A very good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome, dear colleagues.

I extend a cordial welcome to you on the occasion of the financial statement press conference 2025, and we have got Matthias Zachert, CEO, and Oliver Stratmann, CFO, on the panel. You will be updated as far as the performance of 2025 is concerned and also the outlook for 2026.

Happy to have you here, and as you can tell, we have got the presentation in German, but there is translation into English, and then you can ask questions. For legal reasons, I need to point out that this event and your questions are transmitted live on the internet.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much, Mr. Zemke.

Ladies and gentlemen, a cordial welcome to you here in Cologne and LANXESS. You all, over the past couple of months and quarters, reported that the chemical industry in Europe has great difficulties.

It is a perfect storm, there is a behavior which is harmful to the industrial base here in Germany and Europe. Globally speaking, we've got a very weak demand in the majority of our end customer industries, and ever since 2025, since the escalation of tariff decisions, we have been confronted with a glut of products from Asia that are offered at rock-bottom prices, and that means that we have to do something about it here in Europe.

The geopolitical uncertainties are known to everybody. The result thereof for our industry is that the capacity utilization is so low, more in comparison to 30 years ago it hasn't happened before.

It means that there is realignment, and there is closure of facilities. Of course, we are impacted by that as well.

It was a truly challenging year. Sales and earnings are below the previous year, but nevertheless, we have been able to reduce costs and debt further.

The transformation of the portfolio continued in 2025, and I can say that we have gone away from our dependence on plastics, and this transformation has been concluded. The plastics businesses have been divested in 2025 for good, with the divestment of polyurethane.

Many companies have only started to do so now. What is also positive is that our sustainability profile has been further improved, and I'll come back to that later.

Ladies and gentlemen, business development, sales and earnings. Weak market environment has got a bearing, -11% in sales, EBITDA -17%.

This is not all because of operational reasons when it comes to sales, because of the portfolio changes and also exchange rates, we have lost sales. From an operating point of view, however, volumes and sales prices have been discounted by 3% to 4%, and that is indicative of the tough times.

Now let me discuss the individual divisions or segments. Consumer Protection is something that we have expanded over the past couple of years in order to generate more stability in the individual segments, and this is also reflected in the difficult and challenging environment.

EBITDA could be kept constant, 290 in comparison to 286. With an EBITDA margin of 15%, this is a robust result.

The proclaimed objective to further expand Consumer Protection is here to stay because we have understood that this is the right direction. Now let me talk about Additives.

There was weak demand, but also adverse currency effects. Sales down by 7%, EBITDA by 11%.

This segment is dependent on good activities in the building and construction industries. It's still weak, has been weak for three years, but we can see a first silver lining, a rebound here in Europe and Germany.

Macroeconomic statistics point into that direction. Let me now talk about Intermediates.

This is a segment that is firmly rooted here in Germany with several production sites, and here we are hit by high energy costs, increases in wages and salaries, and regulatory rules. In addition to these challenges, there was strong competition from Asia, and they offer products at totally irrational prices, and therefore sales -8%, EBITDA -39%.

As a group, we are counteracting these developments, and we are optimizing whatever we can optimize. It all starts with reducing costs, but at the same time, we have to see to a further improvement of our processes in order to further improve our competitiveness.

Then there's also been good progress. We have reduced debt, and over the past couple of years, we have been able to reduce our debt by 47%, and we did the job last year as well because we divested Urethane Systems.

We promised two years ago to reduce our debt, and we've delivered, and we will deliver more in the future. Now let me focus on cost discipline and prioritize the keeping up of the earnings, and we will propose a 10 cent dividend.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me speak about the strategy. I had mentioned that we have completed the realignment of our portfolio.

Some years ago, we were so much concentrating on plastics and polymers in our business portfolio, and several years ago, we had told you that we will concentrate on the chemistry and the polymer business, which is characterized by a high CO2 share, high energy costs, and here we are in markets where a lot of commoditization is taking place. Against this backdrop, we decided to exit the plastics business some four years ago.

