ForFarmers N.V. Stock

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's earnings webcast and conference call. Please note that this event is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over the call to today's host. Please go ahead.

Yes. Thank you, Lynn, and welcome from ForFarmers, where we will be presenting our results of the first 6 months of 2026. I'm here in Latam with Marloes Hotlink, our CFO; and Rob Kies, our COO. We'll start with the key events of this period. From there, Marloes will give the insights on the financial results, and we'll close off with the management agenda for the remainder of the year. After that, as always, the opportunity to ask questions.

If we look back at those first 6 months, we can be extremely satisfied. After a very good 2025, we see a continuation of our strong results and also a further growth of market share, fully aligned with our strategic ambition. We recognize 2 success factors under that, the local approach, strong local teams serving customers with much dedication. The dedication is there also at our headquarters, obviously, to do well for our customers to the farmers and also comes back in the good technical results that we can deliver on farm at this point in time.

The Netherlands, very good results with solid volumes. Germany, the compound feed business did well, but we saw especially a step-up in our storage and transshipment activities. Poland, strong performance, both on volume as on profit, and we are very pleased to announce today that we have received an approval from the Polish Competition Authority for the transaction of KS, which means that we can close off later on this year. The U.K., the results remain satisfactory, although somewhat lower after an exceptionally 2025.

We see that our total volume has increased approximately 5% and also compound feed went up more than 3% -- the basis of that is the consolidation of the joint venture in Germany and also the acquisition of Beuke Laars in the Netherlands in November last year has contributed. If we look on a like-for-like base, we recognize a stable picture, both for total volume as for compound feed. From an operational profitability perspective, we see that our EBITDA has increased with close to 40% and EBIT with 60%. So big steps up. And that also comes back in our underlying net profit that has increased from EUR 23 million last year to EUR 37 million this year in the first 6 months. The return on average capital employed, if we look back 12 months, we were at the level of 14% and also there, a major step up to 22% at the end of June 2026.

It is quite clear that the market has an increasing volatility if we compare it to 2025. Obviously, much impact comes from the geopolitical developments. Energy prices went up, also more volatility in the raw material prices and the latter is also further supported by recent drop and low water levels in the Netherlands. The impact of animal diseases has been declining since Q2, yet it is also quite clear that has affected our like-for-like volumes or compound feed volumes in the first 6 months, and we still see that the poultry industry is recovering with regards to restocking of the farms.

The farm gate prices, broiler and egg prices have stabilized coming from a record level. The milk prices are at a clearly lower level compared to 12 months ago. But the good thing is that we see a recovery in the past months and also in the last week, the milk price went up further. The pig prices has continued to decline. So on that much pressure coming from the Chinese import duties. It is good to see that it is bottoming out, and we hope for a soon recovery ahead of us.

To our opinion, Forfarmers is well positioned to mitigate these market effects. Especially risk management has received much attention over the past 3 years, and I can clearly state that, that has substantiated our results in the first 6 months. Also, we've indicated before that in an environment that offers more volatility, we need to be able to act on that, especially from a supply chain perspective, and that is what we are working on. Volumes go up, go down every now and then. And also if we now look at the inbound situation, so the receivable of raw materials, it's clearly different than it was before.

So I'd like to share an example on the [indiscernible] situation where at this point in time, we cannot use the Teal for our receivable of raw materials. We have participated on that over the past period. We have invested to receive raw materials better via trucks, obviously, very important at this point in time. And we have also renovated our silos, our raw material silos to make sure we can have more storage at this point in time, and that is also helping us in this period. So with that, we can say we are more robust than we were in these kind of situations.

The end of June, the Dutch government has presented their nitrogen package with the ambition to restart the permitting process and provide a greater flexibility for the farmers to work on an outbound-based regulation or as we call it, in Dutch dual steering. We still recognize a significant uncertainty with regards to this package. especially on the practical feasibility. We see that multiple policies appear to come in place and some of these even work contrary. So that needs attention and much discussion is still going on as we speak.

Also the affordability, what does it mean for the income for farmers, not only in the first years, but also on the long term. And very important, the legal robustness of the proposed measures. We have already indicated or heard the indication from some NGOs that they will go to court again to challenge the measures that the government wants to take. And obviously, the outcome remains uncertain until the verdict has come.

So far, the descriptions have been most concrete for the dairy sector, but we also see that for the intensive livestock farming, tighter emissions might be ahead of them. That brings us to the point that what is our goal is for farmers in this. We truly believe that by innovation, we can make most effective progress. Innovation can come from fire feed solutions, but also with regards to on-farm measurements. As an example, we are working at this point in time on manure management steps that can be taken. We're working on pilots together with farmers and also with the province authorities to ensure that we find a scientific base for a legally supported method. We truly believe that this should come at the heart of the nitrogen package that there is an opportunity for farmers to show their craftmanship and their entrepreneurship and to ensure a future-proof farming and also linked to that a competitive Dutch agri food chain towards the future. At this point in time, it's too early to give more indications on the impact for farmers given the uncertainty, as I've just described.

