Givaudan (SIX Swiss: GIVN) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

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11:27 shortly. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Givaudan twenty twenty six Half Year Results Conference Call and Live Webcast. I am Valentina, the Chorus Call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by Q and A session. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast.

12:15 At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Christian Schamkutte, CEO. Please go ahead. Thank you, Valentina. Dear ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to our twenty twenty six first half year results conference call. My first one as the CEO for Givaudan. Stuart Harris, our CFO joins me today and all documents related to the results are available on our website. I will lead you through the business highlights before Stuart will share more details on our operating performance and we will remind the 2030 strategy and outlook before we open the Q and A session. So let's get started. Let me start a bit with my first months. Over my first five months as the CEO at Givaudan, I focused on listening and immersing myself with customers, employees and investors, discovering firsthand the strengths of the business model and the passion across the organization, while gaining a deep understanding of the business.

13:15 I've been traveling to many of our sites visiting both divisions across Europe, NORAM, LatAm, Asia and Samea. I met with many customers and also with partners to learn about the unique upstream model we have in the sourcing of unique natural ingredients. What stands out is Givaudan's unique combination of creativity, science and operational excellence, supported by a strong customer centric culture and long term relationships. I have great respect for what has been achieved here and for the teams who make it happen. As shared before, my agenda is built around three priorities: optimize, future proof and together. Optimize means fine tuning the strategy where needed while driving strong execution, productivity and disciplined capital allocation.

14:09 Future proof focuses on investing selectively in innovation, data, digital and AI capabilities to support long term growth and strengthen Givaudan's unique modes. And together, reflects our collaborative culture, working closely across teams, customers and partners to create value. I look very much forward to sharing more on our strategic priorities at the summer conference that we hold in Zurich at the end of August. So in short, I've listened, I've learned, and I'm obviously now in action mode, focused on aligning the organization to amplify what already works, while addressing areas where we can accelerate.

14:55 And I look forward to delivering on our 2030 ambition together with this exceptional team and to updating you as we progress. Now let's come to the business highlights of H1.

15:09 We are pleased with our sustained solid financial performance in the first half of twenty twenty six. Despite ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic challenges, our business continued to display good growth momentum and industry leading profitability. Group sales for half year one were million, up 3.6% on a like for like basis and minus CHF1.7 in Swiss francs. Like for like growth was primarily volume led across both divisions, and we achieved balanced growth across customer groups and geographies, underscoring the natural hedges in our business and broad based customer traction.

15:56 In half year one, we incurred CHF103 million of non recurring costs, mainly related to litigation settlements and provisions with two items that are worth mentioning, a settlement agreement in fragrance and beauty related to the antitrust investigation and a provision related to court litigation in taste and well-being. Stuart will comment more on it in his part. On an adjusted basis, EBITDA amounted to CHF923 million, corresponding to a margin of 24.3% compared to a very strong 25.2% in half year '1 of 2025. Half year one reported net income was CHF475 million compared to CHF592 million in prior year.

16:49 Excluding one offs, adjusted EPS in Swiss franc was CHF60.25 compared to CHF66.71 in the prior year period. Adjusted free cash flow was minus CHF119 million in half year one, reflecting increased investments and timing related working capital movements with stronger cash generation expected in the second half, and we remain confident in our ability to reach above 12% adjusted free cash flow margin over the five year strategic cycle. Stuart will provide more details on the operational performance shortly. So turning to Slide six, regarding the divisional sales performance.

17:39 Half year sales were encouraging with clear strengths in fragrance and beauty and first sequential improvement in taste and well-being.

17:48 Growth was predominantly volume driven with only limiting pricing and ForEx impact. The modest pricing we did see largely reflects logistic and tariff pass through. The acquisition of Bel Air and Voimps in fragrance and beauty contributed 1.4% growth on group level. Fragrance and beauty sales were at CHF $2,010,000,000,

18:14 up 2.9% in Swiss franc and plus 6.5% like for like, driven by strong demand across both consumer products and fine fragrance. Taste and Well-being recorded CHF $1,789,000,000,

18:32 down minus 6.3% in Swiss franc and plus 0.5% on a like for like basis. Importantly, showing the first sequential step in the right direction continued challenging market environment in some of our regions. I'm now going into more granularity by division on the next two slides, starting with fragrance and beauty on Slide seven. The division delivered strong results in Fine Fragrance and consumer products, reflecting the portfolio's breadth and its natural hedges across categories and geographies.

19:09 Fine Fragrance delivered a strong like for like growth of plus 7.3% on top of a very strong prior year comparable of plus 18%, underlining the continued momentum of the business, benefiting from broad geographic exposure and strong relationships with local and regional customers as well as with global customers. Consumer Products, the largest segment representing more than 60% of the division posted an excellent performance, growing 9.2% like for like. This strength is rooted in creativity, innovation and a well balanced customer mix, which together drive a healthy project pipeline and win rate. Fragrance Ingredients and Active Beauty sales decreased by minus 4.1% like for like, with Active Beauty facing a very high comparison base from last year, and Fragrance Ingredients continues to experience price competition in parts of the portfolio, which explains the softer performance.

