Then I will start here. Yes, I hope everybody who joins us today has a good connection.

I want to welcome everybody in the auditorium today for our earnings call on the Q4 figures and preliminaries on first quarter 2026. I also welcome my colleague Günther Spitzer, CFO, and Maxi Gutmann, from NuWays, who will then guide us through the Q&A session later on.

Here I have a short annotation. Please feel free to ask your questions after the presentation.

We would recommend to do that and no chats because of coordination, yeah, for the easiness of coordination here. Yes, then I will start with my introduction for the ones who do not know NABALTEC.

We are a mid-sized company in the chemical business, in the chemical industry, and one of the leading suppliers of environmentally friendly flame retardants, especially aluminas, based on our two major raw materials of aluminium hydroxide and aluminium oxide. We are headquartered in the heart of Bavaria in Schwandorf.

In addition to the main production sites, we have two production sites in USA with our Corpus Christi and Tennessee plant, Chattanooga. In the 2025 financial year, the group generated a revenue of €197 million and an operating result, or an EBIT, of €15.2 million, and this guides to an EBIT margin of 7.7%.

With our 500 employees, we are active worldwide, and this reflects an export ratio in the year of 2025 of almost 77%. We are represented with our sales department and distribution partners all around the world.

We are operating the plant, as you can see, since a long time, starting in '37. Now coming to the more crucial figures.

As most of we report in two product segments. Here you can see the overview.

It's Functional Fillers and Specialty Aluminas with corresponding revenue and EBIT margin. The growth drivers of the NABALTEC is primarily functional fillers, as you can see by the ratio of revenue, with product areas of ground hydroxides, fine precipitated hydroxides, which are applicable for the cable and wire industry, as well as the visco-optimized hydroxides and boehmites for majorly applications in lithium-ion batteries for e-mobility.

In the specialty aluminas, the smaller product segment, we have a product range of oxides, reactive aluminas, and ceramic bodies, the development will initially be sideways due to the weak demand, as you can see from the refractory industry. If we come to the market segment Functional Fillers, here you can see a very wide range of applications with examples where our products come into.

The biggest market with a revenue share of 56% in last year is, of course, the cable and wire market, especially represented by data cables, communication, and energy cables, which are currently the most important and show an increasing development in a tough market environment. The battery market segment, in which our visco-optimized hydroxides and boehmites are used, we still see a differentiated picture.

Demand for visco-optimized hydroxides continue with a strong rise, while the sales volumes for the boehmite remain low. If we go to the market segment Specialty Aluminas, here you can see our strongest field is the refractory industry, and a second one is technical ceramics, which represent the main markets, especially in the specialty alumina field.

With a large number of applications for our products, we concentrate primarily on the European regions. In '25, the refractory segment, as I said, shares a total revenue of 46%.

Demand for that comes from the steel industry and has stabilized at a lower level to the last year. Now I want to switch to the highlights in the financial figures for Q4 2025.

As you can see, the revenue in the fourth quarter amounted to €41 million, which is a decline compared to the previous year's figures of 7.7%. Sales volumes decreased by 7.4%, and the average price per ton was almost at the same level as in the fourth quarter of the previous year.

The operating result, EBIT, decreased by 78.3% to €1.2 million. EBIT margin was 2.8% in the fourth quarter of 2025 after 12.2% in the previous year, which was an exceptional strong year.

The sharp decline here in revenues and increase in energy and maintenance costs were the main reasons for the significant drop in the EBIT margin in Q4. Earnings per share amounted to €0.05 compared to €0.36 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

The net debt as of December, 31st of December last year, shows liabilities to banks of €90.8 million, which were offset by cash and cash equivalents of €72.3 million as of the reporting date here, and this brings the group's net debt to €18.5 million. I have to notate here, excluding the fixed-term deposit of €15 million.

Now coming to the next slide, which shows the segment of Functional Fillers with the Q4 figures. Let's start with the revenue.

