Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon to Europe, Turkey, and Middle East, and good morning to the US.

This is Attila Dogudan. I'm together with Johannes in Mexico.

Attila Jr. is joining from Formula 1 in Barcelona, and the other Johannes?]

, is in Vienna. Obviously we're very happy to present our business year results of 2025 and 2026.

Last business year was the best ever in company history. Before we go quickly through the presentation, I wanted to say on a macro level that we have achieved all targets we wanted, not only financially, even more important, the right strategy where DO & CO is going to.

I have to say this was a super achievement of the DO & CO team, great teamwork, we have to say a big thank you to every single employee in this company. It makes us proud that we are well prepared for the next round of growth, but smart growth, which does not go on revenue only, like we have proven out in the last couple of years, which goes on quality growth with further margin improvements in the future.

DO & CO more and more is positioned as a premium brand, from Formula 1 to tennis or golf, from UEFA Champions League final just 10 days, two weeks ago in Budapest, which was very successful, and up to where we are today, Mexico, where we are part of the biggest sport event in the world, hosting only today almost 8,000 VIP guests. We just opened the doors at 8:00, 8:00 morning here.

You remember that you have asked us many times, what is the outcome of the tender of the FIFA World Cup, and we couldn't give you the right answer, as we had on our own no answer because we did not get an answer. Finally, and this is sometimes the specific of this business, FIFA then, who had basically sold all the rights of the commercial program to someone else, took ownership and awarded us for the most important three locations, which is Mexico, with the opening game, and Miami and New York, with the final and the, I think, semifinal and quarterfinals, the majority is taking place in these stadia.

Believe it or not, we have only signed this agreement end of last week. We are used to this, maybe you are not so much, we are super happy, end of the day, to be here, and we are happy that we are a global, premium, and reliable partner when it always comes to big sport events.

Now, maybe let's go quickly through the presentation. Obviously, I guess you read already.

The revenues of €2.461 billion is an increase of 7%, the highest ever we had. On constant currency, it would mean even an 18% growth.

EBITDA, the €300 million makes us really proud, is an increase of 15%. EBIT to €212.3 million, 16% increase, and net result €105.8 million, which is an increase of 14%.

Even more important we believe is the development of the margin to 12.2% in EBITDA, to 8.6%, as we always promised 8.5%, net result 4.3%. Bottom line, I think the team did a great job, and although there were a lot of hiccups, Middle East and these kinds of things, but then we're going to come back then in a minute to this.

The three divisions you see already, Airline Catering €1.9 billion, Event Catering €323 million, and Restaurants & Lounges €188 million. You see all divisions have increased, not only revenues, but more important, as we always focus on, is the margin.

First time the 2.4, obviously. The free cash flow of €225.9 million is an increase of 80% in comparison to last year.

Not maybe everyone is happy with that, we are super happy with our net debt/EBITDA ratio of 0.05, which gives us the opportunity, after really bad feelings during and after corona, that we are strong enough on the market with an equity ratio of 42.7% to go to the next step, as I mentioned earlier, with a growth strategy based on quality. In Airline Catering, we won numerous tenders.

You see it in the presentation then. We have an award letter from American Airlines in Chicago starting next year.

The contract is not signed, but we have been awarded with that. We got Aer Lingus, what you see, in London Heathrow, which is a lot of flights, too.

If you look to the portfolio, you see a lot of clients who are all over the world, and all of them obviously like what we do, and we're very proud to have this portfolio. In Event Catering, Mexico, yes, this is emotional for us, very important, as we did the FIFA World Cup last minute in Qatar, and now have been awarded for the three most important cities.

The Restaurants & Lounges have good margin improvements, and is basically the base of the success of the other two divisions. Innovation, quality, and people are the drivers.

When we come back to Airline Catering, the €1.9 billion and the €230 million and the 159 in terms of EBITDA and EBIT are strong numbers. We believe that what we do here really really makes sense.