20:15 Moving to the next slide, to taste and well-being. As mentioned earlier, taste and well-being showed a clear sequential pickup in Q2, moving to plus 1.5% in quarter two from a minus 0.4% like for like growth in quarter one, reflecting the first positive effects of our optimization and commercial action, although the market environment remains challenging.

20:43 You see, Europe was broadly stable at plus 0.3% like for like. Samea showed a strong recovery in the second quarter with plus 8.1%, leading to plus 0.5% like for like for the half year on top of a double digit comparable. And also Asia Pacific showed clear momentum driven by ongoing strength in China and a continued acceleration across Southeast Asia. The opening of a new production site in Indonesia demonstrates our confidence in the region's growth prospects.

21:19 North America remains more volatile at minus 1.5% like for like as consumers remain selective, particularly at lower income levels, but we see encouraging areas of growth in reformulation, natural colors and GLP-one related briefs.

21:38 And last, in Latin America, temporary headwinds in specific markets, notably Mexico, continued leading to overall minus 1.5% like for like sales growth. However, we are beginning to see early traction from targeted action and remain confident in our market positions and ability to progressively strengthen performance over time.

22:02 So overall, Q2 marked a clear step in the right direction and supports our confidence in continued sequential improvement into half year two, supported by healthy leading indicators and easing comparables.

22:19 Turning to the regional view on group level on Slide nine. We delivered balanced broad based growth across geographies with high growth markets up 5.2% like for like and mature markets up 2.0%. EAME maintained good momentum and contributed 3% like for like for the half year on top of a high comparable. North America increased plus 2.3% like for like, although taste and well-being, as seen before, remained more challenged in the region. This was offset by a continuously strong momentum in fragrance and beauty across both consumer products and fine fragrance. Asia Pacific increased by 9.2% like for like, reflecting continued strong growth across key markets, particularly China and India, and also strong growth, especially in Indonesia.

23:12 And Latin America recorded minus 3.9% like for like growth in half year 01/2026,

23:19 influenced by temporary market conditions in Mexico in taste and well-being, alongside a strong prior year comparison in fragrance and beauty. So in conclusion, our balanced exposure across mature and high growth markets continues to provide solid, consistent growth and resilience in a complex environment. Yet we are conscious that there are areas where we are actively working to further optimize our performance step by step.

23:51 And now moving to Slide number 10. This slide illustrates our 2030 strategy in action, concrete examples of how we extend customer reach, deepen geographic presence and innovate for differentiation and care for our people, nature and communities. We secured the seventh consecutive CDPA for climate action and achieved the CDPA for supply engagement, reflecting continued progress towards our net zero ambition and 2,030 purpose goals. We continue to invest in our footprint to deepen our geographical presence. We broke ground on an expanded fragrance manufacturing complex in Pedro Escobedo, Mexico, and we opened a new state of the art production site in Chikarang, Indonesia to support taste and well-being growth in Southeast Asia.

24:47 And we continue with our M and A strategy that is supporting our 2030 strategy to extend our customer reach, especially in local and regional customers. For example, through the acquisition of a strategic majority stake in Euro fragrance, a highly creative, regionally rooted fine fragrance health. Together, these milestones show our 2,030 strategy being put into practice, advancing sustainability,

25:17 unlocking differentiated innovation and expanding our local presence to capture growth.

25:25 On the next slide, Slide 11 shows how we turn insight and science into customer value, practical innovations that address clear consumer trends. The examples here span taste, fragrance and beauty and illustrate our focus on application ready solutions and enabling technologies. Let me highlight a few for fragrance and beauty. In active beauty, we launched PrimaLial NeuroUse, an advanced hyaluronic acid technology supporting skin longevity, firmness and sensory perception, opening new opportunities in skin health and beauty.

26:05 We strengthened our fragrance performance toolbox through strategic equity investment in collaboration with MicroCups AG to expand our high precision microencapsulation capabilities, enhancing fragrance longevity and performance across fine fragrance and beauty application, including alcohol free formats. And let me highlight House of Suits, which reimagines laundry as a multisensorial experience, helping customers create emotionally engaging scent concepts in differentiated product formats across generations.

26:44 In Taste and Well-being, we focused on GLP-one and broad awareness trends that are increasing demand for lower calorie and functional products. We combine consumer insights with taste, delivery and masking technology to help customers reduce sugar, fat and salt while maintaining indulgent taste, helping customers turn GLP-one and especially briefs and functional beverage, one of the fast growing sub segments into winning products.

27:15 Our Hot and Spicy, where our Chefs Council in Mexico combined culinary expertise with sensory science to develop cutting edge hotness technologies and practical flavor solutions that help customers win in spicy and flavor forward segments.

