Novonesis A S

Thank you very much, operator, and welcome everyone to Novo Nessis conference call for the first half of 2026. As mentioned, my name is Tobias Bjorklund. I'm heading up investor relations here at Novo Nessis. In this call, our CEO, Ester Baiget, and our CFO, Rainer Lehmann, will review our performance as well as the outlook for 2026. The conference call will take around 50 minutes, including Q&A. Please change to the next slide. As usually, 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 now have the pleasure to hand you over to our CEO, Ester Baiget. Ester, please.

Thank you. Thank you, Tobias, and welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning. We delivered a strong 8% organic sales growth in the first half of the year. This includes a negative effect of around 1.5 percentage points from exiting certain countries. Price contributed close to 2 percentage points and sales synergies contributed a good 1 percentage point. Growth was broad-based across all sales areas and we achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 37.7%. Both developed and emerging markets grew 8% in the first half of the year, with growth across all regions. We continue to deliver growth through innovation and stronger market presence with tailored solutions. We launched 11 new biosolutions and we are on track of our full year expectation of more than 30. These launches are responding to increasing needs for healthier products, higher yields, resilient and efficient production, as well as replacing chemicals across industries. Thank you very much. Based on the strong results of the first half year and a good trajectory for the rest of the year, we are increasing our full year guidance to 7-8%. Growth is expected to be mainly volume driven, supported by a good 1% point from each from pricing and synergies. The outlook includes a close to 1% point negative effect from exiting certain countries. With a stronger sales outlook, we now also expect the adjusted EBITDA margin to be at the higher end of the 37-38% range. We announced earlier this month that we signed an agreement to acquire the remaining shares of Microbiogen, where we have been a minority shareholder since 2013, strengthening our yeast capabilities. We continuously look at our capital allocation, and with the developments we are currently seeing, we initiate a multi-year share-by-back program of a total of 1 billion euros that we expect to finalize in 2029. And with that, let us look at the divisional performance, starting with food and health biosolutions. Could you please turn to slide number four? Thank you. Food and health biosolutions delivered a strong organic sales growth of 9% in the first half of 2026, including a negative impact from exiting certain countries of around 3 percentage points. Pricing contributed close to 2 percentage points, and synergies contributed a good 1 percentage point to growth. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 36.2%, slightly higher than last year. This was mainly driven by economies of scale and synergies and partially offset by the ramp-up in commercial resources that we did over the course of 2025, product mix effects from HMO growth and currency headwinds. Transcription by CastingWords During the quarter, we launched three new products in food and health, including an analytical data platform that enables producers to deliver yogurts with consistent fresh taste over the shelf life, accelerating the use of our bioprotective cultures. For 2026, we expect the division to deliver organic sales growth around the higher end of the group range, driven by food and beverages. Could you please turn to slide number five? Thank you. Food and beverages deliver strong sales growth of 11% in both the first half of the year and in the second quarter. Pricing and sales synergies contributed positively, supported by cross-selling and increased commercial scale. Performance was supported by all industries, driven by market penetration and increasing adoption of innovation. Demand continues to be supported, by the increasing pull for resilient and cost-efficient food production, clean label and healthy products, all while delivering the right taste, the right texture profiles adapted to the local preferences around the world. Momentum in dairy continued to be strong, driven by productivity gains, upselling and customer adoption of innovation, including increasing demand for probiotics and high-protein products, all driven by health and GLP-1 trends. This was further supported by solid growth in cheese, with good contribution from conversion to our DBS format. Growth was led by North America and emerging markets. The strong growth across baking, beverages, meat and plant based solutions was mainly driven by penetration and innovation. Our increased commercial presence and technology toolbox combining cultures and enzymes is positioning us well. For 2026, a strong growth on food and beverages is expected to continue to be broad-based, supported by both synergies and pricing. Human health delivers sales of around a growth of 4%, both in the first half of the year and in the second quarter. Both pricing and synergies contributed positively. Performance was driven by advanced health and nutrition, supported by both early life nutrition and advanced protein solutions. Growth in early life nutrition was led by HMO, with a strong growth across the regions, including cross-border trade into China. Advanced Protein Solutions grew alongside our Anchor customer. Dietary supplements was impacted by a softening North American market, while the other markets contributed positively. We continue to see the resilience of the healthcare practitioner channel, a continued global pull for preventive health, and demand for innovation, both in traditional areas such as gut health and women's health, as well as in new categories such as weight management and GLP-1 support. For 2026, human health is expected to grow only slightly, supported by advanced health and nutrition led by HMO, while dietary supplements is impacted by a temporally cautious North American market. Please, turn to slide number six. Planetary Health BioSolutions delivered organic sales growth of 7% in the first half of the year and 9% in the second quarter. Pricing contributed close to 2 percentage points and sales synergies contributed a good 1 percentage point. The adjusted EBITDA margin in the first half of 2026 was 38.8%, up 40 basis points, driven by the FitEnzyme Alliance acquisition and cost synergies. Thank you very much. In the second quarter, we launch four new solutions in planetary health. In household care, we launch a multi-enzyme blend for laundry detergents to provide higher performance and stability in various formulations. In animal, we introduce a triple-strain probiotic solution, improving the health of piglets and feed efficiency. For 2026, we expect the division to deliver organic sales growth around the lower end of the group range, supported by both household care and Agricultural Energy and Tech. Please turn to slide number seven.

