Thank you very much, and welcome everyone to our Q1 trading update call. I will first read out safe harbor statement as usual before handing over.

This presentation may contain forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect current views of management regarding future events and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to be different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Bekaert is providing the information in this presentation as of its date and does not take any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in it in light of new information, future events, or otherwise. Bekaert disclaims any liability for statements made or published by third parties and does not undertake any obligation to correct inaccurate data, information, conclusions, or opinions published by these third parties in relation to this or any other publication issued by the company.

Then I hand over to Yves Kerstens, CEO.

Thank you, Dries, and also a warm welcome from my side on the trading update. For quarter 1, we delivered a top line of €917 million.

On a like-for-like basis, a stable business. Volume growth of 3%, mainly in areas like rubber reinforcement, steel wire solutions in the transmission, but also in sustainable construction, with some lower volumes in the BBRG projects.

Of course, Seppo will give some more comments also on the FX impact and also on the impact on the top line of our Latin American disposal, which we still had consolidated in first quarter 2025. In this period of Q1, we continue to work on the actions to make the company more sustainable and in terms of profitability and resilience.

We all know the geopolitical tensions and the trade changes that are happening in the market around us. We've been continuous navigating that by additional initiatives on optimization of the cost structure and our conversion cost.

We've seen that the conflict in the Middle East has so far not impacted our business, in the sense that the projects, mainly in the construction area, continue to be executed. Of course, we see an increase in the cost like transportation cost or energy cost, we are carefully watching the indirect impact of this conflict in the Middle East on the rest of the world in terms of inflation and cost changes.

We remain flexible in our supply chain and trade flows to serve our customers. From a financial point of view, we continue to drive good working capital.

CapEx for the year we estimate around €140 million. We propose today during the general assembly here in Zwevegem headquarters a dividend of €1.95 per share, which is a continuous increase of 3% versus last year, and continuing the share buyback of €200 million, finalizing this program by the end of this year.

Now I hand over to Seppo for more color by business and on the financials.

Thanks, Yves. Let's start by looking at the sales bridge from first quarter '25 to first quarter of this year.

Like Yves already mentioned, we have stable like-for-like sales after taking out the -5%, about 5% effect on FX, that is a reflection of weaker renminbi and US dollar. Both those two started to devalue after first quarter last year, and more recently, devaluation of renminbi, sorry, Indian rupee versus euro.

Also, we had the disposal of Latin American business of SWS mid last year. If you look at the comparable figures, that had 3% effect on the top line.

Then looking at the volume growth and and some business drivers before going to BUs, in in rubber reinforcement, we had volume growth growth in Asia, North America, while in steel wire solutions, we had volume growth, continued volume growth in transmission wires in North America, in energy and utilities business, good, positive trend continues there. In sustainable construction, we saw growth in higher value-added applications in North America.

The positive sentiment over there in North America when it comes to our construction business has continued after a slowdown after first half last year towards end of the year. I think that's also, I think, important business driver that we have seen now.

We had a bit unfavorable mix in rubber reinforcement as we saw more sales in China, if you look at the relative share of sales globally. In steel wire solutions, in energy and utilities businesses, we saw some project delays in Europe.

A bit similar trend in BBRG, both in steel and synthetic ropes, we saw some some project delays affecting the top-line development for the quarter. Then let's look at at the separate individual business units, and let's start with rubber reinforcement and steel wire solutions, where we saw volume growth in both business units.

Like mentioned, in rubber reinforcement, we had we had strong volume growth in China, and we continued to have full plant utilization levels over there. We also saw volume growth in North America, but volumes were down in Europe.

We continue to focus on stronger tensile, higher-recycled-content tire cord and increasing scrap content in tire cord, so that is, of course, a competitive advantage we have and how we can differentiate from from many of our competitors. Also a bit of positive news related to Bridgestone acquisition that was completed after the end of first quarter, at the end of April, as expected.

We also signed long-term sales agreement. That has now added two new plants, one in China and one in Thailand, to our footprint in Asia, strengthen our position there in in the rubber reinforcement business.

We have 550 new employees coming from Bridgestone, €80 million annualized sales, and €60 million cash consideration that was paid for the acquisition. Those plants will be now included in our figures starting from second quarter of this year, nothing included in the first quarter report yet.