27:32 And in February, we opened the House of Lime in Mexico, an immersive co creation space combining flavor expertise, sensory tools and digital capabilities to help customers accelerate innovation and speed up brief to market. So across both divisions, our focus is clear, translating science, insight and creativity into differentiated solutions that help customers innovate faster and grow.

28:01 And with this, let me pass the word to Stuart Harris, who will go into more detail regarding our performance in half year one. Stuart, over to you. Thank you very much, Christian. I would like to add my warm welcome to all of the participants on the call. On the following slides, I'll give you an overview of the twenty twenty six half year operating performance of the group and that of the two divisions as well as the financial performance of the group. Let me start with the performance highlights on Slide 13.

28:32 As Christian already noted, group sales in the first six months of 2026 were CHF3.8 billion, an increase of 3.6% on a like for like basis over the same period in 2025 and a decrease of CHF1.7 percent in Swiss francs due to the continued strength of the Swiss franc. The adjusted EBITDA was CHF923 million compared to CHF973 million in the first half of twenty twenty five, a decrease of 5.2% in Swiss francs, whilst when measured in local currency, the adjusted EBITDA increased by 0.8%. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 24.3% in the first half of twenty twenty six compared to 25.2% in the same period in 2025.

29:24 Due to the non recurring costs that Christian already touched upon and that I will expand upon in the coming slides, the net income decreased to CHF475 million and the net income margin was 12.5 of sales. The adjusted free cash flow of the group was minus CHF119 million in the first half of twenty twenty six or minus 3.1% of sales, mostly due to the higher investments and temporary working capital effects. The net debt to EBITDA ratio was at 2.8 times at the end of June twenty twenty six compared to 2.5 times in June 2025 and two point one times in December 25, with the increase in leverage driven by the impact of the aforementioned non recurring costs in EBITDA.

30:17 In order to ensure consistency and comparability over the strategic planning cycle 2026 to 2030 and ahead of the introduction of IFRS 18 in 2027, the Group has updated the definitions of some of its key performance metrics, notably by replacing comparable EBITDA with adjusted EBITDA and introducing adjusted free cash flow and adjusted earnings per share. Please turn to Slide 14, which shows the overview of the exchange rate development in the first half of twenty twenty six. This slide shows the comparison of the exchange rates in the first half of twenty twenty six versus the same period in 2025. The Swiss franc continues to strengthen against most major currencies in which the group operates with an impact on the group's reported results in Swiss francs.

31:10 This is particularly evident in the year over year comparison of absolute Swiss franc results in the first half of twenty twenty six versus the comparable prior year period. However, as we have consistently noted, our operational and geographical spread provide good natural hedges to mitigate the currency impact and our EBITDA margin remains well protected against currency fluctuations. Please turn to Slide 15 for an overview of the half year operating performance of the group. The gross margin slightly improved to 44.5% in the first half of twenty twenty six compared to 44% in 2025, with the continued impact of the Fragrance Ingredients competitive environment evident in H1 more than offset by good operational leverage in both divisions.

32:04 On the EBITDA level, the EBITDA was CHF820 million in the first half compared to CHF945 million in the same period in 2025, mainly impacted by higher distribution costs, negative currency impacts and by the non recurring costs of CHF103 million. The group recorded CHF83 million of litigation settlements and provisions in the first six months of twenty twenty six as well as CHF20 million of acquisition, restructuring and project related costs compared to CHF19 million in the prior period. After adjustment for these non recurring costs, the adjusted EBITDA margin continued to be strong at 24.3% compared to 25.2% in 2025.

32:58 On the following two slides, I will take you through the operating performance of the two divisions. And if you turn to slide 16, we will start with Fragrance and Beauty. Fragrance and Beauty recorded an EBITDA in the first half of twenty twenty six of CHF492 million compared to CHF525 million in 2025, with the decrease mainly driven by slightly lower gross margin, investments in growth as well as currency impacts and non recurring costs. In the first half of twenty twenty six, the Fragrance and Beauty division reached a settlement agreement in relation to certain civil proceedings of CHF30 million. In connection with the broader competition authorities investigations into the fragrance industry.

33:46 And furthermore, incurred acquisition, restructuring and project related costs of CHF4 million compared with CHF15 million in the first six months of twenty twenty five. The adjusted EBITDA margin of the division was 26.2% in 2026 compared to 27.6% in 2025, continuing the excellent financial performance profile of the division. If you would like to turn to page 17, we will look at the operating performance of the Taste and Well-being division. Taste and Well-being recorded an EBITDA of CHF328 million in the first six months of twenty twenty six compared to CHF420 million in the same period in 2025.

34:34 The decrease is mainly due to negative currency impacts as well as the non recurring cost of CHF69 million. In the first half of twenty twenty six, the Taste and Well-being division recorded a provision of CHF53 million in relation to an adverse judgment against Givaudan in the State of Missouri in The United States in connection with long standing butter flavor litigations involving alleged pulmonary injury. The outcome in this case is exceptional and inconsistent with the broader litigation history over the past twenty years and we are considering all available legal options in terms of possible next steps. In addition, the division recorded restructuring and project related costs of CHF16 million mostly related to operational restructuring expenses compared to CHF4 million in the prior period.