Thank you.

Household care delivered organic sales growth of 8% in the first half of the year and 12% in the second quarter. Growth was broad-based and mainly volume-driven, supported by pricing. Performance was driven by increased market penetration, with a strong traction among local and regional customers, Thank you very much. For 2026, we expect solid performance in household care, driven by continued innovation, increased penetration in both developed and emerging markets, and continued support from pricing. Agriculture, energy and tech delivered organic sales growth of 6% in the first half of the year and 7% in the quarter. Growth in the first half was driven by double-digit growth in energy and supported by agricultural. Thank you very much. and supported by higher ethanol production volumes driven by accelerating exports. This reflects a higher global demand for biofuels driven by increasing need for energy security and supply stability. Additionally, increased penetration of biodiesel solutions and the ramp up of second generation ethanol production contributed to the strong growth. Growth in agricultural was driven by animal. Partially to an inventory build-up at the key customer in the first quarter, as well as solid underlying performance in animal. Plant decline impacted by weak U.S. farm economics. Tech decline in the first half of the year driven by order timing in biopharma and a softer grain processing at market. In the second quarter, the performance was driven by double-digit growth in energy due to the same factors as the one in the first half of the year, but boosted also by increasing global demand in biofuels. In agricultural, performance in animal was in line with expectations and did not include any inventory build-up. Thank you very much. Let me hand over to Rainer for a review on the financials and the outlook of 2026. Rainer, please.