The last remaining polymer business, the Urethane Systems business, were given to UBE last year, and we completed the sale in April, and the proceeds were used totally to reduce the debt situation. This shows that we were able to reduce debt accordingly.

Let us talk about the Envalior stake, which was also directed to the polyamide segment. In 2022, '23, we first communicated that this joint venture was entered into, and there was a contractual clause saying that you could offer your selling rights.

In September 2025, we communicated this to you, but we also said that there could be several steps in '26 and '27, but at the latest by 2028, we should go into implementation. There is a financing contingency, and so now we can go into implementation in the next contractual steps.

Let me say that this is not about whether we will divest; it's just a question of when. We take it that here we will have clear triple-digit million amounts against the backdrop of the present economic situation, and thus this is a very advantageous agreement that we signed in 2022.

Let me also mention that we have a very robust financing situation at LANXESS, although we experienced a downgrade by a rating agency, but we take it that we will be within the corridor soon that will allow an upgrade of this rating. Ladies and gentlemen, the fact that we are doing something about the situation can be seen with what I'm telling you now.

In 2023, we saw the beginning of a very difficult market condition that had a negative impact to the chemical industry, and we started early in 2025 with FORWARD!, and the €150 million that we communicated at the time were now fully effective since late 2025. In summer 2025, we communicated additional savings in the production network, and here we are fully effective as well.

Full implementation will be completed at the latest by the end of 2027. Last November, we communicated to you that we are taking a further step to improve our competitiveness.

At the time, I announced that we wanted to save €100 million by way of costs over the next two to three years, and that until the first quarter 2026, we would communicate the details to you. That's exactly what we want to do today.

The 100 million that need to be saved means that we will reduce the jobs by about 550, the majority of which will be cut in Germany, and the majority thereof in admin. Of course, like in the past, we will do whatever is possible to do so in a socially responsible way.

In doing so, we are using demographic change and an earlier entry into retirement. The fact that LANXESS is also in a position to find new and clever solution can be seen by the fact that the works council and trade unions agreed with us to introduce a 35-hour workweek till the end of '26, which reduces costs, but it is much better for the workforce, or else we would have had to cut more jobs than announced.

For the colleagues not covered by the collective bargaining agreement and for the management employees, we communicated no wage increase in 2026. Of course, we will be reducing operating costs wherever possible.

All of this goes to show that we are working to reduce our costs, but at the same time, we are also trying to shape our future at LANXESS. This slide goes to show that in many aspects, our objectives are not what we keep in sight, but we actually step on the accelerator.

Let me talk about application-oriented research. In many business areas, we are dealing with products that are to address the problems of tomorrow, and in doing so, providing solutions.

Let me give you an example. Our liquid purified ion exchange business is well known to you, and that's a business which has earned international recognition when it comes to wastewater purification in different facets and industries.

This is the main field of application of our ion exchange products. It was one to three years ago that we communicated more frequently that we wanted to go into different applications as well, and we managed to do so with respect to PFAS purification.

We are already in implementation, and we are represented all over the globe. We now found through additional development steps in application engineering that with our ion exchangers, we can also effect carbon capturing.

We are addressing the topic of purifying air, and the fact that CO2 can be reduced by our technology is a truly viable field for the future that we would like to travel into even more intensively. Also when looking at battery technology, we are active.

During the past 18 months, we were able to achieve further progress with our iron oxide or iron phosphates, and here our products at the present point in time give us hope that we can support the battery technology business. The fact that we are really serious when it comes about sustainability is something that you could see for years already.

The brand that we have introduced across our business units is called Scopeblue, and it spells sustainability for sustainable products characterized by either 50% or more use of sustainable circular raw materials or by the fact that this group of products clearly reduces the product carbon footprint. Here, with the Scopeblue products over the past 12 months, we have made a lot of progress with respect to rubber additives, but also with respect to our business unit of Lubricants.

