Symrise Ag Unsp/Adr

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the summarized quarterly statement Q3 2026 analyst and investor call. I'm Sergen, the chorus call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode and the conference being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and one on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Rene Weinberg, head of investor relations. Please go ahead.

RENE WEINBERG Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our third quarter 2026 call. Thank you for joining us today. All related documents are available on our website. With me today are our CEO, Jean-Yves Parisot, and our CFO, Olaf Klinger. After the remarks, we will open the line for questions. And now, I hand over the call to Jean-Yves. Thank you. Thank you, Rene.

And thank you all for joining us today. Today, I will review our third quarter performance, provide an update on the execution of our one-seam rise strategy and one-seam transformation, and conclude with our outlook for the full year. Let us begin with the highlights on the slide four. We achieved organic sales growth of 5.3% in the third quarter, Improving further from Q2 and exceeding expectations Importantly, growth was prominently volume-driven with positive contributions across all divisions demonstrating healthy customer demand and disciplined execution Food and beverage and fragrance continued to perform strongly while pet food and care and wellness returned to growth This broader contribution across our portfolio is encouraging We also completed important portfolio actions and advanced 1CIM initiatives to strengthen organizational effectiveness, focus our innovation priorities, and support more effective execution. Our share buyback is also progressing well, reflecting our disciplined approach to capital allocation. The program is expected to be closed by the end of this month. Lastly, the developments reinforce our confidence in delivering the full-year outlook. Let us now look at the sales performance in more detail on slide 5. Turning now to slide 5. In the third quarter, we delivered sales of more than 1.3 billion euros. Organic sales increased by 5.3%, with 6.1% volume growth, partially offset by 0.8% negative pricing. This mainly volume-driven performance reflects customer activity and execution alongside more favorable comparables. On portfolio, the negative effect mainly reflects the tear paint divestment, partly offset by the consolidation of floral concept. The divested tear paint business represents approximately After translation headwinds in the first half, FX turned positive in Q3, including a contribution from the US dollar. The taste, nutrition and health segments delivered organic sales growth of 5.2%, comprising 4.8% volume growth and 0.4% positive pricing. Reported sales rose to 790 million, compared with 736 million in the prior year quarter. The food and beverage division continued to deliver market-leading mid-single-digit organic sales growth, driven by double-digit growth in naturals, high single-digit growth in sweets, and mid-single-digit growth in savory. Beverages recorded a low single-digit decline, reflecting a challenging comparison base following double-digit growth in the prior year period. The performance reflects broad-based volume growth, technical differentiation, and strong customer execution. The pet food division returned to low single-digit organic sales growth, supported by positive volume-driven development in palatability and pet nutrition. In pet nutrition, volumes improved in Q3, while pricing is normalizing and remained negative, reflecting strategic pricing actions implemented during 2026, as well as customer and product mix. The scent and care segment achieved organic sales growth of 5.6%, with volume growth of 8.1%, and negative pricing of 2.5%. Reported sales increased to 520 million, from 487 million in the prior year quarter. The fragrance division delivered mid-single digit organic sales growth. Consumer fragrance continued to perform strongly with high single digit growth, while five All divisions contributed positively in the third quarter, and together with the mainly volume-driven performance, this underscores the breadth of our growth momentum and the underlying strengths of our business. Let's now turn to regional highlights on the slide 6. Asia-Pacific remains our strongest region. delivering organic sales growth of 12.1%. Both segments grew at double-digit rates with particular strengths in food and beverage, consumer fragrance, and care and wellness. North America delivered solid growth of 4.8% driven by food and beverage, fragrance, aroma molecules, and care and wellness. Latin America achieved growth of 7.4% supported by food and beverage and pet food. and IMI recorded moderate growth of 1.7% with positive contributions from food and beverage and fragrance. Our regional performance further underscores the broad-based nature of our growth with strong momentum in Asia Pacific and North America, complemented by an increasing contribution from Latin America. Turning now to slide seven.