Thank you, Esther, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's call from my side as well. Let's turn to slide eight. In the first half of the year, sales grew by a strong 8% organically and 7% in reported euro. Pricing and synergies contributed close to 2 percentage points and a good 1 percentage point respectively. Currencies provided 4 percentage point headwind, while M&A contributed positively with 3 percentage points related to the Feed Enzyme Alliance acquisition. The organic sales growth included around 1.5 percentage point negative effect from exiting certain countries. In the second quarter, sales grew by 9% organically and by 10% in reported euro. Pricing contributed here around 2 percentage points and synergies contributed a good percentage point. Currencies provided 1 percentage point headwind while M&A contributed positively with 2 percentage points. The organic sales growth included around 1.5 percentage point effect from exiting certain countries. The adjusted gross margin was 59.7%. and improvement of 100 basis points compared to H1 of last year. Pricing, productivity improvements, sales leverage and the Feed Enzyme Alliance acquisition supported the development, partly offset by product mix related to HMO growth. Total operating expenses adjusted for PPA-related depreciation and amortization were 29.1% of sales compared to 28.4% in the first half of last year. Thank you very much. The inventory build-up at a key customer in animal in Q1 had a minor positive impact on the margin. Adjusted earnings per share, excluding PPA amortization, increased 9% year-over-year to €1.09. Operating cash flow was €523.3 million in the first half of the year, representing an increase of 23% year-on-year. This was mainly driven by higher net profit despite higher depreciation and amortization. CapEx NH1 amounted to 216.2 million euro, equal to 9.7% of sales. Free cash flow before acquisitions was flat year over year at 307.6 million euro. The development was driven by higher operating cash flow, offset by the expected higher investment level. The Board of Directors of NovoNesis has approved an interim dividend of 2.35 Danish kroner per share for the first half of 2026. The dividend will be dispersed on August 27th, 2026, with August 24th, 2026 as the last trading day with dividend. With this, let us now turn to slide number 9 to talk about the 2026 outlook. Please note that the outlook presented today is based on the current level of global trade tariffs and the prevailing foreign exchange environment. As Ester said earlier, based on the strong results in the first half of the year and the strong momentum and demand we see for our solutions, we are increasing the outlook for organic sales growth to 7-8%. This includes a negative effect of close to 1% from exiting certain countries and a softer second half in human health. Growth is expected to be mainly volume-driven, supported by a good 1% each from both sales synergies and pricing across both divisions. Second half organic sales growth will also be impacted by the reimbursement of US tariffs to customers. This will only have a minor negative effect and is included in the full year outlook. As we previously talked about, the first quarter, and therefore also the first half, benefited from an inventory build-up at a key customer in the animal business. For the full year, this effect will be neutral. In addition, please keep in mind that in the third quarter we will be facing high comparables. We expect the adjusted EBITDA margin to be at the higher end of the range of 37-38% following the increased sales expectations. Compared to last year, the improvement is expected to be driven by a stronger gross margin, defeat enzyme alliance acquisition, and synergies, partly offset by currency headwinds and slightly higher impulse costs. Net debt to EBITDA ratio is expected to be around 1.8 times at year end, supported by strong cash generation and continued deleveraging. Despite the increased capex level and the acquisition we announced earlier this month, where we have signed an agreement to acquire the remaining 77% of the shares in microbiogen. We have been a minority shareholder since 2013, and this is a good example of a bolt-on technology acquisition that expands our technology footprint, in this case building and expanding our yeast capabilities. As previously communicated, our temporary step-up in CapEx means that in 2026, CapEx is expected to be between 12% to 14% of sales. On a different note, starting in 2027, sales trading updates will replace the current format of the interim announcement for Q1 and Q3. We have delivered strong results in the first half of the year, and we are seeing good momentum and strong demand for our biosolutions. To continue this journey, we are deploying our capital where it creates most value according to our capital allocation principles. Please turn to the next slide for a quick look at how we see this developing. Our number one capital allocation priority is to reinvest in organic growth through innovation, people and capacity, as this is where we see the greatest return on invested capital. We continue to deploy capital innovation and commercial reach, while at the same time staying disciplined on cost. An example of this is the more than 400 commercial roles we added last year to support future growth. In addition, and as previously communicated, we are making a temporary step up in CapEx to build the capacity, flexibility and resilience needed towards 2030 and beyond. By 2030, we expect CapEx as a percentage of sales to normalize to a high single digit level. These dedicated investments include significant expansions of our U.S. culture capacity, a new large-scale multipurpose enzyme facility in emerging markets, which we expect to initiate soon, expanding the new facility in Thailand for HMO, and a new ERP system that allows us to scale and gain efficiencies. We see an attractive return profile on these gross investments. This is contributing to our target of doubling the adjusted return on invested capital excluding goodwill to 16% by 2030. We exclude the merger-related PPA in Goodwill. As mentioned in the strategy update last year, the underlying return on invested capital was around 20% in 2024, with positive trends towards 2030. Next, we continue to look for complementary bolt-on M&A. The acquisition of microbiogen mentioned earlier is a perfect example of such a bolt-on technology acquisition. As we are entering our target leverage range, we are now also in a position to return excess cash to our shareholders. Therefore, we announced inaugural share buyback program in the total amount of 1 billion euro, which we expect to be finalized by 2029, while giving us room to continue to deleverage. With this step, we clearly show our commitment to all three building blocks of our capital allocation principles. With that, I will now hand over to Esther for a wrap-up. Esther?