Then moving to the clusters. We as always start in the Netherlands, the volume solid and especially on compound feed, we are very satisfied also with the acquisition of Beukelaars. The pig sector clearly shows pressure coming from the buyout scheme in 2025 and also the current market conditions. It is good to recognize that the strong customer gains over the past years provide a solid base for our factory fill. So that helps us to be competitive. The dairy farmers in the Netherlands have not really changed their feeding programs linked to the current milk prices. So that is obviously supporting our business as well.

And in addition to that, good developments of our beef volumes and go volumes. Poultry, both layers as broilers did well. Market conditions have been good and also our business and volume position has developed satisfactory. Linked to that, we are starting a joint venture together with Kronans Group. Kruland is part of the PHW Group. And with that, we want to build a future-proof poultry value chain. So what does that mean? That means that in this joint venture, we bring together farms that are offered to us. Earlier this year, as example, we announced that we have acquired a broiler farm and that broiler farm by now is already brought into this joint venture. And as for farmers, we will have a 49% stake in this business.

Looking at our other business activities in the Netherlands, we also see a good development. Circular is doing better than last year. So our co-product business, also roading also there the volumes are good. We acquired Furena, a dedicated mill in Germany last year, and we see that the volumes come in as planned and Paro also doing well, our horse business. So that all in all, gives that we are satisfied on our market approach in the Netherlands, which also leads to a very strong underlying operating profitability over the first 6 months.

Moving to the East Germany and Poland, volumes clearly up, obviously steered by the joint venture that started the 1st of March 2025. So we still have 2 months of acquisition effect. But also on a like-for-like base, we see a clear increase of about 6%. Poland is doing well, but also Habema, our storage and transshipment activities are doing much better than last year. We see that the German export position is much more competitive, and that helps our business as well. Looking at our feed compound feed activities, we're satisfied. The business was stable, which is quite an achievement given that also the Dutch poultry sector faced quite some issues from the animal diseases, but we were able to compensate it via other species.

Poland, very good volume development, especially in the broiler business, and that is a confirmation for the steps that we have taken to invest in our locations to expand the capacity. Those are now delivering returns. So that makes us confident that we need to continue to focus on that, invest on that to further establish a strong position. Earlier this year, we acquired Farmpas, to reasons add capacity and also strengthen our business on the dairy business, on the ruminant business and the integration of that is on track.

Then moving to the U.K. The results remain satisfactory, yet somewhat lower than 2025. Two key reasons for that. We do see in the U.K. an impact of lower milk prices, less cows are milk. And in addition to that, we see that the feeding programs are less intensive than in 2025. So that obviously has an effect on the compound feed business and also a margin effect on the co-product business given the change in supply and demand, especially there's less demand coming. So that is one side.

In addition, last year, we divested our second location into the reorganization. That means that we have less capacity available deliberately to produce feed, to mill feed for pig integrators. So that is another reason for the decline in the volume that you might recognize. It is good to mention that Forfarmers has acquired a minority stake in Futulo. Futo is a fast-growing beef integration that has the ambition to offer high-quality beef to the U.K. retailer and for farmers. We want to have a long-standing position in the U.K. to supply feed. And by taking these stakes, we find a good foundation under that towards the future. And with that, I would like to give the word to you, Marloes.

Thank you, Pieter. Good morning, everyone. As Pieter indicated, over the past few months, we have been able to continue our strong performance. First of all, on a like-for-like basis, our volume remained stable. Our market positions improved further, and we are gaining market share. Our acquisitions are contributing to further volume improvement, resulting in a growth of 5% versus half year 1 2025.

Revenue is strongly correlated with raw material prices, which is why we focus more on the development of volume in relation to the gross profit. Gross profit increased by 12.6%. Excluding acquisition effects, the increase was 9.2%. This demonstrates that our local market approach is working well. Underlying operating expenses increased by 2.7% on a like-for-like basis, mainly driven by higher wage costs and higher transportation costs. Together, this resulted in an underlying EBIT of EUR 57.2 million, a significant improvement compared with EUR 35.8 million in the first half of 2025. Underlying net profit attributable to our shareholders also increased in the same proportion to EUR 37.3 million. Financing expenses decreased as a result of lower interest expenses.

Underlying income tax increased, mainly driven by higher profits. The underlying ETR remained broadly in line with the first half of 2025. Noncontrolling interest increased due to the 6-month effect of the joint venture in Germany versus 4 months in 2025, but also because the joint venture in Germany performed better. This results in an underlying earnings per share of EUR 0.42 versus EUR 0.27 in half year 1 2025. The ROCE based on the underlying EBIT increased to 22%, mainly driven by the strong development of the underlying EBIT over the past 12 months.

Turning to one-off items and other APMs. Compared with last year, there are 2 major differences. The first one is other operating income. In the first half year of 2025, it was a positive amount of EUR 7.7 million, driven by the sale of factory in the U.K. and the one-off noncash step-up of Habema. The other one is related to operating expenses. In 2026, we see an amount of EUR 3.9 million. These are mainly M&A costs primarily related to KPS. Amortization of previously acquired intangible assets amounts to just over EUR 6 million. With regard to the net financing results, this relates to the unwinding of the discount on the put option liability of our joint venture Cask mix in Poland. And the tax effect on the ATMs is just over EUR 2 million.