The revenue for this product segment decreased by 10.5% in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year's quarter. Sales volumes are 8.9% lower, and the average price has fallen by 1.8% in comparison to last year, which was quite moderate.

The sharp decline on the revenue was unexpected and primarily reflects the short-term nature of our market and the market uncertainty in the moment. In December, in particular, I must say, orders placed by customers were cancelled at short notice, which surprised us and hit us very strong at this moment in time.

This was especially noticeable in our most important product area, the fine hydroxides, which is our cash cow. In addition to boehmite, which recorded a 26% decline in sales in the fourth quarter, the visco-optimized hydroxide product also saw a decline in sales after a very strong fourth quarter in the previous year.

We come to the EBIT. The EBIT amounted in the fourth quarter at €1.5 million compared to €4.6, which was €4.6 million below the level of last year and significantly lower than the first three quarters of 2025.

In addition to the significant decline in revenues, increased maintenance costs in the fourth quarter are weighing on EBIT in the product segment. Due to the persistently weak demand for boehmites, the product area was unable to make a positive contribution to EBIT at this moment.

If you look at the capex, the capex expenditures in this segment amounts to €5.2 million in the fourth quarter. Here, investments in increased capacity boehmite, completed and capitalized at the end of 2025, as well as investments in expanding capacities of at our visco-optimized hydroxides, were the two major project expenditure.

If we come to the next segment here, this is our Q4 for the Specialty Aluminas. At 0.6%, revenues in the product segment Specialty Aluminas were slightly higher than in the same quarter of the previous year for the first time in 2025.

However, it must point out overcapacities and weak demand continue to weigh on sales performance. Sales volumes decreased by 3.4% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Due to an improved product mix, the average price rose by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. The ceramic bodies area recorded a 6.3% increase in revenues compared to the previous year due to higher sales in the field, especially in catalysts and hydrogen applications.

After the two quarters with a positive EBIT, the fourth quarter is negative again with EBIT of -€0.3 million, but slightly improved compared to the same quarter of the previous year with €0.6 million. We assume that hopefully the bottom has been reached in this segment and expect a slight improve of the situation in the current year.

Capital expenditures in this product segment amounts to €1.8 million in the fourth quarter. The largest part of this amount relates to expenditures for general overhaul of the rotary kiln, which now this cycle investment has been finished.

As some of you might know, we had to revamp our two kilns at the plant, and we have finished this overhaul project. Now I want to hand over to Günther Spitzer, who will guide you through the profit and loss statement, the balance sheet, and the cash flow in the next minutes.

Please, Günther, go ahead.

Yes, thank you, Johannes. Let's continue with the profit and loss statement of the group for the fiscal year 2025.

Our revenue in 2025 decreased by 3.2% year on year to €197 million. Sales volumes declined by 2.7% compared to the previous year, and the average price fell by 0.5% due to a change in the product mix and currency effects.

The largest negative deviation in revenues in '25 was recorded in the boehmite product area with a decline of 37.1% or €4.6 million. Overall, we slightly missed our sales forecast with an expected decline of up to 2%.

Total performance decreased by 4.6% to €197.4 million. While finished goods inventories increased by €1.9 million in the same period of the previous year, they decreased by €1.1 million in 2025.

Capitalized own work increased total performance by €1.4 million after €1.3 million in the previous year. Gross profit amounted to €103.6 million and was down €3.5 million or 3.3% on the year before.

Gross profit margin improved from 51.8% to 52.5%. The main reason for this were lower material costs compared to the previous year.

EBITDA decreased by €7.4 million year on year to €26.8 million, which corresponds to an EBITDA margin of 13.6% after 16.5% in '24. The decline in EBITDA is attributable to a lower gross profit combined with an increase in personal costs of €1.2 million and higher other operating expenses of €2.8 million.

Other operating expenses include currency losses of €2.1 million compared to €0.9 million in the previous year and higher costs for third-party services, including maintenance, of €1.6 million compared to '24. Depreciation and amortization expenses decreased from €11.9 million in the previous year to €11.6 million in the reporting period.

