ICL Group Stock

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the ICL Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call International. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]

I will now hand the conference over to Peggy Reilly Tharp, Vice President of Global Investor Relations. Peggy, please go ahead.

Hello, everyone. I'm Peggy Reilly Tharp, Vice President of Global Investor Relations for ICL Group. I'd like to welcome you, and thank you for joining us today for our earnings conference call. This event is being webcast live on our website at icl-group.com. and there will be a replay available a few hours after the live call, and a transcript will be available shortly there ever. Earlier today, we filed our reports under our presentations with the securities authorities and the stock exchanges in both Israel and the United States. Those reports as well as the press release and our presentation are available on our website. Please be sure to review the disclaimer on Slide 2 of the presentation.

Our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. The company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on this call at any time. With that, we begin with a presentation by our CEO, Mr. Elad Aharonson; followed by Mr. Asaf Alperovitz, our CFO. After the presentation, we will open the line for the Q&A session.

I would now like to turn the call over to Elad.

Thank you, Peggy, and welcome, everyone, to a review of our second quarter 2026. We delivered another quarter of strong results with sales of $2.1 billion, which were up 17% year-over-year, adjusted EBITDA of $448 million also showed meaningful improvement and increased 28% versus the prior year, as you can see on Slide 3. Before we go into greater detail about the quarter, I would like to take just a few minutes to review our new segments and to discuss our enterprise-wide savings and efficiency measures initiatives elevate.

First, I would like to turn to Slide 5 for a quick review of our 3 new strategic principles which we first shared with you on our third quarter earnings call last November. The first is to drive profitable growth by targeting specialty crop nutrition and specialty food solutions. The second is to maximize and improve the businesses that we have identified as core to ICL and this includes our phosphate, potash and bromine resources. The third is dedicated to portfolio optimization and cost efficiency. All 3 of these principles will benefit from our willingness to embrace new technologies like AI and our deep history of innovation to drive profitable growth, we identified 2 distinct businesses which you can see on Slide 6.

We believe Specialty Crop Nutrition and Specialty Food Solutions have the potential to be significant growth engines for ICL. These are 2 areas where we already have deep experience and broad exposure and the future looks bright. As you know, ICL's growing solutions segment is already a global leader in specialty crop nutrition. On Slide 7, you can see that in 2020, our Specialty Crop Nutrition sales were $1 billion with EBITDA of approximately $60 million. In 2025, we delivered Specialty Crop Nutrition sales of $2 billion and EBITDA increased in excess of 3x to more than $200 million. Our research indicates then there is still meaningful runway for growth in this business, which will allow us to further strengthen our leadership position in these markets.

Turning now to Slide 8 and our second growth engine, Specialty Solutions which is currently part of the Phosphate Solutions segment. We are already leading the $1.5 billion phosphate food specialties market. However, this represents a small piece of the total food billion. In order to accelerate our growth, we are expanding our focus into functional food ingredients. This sizable market provides exposure to approximately $35 billion in value with an expected average 5-year growth rate of approximately 6%.

We are strongly positioned in this market with a clear ambition to double our sales and reach $1.5 billion in revenues by 2029. As we have begun executing our strategy, it has become increasingly clear that aligning our corporate structure with our end markets is the right approach for the future. As a result, and after a careful review, which is shown on Slide 9, we have decided to embrace a new organizational structure. This new structure will include dedicated food segment and will consolidate all of our industrial activities into 1 segment.

It will also bring our potash and phosphate fertilizers together. We believe this new market-oriented organizational structure will strengthen management focus on our key growth engines and align the business with our strategic priorities. We expect this update to our reporting structure to provide investors with enhanced visibility into the performance growth drivers and value creation potential of our businesses.

On Slide 10, you can see each of our 4 segments. Nutrition Solutions will bring together all of our food and briverage, health, nutrition and wellness offerings into 1 place. This will include our existing Food Specialties business along with the food and Pharma Solutions that previously resided in industrial products. Industrial products will be focused on performance and safety solutions for industrial markets. primarily electronics, energy and construction and will now include the industrial phosphate solutions that were formerly under postpaid business segment.

This segment will lead our effort to unlock the full potential of high-growth markets such as advanced electronics, semiconductors, AI infrastructure, data centers, and next-generation computing positioning us as the forefront of some of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding industries worldwide. There will be no change to growing solutions which will remain focused on specialty plant nutrition for agriculture, turf and ornamental markets. Essential Minerals will include potash and phosphate fertilizers from our upstream mineral production sites including our potash resources in the Dead Sea and in Spain and our phosphate resources in the negative and in China, and we'll continue to serve the global bicultural markets.

This change will take effect in the first quarter of 2027. However, 2025 performance snapshot of each of the new segment is shown on Slide 11. We believe this new structure will allow us to amplify our growth engines as we move ahead with our strategic priorities. If you will now turn to Slide 12, I would like to take just a few moments to introduce you to elevate our new cost transformation program. We have initiated this effort in order to reduce our cost base support our margin expansion, improved cash generation and strengthen our earnings power.

Elevate is a corporate-wide effort to increase efficiency and productivity by realigning our cost structure to build a lean and agile company poised on growth. In addition, we will be leveraging AI to accelerate innovation, drive efficiency and improve decision-making. Taken together, these initiatives are expected to deliver more than $150 million in annual EBITDA improvement by the end of 2027, growing to more than $350 million annually by the end of 2028.

On Slide 13, you can see our targeted savings. We expect approximately 50% to 60% of the projected EBITDA improvement to be driven by productivity gains and operational efficiencies. A reduction in external spend expected to deliver 30% to 40% of our goal while SG&A optimization efforts are forecasted to contribute the remaining 10% to 20%. While this is an ambitious effort, I know everyone at ICL is committed to taking the necessary steps to make this cost transformation program a reality over the next 2 years.

Now let's turn to Slide 15 for a more detailed review of the second quarter. As discussed, we delivered sales of $2.1 billion, which were up 17% year-over-year. These results exceeded expectations and each of our 4 businesses contributed to this solid sales performance as higher prices for potash, bromine and phosphates contributed to the year-over-year improvement. Adjusted EBITDA of $448 million increased 28% versus the prior year. This growth was achieved even as we observed $100 million of higher raw material costs and more than $40 million of exchange rate impact.

We also reported a 35% improvement in adjusted net income of $149 million, which translates to adjusted earnings per share of $0.12 an increase of 33%. Operating cash flow of $290 million improved 8% on an annual basis. and free cash flow of $94 million was up 34% in second quarter. Despite continued volatility in global markets during the second quarter, we stayed focused on disciplined execution managing the factors within our control and responding decisively to changing market conditions.

We also benefited from our distinctive global presence with regionally diversified operations and from higher prices across the fertilizers, food and industrial markets we serve. Let's turn to our business segments and begin with Industrial Products. On Slide 16, you can see second quarter sales of $414 million were up 30% year-over-year while EBITDA of $130 million was up 88%. This was the segment's best quarterly performance since the end of 2022 and it was mainly driven by higher bromine prices and increased volumes.

For flame retardants, overall sales increased. Bromine-based products benefited from higher prices and improved electronics end market demand. Sales of phosphorus-based flame retardants were stable despite muted demand in the construction end markets. for our clear brine fluids, which are used by the oil and gas industry during well completion. -- business remains solid, while sales decreased slightly due to timing shifts Demand in Europe and South America increased in the second quarter.

Specialty Minerals, which includes Magnesia calcium carbonate and salt products reported increased sales with strong magnesia demand across a wide array of end markets. Overall, year-over-year improvement was also driven by growth in food and pharma demand, and this trajectory is expected to continue throughout the remainder of 2026.

Turning to our Potash division on Slide 17. For the second quarter, sales of $468 million were up 22% year-over-year. EBITDA of $154 million was up 34%. Our average potash price for the second quarter was $376 CIF per ton. This amount was up 13% year-over-year and 4% sequentially. Potash production volumes came in at 1,058,000 metric tons in the second quarter and were up 11% or more than 100,000 metric tons versus the prior year. These gains were achieved has a strong focus on process optimization and cost reduction drove significant improvements in operational performance and resource efficiency.

Once okayagain, we continue to maximize our product sales by prioritizing the best global markets, and we also benefited from higher potash prices in the quarter despite recent price increases potash remains relatively affordable compared to nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, supporting continued demand. Now turning to review the Phosphate Solutions division on Slide 18. For the second quarter, sales increased 13% to $722 million. Higher prices for both commodity and specialty phosphates helped drive sales growth.

Second quarter EBITDA of $136 million increased slightly as price increases were able to partially offset the impact of higher raw material prices. for our specialty food phosphates, sales increased in the second quarter, and this reflects not only price increases, but also volume growth from existing and new customers. Growth was across a variety of use cases, including dairy, meat and seafood, in expansion markets like China and India, our specialty food solutions are targeting consumer trends such as low sodium healthy for you and clean label.

We are also developing a high-protein beverage prototype as we look to expand our participation in the GLP-1 category. This brings us to our growing Solutions business division on Slide 19. Sales for the second quarter increased 12% to $605 million with growth in most regions, while EBITDA of $50 million was down versus prior year in order to partially offset the pressure from higher raw material costs, geopolitical tensions and supply chain volatility, the growing solutions team focused on favorable price and mix disciplined SG&A management and commercial actions targeting profitability.

On a regional basis, soft market conditions remained an issue in Brazil as overall demand was weak after a challenging April performance improved progressively in May and June. For Europe, both sales and profitability improved in the second quarter as we maintained our focus on optimizing product mix. Execution of this strategy has proven successful with a sharp focus on core countries and products, driving growth and profitability.

During the quarter, Growing Solutions did a remarkable job of managing the areas under their control from optimizing its fixed cost base to reducing general and administrative expenses.

I would now like to turn the call over to Asaf for a review of quarterly financials and our outlook for the remainder of 2026.

Thank you, Elad, and it is a pleasure to be here today I'm excited to join ICL and to work with the entire global team as we execute a new strategic priorities.