The focus of quality on one hand, and on the other side, anything which is commodity being as efficient as possible, is a good mix for all the airlines who basically at least in our portfolio try to increase quality. We see this almost everywhere, the network carriers, and we are not the winning destination, I would say, for pure low-costers, but for anyone who flies network and has a more complicated and complex product, DO & CO is the right partner.

Turkey, always the pride of the company here, too. Why?

Because Turkey and Turkish Airlines is focusing on every detail to deliver best hospitality, which is in the DNA of Turkey. This really makes sense.

We are watching ongoing product innovations with strong volume increase. The number of aircraft which have been already ordered, the airline will almost double in the next 10 years.

Istanbul is a strategic location, is a great location. We have a strong market position with third-party clients as well.

Over 90%, I think almost 95% of the market is covered by us. As you see at the picture on the left-hand below, with a big crane, the construction has started for the biggest kitchen in Europe, I guess it's even in the world, at least it's the most sophisticated one on this planet.

IAG Group, British Airways and Iberia, close partnership with both airlines. Why?

Because we deliver what they expect. All the NPS scores have gone up, fresh menus, and this is always the trigger, is a driver of customer satisfaction, which then, end of the day, a product having no additives, no preservatives, with all the hiccups in the daily production.

Obviously, we're not doing everything wrong every day, but in overall, we see the great customer feedback, which is the driver then for the next contract. Iberia is the same, award-winning guest experience, more and more of our clients win in various competition awards, which makes us happy.

New carrier in US, as I said, the contract is not signed, but we have been awarded in writing. American is the second-biggest airline in the world, only a little bit behind United, 223 million passengers, for us a great opportunity in Chicago from next year on to show that we can hopefully give an add value to American.

Makes us very proud, and is a good news, I think, for the American market. JetBlue, further strategic partner.

I think they won recent, just yesterday or today, best American airline in terms of food and beverage. Again, there is a portion of us in this award, too.

The other new clients, I'm not going to mention all of them now, you see in the presentation, and the new contracts, whether it's from Air Canada, All Nippon Airways always getting more and more, and the Etihad and Cathay of the world. It makes us very proud in terms of portfolio.

Coming to the next division, International Event Catering, €323 million of revenue is a 6%, only 6% increase, with EBITDA 9% plus and EBIT €33 million, 7% plus. Please keep in mind that the EURO did not happen this year, the sales growth would be with the EURO 15%.

As we've said, we need to go on quality only, and this is showing us, and you'll see in the next one, two years, the next, I would say, steps in this division. Formula 1 is doing super well.

All races are sold out, and we're at our maximum number. We have been last week in Monaco with a completely new temporary structure, you might have seen on TV, where you had, first time, really really something impressive in the visual of Monaco.

Went super well, incredible customer feedback. This weekend from tomorrow on is Barcelona, and then is Austria and Silverstone, at the same time with the World Cup here in US and in Mexico.

It's everywhere strong demand, we're increasing more and more the quality because we see that the money goes from luxury business to these kind of event business. People want to be in these premium events, and then this is something which they really post in social media, and in this game, I think we are one of the most reliable partners, brands in the world, being able to deliver at any location.

As you see here in Mexico, we hope we can deliver. It's a tough cookie here, where we have almost 70,000 guests in this four weeks.

We will see, and hope that we can deliver what everyone expects from us. Allianz Arena, same game, super long partnership with FC Bayern Munich.

We're going in a new phase with a renovation in the Allianz Arena, which will start next year, where we hopefully get a new level of hospitality experience in the world, definitely in Europe, and Bayern Munich is the right partner to support this, and we're very proud to be with them for a long time. Olympiapark, the concerts, you know anyway.

I think SAP Garden Munich is only not so much here, but it's a great business case because it's first time a stadium which has a double utilization through basketball and ice hockey. You have almost every week two or three events at least in a stadium, I think 10,000 or something like visitors.

We do the VIP and the public in a close relationship with Bayern Munich and Red Bull, both of them great partners for a long time. Tennis, we did Madrid, as you know.

