Georg Fischer Stock

[Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the GF Mid-Year Results 2025 (sic) [ 2026 ] Conference Call and Live Webcast. I am Sandra, the Chorus Call operator. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it is my pleasure to hand over to Anna Engvall, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, madam.

Good morning, and thank you to everyone for joining GF's Mid-Year Results. I'm Anna Engvall, Head of Investor Relations. Joining me today are Andreas Muller, CEO; and Mads Joergensen, CFO. In terms of agenda, Andreas will kick off with an overview of key developments in the first half. Mads will take you through our financial performance and thereafter, hand back to Andreas for the full year outlook. We will finish the session with Q&A as usual. Before we get started, please let me draw your attention to the disclaimer regarding forward-looking statements and alternative performance measures on Slide 2. With that, I will hand over to Andreas.

Thank you, Anna. Also from my side, a warm welcome, and thank you for joining us this morning. Before diving into H1 performance, let me take a moment to highlight what is currently top of mind for the GF management team, including myself. operational execution and excellence, free cash flow generation and debt reduction; and finally, profitable growth.

These important priorities shaped our first 6 months as a pure-play flow solutions leader. In the first half, we delivered solid growth with order intake up 15.1% organically in a challenging market environment. We secured several large multiyear customer agreements for mission-critical solutions in fast-growing end markets. We implemented proactive pricing measures to mitigate rising raw material costs. We also initiated fundamental changes to enhance the way we operate. By streamlining the organization, we are well on track to exceed our CHF 40 million Fit for Growth target, enabling reinvestment into areas that support customer proximity and future growth. And the closing of fresh cards towards year-end will substantially contribute to debt reduction. Our work is not yet complete. To further improve performance, we took targeted actions in Building Flow Solutions Europe in Q2 to simplify our product range and sharpen customer focus.

The remaining measures will be implemented in the second half of 2026. We are also rolling out supply chain initiatives to reduce working capital and improve free cash flow. Looking to H2, we see a strong order book underpinned by a record semiconductor-related order intake and infrastructure contract wins. As such, we are raising our sales outlook to mid-single-digit organic growth, previously low single digit with an unchanged comparable EBITDA margin of 14% to 16%. Let's now turn to Slide 4 for the mid-year key figures. Sales in Flow Solutions were close to CHF 1.6 billion, reflecting solid organic growth of 5.7%.

Comparable EBITDA margin was 13.4% and comparable EBIT margin 10%, in line with our expectations for the first half. We also progressed towards our 2030 sustainability targets. Our sustainable portfolio increased to 77% of sales against our target of 80%, demonstrating how our business and sustainability are closely intertwined. Moving on to Slide 5. We see that Industry sustained last year's performance, supported by growth in solutions for data center and Life Sciences, compensating for a generally weak European industrial business. Sales in semiconductors were stable in Swiss franc. Also, order intake was exceptionally strong. Based on secured projects in Asia, we are confident this business will deliver its full potential over the coming quarters and years. Infrastructure showed strong momentum with 6.4% organic growth despite adverse weather conditions in Q1 and a continued weak Chinese gas market. Buildings outperformed subdued construction markets with organic growth of 3.3%, driven by a strong Q2, particularly in North America, Switzerland and the Nordics.

The first half was marked by 2 distinct quarters. Organic growth was minus 1.3% in Q1, largely due to severe weathers in Northern Europe and the U.S. This affected Infrastructure and Buildings, both in terms of growth and profitability as a result of underutilized plants. Growth accelerated to 12.5% in Q2 as we regained momentum with order intake well above prior year levels. We also saw solid growth in buildings with announced price increases leading to selective prebuying. Profitability also improved sequentially driven by operating leverage, product mix and Fit for Growth measures. Moving on to Slide 7. With the acquisition of Uponor and the transformation, we are executing 2 distinct programs to support profitable growth. Through our value creation program, we have simplified the portfolio, optimized our footprint, achieved procurement synergies and continue to realize commercial benefits from customer and channel synergies. At mid-year, we had achieved annualized run rate synergies of CHF 35 million, keeping us firmly on track to deliver CHF 40 million to CHF 50 million by 2027.

Launched Q4 2025, Fit for Growth targeted CHF 40 million of cost savings, now raised to CHF 60 million by creating a leaner, more customer-oriented organization. Based on secured savings, we are well on track to reaching our raised target. We streamlined the organization and rightsized corporate functions. We closed production units in China, Malaysia and Oman and exited certain non-core businesses such as marine services in the Nordics. We also reduced OpEx through tight cost management. In addition to certain counter effects, we are reinvesting in promising end markets. We made strategic hires of around 150 people in our growth areas. We also strengthened our technical and commercial sales team to support Building Flow Solutions full initiative. Let's now take a closer look at 2 key areas of reinvestment, our semiconductor and data center businesses on the upcoming slides. The semiconductor industry is gearing up for a strong new cycle. [indiscernible] investments until 2030 are expected to exceed USD 1 trillion. GF is well positioned for this up cycle as a leading innovation partner to the industry.

With our new solution, SYGEF Ultra, we are offering the highest purity level. Importantly, the rinse time in a refurbishment is down 80% to only 5 days compared to today's technology. As I mentioned earlier, we have recently signed several multiyear agreements with some of the largest customers, securing a record level of committed orders for more than 50 projects globally. A portion is already reflected in order intake for the first half, which doubled compared to prior year. We are scaling up production to meet this demand.

Moving on to data center. Sales reached nearly 20 million in H1 with a strong order book on hand, still primarily in facility cooling. As said before, we aim to extend our presence into the white space where we have already completed several successful proof of concepts. This lays the ground for being part of the next-generation cooling designs. Surging AI demand is driving a wave of investment with global data center CapEx expected to reach USD 1.7 trillion over the next 5 years and computing demand to set to more than double by 2030, exceeding 200 gigawatts. One large 100-megawatt data center, if liquid cool creates an addressable opportunity for GF of around CHF 15 million, supporting our midterm sales target of CHF 300 million for this segment. Polymer-based solutions have several advantages over stainless steel in terms of energy efficiency, installation speed as well as total cost of ownership.

On the slide, you can see our new multi-control valve, a mission-critical component for efficient thermal management in the data center, key to winning in this market. This is now included in multiple test installations with customers. First sales are expected by end of year. Before Diving into the performance of each business area, please allow me to take a minute to provide an overview on Slide 11. We have a naturally hedged portfolio across multiple subsegments with an ambition to establish or maintain market leadership in each. Industry supplies mission-critical solutions for diverse end markets, including water treatment, semis and chemical processing.

Our key markets are the U.S., China and Germany. Infrastructure provides solutions for water infrastructure, including storm water, potable water and gas distribution. We are strong in the U.S., Europe and Brazil. Buildings supplies hot and cold water and heating and cooling solutions in Europe and North America, serving primarily wholesale, but also the do-it-yourself channel.

With that context, let me now move on to the performance by business area, starting with Industry on Slide 12.

Order intake was strong, driven by data centers as well as semiconductors, which accelerated to a record level on the back of announced fab projects and multiyear customer agreements. Organic sales growth was 5.7%, supported by demand in the U.S. and parts of Asia, Europe and North Asia remained subdued. Comparable EBITDA margin was a strong 18.8% given significant ForEx headwinds and cost inflation. These pressures were partially offset by pricing actions and Fit for Growth. Looking at Slide 13. Let me briefly go through key market drivers and our differentiators. Our portfolio is aligned with a number of structural growth drivers ranging from water reuse to data center build-out.

Our right to win is based on decades of experience in mission-critical applications. Taking semis as an example, we pioneered ultrapure water conveyance 45 years ago. Today, we are the leading innovation partner for the industry and are well positioned to expand our share of wallet with key customers by addressing adjacent areas.

Turning to Slide 14. We saw strong momentum in order intake and sales driven by sustained demand for water distribution and storm water systems in Europe and in U.S. gas distribution solutions. Structural issues in the Chinese infrastructure market are weighing heavily on gas and water distribution and [indiscernible] Chinese business and GF's Chinese business is severely affected. We progressed the integration of VAG with a particular focus on capturing cross-sell opportunities by strengthening the technical sales force and joint product management to unleash the potential of VAG. Comparable EBITDA margin was 9%, still shy of our strategic target. Negative ForEx effects and unbalanced production load and raw material cost inflation were partially offset by price increases and cost-saving measures. Going forward, we are confident in increasing the margin by leveraging our comprehensive offering, which I will address on the next slide.

Taking a look at market drivers on Slide 15, we see that aging networks and regulatory changes support steady growth going forward. We are well known for being the sole comprehensive solution provider, including for valves with VAG and repair systems. In gas distribution, we are benefiting from the ongoing build-out and modernization of the network, especially in the U.S.

In Engineered Infrastructure solutions, including storm water, demand is driven by climate-related flooding, aging networks and regulation. In response, we have brought to market pressure management chambers, which offer significant growth potential and attractive margins. As for Buildings on Slide 16, we outperformed the underlying construction markets, delivering positive organic growth in both Europe and North America despite a weak Q1 due to severe weather. Order intake grew by 7.3% organically with a good book-to-bill ratio. Net sales were up 3.3% organically. In Europe, market conditions have stabilized, and we saw good growth in the Nordics and Switzerland with our heating and cooling portfolio contributing. The Home Depot expansion is well on track with a confirmed target of 100 stores by year-end. The pricing measures implemented from 1st of April contributed positively to performance and led to selective prebuying during Q2.

