Novonesis A S

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the NOVESIS interim report for the first nine months of 2025 conference call. I'm Lorenzo, the chorus call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode. 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 conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Tobias Cornelius Bjorklund. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and welcome everyone to the NovoNesis conference call for the first nine months of 2025. As mentioned, my name is Tobias Björklund. I'm heading up investor relations here at NovoNesis. In this call, our CEO, Esther Barchett, and our CFO, Reiner Lehmann, will review our performance for the first nine months of the year, as well as the outlook for 2025. Attending today's call, we also have Tina Fehrner, EVP of Planetary Health Biosolutions, Henrik-Jörg Nilsson, EVP of Human Health Biosolutions, Andrew Taylor, EVP of Food and Health Biosolutions, and Klaus-Krone Fuglsang, Chief Scientific Officer. The conference call will take about 45 minutes, including Q&A. 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 they 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. Esther, please.

Thank you. Thank you, Tobias, and welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning. Please turn to slide number three. Thank you. We continue to deliver on our promises, and on the back of a strong first half of 2025, we deliver organic sales growth of 8% in the first nine months. The third quarter was stronger than expected, including some positive timing effect, and grew by 6%. Growth was broad-based and mainly volume-driven, as pricing contributed by around 1%, both in the first nine months and in the quarter. The exit of certain countries impacted organic sales growth negatively, by around 1% in the first nine months and by around 2% in the third quarter. Emerging markets were particularly strong at 12% growth, driven by increased local presence and tailored solutions for different customer needs. We continue to invest in these markets to further drive growth and fulfil our strategic goals. Since late 2024, we have made significant investments in customer-facing activities, with commercial resources in emerging markets growing at more than twice the rate of developed markets. Growth in developed markets reached 6%, with solid performance in both Europe and North America. Sales synergies are well on track and contributed close to one percentage point, with positive impact across the businesses. The integration of the FIT Enzyme Alliance acquisition, which closed on June this year, is progressing as planned and we are already now seeing the benefits from a strong BioSolutions portfolio and being closer to customers. Performance since closing is in line with expectations. We launched four new BioSolutions in the quarter, bringing the year to 19 in total. As an example, in food and beverages, we have lunch innovation that tap into higher consumer demand for healthier and more nutritional products, including high-protein solutions. Another example of innovation tapping into growing consumer demands includes high-performance solutions for quick and cold-wash cycles in household care. The adjusted EBITDA margin for the first nine months of the year was 37.3%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points compared to last year. The margin includes significant currency headwinds, showing the strong underlying operational performance, while also we continue to invest for growth. Central to our growth performance and strong performance is NovoNess' unique ability to deliver solutions that enhance productivity, enhance efficiency, quality, bring health benefits and sustainability for our customers and consumers. While our bio-solutions typically account for a small portion of our customers' cuts of goods sold, they play a significant role in enabling value creation. Additionally, our well-diversified presence across industries and geographies provides resilience and strength to our overall performance. After a strong nine-month performance, including favorable timing in the third quarter, we leave the bottom end of the range and now expect organic sales growth to be between 7% to 8%. This includes an indication of mid-single-digit organic sales growth for the fourth quarter. We expect the adjusted EBITDA margin to be at the lower end of the 37% to 38% range, continuing to absorb the significant currency headwind compared to the initial outlook for the year. I'm also pleased that the strong earnings translate into healthy cash generation. And with that, with this, let us now look at the divisional performance in more detail. Let's start with food and health biosolutions. If you could please turn to slide number four. Thank you. The Food and Health Biosolutions Division delivered 9% organic sales growth in the first nine months of the year, and the adjusted EBITDA margin was 35.6%, an increase of 30 basis points. In the quarter, organic sales growth was 6%, including the negative impact of around 5 percentage points from the exit of certain countries. For 2025, we expect this division to deliver organic sales growth within the same range as for the group, with relatively stronger growth in human health. Please turn to slide number five. Thank you. Food and beverages deliver 8% organic sales growth in the first nine months and 5% in the quarter, including the impact of exiting certain countries. Growth was mainly driven by volume, where pricing contributed positively and in line with group level. Growth in the first nine