Golf, same story, Kitzbühel, all these other events you know. In terms of FIFA World Cup, I already mentioned, I think, enough.

We'll see where we are today in the afternoon or when it's night in Europe. We are well prepared.

We have more than 1,000 people, 1,200 people working here, in total 2,500 people working in the three stadia. It's not a small operation, and is a big opportunity for us to be the benchmark to, especially the American market, how you can run a football season.

Far, our visibility was only in Formula 1 with the races in Austin, Vegas, and Miami. Now first time in stadia, and prestigious stadia like the MetLife in New York.

The Hard Rock Stadium, luckily, is the stadium where Formula 1 happens, we left our equipment there during the race a couple of weeks ago, and we know at least the circumstances of the whole setup in the Hard Rock Stadium. Last division, the one which is for us emotionally and now number-wise very important, €188 million of revenues, €27 million EBITDA, and EBIT of 19 is an increase of 19% and 27%, which are great numbers.

We see more and more that with this business, which for so long time did not make money, now is better managed, and we see that the portfolio we deliver in the mix of DO & CO, Henry, Demel, airport gastronomy really makes sense. The hotel in Vienna, it's coming now to a renovation.

We're going to close down next week for two or three months, two and a half, three months, and make a full renovation of the building. Airport gastronomy, as we won in Vienna for the next terminal extension next year a couple of locations.

Bottom line, it looks good and was a good year. Thank you very much for listening.

Johannes will then take over with the numbers, and then we're happy for the Q&A. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Good morning and good afternoon also from my side, and thank you for joining us today.

Before going into the details, let me briefly summarize the key financials for 2025/2026. Overall, we have delivered strong underlying growth, improved profitability, and a significantly stronger balance sheet.

Most importantly, our earnings are translating into cash at a very high rate, underscoring the quality, resilience, and scalability of our business. Let me start with the income statement on slide 28.

For the full year 2025/2026, we generated record revenue of €2.46 billion, an increase of 7.1% on a reported basis, while constant currency growth reached 17.6%. At the same time, profitability also improved further.

EBITDA margin increased to 12.2% from 11.4%. EBIT margin expanded to 8.6%, up from 8.0%, and net result margin improved to 4.3%, up from 4.0%.

This is not just growth, this is higher quality growth with expanding margins across all levels. Turning to slide 29, I would like to draw your attention here to the fourth quarter.

Revenue increased by 13.4% year-on-year, and 15.3% at constant currency. The FX impact was limited in Q4, with only a small gap between reported and constant currency numbers.

EBIT margin came in at 8.3%, broadly in line with last year, and net margin remained stable at 3.6%, despite the challenges in the Middle East. I will come back to this impact on the next slide.

On slide 30, looking at our divisions, you can see across all three segments we delivered constant margin expansion. In Airline Catering, our largest division, organic growth reached 19.5% at constant currency, supported by new customer wins and solid demand across key markets.

In the fourth quarter, constant currency growth was 13.4%. This was impacted by the Middle East conflict for around three weeks in March.

Cancelled flights had a negative revenue impact of approximately €23 million, partially offset by around €7 million from additional flights, excluding this, growth would have been close to 17%, with stable margins year-on-year. In International Event Catering, performance remained extremely robust, EBIT margin at 10.4%, and the business grew organically by 7%, again driven by strong, sustained demand for premium hospitality at major sporting events.

In Restaurants, Lounges & Hotels, EBIT margin increased to 10.1%, up from 8.7%. This was supported by strong demand in airport lounges, high utilization in our premium restaurant portfolio.

Let me now move to the balance sheet on slide 31. Cash increased significantly to €240.8 million, trade receivables declined by €7.5 million, driven by strong collections, and PP&E decreased by €21.3 million, mainly from currency effects on our US assets.

On the liability side, our equity ratio improved from 35.8% to 42.7%, supported by higher retained earnings. In 2025/2026, we continued to reduce financial liabilities.

