Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our Q1 2026 financial results presentation.

I'm Chiara Locati, Head of Investor Relations and ESG at De Nora. With me on the call today, there are Paolo Dellachà Cà, CEO of the group, and Luca Oglialoro, our CFO.

They will drive you through financial and business performance for the first quarter of the year, and then following the presentation, we will open up the floor for a Q&A session. I would also like to remind you that the slides accompanying today's presentation are available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

With that, I'm pleased to hand the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Paolo Dellachà Cà. Paolo, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chiara. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today.

Q1 2026 was a challenging quarter marked by geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is increasing pressure on the global energy system, weighing on economic growth, fueling inflation, and driving up raw material prices.

As a result, short-term financial trends remain more difficult to predict, particularly in light of the complex interaction between global growth dynamics, critical raw material price volatility, and business developments in the regions affected by the conflict. On the other hand, the risks related to the energy crisis once again underscore the critical need for Europe to strengthen its energy independence, including through alternative solutions such as low-carbon hydrogen.

At the same time, energy efficiency, optimization, and the circularity of critical raw materials are becoming essentials, drivers of sustainable global economic growth. As outlined during our last conference call, De Nora business model is well positioned to tackle this global trend whose dynamics and opportunities are already embedded in our medium to long-term strategy.

In this context, focusing on Q1 2026, the group delivered results in line with expectations, once again demonstrating the strong resilience of its business model. We achieved solid profitability, while backlog increased across our core businesses, reaching its highest level since the end of 2023, supported by a strong increase in new orders.

On the energy transition front, during the quarter, we continued to build our presence in the circular lithium market, and at the same time, the green hydrogen market is gaining momentum. As of today, we are proud to announce that we have secured our first order for the 300 megawatt Moeve project in Andalusia, Spain.

Based on the positive evolution of the backlog, the growth in selling prices observed in recent months driven by inflationary effects on critical raw materials, the sales mix, and the operational efficiencies we are progressively delivering, we confirm the guidance communicated in March and expect to achieve results at the upper end of the relevant range in terms of revenues and operating profitability. In this slide, we present the main KPIs of our Q1 2026 financial performance that Luca will comment on later.

Reviewing the performance of our business units, let me begin with Electrode Technologies. Q1 was a strong quarter in terms of new orders.

Projects entering our backlog grew by 63% year-on-year, driven by the Chlor-Alkali line, particularly following the award of a large-scale new project in the Middle East already announced in March. The Electronics line also recorded solid momentum with new orders more than doubling compared to Q1 2025, especially in Asia, while the Electrowinning line reported a double-digit increase, mainly supported by new orders in the US.

At business unit level, order intake was primarily linked to new installations, as well diversified across our key geographies. At the end of March 2026, our backlog stood at around €300 million, the highest level since June 2024, providing a bit better visibility for revenues over the coming quarters than previously announced.

Overall, our legacy Electrode Technologies business remains solid in the medium term, considering the resilience, even in a complex macro scenario, of our core end markets, such as chlorine, AI, electric mobility, and non-ferrous metal extraction, where we lead. Let me now turn to Water Technologies, a business that continues to deliver strong performance across our segments.

In Q1 2026, the business unit order intake increased by 10%, exceeding €100 million, mainly driven by the Pool lines, where order more than doubled year-on-year. Orders in the WTS, the Water Technologies Systems segment, amounted to approximately €50 million, lower than Q1 2025, mainly due to a high base effect, and were evenly distributed between the municipal and industrial market.

Aftermarket service, which, as typically benefits from higher margin profiles, grew by 4%, accounting for 63% of WTS total orders. From a geographic perspective, at business unit level, North America remained the main contributor to the order intake, accounting for approximately 60% of total orders, largely driven by the Pool lines, which alone represented around 47%.

This was followed by the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. Finally, the overall backlog reached €196 million, its highest level since the end of 2023.

This was driven by a broadly stable WTS order portfolio alongside a doubling of the Pools backlog, providing strong visibility on revenue growth for the current fiscal year. In the first quarter of 2026, our Water Technologies business secured significant contracts across geographies and applications, with a well-balanced mix of municipal and industrial projects.