I'm also happy to report, as some of the papers already picked up the message because we communicated on a regional and national level, we are also investing into AI, mainly in the area of production, because this is an area where we have a broad base that can be scaled up. Here we are using AI technologies, especially when it comes to predictive maintenance, but also by planning plant availability or going about international logistics, because we want to be better and even more competitive in an innovative way.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me now talk about sustainability. We have been doing this ever since 2018 during every financial statement press conference.

We inform you about our ongoing developments and trends to tell you that this is not just a one-off exercise, but that we are doing this on a continuous basis. We are doing that on the basis of our Scopes 1 and 2 success and our Scope 3 data.

Let me start by Scopes 1 and 2. Not like many other companies, we do not compare ourselves to 1990, but 2004.

We see that in Scopes 1 and 2, 6.5 million, this is what started in 2004, and over the past couple of years, when we communicated the target 3.2 million tons for the emissions, and you see year-on-year we improved our performance in this respect. Now in 2025, a value of 1.7 million tons in comparison to 6.7 million, this is a reduction of 73%, and that's a lot.

Now let me talk about the entire supply chain, i.e. Scope 3.

It was only in 2015 that we started collecting reliable data, because this is not only numbers coming from our own business, but the entire supply chain. We did that for the very first time in 2015, and there we had 27 million tons.

Again, you can tell over the years we have been able to reduce the figures significantly. In 2025, we have got 10.3 million tons.

You can tell that this is a significant, a substantial reduction in comparison to 2015. This brings it home to everybody that both in Scopes 1 and 2 and Scope 3, we are meeting the requirements, and at times we have exceeded our ambitions, and we are international standard setters.

You can see here external sustainability ratings confirm our success, and in their sustainability articles, they are communicating on the basis on a CDP list, and they award us top marks. There's been an improvement over the past couple of years, as I've said, and therefore we received the A rating once again, and this is a top rating in our industry.

When it comes to water management, we got the second-best mark, i.e. A-, and you see CDP says we are top.

EcoVadis is also a rating agency for sustainability issues, and we are one of the five top companies in the EcoVadis range, and we received the gold medal. Sustainability really keeps us going, and this is here to stay.

I can tell you our employees go the whole hog, and at the end of the day, we are quite proud of our performance. Ladies and gentlemen, outlook.

The economic environment is tense, and I can't see that changing very soon. There are geopolitical uncertainties.

They were already huge throughout 2025, and now we've got the conflict in the Middle East, the situation has further deteriorated. At the same time, we believe that the measures taken by the federal government will make it possible for the industry here in Germany to rebound.

The question, of course, is when that will be reflected in the sales figures and to what extent. I would like to emphasize that on the basis of the current uncertainties, we see changes, and then there are also changes because of the changing exchange rates, adverse exchange rates, and the dollar, in comparison to the previous year, has shown a weaker development.

Then, of course, we will have to wait and see how the Middle East conflict will pan out. Let me now talk about the situation in the Middle East.

In the conflict zone, we do not generate any sales. It is only 2% of our entire sales, and therefore there are no direct implications to be expected.

Since the war started, there have been internal task forces at LANXESS, and they take care of the supply chains to coordinate the supply chains, and the teams are very agile, and I can communicate that we don't see any disruptions in our supply chains, which is positive. We need to keep our nose by the grindstone.

Raw material prices, energy costs, that of course will have a negative impact. When the oil prices go up, the prices for the derivative products will go up as well.

We are expecting that over the next couple of months. The same is true for energy.

We all see it at the petrol pump, and we see it in gas prices. Gas prices go up, impacting the chemical industry.

As I've mentioned before, private consumers are also impacted at the petrol stations and when it comes to their heating bills. Now, the guidance for LANXESS.

