Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Brenntag Q2 results presentation.

I'm Jens Birgersson, Group CEO, and I'm joined by Group CFO Thomas Reisten. We just published our results for the second quarter of 2026.

Overall, this was a very strong quarter for Brenntag. The key highlight was the significant improvement in profitability.

Operating EBITA increased by 41% year-on-year to €463 million. While Q1 performance was primarily driven by market volatility, which is a proof point of our resilient business model, Q2 results reflect the growing impact of our own commercial execution, improved customer penetration, pricing discipline, the cost reduction program, and commercial excellence, rather than market volatility alone.

Importantly, the performance was broad-based across our businesses and regions. We benefited from favorable pricing dynamics, particularly in Brenntag Essentials, where indexed product categories and disciplined commercial execution supported improved profitability.

These developments are also reflected in an improved group-level operating EBITA conversion ratio, which reached 40%, this is up 6 percentage points versus prior year. Essentials delivered operating EBITA growth of 47% to €362 million.

If you break that down, in EMEA, operating EBITA was €122 million, up 36% versus the previous year. North America recognized an operating EBITA of €188 million, an increase of 34%, and Latin America more than doubled its operating EBITA to €34 million.

APAC also more than doubled to €17 million. We also saw an increase in contribution from Brenntag Specialties, but with a smaller pricing effect.

Operating EBITA in Specialties increased by 18% overall to €130 million in Q2 2026. In Life Science, operating EBITA was €80 million, an increase of 2% versus the prior year.

In Material Science, operating EBITA grew by 71% compared to the prior year, which is €51 million. Material Science saw growth across all regions and businesses.

Several strategic supply partnerships and mandate expansions continue to strengthen the business globally, and we are very very happy about the result. On a group level, revenue increased by 11% to €4.3 billion in the quarter, with growth in both divisions on stable volumes.

Brenntag Essentials saw sales growing by 13% to €2.9 billion, and Specialties increased sales by 6% to €1.3 billion. Overall demand remained fairly resilient and stable throughout the quarter and developed broadly in line with our expectations for the quarter.

Our commercial initiatives are gaining traction, cross-selling and up-selling activities are improving, and our cost-out measures continue to deliver. We generated €41 million in cost savings in Q2 2026 versus the 2025 cost base, that is up from the €27 million in Q1.

This compensated for inflation and increases in energy and transportation costs. We are on track to deliver about €150 million gross savings this year, and my confidence in that we will do that is increased.

Our simplification efforts are helping us to be more agile and faster, we see it in our activities in the market. While markets may fluctuate, the actions being taken to strengthen commercial excellence, deepen customer engagement, improve productivity, and simplify the business are starting to have a positive impact.

The progress we are seeing today gives us confidence that the initiatives we have launched are beginning to translate to sustainable operational and financial improvements. It is very encouraging, but I want also to emphasize that a lot remains to be done.

Free cash flow was €4 million, down from €154 million last year, and this decline is technical in nature, reflecting high working capital requirements from strong sales growth and the upward revaluation of inventory at higher prices, not any increases in underlying inventory volumes. The integration of our two most recent acquisitions, Chemtech in the US and Airedale in the UK, is progressing well, and we are confident to deliver on the first-year plan.

We also just announced the acquisition of Woojin Trading, expanding our business in South Korea in the trendsetting beauty and personal care market in the region, where Korea by many is seen as a leading country in Asia. Looking ahead, trading conditions at the start of the third quarter have remained encouraging, with volume trends broadly consistent with the second quarter.

While visibility remains limited and macroeconomic uncertainty persists, we are increasingly confident in the direction of the business. Repeating myself, we are now seeing the first tangible results from our strategic initiatives, including stronger commercial execution, the delivery of our cost-out program, increased cross-selling and up-selling activities, and the ongoing simplification of the organization.

The execution of our key priorities, our commercial initiatives, and sales focus are beginning to lay a foundation for sustainable growth in the future. This confidence is reflected in the upgrade of our outlook that we made in June, where we raised the operating EBITA outlook for the full year to €1,250 to €1,400 million, which we are now confident to further tighten and raise to €1,350 to €1,450 million.

Overall, we are well-positioned for the remainder of the year. With that, I will ask Thomas to take us through the financial presentation.

Thank you, Jens. Good morning as well from myself.

Let me begin by highlighting our strong second quarter, characterized by robust commercial execution, disciplined margin management, continued operational improvement, progress on cost-out, and a favorable market environment. While market conditions remained mixed across regions and end markets, we successfully translated pricing opportunities and commercial discipline into profitable growth.

Revenue increased by 11% year-on-year to €4.3 billion, while operating gross profit grew by almost 19%, demonstrating our ability to capture value in a dynamic pricing environment. Gross margin expanded by 170 points to 27%, reflecting our capability to capture pricing opportunities while maintaining commercial discipline.

