Orkla As A S/Adr

Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Orkla's third quarter results. My name is Annie Bursagel, and I'm the head of Investor Relations and Communications. Our president and CEO, Neil Selta, will begin with a summary of the highlights from the quarter. After that, our CFO, Arvid Eglund, will go into a deeper dive in the financials. Niels will come back with some concluding remarks before we go over to the Q&A. So just a reminder, we have a video Q&A with analysts first. And after that, we will take all of the questions that come through via the web. So you're welcome to submit your questions via the web at any time. So with that, I think I will now leave the floor to you, Niels.

Thank you, Annie, and good morning, everyone. This quarter, we continued to execute on our active ownership model and capital allocation strategy. The focus is on improving our core business in the portfolio companies and investing in opportunities that drive long-term value. To start with, I highlight this quarter. In Q3, Orkla delivered 4.4% organic growth across our portfolio companies. Of this, volume mix contributed positively with 1.3%. Underlying EBIT adjusted growth grew by 1.1%. This quarter, we see a mixed development across the portfolio companies. Adjusted earnings per share was NOK 1.85, a 9% increase year-on-year. And we IPO Orkla India. I said that the Capital Markets Day in November 2023 that we were initiating an IPO readiness study. Last week, we reached a major milestone with the IPO of Orkly India. It is the result of a year of steady work, and I'm proud of the persistence shown by our team in India and at headquarters to reach this point. Since we bought MTR Foods back in 2007, we have had an amazing journey starting with strong local brands and strong local management team. Orkla India acquired Istang in Istang in 2021 and has steadily grown the company to what it is today. Let me be clear, this IPO is not an exit for Orkla. Orkla will remain a committed major owner of the company. As a listed company, Orkla India now has its own currency and the flexibility that comes with it, a tool that will support growth over time. The proceeds from the sale of Orkla India provides an additional financial contribution alongside Orkla's robust cash flow from operation. To optimize the capital structure and return excess capital to shareholders in line with our capital allocation policy, we have decided to initiate a NOK 4 billion share buyback program. The program will begin on November 17, 2025 and conclude by the end of December 26 at the latest. Moving on to organic growth development for the consolidated portfolio companies here from over the past two years. Nearly all of the portfolio companies contributed to growth in this quarter. Orkla Food Ingredients and Orkla India had the largest positive contribution to Volumix. Orkla Snack was the largest positive contributor to price growth due to extraordinary cocoa price situations. turning to a breakdown of the portfolio company's performance. We see a more flattish development in the results this quarter compared to a strong quarter last year. With a continued focus on long-term value creation, we see positive underlying development in several of the companies. Profitability varied across our portfolio companies, and Arve will present a more detailed picture of the individual companies, but a couple of developments deserve mention. Jotun continued to deliver strong results during this quarter, with double-digit underlying EBIT growth in local currencies, while maintaining the high margin levels. Orkla food ingredients deliver lower EBIT growth compared to past quarters. This relates to a weaker development in the bakery segment, in addition to volume growth in lower margin categories in plant-based. The positive growth in the sweet segment continued. Excluding the impact from cocoa, Orkla snack continued to have a positive underlying development. Moving on, the 12 rolling months EBIT adjust margin for the consolidated portfolio companies held at 10.3% in the third quarter, a 0.3% improvement year on year. This improvement was broad-based with corresponding margin improvements in seven of the nine consolidated portfolio companies. In terms of input cost, the development remains polarized. We continue to expect raw materials prices in sum to stabilize in 2025, excluding cocoa. Beyond 2025, we expect a continued polarized cost development across sourcing categories and portfolio companies with an overall neutral cost outlook despite inflationary market sentiment. At our Captain Markets Day, we laid out three-year financial targets for the consolidated portfolio companies. At the same time, I said that improving the performance of our existing portfolio would create the most value in the short term. I'm impressed by the progress of our portfolio companies so far, delivering EBIT adjusted to compound annual growth rate of 11.8%. margin expansion of 1.3% points, and an improvement in return on capital employed by 2% points. All in line with our financial target for this strategy period. At the same time, a lot of work remains. We will be fully focused on delivering on each of these goals in 2026, concentrating particularly on continued organic growth, cost management, and capital discipline. Achieving our 2024-2026 target is central to delivering top-tier long-term shield return, which is our overarching mission. I'll now hand over to Arve to walk through the quarter in more details. Thank you so far.