Then we had the structural change. We moved HCP back to rubber reinforcement from energy transition, so that increased the sales of rubber reinforcement and equally reduced the sales in energy transition.

It's because cord manufacturing is similar, takes place in the same entities, the operational technology synergies when looking at the RR and HCP, so that's the driver for the for the change. Then moving to steel wire solutions on the right-hand side of the slide, where we saw volume growth in Europe, but some delays in energy and utilities projects impacting the mix.

We had lower volumes for Flexbright and flat cable armoring, replaced by volume growth in round wire cable armoring, which is more mature product. We also saw strong volume growth in energy and utilities in North America.

There is structural demand trend, large investment in power and data transmission related to data center connections, grid expansion, modernization, the positive trend there that we have seen already earlier has continued. There is still some time lag on of input price pass-through, especially US, where wire rod prices remain high.

We also have seen some price increase on the European market recently after the SMART actions by the by the EU that were announced end of last year. Then let's move to to BBRG and Specialties, where we had mixed performance in both BUs.

In BBRG, we have some macro uncertainty that has continued to delay customer investment decisions, impacting steel ropes demand. We had some delays, we have seen some delays in deepwater mooring projects, impacting also synthetic ropes.

The glass cords volumes were slightly lower as construction environment is subdued. However, other cord applications are doing better and partly offsetting the the sales value.

In Specialties, sustainable construction had lower volumes in commoditized segments, but strong growth in high-value-added applications, especially North America. Mix has clearly improved there.

That's something that we have been also actively working on. Other segments in Specialties, good to remember that we had high comparable sales in first quarter last year, especially in hydrogen.

As as you remember, we did some rightsizing actions in hydrogen business in in Belgium last year, and that is obviously then reflected as well on the sales. Now back to you, Yves, to summarize and come back to our our outlook for

Yes, thanks, Seppo. As you can see, we continue the journey of making the company more resilient despite the market environment by work on portfolio, cost structure, and resilience.

I want to highlight a couple of things specifically for '26 that are coming our way. The first one is, of course, the Steel and Metals Action Plan that will come in place by the mid of this year, with the, let's say, import duties for imported steel.

We have to see, as we said, how that develops and impacts the market. It should be favorably for the European steel industry production, upstream and downstream.

We source 90% of our wire rod locally, right? From an cost impact, no impact.

Secondly, after also consultation and discussion with the European Union and Commission, the SMAP or the Steel and Metals Action Plan is in the first phase focusing on the steelmaking industry and not on the downstream. There has been agreement to review the scope of that within six months so that the full, let's say, value chain of the steel industry in Europe is protected.

Second change for '26 is CBAM, which came into place beginning of this year. There's a carbon border adjustment tax for imported products.

That we are for the products we import, of course, translating to the customers, but also is protecting, of course, or incentivizing the local production for our products here in Europe. On the financial, already mentioned, don't want to repeat.

If you look at the outlook for 2026, which is unchanged, for the moment, we see no significant impact on the Middle East conflicts for us from a direct point of view. Indirect, we have to see how the inflation and the supply chain evolves the upcoming months and also how the conflict evolves.

On the energy side, we've been proactive and also have some hedging on some of the energy costs increases. We see good growth in areas like sustainable construction.

If you remember last year, '25, partly '24, was lower, let's say, tailwind we had in construction, but that has turned around, and we see stronger demand in the US and also continued strong growth in markets like India and Middle East. We, of course, have to balance the competitiveness and uncertainty in more commoditized products like rubber reinforcement and some of the steel wire solutions, but we have good opportunities in the energy and utilities and also in energy transition.

Last year, we rightsized the growth platform hydrogen, but in 2026, we have a stable platform, good, stable cost structure, and we also continue to win qualifications, certification with customers, which will increase gradually the volumes of that business upcoming months and years. Of course, not with the growth areas above 10%, but so nice growth year on year.

We expect a top line like-for-like and also EBIT bottom line like-for-like to be the similar levels as 2025. Let me close on a personal note.