Over the coming months, I look forward to meeting many of our investors and analysts in person and we're spending time across the global operations, deepening my understanding of the business and its opportunities -- let us get started on Slide 21 with a quick look at quarterly changes in key market meters. On the positive side, the grain price index in the U.S. improved on a quarterly basis with corn, rice, soybean and we all trending up.

However, farmer affordability remains an issue on a global basis. In the U.S., farmer sentiment declined in the second quarter as high input costs remained a top concern. In addition, inflation adjusted net income is forecasted to decline 2.6% in the U.S. in 2020. Turning to commodity prices. Spot brown prices reached a peak in April, and these higher prices helped a strong financial performance of our Industrial Products segment in the second quarter, while bromine prices moderated in May and June, they ticked back up in July of turbulence retuned in the Middle East.

In the second quarter, potash prices in the U.S. increased nearly 10%, and on a sequential basis, which supported the stronger Potash division performance versus the prior year. Phosphate fertilizer prices were also higher in the second quarter, with key benchmark rates increased an average of 22% on a sequential basis However, production costs also escalated as geopolitical disruption drove higher costs for raw materials, particularly solar.

As you know, sulfur is a key raw material for our phosphate products. In the second quarter, the spot prices so far increased 72% on a sequential basis and more than 210% on an annual basis, and these price increases impacted margin rates. In addition, other costs remained elevated, including ocean freight rates. Prices increased 45% on average in the second quarter due to disruptions in the Middle East and continued to increase in July.

Finally, let's take a look at exchange rates. As you know, ICL is it is a dollar-denominated company. So as the shakes strengthens versus the U.S. dollar, it makes it more costly for operation in Israel. However, there was a slight reversal of this trend in July. Going forward, we will continue to use hedging strategies to help mitigate currency risks and to monitor changes in the dollar to check the exchange rate along with other significant currency fluctuations.

Now if you will turn to Slide 22 for a look at our second quarter sales bridges. On a year-over-year basis, sales were up $303 million or approximately 17% with all 4 segments demonstrating growth. Turning to the right side of the slide, you can see a $206 million benefit from higher prices this quarter, which was enhanced by higher volumes. Excellent also had a positive impact on sales in the second quarter. On Slide 23, you can see our second quarter rested EBITDA, which improved approximately 28% versus the prior year with Electra Solutions, potash and phosphate solution all contributed.

Higher volumes and prices contributed to the year-over-year improvement and were partly offset by the impact of exchange rate fluctuations and significantly higher raw material costs. while our growing Solutions segment also delivered higher sales and volumes supported by cost savings initiatives. These benefits were more than offset by significantly higher prices for nitrogen and sulfur. Turning to Slide 24 and a few more second quarter financial highlights. Our balance sheet remains strong with available cash resources to $2.2 billion. In the quarter, we delivered operating cash flow of $290 million, while free cash flow increased 34% and versus prior year to $94 million.

Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA rate remained at a stable 1.5x, and we successfully completed our $800 million senior notes offering. Once again, we are distributing 50% of adjusted net income to our shareholders. This translates to a total dividend of $75 million in the second quarter and results in a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 4.1%. Before turning the call over to the operator, I would like to highlight that it is an exciting time to join I'm looking forward to working on an enterprise-wide cost saving and efficiency initiatives as we strive to reduce our cost base while supporting margin expansion, improving cash generation and strengthening our earning power.

In addition, I believe our new organizational structure will strengthen management focus on a key growth engines and align the business with our strategic priorities. We expect this update to our reporting structure to provide investors with advanced visibility into the performance, growth drivers and value creation potential of our businesses. The new organizational structure will be implemented beginning in the first quarter of 2017 and will be reflected in both our internal and external financial reporting.

In the interim, the team and I are available to assist you with any modeling questions in order to help make the transition seamless. Now turning to Slide 25 and a review of our guidance for 2020. We are reiterating our guidance and continue to expect consolidated EBITDA to be between $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion. This reflects the expected impact of higher raw material costs and currency headwinds. In the second quarter, we were successful in offsetting some of these higher costs through certain litigation action and as we consumed lower cost sulfur inventory. However, if silver prices remain at these currently elevated levels, we will see margin pressure in our phosphate products as we consume higher-priced inventory.

While we expect continued challenges in the second half of the year, we remain focused on execution and are confident we have the right people, solutions and capabilities in place to where it is but not completely eliminate the impact of external forces. For potesales volumes, we continue to expect this amount to be between $4.5 million and 4.7 million metric tons due to operational improvements made in 2025. Finally, we expect our annual adjusted tax rate to be approximately 30%.

And with that, I would like to turn the call to the operator for the Q&A session.

We will now begin the question-and-answer session.[Operator Instructions] So first question comes from the line of Benjamin Theurer with Barclays.

First of all, congrats on a very strong second quarter. My first question is, I would say, results related and the follow-up is on the new strategy. So first of all, looking at the results, there was clearly an impressive outcome in industrial products. with almost doubling on EBITDA on very store sales. So I just wanted to understand if you could kind of like help us bridge maybe how much really was driven by price versus what was then ultimately demand and the strength of it and how we should think about the top line and the profit for IP as we move into the second half, just given that it was such an outstanding quarter in this segment?

Thank you for your question, Ben. So we did with the IP and Bromine segment, we've seen strong performance, both in sales and EBITDA. As you noted, the bromine and as you are well aware, the bromine prices reached a peak in April, about $6,000 roughly per ton. In May and June, they slightly moderated. And currently, they are pretty much had 4,500. So going back to higher level. in terms of certain product lines, we've seen Flames doing solid with very strong performance. So overall, certainly, we enjoy the high prices in Q2. In April, we were able to lock in strong prices and transaction towards -- and now again, we are at 4,500 levels. So certainly, a pretty attractive prices as well. And did I answer your question? Any follow-up?

So yes, the second 1 is really about Elevate and just looking into the, call it, maybe stretching the downside risk and the upside potential here. Clearly, a lot of it comes down to operational efficiencies and productivity with roughly half of the savings. So I just want to understand like what you have identified and how comfortable you are with reaching first, the $150 million in first place and then actually being able to more than add more than double than that in the year after.

So just wanted to understand what is it that gives you confidence to be able to achieve the roughly $350 million target within the 2-year time frame with a focus on the productivity, please?

So Ben, it's a great question. And you know us by now, and you know that we are, I'll say gently, we are a bit conservative. So probably you understand that if we say that we are going to hit the $350 million. So our internal target is even higher than that. That's just to be honest, -- and the reason for that is that ICL expanded in the last few years, and we have more than 40 production sites and a very complicated and widespread logistic supply chain. So with that, I think we have a lot of potential to be more allocate those savings. I think -- for the last few years, we didn't put a lot of effort or a focused effort in this part of the company. it's about time. And I'm quite confident that we'll be able to bring those numbers hopefully a bit more than.

Your next question comes from the line of Joel Jackson with BMO Capital Markets.

I have a few questions. I'm going to ask some 1 by one. Just back on -- I appreciate the color you gave a few seconds a few minutes ago. I know that prices are still good for bromine in Q3. But I mean, should we see earnings levels drop in Q3, Q4, somewhere between Q1 and Q2 levels?

Again, in the current level of 4,500 of bromine prices, I think prices are higher than what we've seen in -- they are lower than what we've seen in April. But we have the capabilities and agility, actually lock in transaction. So I think U2 does represent a pretty high level. But as it relates for Q3 and beyond, we'll just have to wait and see, please.

And then my second questions would be we all are quite aware day-to-day trials and crises in sulfur. You gave a bit of commentary about expecting lower phosphate margins in the second half of the year, if I heard correctly. But can you give us a sense of how you're handling sulfur we're starting to -- I mean, the market has got no sulfur supply but a lot of lower sulfur demand. How are you handling this? What should we expect in the second half?

So yes, the sulfur is probably 1 of the main issues for the remainder of the year, not only for us, you hear it from our colleagues as well. And basically, there are 2 challenges. One is the availability just to get sulfur and the other one, of course, is the price. Prices moved up along Q2 and now the spot prices in CFR terms are around 1,200 a bit more than that per metric. By now, we managed to secure the quantities for and begin of Q4, but it's still a challenge. So for now, we have no intention to reduce the production rate, both in Rotem and PH in China.

Having said that, the cost of sulfur, the consumption cost is going to be higher than what we saw in Q1 and also in Q2. So yes, so for an issue. The bottom line, we continue to produce right now, we have the demand for the phosphate products, and we have enough sulfur at least for Q3, I believe we'll solve it also for Q4, but costs will continue to increase consumption cost.

Maybe just to add on that, I think that 1 of our key strengths and we are quite unique in the industry is our breadth and diversity of our product portfolio, the geographies and the markets and customers we serve. This diversification really provides the flexibility where we can optimize the software allocation across different customers and end markets and so forth. So to detail S&OP process, we can really optimize that. I think that's something that we will certainly continue to do as we move forward in the second half of the year.

And then my last question is a bit more longer-term thinking, which is, obviously, you're quite exposed to key cathodes with your business and high-purity phosphoric acid and there's a lot of opportunity there. We've seen strong growth energy storage, a big deal now in batteries, where you're really seeing sodium ion and the conversation for energy storage. And there's a lot of questions now with sodium iron over the next bunch of years, will take share from LFP in ESS. Can you share your latest views on that?

Yes. So yes, we are owing the LSP trend by supplying acid and NMP MAP mainly to producers in China. It's not a huge part of our phosphate business, to be honest. And also -- and again, I'm not a technical expert, but I think it's going to take time until the LFP will be down. Right now, we see the opposite. We see an increasing trend with LFP demand. So I think for the next 5 years, we have nothing to be concerned in that respect. Maybe in 10 years' time, there will be a different arena. But in any case, again, LFP, for now, it's not a big part of what we are doing on the Phosphate segment.

[Operator Instructions]

Your next question comes from the line of Joel Jackson with BMO Capital Markets.