Lease liabilities came down by €20 million, largely in the US, and during the year, we repaid €55.8 million of bank loans. To put this into perspective, since 2022/2023, we have reduced bank debt by €247.9 million.

This reflects strong internal cash generation, disciplined financial management, and is a structural improvement, not a one-off. You can see overall our balance sheet is now very solid and well positioned.

Turning to cash flow on slide 33, we again delivered a very strong cash performance. Operating cash flow increased by €70.1 million year-on-year, driven by higher earnings and positive working capital effects.

Attila already mentioned the free cash flow, which was very strong at €225.9 million, 80% up from prior year. Please note that CapEx was a bit below our expectations one year ago, at €52.7 million.

Here's the key point on quality: even after repaying €55.8 million of bank loans and paying a dividend of €22 million to our shareholders, our cash position still increased by €66.6 million. Finally, on our leverage position, we are now very close to a net debt-free position, I think a major milestone for the company.

This is a structural improvement, driven by strong earnings, high cash conversion, and minimal leverage. In summary, the past year reflects a consistent and continued improvement across all key financial metrics.

This positions us very well for the next phase of growth and sustainable long-term value creation. Thank you very much for your attention.

I think we are now ready to go for the Q&A session. Thank you.

Hi, everyone, and thank you for taking my question, and congratulations for the great results. A few ones for me, please.

The first one, if you could please give us a little bit more granularity on how you see 2026/2027 in terms of revenue? What might be the impact of the additional signatures, airlines that will be partnered during the year?

Do you have any new bases in mind, new kitchens in mind for 2026/2027? What kind of impact from Middle East do you expect, and the World Cup impact also?

In terms of revenue, basically some granularity on how you see the growth next year. In terms of EBIT margin, it has been slightly down in Q4, we don't know what is going to happen with the Middle East in the coming months, but how do you see margin evolution in 2026/2027?

Second question, in terms of capital allocation, as you said, you are now almost net debt-free. What is your capital allocation strategy?

You have won a contract in Mexico City, where, correct me if I'm wrong, you have no base, no kitchen there. You have Iberia also, that is pretty strong with LATAM.

Is it maybe the beginning of a new story in Latin America, in Mexico? Do you plan to make some M&A for growing your exposure to stadium in the US?

I would be interested in your view on the capital allocation strategy. Last thing, a quick one on the impact of the Middle East.

You said €23 million of negative impact for the airlines during the three weeks in March. Is it something that we can extrapolate for April, May, and going forward until the conflict is ended?

I calculated for March a negative €4 million impact on EBIT, just wanted to check this one. Thank you.

Do you hear, Julien?

Yes, we can hear you now. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you.

Let me start with the revenue for 2025, 2026/2027. If the current development in the Middle East continues as seen in recent weeks, we're targeting around 7% to 8% revenue growth for 2026/2027 reported, and double-digit at constant currency, of course.

That's what we see for 2026/2027. In terms of margins, EBIT margin, our guidance for this financial year is between 8.6% and 9%.

Of course, it depends on the conflict in the Middle East, but that's what we have in our forecast at the moment. Regarding the EBIT margin in Q4, yes, you're right.

EBIT margin is impacted slightly by the Middle Eastern conflict. I mentioned the €23 million in revenue reduction, but on the other side, we had €7 million of positive effects, net is €16 million.

You can consider about €2.5 million or €3 million impact on EBIT. If you add this to our numbers, you will see that our EBIT margin in Q4 would have been 8.6% and 8.7% in total year.

That's the impact not only on top line, but also on our EBIT margin. The third question, I hand over now to Attila regarding capital allocation and Mexico.

Maybe first of all the World Cup impact, I think is between €30 million and €40 million, something like this, depending on what's then really happening. We have indication obviously how many guests we have.

It's at least a 30-something up to 40, this is what we expect. Can it be more?

Yes, if more people simply buy in, and here in the three locations where we are. Regarding Mexico, yeah, you're 100% right.