Thank you, Nils, and good morning. Let's start with the income statement highlights for the third quarter. Operating revenue was 17.9 billion, up 4% year-over-year, and EBIT adjusted was 2 million, up 2%. Lower cost in Øykla Asa and the business service companies contributed positively. Other expenses was 401 million in the quarter. And the main elements was a write-down of 240 millions of trademarks in Oetler Health and a write-down of 130 million in the European Pizza Company, equal to the remaining goodwill in New York Pizza's German operations. Profit from associates, which is mainly Jotun, was 603 million, up 10% year over year. And then landed that profit before tax at 2 billion. And the improvement compared to last year is mainly due to the substantial impairment charges last year. And as Nils mentioned, adjusted EPS at NOK 1.85 per share, up 9%. Year-to-day cash flow from operations was 4.8 billion. We are around 400 million below record last year for two reasons. Some working capital build-up due to higher trade receivables and inventory and increased net replacement investments primarily related to Orkla foods, Orkla food ingredients and Orkla snacks. These include replacement projects at various factories, ERP projects and new long-term leases. Dividend from Jotunn is unchanged versus last year at 948 million and we received the second installment in the third quarter. Turning to capital allocation bridge and I will comment on specific development in the quarter. Expansion capex is around 400 million year to date, of which 250 million in the third quarter. And the increase in the quarter is related mainly to increased production capacity in Orkla snacks and Orkla food ingredients. Purchase of companies increased with roughly 100 million and is related mainly to Bolton acquisition in Orkla food ingredients. We maintain a robust balance sheet with a net debt at 17.7 billion, equal to 1.7 times EBTA and 1.3 times excluding Urkla food ingredients. Moving to some more details on the portfolio of companies. And as usual, we'll start with Jotun. And please note that the figures and graphs relate to Jotun. It's the end of August year to date as Jotun do not publish Q3 results. However, I will discuss some highlights from the quarter. Operating revenue declined 2% in the quarter, excluding negative currency translation effects. The sales growth was plus 4%. This follows a continuing trend, revenue growth driven by higher volumes, as well as increased premium sales in the decorative segment. EBITDA increased by 6% over the quarter and 12% excluding the currency effects related to a stronger Norwegian Krone. Both higher sales volumes and gross margin from lower raw material costs contributed positively. Jotunn had financial gains related to currency hedging in the quarter, but the amount is still much smaller than the negative impact to EBITDA related to the stronger NOC. We guided that we expect Jotunn to report 2025 results on par with last year. We continue to expect currency headwinds to negatively impact growth year-over-year in the fourth quarter. That said, given the strong underlying operational development year to date, Jotun's contribution to workload results for 2025 tracks ahead of our outlook. Orkla Foods had organic growth of 0.8%. It was a temporary negative volume mix impact in Q3 due to ERP modernization in the Czech Republic. And the go-live process created challenges for our main warehouse, resulting in lost sales. Adjusted for this, volume mix growth was slightly positive for Orkla Foods in total. Ökla Foods Norway had negative volume mix, but with a significant improvement compared to the second quarter. Market share in growth categories increased in line with the strategy communicated at the capital markets update. Underlying EBIT growth was 2.4% and came primarily from increased sales. Input cost increased during the quarter and Oikla Foods expects higher prices for beef, dairy, marine and berries to continue into next year. Oikla snacks had organic growth of 7.5%, driven entirely by price. The chocolate segment was the main driver of the price growth, as well as drag on volumes. Organic growth in the snacks category was flat in the quarter, while biscuit contributed positively. Underlying EBIT declined 8.4% year over year, reflecting impact of higher cocoa prices. Bub's launched in the US in September through a production and distribution agreement with Mount Franklin Foods. The Bub's US launch was promising, but was not material in Orkla Snacks P&L for the quarter. We expect limited EBIT effect from BUBS in the coming quarters as we continue to invest in AMP and SG&A to support the rollout. Orkla Home and Personal Care had organic growth of 0.9%, driven by continued volume mix growth in Norway and Sweden. And this was partly offset by lower volume mix in contract manufacturing and Finland. Underlying EBIT growth was 7.6% year-over-year, primarily cost-driven. Organic growth in Orkla food ingredients was 8.3%, with 3.9% from volume mix. The plant-based cluster drove the volume mix growth, but on lower margin products with limited impact on EBIT growth. There was a volume mix decline in bakery across business units, impacted by softening consumer sentiment and intensified competition. Underlying EBIT growth at 1.6% for the quarter was impacted by continued improvement from sweet ingredients, offset by loss of volume in bakery, as well as low margins in plant-based as mentioned. Organic growth in Orla Health was 2.5%, with volume mixed growth of 1.6%. The main positive contributors were wound care and food supplements in Europe. The growth was offset by continued weak development in both oral care and functional personal care categories for B2B customers. Underlying EBIT decline was driven by contribution margin pressure, increased SG&A costs and higher advertising spend in food supplements. The new Ökla Health CEO Mats Palmqvist joined in mid-August and initiatives are launched to reduce complexity and improve growth. And we will find the right opportunity in 2026 to present an update on Oikla Health to the capital markets. Oikla India reported quarterly results yesterday, so I will only name a few points here. And please note that Oykla India reports to the Indian stock exchanges in local currency according to Indian accounting standards with the financial year starting April 1st. The quarterly numbers we report are according to IFRS given in NOK and presented on a calendar year basis. Organic operating revenue growth was 4.3% with positive volume growth and a decline from price. Underlying EBIT declined by 1.8% due to higher advertising costs related to early festive season. Transition expenses associated with recent sales tax reform in India. And also India recorded financial incentives from the government of India in the same quarter last year. Excluding the impact of government grants, underlying EBIT adjust growth was 6.2%. Organic growth in the European pizza company was 2.2% in the quarter, with consumer sales growth in the Netherlands, Finland and Poland. Underlying EBIT increased with 7%, driven by consumer sales growth and cost control. And lastly, Ortla Housecare had a top-line organic growth in the quarter, while the development was flat in the health and sports nutrition group. But there was substantial improved profitability in both companies compared to the same quarter last year. With that, I'll hand it back to Jutils for their closing remarks.