Thank you much Rainer. Could you please turn to slide number 11? Thank you. Let me summarize our message today. We continue to deliver strong results with positive momentum across all sales areas and in both developed and emerging markets, also driving a strong profitability and cash flow. Our sustained performance quarter after quarter underlines the growing need for biosolutions, underlines the strength of our offering and the resilience of our broad market reach. And on this basis, we have raised the full year outlook. Overall, we are delivering on our promises of today while also positioning the business for sustainable value creation ahead. And with that, we are eager and ready to open the call for Q&A. Operator, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their telephones. 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 two. Questioners on the phone are requested to disable the loudspeaker mode while asking a question. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. And the first question comes from Thomas Lind-Petersen from Nordea. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning, Ester. Good morning, Rainer. Good morning, everyone. Congratulations on the strong results. So two questions from my side, please. The first one is regarding the guidance and the second half assumptions. You delivered a strong 8% organic growth in the first half. You raised the full range to 7% to 8%. Sorry for being greedy here, but what specifically prevents the second half growth from remaining around the first half level or accelerating? You touched a bit upon the tough comps, but you also have the exit of Russia coming out. So just where is the greatest conservatism in your new guidance here? That would be the first question. And then the second question is regarding energy growth. and E15. And I know you cannot say whether it will go through, but what are the customers currently assuming regarding year-round E15 in the US? And has the probability or timing of approval changed your commercial planning or capacity decisions here? That would be my questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Thomas, for your questions. Let me start with the first one, pass it to Rainer, and then cover the E15 question afterwards. I'll let Rainer bring the specifics of the drivers, particularly in the second half, but let me put a little bit of color of how do we see where we stand. We are in a good place, in a very good place. It's been a quarter after quarter that we have been delivering solid performance. We have delivered 8% in the first half and with that Thank you very much.

Yes, so Thomas, let me give you some color on what actually impacts a little bit the H2 growth rate. Well, as I said, really having still strong momentum. So first of all, we have that one-time effect in Q1 about the inventory build-up in animal at one of our customer site. So there was a one-off. Of course, we said for the full year, this is going to be neutral. That means that, of course, this dampens the second half in this regard. Tue Micheelsen, Per Falholt So that means that we also see here an impact on the second half growth rate. And all of that together, you're pretty much there where you thought you expected us to be. And these are basically the main drivers for that softening. In quotations, Mark softening, I would say.

Thank you very much. It's never been that far, but also we've seen it evolving and then going backwards in the past. What I can tell you is that's not part of what we have in our growth projections. It's not included on the long-term financial plan. And the drivers of the growth that we're seeing, it's driven by innovation, by penetration, and by this intimate relationship with our customers. And the growth in bioenergy is broad-based. Yes, North America is strong, and we see also now an increasing pool of demand in North America for exports into Southeast Asia. But we also see good momentum in other areas, like Brazil moved from E15 to E30 in August, and now they're starting a trial of E32. For a hundred and close to 180 days. We also see India moving in the right direction or increasing the blend dates and speaking even porting a path for E100. We see countries in Southeast Asia talking about increasing blend dates, not only for biofuels, but also for bioethanol, also for biodiesel. So overall, extraordinary pool that we see increasing with countries embracing bolder The de-risking and de-leveraging of energy, not only from a climate perspective, but also from a national security, geopolitical stability and to drive local jobs. Wrapping it up, we're not making our long-term projections based on regulation, based on what we have today. It's not in the plan, but we are present and sitting at the table, having the right conversations with our customers and ready to capitalize on the momentum when it happens.

Thank you. Then the next question comes from Alex Sloan from Barclays. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, morning all. Thanks for taking the questions. Two also from my side, please. The first one just on the food and beverage division, obviously a Thank you very much for joining us. Many of those end markets are not really growing as quickly as dairy. So, could you give a bit more colour on maybe what specific NovoNasis solutions are gaining traction and driving that outperformance? And is it sustainable into the second half, please? And then the second one, just on the buyback. I guess, should investors sort of interpret the announcement on the buyback at this stage as kind of a signal that the current period of elevated capital intensity is temporary and that you have maybe growing confidence that the returns on that capex are coming through or will come through? And is it fair to assume that this level of buyback still leaves investors Scope for De-Leverage and Bolton M&A. Maybe on that latter point, can you give a bit more context on what the microbiogen Bolton deal that you announced earlier this month actually provides you with full ownership? Thank you.

