Good morning and welcome to Schouw & Co.' s Q1 report call.

Our Q1 delivered a very satisfying and solid start of 2026 despite continued volatility. In fact, all our companies continued to deal diligently with uncertainties.

We really benefit from our experienced leadership teams and dedicated employees across the globe. Our top line was down 3% to 7.7 billion, but we still had high activity across the board.

EBITDA, however, increased 5% to 591 million. This was driven by strong day-to-day focus on optimizing at all level.

Also very positive to see that our EBIT increased 36% in the quarter. We also continue to deleverage with a net interest-bearing leverage of 1.6 times EBITDA.

Really continue to manage our investments and also being very prudent on our capital allocation. Also very positive to announce to you that the next phase of evaluating an IPO of BioMar has been initiated.

This morning, we sent out our ITF, or intention to float, and it was announced in the market, and now we are really looking forward to the next phase of that. With that, moving on to BioMar.

BioMar performed very well and as expected in Q1. We have to remind ourselves also that Q1 is a rather small quarter due to low activity, especially in the salmon segment.

Top line was down 6% to 3.2 billion, but volume increased 7% to 315,000 tonnes. This shows also that BioMar is a company that is very dependent on raw material prices fluctuating up and down.

We really saw strong development in our shrimp segment. EBITDA was, however, up 3% to 212 million.

Here we experience solid development in salmon, with very good development in our Australia business. Shrimp profits lower due to what we call toll milling.

We are building volume with large customers, and we do not yet have own capacity ready, we need to buy in volume from other producers. Our Tech segment was impacted from change of the distribution model.

BioMar continued to have focus on broad product offering and a very sharp eye on their commercial excellence strategy. Our joint ventures had a development as expected.

BioMar is continuing to build a position and profitability in China. Return on investment remains very strong, around 30%, which is very satisfying for a company like BioMar.

Guidance maintained: revenue expected now 16 billion to 17 billion, and EBITDA in the range of 1.52 billion to 1.62 billion. I also have to note here that BioMar, they have been working hard on preparing themselves to be listed, a lot of hard work has been going on throughout the entire BioMar organization to be ready for the hopeful next step in this case.

GPV, our electronic manufacturing services company, is now seeing effects from efficiency measures and footprint decisions made over several years. Top line, as expected, down 3% to 2.1 billion, but the backlog is all-time high with GPV.

EBITDA, however, was up 12% to 160 million. Across the board in GPV, there has been a strong focus on customer mix and optimization, also brought in new customers and new products with positive impact on EBITDA.

GPV, they have full focus on securing critical components. Some components, like memory chips, etc., has been problematic to get hold on, and meaning that GPV is building inventories and sourcing at a broader level.

GPV continued to prepare for future growth. They have just finished a strategic review that really confirms the potential and strategic direction of GPV.

GPV maintains their guidance with a top line of 8.5 to 9 billion in '26, EBITDA around 690 to 750 million. Of course, the availability of critical components is important for delivering on this guidance.

From GPV, moving on to HydraSpecma. HydraSpecma once again delivered a very solid and positive development all over the group.

Top line was up 9% to 873 million. Growth was driven by what we call the global OEM segments.

The renewable division had stable level, and the order book really continues to build with HydraSpecma. EBITDA 5% up to 114 million, coming from very strong margin managed and efficiency uplift.

Also need to note that in 2025 Q1, there was a positive impact of 12 million from real estate sale in Poland, the underlying operational profitability is really really really strong. HydraSpecma have strong focus on future growth.

They just acquired rather small Norwegian Haico to strengthen their IAM segment. It's a small business, but it's a next step into Norway.

HydraSpecma also exploiting potential in the two very attractive segments: defense and data center businesses, and have seen a lot of opportunities there. Guidance maintained: top line 3.1 to 3.4 billion, EBITDA maintained in the range of 400 to 440 million.

Then moving on to Borg Automotive. Borg, they are in full implementation of a major recovery plan, we call it Refined for Future.

Top line, as expected, down 12% to 444 million. We still see soft markets and low demand, but also experience certain segments starts to recover.

EBITDA was down 58% to 30 million, as expected. We had negative effect from Refined for Future initiatives driving costs to reap benefits later in 2026.