Comparable EBITDA margin remained broadly stable. Pricing actions and cost savings from Fit for Growth helped offset the impact of raw material prices and negative ForEx effects. Even in a difficult market, our U.S. business continued to deliver EBIT margins in the high teens. While the U.S. market has certain structural benefits, we are taking measures in Europe to close the gap, as mentioned earlier.

Turning to Slide 17. The buildings market across the U.S. and Europe is highly subdued but has stabilized. Long-term demand for water supply and heating and cooling is supported by structural housing shortages, increasingly stringent drinking water regulations and building renovations, coupled with heat pump adoption. GF is well positioned to benefit from these trends through its leading market positions in Europe and the U.S. with strong brands and deep expertise in drinking water applications. In the growing heating and cooling market, especially cooling, we are well positioned with integrated solutions such as the Ecoflex VIP 2.0 systems together with the Smatrix Intelligent indoor climate control platform. With this, I will now hand over to our CFO, Mads Joergensen, to go through our financial performance.

Thank you very much, Andreas, and good morning, everyone. Before we dive into the numbers, I would like to provide some important context on Slide 19. The transformation continues to have a material impact on the presentation of our financial statements. And for this reason, I will present both the group results and the GF Flow Solutions.

GF Flow Solutions corresponds to our continuing operations in our financial reporting. However, please be aware that continuing operations still includes certain impacts of the casting divestments, specifically the previously communicated CHF 172 million deconsolidation loss in the first half. This is adjusted in the comparable figures, along with other items affecting comparability. We do acknowledge that these transformation-related effects adds complexity to our reporting. Fortunately, the transformation will be completed with the closing of the Precicast divestment. We will then have a cleaner view on the underlying operating performance with materially lower adjustments in 2027.

In the meantime, we are maximizing our efforts to be as transparent as possible. Now let's start with Flow Solutions sales bridge on Slide 20. FX movements had a negative impact of approximately CHF 88 million. Organic growth amounted to CHF 84 million, reflecting both positive volume development and pricing measures as described earlier by Andreas. In addition, the consolidation of VAG from January 1 contributed CHF 81 million of sales. Moving on to the bridge on Slide 21. We start with the prior year Flow Solutions comparable EBITDA of CHF 208 million. FX negatively impacted EBITDA by CHF 20 million. The net impact of price increases and raw material costs was CHF 1 million, while volume and mix contributed with CHF 11 million.

The booked savings from Fit for Growth amounted to CHF 20 million, offset by reinvestments and other items, implying a comparable EBITDA of CHF 212 million for this half year. Moving on to Slide 22. We have today provided additional transparency on the profitability of the 2 business areas within Industry and Infrastructure. It is important to note, however, that Industry and Infrastructure operate as highly integrated and synergistic businesses.

As a result, the financial metrics presented here are indicative and divide by applying defined allocation methodologies. Starting with Industry, sales grew 5.7% organically, while delivering a strong comparable EBITDA margin of 18.8%, reflecting its mission-critical and specification-driven applications.

Turning to Infrastructure. The business continued to benefit from resilient demand for water infrastructure solutions and a solid project pipeline. And of course, VAG contributed inorganically. Structurally, the margins are lower in this business area. Nevertheless, we expect to move towards our 2030 targets of 13% to 15% EBITDA margin by leveraging our position in higher-margin integrated solutions for water infrastructure.

Buildings grew 3.3% organically with a comparable EBITDA margin of 12.6%, broadly in line with prior year. As Andreas mentioned earlier, the margin improvement will come from our pull initiative and a reduction of complexity in our European operations. Moving on to Slide 23, which summarizes the full set of GF Group, GF Flow Solutions and the divisional numbers. At the Group and Flow Solutions level, reported EBITDA -- reported EBIT and the net profit were impacted by the divestment-related deconsolidation loss of CHF 172 million.

Let's turn to Slide 24 for an overview of such items affecting comparability. Restructuring was CHF 15 million, of which Fit for Growth was the lion's share. The impact of the Casting Solutions divestment was CHF 172 million. And then we had other items and impairment changes totaling CHF 11 million. In total, at the EBIT level, these items amounted to CHF 197 million.

Given the significant one-off effects in the first half, we show a normalized profit on Slide 25. By adjusting the group reported net profit for the impact of the Casting Solutions divestment of CHF 172 million, the sale of real estate in Biel, the restructuring and certain non-recurring taxes and other items, [ we derive ] at a normalized net profit of CHF 170 million. As seen on Slide 26, the first half was again characterized by significant currency headwinds. Almost all major currencies weakened against the Swiss franc with the U.S. dollars representing the largest negative impact. As a result, foreign currency movements reduced group sales by CHF 91 million and EBITDA by CHF 20 million.

Assuming the current spot rates do not move materially, we expect a much less pronounced foreign currency impact in the second half. Moving on to the group balance sheet on Slide 27. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to CHF 448 million, reflecting free cash flow development as well as M&A. Overall, total assets decreased to CHF 3.264 billion, mainly driven by the divestments and the resulting deconsolidation effects. Noncurrent liabilities increased to CHF 2.182 billion, reflecting new corporate bond issuance and the refinancing of existing liabilities.

The total amount -- the total equity amounted to CHF 27 million, reflecting the net result, divestment-related effects and other movements. As seen on Slide 28, group reported EBITDA amounted to CHF 29 million, including the non-cash deconsolidation loss related to Casting Solutions. The total net working capital increased by CHF 145 million due to normal seasonality and substantially higher accounts receivable driven by the strong sales in the month of June.

Interest paid decreased, reflecting the repayment and refinancing of Uponor-related acquisition debt on attractive terms, while cash taxes were also lower. After adjusting for non-cash items, including the deconsolidation loss, cash flow from operating activities amounted to CHF 22 million. Capital expenditures decreased significantly compared to the prior year, mainly due to the divestment of Casting Solutions. Group cash flow -- free cash flow before M&A amounted to CHF 35 million. It includes CHF 70 million proceeds from the sale of the Biel real estate. As can be seen on Slide 29, net debt was around CHF 1.6 billion at mid-year, corresponding to 4x net debt to EBITDA as defined by the lending banks for applicable covenants. By year-end, we expect the leverage to be around 2.4x to 2.8x, reflecting the cash proceeds from Precicast. Parallel, we are already implementing other debt reduction measures such as inventory optimization, which will continue into the second half. With that, I will now hand back to our CEO for the 2026 outlook.

Thank you, Mads. Let's turn to Slide 31 and our outlook for the full year. Looking to H2, we expect to benefit from a strong order intake in Semiconductors & Infrastructure as well as implemented price increases, cost reductions and product range simplification measures. Taking these factors into account, we raised our sales outlook to mid-single-digit organic growth with an unchanged comparable EBITDA margin of 14% to 16%.

Turning to the final Slide 32. We have made solid progress on the execution of Strategy 2030, which remains unchanged. Excellence in execution will remain top of mind going forward, along with free cash flow generation and debt reduction as well as profitable growth, as I emphasized at the very beginning of this call. Supported by strong megatrends, we are confident in delivering on our Strategy 2030 targets and driving sustainable value creation. Thank you, and I will now hand back to the operator for the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from [ Mr. Bitusanayakumar ] from [ Vader Europe ].

Just 2 questions on my side, please. So the first one will be on Flow Solutions. So it delivered another good performance. So could you just help us understand which of the 3 segments, so industry, infrastructure or buildings will be the largest contributor for the growth during the second half? And then the second question is regarding the guidance upgrade. So we understand that it is going to be upgraded in terms of sales nevertheless, what could we expect in terms of margins? I mean, we know that the range has not been changed. But what should we expect? Where do you place yourself within the range? And did your view change before the first half '26 and after, especially with the rate target for the Fit for Growth program.

Thank you very much for your question. I think I will answer the first one in regards to our sales expectations in the second half of the year, and our CFO will give you a bit more background on our profitability. As we have seen that the order intake has been exceptionally strong in our Industrial segment also driven by attractive end markets, we assume that an over proportional part of the growth is allocated to our industrial business, namely by semiconductors, but also by data centers, but also some increased activities in multiple industrial niches.

Your second question, the guidance on sales has been upgraded. That is correct. Now in terms of profitability, it means that the second half will be more profitable than the first half, as you can see from the numbers. We have done our stress test of the scenarios, and therefore, we confirm the current range of 14% to 16% EBITDA margin [indiscernible].

The next question comes from Mr. Jörn Iffert from UBS.

I would have 3, if I may, please. The first one would be, please, on the order intake, which was very strong. I mean, any reasons why we should not take the order intake for H1 as a sales indication for the second half? Or can you give us some more details about longer lead times, longer orders also into 2027 or even '28, which are included here?

Second question, the cost of goods sold went only up around CHF 10 million year-over-year despite the oil price increase, polymer price increases. Can you explain what exactly is standing behind this, why it was so low?

And the third question is, please, in Building Flow Solutions, very good result in tight end markets. What exactly was driving this as we understood, you are mainly exposed to residential new builds, which was not good on the end market. So how do you explain the good performance? And also, would you say prebuying played a major role here?

Thank you very much, Mr. Iffert. Let's quickly allude a bit to the order intake, and it is exactly how we have mentioned a few of these orders taken in are having tenors which will exceed the second half of the year. So in being cautiously guiding on our growth, we have given also in the scenario planning a bit [indiscernible] certain delays on certain projects. The cost of goods sold will quickly answered by our CFO.