Okay. I'll go back for some more. Maybe talk about that's [indiscernible] So on potash, can you talk about the market like it seems like it stabilized around $400 a ton we've seen some announcements from some of your Eastern pan competitors about maintenance in Q3, and we'll have to see how much we believe if those numbers are true. But what are you seeing in the granular versus standard market for potash? Is it a stable market?

So the way we see the potash market right now, it's -- I think the word stable market, it's -- that's the right term. Demand is there. It's very from the different geographies. But right now, we have demand both for between Brazil, U.S. and Europe. And of course, the standard mainly for us, India and China. As for the price. So China and India, it's a fixed price rise annual contract as for the spot market, yes, around 400, it depends. U.S. a bit less, Europe a bit more. But all in all, that's the ZIP code. I don't see a lot of volatility in the potash market in the last few months. And I also -- I don't anticipate any volatility in the coming few months.

And just maybe if you can give some commentary on Brazil in general for your different businesses, including growing solutions. I mean, across the crop input landscape, the ag equipment landscape, all we hear about is how challenged Brazil has been from a credit perspective, concerns on interest rates. Does that mean like your growing solutions business should we see pretty flat earnings in the second half of the year? Or is there opportunity for some growth in the...

Yes, it's a great question. For our growing solutions business, Brazil represents 1/3 of the business. And it's not a secret that the Brazilian market is weak. And also, just to remind everyone that usually the hot season or the high season in Brazil is Q3 and the beginning Q4. So in that respect, I think this year in Brazil will be weaker than what we saw in the past because of the reasons that you mentioned. By the way, we don't see less of consumption on the commodity fee. And the fertilizer, we don't see the real get. But on specialty fertilizers, it's a bit tougher.

So I think in Brazil, in growing solutions Q3 will not be as strong as it should be. When we see the change, I don't know, there are elections in October, I think, and maybe they will change some external factors -- but for this season, unfortunately, I think Brazil will remain soft.

Maybe just to add to that, despite the fact that we've seen key grains prices going up since the beginning of the year and even more so in July, due to the macro reasons that you just mentioned, we see affordability is still a major issue in Brazil. Also financing to planned financing is challenging. You're aware of the macro conditions with real interest rate above 9%. So overall, despite higher grain prices that the input costs are very high. And we do expect that as Elad mentioned, to continue into the second half of the year.

Your next question comes from the line of Ben Theurer with Barclays.

So 1 question I had to follow up. If I look at your guidance currently and we just take a look at EBITDA on an LTM basis, you're at about $1.65 billion, so closer to the higher end of it. So we've obviously better pricing on potash still coming in a little bit on a year-over-year basis, that momentum in IP, maybe a little bit tougher on the phosphate side. But putting this all together, it feels like we can comfortably think at the higher end.

So I wanted to understand a little bit the risks that you're seeing for maintaining somewhat still relatively wide range of outcomes with that $200 million spread on your EBITDA guidance. What are the risks that you're seeing for the second half? And what could be due to the lower end versus where we're trending at, which would be the higher end as of now?

So I think you're a bit underestimating the sulfur issue. As we don't see -- I mean, in the Q2 results for us, and I guess, for the peers as well, we don't see the full extent of the implication of the very high sulfur prices. So that's a real headwind together with the FX and the exchange rate between shekel and dollar, we are exposed to the shekel in more than $1 billion equivalent. So those are the main headwinds. The third one, as we just discussed, I'm answering Joe's question, is Brazil. Brazil, usually, it's a big contribution for Q3, and it's now a bit soft.

So those are the headwinds. There are also tailwinds as you mentioned. As for the roaming prices, right now, it's better than expected. But again, it's very much has to do with the geopolitical situation here in West Asia. So I don't know what will happen next in that respect. Potash remains stabilized as we discussed. So all in all, I think the second semester will be good, but most probably will be a bit lower than the first half.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back to Elad Aharonson for closing remarks.

Okay. So the bottom line is very strong Q2. As discussed, we discussed also the headwinds for the rest of the year, but also the tailwinds. I don't want to repeat this one. And it was very important for me to share with you how we're making progress on our strategic implementation or execution. The organizational structure adjustment will be implemented early next year. And I think it's very -- it will give us an opportunity and a very nice potential in those end markets. And also, the Elevate, again, we are very focused on that and the entire company and all the employees are very much committed to that. So I have no doubt that we are going to win this $350 million -- $350 million until the end of 2028.

With that, I will conclude here. Thank you very much for participating today, and see you all in the next quarter.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us, and welcome to the ICL First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call International. After today's prepared remarks, we will host a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]

I would now hand the conference over to Peggy Reilly Tharp, Vice President of Global Investor Relations. Peggy, please go ahead.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. I'm Peggy Reilly Tharp, Vice President of Global Investor Relations for ICL Group. I like to welcome you and thank you for joining us today for our earnings conference call. This event is being webcast live on our website at icl-group.com, and there will be a replay available a few hours after the live call and a transcript will be available shortly thereafter.

Earlier today, we filed our reports and our presentation with the securities authorities and the stock exchanges in both Israel and the United States. Those reports as well as the press release and our presentation are also available on our website. Please be sure to review the disclaimer on Slide 2 of the presentation.

Our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. The company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on this call at any time.

We will begin with a presentation by our CEO, Mr. Elad Aharonson, followed by Mr. Aviram Lahav, our CFO. After the presentation, we'll open the line for a Q&A session.

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Elad.

Thank you, Peggy, and welcome, everyone, to a review of our first quarter 2026 earnings. We delivered a strong start to the year with sales of $2 billion, up 14% year-over-year, as you can see on Slide 3. ICL delivered solid sales growth for each business segment in the first quarter and reported a 26% increase in adjusted net income. We also reported a 15% increase in adjusted EBITDA and an improvement in adjusted EPS of 22%. This successful performance was achieved as the company demonstrated exceptional execution and operational resilience.

We also benefited from our distinctive global presence with regionally diversified operations. In the first quarter, we continued to execute against our strategy to drive growth in specialty crop nutrition and specialty food solutions. We completed the acquisition of approximately 50% of Bartek ingredients, and we established our first specialty fertilizer production facility in India.

For the first quarter, we delivered good growth across key financial measures. Adjusted net income was $139 million, which translates to $0.11 of earnings per share. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA of $412 million improved year-over-year. This growth was despite higher costs for raw materials and more than $20 million of impact from currency exchange fluctuations. As a reminder, as a dollar-dominated company, a stronger shekel makes it more costly for our operations in Israel.

Operating cash flow of $195 million improved 18% on an annual basis, and free cash flow was $61 million in the first quarter. While we benefited from higher prices for bromine, potash and commodity phosphate, we also had to manage higher raw material costs mainly for sulfur, but also for other inputs used by our specialty fertilizers. Let's review some of these pricing benefits and cost impacts in relation to our business segments and begin with industrial products.

On Slide 4, you can see first quarter sales of $349 million were up slightly year-over-year, while EBITDA of $86 million was up 13%. Bromine prices at their best quarter since the end of 2022, even as some end markets such as building and construction remains soft. For flame retardants, overall sales increased. Bromine-based products benefited from higher prices and improved electronics end market demand. Sales of phosphorus-based flame retardants were impacted by continued softness in the construction end markets. Sales of clear brine fluids, which are used by the oil and gas industry during well completion, decreased as some activity in the Gulf of America shifted from the first quarter to the second.

Specialty Minerals, which includes magnesia, calcium carbonate and salt products delivered higher sales year-over-year. This growth was due to increased demand from the food and pharmaceutical end markets. Significant winter weather in North America in both the fourth quarter of last year and first quarter of this year resulted in strong deicing sales for the season.

Turning to our Potash division on Slide 5. For the first quarter, sales of $503 million were up nearly 25% year-over-year. EBITDA of $172 million was up more than 45%. Our average potash price for the first quarter was $362 CIF per ton. This amount was up more than 20% year-over-year and up 4% sequentially. Potash production volumes came in at 1,177,000 metric tons in the first quarter and were up 11% versus the prior year. These gains were achieved at both the Dead Sea and our operations in Spain as we continue to improve equipment availability and shorten downtime amongst other efforts.

During the first quarter, we continued to maximize our potash sales by prioritizing the best global markets. We also benefited from higher prices in the quarter. While potash remained much more affordable than nitrogen and phosphate, farmers require all 3 nutrients.

Now turning to a review of Phosphate Solutions division on Slide 6. For the first quarter, sales increased 18% to $679 million. Higher commodity phosphate prices helped drive sales growth, while Specialties results were in line with market dynamics. First quarter EBITDA came in at $131 million and was impacted by higher raw material prices especially for sulfur, which was up more than 100% in the quarter.

For commodity phosphates, demand varied by region with significant price volatility as the escalation of the Middle East conflict accelerated price momentum. For specialty phosphates, customers in all regions focused on secure and reliable global supply chains. This is something ICL can uniquely provide as with specialty phosphate production in 6 key regions.

For our growth engine, Specialty Food Solutions, sales increased in the first quarter, reflecting the addition of new customers, continued growth in China and the acquisition of Bartek Ingredients. In North America, Specialty Food sales were strong in the first quarter. These were led by our Dairy plus products with growth driven by new business conversions, which were up double digits.

We continue to target higher-growth Food Specialty products and to focus on plant and protein-based beverages in key regions. We also launched a new digital marketing campaign targeting high-protein dairy and dairy alternatives.

For emerging markets, especially Asia, we also saw good growth. In China, we saw improvement in the processed meat category and an overall increase in sales of our specialty food solutions. For our YPH joint venture in China, sales increased year-over-year on higher prices. We also saw improved efficiencies with reduction in fixed costs.