Our Newman business, as we call it, really started to recover and now show profitability. The transformation of Borg, it's really in good progress.

There has been a lot of hard work around the organization to relocate production and supply chain, full focus on sharpening a market and commercial strategy, and we are still expecting 100 million of savings because of implementing the Refined for Future plan. Borg maintains also their guidance: top line 1.6 to 1.9 billion expected now, and EBITDA in the range of 60 to 100 million.

Then looking into Fibertex Personal Care. Fibertex Personal Care really facing increased volatility due to the Iran-US situation.

Top line decreased, as expected, 9% to 404 million. Market conditions, particularly in Asia, remains tough and fierce, but Fibertex Personal Care really having a lot of activities to mitigate the situation.

EBITDA was down 5% to 47 million. Here we coming from effect from lower volumes and also raw material fluctuations.

The Print business once again showed solid margins. Fibertex Personal Care really have full focus on day-to-day operations.

It's important for them to secure raw materials at best possible prices, but also to be certain that we can have access to raw materials, also full focus on delivering contracted volume to core customers. Fibertex Personal Care have been working a lot with developing new customers and selling innovative products into the market.

Guidance maintained despite the volatility: top line 1.5 to 1.7 billion expected, and EBITDA now 140 to 160 million. Then moving on to the last business in our portfolio, Fibertex Nonwovens, really delivered a strong profitability uplift in also very challenging markets, but super nice to see that they continue to grow.

Top line increased 10% to 638 million, growing volumes both in the US and in Europe. EBITDA was up 48% to 64 million.

Strong effect from improved efficiency in our US operations and also professionalization of setup delivers a really huge uplift. Now we also see that the large investments we made over several years really starts to pay off.

Fibertex Nonwovens, they are well prepared to continue to grow both volume and profitability in future. New spunlacing line, as we call it, started to be implemented in the Czech Republic.

We expect commercial production to take off during second half of '26. A lot of very innovative new products being introduced to the market, and we also see strong requests from tier 1 customers really wanting to cooperate at a rather large scale.

Fibertex Nonwovens maintain their guidance: top line 2.3 to 2.5 billion expected, and EBITDA still 210 to 240 million. Also with Fibertex Nonwovens, we need to take into consideration that raw material and energy prices still continues to fluctuate.

Let me finish off just looking at the overall guidance for Schouw & Co. as a group: full-year guidance maintained.

We expect turnover to be in the range of 33 to 35.5 billion, and EBITDA 2.9 to 3.2 billion, and of course, all companies solid focus on delivering within their guidance. I think with that note, I will open up for questions.

Yes, there is

Wei from SEB?

Yes, thank you for taking my questions. I have plenty of questions for today.

Most welcome, yeah.

Thanks. I'll start with BioMar.

Now you announced the intention to float,

but

given the elevated macroeconomic uncertainty and also the stock market so volatile, what makes you confident to pursue the IPO amidst such sort of volatility?

No, thank you for asking that, Wei. I think we have been looking at a lot of different factors, and I think when we conclude on all of them, we see that things has been more stable.

I think most important, not the most important one, but you also know the VIX indicator now really is quite positive. We also have been talking to a lot of investors looking for investing in stable companies and so.

We think the window is there, and we think also it's time for BioMar now to take the next step. We're quite optimistic on going to the market with BioMar, and believe that timing is right.

Okay. Great.

Could you also remind us the use of proceeds?

Yes, I think we have said over several times that we have a strong business model within Schouw & Co. We continue to invest in new companies, or you could say we have two ways of investing.

One is to continue to develop the companies in the portfolio, what we call bolt-on investments. We've been doing that over years.

Then of course also looking for new platform investments. Of course now more focus on finding new platform investment, and then really pushing hard on our companies to come up with ideas for value-creating bolt-ons.

That's the two things: continue our model, and of course be patient, because we should not just buy for buying a company. We need to do the right things and continue to create value.

That's the strategy, and we see plenty of opportunities out there.

Okay. Then I understand that the platform, you mainly refer to the shrimp and other species segments?

We have a very clear investment strategy

saying that

we are investing in business-to-business companies. That's what we are looking in to now and really continue that, because that's where we have our strengths.