Thank you very much for the question on the COGS. The main reason for the lower growth rate on the cost of goods sold is actually a mix. It's attributable to the mix that we have. We have lower COGS typically in industrial where we see stronger growth. And the same situation, we have a higher COGS in the Solutions where we've seen lower growth. That is actually the real explanation behind these numbers.

[indiscernible]

And Building Flow Solutions, I think it's a very good observation. I think what we did and what we have announced already last year and this year is that we have restrengthened our market presence, particularly also by changing our organizational setup to create more proximity or proximity to our customers by giving the right level of support, but also creating a pull effect in the market that was definitely supportive to sustain the turbulences. The synergies, as we have outlaid them in our value creation program, for example, kicked in now in the first half of this year for the first time.

So Switzerland was for us a very strong market. We delivered a growth only in Switzerland, which was above 10% by leveraging the channel. And thirdly, we are known for having a very convincing system when it comes, for example, for the heat pump connections. The heat pump connection is something where GF is focused on. And also in addition with our indoor climate control, we're exactly addressing the refurbishment market, which supported us across Europe. I think that to be said are the main reasons in Europe, in the U.S., we could further build out our positions, particularly here in Canada with a growth rate in the high single digits.

Thank you very much. If you allow me just to zoom in on the second question quickly again because I think it would be good to understand this better. I mean with a CHF 10 million increase in COGS year-over-year, this is really normal inflation if the Middle East something would never have happened and oil price never would went up. Is there any inventory effect we need to consider that you're buying in semi-finished products, which were still not exposed to cost inflation yet? Or did you still benefit from inventories rolling over that you see more cost of goods sold pressure in the second half? Or is this really the underlying run rate we should also assume more or less in the second half in terms of cost of goods sold given the current polymer prices?

So far, the cost increases that we've received in the first half, we have seen no further in -- at the moment. And given that the -- let's say, the raw material environment remains as it is now, we don't see further hikes in the materials. But as you know, I'm not the one that decides on these prices. We just don't expect it in the second half. It is really related to more a mix. The number you see there contains the raw material prices increase, but it also, of course, contains a effect of foreign exchange, which lowers the number again. That's why the -- so our sales number went down by CHF 88 million on FX. You would also have a corresponding effect on the COGS from FX.

A last point to the COGS development is, as we have outlaid in our value creation program, we also did over the last 1.5 to 2 years, footprint optimization of our production setup.

The next question comes from Mr. Martin Flueckiger from Kepler Cheuvreux.

I've actually got 3. Some of them coming back to questions that were already raised, but I would like to get a little bit deeper on those. Just -- but the first one is on the drivers of business acceleration in Q2. Now I realize all the weather issues that we had in Q1 and Q2 was supposed to be better from at least if you exclude any potential impact from the war in the Middle East.

But I was just wondering what were the main surprises there for you guys in terms of business acceleration? I mean, 12-point-something percent organic growth in terms of top line, that's pretty hefty in my mind. I'll take one at a time. I'll come back to my second question in a minute.

I think as mentioned and as also the outlaid was we had some spillovers of the adverse weather conditions of Q1 into Q2. That was mainly in our infrastructure business, where we have seen frozen ground in the Q1 for more than 7 weeks in the northern part of Europe as well as worse weather conditions in the U.S. for a period of some 10 days. That created pent-up demand, which was executed in Q2, but this doesn't explain the entire growth. We have seen also various industrial segments picking up. And here, towards the end of Q2, we have realized now on the first strong order intake on our semiconductors, but also the acceleration of our data center businesses. So those 2 were also additional drivers in the industrial sector.

We also have seen a strong development in Q2 of our refurbishment and, for example, thermal solutions in our Building Flow Solutions business. So overall, I think that has been -- has it been largely a surprise? I wouldn't say like that, but we have seen how markets were developing, and we understood that we had a very subdued start into the year. So we would balance the Q2. If you would take out the spill-offs, you might would be in a high single-digit organic growth instead of the double-digit organic growth in the second quarter.

Okay. That's helpful. And when you talk about spillovers, you mean catch-up, right?

Catch-up, yes, it would be a catch-up of [indiscernible].

Got it. Okay. My second question is on the outlook for the semiconductor business. If I remember correctly, you guys were looking at an improvement of around CHF 40 million from CHF 160 million last year, so roughly 25% organic growth, plus/minus, yes. Is that expectation unchanged? Or have you adjusted anything there?

I think with the strong order intake in the first half of the year, which was accelerated, we have to say that. We expect that number, which we have tabled in our annual results conference is likely the lower range or the lower threshold of the range what we anticipate for the semiconductor to grow this year.

Okay. And then finally, on the EBITDA margin guidance for 2026, still a pretty large range, 14% to 16%. Just wondering what are the key elements of your scenarios behind, let's say, the upper end and the lower end of that range?

Thank you for the question. The -- as I said, the EBITDA margin for the full year is confirmed. The facts that we have right now indicate we should be in that range. Any movement towards the upper end of the range would definitely require a substantial further increase in semiconductor and data center-related sales. That is the main effect. But we've done our scenarios and it confirms in that range.

Next question comes from Mr. [ Chase Kugland ] from [ Kempen ].

I just have 2. starting -- going back to the organic sales growth guidance of mid-single digit. It implies basically no acceleration in terms of the second half versus first half. And given all the moving parts, the very strong order intake, improving underlying markets, the pricing benefit, I'm curious on why we would not see that accelerate more. Is there some destocking effect you're expecting? Or could you provide some more color around that, please?

As said, normally also the second half is marked by a certain level of seasonality, which is overcompensated by the strong order book, which we have now materialized in the first half of the year. So we are cautiously guiding on a mid-single-digit organic growth.

Okay. And in terms of that this destocking potential, you said there's inventory stocking at some distributors. Is that now given -- at least if you look at construction PMIs, they're still very soft. Is there any risk that you see some destocking in the third quarter, for example? Or is that something you're thinking about?

No, I think since the delivery performance of our business is exceptionally high, we are, generally speaking, not at the highest level with our wholesalers. So we do not expect any severe destocking effects in the quarters to come.

Okay. That's clear. And then my second question would be around the CapEx for this year. Do you have sort of an updated guidance number for what we should expect there? On the CapEx side, we are steering towards the CHF 100 million to CHF 110 million for the Flow Solutions business. Looking at where we are now, I think that's a very good target to have.

The next question comes from Mr. Charlie Fehrenbach from awp.

What are the biggest implications through the ongoing war in Middle East regarding the higher energy prices and possible disruptions in supply chains on to your company?

Thank you very much for your question. I think the biggest impact of the Middle East war most likely is in the range of volatile raw material prices as we have seen commodities being rather volatile, and that ultimately affects a certain portion of our raw materials and resins. That's, for sure, one of the biggest impacts. The business in the Middle East itself is also affected by this volatility. And therefore, it remains and we see a shift in the nature of the business in that region. So we see now an overweight in infrastructure over residential new build. And the war obviously will affect whether there is, say, a normalization of the business sectors as we have been looked after them or whether they will change in their composition going forward.

The next question comes from Mr. Tobias Fahrenholz from ODDO.

Coming back to pricing and one-offs. So on pricing, could you remind us again about the pure top line impact in the first half and what you consider now explicitly for the full year outlook? So I assume so far, you consider the typical 1% rise. And then secondly, on the one-offs, could you give us a feeling now for the disposal of the remaining castings business? So do you foresee here another major book gain in the second quarter? Could you maybe quantify it? And on 2027, Mats was referring to lower one-offs here, but not saying they are fully disappearing. So what do you mean with that? What kind of size you're looking here at '27? And what could this be? Is there another cost savings program coming up, whatsoever?

Thank you for your question. On the pricing in the first half, we are at the level of 1.5% as an impact on the top line. And if we annualize that and look a bit forward, we would expect by the year-end to come out at 2% to 2.5%. That's what we're looking at.

In terms of the one-offs that are relating to the restructuring programs, we have been largely through most of the activities that we have planned there. It would not -- it doesn't mean that we're completely through, but I would say the vast majority of the one-off effects should be there. There may be considerations on further footprint optimizations also in the second half that, that will be -- is further in analysis. In terms of the effects of the divestment of Precicast, here, we are looking not at a book loss. We're looking at a book gain, potentially in the area between CHF 30 million and CHF 40 million depending on the final figures at closing.

The next question comes from Mr. Walter Bamert from ZKB.

Can you hear me?

Absolute Yes, we can hear you.

Perfect -- You -- or if I look at it correctly, I see headquarter cost allocated to Flow Solutions of CHF 12 million in the first half. Is that the run rate you expect going forward? And with that, there is no unallocated headquarter cost within the group?

Thank you for the question. Going forward, we would expect a reduction of these costs. Some of these costs in the first half also are restructuring related. So we have made certain effects from the Fit for Growth in the headquarters as well. So in the second half, we would expect that to be at a lower level.

Perfect. And you had somewhere the figure of the Fit for Growth of CHF 51 million probably for the full year. Are the benefits of the restructuring that you executed much bigger in the second half than in the first half? Is there a gap that you could indicate? Is the CHF 10 million more in the second half? Or how big is that improvement?

As we said, we have raised our target to CHF 60 million in 2026 savings. So the second half will have a higher contribution from our Fit for Growth measures. And I think your number you tabled the CHF 10 million is very much in line with our expectations, which should be the increased savings for the second half out of the Fit for Growth program.

Okay. And then I think there were several questions regarding the product mix. But overall, do you expect a positive margin effect from the product mix coming through in the second half relative to H1?