Here we have a temporary kitchen next to the stadium where we can produce, but definitely Mexico and Latin America is especially in the context with Iberia and with all these things which we do in this region, a business case which really might make sense for the future, we're evaluating this or have started to evaluate this. That's the part on Mexico and South America.

Impact of Middle East, I think Johannes answered already, and please keep in mind that even the impact was not helping us in our numbers, we could manage it somehow, and sooner or later, they will come back. There's no way that the Qatar and then Emirates and Etihad will not fly.

I think Emirates investing billions in a better product on board, and Qatar is the same. End of the day, we are premium partners of them outside of their home base, and see what happens when they're back.

In total what Johannes said, with 2.6 to 2.7 billion for this year, I think is a reasonable estimation. As we said in three years' time, we are heading the close to 3 billion.

I think this is absolutely reachable. We expect the year after something between 2.9 and 3 billion.

This is without any M&A, this is the current business development which we believe really makes sense, and is reasonable internally operational, too. Is this okay, or is there anything missing on your side?

In terms of new bases, do you have current discussions on potential large new kitchen at some airport or new airport where you could operate, whether it is in US or in Europe?

We're looking at, I have to be careful, but I cannot give you any more detail. Obviously, if you have this kind of financial setup, and obviously we know that not only you guys will ask us what we're going to do with the money, for sure we are thinking.

The key is, I don't know how much it came out, the quality growth means where can we grow where we do not go in stupid commodity, low-margin business. This is what we do not want to do.

We want to go in partnerships, we want to go I don't know, in joint ventures, we want to go in cost-plus or cost-plus based on an add value which we can create for our clients, and then get a nice return on that, which then in their balance sheet doesn't change their life, but in the image of an airline really makes a big difference. At the same time, I mentioned already a few minutes earlier, the reason why we said very last moment yes to do FIFA is simply how many times you get the chance to show the American market that you can do hospitality in a different way.

Yes, for us is a tough cookie, believe me. Usually you would plan a World Cup for two years.

We had, I don't know, six weeks and four weeks, and it was even not until the end clear are we doing it or not. We took the risk and the only reason is, we believe if we can deliver in Miami and in New York and in Mexico obviously a super product and in comparison to the competitors, then the next business in US comes on its own.

This is what we believe. Our advertising is basically to make our clients happy, and that's it what we do.

Not going for this revenue which only brings us revenue without any margin. What Johannes said in terms of increasing the EBIT margin from 8.6 towards 9 is simply the next step, and then we always said the year after obviously we want to go heading number 10 under circumstances which are okay.

If no Middle Eastern carrier is flying, obviously then you suffer, but you suffer on a different level than anyone else. I think we're still the strongest company in this industry now, and that gives us the opportunity to segment on all the premium, and leave the low-margin commodity business to the others.

Perfect. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Then

Good afternoon. Two questions from my side.

Firstly, congratulations on winning American Airlines as a customer. How do you expect the business with them to scale over the next three to five years, and how does this award affect your growth strategy in the US?

Secondly, the $30 to $40 million revenue impact from the World Cup you mentioned is in US dollar, right?

Yes, correct, Patrick, if we talk about dollar, yes.

Correct, that's in dollar. Maybe let me say to American Airlines something.

A relationship in a hub like Chicago is at least not only two flights a day. You have always a chance to convince your client by doing it better than someone else.

We're everywhere in heavy competition, and I think the reason why we put in our presentation American is 223 million passengers is obviously showing you the opportunities and the upsides. It's like in a tennis tournament, you're not going to think in round one against whom you will going to play in a final.

I think the first step is now do this round one with them. What we really like with American is the way how the chemistry works.

The whole relationship started in London where we helped them on some occasions, and then they liked it, and then they got better NPS scores, and then so it's always the same story. If you make someone happy and they rely on you and they see a partner in you, then you have big opportunities.

Someone with 1,000, I don't know, 200 aircraft or 1,000 aircraft is always a great partner for the future, but our first objective: do this well, then I'm pretty sure it's going to be in the next round, 100%.