This brings us to our growing solutions business division on Slide 7. Sales for the first quarter increased 11% to $551 million. EBITDA of $49 million was up 4% versus the prior year, even as higher raw material costs impacted most regions. Sales of specialty fertilizers increased on both higher volumes, mainly in China and India and higher prices. In Europe, overall sales and profitability increased on higher prices and volumes, driven by continued mix optimization. For Asia, results were robust with growth from all major products. Sales growth was driven by higher prices and volumes and favorable exchange rates.

Gross profit, however, was flat. For North America, profitability was stable versus prior year. However, due to a slow start to spring planting, sales were flat in this region with higher prices and lower volumes. For Brazil, global uncertainty and market competition impacted results. Sales decreased on lower volumes and gross profit also declined with a less profitable product mix.

As I mentioned earlier, in India, we opened a new specialty water soluble fertilizer facility. With 30,000 metric tons of annual capacity, these operations will help to expand our local manufacturing capabilities. This new facility also supports growing market demand and strengthen our supply chain. Finally, the sales process of our Boulby operation in the U.K. remains ongoing.

Before turning to Slide 8, I would like to provide a brief update on the situation in the Middle East. While we faced some operational challenges in the first quarter, which were caused by the war, our efforts to minimize disruption and maintain good production levels were successful.

Now for some first quarter key takeaways. We delivered a strong start to the year with good growth across all key financial metrics. This success was despite events outside of our control. Nonetheless, we swiftly navigated changes in market conditions and demonstrated operational resilience with exceptional execution. We also focused on what we could control and made production improvements to help drive efficiencies across our operations, while the teams have made great strides, some of this success is being masked by exchange rate fluctuations.

In addition to currency headwinds, which could potentially linger throughout 2026, we have seen higher raw material costs across several of our business segments. We will continue to manage these inputs and, if necessary, work to offset any impact through efficiency efforts.

Now before turning the call over to Aviram, I would ask you to turn to Slide 9 and a review of our guidance for 2026. After a successful first quarter that benefited from higher bromine and potash prices, which are expected to remain elevated, we are raising our guidance by $100 million. For 2026, we now expect consolidated EBITDA to be between $1.5 billion to $1.7 billion. For potash sales volumes, we continue to expect this amount to be between 4.5 million and 4.7 million metric tons as we continue to benefit from the operational improvements made at the Dead Sea and in Spain in 2025. Finally, we expect our annual adjusted tax rate to be approximately 30%.

For 2026, we plan to remain on our current path. To operate with resilience, execute against our plans and deliver shareholder value. In addition, we will continue to monitor the exchange rate between the shekel and dollar and higher raw material prices.

And with that, I would like to turn the call over to Aviram for a brief financial overview.

Thank you, Elad, and to all of you for joining us today. Let us get started on Slide 11 with a quick look at quarterly changes in key market metrics. On a macro basis, global inflation rates for the first quarter were down slightly versus the prior quarter, with the exception of India, which was up 200 basis points.

Turning to interest rates, which were also relatively stable across all regions at the end of the first quarter, including for Brazil. Looking to exchange rates, the shekel has strengthened versus the U.S. dollar in the first quarter. As Elad mentioned, as a dollar-denominated company, this makes it more costly for operations in Israel. While we use hedging tactics to help reduce some of this exposure if the shekel remains strong into the second half of the year, this effect will become more pronounced. Wrapping up our macro metrics you can see that U.S. housing starts trended up slightly by the end of the first quarter.

For fertilizer metrics, the picture was more mixed. On the positive side, the grain price index improved on a quarterly basis with corn, rice, soybeans and wheat all trending up. However, when compared to previous first quarters, most prices are down significantly. In the U.S., for example, farmers are facing one, the widest gap in a decade between what they pay to produce food and what they earn from selling it. Not surprisingly, farmer sentiment in the U.S. declined in the first quarter as global affordability for fertilizers dropped to its lowest nearly 5 years, due to fertilizer price spikes following the advent of war in the Middle East.

Farmer sentiment dropped again in April with 46% of farmers stating high input costs at their biggest concern while 14% cited input availability is the biggest concern, up from 11% at the end of the first quarter. According to August, nutrient affordability fell to 0.57 points in March, the lowest since November of 2021. As I just mentioned, while crop prices have improved they have not strengthened enough to balance out the increases in fertilizer prices.

In the first quarter, spot potash prices in the U.S. declined nearly 6% on a sequential basis. However, ICL's first quarter average Potash price was $362 per CIS ton, up 4% sequentially and 21% on an annual basis.

During the first quarter, prices for TSP, urea and sulfur all increased. And as we are consumers of these three inputs, we experienced higher raw material costs in the quarter. In addition, there was a mid-single-digit increase in ocean freight rates over the same time frame.

Beyond agriculture indicators, we also track other metrics, including those that are relevant to our phosphate solutions and Industrial Product segments. Our phosphate specialty solutions are an important part of the food and beverage end markets, and this is an area we are targeting for growth both organically and via M&A.

In the U.S., retail trade and food services improved in the first quarter. For P2O5 prices remained stable.

For our Industrial Products segment, which track the consumption of durable goods and in the U.S., these expenditures ticked up in the first quarter. The spot bromine price in China is clearly an important metric for this segment. Bromine prices continued to increase in the first quarter and reached another peak in April. Although prices have moderated somewhat since then, we expect they will remain elevated throughout 2026.

If you will now turn to Slide 12 for a look at our first quarter sales bridges. On a year-over-year basis, sales were up $256 million or approximately 14% with all 4 segments demonstrating growth. Turning to the right side of the slide, you can see a $159 million benefit from higher prices this quarter, which was enhanced by higher volumes. Exchange rates also had a positive impact on sales in the first quarter.

On Slide 13, you can see our first quarter adjusted EBITDA, which improved approximately 15% versus the prior year, with Industrial Solutions, potash and growing solutions all contributing. Prices had a positive impact of $159 million, which was partially offset by exchange rate fluctuations. As a reminder, this trend is expected to continue if the shekel maintains its strength versus the dollar.

In the first quarter, we also saw a significant increase in raw material costs, especially for sulfur, as previously mentioned. We are aware that concerns over higher prices for raw materials, energy availability and fertilizer supply are expected to continue until the situation in the Middle East is peacefully resolved. But no matter what comes next, we plan to continue on our current path to operate with resilience, execute against our plans and deliver shareholder value.

Turning to Slide 14, and a few more first quarter financial highlights. Our balance sheet remains strong with available resources of $1.5 billion. In the quarter, we delivered operating cash flow of $195 million and an increase in free cash flow. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA rate is at a stable 1.5x. In Fitch and S&P, both reaffirmed ICL's bond rating at BBB- with a stable outlook. Once again, we are distributing 50% of adjusted net income to our shareholders. This translates to a total dividend of $69 million in the first quarter and results in a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 3.7%.

Before turning the call over to the operator, I would like to honor the occasion of my final earnings call with ICL. It has been a remarkable 4-plus years, and I want to thank all of my colleagues who have been great partners and friends. Over the next few weeks, I will be assisting with the transition to our new CFO Asaf Alperovitz, and I'm confident that I'm leaving you in good hands upon my retirement.

And with that, I would like to turn the call back over to the operator for the Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Ben Theurer with Barclays.

First of all, congrats on a very good first quarter results, and Aviram, congrats on retirement. So my first question really is about the phosphate business. And you've highlighted a few things, obviously, as it relates to the cost headwinds, et cetera. So I was just wondering where prices are and what you're seeing in the different areas, be it on the specialty side or more on the commodity side. How is demand currently shaping up? Because obviously, we're seeing all these high costs and you've called out sulfur.

So I was just wondering what demand looking like both on the more industrial side of it? And then obviously, on the ag side. Are there any signs of demand destruction, where are we right now in phosphate? That would be my first question.

Okay, Ben. Thank you very much for the question, which is a very valid one. So as you know, the sulfur prices are skyrocketing now, continue to increase. And also, there is an availability issue. We heard that some of the other players reduced their production volumes all across the board. For us, by now, we see a solid demand, but I cannot guarantee that it will continue like that, as we have to increase prices because of the -- mainly because of the sulfur prices.

I don't know it's fortunately probably for us that were less in the business of DAP and MAP, which requires also ammonia, which also has very high prices nowadays. So we are suffering from the sulfur prices but less from the ammonia prices. Having said that, I would expect demand to be lower than usual in the rest of the year for phosphate fertilizers.

I just want to add, Ben, one thing. It's the phosphate. We're basically facing two situations. One is obviously the issue of the sulfur and the rising prices. But at the same time, there's another phenomenon, which is China and basically blocking exports in the latest. I'm aware of is that it's probably going to happen for the remainder of '26. They are not forecasted to -- I mean every year in the last few years, they've delayed it. They are actually the #1 factor before the world, before the sulfur that kept phosphate prices actually high and basically diverge from the product side.

But at this time, with China basically blocking exports, it will become an issue of tight supply and probably some demand damage, but overall, there will be demand out there. Somebody has to fulfill it. It might be the case that for ICL as a player, we will not face an issue to sell the stuff that we have. Prices side and how much they can go up, that's a different topic. I believe this is sort of paint a picture of where we are.

Okay. Perfect. And then my follow-up, just for clarification purpose. Is it fair to assume that the increase in EBITDA for the year that give or take, $100 million that you're looking at that, that is predominantly coming from very solid potash business where you have the volume, but actually now you get some momentum on the pricing side, which obviously flows right into EBITDA. Is that fair to assume?

Yes, yes. And also, I think bromine prices will be higher than expected. Maybe less than the -- there was a spike at the beginning of the war and now prices are a bit down, but still, it's higher than the next.

And much better demand. [indiscernible]

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from the line of Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

Two questions. One, on the productivity front, can you give a sense for what levers do you think you have to pull over the next, say, 3 to 5 years? And secondly, with -- back to the phosphate, can you just give a rough rule of thumb for your sensitivity to sulfur costs? And it sounds from your comments, do you think that the margin headwind there is a lag issue and that pricing -- phosphate pricing should catch up to sulfur as the supply-demand balance tightens?

Yes. I have to ask you again to repeat the first question, if I may, sorry for that, Laurence?