We can anticipate certain positive effects due to the overweight of our industrial business and also the strong order intake in our industrial business, which comes naturally with a higher margin since we are here on highly technology-driven end markets.

Okay. And then I mean, all you mentioned today also in the Q&A session, we indicate a much better future than the past. So has been H1 being basically the bottom and from here, everything will improve. So the question is, what could go negative from here?

I think we are always going to make a statement bearing unforeseen circumstances. We never know what kind of further escalation in the global geopolitical framework could happen. We have not changed the fundamentals of our business. Our business was always based on strong fundamental developments. I think whether it's being innovations in the industrial sector where 80% of any industrial production process needs the conveyance of gas or liquids. We strongly believe that the infrastructure secular trends are very strong to cater for our business, particularly when it comes to the combination now of our offering with mission critical valves such as for water urban infrastructures, we alluded to the district metering chambers, which are a one-stop solution or one product, which can manage the pressure in urban infrastructure, therefore, increases longevity, but simultaneously decreasing water losses.

And I think the underlying trends in our construction industries across the world are currently now looking at the undersupply for affordable housing or new build. I think the markets in Europe, even though they are slightly stabilizing, and we see some upticks here in the Nordics, but also strong in Iberia and solid Switzerland, we do now that we have an undersupply, and we are on run rates compared to let's say, to the year 2021, which are largely subdued, even 40% to 50% in large economies such as Germany. So we're going to believe the fundamentals have not changed. And therefore, GF was always geared to benefit from that one. What is new? We're starting now to realize the commercial synergies. And I think we have also given here a heads up that this is not a quick win by migrating product ranges and consolidating offerings. I think it is about becoming listed, having the right approvals and creating the pull in the market out of our Uponor. We see now the first results this year, and we hope that we can continue on delivering on that one in the years to come. So [indiscernible].

We also saw recently the acquisition of Rotork by ABB. I think it's a good timing to explain to which extent is Rotork active in the same areas than Georg Fischer, to which extent it's synergistic and to which extent this is a competition.

This is a competitor to Georg Fischer in the automation area, but it's not a significant. Our competition picture globally is highly, highly fragmented. We are up against numerous competitors and that -- your question is probably indicating, is there a change with this move in the competition or the competitive landscape? Does it have any implications for us? And with that, I can answer no, it does not really have any material implications for us.

[Operator Instructions] Now the last question from Mr. Alessandro Foletti from Octavian.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can, Mr. Foletti.

Okay. Just wanted to ask you if you can provide the organic growth rate in -- for the Infrastructure and Industry business units on the order intake level. You mentioned CHF 4 billion [indiscernible] but I'm not sure I heard that number for orders of Infrastructure and Industry.

In Industry, we have seen an organic order intake growth in the magnitude of 20%. And in a combination, that means we have roughly around a high single-digit number in our infrastructure business.

And then the size of the Middle East business, can you remind that one?

It depends a bit. We define the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey as one of the region, which equals approx -- a notch below 5% of our total sales.

All right. And then one question on [ DAG ]. You mentioned that they had CHF 81 million contribution. How many months was that? Was the whole 6 months, I don't remember.

Yes, it was a full 6 months since the acquisition was executed in Q4 2025.

Okay. So it was the full 6 months. I thought it might be a little bit higher. Was there a big translation effect there or the growth was not as good as -- I don't know, maybe the growth was not that strong.

No. The valve business and particularly the large bore mission-critical valves such as eccentric butterfly valves, but also the pressure controlling valves is also a capital expenditure business, which is heavily a seasonal business in the second half of the year. So it was -- the business itself was growing also in the first half of the year on a year-over-year comparison.

Right. Okay. Very good. And then maybe one last question. I don't know if we can solve this here, but you have given the split of the business units for H1 and H2 -- sorry, for H1 '25 and H1 '26. I was wondering if you can provide that also for the full year so that there is some sort of comparison when to make the forecast for '26 and going forward?

We will do that. Thank you for the question. The split, as we have shown here, we will do that when we announce the results of the full year. You will have the full year numbers then.

I know -- I assume that you will do that there, yes. I was wondering if you could provide '25 previously.

At the moment, that's not part of our reporting package, but yes.

Okay. Is it fair to assume that the split between industry and infrastructure within that is kind of -- is there a reason why H2 and H1 split are different?

We do not expect that to be. shift in that split, no.

Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Andreas Muller for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much for your interest in our company, and we wish everyone a nice summer break. Thank you.

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.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great pleasure to welcome here to welcome you to our full year results conference here at the Hotel Widder in Zurich. Present from our side are our CEO, Andreas Muller; our CFO, Mads Joergensen; our Head of Investor Relations, Anna Engvall; and myself, Beat Romer, Head of Global Communications. Andreas and Mads will guide you through the key operational developments and also the financial performance of 2025, share our outlook for 2026 and provide you an update on the priorities of our Strategy 2030. Following the presentation, my colleague, Anna will moderate the Q&A session. We will first take questions here from the room and afterwards then from the participants in the webcast. Afterwards, you are warmly invited to join our lunch buffet here in the back or in the room adjacent.

With that, I would like now to hand over to Andreas to begin the presentation. Thank you.

Thank you, Beat. Also from my side, a warm welcome, and thank you for joining us this morning. Let's start on Slide 3, highlights of the year. 2025 was marked by the largest transformation in our corporate history. With the divestment of Casting Solutions, GF has become a pure-play Flow Solutions business, focused on the buildings industry and infrastructure end markets. I would like to thank the entire GF organization as well as external stakeholders for their support during this time of significant change. With a solid foundation in place, global footprint, broad offering and innovation capabilities, we are excited about the journey ahead of us, and we focus on executing Strategy 2030, establishing ourselves as the leader in Flow Solutions.

Coming back to our 2025 results. Overall, our performance in Flow Solutions was solid given persistent geopolitical headwinds and a challenging macro environment. Infrastructure continued to demonstrate strong momentum. Industry, however, was impacted by muted demand in general as well as continued project delays for semiconductors. The European construction market remained mixed, while the U.S. market weakened in the second half. In addition, we faced adverse tariffs and currency effects impacting our industrial U.S. business.

It is important for me to emphasize that we will -- that while we performed well in certain areas, our overall result did not fully met our expectations. As an organization, we are capable of achieving more. As such, we are swiftly moving forward with a new effectiveness and efficiency program called Fit for Growth, which will take out CHF 40 million this year, of which most will be secured already by end of Q1. Along with an expected recovery in key end markets in the second half of the year, we expect low single-digit organic sales growth and a comparable EBITDA margin of 14% to 16% in 2026, which corresponds to 10.5% to 12.5% at the EBIT level.

Let's now take a look at some of the key metrics for 2025 on Slide 4. Sales for Flow Solutions came in at CHF 3 billion with 0.6% organic growth, more or less in line with guidance. Comparable EBIT margin for Flow Solutions was 10%, excluding items affecting comparability, which was slightly below our expectations. Including these items, the reported EBIT margin stood at 8.9%. The comparable EBITDA margin was 13.4%. The proposed dividend per share is CHF 1.35, in line with last year's level, subject to approval at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting in April.

Moving on to Slide 5. With geopolitical issues escalating through 2025, we leveraged our global footprint and local-for-local presence, which limited but not eliminated our exposure to tariffs. We also benefited from diversification with certain markets and segments compensating for others. The Americas is nearly CHF 1 billion business today and grew 3.5% organically. Our Building Flow Solutions business outperformed an increasingly challenging construction market, and our industry business performed well. We continue to invest in our U.S. business and inaugurated a new 15,000 square meter facility in Shawnee, Oklahoma. By doubling our capacity, we are now in a position to better serve our customers in the important and growing natural gas sector.

Europe was weaker, down over 2% organically with strong growth in infrastructure, partially offsetting weaker performance in industrial end markets and buildings. A key development last year for Building Flow Solutions was the start of the expansion of Hassfurt into a Central European warehouse. By streamlining our logistics setup, we will make distribution both more efficient and also faster for our customers. APAC performed well, driven by momentum in marine, chemical processing and various industrial segments, offsetting weakness in semiconductors. Building on our long-term presence in the region, Asia remains an important and attractive market. Last year, we opened our new customer experience center in Shanghai, bringing the GF experience to our customers, in particular, localized industrial solutions for the Chinese market.

Moving on to Slide 6, which summarizes the many steps which have shaped our transformation. While progressing the Machining and Casting Solutions divestments, we also took important steps to enhance our Flow Solutions business with the acquisition of VAG, which brought mission-critical metal wealth technologies to GF. Going forward, GF is uniquely positioned to capitalize on its broad Flow Solutions expertise across industry, infrastructure and buildings.

Moving on to Slide 7. The integration of Uponor, which was, of course, the initial catalyst of our transformation is also progressing well. We further reduced portfolio complexity in 2025, optimized our production footprint and began harvesting customer and channel synergies. For example, we strengthened our presence in the fast-growing MENAT region with an end-to-end portfolio of integrated Flow Solutions for large-scale projects across buildings, industry and infrastructure. We expanded into the U.S. renovation segment through a partnership with Home Depot.

We also combined Uponor AquaPEX with GF's ChlorFIT to deliver complete domestic water solutions for commercial buildings in North America and as well launched the Uponor S-Press portfolio in Switzerland to address the attractive hot and cold water and heating applications. In total, we achieved run rate synergies of CHF 29 million in 2025, which compensated for multiple adverse cost impacts, including ForEx, utilization, wage inflation and therefore, allowed us to maintain last year's profitability level in Building Flow Solutions. Looking ahead, we remain on track to reach CHF 40 million to CHF 50 million by 2027.