Thank you, Alex. I'll answer your first question and then pass it to Rainer on Shed by Bug. You summarized it beautifully on your question. Yes, it is broad-based. Yes, it's here to stay. Yes, it's underlying. And yes, it is the outcome of a lot of self-help. And we're collecting the fruits of investments we've made in the past, and we're also collecting the fruits of the combination and having an extraordinarily strong portfolio on enzymes, cultures, all together under one roof. There is a, we could go into many details in one by one, but maybe there is an underlying drive, two underlying drivers of why that pull is very strong. Our solutions, bio solutions, they enable lower cost, higher productivity, savings, higher yields, undifferentiated claims, cleaner label, healthier foods, higher protein. and the demand and the pull for those ones has never been that strong and we are the company who is best positioned to make it happen. We have a global market reach. We're investing 10% of our revenue in innovation. We're investing on CapEx. We give a lot of comfort to our customers that we are the partner for growth. and when you put that together, GLP-1 trends, nutritional increasing needs, seeking for healthiest products, increasing productivity in the way that foods are produced and our offering and the deep customer intimacy that translates into growth. We are in a very good place, we like the 9%, we see the underlying drivers and we're very comfortable on the future ahead.

Good, and Alex, on the share buyback program, basically, yeah, I can only agree to what you said, right? We pointed out or I pointed out several times that the elevated capex is temporary, right? That it's really the next two years and that by 2030 we're going to go into a high single digit then gradually. So you can see that also the share buyback commitment as another confirmation of that step, right? and yes you're absolutely right of course we see great good returns these are capacity investments and with our margins of course you see also then the high returns on these investments it will the share buyback program will still leave room to deleverage right and we expect the end of the year I said 1.8 so probably going to leverage down to 1.7 do we have to reach exactly the 1.5 we always said around 1.5 so therefore that leaves us room Ester Baiget, Rainer Lehmann, Thank you very much.

And a microbiogen, do you want to comment there also, right?

Microbiogen, so on the financial impact here, basically it's a vertical integration at the end of the day. On the biofuel, we're acquiring great capabilities in that space, and it's going to be at the end of the day slightly accretive to the margin.

And yes, a full ownership.

Yeah, of course, full ownership, but we said that, right? We're acquiring 77%, so we have then full ownership. We currently have 23%. Thank you.

And the next question comes from Sebastian Brey from Bernberg.

Please go ahead. Hello, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. So I have two, please. The first is on the household care. A lot of the arguments for why the sales have grown so nicely are pretty similar to what they were in previous quarters, higher investment, better penetration. But the organic sales growth was not 12%. Could you talk about the extent to which this could moderate and if your assumption on what household care can grow at has changed as we move into 27? And my second question is on HMOs. Can you give an idea of the size of this business these days? It's still underneath €100 million of sale and where the margin profile currently sits. Thank you.

Perfect. Thank you, Sebastian. I'll take the first one and Rainer on HMOs. Household care, yes, 12% growth on second quarter. Bear in mind also soft comparable in that quarter that were a driver of the higher comparable. Underlying continuous steady performance with the drivers that you mentioned. Collecting the fruits of the investments in the past, collecting the fruits of innovation, responding to the consumer and customer needs, driving to productivity savings but also driving to body grime removal, experience of freshness, quick and cold washes and particularly growth in emerging geographies. Remember last year we hired 400 people in commercial organizations, two-thirds of them in emerging geographies. They were not all in household care, but household care is benefiting also from that trend where we see that the intimacy with the customers and the tailor-made solutions, we just saw us also launching another medley, another blend of Thank you very much.

So HMO basically is from the overall share of human health is actually 10% around there. And to the margin profile, as we pointed out in the past, it is still dilutive to the group margin. We'll see that improving once we really scale up. The nice thing is we see also good growth momentum. And going forward, of course, with economies of scale, we'll get this up to the level of the group margin.

Thank you.

And the next question comes from Lars Topholm from DMV Carnegie. Please go ahead.

Yes, congrats with an impressive quarter. Two questions for me also. The first one goes to the strong growth in food and beverage and the soft growth in human health. I just wonder if there's any cannibalization effect in here that maybe if people... Buy more yogurt containing probiotics, they buy less dietary supplements containing the same. So I wonder if it's something you see, and if it is, is it something you can try to maybe put a number on? And then the second question for you, Rainer, just goes to the tariff refunds. I just wonder, I mean, there's an in and there's an out. Why does it negatively affect organic growth and How do you account for this from an EBITDA perspective? Is there any effect? Thanks.