35:28 After adjustments of these non recurring items, the adjusted EBITDA margin of the division was 22.2% compared to 22.7% in the first half of twenty twenty five. Please turn now to slide 18 where we look at the net income. The net income before tax was CHF580 million in the first half of twenty twenty six compared to CHF713 million in the same period in 2025, largely driven by the non recurring costs of CHF103 million, which we have already covered. The effective tax rate was 18% compared to 17% in the half year of 2025, mostly driven by the progressively increasing safe harbor rate under the OECD minimum tax initiative.

36:20 Net income after tax was CHF475 million in the first six months of twenty twenty six compared to million in the same period, with the net income margin at 12.5% in the first half year twenty twenty six. When adjusted for the non recurring costs, including tax effects, adjusted basic earnings per share were CHF60.25 in the first half of twenty twenty six compared to CHF66.71 for the same period in 2025. Please now turn to slide 19 where we see the adjusted free cash flow performance. In the first half of twenty twenty six, the group had adjusted free cash flow of minus CHF119 million or minus 3.1% of sales compared to minus 0.4% in the same period in 2025.

37:21 This difference is largely driven by temporary working capital effects as well as higher investments at a group level. At this stage, the only adjustment to the prior definition of free cash flow is the CHF30 million settlement agreement reached in the Fragrance and Beauty division as previously noted. Net investments were up CHF207 million in the first six months of the year, representing 5.4% of sales compared to 4.4% of sales in the prior year period due to the timing of key investment projects. As a reminder, we have guided to a net investment range of 4% to 5% of sales in the strategic planning period 2026 to 2030.

38:07 Net working capital was 30.8% of sales in the first half of twenty twenty six compared to 27.1% in the first half of twenty twenty five due to sales phasing and temporarily higher inventory effects. We continue to balance our working capital ambitions with the business needs, and we expect to see a meaningful improvement in working capital by the end of the year. Please turn to Slide 20 on the debt and leverage profile. This slide shows that the group continues to have a well balanced and stable debt portfolio with interest rates which have been locked in at attractive rates. At the end of June twenty twenty six, the net debt was CHF4.6 billion with a weighted average interest rate of 2.12 compared to 1.94% in December 2025 and one point nine percent in June 2025.

39:05 There is a relatively large portion of short term debt within one year due to the traditionally higher short term debt at the half year and some maturing bonds in the first half of twenty twenty seven being reclassified as short term. At the end of June twenty twenty six, the net debt to EBITDA ratio was 2.8 times compared to 2.1 times in December 2025 and two 0.5 times in June 2025, with the leverage being impacted by the non recurring costs as explained previously. This concludes my section of the presentation. I would like to thank you for your attention and hand back to Christian. Thank you, Stuart. So now let's look forward to our 02/30 strategy and outlook.

39:52 Our 2030 strategy is about purposeful evolution, building on the strong foundation of our proven model, combining innovation, customer partnership and disciplined execution to deliver sustainable growth while preparing for what's next. As I mentioned earlier, my focus is centered around three priorities: optimize, future proof and together, priorities that bid naturally on the strengths of Givaudan and the opportunities we see ahead. Our success is rooted in close collaboration with our customers, suppliers, partners and teams around the world, delivering differentiated solutions with excellence, agility and care for people, nature and communities.

40:41 I look very much forward to sharing more detail on our strategic priorities and ambition at the summer investor conference in Zurich at the end of August. Now on the next slide, a reminder on our targets for the 2030 strategic cycle. So what I can confirm is that we are committed to our 2030 performance ambitions, delivering 4% to 6% like for like sales growth and adjusted free cash flow margin above 12% on average over the five year period from 2026 to 2030, together with our purpose linked targets. As you know, we've consistently managed the business against midterm ambitions rather than annual targets, which remains the right approach for our project led business model, giving our teams the flexibility to focus on sustainable growth and long term value creation.

41:40 It also supports disciplined execution and agility while ensuring the right balance between delivering short term performance and investing for the future. On the next slide, I can share a few words on the outlook. As highlighted earlier, we delivered another solid underlying set of results in the first half of twenty twenty six against high comparables of 2025, with continued good growth momentum and industry leading adjusted profitability despite an environment that remains marked by geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty. We continue to see strong momentum in fragrance and beauty, and we see the start of what we call the sequential recovery in taste and well-being in line with our expectations.

42:32 Based on this and easing comparables, we are looking ahead with confidence towards H2 and overall on delivering our targets for the strategic cycle 2030. And while we have some areas to optimize, we are convinced of the resilience of our business model, supported by our diversified portfolio across customers, geographies and product segments as well as a healthy project pipeline and encouraging lead indicators. At the same time, the external environment remains uncertain, and we continue to closely monitor geopolitical developments and broader macroeconomic conditions. Our input costs, we now expect to be low single digit inflation in the second half of the year. As always, we're working closely with customers to appropriately manage these developments and to offset those input costs by continuing to prioritize supply reliability and service quality.