We know a lot about running business-to-business companies, need to be international-oriented, need to have a strong position in the market, etc. That's just continuing our strategy and really pushing on that.

Okay. Thanks.

Then next question: you have already talked a bit about the capacity expansion in Ecuador. Can you give update on that?

Now it's sort of, I understand diluted the shrimp EBITDA,

EBIT

here in Q1, and what would be the expectation for Q2 and remaining of the year?

Some of the capacity will kick in later in second half of 2026, we'll still need some toll milling. There's a lot of things.

One thing is toll milling, but also, and you know that also, Wei, that of course product mix, things like that, means a lot for BioMar, and it is a rather small quarter. We expect things to improve, product mix to be a little bit different, but we need capacity kicking in late 2026, and then we will see improved profitability and margins on that.

Great. Thank you.

I'll jump back to the queue.

Thank you very much, Wei. Jesper Lund, welcome.

Are you muted, Jesper, or... Maybe not.

Next one then, Casper.

Wei, please, you are on the line again, so, yeah.

It seems that I need to moderate the Q&A session today.

No, and that's super nice. Thanks for doing that, Wei.

Next question maybe a bit nitty-gritty. Looking at the income from associated companies, this quarter, it shows a decline.

You have kept full-year guidance unchanged. I was wondering any quarterly facing of the revenue income?

There's a lot of things that can fluctuate in that. We have biomass regulations, we have a price setting of especially our farming setup in Chile, Salmones Austral and so on.

There are things that fluctuates, and looking into a forward-looking on salmon prices and so on, we still expect to keep the guidance. Within the quarter, things can fluctuate, yeah.

Clear. Then on the Tech revenue income, I know it is project-based, but you showed

a

year-over-year decline here. What visibility do you have for the remaining of the year?

Just to make that understandable is that we made a totally new distribution model, meaning that we closed the cooperation with a big distributor in one of our very, very big markets, and they had materials in stock and things like that, they're selling out of that. We are moving from doing the distribution more on our own, and then also moving into a so-called SaaS model.

A lot of things is going on, but we expect and we really see strong opportunities and the right choice of model in future.

Can you comment on what are the initiatives by doing the direct distribution?

It's more that we go direct, try to link it a little bit more also on feed sales and things like that. It's rather complex that we try to build more share of wallet with the large customers, etc.

We can use that also for getting attractive feed contracts and so on.

That's clear. Thank you.

Thank you, Wei.

Jostein, welcome.

Hi. Thank you for that.

I'm Jostein Matre, and I'm a journalist with IntraFish. I apologize for coming in a little bit late to this conference, my question might be something that you've already spoken about,

but... That's okay.

Go ahead, yeah.

Can you tell me a little bit, because the IPO with BioMar has been on the table for a while now. Can you tell me a little bit about why now feels like the right time to do what you're doing?

The reason why it has been on the table for a while is, of course, it takes a long time to prepare a company for becoming listed, and BioMar was not listed, it has taken a very very long time, and not very long time, but the time it has taken to prepare and do things. That's the way it has been doing.

Then of course, we expected it maybe to have been out with the intention to float a little bit earlier, but then a lot of volatility in the world came up. Then we are in a situation where we do not need to do the listing of BioMar, but we do think it's the right thing.

We looked into when it's the best value creation also for Schouw & Co. as a shareholder, and when is the best timing for bringing such a great company to the market.

That's the reason behind.

Just one quick follow-up then: what is your expectations going forward now then?

Now we have launched what we call this intention to float. That means, of course, that we are one step closer to the IPO.

Now we will use some weeks to look into the market and get feedback from the market. You can also see now all analyst reports, they are in the market.

We are talking to shareholders, really getting a feel on who is interested, potential shareholders, who is interested in buying, etc., etc. Then within a few weeks, we will decide 100% if we are floating.

That's the phase we're in now. Things are much closer, and still intention, as we have said it over a long time, our intention is to float in the first half of 2026, and as we are in May now, the time is closing in, so.

We do it if it's right.

Is that enough time?

Absolutely. There's a clear timeline now on how to do that, yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you for the question. Jesper Lund, we try with you again.