The key highlight of the quarter was a strong earnings progression. Operating EBITDA increased by 41% year-on-year to €463 million, and our EBITDA conversion ratio expanded to 40.4%.

Our organic growth is underlined by particularly strong growth in organic operating gross profit of 18%, was remarkable this quarter, thanks to the unwavering commitment of our sales and operating teams. This strong performance was primarily driven by Brenntag Essentials, where pricing dynamics in indexed product categories and excellent commercial execution supported significant gross profit growth.

At the same time, the positive pricing environment increasingly flowed through to Brenntag Specialties. This, combined with focused commercial execution, resulted in a meaningful improvement in margin quality and earnings contribution.

The divisional operating EBITDA grew by 18% year-on-year to €130 million. Customer demand remained resilient throughout the quarter, and broadly in line with the stable trends we observed following the recovery in March.

While market visibility remains limited, demand developed largely in line with our expectations. We also made good progress on our key priorities.

Delivery of our cost-out program contributed to further efficiency gains, and supported the expansion of profitability despite continued, yet temporary, pressure in transportation and energy costs, and higher bonus provisions associated with the improved performance. As we have expected, working capital increased in Q2, due to the seasonal effects, and in particular, the elevated pricing levels resulting from the Middle East crisis.

Accordingly, this effect was reflected in the free cash flow, which was at its lowest in June, and has been improved again in July. Looking at the underlying drivers, the higher level of commercial activity translated into corresponding movements across our working capital accounts.

As we expected, the higher level of commercial activity, in particular in the elevated pricing levels, combined with seasonal effects, led to increased working capital with the respective impact in free cash flow. The increase in sales led to higher receivables and inventories, while trade payables also increased in line with business activity.

Despite these temporary working capital effects, working capital turnover reached 7.5 times in the quarter, exceeding both the year-end 2025 level and the H1 2026 average. This improvement in working capital turnover to 7.5x demonstrates our continued focus on efficient working capital management and cash conversion.

Overall, the quarter demonstrates the resilience of Brenntag's business model, the benefits of our diversified portfolio, and our ability to convert commercial opportunities into profitable growth while maintaining strict cost discipline, effective working capital, and cash management. Let me now take you through the divisional performance in more detail.

Both divisions delivered strong operating gross profit growth in the second quarter, supported by pricing dynamics, resilient demand, and disciplined commercial execution. In Essentials, operating gross profit increased by 23%, with contributions from all regions.

Margin expansion was particularly strong, with gross margin increasing by 2.2 percentage points to 28.5%. This performance reflects strong execution in a volatile pricing environment, particularly in oil indexed products, as well as our ability to reliably serve customers and capture value opportunities.

Demand remained broadly stable throughout the quarter, while customer purchasing patterns continued to favor smaller order sizes and supply security. In Specialties, operating gross profit increased by 9%, supported by both Life Science and Material Science.

Gross margin improved by 0.6 percentage points to 23.4%, reflecting healthy pricing discipline and positive mix trends across the portfolio. Material Science benefited from higher activity levels and positive pricing effects, while Life Science continued to deliver resilient profitability and attractive gross profit per unit trends.

Overall, the strong margin expansion in both divisions demonstrates the strength of Brenntag's diversified business model and our ability to convert market volatility into profitable growth. The broad-based nature of this performance across businesses, segments, and geographies provided a solid foundation for the development of the group in the second half of the year.

Let me now provide an update on our cost-out program, which contributes more and more to our profitability improvement. Following the rebasing of the program to fiscal year 2025, we continue to target cumulative savings of €200 million to €250 million by 2027.

Execution remains on track, and we delivered €41 million of savings during the second quarter, compared with €27 million in the first quarter. The sequential acceleration in contributions in Q2 demonstrates that the program is gaining momentum and delivering tangible benefits.

We remain focused on real structural measures, including organizational simplification, optimization of central costs, and tighter control of discretionary spending. While inflation, wage increases, and higher transportation and energy costs continue to offset part of the benefits, the overall net contribution to profitability remains significant.

We therefore remain confident in achieving our target of €200 million to €250 million of cumulative savings by 2027. Next, we look into more detail on our operating expense development.

While reported OPEX increased year-on-year, the development reflects a stronger business performance and the associated increase in bonus provisions and sales incentives. We continue to see cost headwinds from the annualization of salary inflation, as well as higher transportation and energy costs.

As already underlined, our cost-out program gained momentum, delivering €41 million of savings during the quarter. These savings more than offset the general inflationary trends.

When adjusting for the impact of the Middle East crisis and temporary higher energy and transportation costs, close to half of the savings number directly flows into our bottom line. Thus, the benefits from the cost-out program are structural in nature and support a leaner and more efficient operating model.

As a result, profitability growth significantly outpaced the increase in operating expenses, contributing to the improvement in operating EBITDA conversion during the quarter. Overall, the quarter demonstrates that we remain firmly focused on cost discipline while continuing to invest selectively in commercial initiatives and future growth.