43:39 On The U. S. Tariffs, the situation remains fluid. Following the Supreme Court decision, we have started to receive partial refunds of previously paid tariffs, and we expect these to be passed back accordingly to customers, broadly offsetting the inflation related pricing impact within like for like growth. With that, we are at the end of our twenty twenty six half year result presentation, so let me hand back to the operator for the instructions to open the Q and A. Stuart and I are looking forward to taking your questions. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session.

44:45 The first question comes from Alex Sloane from Barclays. Please go ahead. Yes. Hi. Good morning all. Thanks for taking the questions. Two from me, please. The first one on cash flow and working capital. Obviously, free cash flow is weaker than expected, and you highlighted quite a significant working capital build in half. Presumably, part of that build is maybe Givaudan carrying higher inventories amid supply chain disruption concerns or raw material availability concerns? And if that's the case, do you think some of your customers may have also behaved similarly in any regions or segments? I'm thinking, any of the very strong consumer products performance in fragrance, particularly in Asia, have benefited from the same dynamics?

45:40 And if so, is there any kind of unwind risk to think about there in the second half or into next year if relevant? That's the first one. Second one would be on taste and well-being. I mean, good to see the sequential improvement and that you're confident in that continuing in the second half. If I could maybe just ask specifically on North America, which remains, I guess, one of the weak spots in the quarter. Is this just weak end markets? Or is there any market share loss challenges for Givaudan do you think perhaps associated with the litigation provision that you've disclosed today? And I think last year at the Investor Day, you had talked about efforts to accelerate growth in North America taste and well-being through expansion into foodservice and going after private label.

46:33 So maybe you could give a bit of an update in terms of where we are on those initiatives. Okay. Thank you, Alex. I maybe ask Stuart to take the first question and then I will take the second one on taste and well-being. Yes, Alex. Good morning. Thanks for the question. So yes, I think on the cash flow you've seen as you called out and if you look at the constituent parts of cash flow, will see in receivables, we are up and in inventory, are up. So I think those are temporary effects. We would expect, as I said in my speaker notes, to have a meaningful improvement in working capital in the second half of the year. To specifically address your questions and where it may translate into customer order activity, we said in Q1 that we didn't see any evidence of pre buying or stocking on the customer side.

47:28 We saw the evidence of that coming through in the second quarter. And we have the same position today actually. We don't see any across the business, we don't see anything other than strong recurring demand and no evidence of any stocking that we would expect to unwind in the second half. Okay. And then on taste and well-being, particularly on North America, yes, I think we see obviously a continued difficult market environment in North America on the end consumer side when it comes to demand, but that is probably not all behind the performance. We also know that there is some shifts that we see, for example, when it comes to sub segments. So when you look in, for example, within beverage, you still see fast growth in functional beverage even fueled by GLP-one, you would see that still the high protein market is growing very fast.

48:31 And I think for us, what will be important and what we're really working on is to ensure that we're capturing the right growth in the right sub segments. So de averaging even more on our strategy in North America, and that's what gives me confidence is that I see the pipeline inflow. We see a good pipeline inflow, of course, also in natural colors. That is obviously kind of the shift with the MAHA movement towards natural colors, so the pipeline is strengthening. The area also where we are weaker, and that's something which we are looking at and working on is, we're also having natural ingredients that we sell, where for sure, we are not so happy with the performance. So it will take a bit more time on our side as well to really capture the shifts in the segments because you know that we're a project based business that transforming pipeline into kind of actual revenue is always with a bit of a time lag.

49:38 But really, you're looking at the pipeline, I'm very confident that NORUM on our side will turn around also sequentially. Also the shift, we talked last time about private label, for example, you mentioned again foodservice. So all this, unfortunately, as we're not selling final products, but we're basically selling we're into projects, we're into briefs, we need a bit of time to convert pipeline into revenue. Thank you. The next question comes from Nicolas Tang from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead. Hi, Ron. Thanks for taking the question. First, I wanted to ask about input inflation. So thank you for quantifying the low single digits in the second half of the year, the percentage in the second half of the year.

50:30 Can you share more detail on what you're seeing in terms of Naturals versus Synthetics? And also how it impacts the two divisions? Is there a different view on inputs for the two divisions? And linked to this, Q1, you gave this helpful sensitivity, this $100 sorry, 10 move in oil price roughly having a 1% impact on synthetic raw materials. I was wondering if you could help us understand the what oil price assumption is baked into this input guidance that you've given. I appreciate it's pretty complicated and you're not buying oil, but there's clearly a lot of volatility in oil price. So I was just wondering if the oil price stays where it is now, which is higher than it was earlier in the quarter. Should we assume that, that means higher synthetics, say, in another six months' time? And then maybe just on the natural side, I think previously you've talked a bit about potentially higher costs with fertilizers or with weather impacts like El Nino. So again, if you could share what sort of baked or what you're seeing and what's baked into the guidance? Thanks.