As this earnings call and today's general assembly meeting here at Zwevegem headquarters marks a transition for me as I conclude my mandate as CEO, it has been a privilege to lead Bekaert and to work alongside all our people and our customers around the world. I also want to express my thanks to the analysts for your constructive challenge and following of the business, and also the investors who are putting their confidence in Bekaert and into the management.

I wish my successor, Olivier, and the entire team every success as they take on the next step for the company. I'm confident they will continue to build on the strong foundation in place and deliver sustainable value for all our stakeholders.

Thank you for your trust and your support. Then we are open for questions.

Yes, good morning. Let me maybe also start with a thank you from our side for the engaging interactions in the past couple of years, and let me wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Then on the questions, first one is on rubber reinforcements. Can you maybe elaborate a little bit on the competitive situation, especially in China?

I think your strategy in the past few years has been to go for an optimal capacity utilization. Is the rise of Zenit and the arrival of Zenit in the market changing anything to that strategy, or will it change anything to that strategy, if you can elaborate a little bit on that?

Then my second question would be on, yeah, the whole inflationary discussion, raw materials, transportation costs, energy. Can you maybe elaborate a little bit on what kind of percentage of cost increases you're seeing at the moment, and how swiftly can you pass these on?

Have you already succeeded to pass on past inflation or is that still an ongoing process? If you can offer a little bit more clarity on that, that would also be helpful.

Those were my questions. Thank you.

Thanks, Wim. Let me take first on the rubber reinforcement.

From our perspective, no change on our strategy. We keep on loading the plants, selecting the right customer profiles and mix in China.

Our utilization rate is above 95% in China, and also taking, of course, the opportunities in Europe and US. We've seen recently in the US some opportunities for us to increase some of the volumes and the share there.

It's an evolving competitive landscape. Concerning Zenit scaling up, of course, it's not up to us to make comments on our competitors, but basically is that, of course, as mentioned in previous calls, the first impact is more local competition between local players.

We have to see over the long term how that plays out, but for the moment, our strategy remains the same.

When it comes to your question on inflationary environment and effects, I think first of all, if you look at the key raw materials, especially wire rod, what we can see is that if you look at overall, I would say that prices are rather stable. In US, we have seen a bit of reduction of the prices.

In Europe, we have seen recently increase of steel and wire rod prices. I think it's an indirect effect of the SMART action plan by the EU.

We are working like always on the pass-through mechanism, which has been typically working well also with our customers. On energy, first of all, good to remember that energy is about 7% of our, if you compare to sales also, about 7%, so that's if you look at the share of the total, it's mainly electricity.

Of course, volatility is having some concerns and has an effect on the overall cost. In the shorter term, we are pretty well hedged, if you look at our hedging policy, so that, of course, smoothens the effect.

Going forward, depending on how the Middle East crisis develops and how the energy market is developing, that can, of course, become bigger issue. On the logistics, obviously, increasing logistics costs, especially Middle East and around Middle East shipments, some effect on the availability of ships and containers.

They also we have been able to manage quite well on pushing through the increased costs to our customers. I would say that overall, the pass-through mechanism continues to work well.

Obviously, as there has been quite significant increases also because of tariffs and other things in the past year or so, it's, of course, increase what we see is an increase in pushback from customers. Our sales teams has been very very strongly on this and keeping an eye on the ball, to speak.

I think we continue the strong push and work on that side.

I think we have to see how this whole inflation will impact the demand, in the industries. That's, let's say, an uncertainty moving forward.

That's for all industries, frankly, not only for ours.

Right.

Right. Very clear.

Thank you and all the best again.

Yes, good morning, gentlemen. I have two questions.

On the flat revenues, what can you say about seasonality? What do you expect H1 versus H2?

Will it be, as usual, a stronger H1 and H2 weaker, or is there anything to say about seasonality? Then a more general question on competition, the Asian competition.

You talk about supply chain issues maybe coming up, cost inflation. Do you already see that, let's say, in the Latin Americas, the US, Americas of this world, there's less competition from Asia because of these issues, or do you still expect to see this?

What can you say on that? Thank you.

Frank, I take your second question, and then Seppo can comment on the financials by half or the business by half. I would say if your question is specifically about the impact of the Middle East conflict on some of this global competitive threats, perhaps a little bit a mixed bag.