Accordingly, the EBIT margin amounted to 7.7% in the fiscal year 2025 compared to 10.8% in the year before. Functional Fillers continue with a double-digit EBIT margin of 10.4%, while the Specialty Aluminas achieved only a slightly positive EBIT margin of 0.3%.

Earnings per share amounted to €1.10. We propose paying a dividend of €0.29 for the 2025 financial year, the same as in the previous year.

Now I come to the balance sheet at the end of December 2025. Total assets increased by €2.4 million to €300.7 million compared to the end of 2024.

This was primarily due to an increase in property, plant, and equipment of €10.5 million to €150.5 million, including assets under construction of €28.9 million, reflecting our investment program in '25. Other non-current assets decreased by €15.3 million due to the reclassification of fixed-term deposits of €15 million to other current assets.

Inventories increased by €3 million to €50.9 million. This is the result of building up stocks of raw materials in the amount of €4.3 million and a decline of finished and unfinished goods of €1.3 million.

Compared to the end of 2024, cash decreased from €86.5 million to €72.3 million at the end of December '25. On the liabilities side, equity amounted to €158.3 million, an increase of €5.1 million compared to the end of last year.

The equity ratio is 52.6%. Non-current liabilities of €123.5 million include provisions for pensions of €30.3 million and bank liabilities of €90 million.

The average interest rate for bank liabilities was 2.5% in '25. Current liabilities decreased by €0.3 million and include higher trade payables of €1.8 million and lower tax and other liabilities of €2 million compared to the end of 2024.

A brief look at the cash flow statement. Cash flow from operating activity of €15.8 million decreased by €19.3 million compared to the previous year.

In addition to the lower operating income of €7.4 million, changes in working capital in particular reduced operating cash flow by €4.9 million in 2025. By comparison, changes in working capital increased operating cash flow by €5.8 million in the same period of the previous year.

After deducting payments for investments of €24.8 million, free cash flow amounted to -€9 million. The cash flow from financing activity of -€3.5 million includes a dividend payment of €2.6 million.

Cash amounted to €72.3 million at the end of 2025. For the next slides, the preliminary figures for the first quarter and the outlook for 2026, I will give the word back to Johannes.

Thanks, Günther, for your presentation and the financial figures from last year. I just want to jump in now with the preliminaries of Q1 2026.

As you can see on this chart, we had, compared to the last quarter of 2025, a quite good start. The revenue for the first quarter amounted at €53.2 million, still representing a decline of 2.7% compared to the previous year's figures.

Both product segments, Functional Fillers as well as Specialty Aluminas, reported lower revenue in the first quarter compared to the prior year. The EBIT margin here was at 5.2% in the first quarter of 2026, EBIT was impacted especially by high energy costs, particularly for gas, as you all aware with the situation of the Iran war, as well as a rising depreciation and amortization due to the capitalization of assets.

We still are in a high investment cycle at this point in time due to the construction of our major projects, fine hydrous visco-optimized hydrous and the finish of boehmite. These both had a negative impact on our EBIT in the first quarter of 2026.

The detailed figures on the first quarter will be released or published May 21st in 2026. Now coming to the last slide.

We still, even we had a slower start compared to last year, we will confirm our forecast for 2026. Despite the economic situation, we expect a revenue growth in the range of 4% to 6% for the year 2026, as well as on the earning side we expect an EBIT margin in the range of 5% to 7%.

The lower EBIT margin in 2026 compared to last year with 7.7% is primarily due, as I said, to the higher cost of materials here incorporated with especially the higher raw materials and energy. In addition, due to the significant increase in depreciation and amortization, we were burdened due to this capitalization of various projects.

Still, if we look into the order situation in '26, we see still a short-term order intake by customers and a high volatility because the markets are still very unsecure as the situation hasn't improved in the Iran, but if we look at the customer feedback in the moment in time, there is optimism in the order demand, which gives us a good feeling for the next months to come in the second half of the year. That's why we also confirm our revenue and EBIT margin as just shown.