Here you can see a selection of key projects awarded during the period. In Hong Kong, the Water Supplies Department is providing drinking water quality for 7.5 million people through on-site chlorine production based on our CECLOR MS technology, a project we successfully completed in 2023.

We have now been awarded a four-year term contract to provide on-site operations and technical support. The assigned services will ensure reliable CECLOR MS system operation through technical support, preventive maintenance, and operational optimization, while enabling proactive lifecycle management and spare parts opportunities.

The second contract showed in this slide is related to a project in Egypt, where we were awarded a wastewater refurbishment project, one of the largest Capital Controls gas feed system installations in the country, designed to address pesticide contamination and serve around 10 million people. This project highlights our ability to operate in complex conditions and reinforces our municipal positioning in a key emerging market.

Finally, in the United States in Florida, we secured a TETRA filtration expansion project for a major steel manufacturing facility. The contract includes the replacement of three end-of-life filter vessels and increase the treatment capacity to 54.5 cubic meters per day.

This award reinforces De Nora role as a long-term lifecycle partner for a strategic industrial customer and establishes a clear multi-year growth pathway, confirming the scalability and resilience of our filtration technologies in complex industrial environments. Before moving to the energy transition, let me briefly update you on our PFAS business, which represents an attractive growth opportunity following our market entry in 2025.

In the first quarter of 2026, we secured two additional PFAS projects in the US and Italy, in Piedmont. In particular, the contract awarded in the US relates to an industrial-scale project in California for a public customer that has launched a remediation program to address PFAS contamination within its system.

This project represents a significant milestone for De Nora, as it marks our first PFAS project in California, a particularly attractive market given its highly stringent regulatory framework on PFAS. These two additional awards secured in Q1 2026 bring the total value of PFAS orders achieved since 2025 to approximately €7 million across a total of 10 projects.

This underlines strong customer demand and the positive momentum of this strategic segment, where we are driving penetration through an intense commercial effort supported by an extensive piloting activity, particularly in the US and Italy. Let us now turn to the Energy Transition business.

As we are progressing in the lithium refining market, where we are developing an electrochemical process to refine lithium from both traditional feedstocks and end-of-life batteries, supporting the growing global demand for lithium and the transition toward a more circular economy. During Q1 2026, we signed two important agreements in the US and Australia: the first with [Toleva?]

to develop the largest electrochemical lithium plant in the US, and the second with the Australian joint venture between Neometals and Mineral Resources, a global mining leader, to jointly advance technology development. In parallel, we are already executing two contracts with Japanese customers for lithium recycling facilities based on spent batteries.

The green hydrogen market is gaining momentum, and within the 2 gigawatt of project currently in the FEED, Front-End Engineering Design, phase involving our joint venture Nucera, we are proud to announce that we have secured the first order related to the 300 megawatt Moeve project in Andalusia, Spain. Our technologies will be deployed in the first phase, known as Onuba, of Moeve Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley project, the largest alkaline water electrolysis project for green hydrogen production in Southern Europe.

Once completed, Onuba will produce around 45,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 250,000 tons per year. The project is part of a broader initiative to build an hydrogen value chain in Southern Spain, a region offering highly competitive conditions thanks to its strong solar and wind resources, as well as existing port and transport infrastructure connecting local supply to industrial demand in Northern Europe.

De Nora scope has a value of €30 to €40 million, with roughly half already secured and the remainder expected by the second quarter of fiscal year. Undoubtedly, the current geopolitical environment continues to highlight the strategic importance of energy transition themes, not only in Europe, but also in other major geographies, including China, as we're going to see in the next slide.

Recent geopolitical developments involving Iran have contributed to further shaping the green hydrogen market in recent weeks, especially in Asia. Several Asian countries that rely heavily on Iranian oil have been accelerating the adoption of green hydrogen, both as a fuel and as an energy vector, with the aim of strengthening energy security and reducing dependence on the Middle East.