Thank you, Lars, also for your kind words. We continue with the tempo. I take the first one. Rainer, you take the second one. So on food and health, really good performance, 9% year-to-date, 9% in Q2. And yes, Lars, you pointed to an isolated case we see punctual also in North America dietary supplements. Important to mention, and you hindered that in your question, the trend of health, it's never been that strong. Thank you very much. Transcription by CastingWords Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Yes, and last, regarding the tariff refunds, you're absolutely right. It's an in and out. It's just that the out is in a different position than the in. So therefore, basically, we have the basic credit note affects the sales number. Therefore, we see here an impact on organic sales growth. But the in is on the expense side. So to your second question, then, regarding EBITDA, the impact on the EBITDA is neutral. So there's no impact on the absolute number of the EBITDA. In this regard.

And it's correctly understood that in H2, the impact on organic growth is a drag of around 40 pips?

Up to 40 pips, yes. That's correct.

Thank you so much.

Then the next question comes from Chitan Uteheshi from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Thanks for taking my questions. My first question is... You know, when I speak to some investors, some potential investors, the impression I get is no one is doing so well that people are worried that this is not sustainable. That it's just too good to be true. And frankly, if you look at your Q2 numbers, 9% organic growth, I mean, I don't think anybody can... Debate that is not good. I guess the question I have is how would you address that concern of growth being too good to be true? I mean, you mentioned new products. I look at your OPEX, which is up almost a high single digit organic. Your CAPEX is very, very strong. So it feels like underlying is a huge amount of investment going on. And yet people tend to fear that your growth is too good to be true. How do you I don't think it's an easy thing to do, but if you were to maybe give some more fillers to the market in terms of getting comfort around the sustainability of growth, not just for Q3, but maybe in terms of next three, four years, I think that would be quite useful. And the second question, just I was looking at your cash flow statement, and there is a decent step up in intangible assets. Asset spend, and I'm just curious, is this the ERP spend or are you capitalizing more R&D this year? Thank you very much.

Cheta, excellent questions. Short answer, it is true. It is good and it is true. Long answer. Let me give it a try here. Bio solutions are the building block of how the world will produce and consume in the future. We are changing the way that foods will be produced, the goods that we will consume. and we are the best company, the company that is best equipped to capitalize on that trend. The pool is absolutely clear. We do two things. We do more with less. We bring productivity, efficiency, cost gains for our customers. And we bring differentiated claims, something that makes our customers be able to capitalize a stronger momentum and grow faster. We bring healthier nutrients. We do clean label. We enable high protein. We enable replacing chemicals. It's a combination of higher productivity, higher yields, higher efficiencies and differentiated claims. Responding to a strong pull on the market when a growing population that has the need exactly of what we're talking about. So the what is there, the pull is there. Then the other question that you make so nicely is why us? Why are we going to win? Well, because we are the leading player on BioSolutions. We invest 10% of revenue in R&D. We have a global market reach. We have deep customer intimacy. We connect those needs into answers. And more importantly, we bring them to scale competitively and reliably for our customers. And we're investing. So that's why we're delivering and why it's going to be sustainable is because we continue to invest, to continue to be closer to our customers, to continue to innovate and continue to be able to supply. The best thing I can do, continue to deliver, continue to show you it's true, continue to make that trend and make it obvious for everybody.

Chetan, regarding your cash flow question, you're spot on. The intangibles there, the increase in intangibles are related to our ERP journey, so the S4 journey that we're having. Keep in mind, we do not capitalize R&D. So that is actually, so it's really driven by the capitalization of the S4 related expenses.

Thank you very much.

The next question comes from Soren Samse from SEB. Please go ahead.

Yes, good morning everyone and congrats on the impressive result. So, two questions. First on household care, very high growth. Just wondering if there's any sort of extraordinary in the growth, i.e. is there a customer doing an inventory build ahead of a new product launch, anything similar to that? And also, if you could comment, besides emerging market pulling, is there any impact from maybe private label in the US using more enzymes? Is there any impact from higher oil prices yet, or is that still too early? That's my first question.

Excellent, so we'll answer this question and then we'll wait for the second one. The main driver of the 12% growth, it was softer comparables, or that was a strong driver of the 12%. Then all the drivers that you commented, yes, penetration. Penetration, it's not only in emerging geographies, it's also in domestic markets, where we see a continuous pull and the beauty of reaching and bringing a stronger penetration of enzymes across the globe for detergents. Thank you very much. It takes time to move from those dialogues into answers. The drivers of the growth today are innovation of the past, investments we've made in more booths on the ground, both in domestic markets, but also in US, where we continue to see the pool of private label together growing with our customers around the globe.