Understood. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Then

Yes, hello. Good afternoon.

Congratulations to your results, and maybe some more details on some issues which were already touched earlier. With American Airlines, this contract, how much it brings you for now to your revenue line, and do you need to make any bigger investments in Chicago to accommodate needs of American Airlines?

With this respect, also a question, how much you think will be your CapEx in fiscal year 2026/2027? Then a little bit more on the Middle East.

You were talking about net impact of 16 million in March. Of course, this was the phase when almost all traffic was closed in the Gulf region.

How does the situation develop now? What are the currently net lost sales compared to expectations or last year in April and May, and yeah, how do you see it maybe if situation will not escalate for this year, what could be the overall impact of the Middle East on your company?

Thank you.

Thank you, Vladimira, for your questions. Let me start with the first one.

American Airlines, the revenue, the starting point here is €50 million around for one year. Please consider we have 170 flights, but a lot of domestic flights, yeah?

Your second question on that was regarding the space in Chicago, we do not need additional kitchen space for that customer, but maybe logistic space. That's what we tell you all the time, we have still kitchen capacity in most of our kitchens, but what we need if we win a tender like that is normally logistic space, which is also not CapEx intensive, to be honest.

Yes, of course, we need also trucks. The second one on the CapEx, guidance for this year is around 3.5% of our revenue, I would expect around €90 million.

Last year was a bit lower. We have a lot of projects, as Attila mentioned, in our restaurants, but also with our units, please expect €90 million for 2026/2027.

The third one regarding Middle East, we see already improvement. I mentioned the minus €16 million, €16 million net effect in March, we saw that this number came down in April to minus 14, in May minus 9, and we also expect improvement in June.

Then maybe July onwards, we expect something around 5 to 7 million, it's not a big impact in Airline Catering. In our last division, Restaurants, Lounges & Hotels, the impact is low, to be honest, it's around half a million per month at the moment, but it's getting better and better.

I hope that I answered you, yeah, all of your questions.

Perfect. Thank you.

Maybe can I add something? No one is asking what happens if all the Middle Eastern carriers fly again full capacity.

Then you boom in the other way around. We're just talking about what we're losing, but once there's a peaceful environment in the region, then it goes the other way around because they will go aggressively on the market to get all the clients back on, and attract maybe people who do not fly because they have to fill up all the planes.

As the culture of the Middle Eastern carriers is quality-oriented, they will invest to get clients back and they will attract people to fly. We are very confident, that's the reason why we say sooner or later it will come the other way around.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Yes, hi. Can you hear me?

Hello. Thank you for taking my questions.

I have a couple of them. Is it okay if I take them one by one?

Yes, of course.

Super. The first one is on Airline Catering.

Now you've just given quite detailed numbers on the Middle East situation. We've also noticed the decline in organic growth in Q4.

Still, full-year growth in local currency was 19.5%. Now you mentioned the 7% to 8% growth in reported currency for 2027.

You said more than 10% or double digit in local currency. Now, do you expect an underlying decline in the growth of the Airline Catering business, or is it just that you now expect in Q1 probably there's going to be some kind of, I don't know, 15, 20 million of impact from the Middle East, but the underlying growth is continuing or even accelerating?

Can you comment on that, please?

Thank you, Miro, for your question. Maybe the first point regarding the difference between reported growth rate and constant growth rate: for 2026/2027 now, we expect a difference of around 7 percentage points based on the FX forecast that we get from our banks, the difference between those numbers should be lower than last year.

Because, as in 2025/2026, the difference was more than 10 percentage points. That's why if we were talking about 7% to 8% increase at reported currency, then constant currency should be somewhere about 15, 16%, close to the numbers we had now in Q3 and Q4 without the Middle Eastern effect.

Because, as I mentioned, without the three weeks in March, our constant currency growth rate would also have been at 16% to 17%, which is in line with our Q3 growth. We do not expect any decline except the situation in Middle East, but I think I talked about that in detail, but yeah, we do not expect any other decline, no.