Now a brief look at the balance sheet. Equity decreased slightly and dividend payment for 2025 was almost entirely offset by the profit contribution from the first half of the year. And the solvency remains strong. Net working capital increased mainly due to the higher trade receivables, largely driven by the growing business of the Polish joint venture. The increase in overdue receivables was limited. The net debt increased to EUR 22.4 million, but remains very low and provides sufficient room for M&A. And then finally, cash flows, almost EUR 45 million was generated from operating activities. This is EUR 90 million lower than in the first half of 2025, driven by higher accounts receivable as well as EUR 7 million higher income tax payments.

The cash flow from investing activities amounted to EUR 33 million in 2026 versus EUR 10 million in the first half of 2025. The delta is explained by M&A investments in 2026 on the one hand and the disposal of assets in the U.K. in 2025 on the other. The increase in cash flows from financing activities is mainly driven by higher dividend payments. Together, this results in an increase in the net debt position of EUR 28 million since year-end, bringing the net debt to EUR 22.4 million. And with that, I would like to hand back to Pieter, and he will guide you through the management agenda.

Yes. Thank you, Marloes. Indeed, looking at the remainder of the year in the Netherlands, clear focus to keep on strengthening our market positions in all species that we are active in. And obviously, much attention will go out to support our farmers in the nitrogen plants as they will come towards them. Germany, Poland has start in Poland, big steps to be taken with the closing of KPS. And from there, we can move forward in the integration, integration of obviously KPS within the farmers and integration in the broiler sector to ensure we keep on strengthening our position in the Polish market.

In addition to that, we will keep on expanding our feed production capacity in Poland and also towards the ruminants business, as explained before. Same ambition will be there in Germany to strengthen our feed position in the North German market. And in the U.K., we're working on our investment agenda to ensure our long-term position. So that has to do with capacity on one side and also to ensure the right flexibility to serve the different species in what we are active in. We'll do that with a continuous focus on cost control, and I would call flexibility the keyword of today to ensure that in a volatile environment, we are able to deal with the changing circumstances.

End of this year, we'll organize a Capital Markets Day to feature an update of the strategy and also to indicate the new financial targets. It is a logical moment in time to do that given our strong results over the past years and also the KPS acquisition that obviously also has a strong impact on the future perspective of Farmers. Having said that, we come to the end of this presentation, and I would like to open the floor for questions.

Yes. Lynn, if you can open the floor for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Henk.

I've got a couple of questions. First of all, during the presentation, you said that one of the priorities in Poland is the integration between Tasomix and KPS. At the same time, you want to expand your capacity over there. What does it mean financially? Is the integration -- are we going to see integration costs filtering through in the second half year for what you're doing in Poland? And secondly, in terms of CapEx, do you have any guidelines where we would -- where we could end up in terms of CapEx at the end of the year?

My second question is a bit more of a conceptual or strategic question, if you want. In Poland, thanks to the deal with KPS, you're now moving into livestock yourself. It's a sort of -- how should I call it, forward integration, I believe the expression is. You're doing the same with the joint venture with Humland. Maybe it's my age here, I'm a bit old and then you get cautious. If there are any animal diseases in the old situation, you were a supplier of animal feed. And the worst thing that could happen to you is that you temporarily don't get to deliver food because the livestock is being removed, has to be replaced.

Now you're entering into a situation that you risk a double whammy if it's not only the animal food, which is affected, but you also could risk damages because of, well, whatever animals to be removed or whatever. Is the margin potential so attractive that it is worthwhile at the end of the day? Perhaps you could provide me some more background, some more context on that. Those were my questions.

Yes. Thanks, Henk. And obviously, I'm not going to make any comment on your age. Having said that, going back to the questions, integration Kari, obviously, that always brings some cost with it. On the other side, we need to realize that from a shareholder perspective, the companies were already liaised with each other. So the shareholders of Tasomix shareholder of Kari. So that already brings quite a strong connection between the companies. Also, we already supplied as Tasomix almost all of the feeds for the Karieuterarm. So there were already some strong connections. So I would not call that significant on the other side.

As always, we need to bring it up also, for example, financial keeping perspective towards for Farmers standard. Looking at CapEx costs, if we reflect on the first 6 months, the CapEx costs are pretty aligned with 2025, and it is clearly our ambition that the CapEx cost that we make remain, as we call it, under control. That is given the fact that we have 40 locations in 4 countries, that means prioritization. So per country, per factory, we have a long-term plan defined, which gives us the opportunity to say what do we need to do at what point in time. Some CapEx that we do are there to ensure that we can have a high-quality feed towards the future. And obviously, when we want to expand -- that means we want to have more business and that also should bring more returns. So that is always linked to business cases. And if the local management comes up with a proposal, that is obviously where we, as a Board, take a look at how robust is the business case. So if the CapEx goes up, it should also be linked to a high business return.