As mentioned in the beginning and shown on Slide 8, we have launched a new effectiveness and efficiency program in late 2025 called Fit for Growth to drive profitable growth. With this program, we will take out CHF 40 million of costs in 2026 by reducing noncustomer-facing roles and external expenses. We will also continue to optimize our production footprint and rightsize our corporate functions. In total, approximately 600 employees will be affected by the program. We started in Q4 last year and have made strong headway already. The majority of measures will be secured by the end of Q1. Importantly, Fit for Growth will allow us to continue to invest in our future, specifically our strategic priorities, which underpin Strategy 2030. We expect to reinvest a part of the achieved savings in our sales organizations to ensure effective and superior customer service. We also have started a net working capital initiative to enhance the performance of our net working capital.

Let's move to Slide 9. With our transformation, sustainability has become even more closely linked to our business and strategy, and we remain fully committed to our ESG journey. I'm very proud to confirm that we successfully delivered on key targets of our 2025 sustainability framework. We expanded our portfolio of products with social and environmental benefits to reach our target of 77%. We also reduced Scope 1 and 2 CO2 equivalent emissions by 51% compared to our 2019 adjusted baseline and increased our number of carbon-neutral sites to 12, including Sissach and Seewis in Switzerland. Very important, we also reduced accidents by more than we have targeted.

Moving on to Slide 10. Overall, Industry & Infrastructure Flow Solutions, I&I Flow Solutions grew sales by 1.9% organically, driven by the strong momentum in infrastructure in Europe as well as gas distribution in the U.S. Organic sales growth in H2 was 2.2%, up from 1.6% in H1. Demand in industry in the U.S., Middle East and Northeast Asia also remained solid. In Europe, geopolitical tensions weighed on our customer willingness to invest. Demand in certain end markets such as chemical processing and mining remained muted. Semiconductor-related sales landed below expectations at minus 16%, driven by persistent project delays, especially in the U.S., Europe and China.

Looking to 2026, we see an improved outlook for semiconductors driven by AI-related infrastructure, high-performance computing and memory demand. We have secured key projects and are well positioned with advanced new technologies such as the SYGEF Ultra, where we are setting new purity and performance standards for ultrapure water systems. We also anticipate demand for data center cooling solutions to accelerate, albeit from a relatively low base. Sales tripled to around CHF 30 million in 2025. Comparable EBIT margins for I&I Flow Solutions declined to 10.9%, driven primarily by unfavorable product mix given lower semiconductor-related sales, ForEx, but also tariffs. The ForEx impact at EBIT level was clearly nearly CHF 19 million.

Moving on to Slide 11. As we highlighted at our recent Capital Markets Day, liquid cooling for data center presents an attractive growth opportunity. With 7 pilot projects, more than 30 proof of concepts commissioned as well as more than 20 initiatives currently in advanced discussions, we are seeing encouraging signs of polymer-based solutions gaining traction in the market. We are particularly excited to be working with Rittal as the provider of a complete cooling piping infrastructure for Netmountains' new data center in Velbert, Germany, covering the facility water system, the technology cooling systems and room cooling. This is the first project where we have supplied the entire polymer-based cooling loop from chiller free cooler to the chip, including all components.

Behind the products and systems, GF was also responsible for the entire design and engineering work as well as the prefabrication, which enabled fast project execution. We also brought a few of these products and the ones which haven't been with us at the Capital Market Day. We brought our new energy valve, which is a balancing valve, which controls the flow when it goes into the racks to ensure the most efficient removal of heat. We strongly believe that in the generations to come of data centers, the liquid as being water will take over glycol-based systems as we see them as per today. The polymer solutions offer multiple advantages, which I will not stress at this point of time.

But looking up here, GF is also outside the building, which is the facility from the compressor to the cooling distribution units, the CDOs, which serve then the cooling liquids to the individual racks. And GF offers a comprehensive and complete solution in polymer, and we're going to see an advantage in water over glycol in the years to come. We will launch this energy valve, the balancing, the Delta T balancing in the months to come.

Moving on to Slide 12. To support growth in broad range of industry and infrastructure applications, including liquid cooling, we have invested in our Seewis plant in Switzerland, the Canton Grisons. Following the upgrade, Seewis is a world-class facility for production of ball valves and actuators with high levels of automation and increased efficiency in all areas, ranging from production to logistics to energy use.

Moving on to Slide 13. On the infrastructure side, we are capitalizing on strong market momentum by helping customers upgrade their water networks and minimize water loss. Together with VAG, we were uniquely positioned in the market as a one-stop shop solution provider. Our high-performance DMA Flowise chambers enable installation in 1 to 2 days instead of weeks. And with industrial like prefabrication, the high quality reduces water loss, improved pressure management and provides faster response through continuous network monitoring.

Moving on to Slide 14. The acquisition of VAG made us uniquely positioned in the market as a one-stop shop solution provider. The integration after the closing in Q4 is well on track, and our plans are executed to drive commercial synergies. I think one of the great examples is this so-called DMA district metering area pressure control chamber. Such a chamber is being used 50 times for approximately 20,000 inhabitants. What does it do? It keeps the pressure in the network always constantly on the same level to ensure, first of all, that when you open the faucet, you are not getting splashed or you don't have any water at all. But it is much more important in terms of keeping the network well intact with a good thought through pressure management, you're going to reduce the exposure and the aging of a network by more than 75%.

GF uniquely positions throughout the Uponor infrastructure integration, which produces this kind of special Weholite chambers. With our existing product portfolio of couples to multiple systems with a pressure retaining valve, which is only 1/3 in terms of complexity compared to conventional technologies, we offer a very easy-to-install solution. Such a chamber can be between CHF 30,000 and CHF 40,000. And as I said, on a 20,000 population city, you most likely would deploy some 50 of these chambers. The prefabrication makes it so unique due to the fact that you have a control quality within this chamber. Our teams join forces across Europe already today. We have focused with the VAG integration on a few countries. And we have done so far good progress already also here in Switzerland and the customer feedback to have a first-time one-stop solution when it comes to urban water infrastructure systems was well appreciated.

Let's move on to Slide 15, Building Flow Solutions. The business declined by 2.7% organically. Adjusting for discontinued product lines, the organic decline was 1.8%. On a quick note, in Switzerland, we have been able to grow by around 5% in that market, also due to the fact that we have launched new products from the Uponor range into the Swiss market. Europe remained mixed during the year, down 2.1% organically. Adjusting for discontinued product lines, Germany held its ground amid a slow market recovery. Residential building permits were up 11% year-over-year in 2025 after several years of decline, indicating positive momentum in construction activity beginning towards the end of 2026.

Switzerland, Benelux, Iberia, Poland and some of our key European markets were in positive territory. U.S. and Canada also proved resilient in a slowing market. Our collaboration with Home Depot to expand in the U.S. do-it-yourself market got off to a good start with our presence increasing to 30 stores on the West Coast. The comparable EBIT margin remained stable at 8.7%, supported by the value creation program. The currency effect at the EBIT level was minus CHF 6 million. With the measures implemented, we are confident that we have set the base to achieve our target margin.

Moving on to Slide 16. As we increase our exposure to the renovation market, innovations such as Siccus 16 underfloor heating system play a key role. By 2030, nearly 16% of the EU's building stock will require renovation due to energy performance standards introduced by the EU. Our Siccus 16 underflow heating system enables energy-efficient comfortable heating as well as cooling with fast installation times. The system also combines seamlessly with our Smatrix AI wireless control system, which intelligently adjusts room temperature for maximum comfort and efficiency.

Looking at Slide 17, Siccus 16 and Smatrix are compatible with both traditional systems and heat pumps, connected via pipes such as the next-generation GF Ecoflex VIP 2.0. With its superior thermal performance, flexibility and fast installation times, Ecoflex is a natural fit for every new heat pump installation and our offerings perfectly match the need for efficient heating and cooling. Driven a push towards energy security, decarbonization and affordability, heat pumps have overtaken over traditional energy sources and are expected to grow at a CAGR of 15% until 2030. Supported by this momentum, the Ecoflex range was one of our best-performing solutions in 2025.

Allow me quickly to reflect on what will come along with the exchange of conventional thermal fossil systems in housing. A heat pump allows you simultaneously to make benefit of cooling. And this is something which is largely and highly appreciated by many of the households and being obviously also considered in new build. We offer not only refurbishment solutions, what you see here with ceiling cooling systems, which can nicely then be connected to heat pumps. We also offer systems which can go in new build, but also the smart control, which allows them to make best use of the heat pump, where we also have interfaces to control the heat pump through our Smatrix systems, especially when it should be used in combinations with cooling and not only heating. So we see -- we have set the ground with the solutions, not only Ecoflex, but also our indoor climate control systems, a good base to profit from this trend in the market.

With this, I will now hand over to our CFO, Mads Joergensen, to go through our financial performance.

Thank you very much, Andreas. The transformation obviously has had quite an impact on our financial report. To provide transparency, we present our income statement in discontinued and continuing operations. The discontinued contains 12 months on Casting Solutions and 6 months of Machining Solutions until the closing of the sale, which was on the 30th of June 2025. We also have certain one-off effects from the divestments, including noncash book gains and losses, which I will elaborate on later.