Against this backdrop, green ammonia prices in Asia have moved closer to gray ammonia levels. At the end of March, green ammonia was being offered at around US$600 to $700 per ton, compared to $700 to $800 per ton for gray ammonia.

In India, the government has finalized contracts for the supply of around 700,000 tons per year of green ammonia, formalizing the so-called SECI, Solar Energy Corporation of India, auction result from last summer, with the goal of increasing self-sufficiency in fertilizer production and reducing exposure to the oil price volatility. In Europe, the Commission will anticipate the revision of the RFNBO, Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin, the RFNBO rules, responding to longstanding concern from industry players regarding regulatory complexity and project bankability.

While the transposition of RED III remains uneven across member states, around 1 gigawatt of electrolyzer capacity is expected to come online by year-end, including projects such as Stegra, Shell's Holland refinery, and Air Liquide Normandy. In particular, Germany has taken an important step forward in translating European obligations into national law, particularly regarding demand creation in the transport sector and especially refineries.

Targets for 2030 for green hydrogen has been increased from 1.2% to 1.5%, but the 2040 target has also raised to 10%. Overall, we are satisfied with our Q1 2026 performance, especially considering the challenging environment we are currently operating in.

With that, I leave the floor to Luca for financial review.

Thank you, Paolo, and good afternoon, everyone. Q1 closed with revenue performance in line with our expectations.

Once again, currency headwinds, mainly related to the euro, dollar, and yen, weighed on reported figures. At constant exchange rates, revenues would have recorded a low to mid-single-digit decline.

From a business perspective, performance was primarily supported by Water Technologies, while Energy Transition and Electrode Technologies, as anticipated, delivered softer revenues. Geographically, the Americas increased their contribution to 35%, up from 33% in 2025, mainly driven by growth in the water business.

APAC accounted for approximately 36%, broadly in line with last year, while EMEA reduced its contribution to 29% from 31% in Q1 2025. This mainly reflects the completion of the NEOM project, which had supported the revenues in the region, particularly in the early quarters of 2025.

Turning to our business lines, Electrode Technologies reported a low double-digit revenue decrease. This was expected and mainly reflects the scheduling of projects within the backlog.

It is worth noting that Q1 2025 was a particularly strong quarter, driven by the advancement of several large contracts, including, for instance, the OxyChem projects in the US. The business unit softer performance was mainly driven by the Chlor-Alkali and Electrowinning business decline, while Electronics revenues were broadly stable.

Aftermarket revenues represented approximately 40% of the total, compared to 42% in Q1 2025. As we covered in our previous call, Electrode Technologies is facing a softer year due to a temporary overlap in the completion of certain production aftermarket cycles.

Looking ahead, we expect a progressive recovery in revenues over the coming quarters driven by project scheduling. In addition, the current level of the critical raw material prices is driving revenues expectation for the full year 2026 towards the upper part of the guidance range.

Water Technologies delivered solid growth of 22% at constant exchange rates. This performance was underpinned by more than 50% growth in the Pool segment, while the Water Technology Systems line recorded a softer quarter due to project scheduling.

As usual for this product line, project activity is expected to accelerate in the second half of the year. Strong Pools growth was driven by price increases linked to critical raw material inflation with stable volumes.

Finally, the Energy Transition business unit reported revenues in line with expectations. This reflects backlog evolution following last year completion of the large green hydrogen projects at NEOM and Stegra.

On slide 14, you can see our backlog by business unit at the end of March 2026, which Paolo has already commented on. Let me just highlight that our core business backlog at the end of March reached the highest level of the past two years, marking a 10% increase compared to March 2025.

This growth was driven by both the Water Technologies and the Electrode Technologies businesses. In Electrode Technologies, however, despite this strong backlog performance, this is not translating into revenue growth this year, as the execution scheduling of some large projects extends beyond 2026.

As far as the Energy Transition segment is concerned, if we factor in the Moeve project, for which we have already secured the first order, the backlog would be in the range of €40 to €50 million. Turning now to our operating cost structure on page 15.