So just wanted to ask about structural productivity gains. I mean, just how do you think about the net fixed cost savings you could generate over the next, say, 3 to 5 years? Like what are the levers that you pull across your portfolio now?

Okay. So on the structural productivity side, let me say we rather like to show results when they are there. And the proof is in the pudding. However, since you asked this directly, I would answer that we do believe and we are currently engaged in significant structural productivity projects. And they -- over time, they should prove beneficial and importantly, so -- for ICL. I don't believe it is a good time yet to go into really deep down details as to what's happening. But suffice it to say, I believe that these projects are in motion, and they should basically give us a lot of wind. I will say that also on the productivity of the sites, what we are seeing is improvement.

As you've seen, Laurence, what's going on the potash side. We have basically increased the product -- production in both Israel and also Spain, and we continue to look into that. Other places are running -- our phosphate sites are running also at the capacity, which is a good sign. But generally speaking, we are looking into all these aspects, and this will be, as I said before, should prove to give us quite a lot of back wind going forward. We'll report on these things as they surface and then we can show solid improvement there. This was the first side. I don't know if there will be a follow-up. I may the answer that and you asked something which is a different question.

Second question was different. It was basically the sensitivity to sulfur, which is basically dependent on the product. But there is generally, obviously, there is a significant correlation between the price of sulfur and the ultimately either the price or the margin that we had out on phosphate.

The catch-up, this is the main question and this is a very good one is basically to what extent are we able to compensate fully or not so on the price of phosphate to basically to forgo this increase. I would say it is partial. It is not full. The prices of phosphate were already elevated when the price of sulfur was way below. It was around $400, $500 and already prices were high. And this was predominantly, as I stated to a previous question on the issue basically of China blocking exports.

At this stage, we do not see the prices rising up again to fully compensate. But at the end of the day, partially, at least it should be the case. So the forecast, I believe, and Elad, please add more, I do not see -- this is one of the issues that we are pointing out and the calls are straightforward in saying that this is quite a challenge going forward.

The big question is what will happen on the price of sulphur. Because not only prices, the extent the news keeps changing. I believe something like 50%, 5-0 percent of sulphur comes through the Gulf states. And this is something that can basically change overnight. So it's a good question to see how this will transpire for how long, what will be the effect. I can tell you that we continue to manufacture full speed. We are very careful with our purchases, thinking very carefully about how much we stack up, and this can change during the year. So we were taking all these things into account whilst raising our guidance, but this obviously needs to continue to follow up.

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I will now turn the call back to Elad Aharonson, President and CEO, for closing remarks.

So thank you, everyone, for joining today. A strong start of the year for ICL. We believe also the rest of the year will be positive. Even though, as was mentioned, we will monitor raw material costs and also the exchange rate of shekel versus dollar. And you saw the guidance. I'll take this opportunity, and thanks once again of Aviram for 4.5 years as a friend and partner here. Huge contribution to ICL and good luck in the retirement.

Thank you so much.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the ICL Fourth Quarter 2025 Earnings International Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

I would now like to turn the conference call over to Peggy Reilly Tharp, Vice President of Global Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. I'm Peggy Reilly Tharp, Vice President of Global Investor Relations for ICL Group. And I'd like to welcome you, and thank you for joining us today for our earnings conference call. This event is being webcast live on our website at icl-group.com and there will be a replay available a few hours after the live call and a transcript will be available shortly thereafter.

Earlier today, we filed our presentation with the securities authorities and the stock exchanges in both Israel and the United States. Those reports as well as the press release and our presentation are also available on our website. Please be sure to review the disclaimer on Slide 2 of the presentation.

Our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. The company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on this call at any time.

We will begin with a presentation by our CEO, Mr. Elad Aharonson, followed by Mr. Aviram Lahav, our CFO. After the presentation, we'll open the line for a Q&A session.

I would now like to turn the call over to Elad.

Thank you, Peggy, and welcome, everyone, to review our fourth quarter 2025 earnings. We delivered a solid finish to the year and achieved our annual guidance target with $1 billion of specialty-driven EBITDA. In the fourth quarter, we also made significant progress towards our new strategic principles, which you can see on Slide 3. This includes the acquisition of Bartek Ingredients, the global leader in food-grade malic and fumaric acids. Bartek serves hundreds of customers and distributors in the food, beverages and other end markets and distributes its products to more than 40 countries worldwide. This acquisition allows us to expand our portfolio deeper into specialty food solutions.

It also helps to position us for further growth as we leverage our existing global food presence to expand into other food ingredient segments. It further advances our recently refined strategy, which focuses on the significant growth engines of specialty crop nutrition and specialty food solutions, 2 areas where we already have deep experience and broad exposure. We will continue to seek additional nonorganic growth opportunities in these 2 markets driven by a commitment to creating long-term value and sustainable growth for our shareholders.

At the same time, we will stay focused on our mission to maximize our core business segments, and this includes our potash resources. As you know, we signed an MOU with the State of Israel regarding the Dead Sea concession assets in November of last year. In January of this year, we signed a binding agreement based on the principles agreed upon in the MOU. We secured compensation for our assets at the Dead Sea and established certainty on the timing of this payment. It also included the assurance of bromine supply through at least 2035.

Additionally, as part of our strategic efforts, we have been conducting a review of our capital allocation priorities and reevaluating less synergetic and low potential activities. As a result, in the fourth quarter, we made several adjustments with the majority related to advancing our new strategic principles. These were essential in moving ICL forward and designed to help fund our 2 profitable growth engines. These shifts in our priorities will help us to redirect our resources to where better aligned opportunities.

Adjustments included the discontinuation of ICL's LFP battery material projects in St. Louis and in Spain, the closure of a minor R&D facility in Israel and the initiation of a sale process for our operations in the U.K. We expect to share updates on our strategic efforts throughout 2026 and look forward to strengthening and growing ICL for the long term.

Now if you will please turn to Slide 4 for a brief overview of the quarter. Sales were $1.701 billion, up 6% year-over-year with all 4 segments delivering sales growth. For our Industrial Products, Phosphate Solutions and Growing Solutions segment, sales of $1.281 billion were up 4%. We remain committed to growing our leadership position in these 3 segments.

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $380 million in the fourth quarter, and this amount improved 10% year-over-year. For the quarter, EBITDA for our Industrial Products, Phosphate Solutions and Growing Solutions segments was $249 million.

In the fourth quarter, adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.09 and up 13% versus last year.

Operating cash flow of $314 million, improved 2% on a sequential basis. In general, the quarter was in line with expectations with year-over-year growth in key adjusted financial metrics. Prices continued to increase for bromine, potash and phosphate fertilizers in the fourth quarter. And similar to the previous 3 quarters, overall performance remained varied across the wide array of end markets and regions we serve.

Turning to Slide 5 and the review of annual results. Consolidated sales for 2025 were $7.153 billion and up 5% versus 2024. Sales for Industrial Products, Phosphate Solutions and growing Solutions were $5.650 billion in 2025, also up 5%.

Full year EBITDA of $1.488 billion was up slightly, while EBITDA for Industrial Products, Phosphate Solutions and Growing Solutions came in at $1.021 billion. Adjusted diluted EPS was $0.36 for 2025, and we delivered operating cash flow of $1.056 billion.

During the course of 2025, we faced shifting macro forces and industry issues while simultaneously achieving our goals. From an ICL perspective, we gained significant clarity regarding the value of the Dead Sea assets, which I just discussed.

Also, as previously mentioned, we completed a comprehensive review of the company and identified 2 strategic growth engines, specialty crop nutrition and specialty food solutions. We intend to expand in these 2 areas while continuing to benefit from our distinctive global presence and regionally diversified operations.

Now let's review our divisions and begin with our Industrial Products business on Slide 6. For the full year, sales of $1.254 billion were up slightly year-over-year with EBITDA of $280 million. For the fourth quarter, sales of $296 million were up 6% with EBITDA of $68 million, so a solid end to a good year.

In the fourth quarter, bromine prices maintained their upward trajectory even as some end markets such as building and construction remained soft. For flame retardants, sales of both our brominated and phosphorus-based solutions were flat versus the prior year. For bromine-based products, higher prices were offset by lower volumes due to continued soft demand. For sales of phosphorus-based products, higher volumes and prices in the U.S. were unable to fully offset lower volumes in other regions, mainly in Europe. Sales of clear brine fluids, which are used by the oil and gas industry during well completion remained solid and were driven by increased demand in South America and Europe.

Specialty minerals sales increased on strong pre-season demand for magnesium chloride after an early snowfall in the fourth quarter in the U.S. This was followed by a massive winter storm in North America in January.

Turning to our Potash division on Slide 7. For the full year, sales of $1.714 billion were up 4% with EBITDA of $552 million, up 12%. In the fourth quarter, Potash sales of $473 million were also up 12% year-over-year, while EBITDA of $150 million increased 15%. Our average potash price for the fourth quarter was $348 CIF per tonne. This amount was up more than 20% year-over-year. Potash sales volume of 1.2 million metric tons in the fourth quarter were up roughly 15% on an annual basis. This marks a strong finish to 2025 as we successfully addressed operational issues in the Dead Sea related to the war.

For our Spanish operations, our focus on debottlenecking and optimizing (sic) [ optimization ] helped us to improve reliability and advance our production goals. These efforts also helped us to deliver a quarterly production record in Spain in the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, we also signed a contract with our Chinese customers for supply at $348 per metric ton, which is in line with other recent industry contract settlements. Finally, potash affordability remained attractive in the fourth quarter, and we continue to maximize the profitability of our potash resources. Whenever possible, we prioritize potash supply to the best global markets.

Now turning to a review of the Phosphate Solutions division on Slide 8. For 2025, sales of $2.333 billion were up 5%. However, EBITDA of $528 million was impacted by higher sulfur costs. In the fourth quarter, sales increased 2% to $518 million, while EBITDA came in at $121 million. Food specialties sales increased slightly in the fourth quarter versus the previous year and reflected growing volumes in North America and Asia as we leverage our regional expansion strategy.