Starting on Slide 19. Here, we provide an overview of the net sales of the GF Group. Net sales were CHF 4.1 billion, down from CHF 4.8 billion, primarily driven by the deconsolidation of Machining Solutions, the foreign exchange effects. Organically, group sales were down 1.7%. Focusing on our Flow Solutions business. Industry & Infrastructure Flow Solutions was up 1.9% organically, and Building Flow Solutions was down 2.7% organically for the reasons Andreas mentioned earlier. And Casting Solutions consolidated for the full 12 months declined over 8% organically, driven by a continued weakness in the European automotive market.

These movements are broken down on the bridge on the next slide. And looking on Slide 20. Sales were down CHF 74 million organically, driven by Building Flow Solutions, Casting Solutions and Machining Solutions. The foreign exchange effect had a negative impact of CHF 153 million. I'll come back with more detail in a bit. The consolidation of VAG from October 1 added sales of CHF 54 million and the deconsolidation of Machining Solutions lowered sales by CHF 492 million.

Moving to the full income statement of the GF Group on Slide #21. As a reminder, continuing operations reflect our Flow Solutions business, although with certain one-off effects this year. Discontinued operations include Casting Solutions and Machining Solutions, as mentioned earlier. Gross value added of the group declined as a result of the sale of Machining Solutions. Continuing operations increased primarily driven by the book gain on the divestment of Machining Solutions of CHF 143 million. Personnel expenses declined for the group. For continuing operations, they increased slightly to CHF 841 million, driven mostly by new employees joining from VAG. The personnel cost ratio increased to over 28% from 27% in the prior year. Reported EBIT of the group was CHF 326 million and a margin of 7.9%. This includes impairment charges for Casting Solutions of CHF 83 million shown in discontinued operations.

The net financial result amounted to minus CHF 136 million for the group, including additional value adjustments of CHF 83 million on the affiliated Casting Solutions business. Note that this CHF 83 million is in addition to the CHF 83 million mentioned just before, so that the total is CHF 166 million for 2025. Income taxes decreased slightly for the group. The corporate tax rate was temporarily elevated at around 40% as a result of the nonrecurring taxes and other one-off effects. It will likely remain elevated in 2026 due to the divestment-related effects before normalizing in 2027 at around 26%. Finally, net profit to GF shareholders declined to CHF 103 million, including all items affecting comparability. For the continuing business, the net profit increased to CHF 196 million, including the machining book gain. I'll elaborate more on the net profit in a moment.

Looking at comparable EBIT on Slide 22. The margin declined to 7.6% for the group. As can be seen, this decline was driven by the lower profitability of I&I Flow Solutions, Casting Solutions and Machining Solutions. BFS remained stable at 8.7% despite a weaker top line, benefiting from synergies achieved via the value creation program and including SKU rationalization from plant closures that we did in Italy and Turkey as well as procurement savings.

Slide 23. Overall, our core Flow Solutions grew 0.6% organically for the year and 1.2% organically in the second half. As mentioned earlier, the decline in Industry and Buildings was offset by strong growth in Infrastructure. The comparable EBITDA margin declined to 13.4%, while the comparable EBIT margin fell to 10%. This was due to the unfavorable product mix and due to lower semiconductor-related sales as well as adverse FX effects and tariffs.

Slide 24, which provides details on the items affecting comparability. At the EBITDA level, these items include CHF 44 million of restructuring and other expenses. The purchase price allocation impact of CHF 3 million refers to the inventory step-up that we did on the VAG acquisition. The deconsolidation refers to the CHF 143 million book gain that we did on Machining Solutions and the total on EBITDA level is CHF 96 million. Including impairment charges of CHF 83 million relating to Casting Solutions and value adjustments of CHF 83 million, the total impact on net profit is minus CHF 71 million. And on the right-hand side, important note for 2026, the EBIT and EBITDA will be negatively impacted by a divestment-related CHF 180 million, mainly noncash loss from recycled currency translation effects, also CTA called and goodwill. This is also being communicated, but it affects the 2026 accounts.

Let's now take a look -- closer look to the EBITDA bridge on Slide 25. Starting from 2024 with a comparable EBITDA of CHF 618 million. The organic impact was minus CHF 64 million and FX effect was minus CHF 34 million. The divestment of Machining Solutions and VAG acquisition led to CHF 53 million lower EBITDA contribution, resulting in a comparable EBITDA of CHF 467 million. Reported EBITDA was CHF 564 million.

On Slide 26, yet again, we saw significant adverse currency effects in 2025. Almost all major currencies, particularly the U.S. dollar, developed negatively against the Swiss franc. The total effect on group sales was around CHF 153 million and an EBIT minus CHF 29 million.

Given the significant one-off effects, we show an adjusted net profit on Slide 27. Adjusting for the book gain of Machining Solutions of CHF 143 million and the impairment charges and value adjustments relating to Casting Solutions in total CHF 166 million as well as one-off taxes and other effects, we arrive at an adjusted net profit of around CHF 147 million.

Moving on to the asset side of the balance sheet on Slide #28. Our cash and cash equivalents decreased to CHF 569 million, reflecting free cash flow development and M&A activity during the year. Overall, total assets decreased to CHF 3.6 billion, down from CHF 4.3 billion, driven by the divestment of Machining Solutions.

As for the liability and equity side of our balance sheet on Slide 29, our current liabilities decreased by more than CHF 600 million, driven by proceeds from the divestments and the total equity decreased to CHF 41 million.

Now to the free cash flow on Slide #30. Reported EBITDA, which includes the book gain on Machining Solutions was CHF 564 million. Net working capital increased by CHF 86 million, driven by the increased inventory levels to improve service levels at I&I Flow Solutions. Please note that the net working capital will also be addressed as part of the Fit for Growth program through supply chain optimization and other measures. The interest paid decreased as a result of the repayment and the refinancing of the Uponor-related acquisition debt. Deducting the noncash Machining Solutions book gain, cash flow from operating activities declined to CHF 268 million. CapEx remained elevated, driven primarily by investments in Casting Solutions for production facilities in the U.S., of which approximately CHF 40 million has been repaid by the new owner. Excluding M&A, free cash flow declined to CHF 21 million.

I would now like to highlight a few additional figures on Slide 31. Net debt was around CHF 1.7 billion at year-end, including approximately CHF 300 million cash proceeds from Casting Solutions and the building in Biel, it was CHF 1.4 billion. Net debt to EBITDA was 3x at year-end, in line with expectations. The equity ratio has decreased now to 1.1%. As already mentioned, the 40% tax rate was temporarily elevated in 2025 for the reasons explained before, and it should return to a normalized level of 26% in 2027.

Now turning to my final slide, #32. The proposed dividend is CHF 1.35 per share, in line with last year's level.

Now I'd like to hand back the word to our CEO.

Thank you, Mads. Let's turn to Slide 34. After a challenging 2025, we saw a significant escalation of geopolitical tensions, we are seeing certain tentative signs of improvements in our end markets with momentum expected to accelerate in second half of the year. In the construction market, building permits have ticked up in markets such as Germany and the Nordics. In industry, we expect semiconductor-related sales to accelerate based on our growing project pipeline, while infrastructure is expected to remain strong on the back of aging water investments. Meanwhile, we have started the year with a streamlined corporate organization and lower cost structure based on already secured Fit for Growth metals. And we are fully committed to achieving the full CHF 40 million with the majority already secured by end of Q1. Overall, we expect organic sales growth in the low single digits and a comparable EBITDA margin of 14% to 16% for 2026.

Before we wrap up, I would like to take a few minutes on Strategy 2030 and our key priorities for this year. Our vision or North Star is clear. We want to be the global market leader in Flow Solutions in our 3 business areas: Buildings, Industry and Infrastructure.

Let's move to Slide 37. Strategy 2030 provides a path to get there. Based on our 4 strategic thrusts, we want to maximize our core business and grow with new applications and innovative solutions to drive growth and margin expansions towards our 2030 targets. In the near term, we intend to double down on certain key market opportunities, which offer accelerated growth. I would like to highlight 5 in particular. Importantly, these are not only new bets. We are in these businesses with the right solutions and sometimes even with significant sales already.

Now we want to take them to the next level. With data center capital expenditures estimated to reach USD 1.7 trillion until 2030 and performance standards continuing to increase, we see a tipping point in the industry in favor of polymer solutions over the midterm. With our innovative and complete solutions, which are based on water as the ultimate coolant, we aim to grow this business to CHF 300 million in sales over the next 5 to 6 years. Based on current customer acceptance levels, we believe we are on the right track.

Liquid cooling for HVDC high-voltage direct current converter stations for example, renewable energy, we offer unique capabilities, which our customer value. We are well positioned to further expand this portfolio and grow regionally to expand in this very attractive segment. Driven by multiple megatrends, including AI and digitalization in general, the global semiconductor market is set to reach USD 975 billion in sales in 2026, up 27% year-over-year. To capture this growth, we continue to innovate to set new purity and performance standards. In December, we launched SYGEF Ultra, our next-generation purity PEEK piping solutions for the efficient transport of hot ultrapure water, expanding the boundaries of purity.

We alluded earlier to indoor climate and the potential we see given the rapid growth of heat pumps. With our superior solutions from the heat pump to climate management in the building, we are well positioned to benefit. Finally, on urban infrastructure, we can now offer a unique one-stop solution based on the combined offerings of GF, Uponor and VAG. We have received the first custom orders for pressure regulating chambers and see great potential in continuing to help customers upgrade their networks. It is important to acknowledge that water scarcity will only continue to become a more pressing topic over time. I firmly believe that GF can make a difference as a one-stop shop for urban water infrastructure with our cutting-edge technology and solutions. All in all, these growth opportunities, combined with our value creation and Fit for Growth programs are a feedstock of achieving Strategy 2030.