months as well as for the third quarter was anchored across most categories with continued strong momentum in daily, including positive impact from timing. Performance was mainly driven by upselling and a strong customer adoption of innovation. In fresh dairy, we continue to see increasing demand for our Tyler solutions in the high protein space and in bioprotection, supported also by healthy underlying global demand for yogurt. Additionally, in cheese, customer conversion contributed to growth. Baking, meat, and plant-based solutions also saw strong growth, mainly driven by innovation and increased penetration. The beverage segment decline impacted mainly by lower end market volumes. Synergies contributed to growth and in line with expectations, supported by cross-selling and increased commercial scale across food and beverages. On the innovation front, we launched two new products in the quarter, making it 10 in total for the first nine months. Growth in 2025 in food and beverages is expected to be broad-based, including a positive impact from synergies. Please turn to slide number six. Thank you. Human health delivered 10% organic sales growth in the first nine months of the year and 8% in the third quarter. Again, growth was mainly volume-driven and negatively impacted from the exit of certain countries. The release of deferred revenue contributed around one percentage point to the growth for both periods. In the first nine months, the development was driven by a strong performance in both dietary supplements and advanced health and nutrition. Synergies contributed positively to growth and in line with expectations. Dietary supplements grew across regions, led by solid momentum in North America. Performance in advanced health and nutrition was supported by advanced protein solutions as we continued to ramp up revenue with our anchor customer. Growth in early life nutrition was led by HMO. In the third quarter, growth in dietary supplements was driven particularly by strong performance in North America across subcategories, with women's health and the healthcare practitioner channel as strong contributors. In advanced health and nutrition, the drivers for the third quarter were similar to those for the first nine months. For 2025, growth in human health will be driven by a continued positive momentum in dietary supplements, supported by a positive impact from synergies, and by advanced health and nutrition, including the continued progress with our Anchor customer. The first revenue is expected to contribute around one percentage point for the growth for the sales area. Please turn to slide number seven, and let's look at planetary health. Thank you. Planetary health biosolutions delivered 8% organic sales growth in the first nine months of the year. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 38.7%, an increase of two percentage points. In the third quarter, organic sales growth was 6%. For 2025, we expect this division to deliver organic sales growth around the low end of the group with relatively stronger growth in agricultural, energy and tech. Please to slide number eight. Thank you. Household care delivered 7% organic sales growth in the first nine months of the year and 6% in the quarter. Growth was mainly volume-driven and with positive contribution from price on par with the group level. Emerging markets contributed significantly to the strong performance, both in laundry and dish, supported by solid growth in developed markets. Performance was driven by increased market penetration as well as innovation. Growth in the third quarter was positively impacted by timing, easing the impact of end-market normalization in developed markets. On the innovation front, we launched one new product in the third quarter, Pristine Advance, as part of the Freshness Platform. This launch targets consumers seeking energy-efficient, time-saving laundry solutions, as it delivers deep cleaning and fresh results, even in quick and cold washing cycles. Key goal drivers for the year continue to be innovation, increased penetration, pricing, as well as industry volume growth, where we see a normalisation in developed markets through the second half of the year. Please turn to slide number nine for agricultural energy and tech. Thank you. Agriculture, energy and tech deliver organic sales growth of 8% in the first nine months and 7% in the third quarter. This was driven by a strong growth in energy and supported by tech and agriculture. Growth was driven mainly by volume and pricing contributed positively in line with the group. Growth in energy was led by Latin America and India, driven by increased ethanol production capacity and a strong growth in Europe. Growth in North America was also supportive, driven by greater adoption of innovation and growing ethanol production volumes supported by increasing exports. Additionally, a ramp-up in second-generation ethanol and penetration of biodiesel solutions also contributed positively across geographies. Growth in agriculture was driven by both animal and plant, while performance in tech was led by increasing demand for solutions for biopharma production. Growth in the third quarter was driven by similar factors as those for the first nine months, including a strong performance in energy supported by agriculture. For 2025, growth in agricultural, energy and tech is expected across all industries, supported by a positive impact from synergies. Growth is expected to be led by energy. And now, let me hand over to Rainer for a review on the financials and the outlook for 2025. Rainer, please.