Then we are just done with our presentation, and I would now go into the Q&A session, and please tell your name, your company, and please ask us now your questions, and Maxi Gutmann will just coordinate who is the first to speak, and please.

Thank you Mr. Heckmann and Mr.

Spitzer for the presentation. As Mr.

Heckmann said, we will now open the line for the Q&A session. As a quick reminder, you can ask your question by clicking the raise hand icon.

Once I grant you permission to speak, you will be able to ask your question live. Let's proceed with the first question from Christian Faitz.

Good morning.

Christian Faitz from Kepler Cheuvreux. First question is on the fourth quarter.

Mr. Heckmann, you mentioned a lot of unexpected cancellations.

Do you have any color on why that was the case?

Frankly speaking, it's really hard to say. Some people, I think, made a rigorous cash management and they just were destocking.

Some others were just unsecure what happens in the next couple of months, and I think this is a mixture for the sharp decline. A clear picture is not taken.

This were just some sounding off of some customers.

Were they cancelled, or were they pushed out?

No, they were pushed out. Cancellation, as I said, a strong cancellation within was not seen.

It was just the orders were not taken. There were no order incomes at the end of November normally.

You saw that it was just a weaker demand in December.

Has this changed in Q1, or do you still see short-term cancellations for no reason?

Not so strong as we saw it in the last quarters. I think the order book increased again, and I think there's more stabilization through the first quarter.

The cancellations are not that high. Now, of course, as I said, if you have a destocking effect in December, you have a stocking effect in the consecutive months, but I think when we look at the two product segments and also at various customers, there is a big improvement.

Of course, it's not at the level of Q1 '25, but the improvement is there. The trend is here.

If you look at the sounding, as well in the refractory, especially alumina sector, as well in the functional fillers, especially visco-optimized as well as the cable and wire industry, we get quite a good response in terms of what the people expect. This gives us a lot of optimism, but still, the order intake is still of a shorter range.

Now we are at six weeks approximately, but we have a rebound definitely. Then

I have a question on the cable and wire business. First one, Nexans, they reported Q1 figures and they were cautiously optimistic on improving demand from France, Italy, and Spain, but they also highlighted data centers being a key driver.

There's two questions: do you also see this increased demand from Southern European countries in Europe? Secondly, I'm also aware that data centers you keep highlighting it as a main driver.

Is it possible for you to quantify how does demand has developed? I don't know, does end application data centers have grown in the double digits, or is there a way of kind of putting a number onto this?

To answer your last question, frankly speaking, no, we cannot exactly say if this grows by 10%, we grow by 8% or 15%. No, we don't have this visibility, or we don't have this transparency, I must say, in the market.

We see what you say, the customers reflect to us that they are getting prepared to increase their volumes for this situation. As you must know and the audience, we have two kinds of customers: we have the compounders who sit before the cable and wire manufacturers like Nexans, and we have Nexans who are also vertically integrated and buy directly from us and make their own compounds.

Of course, if you talk to them, they can give you more transparency, but they give an orientation what they publish, but not internal information. On the compounder, don't have a clear visibility because they always tell us, 'Yeah, we sell to the Big Lake where a lot of cables,' but we see, of course, AI is very important in terms of building up infrastructure by all the server farms and so on.

This is reflected, but clear figures I cannot give you.

Okay.

Then

a question also on margin. For the full year, you guide 5% to 7%, Q1 you had above 5%, and usually the first and the fourth quarter are the seasonally weaker quarters in terms of margin.

What's baked in for the second and third quarter so that you have the 5% as the lower end?

It depends now on various components. Certainly, of course, and we expect a growth in revenue, which means a growth in output, we will stronger grow by quantities than by price, definitely.

We will improve our specific costs. We have a rigorous cost program internally, of course.

By pricing, I think we have to very cautiously watch the market. I heard that in some industries, if the energy prices continue to rise, that people will adjust it by pricing.