In the fourth quarter, our overall food business gained additional sales and also expanded its new product pipeline for dairy in the U.S. and IMEA. We also saw an increase in global processed meat sales across the U.S. and EU. In China, our food sales increased 15% in the fourth quarter, our best quarter of the year. For 2025, sales were up 12% as our business expansion in this region has been successful since its debut. In total, we expanded our food project pipeline with nearly 40 new solutions since mid-2025. While we are committed to growing this business organically, you can also expect us to continue to evaluate M&A opportunities.

As I mentioned earlier, in January, we completed our acquisition of approximately 50% of Bartek Ingredients. And for 2026, we are targeting a wide array of growth options. This includes expansion into emulsifiers along with other R&D efforts such as the development of a high-protein drink stabilization system for GLP-1 users. We expect additional growth to come from portfolio expansion in seafood and soy protein and as the segment looks to deliver more localized food solutions to emerging markets.

In China, our YPH joint venture benefited from both higher prices and volumes and an increase in demand for battery materials in the fourth quarter. We also celebrated the 10th anniversary of our Chinese partnership in January of this year. Overall, Phosphate specialties performance continued into the fourth quarter as expected with most regions remaining stable. However, market softness was maintained in Europe, a trend that lingered as anticipated. Higher cost of raw materials and especially sulfur persisted in the fourth quarter and show no signs of abating in 2026.

This brings us to our Growing Solutions business division on Slide 9. Sales for 2025 were $2.063 billion and improved 6% year-over-year, while EBITDA of $213 million increased 5%. This growth was due to our continued strategic focus on global specialty solutions, which have been customized for our customers on a regional basis. For the fourth quarter, Growing Solutions sales increased 6% to $467 million, while EBITDA of $60 million was up 18% versus the prior year.

In the fourth quarter, we saw profit improvement in both North America and Europe. In North America, higher prices helped drive an increase in profit. In Europe, we continue to benefit from our successful product mix strategy, which is focused on our higher-margin products. Sales in Asia also improved in the fourth quarter, but rising raw material costs impacted profits as expected. In Brazil, the overall market remained under pressure as farmers faced affordability issues and distributors shift their buying behavior. Although this did impact our profitability, sales performance remained solid, and we were able to expand our specialty market share.

I would ask you to now turn to Slide 10 and some key takeaways. We have already made progress in advancing our strategic principles, which we announced in the third quarter. We added Bartek Ingredients to our specialty food solutions portfolio, and you can expect to see more acquisitions in the coming year.

We also took a comprehensive look at our existing portfolio and elected to discontinue our downstream LFP battery materials expansion, which we announced in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, we initiated a sale process for our Boulby operations in the U.K. in the hope of getting this facility into the best hands for the future.

During 2025, we also worked diligently to provide clarity around the 2030 Dead Sea concession process, which I discussed earlier. We continue to believe that ICL is the most suitable candidate to be awarded the future concession. We currently intend to participate in this process once it begins, assuming, of course, that the terms are economically viable, and we will ensure stable regulatory environment.

I would now like to look outside of ICL towards the markets where we operate. Across our minerals, which include potash, phosphate and bromine, we see prices are stable to improving, and these trends are expected to continue into the first quarter of 2026. For our specialty phosphate, we are seeing pressure related to both competitive forces and higher raw material costs, and we are actively monitoring and reacting to these dynamics. While some cost inputs are rising, the sulfur market is experiencing exceptional volatility on a global basis.

Prices have surged to multiyear highs, driven by supply and geopolitical issues. These increases are causing issues across several of our businesses and significantly impacting other agriculture and chemical manufacturers. At ICL, we are actively working to mitigate higher costs, including sulfur, and we will keep you up to date on our efforts as the year progresses.

We are also experiencing pressure as the shekel continues to strengthen versus the U.S. dollar. This makes it more costly for us to do business in Israel as a dollar-denominated company. However, we are using hedging tactics to help eliminate some but not all of this exposure.

Now before turning the call to Aviram, I would ask you to turn to Slide 11 and a review of our guidance for 2026. For this year, we expect consolidated EBITDA comprising all 4 of our business segments to be between $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion. As the price of potash has stabilized over the past few years, we believe providing consolidated guidance is now more relevant. For potash sales volumes, we expect this amount to be between 4.5 million and 4.7 million metric tons as we continue to benefit from the operational improvements made at the Dead Sea and in Spain in 2025. Finally, we expect our annual adjusted tax rate to be approximately 30% in 2026.

And with that, I would like to turn the call over to Aviram for a brief financial overview.

Thank you, Elad, and to all of you for joining us today. Let us get started on Slide 13 with a quick look at quarterly changes in key market metrics.

On a macro basis, average global inflation rate improved versus the prior quarter with the exception of the U.S., which was flat and China, which swung positive. Interest rates were a bit more mixed. While rates in most regions were relatively stable, rates in the U.S. improved by nearly 40 basis points. For Brazil, while the Central Bank held its target rate unchanged at 15%, rates remain elevated on a year-over-year basis.

Looking to exchange rates, the shekel has strengthened versus the U.S. dollar when compared to long-term historical rates. Wrapping up our macro metrics, you can see that U.S. housing starts trended up slightly by the end of the fourth quarter.

For fertilizers metrics, the picture was more mixed. The grain price index declined on a quarterly basis with rice showing a significant reduction. On the positive side, corn and soybeans both improved in the quarter and on an annual basis with soy showing solid mid- to high single-digit growth for both periods. While farmer sentiment improved by the end of the fourth quarter, those gains were reversed in January.

When asked specifically about soybeans, 21% of U.S. producers said they expect soybean exports to abate over the next 5 years with increasing competition from Brazil weighing on their minds.

In the fourth quarter, potash prices moderated slightly, mainly due to sentiment and seasonality, while P2O5 prices trended higher in 2025. This is not expected to continue in perpetuity. Over the same time frame, there was a significant reduction in ocean freight rates of nearly 25%.

Beyond agricultural indicators, we also track other indicators relevant to our Phosphate Solutions and Industrial Product segments. Our Phosphate Specialty Solutions are an important part of the food and beverage end markets. This is an area we are targeting for growth, both organically and via M&A. In the U.S., retail trade and food services improved both through November and year-over-year.

For our Industrial Products segment, the price of bromine in China is an important metric, and these prices continue to improve in the fourth quarter.

Durable goods are another indicator for Industrial Products, and they picked up slightly through November. For remodeling activity, which is a good metric for both Industrial Products and Phosphate Solutions, growth was up approximately 1% on a sequential basis and 2% year-over-year.

If you now turn to Slide 14 for a look at our fourth quarter sales bridges, on a year-over-year basis, sales were up $100 million or 6% with all 4 segments demonstrating growth. Turning to the right side of the slide, you can see a $98 million benefit from higher prices this quarter, which was partially offset by a reduction in volumes. Exchange rates also had a positive impact.

On Slide 15, you can see our fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA, which improved approximately 10% versus the prior year. Similar to sales, we saw higher prices and reduced volumes. There was also an impact from exchange rate fluctuations, and you should expect to see this continue in 2026 if the shekel continues to strengthen versus the dollar.

We also saw a significant increase in raw material costs, especially sulfur. This trend is continued into 2026, and it is becoming more difficult to pass this increase along. Additionally, as we shared publicly last December, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that ICL is obligated to pay fees for water extracted from wells in the Dead Sea concession area. This equaled $14 million for 2025, and this entire amount was recorded in the fourth quarter.

As Elad mentioned earlier, we had a number of adjustments this quarter, so I want to spend just a few moments on Slide 16. Here, you can see a representation for these items. I would like to point out that the majority of these items are related to advancing our new strategy. These adjustments are essential in moving ICL forward as we look to fund our profitable growth engines, specialty crop nutrition and specialty food solutions and as we focus on extracting value from our core businesses. These changes will help us redirect our resources towards better aligned opportunities.

First, as you know, we announced the discontinuation of our LFP battery material project in St. Louis and in Spain on our third quarter call. And in the fourth quarter, we took an adjustment of approximately $61 million. In the fourth quarter, we also closed a minor R&D facility in Israel, and this adjustment was approximately $6 million. As Elad mentioned, we also recorded an impairment of our Boulby assets in the U.K. related to our shifting strategy, and this amount is approximately $50 million. We also recently initiated a sale process for these operations. Additionally, we made a $19 million provision for early retirement programs at several other sites.

Turning to the ruling related to fees for water extracted from wells in the Dead Sea concession area. While this ruling was the opposite of the legal opinion issued by the Israeli Ministry of Justice, we, nonetheless, recognized approximately $80 million in the fourth quarter of this year for prior periods.

Now if you will turn to Slide 17 for a quick review of our full year sales bridges for 2025. All 4 of our segments contributed to the 5% year-over-year growth we delivered. While we experienced a reduction in volumes, we benefited from generally improving prices across our businesses.

On Slide 18, you can see a breakout of our adjusted EBITDA, both by segment and inputs. Once again, we benefited from higher pricings. However, a reduction in volumes, exchange rate fluctuation and higher raw material and energy costs tempered our EBITDA growth.

Before I turn the call back to the operator, I would like to quickly share a few fourth quarter financial highlights on Slide 19. Our balance sheet remains strong with available resources of $1.6 billion. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA rate is at a stable 1.3x. And we delivered operating cash flow of $314 million. Once again, we are distributing 50% of adjusted net income to our shareholders. This translates to a total dividend of $224 million in 2025 and results in a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 3.1%.

And with that, I would like to turn the call back over to the operator for the Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is from Ben Theurer from Barclays.

Two quick ones. So first of all, thanks for the guidance. And obviously, it kind of like at the midpoint looks more or less like a similar year 2026 than what was 2025. Maybe can you help us frame the upside risks to the higher end and the downside risks to the lower end as you look into 2026 across the different segments? Like what are the drivers to get it to the upper end? And what would be issues that you may face that could drive you more towards the lower end? That would be my first question.