In light of the extended slowdown in the Energy Transition business and the temporary softness in the Electrode Technology segment, we have worked intensively on our industrial setup to make our production cost structure highly flexible, including, to a very large extent, the labor cost component. This approach is allowing us to preserve product profitability broadly in line with historical levels, while also benefiting from a more favorable revenue mix.

Turning to SG&A and corporate costs, in the first quarter, thanks to optimization initiatives, we were able to keep these costs broadly in line with Q1 2025 despite ongoing inflationary pressures. Finally, De Nora commitment to research and development remains unchanged, with recurring R&D costs broadly in line with those recorded in the first quarter of 2025.

Let's now move to operating profitability on page 16. The first quarter closed with adjusted EBITDA of €36 million, compared to €39 million in Q1 2025.

This mainly reflects lower volumes, partly offset by improved profitability. As a result, the adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 20.2%, around 50 basis points higher than in the same period of last year.

The margin improvement was largely driven by the water business, which delivered an EBITDA margin about 25%. This was supported by strong growth in the Pools line revenues, which accounted for around 60% of the business unit's revenues, compared to 43% in Q1 2025.

With reference to the Electrode Technology business, the reduction in adjusted EBITDA margin compared to Q1 2025 reflects both a different order mix and, for approximately 1 percentage point, a higher absorption of indirect costs due to lower volumes in the Energy Transition segment. Finally, as expected, the Energy Transition business reported a negative adjusted EBITDA margin.

This mainly reflects the revenue increase decrease combined with our continued commitment to technological development and product innovation, with R&D spending broadly in line in absolute value compared to Q1 2025. I'm now on page 17, where we show the bridge detailing the evolution of our net financial position.

As you can see, at the end of March, our net financial position was broadly at breakeven, with cash absorption mainly driven by net working capital dynamics. The first quarter is typically characterized by a structural cash outflow, reflecting recurring collection and payment patterns, as well as the rebuilding of inventories to support production over the course of the year.

This year, as anticipated during our last conference call, cash absorption in Q1 was particularly significant, driven by the sharp increase in critical raw material prices. In particular, purchases of noble metals, which are typically paid for upon delivery, resulted in an extraordinary step-up in cash absorption.

Excluding this effect, operating cash flow would have been broadly in line with Q1 2025. Looking ahead, the build-up of inventory and the impact of receivables growth may continue to result in cash absorption until the summer period.

From the second half of the year, however, as receivables are progressively collected, we expect, as usual, a gradual recovery in operating cash flow. Let us now move to the guidance for fiscal year 2026.

We confirm the guidance communicated on March 18. Based on sustained selling price growth across business lines and the positive development of the order backlog, we expect revenues to trend towards the upper end of the guidance range, mainly driven by the Electrode Technologies and the Water Technology segment.

Likewise, taking into account the expected revenue mix and the operational efficiency measures initiated during the first quarter, the adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to trend towards the upper end of the guidance range. I will now hand over to Chiara for an update on our ESG.

Thank you, Luca. Let me give you a very quick update on our sustainability journey.

In the first quarter of 2026, we reached another important milestone in our global program to decarbonize our manufacturing footprint with the installation of new photovoltaic systems at our plants in Japan and China, bringing the De Nora's total installed renewable capacity to 6.3 gigawatt-hours per year. Specifically, new installations were completed at our Okayama site in Japan and at Suzhou plant in China, adding around 1.2 gigawatt-hour of annual capacity.

These systems have been operational since April, and at full run rate are expected to cover approximately 35% of the Japanese site's electricity needs and about 15% of those of the Chinese site, representing a further concrete step in the decarbonization of our global operations. These additions build on the photovoltaic systems installed over the past two years across our production sites in Brazil, Germany, the UK, the US, and Italy, bringing the total number of facilities equipped with solar system to 11 out of 14 plants worldwide.

This initiative is part of our sustainability plan, which targets a 50% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emission and 100% renewable electricity by 2030 2030. In 2025, renewable energies, maybe you remember, already accounted for 35% of total consumption, a sharp increase compared to just 3% in 2023.

In addition to environmental benefits, decarbonization also supports greater operational efficiency, increased energy independence, reduced supply chain risk, and long-term value creation. Finally, in April, we published our Sustainability Report as part of the Annual Integrated Report.