Despite the adverse conditions, geopolitical conditions, economic conditions that we see for 2026, we can say challenges will remain for the entire industry, for the chemical industry, but despite all that, we consider EBITDA in a range of 450 and 550 million is to be expected. Please let me tell you this year, we will no longer have the contribution from the Urethanes business because we divested it, and we will have no exceptionals like we had it in 2025, for example, on the basis of insurance contributions.

Ladies and gentlemen, the chemical industry is a great industry. It is the third-largest industry in Germany and makes robust contributions to value accretion and wealth.

It is at the very beginning of all value-creating chains and therefore is sometimes called the mother industry or the German industry. It is innovative, and over the past couple of decades, withstood crises, and many companies showed that they emerged stronger after a crisis.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is well worthwhile to further fight for this strong industry in Germany. We are saying so out loud, whether with the German and European policymakers, we have to see to it that the industries that supported our economic activities here in Germany and in Europe, and that we need to fight for it, we need to defend it, and this is why I'm saying it is worthwhile promoting this industry and advocating this industry.

Rest assured, our workforce, our managers, our management board is very, very ambitious, and we will do the very best in order to improve this situation.

Thank you very much, Mr. Zachert.

Dear colleagues, now is the time for your questions. Should you want to ask a question, please use the raise hand function in the menu button reactions, and do remember to unmute yourself, and this means that you have to activate the microphone.

The first person who wants to take the floor is Ms. Hüning from Rheinische Post.

I hope you can hear us.

I have three questions. You talked about job cuts mainly in Germany.

Does that only affect the head office in Cologne or also the Niederrheinwerke? You said if possible you want to have it in a socially compatible way.

Does that preclude terminations? A political question: what would you like the federal German government do?

For example, increase the lump sum for commuters or whatever?

Thank you, Ms. Hüning, for participating and for your poignant questions.

The sites in Germany when it comes to administration are Cologne and still Leverkusen. I had pointed out that the majority of the jobs will be cut in administrative jobs, so that affects predominantly Cologne and Leverkusen.

Turning to your question with respect to terminations for operational reasons, we don't preclude that. At the same time, I would like to emphasize that over the past 20 years, LANXESS has never, ever been in dismissals for operational reasons, and we have a partnership with the trade unions and our works council members.

It's a very positive relationship, and we want to all make this company competitive again and to make it much better. We've seen the financial crisis, for example, in the past, and in the past 20 years, we always found joint ways.

Let me refer to the COVID crisis, which we weathered together. This crisis here will be weathered and mastered together with works council members and the trade unions, and we all know that in this phase, we need to be competitive, and we are working on competitiveness.

Your question on the political wish list: if I could wish for something, let me say I'm glad that this government is doing something, that they're getting going, and I didn't see that in the previous government, because there we had a paralysis. We are making progress; however, I would like to see more progress and more support and faster support.

Should this happen in an accelerated and enforced way, that will not only serve the chemical industry, but the totality of industries in Germany. Let me emphasize at the same time that we in Europe have to make an even major effort, and I know that the federal government actually supports this, and I'm happy about that because the previous government didn't even think about it, and we are not even represented at the Brussels level in some councils of ministers.

Now I see that the ministry for economic affairs, the minister for financial affairs, and the Chancellor are actually acting, and we are more visible as Germany at European level, and that's necessary. I hope that Europe recognizes that the well-being of Europe depends on the economic companies.

Without keeping wealth in Europe, the societies will see crises. Europe will be well advised to create framework conditions that take a close look at reality.

I hope that answers your question. Thank you.

The next question comes from Jonas Jansen from FAZ. Hello, Mr.

Jansen.

Hello, everyone. I hope you can hear me.

Yes, we can. I would like to know where your plant utilization level is and what are your hopes when you say we hope to improve the situation in the course of the year.

Then I would like to know whether you have to take a closer look. The German business is negatively impacted by high energy prices.