Okay. Thank you, Ben. So I think for the upside, I think we'll see higher potash quantities for production and sales. And maybe there will be an upside on the price per tonne of the potash.

Also on the bromine, we see increase in bromine prices. We'll see what happen after the Chinese New Year. China is the biggest market for bromine and there could be upside there as well. Also, we need to see the demand. So that's about upside.

And on downside, so the 2 headwinds that we have right now, one is the cost of sulfur, which went up from around $140, $150 1.5 years ago to more than $500. And the sulfur is the most dominant raw material for the phosphate portfolio. So this is a headache for us. So we mitigate it, but still it's an issue.

And the second one is the exchange rate of shekel versus dollar. Our functional currency is dollar, while we have expenses in shekel here in Israel. And as the shekel continues to strengthen versus the dollar, that would be a challenge for us.

Ben, I would add one thing specifically. It applies to basically most things that Elad described, but the cost of sulfur specifically, it's also the timing in the year when it will happen. I mean basically, we are not sitting on significant inventories of sulfur, which means that when it goes up, we pretty much quickly absorb it in the cost of manufacturing. But when it will eventually go down, then we will be rid of expensive sulfur pretty quickly.

Now the guidance is for the year. We are giving it in February. So basically, everybody can do the math. It depends not only the extent to which it will happen, but the timing when it will happen. I think that's quite important to mention that.

And also maybe it's worth mentioning the Brazilian market. The last season in Brazil in general, not only for ICL, was a difficult one for the agri business. I think we performed better than the average, but still it wasn't a great year in the agri business in Brazil. If next year or this year, 2026 will be a normal one or even higher than normal, then there could be an upside related to that.

Yes. Actually, I wanted to follow up on the Growing Solutions side and what you're seeing. I mean, obviously, this is -- there's a lot of like different pieces. And you talked about the market share gains in specialty, but with the farmer affordability issues, so probably is what you wanted to comment on. So what are you seeing like on the ground in terms of like demand within the Brazilian farmers, because given that the interest rate environment is still high, we've talked about this over the last couple of quarters as that being an issue? But it feels like it could potentially get better into 2026 with maybe rates coming down, it's an election year. So there's a lot of potential. So I wanted to understand how you feel about ICL's position in Brazil, in particular, within Growing Solutions.

So I'll say the following. All in all, I'm encouraged by the progress that we are making on Growing Solutions, and you can see the nice development on EBITDA for Q4 for Growing Solutions. Having said that, Brazil, which is give or take 1/3 of Growing Solutions business, it was a difficult year in Brazil because of the reasons that you mentioned, interest and so on. We like to believe that the interest rate will go down. I don't think it will go dramatically down, but it will go a bit down. And then we'll see what happen in the next elections. We adapted our cost structure in Brazil. And I do believe that next year -- or this year, 2026, will be better for us.

Talking about Growing Solutions in general, we are changing our mix of product portfolio in Europe. Europe is also around 1/3 of the business for Growing solutions and our portfolio there has to be adapted, and we started doing it in 2025. I believe we'll see the results in 2026 and onwards. Still, we'll see what happen in general in Europe.

And the last comment is about the Far East, China and the region where we see a nice progress. Here, the issue is more about the cost of raw materials, and that comes back to the comment about sulfur and some other raw materials. Do you want to add, Aviram?

Yes. Maybe to say something further. Thank you, Elad. Say something further about Brazil, I think it will resonate with you guys. It's -- credit is tricky. There's the rate of credit, there is the availability of credit. So what's happening on the ground in Brazil that, Ben, you're totally correct, the rate is extremely high. The real rate is probably around 10%, if not more than that. The nominal is about 15%, inflation is scaled at below 5%. That's exactly, by the way, why the Brazilian Central Bank is keeping rates so high. But that's only part of the story.

Second thing is that commercial banks are not giving credit to -- not fully, of course, to the industry, which means that the farmers and the agriculture industry is using the suppliers as banks. And therefore, the issue of availability of credit is something that we obviously have to take into account, reckon with and decide how much exposure are we willing to take.

Now notoriously, companies that have given too much credit in the Brazilian market have been beaten. It happens time after time, and we are very careful with our location, which means that we'll keep an open eye. Notwithstanding that, we can very well have a better year in '26, but this remains to be seen. So -- and by the way, during this process, you can see the pressure that exists and what's happening in the distribution companies. Distribution companies in Brazil are basically squashed between the suppliers and the -- actually the farmers. And that's a place that you really do not want to be. Okay. That's about that and that's continue.

Your next question is from Joel Jackson from BMO Capital Markets.

I'm going to follow up a little bit on some of this. I'm sort of surprised about the -- like, I think you've laid out the opportunities and challenges in '26. But I'm trying to figure out which businesses are up and down in '26 in your guidance. So potash volume higher, that's clear. Prices are higher, like if you just compare '25 versus '26 expectations, so potash should be up. And does that mean that you've got the other businesses like Growing Solutions and IP growing a little bit and phosphates down to get to a flattish midpoint?

No. I think the following. First of all, potash, indeed, as you said, quantities should be in a better place. Prices should be in a better place. But there is a but, the shekel is in a worse place, which means that all the -- and this is one particular division with heavy, heavy expenses. Obviously, on the shekel side, you can imagine by the size of the facilities in Israel. All of them obviously being paid for in shekel, which means that if we look at '26 and we benchmark it to '25, it should be better, but less so that was -- that it could have been if the shekel would have been at a better place. That's about the potash side.

When you look at the bromine side, I would tend to say that we should be pretty much around the same ballpark that we were this year. When you look at the Phosphate Solutions side, then to an extent on the EBITDA, it makes sense that it will come somewhat lower, and this is due to the sulfur price with the caveat that we previously discussed. We don't know for how long this will prevail.

And the last but not least is the Growing Solutions. It's one division that actually is not -- is actually gaining a little bit even from the currencies because it is less dependent on the shekel side, and it obviously sells around the world than most currencies vis-a-vis the dollar. The phenomenon of the weak dollar is not only vis-a-vis the shekel, it is vis-a-vis the euro, vis-a-vis the pound, et cetera, et cetera. I guess you all know that. And actually, we can find ourselves in a somewhat better position in Growing Solutions than in '26 versus '25.

And all in, when you bake it all in and you look at what we are seeing for next year, we should see a very similar picture. Again, some gaining a bit, like all in, as I said about the potash, some remaining the same and some weakening to a degree. But these are not that dramatic. So if I had to take a guess, I would say that all in it's very near with a little bit going more toward the potash, a little bit less vis-a-vis the phosphate. I hope that answers your question, Joel.

Very helpful. Could you remind us your sensitivity to the shekel how in U.S.?

Yes, yes, yes. Well, generally, we are above $1 billion short shekel. Obviously, it fluctuates, but you can make the math. So basically, every 1 percentage point is about $10 million. That is -- we are not actually when we -- our financials are driven by the hedged shekel. It's not the naked shekel that is the representative rate every day. So basically, we have got quite a significant amount of our exposure hedged. And therefore, our -- when rates go -- when the shekel strengthens against the dollar, it effectively strengthens less against our hedges. However, in the longer term, obviously, it takes an effect. So if this continues for a very long, and again, we do not know, the shekel at this stage is quite abnormally high for many reasons, nothing to do with our industry. The question is how long it will prevail. But generally, the yardstick every about 1%, it was about $10 million.

Okay. Finally, just following up on that. What is your -- in your guidance for this year '26, what is your U.S. dollar shekel assumption? And how much of that is hedged right now?

Yes. So the naked, absolute naked, we would have taken somewhat around $310 million. But hedged, it is over $320 million, that's our assumption. It will be -- and it -- by the way, I saw quite a lot of guidance coming from companies, Israeli exporters in different fields. And I would say that anywhere from $315 million to $320 million plus is -- would be a common yardstick for where we see the market going. However, it can be...

I'm sorry, how much of the billion are you hedged? I'm sorry.

Sorry, how much percentage do we hedge?

How much of the billion are you hedged right now?

Yes. Around 50% at that time. Normally, we hedge around 60%, but when the rates go down, our analysis says that we can allow us to be a little bit more exposed because there's a limit to how much it can go down.

[Operator Instructions] And your next question is from Laurence Alexander from Jefferies.

This is Dan Rizzo on for Laurence. If we could just go back to Brazil for half a sec. Have we seen this before? And how long has it lasted with suppliers basically acting as the main creditors for their customers in Brazil? What happened last -- I mean and again, how long does it last?

Yes, Dan, it's -- I've been following and working in the Brazilian market about 15 years now, probably going on 20 and it waves. It is -- it has a lot of waves. I mean, basically, you're able to cope with it. If you work in a smart way -- I mean, the Brazilian market in agriculture is the #1 agricultural market in the world. If you're not in Brazil, you're actually not playing in agriculture, end of story. I mean we are active, by the way, in Brazil and other divisions as well. But predominantly, I would say, it's in agriculture.

Now the Brazilian agricultural economy is obviously very, very important, especially around soy. You know the story there. And if you play it carefully, you can get very good results. Now you have to be aware at certain points of time, again, I'm trying to recollect from my past -- by the way, you can see it reflected in the currency. I've seen the real at 4. I've seen it at 160. I've seen it at 6. And now it is at 520 or something around that. It toggles. I mean, I believe that it will prevail. They will sort it out. I think that this -- the last year has seen probably a shift to a new reality. This year should be stable. Why am I saying this? Because what happens normally when things start to get tougher, it takes time for people to acclimate. I believe they have acclimated.

And I believe that what we're seeing and we're seeing it in our performance, we are doing not great, but we're doing okay. Our level of doubtful debt does not grow. We are able to collect. We could have sold much more, but it would have taken a significant amount of more risk. So we are playing the game. I think we've got the experience, the knowledge how to play the game. And I do not believe that there is any particularly, let's say, bad news that should come there. I would gather that the next stage will be somewhat better than we've seen in the past year, but it remains to be seen, of course. Does that answer your question?

