or for broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Tobias Cornelius Bjoklund. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Operator, and welcome everyone to the Novenesis conference call, both for the first half of 2025 and also including the presentation of the 2030 Strategy and Financial Targets. In this call, our CEO, Esther Baggett, and our CFO, Reiner Lehmann, will review our performance for the first half of the year, as well as the outlook for 2025. Attending today's call, we have the full executive leadership team, Henrik Jörg Nilsson, EVP of Human Health Biosolutions, Andrew Taylor, EVP of Food and Health Biosolutions, Tina Feiner, EVP of Planetary Health Biosolutions, Klaus-Krone Fuglsang, Chief Scientific Officer, Anders Lund, Chief Operating Officer, and Mårten Rasmusson, EVP of People and Stakeholder Relations. The conference call lasts for about one hour and 40 minutes. We will start by going through the performance for the first half of 2025, and then our full executive leadership team will take you through our 2030 growth strategy. The presentation will last for approximately one hour, and we will then open up for Q&A after the full presentation. Now, please change to the next slide. As usual, I would like to remind you that the information presented during the call is unaudited and that management may make forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and beliefs and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statement. With that, I will now hand you over to our CEO, Esther Bachett. Esther, please.

Thank you. Thank you, Tobias, and welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning. Let's start by looking into the first half year performance. Please turn to slide number three. We delivered organic sales growth of 9% in the first half of the year. Volumes increased by some 8% and prices were up by around 1%. In the second quarter, organic sales growth was strong and broad-based at 8%, with pricing also around 1%. Emerging markets were particularly strong at 12% growth, and developed markets were up by 8%. Sales synergies are well on track and contributed close to one percentage point, and cost synergies are now at 100% run rate, one year ahead of time. We launched nine new buyer solutions in the quarter, predominantly in food and agricultural energy and tech. The adjusted EBITDA margin for the first half of the year was 37.4%, an increase of 2.1 percentage points compared to last year. This is including the impact of weaker currencies. The FIT Enzymes Alliance acquisition closed on June 2nd, and we are working actively on the integration. We narrow our guidance for the full year for organic sales growth to 6-8%, from previously 5-8%. Our guidance on the adjusted EBITDA margin is maintained at 37-38%, despite the significant negative impact from currencies. Since we last spoke, we combined the two VP areas of Human Health Biosolutions and Strategy and Integration under the leadership of Henrik. Henrik has a strong strategic and business acumen and a background spanning R&D and commercial leadership within pharmaceuticals, nutrition and health. These qualities make him an excellent profile to further develop Nobonessi's human health business. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Amy, who stepped down as an EVP for Human Health BioSolutions and left the company just before the summer. We wish Amy all the best as she pushes a new chapter in her life. We're also very excited to welcome Andrew Tyler to the executive leadership team as EVP of our food and beverage businesses. Andrew brings a unique profile with the food industry knowledge, strong commercial expertise, and a proven history of driving transformational change and growth. He's here in the room, and I would like to pass the word. Andrew.