Do you have to take an even closer look at plant utilization, or investing in plants, or reducing utilization? There was this piece of news in the morning that BP is selling its refinery in Gelsenkirchen.

Does that affect you in any way? Because that is more in the geographical direction of Marl, but basically these crackers are of importance for the chemicals industry.

Could you come in on that as well?

Thank you, Mr. Jansen, for participating and asking your questions.

Mr. Stratmann will talk about the plant utilization in 2025, and I will comment on 2026 and the two follow-up questions.

Mr. Stratmann?

Thank you, Mr. Zachert.

Mr. Jansen, the plant utilization in 2025 was really at a very low level.

As Mr. Zachert already said, we only had 65% utilization across the year, and we ended the year at an even lower figure.

I will leave it to Mr. Zachert to speak about the future.

65% utilization, Mr. Jansen, is not a lot.

Normally, our industry would have 80% to 85% percent utilization. This is why the VCI emphasized that the chemical industry is right in the middle of a tremendous crisis where the utilization in 2025 across the entire industry was at 70% on average.

That means 10 to 15 percentage points below normal utilization levels. This is something that all the group companies have to have on their radar screen, and so do we.

Looking at 2026, let me say the following: we can't expect a substantial improvement of the situation in 2026, plant utilization at the present point in time is at a similar level as in 2025. You can see that when looking at our outlook and in our guidance.

However, I can say that we have seen some pickup since the beginning of March, and it hasn't really come to a close when the conflict broke out in the Middle East. That's too early to say now.

We have to see what effect this conflict has on the global economy. Will that have an effect on people's purchasing behavior?

That will be the question in the months and quarters to come. We have to look at the demand side, and that's what we are going to do.

I hope that this answers your second question as well. We have to continuously look at our plant utilization at the present level.

We look at the plants. There is nothing new to communicate.

Of course, sometimes we will have to rethink certain situations completely, but we have to continuously work to improve our competitiveness to increase profitability and cash generation. Your third question: BP and its intention to sell the refinery.

In Germany as well as in Europe, we can see that some industrial chains are closed or divested. The plastics industry, as I mentioned beforehand, is hit very hard both in Germany and in Europe.

That's true for petrochemicals, but also for the cracker situation. We don't think that selling the refinery of BP will have an effect on us, but of course we are worried when looking at the situation where some chains will disappear from the picture, and that is a situation that increases the dependence on foreign companies from foreign countries and doesn't reduce it.

That should be the declared goal both of Germany and Europe, to not become dependent, but to maintain intact systems that will and have made the European and German industry strong for decades.

Next, Ms. Becker, Börsen-Zeitung.

We can't hear you. Can you hear us?

Because we can't hear you. Maybe Gerd Frantzen, Handelsblatt, and come back to Annette Becker later.

Can you hear me? Yes, Mr.

Frantzen, we can.

Thank you for the possibility of asking questions. In actual fact, I've got three.

First, reduced working hours till the end of 2026: what exactly is the savings potential, and do the employees earn less, or is it something like an internal furlough scheme? Can I call it that?

Then second, the proceeds from Envalior, €1.2 billion, I think, was the figure discussed, and now you mentioned a three-digit million figure. Can you explain that?

Then there were speculations in the market that LANXESS would have to increase their capital. Can you comment on that?

Then third, what about the cost increases when it comes to petrochemical feedstock? Will these increases be passed on to the customers, because you said that this is going to have an impact on the value-creating chains?

Thank you very much, Mr. Frantzen.

They are very good questions. The 35-hour week, this will give €20 million.

The impact will be €20 million if the program is implemented in its entirety. We got started with the program in the beginning of February, and of course now we will have to go through the individual sites, through the individual functions, and what the overall bearing is going to be.

The reduction of the working hours in a weaker market with lower volumes, and this hasn't got to do anything with a furlough scheme or short-term short-time work, but that there is less activity. Therefore, in inverted commas, we have found this LANXESS solution in order to, well, not do anything drastic as far as jobs are concerned, and wages and salaries are adjusted to the respective shortening of working hours.