I think a vital point that you mentioned is on the livestock and indeed, as you call it, the forward integration. In our strategy, especially in the 2030 strategy, we have defined as one of the pillars that we want to work towards chain integration and especially in the poultry, the broiler business, we see that this development is developing rapidly. So there are several points linked to that. We do it to ensure our future position -- we see, for example, in Poland, there is a different also towards retail or food service customers. They want to see that the broilers are produced and the slaughter process takes place in a very controlled manner. And obviously, if you have it all within one company, the steps that you can take to have control is there also to work on the sustainability journey that obviously comes as a demand from the food customers. So that helps.

So we see it as a business upside. Obviously, also there, we look at the returns of the investment that we do. RPS is a significant investment for farmers. We are very pleased to see that we have received full support from our shareholders and now also have the competition authorities standing behind the transaction. So we do it to ensure our long-term position in poultry industry.

From a risk perspective, you are right. Obviously, this brings different risk towards our company. That is obviously also the ERM team where we take a look at to ensure we fully understand the risk that come out of such a deal. And indeed, if you are hit with an animal disease, you don't only have some space in the factory, but you also have an empty bar or even spot.

On the other side, we also recognize that in this period, opportunities can also come. If in other regions, the bird -- for example, bird flu has a higher impact, the market prices will go up in the remainder of the European regions. So also there, you can have upsides on that. So we take a close look at that, also, for example, to see what can we ensure from a risk management perspective, -- so we recognize the risk, but we also recognize if we don't do it, we take quite a business risk because as a particular -- in a particular point of time, the free feed market as we call it. So that what is supplied directly to farmers and invoice to farmers can reduce if the remainder of the market becomes more integrated. So that is why we take these steps forward, but it is definitely a fair question to ask. And as said, we also do feel that it will be a strong contribution towards the margin potential for our company.

Okay. That's clear. Could I potentially squeeze in a third one, and that's maybe for Marloes. On the deal with I understood that there will be a payment you have to make to your -- to be right, let me put it in those phrases. That's in 3 installments. Will that have a notable impact on your net debt position at the end of the year, Marloes?

Yes, that will. That will be an impact, of course. But as said, Henk, we are well positioned there. So with a very low net debt position right now, I think that is okay.

Okay. So it doesn't restrict you from other M&A activities.

Yes.

The next question is from Patrick Roquas.

So first, congrats with the good results again. And then I have 2 quick questions. The first one is, yes, you're not providing a quantified outlook. That's fine as usual. But you sound very confident for the second half despite, let's say, pretty tough comparables and also quite some volatility in the market. So just checking, let's say, the sounding for second half, which is, in my impression, is confident. And the second one relates to Poland. You mentioned capacity expansion there. Can you remind us how much has been added in the last 6 months? And is there more to come?

Yes. So on the first one, as I said, we don't give an outlook. I've explained how we mitigate the steps that are ahead of us. On the other side, I also want to be realistic, the current situation to bring in additional cost. We need to see what that means for our financial results, but I feel comfortable that our team does best to ensure that we can supply our farmers and that we do that at the lowest cost as possible. And obviously, what I also explained before, at this point in time, it is still not foreseeable how long, for example, the impact of the low water situation will be. And obviously, that determines also the impact on our cost.

So as an answer to the first point that you raised, second part about the capacity in Poland this one? I can. Yes. So basically, what we've announced earlier this year that with Farm, the acquisition in Northeast of Poland, we added 80,000 tonnes of extra capacity. So that has been added recently, of course, before we took steps when we acquired Past, which was at that time around 400,000 tonnes. So that has been added recently. Of course, we're always looking into other possibilities in Poland on where we could expand further, but we will not give any further guidance on that at this stage, but we're always looking on where the white spots are and where we can grow further.

The next question is from Fernand de Boer of Petercam.

A couple on my side is one on the Netherlands. Could you say a little bit on the trend Q1 like-for-like sales growth of volume growth versus Q2? Because I have the impression that market conditions deteriorated in the second quarter. And could you give a little bit color on that one? And also on the Netherlands, if I look at now gross profit per ton, it keeps on moving up. I think if I make the calculation correctly, it was around EUR 63,000 per tonne in this first half versus EUR 60,000 in the second half of last year. Is this where is here the limit and what is going here so strong that this is so much improving half-on-half. And then on the EUR 3 million cost for the unwinding of the put option, Manus, could you give a little bit more details what's happening there? And what does it mean that you unwind it, that you have to pay this put option? And what is then the cash out for this put option?

Okay. So I can pick up on the first one. In general, we see that Q1 and Q4 are volume-wise always slightly higher than Q2 and Q3. That has to do, for example, with the dairy cows being out on the pasture in the summer period. So that trend is also what we recognize at this point in time. Nothing unusual there, I would say, is always a bit more stable. What we do see, and that's also what we have indicated that the pig sector is going through quite a rough time. That is also what we recognize that the pigs are slaughtered at an earlier age. And also that means that the feed demand is lower than it was in Q1.

Yes, indeed, we're very satisfied on the margin, the gross profit development in the Netherlands. We see also that it's a broad perspective at pace, I also indicated on the business activities that we don't mention too much as circular coproducts, roading, organic feed, pao, hors feed. So it's not, let's say, only the traditional big poultry and ruminant business. But we are very pleased to see. We know that based on our high market shares in the Netherlands, we can work very efficient. And we also recognize that from a risk management perspective, the relation between our purchase and activity has been very good in the first 6 months.