Okay. The second question is on the margin.

You mentioned, I think if I understood correctly, you mentioned 8% to 9% in 2027. Now this seems to be a broad range, and especially the lower end would basically mean that there's quite a significant decline.

Could you qualify this a bit, what the drivers are, whether you basically reach the top end or the low end of this guidance?

Yes, I mentioned, Miro, 8.6% to 9%, of course we don't want to get below 8.6%, it's not 8 to 9, it's 8.6% to 9.0%, it's a very close spectrum, to be honest. It's again a combination of of course new contracts, operational leverage, efficiency improvements, all the topics that you know anyway.

Then I think for the next step, 9% to 10%, again it's the same story, together with automation and also operational leverage, I think we are well positioned to reach that. We started at 6.0% three years ago, I think we can see this is a really sustainable margin development, which we also see in the next years, yeah?

Hopefully not below 8.6%, that's also very clear.

Thank you. That's clear.

That's reassuring. One more question on the structure of the P&L: so if I look at the development of the personnel expenses versus the cost of materials, then the shift seems to be ongoing.

Your cost of materials are going down, your personnel costs in terms of percentage of revenues are going up. Should we expect going forward that this is basically going to continue, or is this at some time plateauing at a certain level?

That's a good point, Miro. That's a development that we have seen now in the last years, you're correct.

It's a shift, especially from agency staff to fixed staff, which also improves our efficiency. That in our material costs also agency costs are included, that's why you see the shift here.

I think the shift continues, but maybe a bit lower than in the past, to be honest. It's still for us a very important trigger to improve efficiency, to get our own staff, to train them so that the people are doing the same task every day, yeah?

This is of course again on our agenda, and helps us to improve our results, of course.

Great. Thanks a lot, and have fun at the opening ceremony in Mexico City.

Having fun, we will not have fun, the others will have fun. That's for sure.

Thank you, Miro.

Thank you.

Yes, good afternoon. Can you hear me?

of course. Yes, we can hear you.

Perfect. Excellent.

All right, great. My question pertains to M&A.

With PE potentially looking to divest part of LSG, gategourmet, everything that's going on, gategourmet preparing an IPO, and certainly the opportunity to buy some local players as you seek to grow your stadium business, especially after the fantastic showcase you will be able to deliver at the World Cup. Can you give us your thoughts, Attila, on where your priorities would be, if any, in M&A for the next two years by business, by geography?

Also, if you can give us some metrics in terms of your own sort of benchmarks, what kind of revenues, EBIT margins, what kind of multiples you prepare to pay or not go above, just so we are prepared when you decide to go the inorganic growth route? Thanks.

Thank you, Marie-Thérèse. Do you hear me?

Yes, right? I think the key element is, as we have already discussed, obviously US is a super key market for the future for us.

That we see in terms of where we are, but we are not ready with enough skilled people in all these locations to take over something where people expect the level DO & CO has to deliver. This is the reason.

We are in a unlucky position that we are not suffering on demand. We're suffering on the precise delivery of a high-value experience no one else can do.

We don't want to go in this commodity, as you know anyway. That's the reason M&A is quite difficult.

What we going to buy? If you go in Airline Catering, as you mentioned, LSG will be or is on the market, the US LSG, I think the others are sold, and Aurelius did a great job obviously, honestly, they did it super.

Would we buy something with an 8 and 10 times multiple to get what? To get contracts which expire in a few years?

I think this doesn't make sense, to be honest. What makes sense is if you get a platform for a reasonable money, which is far less than the multiple I have mentioned, that you can get at least the logistic side of a business which others don't see in terms of product, and we could add our way of creating the product, then okay.

For that, if you pay 8 or 10 times EBITDA multiple, honestly, you're not going to end up there. It's not going to work.

If you take the same money and invest on your own and go in partnership with the right airlines, with the right partners, with the right stadia, then I think you can achieve the same in the same time frame on the long run with a far better margin. That's the reason that the answer: so would you go for M&A?