With that, it's time to move on to our Q&A section. I will hand over to Anna to moderate the Q&A session.

Thank you, Andreas, and good morning, everyone. We would now like to move on to the Q&A session. As Beat mentioned, we will first take questions from the room and then from the webcast. If you have a question please raise your hand and make sure to wait for the microphone so that people on the webcast can also hear you. I think we are first here in the right corner. Mr. Iffert, please go ahead.

It's Jorn from UBS. Two questions, and I go back in the queue, please. The first one is on the cost saving program, the CHF 40 million and you are freeing up the 600 headcount. Is this also changing your processes and your structure? Or is it really pure headcount reduction and processes and structures including go-to-market strategies will remain unchanged. This is the first question. And the second question, just a technical one. On the net working capital program you have launched, what are you doing exactly? What do you expect is the contribution to the equity free cash flow? And then also in general, what do you see in terms of equity free cash flow generation in Flow Solutions in 2026 after maybe a more muted '25?

Thank you very much, Mr. Iffert. I would like quickly to elaborate on our Fit for Growth program. The Fit for Growth program, as I said, is not only taking out headcounts or costs. So we're going to focus on OpEx, but also on our employees' cost. And it is a structural adjustment in a few areas, but it is also in a few areas an adjustment to a new volume and optimization of processes. We also will leverage obviously, new technologies to allow GF to become more efficient. So it's a largely efficiency increasing program.

In terms of net working capital, the increase in inventory was mainly to increase the service level of I&I Flow Solutions. To counter that, we have set a target of a reduction of inventory of 5% for the end of the year. The measures will be SKU rationalization. So product pruning, have to go back to the basics as well as supply chain optimization, which could involve some changes of the layout and how we do our warehousing and production day out. In terms of free cash flow guidance for 2026, we aim at CHF 175 million to CHF 200 million for the Flow Solutions business.

Thank you, Mads. Next question here, if I saw correctly, go ahead, Mr. Fahrenholz.

Yes. Tobias Fahrenholz from ODDO BHF. Speaking about the margin weakness in '25, the 10% adjusted, which you achieved versus 10.5% target at the lower end of the range. Can you provide a little bit more color on the reason for the deviation? So what has been the deviation impact of semi market currencies, tariffs? That would be my first one.

Thank you very much. As we have alluded, we had a severe impact of the ForEx. So the currency effects have been quite substantial, but a minor effect of the tariffs. But overall, we had a mix change in terms of what we have sold. So the infrastructure business is attractive, but it is not as attractive as, for example, the semiconductor business. As you might have seen, the semiconductor business has been affected by minus 16% in the year under review, so was the industrial business subdued across Europe. So it's more or less a mix, which has largely affected also our profitability next to the currency effect and the tariffs.

Okay. And looking ahead into '26 and your guidance, why is the range so wide? And would be the base assumption to reach the middle?

The base assumption to reach the middle would be obviously the growth being at the upper range of our guidance. And I think we feel good in terms of executing on our Fit for Growth program, but also that certain end market subsegments need to develop favorably.

Okay. Let's go to the middle of the room. Yes, please go ahead.

It's Dominik Feldges from Neue Zurcher Zeitung. 600 employees you've mentioned will have to -- that's a reduction of your workforce. Can you a bit elaborate a bit on where that is going to happen, especially how much the headquarter, I think you mentioned also corporate functions. I think how much it will be affected here, the workforce here in Switzerland. And then you've mentioned the construction market, I think, in the U.S., which is becoming increasingly challenging. What is happening there? And if you may allow one more question, tariffs. You've mentioned that there was an effect, a minor effect you said, but how much in terms of tariffs did you have to pay? And will you now try to reclaim these tariffs?

Thank you very much, Mr. Feldges. The headcount reduction, which is broadly in line with the efficiency increase program is approximately 5% of the global workforce. It is more or less equally spread with a slight overweight across Europe. Switzerland will be also affected with approximately 10% of the addressed 600 people. And yes, you're absolutely right, we will also realign our central functions, but not only on the corporate central functions also on the divisional central functions.

Coming to the U.S. construction market, I think, yes, we have seen a weakening towards the end of the year. We are confident that we will outperform the market, particular that we have -- we also outperformed the market in 2025 compared how the last quarter has been developed. I think we have been slightly negative, but only slightly organically negative in the U.S., clearly less than the overall market. We believe with our new solutions, I have mentioned the combination of AquaPEX and our ChlorFIT to allow also move into more commercial applications, but with the do-it-yourself market entrants to address the very important refurbishment market, which we haven't addressed in the years before, at least to this extent.

Talking about the tariffs, as we mentioned, we had a minor effect, but it had an effect. So it was clearly above CHF 5 million. So it was a bit between CHF 5 million and CHF 10 million and how to reclaim, I think we are rather wait and see what is now the ultimate solution on the most current developments. We are obviously now will go for our rights, but we would first wait and see how the whole thing will actually turn out.

Okay. Yes. Mr. Bamert, go ahead.

You have given us the sales figures for Industry and Infrastructure separately. Can you also give us the adjusted EBIT figure? And will you continue to do that in the future?

For the split of Industry and Infrastructure.

Yes.

For the reported figures, we have, let's say, a consolidation system that we have 2 divisions. The split is an approximation. We have set strategic targets, and we will continue to provide updates on how the separate businesses will go also on a profitability. We're not prepared for this meeting.

Not at this meeting, but from half year figures.

We have also said.

We can expect to get 3 divisions or you will also...

We do not provide 3 divisions. We provide 3 business areas.

EBIT and top line.

Remember that these profitabilities are because of the way the accounting system is put together is an approximation.

Okay. And you also split the building business between Europe and North America that will continue only on the top line? Or will also add a split of profitability there?

It's a good question. We have not decided fully on our segment reporting in the new setup.

Not also regarding the top line reporting.

We have not decided yet.

Okay. Yes. And then material cost, you should have some tailwind from the lower material prices. How does that translate over time into your profitability last year and this year and the future?

On the material cost, it's correct. We had seen some downward trends on a number of the resin prices about CHF 600 million of the Building Flow Solutions business as well as CHF 300 million of the I&I Flow Solutions business is linked to this lower material cost. So it's actually priced on a daily basis and therefore, also priced into the market, which means that we have followed partly also the decreasing material costs, which leads to, for instance, in BFS, there we were able to compensate a bit. But overall, the price effect overall for both BFS and I&I Flow Solutions has been very little in 2025.

Okay. Next question. Yes, let's go here to the front.

Alessandro Foletti, Octavian. Can I ask you a couple of questions? Maybe a quick one, if you can provide order -- organic growth for the order intake in the 2 Flow divisions.

Mads?

The organic growth for the order intake in the 2 Flow -- for the whole year in -- for the Flow Solutions business. Overall, it was for I&I Flow Solutions, we're looking at an order intake growth of and not over the growth, so about 2% order intake for the full year. And for BFS, we had a decline in the order intake also in the area of 2.5% decline.

Great. And then on the one-off cost or let's say, the Fit for Growth program. But I'm a little bit surprised you mentioned in the slide that it will cost you CHF 15 million. Oftentimes, when companies do this restructuring, the ratio is between cost and savings is more closer to 1:1. So maybe you can explain why you'll be able to do it with less money.

I think our Fit for Growth program, as we have also alluded to, has stressed in the last year more on the portfolio optimization, which normally comes along with higher charges in terms of restructuring expenses when we have, for example, closed down our -- one of our Turkish operations and consolidated multiple places across Europe. That came along with higher restructuring costs, whereas the program to go is focusing, as I said, on OpEx, operational expenditures, but also on efficiency activities in our headcount functions. And yes, here, we talk about severance payments.

Okay. And maybe last one. Can you give an indication on the expected leverage, net debt to EBITDA for '26?

I think end of the year will be below 3, end of 2026. It will be below 3, yes.

But that also means, for example, not around 2.5.

No, we will be closer to 3.

Great. Yes, let's go here.

Ingo Stossel from UBS. Regarding your M&A guidance to reach your midterm top line targets, do you have any update here? I think you probably need to buy quite a bit to get to the range which you have. And are there any gaps in your current portfolio which you see, especially in your focus areas?

Our focus areas are very comprehensive solutions at this point of time, I have to say. I think when we talk gaps, we talk regional gaps. We have front-loaded our M&A activities with the acquisition of VAG already in the year 2025, which gave us the opportunity to combine our mission-critical wealth technology with our existing offering. So I think we are well on track in terms of our M&A pipeline. But nevertheless, talking about M&A, we will see more activities in the years beyond 2026 and not in the year 2026.

And to follow up on that, what would your leverage guidance look like after 2026 if -- you say you probably will buy something.

We have said that if we follow the plan completely, it would be at the end of 2030, our leverage will be below 1. But since we are planning on acquiring companies, we would estimate that we will be around 2 net debt EBITDA at the end of 2030.

Great. Next question.

Martin Flueckiger from Kepler Cheuvreux. I've got 2 questions, and I'll go back in line afterwards. First one is on, I think, Andreas' statement regarding the development in the semiconductor business. If I remember correctly, minus 16% organically was already the number for H1. Now you're saying, if I understood you correctly, that it's the same number for the full year. And yet again, if I remember correctly, at the half year stage, you guys were guiding for a rebound in the second half. So just wondering whether you could elaborate a little bit on what went wrong in the second half in semis and what exactly you're expecting for 2026? That's my first question.