So where does it stop? We are very pleased to see. We used before words like extraordinary results, et cetera. So I'm not really sure where this ends. But for us stands as the base and we want to expand our position. So the fact that we combine good profits but also with a strong volume development and that we're gaining market share, that is for us from a strategic perspective, also very important to ensure that we keep on growing our debt position.

And maybe before we go to the other questions, if you look at the gross profit in the Netherlands, could you maybe give a split how much is now coming from the, let's say, traditional feed business and how much is now coming from the specialty business?

I think the word traditional, I know that some people in the organization will kick me for that one, given that also Ring has a long-standing in the same for par -- and also for the co-products. But now based on that, we don't specify that The put option.

Yes, the famous put option, fair enough. First of all, we don't expect any cash out for the put option this year. So in accordance with the IFRS accounting requirements, the put option was discounted when initially recognized. And so per 30th of June this year, we don't expect that this put option to be exercised concerning also the announcement of the joint venture with KTS. However, we still have legal obligation in place. And therefore, we have to reflect this legal obligation, and we also have to unwind the discount. This is also what we have done over the past years. So it's not a new thing.

[Operator Instructions] This is the end of our Q&A session. I would like to hand it back over to the host.

Yes. Then I would like to thank you all for especially the questions raised. I think that's always making these calls interesting. So thanks again for your attention. We'll close off with that. If there are any further questions along the way, you know where to find us, and I would like to wish you all a good day.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's webcast and conference call. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your line. Have a great day.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the ForFarmers Annual Results 2025. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to give the word to Floor. Floor, please go ahead.

Thank you, Berjan. Welcome to the webcast for the 2025 annual results for ForFarmers. I'm here with Pieter Wolleswinkel, Marloes Roetgerink and Rob Kiers. And I will now hand over to Pieter to start the presentation.

Yes. Thank you, Floor. And also on our behalf, a welcome from Lochem. We are here to present our 2025 results. I'll start off with the key events. Marloes will present the financial results, and I'll close off with a view on our management agenda of 2026, after which, obviously, questions can be asked. 2025 can be seen as a record year when we talk about volumes, when we talk about net profit. And obviously, we have seen the additional effects of our acquisitions, so the full year effect of [indiscernible], the joint venture merger with team agrar, but it is good to mention that we also have shown organic growth. That means we're gaining market share.

We see that we have a very customer-focused approach. And by working this way, we are successful in gaining new customers. We do realize that 2025 was a year for our farmers with favorable market conditions. For most of the year, the returns were good, especially for eggs and poultry, but we did see with dairy and pig prices going down that the situation changed towards the end of the year.

In the Netherlands, we have seen that we were able to remain our volumes despite the impact of the buyout schemes. In Germany, we worked on the integration of the joint venture. In Poland, a strong performance. It's very good to mention explicitly the good results in the United Kingdom. We have finalized the reorganization and also in the U.K., we are strengthening our market positions.

This has led to a volume of 10.6 million tonnes, obviously steered by the acquisition effects, but also on an autonomous base, we saw an increase of approximately 1% of our total volume and also of our compound feed volume. Then directly moving to our underlying net profit, we see an increase of EUR 40.6 million to nearly EUR 62 million. That has led to a dividend proposal of EUR 0.30 per share coming from EUR 0.20 over 2024, so an increase of 50%. Our ROACE has increased; end of 2024, we were at 13%; end of 2025, we were at 17.4%. So therefore, clearly above our guidance.

Looking at our sustainability agenda, we can be satisfied with the progress we've made on our 3 pillars: the carbon footprint reduction, the promotion of circularity and the protection of biodiversity.

Starting off with the carbon footprint reduction, we see a decline of 3% per tonne feed. So we are improving. Looking at our Scope 1 and 2, for example, our factories, we are buying cleaner energy and also investing in more energy-efficient installations. Looking upstream, so the sourcing of raw materials, we've made good progress there. We see that in our procurement decisions, more and more we can work with raw materials that have a lower carbon footprint. We do recognize that looking downstream, so towards the consumer, only limited initiatives start to evolve. So therefore, not much progress has been made yet. Yet overall, if we talk about our carbon footprint reduction, we are on track.

The promotion of circularity is a key thing in our strategy, and it is good to recognize that we have increased from 37% to 41%, mainly driven by the full year acquisition effect of Van Triest, a company focused fully on co-products. The protection of biodiversity has 2 key themes. The first is the sourcing of soy, and we were pleased to announce a partnership with Bunge, end of last year in which we will focus more and more on the sustainable growth of soy.

Looking at nitrogen, still a key theme in the Netherlands. We are working on this with our farmers via particular feed compositions and also to help them in their manure management. So based on that, we can clearly show progress on the sustainability agenda.

If we then look at our clusters, we start, as always, with the Netherlands and Belgium, a big step-up in volume driven by the Van Triest acquisition. But what clearly stands out for us is that on compound feed, we saw an increase in the Netherlands, even despite the effect of the buyout program that negatively affected the business in the second half of 2025, especially in the pig sector. For us, this means that our technical results for the farmers are very good. Our feed prices are competitive, and that has led to an increase of market share in all species.