51:33 Okay, Nicholas, thanks. A lot of different elements therein, so let me try to unpack them and keep it as simple as possible. So I think if one looks at naturals versus synthetic, historically, as you know, we've seen naturals more or less progressively increasing consistently over time, a little bit more volatility in synthetics. But I think if we look to the second half, we see a fairly balanced picture at those levels across synthetic and natural input costs, so no major weighting towards one division or the other. In terms of the oil price assumption, it's relatively easy for that one and so far as we basically are looking now at contracted raw material prices for the second half.

52:22 So we don't anymore have an underlying oil assumption based in. Those are now based on firm contractual commitments that we have. So that gives us a good level of confidence about the indication we've provided. More broadly, you touch on El Nino effects and others. I think it's fair to say that we don't expect those effects to be evident in 2026. We expect those more to be evident in 2027 and we would update that more, of course, in the normal rhythm in January 2027. So I think for second half twenty twenty six, in summary, evenly split between the divisions and confidence in the contractual basis that we have that we have a good visibility on that for the rest of the year.

53:19 The next question comes from Matthew Yates from Bank of America. Please go ahead. Hey, good morning, everyone. I think I'd just like to follow-up on a couple of things, I think it was Alex mentioned. Stuart, just going back on receivables, if my math is right, I think that was up 13% on what is effectively a slight sales decline for the group. So is that telling us something about the strength of your June activity? Or is there any issue here around sort of overdues? Can you just elaborate a little bit more on the receivable element? And then maybe for Christian, following up on The U. S. Discussion, you mentioned there's a variety of opportunities around GLP-1s, but presumably, there's also some risks in terms of calorie destruction. So when you take those two things together, net net, do you come to the conclusion that this is an overall negative, neutral or positive dynamic for Givaudan looking forward? Thank you.

54:26 Okay, Matthew, I'll kick off. So you've been busy doing your calculations in the first part of the morning. So I can confirm there's no challenge related to overdues or that. It's more a relation to phasing of sales. Okay. And then on the GLP-one, net net for Givaudan, I see GLP-one as a significant opportunity. And let me explain a bit why I see that. I think if you look at the strengths that we have, for example, in sweet modulation, the strengths that we have in protein masking, All those are basically segments that are winning. And of course, whenever you go beyond flavor into taste solution where protein masking is part of it, where sweet modulation is part of it, that is something that is positive for us because we're increasing the share in the final customer product.

55:26 So all these reformulations that come are something that I see as positive because they come with a higher share kind of what we can provide to the customers. And there, we have some unique capabilities, bioscience solutions that we can apply. So for me, GLP-one is positive. The same, by the way, on the discussions that you have on kind of sugar reduction, on salt reduction, on kind of fat reduction because also here, we are very well set with our technologies. Give let me give you an example of something that gains popularity, not just in The U. S. Everywhere, which is air fry, right, because air fry is seen as a healthier form of preparing your food.

56:15 Still, the consumer wants the same kind of, you know, kind of tastiness that you're used from normally fried products, and I think that is taste solutions that we provide, so that in the end, you know, when you use air fry, you know, kind of the taste that you want, this richness that also comes from frying in fats is maintained. So those trends that we see are positive for the solutions, so that in the end, when we look at the net net, we believe that those movement is positive for us, will lead to more briefs, will lead to more innovation and that we can leverage this going forward. Thank you, both.

57:03 The next question comes from Celine Panuti from JPMorgan. Please go ahead. Thank you. My first question is on Fragrance and Beauty. In fact, I have two focus here. One, on Fine Fragrance. We continue to see a positive development, but as well, we see that some of the end market seems to be slowing and some of the customers have even declined or noting decline in Europe. So can you talk about your outlook for this division? What do you see in terms of maybe regional or customer mix and whether you continue to expect Fine Fragrance to remain positive as a subcategory?

57:53 And likewise, on Consumer Products, which did very well, could you flesh out in the second quarter, you said there's been no pre buying, what regions or categories drove that performance? And maybe my second question is going to be shorter. Given what you said on tariff being given back to your customers as well as some pricing to offset cost inflation, it seems they probably will be not much pricing in the second half. Is it fair to expect that the volume robustness that we've seen in Q2 should recur in the second half of the year? And though you don't give guidance on the yearly, even less than the quarterly, but whether the 4% to six range is something you can continue to achieve now that you have recovered that level in Q2?

58:47 Thank you. Okay. So thank you for the question. So when you look at the Fine Fragrance performance that we see, you see that we've been growing 7.3% over outstandingly high comparables of plus 18% in S1. And even if you would look at quarter two, and yes, you know that normally we don't like so much to look quarter at quarters as a project based business, but even if I look at quarter two, you know we had comparables of 19%. So quarter two was a very, very strong quarter last year. So overall, we see the trend strong because, of course, we are serving kind of multiple price segments, brands, global customers as well as local and regional customers.