Let me now turn to the development of operating EBITDA. Operating EBITDA increased by 41% year-on-year to €463 million, reflecting strong organic growth, continued margin expansion, and disciplined execution across the group.

Importantly, the vast majority of the increase was organic, while the contributions from acquisitions and divestments remained modest and FX impacts were limited. Demand remained resilient throughout the quarter, despite continued geopolitical uncertainty and broadly stable customer activity levels.

Strong commercial execution and disciplined pricing management enabled us to capture beneficial market dynamics, particular within Brenntag Essentials. In Essentials, positive pricing trends in oil indexed product categories supported gross profit per unit development and translated into a significant earnings contribution.

At the same time, we increasingly saw positive pricing effects flow through to Brenntag Specialties, supporting profitability across both Life Science and Material Science. Simultaneously, our cost-out measures continue to offset inflationary pressures and supported further margin expansion.

Overall, the quarter highlights the strength of our business model and our ability to convert commercial opportunities into profitable growth. Let me conclude with our outlook for the remainder of the year.

We raised our full-year 2026 operating EBITDA guidance to a range of €1,350 million to €1,450 million. Our outlook is supported by the solid start to the third quarter and the momentum reflected in our year-to-date performance, giving us confidence for an encouraging business performance in the remainder of the year.

At the same time, macroeconomic uncertainty and limited visibility across end markets continue to warrant a prudent degree of caution. We therefore remain focused on the disciplined execution of our key priorities and cost discipline.

Overall, we believe the business is well-positioned for the remainder of the year. With that, I will hand back over to Jens to run through the current market developments.

Thank you, Thomas. Taking a look at our regions and verticals, market conditions in the second quarter painted a mixed picture.

Customer purchasing behavior continued to be characterized by caution and limited visibility in a volatile market. North America showed resilient demand with pricing holding up better than expected, despite a more cautious customer environment.

Supplier sentiment is considerably more constructive than it was a year ago. Major producers are reporting healthier pricing, improved margins, and a more favorable outlook.

LATAM had a strong quarter across its markets, and our teams were responsive to ensure supply and capture business opportunities, reinforcing the benefits of a simpler, more integrated commercial approach. Mexico continues to outperform, with the Quimica Delta integration delivering the expected synergies and becoming a substantial contributor to the second quarter upside.

While the market in the second half is expected to be more demanding, we expect that the increased sales focus and discipline deployed across the region will continue to create value. In EMEA, demand remained subdued, particularly in industrial chemicals, while pricing continued to offset part of the underlying cost inflation.

Volumes remained challenged across the region, and we work hard to compensate with increased sales efforts, especially in the area of cross-selling and improved sales coverage. While we do not expect a meaningful improvement in underlying market conditions in the second half of the year, our increased commercial focus across the region gives us confidence we can continue to make progress.

APAC remained a competitive market, with ongoing pricing volatility, a challenging supply situation, and uneven demand patterns across countries and end markets. Going forward, we expect the supply side to continue to recover, while Chinese suppliers are increasingly pushing for market share as domestic demand in China stays flat.

While the Middle East conflict affected our specialty business less, our Life Science business units converted market opportunities into solid organic EBITA growth. Beauty and Care delivered good growth globally, and we are expanding partnerships with several key principals.

Pharma saw good growth in the US. Nutrition saw good demand in APAC, however, at this stage, we have yet to see a meaningful pricing effect in Nutrition.

Q2 was a very positive quarter for Material Science, as the construction sector is performing well across most geographies. We expect this to continue in H2.

Overall, performance was increasingly driven by commercial execution, customer penetration, pricing discipline, and commercial excellence, rather than market volatility alone. Looking ahead, geopolitical developments in the Middle East continue to create uncertainty and may impact supply chains and logistics over time.

Across markets, customers remain cautious in their purchasing decisions and continue to favor shorter ordering patterns. In North America, industry concerns have shifted away from oversupply and destocking towards supply reliability, feedstock availability, energy markets, and geopolitical risk.

In EMEA, end-market demand continues to be subdued, and we are monitoring closely which effect energy and feedstock prices will have on inflation as we move into the later part of the year. The pricing environment in LATAM will be affected by product imports from APAC, especially from China, but we see stable demand for now.

Overall visibility is limited, and we are closely watching developments and pricing levels in all regions and markets. Let me close with an important highlight date for your calendar: on November 12, we will host Brenntag's Capital Markets Day 2026.

At the event, we will provide a comprehensive update on our strategic priorities, the progress to date, and opportunities we see to further strengthen growth, profitability, and shareholder value creation. We will also share deeper insights into our commercial initiatives, simplification efforts, digital capabilities, and the next phase of our transformation journey.

With that, I'll conclude this presentation. Thank you.