Yes, obviously, if we get an opportunity where someone is successful and wants to sell the business because, I don't know, no one is going to continue or these kind of things, then obviously we would go in. If this is in the premium experience business, 100% we would do.

Making a long story short, US market is number one. Mexico and South America is turning out now as an interesting market which we could not touch in the past because we were so full with the other stories.

Multiple-wise, I think I gave you the right answer: would you pay eight times a multiple if someone is a great contract, and not only the great contract, is a great product where you most likely can continue because they're already doing a great job, or do you pay 10 times? Obviously, you would do, but not I think in the circumstances where we are today in this industry.

All right, thank you very much.

You're welcome. Then

thank you for taking my questions. It's actually just one from my side.

I wanted to circle back on the Middle East situation and yeah, a bit more the indirect impact that it has on your industry. Jet fuel prices are obviously higher and putting some pressure on the profitability of the airlines, I was wondering if you have, yeah, seen any shift in the attitude of the airlines, if there are any signals that airlines might try to save costs on the catering side, and yeah, if there has been any, yeah, more difficult pricing discussions with your customers?

Thank you.

Definitely the industry is suffering a lot due to the high fuel price, everyone is trying to look at where they can be more efficient. On the other hand, the ticket prices went through the roof.

If you pay in the premium cabin, first, business, and even premium economy is considered somehow as a premium cabin, you charge what they charge today, all of them, then you have to give them some proper product because people getting upset otherwise. What we see is this mix of that in economy you go for a, let's say, budget-driven, but still image-wise something which does not kill you product, and in premium you have almost everyone has improved the premium now, everyone.

Because the yield went up so much that no one can argue. Even the American carriers partially think about doing something, and on the other hand, the Middle Eastern definitely go for the better product.

I think there DO & CO has a good opportunity with the reputation, with the brand, where the only consumer one, a consumer brand so to say, people see our chocolate and cookies on the dessert with the DO & CO logo regardless they fly BA, Iberia, or Turkish, or whomever. Then have a kind of cross-marketing to Formula 1 experience, to the World Cup, to the Champions League, and this kind of I would say marketing mix is another add value.

If we are in the premium cabin, which is not the highest driver of the total revenue, it's slightly higher, which gives us the margins we have, then we don't have a problem to sell. For sure, you have to work with every client to reduce costs which is not visible for the passenger.

That's for sure, and this is what we are doing. We have a very open discussion with the airlines, and we do not give them a threat.

Some competitors say, "If you don't give me the business here, I don't going to give you the business there, you cannot get the delivery there." We don't do this, it's a matter of attitude.

I think our attitude is slightly different, we have no IPO in front of us, our numbers are fine, the cash is good, we can argue with the client to get a kind of best product for them, and that works very well. By the way, the mindset, I think we discussed to come to Mexico and South America comes from The airlines say to us, "Please go there."

It's not like only we want to go somewhere. We always evaluate first the market, and if we see that there are enough demand for the product we want to sell, then obviously we go there.

I hope this was good enough.

Very clear. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Christoph.

Thank you very much. Honestly, today not too much to say.

We're waiting now that guests come in. Very happy and proud of the results, of the team.

I think we have discussed the Middle East, and where we believe we're in a good position. We were very flexible by the way with Middle Eastern airlines in this difficult time, we did not insist on every detail of the contract, I think which comes back 100% then afterwards.

Our academy, which we believe is the trigger of the growth, is developing very well. As we have these kind of cooperation with hotel school in Lausanne, which is the best in the world, and I think all these is, let's say, details make the whole picture, guaranteeing us quality growth for the future, and no margin impact regardless what happens on the market.

Bottom line, that's it. Thank you very much for your time.

Cross fingers that we can deliver here. Please watch in the TV, there's a great opening show, and we'll see what's going to happen then afterwards.

Thank you very much for listening, and hope to see you soon. Thank you.

Thank you.