Envalior: if we were to go for the 100% earnings figure, and that we said and it was communicated €505 million, and this is something we communicated last September, €1.5 billion, €1.2 billion would have to be paid. If the economic performance is below that, then the percentage deviation would have to be factored in, thus reducing the billion figure.

If and when you're having a look at the economic situation of Envalior, and Standard & Poor's and Moody's and Fitch communicated that, we would have to proceed on the assumption on a high three-digit million figure. Capital increase: grapevine, yes, there are rumors, but they are peddled by a few.

If you have a look at our reporting, the comments we have issued over the past one or two weeks, we've got a liquidity in our balance sheet of roundabout €500 million, that is half a billion, that is cash, and undrawn loan facilities in the amount of €1.35 billion without any covenants or any other restrictions, and that means we have got full funds at our availability. We are fully funded, we are well-equipped when it comes to finance, and in this day and age, this is the right thing to do, and therefore a capital increase is not on the horizon.

Petrochemistry: yes, the oil prices go up, gas prices go up, and the subsequent chains go up again. We have got increases of prices in the last two weeks, the energy costs have gone up.

We have to do something about it and pass on these price increases so that we do not have to foot the bill. In the current situation, this is anything but easy, and if you have a look at the situation of our competitors, they are doing the selfsame thing.

We started early in order to counteract as early as possible. We will see that everywhere along the value-creating chain, and if the Middle East conflict is to persist, then we will have a lasting increase in prices in the industry.

I hope I have given a full answer to your questions, Mr. Frantzen.

Now try Annette Becker again.

Not really. Antje Hüning?

A political question: do you think that the German government should do something about the protection of the Strait of Hormuz? Then

a question of sponsoring and a question about the NATO? There were acoustic problems, I could not fully understand what you asked; there were interferences.

To the extent that I heard well, let me talk about the political situation. I understand how the government is ticking when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, but I do not want to be politicizing here.

This is not my job, but I can share with you my rational take on things. At the end of the day, this is also an economic question, and this is something we know.

If and when we're having a look at the conflict in Iran, it's horrendous, and it will give us further geopolitical tensions. There might have been a different way of going about it, but of course we do see that energy prices go up.

Of course you have to have a look at it. This is not comparable to the situation in Ukraine.

Both crises or escalations at the end of the day meant and mean that energy prices go up. Because of the conflict in Ukraine, the war of aggression there, Western Europe was hit hard.

In the conflict with Iran, the situation is a different one. Iran is not the main supplier of Europe, but more of Asia, China and India in particular.

Therefore, the global economy is hard hit by the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, and the world sees that on account of increasing energy prices, but if you have a look at volume flows, you will see that other regions are hit worse, like in India and China. Some of the supply chains are suffering from allocations.

In other words, they have to reduce their capacities, and we do not see that yet for Europe. I think from the economic point of view, the situation there is a different one, and I hope this explanation is helpful.

Talking about LANXESS arena, we signed the contract some years ago, and I think the term is until end of 2028. Mr.

Zemke is the expert, and he says yes, that's right. We've got a contract, and we will actually fulfill the contract.

There is a question from the English space, Mr. Ergenay from Reuters.

Can you hear us? Mr.

Ergenay, can you hear us? Yes, I can.

Can you hear me?

Perfect. Please, we wait for your question.

Thank you so much taking my questions. LANXESS today announced additional cost measures and therefore expecting to cut 550 jobs.

I think you partly answered the question, but I would like to ask it anyway: is there any consideration of further job cuts in the near term? Might there be need to have more layoffs?

My second question would be the conflict in the Middle East. As you already know that the widening war in the Middle East is impacting the global economy, and some sectors specifically, and chemicals industry is one of them.