Momentarily, we do not see that in the market or if the market is receptive. Our goal is more volume-driven momentarily and improve specific costs as well as have a rigorous internal cost management so we can improve the margin.

Of course, as I outlined already in the presentation, energy prices, especially gas, hits us. We have 50% secured until the end of third quarter, and with 50% we float, which hurts us in the moment a little bit.

All the other internal costs we try to improve over the time now, and we saw some one-time effects in the first quarter on OPEX which should be not appearing in the next quarters to follow, there is the variance also in the margin improvement.

Thanks. The 5%, it's fair to say that it's a conservative approach, that the 5% the lower end of the guidance range?

Yes.

Thank you. Then I have one final question.

This is on the visco-optimized products. You built up capacities now or you're still in the process of finalizing this, but do you have kind of a visibility on what customers are needing over the next one or two years?

It's kind of a similar story for now with boehmite, right? You basically started from close to zero.

It's been growing quite some time. Boehmite, the demand has fallen off a cliff, it's kind of insignificant in the overall sales mix now.

Now, the question now would be, do you have a kind of a contractual visibility or anything like this that the visco-optimized products are, yeah, in demand for the foreseeable future?

Before I answer your question, I would just give one more background information. The major difference between the boehmites and the visco-optimized lays where they are consumed, geographic reason where they are produced.

As you recall, the boehmite went in or goes specifically or is tailor-made for the separator. The separator manufacturing was always concentrated in Asia.

It started in Korea, and then it moved into China. The separator is then going into the cells, and the cells are sold to the OEM.

There are three steps from which we had to overcome. Everything was concentrated in China, and China, of course, put its hands on the vertical integration of all goods related to electromobility.

Now with the visco-optimized, we go into the thermal interface modulus, which is majorly gap fillers and the adhesives. The adhesives are produced directly at the source where the OEMs need it.

We are talking to the adhesive, to the gap filler manufacturers, and they go directly to the OEM. The OEMs are the assemblers.

We do not have this competition first out of China because the adhesive gap fillers are sitting in Europe, they are sitting in United States, they're sitting in China and in Asia. What we see momentarily, the major producers, and I don't want to name them, but roll out their capacities all over the centers of e-mobility in the world.

That's why we have a quite strong gross momentum. Of course, we are one of the first movers with this particular products again in the market, and we will have a softening effect because we will not be alone in this world.

As I said, in the centers of consumption, especially here in Europe, we see it now rolling out in the United States and we see also we grow with the people in China. This is a different story because we do not compete within this supply chain, this vertical supply chain where the separator has to go to the cell manufacturer, and the cell manufacturer practically demands what separator you want to buy where, and then they go to the OEMs.

Here we are much closer to the OEM, and this is a big advantage. Of course, now coming to your question, we have a clear picture what the development will be as it reflects what the customers tells us.

As at the end of the day, it always depends how many electric batteries for each car are assembled, cause for each assembled a battery, you need all these components for the thermal interface modulus, what we call TIM, where we are applied to. It's a two-digit, a strong two-digit rising market in terms of what we see on our dynamics.

It will be a very big market in terms of overall needs because this is momentarily the best goods to apply for thermal management in batteries. This is what we can see in the next three to five years.

Of course, there will be always turn ways, but as I said, with all the introductory I gave you, I don't see it as we felt it with boehmite. With boehmite, we had to really compete into a market into China which really closed down its doors for people who coming from the West.

I have to tell so strongly they protected their own market. This is not the case here because we are closer to the OEM, and the OEM, in the final stage, judges which TIMs, which products I want, and so we are closer to the end manufacturing market.

I think we are in a good position that the capacity will build up. We are just in the process by year end, around year end this year, we will commission the plant for these new products where we have then capacities of 20,000 to 30,000 tons plus extra, where we can then really maneuver very well in this market.

The first mover has always an advantage in this market to quickly continue, and what makes me very confident, and I cannot tell more, that now we roll out also in other geographic regions simultaneously. We see that now there's a multiplier happening.

This was not the case with boehmites. With boehmites, we always depended in the geographic region.