For example, what we see in Middle East is that where Chinese competition has been also pretty severe, for example, there we see a little bit relief from that competitive pressure, and again, a little bit more local-for-local dynamics. The impact on the US, I think we don't see specifically on certain trade flows changes, perhaps a little bit too early to see.

Yeah. I would say in summary, except one or left area, no impact for the moment and no change.

When it comes to seasonality, your question, first half versus second half, like you said, normally, and that's also our expectation, that typically first half is stronger than second, as in the second half, we have the holiday season, Christmas, etc. What you could say that the wild card, obviously, is currently what happens in the Middle East crisis or Ukrainian war.

Those can, of course, change a lot, as you can imagine, with the macro environment and when it comes to demand development. Leaving that on side, no reason to sort of expecting anything else with the seasonality than normally.

That's clear. Of course, also from my side, thank you for the past few years, and good luck in your future endeavors.

Thank you.

Thanks, Frank.

Thank you, operator, and good morning, gentlemen. Yves, it's been a tough few years market-wise, but again, all the best with your future endeavors.

Let me start off with that. Question-wise, I have three, and I'll take them one by one.

I just want to come back to that RR volume plus in North America because if I look at production volumes in US, they were down mid-to-high single digits, passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. You just mentioned that the competition from Asia in the US was stable.

What drove the volume plus then? Because I assumed it was market share gains because the trade tariffs were hampering your Asian competitors.

That's question one.

Martijn, first of all, on top of mind, I don't have the exact ratio, but if you look at tire cord production locally versus import, you know that for the American market, most of them are import. We are one of the few local players to produce locally.

What we've seen recently is for our business that we produce locally, but also on what we import is also some gain of market share at customers specifically. I think you don't have to link it back to the overall tire demand, but more about how we've been able to develop some of the relationship with some local producers there and get some share from competition.

Again, it's the local part is minority versus what we import, tire cord.

Just to follow up on this one, do you think this is sustainable the coming quarters?

I think yes, in the sense of because these customers' evolution mix is not something that changes quarter by quarter in the business like RR, yeah.

That's great. That's understood.

Thank you. Then on Asia, I was wondering, you mentioned something which I would call pre-buying that customers were anticipating some supply chain issues.

Is there some way you could help us understand what roughly the effect was in Q1 of that pre-buying in Asia? Was that material?

Any color would be helpful.

No, it's not really material. Some increase, but not substantial, yeah.

Okay. Then you briefly mentioned CBAM in your discussions with the EU.

What are your thoughts now currently on the effect of local, read European wire rod prices once implemented?

I think in the current geopolitical situation, I think industrial companies like us are welcoming the trade barriers certainly for a period in time, because we know that trade barriers are not a solution long-term for competitiveness. For the whole industry, upstream, downstream, to get organized, the energy costs under control in Europe and becoming more competitive.

From that perspective, of course, welcoming for Europe the import duties. They will be applicable from mid of the year.

Basically, and I mentioned in the last call, I hope that the steel wire rod prices are not increasing in Europe, because the objective is that the upstream, our suppliers, would be able to produce more, get more share from the downstream business and become so more competitive. A little bit to be watched, and we are May, coming closer to July to see what the prices are doing.

We see slight increases, right, so that is certainly the opportunistic approach with import duty is coming to increase margin and price in Europe. Of course, the steelmakers need to be very careful because if they do too much and the downstream products are not protected, they will not have a sustainable increase volume and profitability.

I think that's a little bit the trade-off and the dynamic that we need to watch the upcoming months until the downstream products are also, hopefully, also for that.

Okay. Then moving into SWS, can you help us understand the effect that you mention of these power transmission project delays in Europe and the effect on volume?

Because you've done well in the US. Are you now guiding for a more stable volume development in Q2 given these project delays, or how should we view that element?

It's project business. That's always a challenge in the project business, that when it comes to project delays, whether it means the tenders are delayed or the existing projects are delayed, obviously, they are not disappearing.

It's more

a delay in the volume rather than lost business as such. The key thing here is, like also refer to in my comments, that of course, geopolitics has an effect as well there on the business activity and investments going forward, and that might then be driving the volume development as well.