Okay, then on the DSM Feed Alliance, It looks like the run rating is getting close to what you said when you made the acquisition. But when I do the backwards calculation, it looks like you're still somewhat behind 11 in those 3% of revenue and the PTA of 70 million euros. But you are getting closer. But maybe you could just tell us sort of how close you are and how's it going with that acquisition. Thank you.

So we basically said initially when we acquired the Feed Enzyme Alliance it's close to three percentage points contribution and we are actually there. So I would still consider it as in line. So therefore the overall animal business is doing really, really well. The EBITDA contribution also that we actually set out, which was important. That one we also fulfilled. You really see that in the accretion and our margin also in the division. So we are overall, and as Ester pointed out also in the beginning opening comments, the commitments that we put out there at the beginning, we fulfilled basically now after 12 years. Of course, we continue to then... 12 months, sorry, not 12 years. It feels longer. And therefore we expect that we consider this in expectations.

And the pipeline is very strong. If there is only one little thing I would add is that the momentum and the conversations with our customers is really, really strong. And we do see the penetration in areas where we were not relevant. We're starting to crystallize nicely, but also with a good pipeline in place.

Okay, thanks for the answers.

And the next question comes from Matthew Yates from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning, everyone. Just had a couple of questions around CapEx, please. Rainer, did I hear earlier in the call you spoke about potentially initiating a large new build plant somewhere? I think you might have said in the merchant markets. Just in terms of calibrating expectations for CapEx next year, is it still another year of CapEx, probably above 10% of sales? And then just more shorter term, if I'm not mistaken, you've got a big investment that's been going on in Wisconsin. I think that was supposed to come online mid or late 26th. I guess my question is, clearly the growth you've been delivering in food and beverage is very, very impressive. I'm wondering to what extent you're delivering that growth despite being capacity constrained in any way. So the extent to which you can bring on more capacity over the coming months, does that actually give reason to believe that that growth could accelerate or do I need to be a bit more prudent on kind of the speed at which you can ramp up new plants? Thank you.

So regarding the capex overall, it's absolutely correct. And actually, I flagged that before, right? We said this year 12% to 14% and also said that next year we expect basically nominal, the same kind of value in this regard. So therefore, this is this temporary elevated part before we then go down to the high single digit in 2030. And in that regard, Thank you very much. When it comes to the short term, absolutely correct, we made the investment in West Allis. It's coming online basically, I would even say a little bit ahead of time, which is great. That is happening as we speak, the first batches being produced. But what I make sure, we are really not constrained on capacity here. We're timing that fortunately nicely and able to really use the assets around the world in order to satisfy everyone. Any kind of growth peaks that we have in the different markets. So all in line with our expectations and looking forward to West Allisden fully being commercialized.

One last question, operator, please.

Yes, then today's last question comes from Andre Taumann from Danske Bank. Please go ahead. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. First of all, can you maybe put a bit more color on what you're seeing in the second half of human health, which I understand would be weak. And then second of all, if you can also add some color on when you plan to insource HMO fully in this Thailand factory. Thank you.

Thank you, Andre. We are, as described, expecting only a small growth in human health. That means that we are not forecasting or not reading the market as the particular situation on North America moving into an improvement. That's puntual. It could change. And if it happens, I can guarantee you we will capitalize on that momentum. But at this moment, what we are seeing is we're not forecasting changes on the North America cautioners of the consumers from a dietary supplements point of view. And what we're seeing in the second half in human health is continued pull of our solutions across the globe, continuous good momentum. Also in the dietary supplements in North America practitioner channel, and a continued growth on HMO and on infant formula. Those are the drivers that we see as growth. Then on HMO, we are producing it today internally, as you well know. Pylon is an acquisition that we made that brings small capabilities to produce HMO and with this we're setting the foundation for the future rapidly. Rainer indicated that it's at the expenses of profitability, but it's also coming with a diligent mindset from a capital allocation. And now we will invest and build a plan accordingly and put us in a position to continue to support our customers and then expand to a better place from a profitability point of view.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome. So with that, we're finalizing the call. Thank you all much for your questions. Looking forward with the dialogue with many of you, also with the team, the rest of the team in sessions for the rest of the week. Thank you.