Let's see if it works here from Vietnam. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

It's also about BioMar. I was thinking, as many probably also do, can you tell me something about how many times EBITDA a company like BioMar can be sold at, and also how many percent do you minimum keep of the company after listing it?

Very very interesting questions, but we do not really comment on this, because I think you should look into the analyst report and see what they are saying, and we have not decided the size what we are selling yet, depending also on what will come out of the next three weeks investigations we are doing in the market. That's as it is now.

I think look into the analyst report and there are some indications on what they think a company like BioMar should be traded at.

Many thanks, Jens.

Thank you very much.

Thanks.

We have one more. Thanks.

you're welcome.

Thanks. Now change topic.

A question on the GPV: you talked about higher level of order intake in Q1, and so what end market was driving that momentum? Also if you can comment a bit on the supply chain risk and also the cost inflations.

The order intake has been driven by more optimism, or what you say, with some of our core customers. We are supplying very big blue-chip customers around the globe.

They are have a more positive outlook. Then we are also looking much more into the data center segment, which you could say, in fact, they are exploding, we see business coming in also from supplying into data centers and so on.

We are well positioned in growing segments, so that's the reason behind. Looking into the supply situation on chips and so on, it has been difficult and still difficult, and I don't really have a very clear answer on it more than we have been in these situations before.

We are used to handle it, and we have, you could say, all men at deck to try to get a grip on it. I think that we are in a good situation, but prices are increasing, but we can pass on most of these increases to our customers due to our contracts and so on.

Okay. Can you elaborate a bit on your exposure, the revenue exposure to the data center segment?

Our exposure is that we looking into GPV, they are into data segment, HydraSpecma. That's the two companies that are really seeing opportunities in supplying data centers.

GPV supplying electronics for that, and HydraSpecma more look, they are into cooling and lubrication and so on in the data center. We see a lot of interesting opportunities and we're really pursuing.

We, for the time being, we're talking about the two Ds, data center and defense, and we really need to push and explore ourselves into these segments.

You have not answered my question. The revenue exposure.

Sorry,

I... Can you specify?

No,

we cannot. We are not disclosing that for the time being, but revenue, it's not significant, but it's increasing.

Wei, sorry for that, yeah. That's the way.

Great. Thanks.

Next

question on the Fibertex: I realized that the raw materials could be related to the plastic, which we see a lot of price volatility

and

now is more in big inflation. How much of your raw material exposed?

Can you also comment on this?

If we take Fibertex Personal Care, the one that is most exposed, all their raw materials, they are exposed. They use one, more or less one raw material called polypropylene, 100% oil-based, and

there

we're dependent on two price settings: one is in Europe and the other one is in Asia. One is in euro, one is in dollar, and the price has really exploded.

If we take the euro pricing in Europe, then price used to be around €1,200 per tonne, it's now around €2,200 per tonne and so on. Of course heavily exposed, but the good thing is that we have pass-on mechanisms to all our customers.

Of course, we're always lagging a little bit after when things are increasing like hell, to say it so, but we have changed and been able to change the way we can do these pass-ons. We are moving from a quarterly basis to a monthly basis now.

We are exposed, but what we are most concerned on is not the price, of course also, but we're more concerned about availability of raw materials. That's how we see it, yeah.

Okay. Just looking at your suppliers, what is the risk that you cannot get a supply?

Of course there's a risk, yeah, but it's an interesting question, and we're thinking about that every day, but I think we have been in the business for so many years, we have been together with these large suppliers for many years. Of course, at the end of the day, they will find way of distributing it, etc.

It is cumbersome for the time being, but so far, knocking wood a little bit, we have been able to have the needed supply.

Okay. Fair enough.

Last question on your cash flow, which was a bit weaker this quarter, and we can see it's due to the working capital. Can you also elaborate a bit on the dynamics, and yeah, any change for your full-year expectation?

Again as you say, for a quarter, cash flow can be up and down, and we have also built a little bit in networking capital and so on, but we still expect to deliver quite significant cash flow in 2026, and really now we're getting into the season where we start to build cash flow. Still no concerns on our cash flow situation throughout 2026.

Thank you. I'll jump...

Thank you very much, Wei. Thank you for all the questions.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you for listening, thank you for the questions, and goodbye from Aarhus.