We are strengthening our positions in the poultry industry. We announced the acquisition of Beukelaar in November. So again, a step forward. And also Pavo, our horse business and Reudink, our organic business shows a good performance in 2025. So overall, a very strong results in the Netherlands that gives us the opportunity to invest in the factories and make sure they are competitive and future-proof towards the future.

Looking at the U.K., a clear increase of volume, more than 5%, mainly driven by the ruminants. We see that our positioning stands out. We also recognize that we were supported by the favorable milk prices. We finalized the reorganization in the first half of 2025. The divestment of the second feed mill took place, and we recognize a clearly more competitive cost base and an improvement of the feed mill utilization. And based on that, we are also more competitive in the poultry and pig sector.

So based on that, that means that also there in the free market as well as in the integrated market, we are more successful to act, and that has clearly led to an improvement of the financial result. And it is good to mention that also in the U.K., we have passed the threshold of 10% that we'd like to see on ROACE.

Then moving to the East, the cluster, Germany, Poland, a strong performance. Looking at Germany, we worked on the integration, obviously, of the joint venture, but we can also say that we are satisfied on the performance of the compound feed activities. They are in line with our expectation. Point of concern is HaBeMa, the transshipment activities were slow in the first half of the year due to the small harvest size and also to the change of currency, the dollar to euro that has been a limiting factor for the exports of grain. And if the grains are not exported, the transshipment activities are slow, but it is good to mention that there has been recovery in the second half of 2025.

Poland, strong development despite animal diseases as bird flu that took place in the first months of 2025 and also at the closing of the year. But we are growing, and that means we need to keep on working on investment agenda to ensure capacity towards the future. And therefore, we were also pleased to announce the acquisition of Farmpasz in January of this year. With that step, the Northeast of Poland, we are strengthening our ruminant position.

Last week, we were very pleased to announce a very big step in the history of ForFarmers, namely that we are entering into a joint venture with KPS. KPS is a company that is active in poultry production, slaughtering as well as processing. We know KPS already for a long time. The owners of KPS are also shareholder of Tasomix. And by joining forces, we create a strong integrated approach with the birds, with the feed, with the slaughtering activities and the processing of the meat.

So based on that, we can work more efficient, roll out innovations in a more quicker pace and respond strongly to changing market circumstances. And based on that, that helps us to grow in -- for us, a very important mark towards the future. This is aligned with our strategy that we announced towards 2030. We recognize that in Europe, more and more integrations will develop, especially in the poultry area, and we, as ForFarmers want to play an active role in that and KPS is, therefore, a logical step to take.

KPS is a company with approximately 2,000 employees, a turnover of approximately EUR 250 million and an EBITDA of EUR 46 million. Based on these numbers, you can already recognize that it is, for ForFarmers, a very big step towards the future. The current shareholders are the families, Krzyzanowski and Sobczak. They own 100% of the shares of KPS and they also own 40% shares of Tasomix, where ForFarmers owns the other 60%.

KPS has 7 modern poultry farms with a total of approximately 3 million bird places. All these poultry are supplied to the slaughterhouse in Radom, so relatively a new slaughterhouse opened in 2018. Half of the birds are sourced from the own farm and the other half is sourced in the free farm market in the east of Poland.

Most of the meat is sold for exports and approximately 10% is moved to the processing facility in Pionki. Pionki is also where we have the feed mill of Tasomix. And the processing plant specialized in ready-to-eat products like meals and chicken nuggets. And most of these products are sold to international food services and retail customers.

A new joint venture will therefore be established, ForFarmers Polska with 2 companies, Tasomix and KPS. ForFarmers will then have a controlling stake, 50.5% and consolidate the joint venture fully. The difference in valuation will be paid in 3 annual tranches and the transaction will immediately add to our net profit and therefore, also add to the future dividend.

The transaction is subject to approval by the Polish Competition Authority. And given the size of the deal, we will also need approval from the ForFarmers' shareholders, and it will be agendized for the annual meeting on the 16th of April in -- at Laren. We expect to complete the transaction in the third quarter of the year. And we are also very pleased that the current Tasomix Management Board will lead the ForFarmers Polska Board. They have well experienced both on the feed side as on the food side. And based on that, we are very comfortable that they will be able to lead the integration towards the future.

Having said that, I would like to hand over to you, Marloes.

Thank you, Pieter. Good morning, everyone. As Pieter already mentioned, we look back on a very strong financial year for ForFarmers. I would like to take you through last year figures in more detail. Total volume amounted to 10.6 million tonnes, 80% above previous year, mainly driven by 2 M&A effects. First, the acquisition of Van Triest. This acquisition has been included in the figures since September 2024. And in 2025, you see the full year effect. In addition, the joint venture in Germany has been fully consolidated as of March 2025.

When looking at like-for-like growth, so excluding M&A, volume growth was 1%. All clusters performed strongly in terms of volume over the past year. Looking at compound feeds, reported growth was 6.9% and like-for-like growth was 0.7%. We have been able to further strengthen our market position in compound feed, something we are obviously pleased with.