All right. I'll squeeze in one final one.

You've mentioned several times that there are initiatives to mitigate inflation and supply chain challenges. Can you give us a few examples of what you do, what you're planning to do or what you're currently doing already to mitigate those effects?

That would be my final question.

Yeah. Obviously, like always, we continue to work on overhead SG&A reductions, like we have been doing earlier successfully.

That work continues. We are working on the footprint consolidation as well as conversion costs.

For instance, a couple simple examples, on the procurement side, we continue to work our sourcing strategy when it comes to wire rod, simplifying the SKUs structure, combining, consolidating the volumes to fewer number of SKUs means that we are more volume player in those. We can then shift easier volumes from one supplier to another or from one region to another.

That way, also mitigate the effect of CBAM or SMAP as well as increasing our actions when it comes to tendering of our volumes. Then also I think the pass-through mechanism, that's important part.

Our sales teams are actively working on passing through the increased costs also to our customers. That we need to be very active.

Understood. Many thanks.

Those were my questions.

Good morning. Also from our side, thank you, Yves, for the interactions and the clarity you have provided on Bekaert.

I have three questions. The first question would be on rubber reinforcement.

I think the mix has been a bit lower. I think you also mentioned that there's more volumes in China.

I remember in the past that China production has been a bit more margin dilutive. I'm wondering how we should see the margins for the remainder of the years if volumes remain like this for the rest of the year.

The second question would be on BBRG. You mentioned weakened steel rope demand due to delays in projects.

Are we now in the outlook for seeing a pick-up in the remainder of the year? Also, if volumes would remain where they are at the moment for BBRG, what would the effect be on the EBIT margin?

Because I remember OPEX is rather stable in this segment, it's not giving much room for adjustments if I remember correctly. Then the third question would be on the outlook, the flat sales, flat margins.

Is that base made with the basis that we see an improvement versus Q1 or that we see the same as Q1? Thank you.

Let me start with the first on RR,

and then

Seppo, if you can take BBRG and on the outlook. On RR, the strong business in China is, of course, linked to the whole, let's say, shifting of the automotive industry, is it car-making, truck-making, is it the tire industry, correct, which is increasing their global impact out of China.

That means there is a strong pull and strong opportunity in that market. We've been very selective, and in the past, we've been also reducing our capacity in China while optimizing the existing plants, we have four plants running at full throttle.

It's true that the competition in RR has been severe, but is continuing to be severe. We're also working on our cost side, correct, to protect margin in a business or in a market where there is a more price pressure than you have typically in Europe or in the US.

It's a combination of good filling of the plant, but also we continue to be disruptive in the way how we lead our production plants and drive cost efficiency, so that the journey we are on, yeah. Then

coming to your question on SWS and rope business, I think in SWS, what we continue to work in is the mix, both geographical and product mix, and that's, of course, the key going forward. It's not only volume always, as you can imagine.

Then on the ropes business, it's good to remember that there a number of tenders are still in the pipeline. Think about the future outlook and where do we then end up with the full year depends very much also on our success on the tenders going forward.

That's, I think, the one of the key drivers there. Then when it comes to outlook, as you saw that Q1 is in line with the last year like-for-like as we are guiding.

Other than that, of course, we expect normal seasonality, like I commented earlier. No change in that expectation, think about the outlook.

As you saw, we have been flagged and highlighted certain risks around the geopolitics, indirect effects of the war in Iran and energy market turbulences, etc., which I think it's something we all are facing the macro economy, and that will, of course, drive the, let's say, way forward. Far, like we said, we have been mitigating well, and direct effects have been very limited, and we have been able to manage the indirect.

Of course, if the situation continues, we are not immune, and that is, of course, the risk side of it. Far, good.

Okay. In in conclusion, the the margins in Q1 have been we cannot say much about the absolute and the relative margins, but the margins have been somewhat stable versus the prior year.

Yeah. Like I said, so far, good.

Okay. Great.

Thank you.

Good. All right.

Thanks for taking the time for this trading update. Some more to come the upcoming months, and again, also thanks for the good collaboration, constructive discussions we had from the analyst and investors.

Really enjoyed it. Looking forward to meet you somewhere else.

Thank you.

Thank you.