First, it was Asia periphery, and then it started more and more concentrated into China, and the policy of the Chinese government then made the market to go in a different direction where we practically were kind of, yeah, I wouldn't say cut off, but limited in our actions. That's the situation and the difference between the visco-optimized and the boehmite at this point.

Perfect. Thanks so much.

That is for now.

Thank you. Any other questions?

We can continue with the next question from Harry Philips.

Hi. Just two questions from me.

How much of the guided revenue growth next year is visible in the current order book versus how much is from demand recovery? What's the split between visible in the order book versus demand recovery?

Then a second question, just on the slightly longer outlook, do you expect your EBIT margin to go back to that sort of 7% to 9% range from 2027, 2028 onwards? Thank you.

Mostly growth will be coming from demand, and of course, some will come from more rigorous strategy that we grow our volume into certain markets. It will be volume-driven.

On the EBIT margin, of course, we are now momentarily hit by certain factors which we cannot influence, but we work on it. If the price or the portfolio mixture is right, where we say we grow stronger in the visco-optimized, perhaps we gain some momentum with boehmites again, and especially the flame-retardant fillers stay at a price level with a strong gross volume, we will definitely improve our EBIT margin into that direction you recommended.

'26 will be definitely a tougher year. We will see how long this conflict in Iran will last, and if the market is, especially from energy side.

For the years to come, as you recall, we have an objective to keep a two-digit EBIT margin in the long run. This is our goal, and we want to push that in the right direction.

Of course, we need a good product mixture with a higher value-added products, but our portfolio is there, and with a strong gross demand, especially for the functional fillers where we just outlined, AI, cable and wire has a very good baseline here, and even the consumers like Nexans indicate there a quite good scenario, I'm optimistic that the EBIT margin improves again over the next years to come.

Amazing. Quickly follow up with a potential other one.

You mentioned in the report that you saw pricing threat from China due to overcapacity, specifically in Turkey. Do you think that this is sort of going to go broader across Europe, or do you think it will or you're hoping it will stay more localized to Turkey?

That's a good question. As I said, I'm not a prophet.

I cannot say this will not happen. Punctually, we see that people come here and there into Europe, and Turkey is Europe.

Europe was a playfield. You have to look at the quality demands certainly, which could say attack, which level they attack.

There are, of course, differentiations in quality and price on the one side. What we saw also and got feedback that they offer here and there, but then all of a sudden, they are not reliable on certain logistics, on confirmations of pricing.

They switch quickly, and this is not a policy the consumers in Europe or elsewhere like so much. It might work for really the low-end quality products in various application fields, but for the higher end, you cannot afford to switch around.

As I said, I have not a clear No, they will not entry momentarily in Europe. We see them besides Turkey nowhere else.

Punctually, as I said, one customer, there was a call for Chinese, but that was not really happening. That's what I can say in the moment.

Amazing. Thank you.

That's all for me then.

Any other questions from the audience?

It doesn't seem like it. There are no further questions on the line.

I think we can wrap up this call. Mr.

Heckmann, would you like to share any closing remarks?

Okay. As I said at the beginning, we had a good rebound compared of Q4 in Q1.

We were not quite satisfied in terms of what we have expected for the first quarter, but it makes us optimistic, and all the feedback what we get momentarily, even in the tough situation, in the tough environment with all the geopolitical challenges we face, but I'm optimistic for the next two quarters to come, and we will see here that we are moving along our outlook or forecast what we have just given to you. We have to do our internal homeworks, of course, and we have to stay close to the situation.

Overall, as I said, troubled waters, we look quite optimistic into the near future. At this point, I want to thank you also in the name of Günther and you too for this earnings call for 2000 for the first quarter of 2026 and with our annual wrap-up for last year's report, and I hope we see you in the next publication then after we did our Q1 report.

Thanks for the audience. Thanks for listening, and still have a nice weekend.

For the Germans, a nice, a longer weekend. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Goodbye.

Thank you. Bye.

Goodbye.