Thank you, Arve. Having now entered the second half of our strategy period 2024 to 2026, I'm pleased with the progress we have made across the three strategic pillars presented at our Captain Marcus Day. Driving organic value in our existing portfolio, simplifying the portfolio structure, and executing value-adding structural transactions. As we enter the last part of the strategy period, we remain committed to delivering on these three. At the same time, we have initiated the development of our next strategy plan, which will guide Orkla through 2030. This work is being carried out in close collaboration with our board and grounded on the same principles of focus, discipline and long-term value creation. We look forward to presenting the next strategy plan to the market towards the end of 2026. In closing, I want to thank our employees across Orkla and our portfolio companies for their hard work and our owners for continued support. We enter Q4 with determination to finish the year strong and with confidence in the path ahead. We have more work to do, but we are pleased with the direction. Thank you for your attention. Arva and I are now happy to take your questions.

Welcome back. We are now ready to begin our Q&A. So please raise your hand to ask a question and I will introduce you. And just a reminder, please turn your volume off mute and turn on your camera. So our first question is from Håkon Nelson from Kepler Chevro.

Hi, thank you so much for taking my questions. I have two from me. The first is about Jolten. They deliver a very solid quarter. Could you elaborate on the key drivers behind the solid volume growth and margins and whether you see this level of performance as sustainable into 2026? And the second is regarding the transformation and exit portfolio. How should we think about the remaining assets in terms of timing? And are there business outside the current transformer exit classification that you could consider opening for strategic review or potential sale if the right conditions arise?

Let's start with the Jotun question. I think as we described, the result and the good performance of Jotun is very much due to the higher volume and also improved gross margin. I think also we have said that we guide now ahead of what we guided for the total year 2024. So we think we will be a bit above what we guided early this year. We don't want at this stage to guide for 2026, but I guess we will get back to that on the Q4 presentation. So can you repeat? So when it comes to transform or exit portfolio, we are two companies left. We have never guided on structural deals. So I think we will stick to that policy and not guide on any structural deals. And that goes for the whole portfolio to say so.

Thank you.

Our next question is from Ole Martin Vestgaard from DNB Carnegie.

Hi, and thanks for taking my questions. I'll start off with a quick one on foods. You highlighted delivery issues in the Czech Republic in this quarter. Just to be clear, are these issues now resolved, or will this also impact Q4?

They are resolved. So this was a Q3 incident in relation to implementation of the ERP system, which we had some problems in the main warehouse related to that, but that's resolved at the end of Q3. So it shouldn't be impacting Q4.

And on snacks, can you be specific on how much snack or sort of chocolate demand was down in Q3? And when do you expect this to stabilize or has it stabilized now?

It has stabilized, but we're not given a clear guidance on exact numbers. But as we said earlier, we have at least a 10% volume decline due to chocolate price increases. But it's stabilizing, but it's still obviously affecting the numbers year over year, as you can see in the report.

And then a quick one on the write-downs. I understand the majority of this is related to Nutrilet. What is the remaining book value of Nutrilet on your balance sheet as of now?

There's nothing left on Nutrilet, but it's also several trademarks in Orkley Health that was written down in the quarters. Nutrilet was one of them, but they also consolidated a few other trademarks into Sana Sol as a new main brand for some of the trademarks, or it's a combination of several trademarks that's written down, which then in total was the number as I presented.