Revenue at ForFarmers is strongly correlated with raw material prices, which is why we tend to focus more on the development of volume relative to gross profit than on revenue itself. Gross profit improved significantly, both on a reported and like-for-like basis. All clusters showed strong improvement. In addition to the 6.6% like-for-like growth of the underlying gross profit, underlying operating expenses have remained flat on a like-for-like basis. The like-for-like number of FTEs has remained stable and increase in salary costs have been largely offset by lower energy expenses.

Underlying EBIT has improved by 58%, an achievement we are proud of, made possible by the dedication and hard work of the entire team. We see an increase in underlying depreciation, mainly due to acquisitions, but also due to a slightly higher level in investment and replacement CapEx. EBITDA for 2025 amounted to EUR 145.9 million compared to EUR 100.8 million over 2024. In addition to the underlying EBIT, underlying net profit also shows an improvement of more than 50%. Although net finance expenses increased, interest costs on loans have decreased following the lower net debt.

Other components, including interest expenses on leases have increased. The share of profit of equity accounted investees is lower. HaBeMa was accounted for via this method in the past. This has been fully consolidated as of March 2025. Underlying income tax was higher as more profit was generated. Altogether, this results in an underlying net profit attributable to the owners of the company of EUR 61.9 million, which translates into underlying earnings per share of EUR 0.70. ROACE for 2025 amounts to 17.4%.

Regarding exceptional items and other APMs, there are no major changes. Other operating income mainly relates to a one-off consolidation effect of HaBeMa of EUR 4 million and the sale of a feed mill and an office building in the U.K. At the level of operating expenses, this is mainly related to M&A costs. On the next line, you see the amortization of intangible assets acquired in the past. The annual unwinding and revaluation of the Tasomix put option liability are reflected in the finance results, which increased due to a strong performance of our business in Poland. The total of exceptional items and other APMs for 2025 amounts to EUR 12.5 million. Reported profit of 2025 was EUR 54.4 million.

On the next slide, you find the balance sheet. Total assets increased to over EUR 1.1 billion, driven by the consolidation of the German joint venture. Equity increased to over EUR 438 million, driven by the profit contribution and partly offset by dividend paid. The solvency ratio stands at a solid 39.5%. Net working capital increased to EUR 39 million, driven by the consolidation of the German joint venture. Overdue receivables decreased to 7.9%. Last year, the net debt position was EUR 57 million. Due to the strong results, there is no longer a net debt position with a net cash position of EUR 6 million. This provides a solid basis to finance the joint venture in Poland announced last week and other M&A.

On the next slide, you find the cash flow mutations. Cash flow from operating activities amounted to EUR 148 million. Investing activities are primarily related to investment in CapEx in 2025. Increase in cash flow from financing activities is mainly related to the higher dividends paid in 2025 over 2024. Together with the drawdown of loans, this results in a net cash position of EUR 6 million over 2025.

With that, I would like to conclude the financial update and hand over to Pieter to further elaborate on the management agenda.

Yes. Thank you, Marloes. We realize that the market circumstances are somewhat different than a year ago. Milk prices are down and the big returns are also under pressure. Nevertheless, our management agenda stands. Obviously, much attention will go to the completion of the transaction and the start of the integration of Tasomix and KPS. In the Netherlands, strengthening of market position in all species stands out.

Also with Reudink, our organic feed company, we want to achieve growth. In Poland, also the expansion of capacity is on the agenda as well as expansion of our ruminant position given the Farmpasz acquisition. In Germany, we focus on growth now that we have worked hard on the integration of ForFarmers and team agrar. In the U.K., we've shown growth in the ruminant sector. And based on that, we foresee that we need to invest in our capacity towards the future and plans are made for that. We do this with a continuous focus on our cost control. And also when we talk about our sustainability agenda, we will continue to work with chain partners, especially towards consumers to ensure we achieve our ambitions.

With that, we come to the end of this presentation, and I would like to give the floor to questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Fernand de Boer, Degroof Petercam.

Fernand de Boer from Petercam. First of all, congrats with the results. And then I have actually 2 questions. If I look at your implied performance in Q4 with EBITDA still substantially rising, while your volumes were actually quite down. How does that then work with the operational leverage? Or where does any actually strong results in Q4 come from? That's the first question.

And then the second one on the return on invested capital, well above your target of 10%. So how do we have to look at that forward -- going forward and also in light of the acquisition of the merger in Poland?

Yes. Thanks, Fernand, especially for the compliment. On the first point, what we see, especially in Q4 is that on the co-products, one product stream is not longer supplied to the feed industry, but has moved to the biogas industry. That has taken away quite some volume. And as you can recognize, more volumes than margins. We know that the co-products are competitive products. So based on that, it has not so much affected our profit. And given that these products don't go into our factories, it's also not that it has pushed our capacity fill down, so it's -- indeed, the observation is there, but it is good to see that if we look at our compound feed volumes, also Q4 was good to mention.