59:36 And that's also why we continue to see kind of the positive momentum in Fine Fragrance really across the kind of the world, right? So that's why we continue to be very positive on the momentum and the momentum that you see today also in half year one, right? And even when we look at our pipeline, the pipeline remains really good. On consumer products, we're not giving details, but we really see broad based growth in consumer products. I mean, you saw we had a very strong quarter one, we have a strong quarter two. It's also interesting when you look into customer groups. We always talk about the natural hedges, but we also see in consumer products, we see strong performance in local regions, but we also see strong performance in our global customers.

1:00:33 We see in segments, when you look at Fabric Care, for example, we see continued strong momentum there. I think is right now just that we see that consumer love fragrance in also the consumer product part and that our customers are reflecting it in with their investment into fragrance, into their formulas or into their products. And that is a trend that we see also, again, looking at pipeline, broad based, going to continue. So that's why, obviously, it's very strong growth, but I think the general growth momentum is strong. So as Maurizio Voippe, who is presiding the category, would always say, I think it's probably no better time to be in fragrance than today because really, love fragrance.

1:01:27 And then maybe for pricing, trade, etcetera. Stuart, do you want to take it? Yes. Good morning, Celine. Thanks for the question. So So indeed, I think, as we mentioned, we have started to receive refunds of tariffs. We have not none of that is reflected in the half year results, but we expect to give that back to clients in the second half, which as you say, will be the offset to the price pass through on the low single digit second half input costs. So I think your assumption is a correct one that on a net basis, we shouldn't expect to see any meaningful contribution of pricing in the second half. In respect to the overall posture in relation to the second half, I think you've heard us, we go into the second half with a lot of optimism.

1:02:13 I think the lead indicators are positive. We expect to see continued good momentum in fragrance and beauty and as Christian has mentioned, sequential improvement in taste and well-being. So whilst as you know, we don't guide on a full year basis, I think we've given you the overall elements which lead us to be optimistic about the second half and ultimately for the full year. Thank you. The next question comes from Lisa De Neve from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Hi, thank you for taking my questions. My first one is a follow-up on decent well-being. You've talked during the presentation a lot about improvement in this market and the initiatives you're taking. I mean, you just detail to us a little bit of the initiatives you've taken across the different regions and also in terms of timeline of momentum and when you expect to see the fruits from those initiatives?

1:03:08 That's really my first question. Then secondly, would you mind us taking us through the key bridge items for EBITDA in the second half or for the full year that we should take into consideration given the pricing input and sort of tariff refund effects next to your easier comps? That would be very helpful. And the last question I had is a bit of a different one on Natural Colors. I can see that in The U. S, there's a lot of traction on Natural Colors, but there's a lot of recent research that points to actually an increased association of risk for diabetes and cancer, both in artificial colors and natural colors. So my question to you is, do your customers really look at implementing natural colors because of a regulatory shift in that environment? Or do they think broader and actually want to completely de risk themselves from the potential negative association of consuming any type of color in their products? Any thoughts on that would be great. Thank you.

1:04:03 Okay. So I take the first and the third question, and then Stuart will take the second question, I suggest. So on taste and well-being, obviously, as we said, right, I mean, we are in a more difficult environment on overall on the food and beverage categories, particularly in some regions like Latin America and North America that is more visible because the consumer today really is constrained also in North America coming out of inflations in 2022, 2023, the high inflation period, but now coming again out of some of the price hikes that you see linked to petroleum prices when they have to fill their tank, etcetera. So that's why you see shifts into, for example, private label. We have to be kind of and that's what we're working on and that's also what we're going to share more of end of August in the way we're going to leverage the opportunities better. And for this, I think you have to be even more deleveraging between what we call segments or categories, subcategories to ensure that we're focusing and doubling down on the areas of growth, right? I was talking about, for example, high protein and our capabilities in protein masking.

1:05:21 Functional beverage that is growing very fast. And here, when you look at our ability in flavor, in masking, because many of those function ingredients, they come with not a nice taste in natural color, all that is elements where in this very big business segment, we should be increasing our market share faster. So we are deleveraging more into segments, sub segments, also by region. Now we talked about foodservice. And I think we have started that, and we already see some of that come through. The pipeline is really strengthening. So I think the pipeline inflow is very strong. But as I mentioned before, you need to give a need to give a bit of time to turn pipeline and into revenue. And that's why we've always been talked about sequential recovery, and it's not like going from one quarter to the next where you would see this resolved.

1:06:23 A great example I could give is even when last year we talked about an issue on Indonesia, it took some time, but today, Indonesia is, for example, in a very strong performance and again, strongly contributing. So that's on taste and well-being. But again, we will share more end of August, but it doesn't mean we're waiting. I mean, we're already in kind of working in execution mode. On the natural colors, I take the third question before I pass to Stuart. So we see today a big demand from the consumer to move out of artificial color into natural color. Concerns that you share, we don't really see them because what we see with the vast majority of consumers, the consumers love food also when it is having colors, when it is bright, when you look into beverages, when because that is part of the overall taste and sensorial experience of foods, right? So you you would not imagine, you know, many of the products that they would go well in a in a completely uncolored or the way they would, you know, otherwise look.