How is LANXESS dealing with soaring costs so far? How do you see the conflict and surging energy prices impacts on LANXESS, specifically chemical sector, as well as supply chain disruptions?

Thank you very much.

Thank you for your attendance and your questions. I have been asked this time to answer in English all international questions, I will do that respectively.

Your first question alluded to further costs cuttings or further job reductions. I can tell you that we have done our analysis, we've done our communication last year, that we are striving for another €100 million of cost reduction.

Today we've been very, very specific in terms of numbers, in terms of savings, and also in terms of phasing. As of today, this is the number that we have communicated.

We will always revise or adjust if macroeconomic environment, business environment does change to the better, to the worse. I think this is professional leadership, this is professional management, but today the clear statement to you is the 550 have been identified, and this is what we are going to implement going forward.

Your second question was addressing price inflation or input cost inflation. Of course, we monitor that on a daily basis now, and definitely in tight cooperation with business by business.

We definitely see that all products that have intensive energy inputs or oil derivatives as precursors, we see a rise in costs. I've stated earlier on to one of your colleagues, please go to our internet page.

We have posted in the last two weeks, I don't know, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 price increases instantly. Most of these price increases you can clearly attach or associate to products where obviously energy and raw material precursors are on the rise.

I think we are extremely alerted, focused, and swift in the implementation. Don't be surprised if we continue posting further price increases in the coming days and weeks.

I hope that clarifies your two questions. Thank you very much, sir.

Thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you very much. One last attempt to connect with Annette Becker.

Now we can hear you.

Wonderful. I didn't see the unmute sign beforehand, but never mind, I'm here now.

I wanted to ask you, Mr. Zachert, with respect to the question as to whether there will be sites that will have to be closed, or else some equipment that will have to be closed because of your very low utilization figures.

I didn't hear too specific an answer. Are you taking a look at that, and by when will you come up with decisions, because you cannot deal with these high fixed costs for a longer period of time?

Then a purely technical question: leverage inclusive the pension liabilities, did I do the numbers right, 4.8 by the end of the year? Then you also said that as soon as possible, or swiftly, you want to strive for conditions that would ensure a rating upgrade, but you preclude a capital increase.

How would you then like to reduce debts if EBITDA can be at best stable? I would also like to hear some more details on this loan that you gave to Envalior.

Could you say that this becomes due, and what is the amount thereof?

With pleasure, would we like to answer this question. The second part will be answered by Mr.

Stratmann in detail. Let me briefly speak about the first question of plants and equipment.

Last summer, we spoke about closing down some equipment, and we closed an operation in the second half of the year in Germany, that's the hexane oxidation that could no longer be upheld. We also communicated that we

had to close Widnes in England, and we did so by the end of the year. Now we have to further implement this closure.

These are sites that have been closed down, operational sites, and we have no site today that we would have to comment on today, because we are not envisaging closures. Within the sites proper, optimization measures may become necessary to improve competitiveness, but that is our daily business, that's daily operational considerations that you have to go for every day given our economic situation.

Let's come to the leverage, and Mr. Stratmann will answer that, and maybe I will comment on that as well, but Mr.

Stratmann, go ahead.

Thank you very much, Ms. Becker.

I can imagine and fathom how you did the numbers. You have to do it in more details when you look at the pension obligations and want to have that as part of the balance sheet, because also pension assets have to be adjusted for at the asset side, and we also have deferred taxes, and de facto you will end up at 4.55, it's not quite the 4.8 that you worked out.

Then the loan to shareholders, nominally this amounts to €200 million, but let me also point out that it has more than €260 million in our balance sheet since the interests are not cashed in in cash. When we actually established this, we wanted to spare the cash flow, and so the value increases quarter by quarter, and at the moment it's at the level of €260 million.

Could you say that this could come due? The loan is to finance Envalior, we will not say it becomes due, but pro rata it has to be paid up to the extent, as Mr.