In addition to the regulatory disclosure, it outlines the progress of our 2030 sustainability plan, which includes 48 initiatives with both quantitative targets and qualitative objectives and initiatives. By the end of 2025, 25 initiatives had already been completed, fully in line with the planned timelines.

At this point, I will hand over to Paolo for the final remarks.

Thank you, Chiara. Yes, as we wrap up, De Nora is delivering solid profitability and our core backlog remains strong.

Proof of a resilience business model in a complex geopolitical and energy landscape, the megatrends we are exposed to are accelerating and continue to be a real tailwind for us. We will stay focused on executing our long-term strategy vision with discipline and pace.

Looking ahead to 2026, we expect revenues and EBITDA to trend toward the upper end of our guidance range, supported by the strength of our backlog. We are now available to take your questions.

Hi, good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions.

I have three, should be quite quick ones. The first one is if you can give us a split of volumes versus pricing contribution in Electrode and Water Technologies revenues in the first quarter.

You commented on Pools, if I'm not mistaken, but would be interesting to have also indication on the rest of the business. Second question is on net working capital, just if you can help us understand how this component will evolve throughout the end of 2026.

Is it fair to assume the component to remain negative, but to slightly improve compared to the €100 million you booked in terms of absorption in the first quarter? Final question is on margin assumptions in Water Technologies.

You had a very strong margin print in the first quarter. I would say even the top end of the guidance assume some margin normalization in Water Technologies.

Just curious to understand what is the driver of that. Is it just mix rebalancing with WTS revenues growing in the coming quarters, or is there anybody else that should drag margin of Water Technologies down?

Thank you, Isacco, for the question. With regards to Electrode Technologies and Water, it's mainly volumes.

There's nothing important on price, Water Technology Systems. On Pools, definitely pricing and no volumes.

On the net working capital and the impact on the net financial position, net working capital was impacted by the stock, not in terms of volumes, but in terms of pricing of noble materials within the stock, and this effect will remain at the current level of noble metals. The effect will not change, will remain until the end of the year.

It's directly related to the price of noble metals, while there is another effect on commercial credits that will be recovered, as usual, in the second part of the year, because we invoiced with higher prices due to the higher noble materials, and once this collection will be collected, let's say, this effect will come back. We had an impact of around 50 million in the stock due to noble metals, and this effect is today within our estimation of the net financial position at the end of the year.

Margin on Water, we expect to normalize to see normalization of the marginality on Water due to a different mix in the second half of the year, in the next three quarters, especially in the second half of the year, due to the typically higher portion of water systems within Water in the second part of the year with lower margin than Pools. This implies a normalization of the mix and therefore of the profitability.

Many thanks, Luca.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you. I have just one question on this guidance.

It's pretty, I would say, obvious, if you can say that, you can beat your 18% EBITDA margin target for which is the top of your guidance range, no, 15% to 18%, a little bit more tricky to understand why you are positive also on the sales, to exceed €800 million. In particular, I would like to know on Water, which was up double digits for the Q1, you have just, do you expect, first of all, double digits also for the rest of the year, because the backlog in Pools has doubled?

Also what you have said, by the way, with your last answer, that the Pool backlog is up double year-on-year, but the Water System is down, the fact that for the rest of the year you should have rebalancing is not reflected in the current evolution of the backlog, which should continue to have a strong growth in Pool, and so the margin maybe is going to remain high for the division for that, just to understand. Then also for the revenues, given that you have large sensitivity for energy transition, no, which you have provided at the beginning of the year, currently you are more, let's say, oriented to the mid-low part of the range or mid-high part of the range?

Thanks.

Yes, thank you. With regard to energy transition, we see today a let's say a level of revenues that is closer probably to the low part of the range instead of the high part of the range.

Low part of the range. With regard to Pools backlog, it's more an anticipation of backlog compared to past years.

We do not expect this trend of the backlog in the second part of the year, while we see an improvement in sales in Water Systems. We still expect, we have a good visibility for the second and first and third quarter of the year with regard to the entire water business, but the backlog should be read in this way.