And then the second one is on your targeted reinvestment into the sales organization going forward. You were talking or in the press release, you're talking about CHF 40 million savings, if I understood correctly, in 2026. And part of that is going to be reinvested. So I was just wondering how much of that will be reinvested and what the net figure will be in terms of cost savings?

I think 2 excellent questions, Martin. Thank you very much. I think, yes, that was something which we have not seen, and we have been quite optimistic when we have released mid-year results, then we have seen an increased project pipeline and also quite a nice order book on our semiconductor businesses. But we have seen that many of these projects can be pushed out of the year under review. So that was also for us, as I said, our results didn't live up to our expectations. That was one of the key drivers. So we have expected to be rather seeing a slight growth in the second half of the year, which we haven't seen.

Going forward and outlook-wise, we believe that semiconductor could grow some 15% in the year to come. That's at least what we expect in that field. We see ourselves well positioned. We also have a couple of proof of concepts of the SYGEF ultrapure water system, which is giving the opportunity now also to move into the hot ultrapure water applications, which substantially drives down the rinsing time of installations. We are set in a couple of validation processes and homologation processes. So we believe we have set quite a new standard in that application. GF is an early mover when it comes to that industry. So we can't compare our business development with a VAT or INFICON. This is a bit of a different momentum when this kind of applications being stalled. So yes, in a nutshell, that was one of the disappointing factors in the year 2025.

Reinvestment in our sales force, I have elaborated a bit on our new growth opportunities. As I have spoken, we have been nominated on a quite substantial order in Latin America for urban water infrastructure. That means for us that we also have to care to have the right sales force, the right technical expertise at the front, and we will invest, particularly in that one. But also when it comes to data center, this is a field where we have already employed a bit less than 40 people, but we will go and continue since we know that this is a different type of business. It's an OEM business versus a construction business.

So the OEM business requires also some special attentions, let's call it this way. So we will also employ more people in that field, but also across Europe with our solutions and Building Flow Solutions, we see still, let me say, white spots when we look at the markets across Europe. So overall, we anticipate between CHF 5 million and CHF 10 million to be reinvested of this -- CHF 5 million to CHF 10 million to be reinvested in our sales force, but not only sales force but also customer-facing resources.

Great. Please go ahead.

Miro Zuzak, JMS Invest. I have a couple of questions, if I may. The first one would be how much or how large or how big were the data center-related sales in 2025. Then the next question is a bit more a technical one. You mentioned the new valves here on stage. We also have introduced a couple of new products late 2025, including now covering the range even into the several blades, if I'm not mistaken.

A couple of questions related to this. Firstly, in the entire change, there is still missing the cold plate part, so the very last part. Are you intending to close this gap at some point in time? And how through acquisitions? Secondly, can you please give some feedback about the initial response regarding the new products that you have introduced, how they are basically accepted by clients? Thirdly, maybe you can mention in which platforms that you are, I don't know, Vera Rubin, HP and so maybe of other clients which have already co-developed with you and how you are positioned?

And lastly, the question about glycol versus pure water, maybe you can give some color there, how this is currently shifting towards pure water. And then lastly, you mentioned that the core business would be -- this business would become CHF 400 million to CHF 500 million in a couple of years, 3 to 4 years. How much of this additional growth comes from the new products that you've just introduced? And how much comes basically from the products that you already had in place last year?

It's a lot of questions, and I should have brought my technology experts with me. But thanks a lot. First of all, the DC business in 2025 was approximately CHF 30 million, troubling from CHF 10 million to CHF 30 million, where our outlook for the year 2026 is approximately another growth in the magnitude of CHF 20 million. The new valve and in terms of -- so first of all, the feedback which we have received on the comprehensive solutions, what we have displayed now on multiple exhibitions was very positive. Nevertheless, the go-to-market is a slight different one than in our other businesses. So the so-called cooling processes is a very close business to the HVAC installation companies, but it's also an OEM business. That means you have different kind of contraction partners.

As we all know, NVIDIA is specifying down to the concept to the horse to the quick connect, how a rack, which is serving their GPUs should be constructed. Talking obviously, to this kind of experts and homologation experts is not that easy. We have co-developed a lot of things together with big players such as Google, but also we are in touch with Algae. We are talking to AWS. So we have good inroads to that one because we have been already in hindsight in the facility water. We differentiate facility water, which is everything which goes out, let's call it a white room. So anything what is outside there, GF is well present already today. We also are now present in this kind of applications. For example, we have equipped a very well reputated data center facility of one of the big players in the Nordics with the storm water management, which is also then an application which nicely fits into the GF comprehensive offering.

But coming back to facility water, going then into the technology area, that means the technology water, that is new for GF. Here, we are now with the first, as I have shown you, the Netmountain with Rittal being one of the big supporter and promoter of this kind of solutions. Algae was also a big promoter. We have multiple smaller developers, but we are also in the big ones. Next, cold plate. I have to say we have not looked into cold plate. We believe this is a technology which we're going to leave to the experts. We also believe that the cold plate technology might going to see some strong innovations in the years to come, which means that the cold plate will be replaced by a direct in the packaging cooling channel. So here also, we believe that liquid water, high-purity water will be superior over anything else because the purity of water is something which GF has played since decades. And so therefore, we can handle that one.

The initial response, as I said, was very positive. I think the platforms I have mentioned, I just would like to correct, I said we strive for CHF 300 million in the strategy cycle, 2030 in terms of data center sales and new products, at least in the white room, a lot of our most recent presented innovations, whether it's being the balancing valve, energy valve or whether it's being the quick connect, what we have also here on display or the manifolds, which we provide, we assume in the white room, even 2/3 would be stemming from new products in the white room, in the white room, which is more or less most likely a 50-50 or a 60-40 split in terms of the entire installation.

If you look at the entire large-scale hyperscaler, when we go from storm water, which would be a bit infrastructure applications to the facility water from the chillers to the CDUs and then the conveyance of the entire system and then it goes white room distribution here. I think this is obviously it would be quite attractive and appealing.

Thank you, Andreas. Any further questions? Another one, Mr. Flueckiger.

Yes. I'd just like to come back to your statement, Andreas, regarding the CHF 300 million targeted long term. If my memory serves me right, at the CMD, you guys were talking about CHF150 million to CHF 200 million. That's quite an increase. What's changed there?

I think our market insights, also certain customer feedback and also the belief that water as a coolant is superior over glycol, makes us believe that in the second generation, you're going to see more polymer-based solutions. And we target it is still not that big. The total expected capital expenditures in regards to piping systems in the data center is approximately CHF 3 billion, at least that is the anticipation for the year 2030. So we're going to believe with our solutions, we are quite well positioned and also our discussions and our proof-of-concept installations with the positive feedback made us to believe that CHF 300 million is an achievable target.

Yes.

Of course, it's not the focus today, but still you have sold now the -- also your -- the Casting business, the timing there. I mean is it -- was it -- I mean, could you not have waited for it? I mean, do you really have to -- I mean, is that not really unfortunate to sell it really at the bottom of the cycle? It seems you have had an impairment. I mean, why not being a bit more patient maybe like the Chinese who just wait and to put it maybe a bit provocatively?

I think what is the right time of an acquisition or what is the right time of a divestment? I think that becomes quite a complex question. When we reflect a bit on how the business is being set up and embedded in the industry, we believe with the transformation, we have seen a lot of European suppliers, but also European OEMs strongly suffering from the developments. And we have seen that also in our call-offs and in our orders and order fulfillment rates even of the most recent order acquisitions, let me say, over the 3 and 5 years, as you may know, you acquire an order and you execute on this order in 3 to 5 years on these businesses. We have seen many of the platforms overpromising and underperforming of our OEMs, which also resulted obviously in severe headwinds on this entire group across Europe.

Now let's talk a bit more China. China is a second pillar where GF has been strong with its Casting Solutions business, particularly with the automotive part of the Casting Solutions business. We have seen also a shift there in terms of which OEMs are the successful ones and how the supply base has changed, and has been less money being deployed in real estate as we have seen, let's say, some 10 years ago. Nowadays, a lot of venture capital flows into technologies and in manufacturing setups. We have seen a lot of new competitors growing over the last 2 to 5 years. Mads has presented the figures of the discontinued businesses, and he has also presented the figures of what has been achieved in our Casting Solutions business. If you take now a bit more than 3% EBIT margin and think about that we still keep a very profitable precision casting business, which serves the aerospace, commercial, but also the industrial gas turbine business, you can imagine that May profitability is far out of what has to be expected.

If you ask me, I think it was one of the best possible moments in the last couple of years to get at least a decent strategic buyer attracted by our business where the combination with Nemak being one of the largest or the largest player in that field makes a very nice combination. We believe it's the right moment. And I think waiting wouldn't be the right recipe. You wouldn't have liked that.

And if I may complement, Andreas, in terms of timing, if you go back in 2019 was not a good year for automotive in China, 2020, COVID, 2021, supply chain, 2022, chip problems, et cetera, et cetera. What actually happened over that period is that the automotive industry changed fundamentally, and it's really in such a transformation at the moment that we were happy to be able to exit this business. We're very happy to be able to exit this business.

Thank you, Mads. Any final question from the room? If not, then I will ask the operator if there are any questions from the webcast.

So far, there are no questions from the webcast.

Okay. In that case, then I will thank you for joining us this morning and invite you to join us for lunch in the room next door. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.