Zachert said, that in 2028, without a financing condition, our shareholding will be sold, and then the loan will come due. Does that answer your question?

No, the question how you want to achieve a swift rating upgrade without increasing capital.

To improve KPIs, you either have to sell proceeds or look at the loans that become due that you have issued, or there's also an option where the operating business could generate more cash flow. We are working at all fronts, but not at a capital increase.

If you take it that in 2028 at the latest, it could be 2027 as well, a high three-digit amount in millions could be received from Envalior, then it's all over and done with, and then the KPIs of the group will change substantially.

The current EBITDA 2026, we say that will be in the same vicinity, but on the basis of the measure savings of 100 million and also taking the pressure off the production network in the second half of 2026 will give us an 0.8% to 1% growth rate, as they forecast it now. Our OEE goes from 65% to 70%, and we would be talking about a 100, 150 million additional EBITDA, and €100 and €150 additional EBITDA will fundamentally change the EBITDA figure, and we do believe in this, and we are working on it.

Then again Gerd Frantzen, Handelsblatt. I've got a follow-up.

Come back to what you have seen: proceeds on the basis of divestment. That is on the agenda, isn't it?

Namely, that you've got an improvement of the key performance indicators by partial divestments, that is my question. Answer: well, Envalior, this has all been started, and now we are in the implementation phase, and it's not a question of whether it's going to happen, but when it is going to happen.

The time is passing, and a hard put option is still doable for 2028, and that of course will mean that the value of this stake is on the increase continuously. Then I got the wrong end of the stick, because you said that you are exploring further possibilities of divesting in order to improve the financial standing?

No, no, you really misunderstood me, because I referred that to Envalior. Then one more question.

Geopolitics is really the major risk for a company, how do you handle that in your day-to-day management? Is that the top topic in your management meetings?

Are there geopolitical expert teams to keep a watchful eye on the developments, also when it comes to supply chains? Have you got monitoring systems in place?

Can you give us a feedback on how you work on it in day-to-day life? Mr.

Frantzen, we've got permanent crises for three years plus in an intensity which we haven't seen for 10 years or more. Let me briefly describe it.

The war in the Ukraine: when the aggression started in February 2022, it was on the 24th of February, right? It was within a space of 24 hours that we established a management task force, and it took two weeks, and it was the middle of March where we had a similar event like this one here, the financial statements press conference.

Within a space of two weeks, management board worked together with the task force in order to understand the interdependencies and the possible outcome. Then in March 2022, quite soon after the invasion, that we said, well, we withdraw all our activities from Russia, and we won't produce there any longer.

At the time, it was possible to show the world that we are able to act on our feet and that we discuss topical issues. Now the current conflict, and also in comparison to what happened in 2024 and 2025.

There we had the escalation of the tariffs. We established a list in order to understand which country is affected by these customs, and at the same time, we established a US task force because we have got sites in the Americas as well, and they were also impacted, and we could see that there would be bottlenecks.

We monitored that strictly, and this team is still very active because tariffs are still going up and down according to the weather report. Iran started last weekend, we coordinated the activities between the purchasing departments and also the production, and we get day-to-day updates because day-to-day decisions are required in order to understand what is impacted in the supply chain and how the energy costs are impacting the activities and how we can respond.

You saw it on the press releases and said, yes, we are going to increase our prices as a result of our analyses and as a result of our decisions. I would guess that all the companies will do the selfsame things.

We need to pass through the prices, and we tackle the crises as we always tackle crises, and are quick on our feet. Thank you.

Now one more question by Annette Becker. Got a follow-up.

Mr. Zachert, you said that you've got the hard put option 2028 Envalior, but if I understood it correctly, this is only 50% of the stake.

Is that correct?

Answer: yes, this is correct. That was it.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Ms.

Becker. Thank you very much, dear colleagues.

This is what we wanted to share with you. All the best to you.

Hope to see you soon again. Have a good day.