On the ROACE, indeed, we are already now for 2 years, clearly above our target of 10%. That is obviously also what we recognize. We've always said we will be investing towards the future, and that might affect our future ROACE. Obviously, we have now made the announcement on KPS, but we don't foresee that, that will put a strong pressure on the ROACE figure. So coming back to your question, we obviously realize what the question basically means that what is your future guidance on ROACE over the summer period, we will take a closer look on that. And most probably in the autumn, we'll then come up with a new guidance on ROACE.

Okay. Maybe one follow-up question on the Dutch market because I think in the second half of the year, you saw more impact of the buyout agreement in the Netherlands. How do we have to look at that in, let's say, the first half or maybe in '26 as a total for your volumes?

Yes. So the observation is correct. That's also basically what we stated that the impact was mainly there in the second half of the year. So the buyout schemes meant that in November, the bonds need to be empty. So we still saw obviously also for us a decline in the pig sector coming from that. The good thing is that we have largely compensated it on a year-to-year base. But indeed, it means that in the first half of 2026, this will put the pressure on the factory fill.

We're working on that with the teams. At the end of the day, we always said for every farmer that quits, we need to fill that with a new customer. So we're working on that. And at the end of the day, still with the ambition that we keep our volumes in the Dutch market stable. And that means that we need to gain market share.

And yes, apologies. With the new government in the Netherlands, do you expect new legislation for the farmers? Or is it now finally for everybody a little bit clear that also the farmers can move on? Or how do you feel at that point?

Yes. So what we see is that there's limited money available for buyout schemes, and we're pleased on that. I think ForFarmers has always been very explicit that we don't believe in buyout schemes. It's a relatively expensive way to solve a problem. And we've seen that also with the analysis that have been done on the program of 2025. So it has costed the Dutch taxpayers approximately EUR 2 billion and the effect is minimal. So what we recognize in the new governmental agreement is that there is much more room for innovation. It's target steering. So that means that every farmer will get its targets for nitrogen, and that means with management steps with different feeds, you can work on improvement.

And we believe that, that is a very quick way to move forward to show progress and that will also help farmers towards the future. Will that solve everything? No, there will be particular situations, especially around the material -- 2000 where issues will remain. And there also local steps will most likely be taken. But nevertheless, we do see that it is an opening in the nitrogen crisis, but I also realize that still a lot of work needs to be done also to see what exactly the targets will be for the farmers. Are they realistic? What measurements can be taken also with sufficient legal background backing. So based on that, still a lot of work to do. But for us, the glass is half full.

[Operator Instructions] Next question comes from Henk Slotboom, the IDEA.

Sorry, I was on mute myself. Apologies for that. But here I am. A topic I've been addressing before, Pieter, and perhaps you can clarify it a little bit. Although I like the KPS deal you announced last week a lot, it basically really puts you on the map in Poland even more than you were already before this deal. But there are 2 ways to look at this. There's also a look from a risk perspective perhaps. Let me explain. If we're talking about avian flu, you got away with it pretty well last year in Poland. Now it's spreading over into other territories as well.

Suppose you -- you would have this joint venture already today in the past situation, if stables have to be emptied, have to be cleared and that sort of things, you suffer a damage that you don't sell feed to poultry farmers. But in this case, you're a co-owner of poultry farms as well. Is that increasing the risk there? How we should look at ForFarmers?

Or is it at the end of the day, worthwhile being involved in the poultry farming anyhow, so the integration model you're now establishing. Perhaps you can shed some light on it? And how do you manage this risk? Because this looks like an external factor, which is less easy to control than running your cost base, for example, itself?

Yes, it's a fair observation, Henk. And obviously, we have taken this into account coming to -- at the end of the day, the deal as has been announced. So what we recognize is, one, the impact of Poland will be bigger. Two, the impact of poultry in Poland will be bigger. So indeed, the market circumstances in Poland will play a big role on this. And that can indeed mean, for example, animal diseases.

So for us, it's indeed, it's all about how to mitigate the risk of this. And at the end of the day, that starts with the biosecurity measurements to avoid that you run into issues. Also there, we will evaluate options to ensure. We've also seen that in other countries where with insurance, you can mitigate the risks of that. And on the other side, we also need to be realistic that if we now look at the returns for the poultry farmer, both on eggs as well as on meat, the returns are very good and that basically has to do with the shortage that we recognize also because of the bird flu.

So where it's a risk on one side, looking at the financials, it can also be an upside and that might be that over time, we have particular fluctuations and volatility in our results. In general, that is not what we like, and we want to be reliable in our forecast. But on the other side, we always said, look at ForFarmers don't steer on a quarter-to-quarter look. At the end of the day, we are in this business for a long period of time. And that will also mean that in Poland, we always need to take a longer perspective on the results. So based on that, Henk, we recognize the risk, but we feel comfortable on the mitigation of the risk.

[Operator Instructions] And with that, I will now turn the call back over to Pieter Wolleswinkel for any final remarks. Pieter, go ahead.

Yes. So my final remark will be thank you very much for your attention. Thanks also for the questions. It also gives a good interaction to the meeting. And if over the coming period of time, there are any further questions, then obviously, you can get into contact with ForFarmers, and we'll be more than pleased to answer your questions. So with that, thank you, and I wish you all a very good day.