And then the last one on foods and snack. Can you comment on how you see your market share development in this quarter and how the competition is from private label? And I'll join back in the queue. Thanks.

I think in general we see that we are more flattish. If you look at the prioritized categories within foods, we see that we are taking market shares. Otherwise, in the other categories in foods, we are more or less flat. It's a few variations between the different categories in snacks, but all in all it's more a flattish development this quarter.

Thank you.

And it looks like the next question we have is from Petter Nyström in ABG Sundal Collier.

Yeah, thank you. So just a very quick question for me, and that is, can you share some insight on how you see raw material prices developing into 2026 versus 2025? Thank you.

I talked about that briefly in my presentation earlier this morning. And I think we are expecting flat development, including COCO prices going into 2026. That's the picture we see as of today.

Thank you.

But fragment, there are big variation between the different categories and it might hit the different portfolio companies differently. But in general.

I see Håkon Fugle has a hand up if you have another question.

Yeah, thank you for taking my question. This is the first. But yeah, I have a couple of ones and I'll take them one by one. In the second quarter, you talked about inventory rebalancing within food for a couple of your clients. Did we have any impact on that this quarter as well?

That was a very limited impact this quarter.

Okay. And looking at your headquarter costs, they continue to decline sequentially also in this quarter. Are we sort of reaching a sort of more normalized level in this quarter?

We don't want necessarily to guide on the headquarter cost, but I think this quarter we see a reduction in FTEs in the IT part of the Oracle IT AS, and we also see a reduction in number of FTEs in the headquarter, as well as a reduction in bonus cost due to the share price development in this quarter, but we don't want to guide going forward.

And final one from me, talking about your hero brands and elevating those brands. Now you've gone through sort of health and what sort of the expected impact for the other portfolio companies there? And are you seeing any impact from the ambitions that you launched on the CMU?

You know, implementing new ways of actually running your portfolio of different brands takes a lot of time and it takes also time before it gets effected into your performance as well. So I think all the companies are now implementing this new way of thinking and we presented with snack and food how they are working on the capital markets update in May this year. So this is work going on. We see progress, as we have said, in prioritized categories in food over the last few quarters. And I think that's a good sign on that. This will work and this is working, but it takes time before it hits into the P&L, to say so.

Thank you. I'll join back in the line.

And I see our next question is from Ole Martin Vestgaard in D&B Carnegie.

Yes, another question for me. When it comes to your marketing spend in this quarter, how was that year on year and what was the underlying margin improvement adjusted for marketing spend?

Yeah, we haven't given a clear number of that, but it's fairly flattish compared to last year. Yeah.

And then just on pubs, can you say a bit more on how you see the the performance of Bubz in Q3 relative to your expectations? Has it changed any perception of how you view the attractiveness of the US market?

No, in the U.S., you know, it's still early days. So as we also stated in the report, it's a promising launch in the U.S. Limited, however, limited impact to the numbers in the third quarter, given that we launched at the end of the quarter. And we are also now very... keen to support that rollout, meaning that they're going to support the sales with SG&A resources and also AMP. So on the back of that, it's promising, but I wouldn't expect a huge impact to the P&L in the coming quarters due to the efforts that they put behind the rollout.

We will invest for the long term in the U.S. market when it comes to BEPS.

Thank you. Thank you.

That seems to be the last video question. So we're going to turn it over to questions from the web. It looks like we've had a couple come in from Marcella Klang, Svenska Handelsbanken. The first question from Marcella is on the strategy. Can you give an indication of the continued strategy plan that you will present towards end 2026? What areas are you contemplating on targeting, real estate, M&A?

I think that's way too early. I think this is a process that we just started with the board. It's ongoing discussions and we have made a plan on how to make a good strategy for the future heading towards 2030. Also in this process, we'll dive into the portfolio companies and the portfolio companies will make their own full potential plans and strategy plans. And we need to see the totality before we can give any guidance to the market. And we will revert in the end of 2026 with a new cap market day to tell about our strategy for 2030.

And the last question from Marcella here is, do you expect the NOC 4 billion share buyback program to be spread across Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, 2026 evenly or more in the first half?

Now, the shareback program will be run according to the MAR regulations, meaning that we will buy a volume not affecting the share price, meaning up to 25% of the volume in the recent periods, so that it will take the time it will take. And we're not going to give a clear guidance on how many months it will take, but obviously it will take some time to... to accumulate that volume in the market.

And that appears to be the final question on the web. So before we conclude, let me just remind you that we report results for the fourth quarter on February 12th. So with that, thank you for joining and please enjoy your day.