1:07:49 So we believe that and we see the pipeline also on projects. It will take some time, right, because it's significant reformulation projects, because there's you have to get the right color, you have to get the right masking of the natural color, etcetera. So it is taking time, but the pipeline is very strong. And from the consumer research we do, we really see their demand to move out of artificial color into natural colors and keeping natural colors. So here, we are very confident on that particular trend. And then maybe, Stuart, you take the question on EBITDA? Lisa, good morning. Thanks for your question. So I'm going to maybe focus a little bit on the I got you the distillation of your question around maybe phasing of the margin. So if we look, think 24.3% adjusted EBITDA in H1, So we're really happy with that, particularly when you look at the improvement versus the second half of last year when we had, for example, the onset of tariffs and more competitive environment in Fragrance and Beauty Fragrance Ingredients, for example. So I think that's very positive.

1:08:59 If we look to the second half and the full year, we don't expect that to be the same level of half year to full year contraction as we saw in 2025, but more similar to 2023 or 2024, which in short brings us to based on everything we know today at least brings us into the range of plusminus 24% on a full year basis for the EBITDA outlook. The next question comes from Ranulf Orr from Citi. Please go ahead. Hi, all. Just two on cash flow for me, just to wrap that up, please. The first one is just on your confidence in working capital normalization.

1:09:52 Is this something are you comfortable that you can sufficiently deliver that to get towards your kind of long run 12% of sales free cash flow target this year? I appreciate it's something as an annual target, but curious on that. And then secondly, just on the new definition of adjusted free cash flow. I'm just kind of curious to understand whether that gives you more flexibility to achieve that long run 12% of sales target. Thank you very much. Good morning. Thanks for the question. I think on working capital, we have traditionally seen it higher at the half year. I think we are always looking at the business requirements first.

1:10:39 I think we have consistently demonstrated that we're able to manage working capital very effectively. We've been in the 23%, 24% of sales. And we know the levers and we have the discipline in the organization to be able to implement that impact. As you rightly said, we're not providing annual guidance. Remain, as we've said, consistently confidence in the overall free cash flow guidance over the strategic planning period. When one looks at the adjusted definition, and I think that's why I was keen to be clear on the only item we've adjusted from the historic definition of free cash flow. So the only item we've adjusted is the settlement in relation to the fragrance and beauty division item we covered during the presentation. So in simple terms, no, it doesn't give us additional flexibility.

1:11:32 We will continue to be very strict around any adjustments which we make to free cash flow, and our commitment is to ensure that the underlying business performance delivers in line with our free cash flow targets. Thank you. The next question comes from Erik Wilmer from Kempen. Please go ahead. Hi, good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering if you could say a few words on the recent botanical extracts and natural colorants disposal by one of your key peers. I realize there's probably a bunch of other things in there as well. However, the asset also includes two of your mentioned segments, so botanical extracts and natural colorants that you also seem to quite strongly believe in. So I was wondering, was the asset not as complementary to your business? Thank you.

1:12:29 Okay. So thank you for the question. I think first, I don't think we comment on disposals of assets from kind of our competitors because I don't think it's right, and I think it's basically on their business decisions. What I said before is I think we strongly believe in the opportunity in natural colors, and we believe that the opportunity in natural colors, of course, is accelerating also with the MA movement because it brings together what is really close to our heart, right? It brings together the creation because it's creative on technology and science based process, but it also leverages our flavor knowledge on masking those natural colors because they come with a taste versus synthetic colors that don't come with a taste. So we believe that natural colors is a very strong area to be in.

1:13:30 And then what I also mentioned is that botanical extracts, there's many. You have to you would have to de average. We see in some areas, we see good growth, but I was also mentioning before, particularly also in North America, that there's other areas which are more kind of challenging, which are more commoditized and which are also today compared to our core business in flavor and taste solution underperforming, right? So that is what is kind of a segment. So natural colors, obviously, is absolutely critical. And we also have work to do on some of the botanical extracts, and that's what we're actively working on. So that's where I can leave it.

1:14:19 Very helpful. Thank you. And gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Christian Schlamputa for any closing remarks. Okay, good. So thank you all for your questions and for the strong interest shown today. And before we close the call, let me briefly highlight a couple of upcoming events. So first of all, we're very much looking forward to welcoming you either in person or via webcast to our summer investor conference on 08/27/2026 in Zurich. I also want to remind that we are planning an investor field trip at the end of September, which will take us this year to Naarden in The Netherlands, where we will visit one of our key European sites for the taste and well-being business and where we have time also to go into the discussion on taste and well-being.

1:15:17 And we look forward, of course, to continue the dialogue with many of you over the coming months. A big thank you, and I wish you all a very nice summer. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing Chorus Call, and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.