It's an more an anticipation of Pools backlog and not a trend that will continue for the entire year. Therefore, I was speaking about a different mix in total with a lower profitability compared to the one that you saw in the first quarter.

Clear. Thank you.

Hello, everyone. My question is on the Pools.

Do you think that this level of growth and margins can continue in the next quarter, or should we expect some normalization?

Yes, again, we see definitely a normalization in the second part of the quarter of the of the year, in the sec second, third, and fourth quarter, especially in the second half of the year, due to the different mix. The increase in the portion of sales for Water Systems within the water business will bring marginality down compared to Q3 20 compared to Q Q1, sorry.

In any case, I mean we are very satisfied about the the the marginality that we expect for 20 26 full year.

Okay.

Yes, can you hear me now?

Yes.

Hi, good evening, and thanks for taking my questions. I have two of them.

The first one is about chemicals in Europe. After the Iran war, are you seeing reshoring of chemicals from Middle East to Europe, and do you think is possible to have a strong demand from chemicals in Europe in the next months and years?

The other one is related and is about the green hydrogen. Do you see another increase in interest about this technology related to the Iran war or not?

Thanks.

I'm not sure if I understood the first question. You mean that because of what's happening in the Middle East if we see a sort of increase of activities in the chemical industry in Europe?

Yes, reshoring.

I think it's a little bit too early, to be honest with you. Chemical industry is not an industry that change overnight.

Probably yes, I agree, it could be the case because there are a lot of chemicals coming from the area, and that would for sure support the European industry as a guarantee for more security in supplies. In my opinion, it's a little bit too early to say.

While on the hydrogen side, the answer is definitely yes. We are seeing movements, as I just said in my presentations, that, of course, are somehow reconfirming that if we need to care more of energy security, the independency and generating in every country a quantity of local molecules thanks to energy renewable energy is becoming more and more attractive.

We are seeing really the first accelerations around the world, not only in Europe, by the way, but also in Asia, as I said, in India, in that direction.

Thanks.

Hi, good afternoon again. A quick one, a quick follow-up on green hydrogen.

I noticed an improving tone on opportunities in Asia. Just wondering, is it something that may translate into additional orders and backlog for you already in 2026, or should we keep Europe as the main region for potential orders over the next 12 months?

Our partners are also working on very interesting projects outside Europe, in Middle East, by the way, in India, and even in North America. We still believe that the likelihood of the mix in our backlog will mainly be driven by Europe in short terms.

Many thanks, Paolo.

Good afternoon, gentlemen. I have a quick question for you, Paolo.

Do you have the sense that any order from your partners are related to the datacenter power?

For sure. Datacenters require a lot of electronics equipment, and so that's why when we mention that our Electronics business is also driven by AI, AI basically means datacenters.

Okay. Can you elaborate a little bit more on these topics, where in a datacenter power station your components are used, if you can give us more visibility?

No, but it's not related to power units. We might supply electrodes to fuel cells in case fuel cells would be adopted to generate some power in datacenters.

What I'm meaning in terms of datacenters and AI is more in our Electrode Technology business when we talk about the segment Electronics, because we are involved in printed circuit boards manufacturing processes and lithium batteries manufacturing processes, this has an impact also in datacenters because of AI continued demand growing demand.

Thank you very much for the clarification. Fuel cells may also be adopted?

There are a lot of information and articles on newspapers that because feeding this monsters is a critical path, right, from the energy standpoint, one of the sources to create stability to avoid any shutdowns are the fuel cells. That means that they have to provide molecules, by the way, hydrogen and green hydrogen, hopefully, to feed whole or partially the energy demand of datacenters.

Is the beginning of a trend. You might have read about other companies in the fuel cell business that are starting to secure projects.

As I have [laughs].

Excuse me? You have?

Good, and that's so, there is a potentially interesting trend.

Very kind. Thank you very much and congratulations again.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for attending our conference call, and as usually, if you need, we are available in terms of Investor Relations team for additional info or clarification. Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, everybody.

Thank you.