That does. No, it does, it does because it sounds like we're at the trough for...

I believe so. Yes, I believe so. Yes, yes, yes.

Okay. And then -- so with the moves you made with your portfolio with kind of deemphasizing or stopping the big battery project, how should we think about batteries going forward? Is this a temporary pause waiting for the market? Or are you just kind of moving away from this end market is not really relevant anymore?

Yes. That's a very good question. I think that something very fundamental has happened in the market. I mean, ultimately, when you look at the horizon, electricity, electric cars, electric other systems are here to stay. There's no question about that. The question is the pace and the question is who will be the winners and losers in this industry.

Now if you look at the U.S. country to what was the -- what was, let's say, the aspirations and the thoughts, 1.5 years ago, they are very different at this stage for many things. It's the infrastructure, it's the support the government gives direct and indirect. And it is a situation where it will be a much, much more rockier road. You can see this by the way that Ford are reacting. You are seeing that by the way that GM are reacting. GM are not reacting the same way, but notwithstanding that, they took a significant hit and it's probably going to take a lot longer. And for somebody in novice starting to play the game, we came to a definitive conclusion that was not our game. We should have gotten a lot of support from the government. That support is off the table. Many factors were baked in.

In Europe, the question -- the issue is quite different. The result is very similar, but different, different things. First of all, in Europe, there is an issue with the level of adoption -- of theoretical adoption is higher than the state. However, the propensity to consume is hampered. The real wages in Europe are not going up, and there was always the notion that the car needs to be cheap enough in order to play in this game. And of course, the Chinese are much freer to work in Europe than they are in the U.S. And the situation came, which culminated in the announcement -- dramatic announcement that Stellantis came about 2 weeks ago. They dropped a very significant amount of their project. Share was down 25% that day. It's quite dramatic. Ford pulled out of Germany, there are many stories here.

So when we look at it in the global market, we obviously have got an extremely successful operation in China supplying to the best players in the market. We continue that. But our dreams of going downstream to become a full-fledged LFP producer or, let's say, the cathode side, that has been put off. And I may say, you have the CEO of the group with me. He's the one that makes the calls, but I don't think we're going to come there anytime soon, if at all.

No, no. But the bottom line is that the industry of LFP cathode material remains in China and only in China. Aviram explained about the U.S. and Europe. And we don't have any competitive advantage in moving forward in the supply chain in the -- for the cathode material. So we will remain a supplier of raw material of MEP chemical grade to others in China, which is a great market for us. We are doing great there, but we don't have to continue with the projects in Spain and in the U.S. I think it was a very good decision, if I may.

And for us, just to finally close, we said all along, if you remember, time after time that we're investing in the qualification side, we're investing in technology. But we are not going to go to continue and to set up facilities until we have all the stars aligned. I think it was a very, very smart decision. And you can see that ultimately, when things indeed didn't turn out as we would have hoped to us is relatively minor. It could have been completely different magnitude if we've gone downstream and go to manufacturing sites. So that's, I believe, the story on that one.

There are no further questions at this time. I will now hand the call back over to Elad Aharonson for the closing remarks.

Okay. So thank you, everyone, for participating today. Look, we said the strategy -- new strategy in the third quarter. And as you can see, we are moving forward by executing this strategy. So on one hand, we acquired Lavie Bio for Growing Solutions. Recently, we acquired Bartek for the food business. And you can expect some more M&As along the year.

As for maximizing the core, we signed this definitive agreement with the State of Israel, which is very important for us to secure the future and we are very happy with this agreement. At the same time, we improved the production rate of the potash, both in the Dead Sea and in Spain towards the end of the year, and we will continue like that in 2026, as you can see in the guidance.

And as for efficiency and optimization, so we took decision to stop the LFP project, and we just explained why. Also, we put on the shelf Boulby because we are very disciplined with the capital allocation, and we want to direct the capital of the company in those areas where we see most of the potential and which are more synergistic. And probably next week -- next quarter, sorry, we'll talk about cost transformation program as we need to take care of this as well. So we are pushing and making investment on the 3 pillars of the strategy. It's a bit like transformation phase. It will take some time, not a lot, but I guess we'll all see the results soon. Again, thank you very much, and probably we'll be in touch in different forums. Thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now ended. Thank you all for joining. You may all disconnect your lines.

Good morning, again, good afternoon to some of you. I see I have at least one U.K. person on the line. So thanks for joining us. We have a lot here. We have a lot here, obviously. And if you saw the -- I think that everyone is on mute. Can somebody make sure they're muted?

Okay. Thank you. So you saw that we put out an immediate report a little bit earlier overnight, and it's just an update on the concession. I would say it's more a formalization and the final realization, but Elad has a few prepared remarks. And then if we have any questions, we'll go through those. But I think this should be fairly simple and straightforward, but we just wanted to keep everybody in line with what's going on as quickly as we could.

So I'll turn it over to Elad.

Okay. Thank you, Peggy, and thank you, everyone, for joining. I think the bottom line, no drama. But before we begin, I want to clarify that today's call will focus only on the agreement signed with the state of Israel and the details as published in our immediate report. Naturally, we are not going to discuss the ongoing business. We have a separate call 2 weeks from now or something like that.

Although we have already talked with most of you over the past two months, since the MOU was announced, we felt it was important to formalize the conclusion of this process, now that it is final. As required by law, we signed a final and binding agreement with the state last night regarding the valuation of the assets and the transition process between the current and the future concessions.

This binding agreement is based on the principles of the MOU that was published in November 2025. It provides further detail and defines the execution process with basically no changes from what was previously disclosed. So again, no drama, no big developments.

This agreement provides the company with long-term certainty both for the coming years and leading up to the future concession. We have agreed on the asset valuation of $2.54 billion and on top of it, hundreds of millions of dollars for investments in the permanent salt harvesting project. Equally important, we have finalized the payment schedule and terms, and this is very, very important when it comes to the state of Israel.

The arrangement we have reached allows the company to plan its next steps toward the tender much more effectively. It enables us to evaluate the new concession option once final terms are clear against other strategic business alternatives, all with the goal of maximizing value for all of our shareholders.

It is important to remember that the end of the concession, the current concession is more than 4 years away. However, it was critical for us to create certainty now. We choose to proactively manage this process rather than managed by the state's time lines. This prevents a scenario of prolonged arbitration or legal disputes that would drain management's attention and significant resources with uncertain outcome.

We have achieved several key milestones or achievements, particularly regarding the continuity of downstream operations. By that, I mean, the bromine compounds and periclase and ensuring no offset can be made by the state. While the final tender terms are not yet known, we are working to ensure they are as attractive as possible; however, if the new terms aren't economically viable for us, and we believe this would be true for any other player in that case, having the asset compensation secured in advance puts us in the best possible position.

If we decide to pursue the concession under the new terms, we remain confident that ICL is the natural and most experienced and leading candidate to win it, even without the right of first offer.

So that's a general overview. And now with your permission, I'd like to speak about the key points from -- of the agreement. So as for the asset transfer, upon the expiration of the concession, which is the end of March 2030, all tangible and intangible assets used for the concession operations will be transferred to the state in usable condition, allowing for continuous operation. So this is number one.

Number two, as for payment schedule, on April 1, 2030, government will pay the company 95% of the total consideration. The remaining 5% will be paid on September 1, 2030.

Number three, it's about no set of rights. So as I mentioned, a critical point to emphasize, the state will have no right of set-off against the total consideration under this agreement. And again, this was very important close for us.

As for the downstream industries, and again, when I say downstream industries, in our case, we are talking about bromine compounds and the periclase. So to ensure operational continuity for our downstream activities, the agreement secures the continued supply of required raw material throughout 2035. So additional 5 years after the end of the concession. This period will be extended unless either side choose to end it.

Based on the -- based on current prices and the agreed arrangements, we do not expect a material change in the profitability of our downstream or concession operations. And again, this is another important point for us. So the downstream operation will continue the same level of profitability, at least until 2035, almost 10 years from now. As for the right of first refusal or right of first offer, so the company will not object the cancellation of the right of first offer. And the company will cooperate with the state's process, including providing access to necessary information.

So those are the, I think, 6 main parameters or elements of the new agreement. Again, no drama, no significant changes from the MOU that we announced back in November. Maybe last 2, 3 sentences, we have covered the key points of the agreement regarding the orderly transfer of assets, I want to emphasize that our focus on these details is not about our future intentions, it's about our managerial responsibility today. If the future concession terms make economic sense, we remain confident that we are the natural and leading candidate for it.

We have a clear business strategy. This agreement removes the uncertainty that could have lasted for years, giving us the stability we need to manage the company effectively.

It allows us to prepare for any scenario and ensures that ICL will emerge stronger, no matter what path we take.

So thank you for that. And I think Peggy, with that, we can move to Q&A.

There we go. Joel and Ben, sorry Ben, Joel was first.

So let's say we all agree you're the natural owner of these assets forever. Can you remind me what's going to happen over the next year or so as we start to see if there's any other bidders or any other potential players here that want to shake up these assets? I guess, there'll be some due diligence being done by other parties. Will other parties be able to visit your plants, your operations to sort of see what you've got? Like can you talk about what happens in the next year as the government tries to find other bidders? And what obligations you have to do to let the other bidders assess what the value of the assets are?

So yes, we are going to cooperate with this tender process just to put the basic time lines. So they plan to conclude this new law legislation within a year or so, and then get to the prequalification phase of the tender where bidders can put their application, and they will have -- the government, the state will have the first screening process. Later on, there will be a due diligence phase, and we will provide the government with the necessary data, not all of it. And of course, part of it will be left blank or so. And in the future also, I would expect some site surveys by the valid candidates.

Can you just remind me one more thing before I pass to Ben and others? And I may have my history wrong, but there was this -- I don't know, maybe I have the terminology wrong, but there was a time where nobody could own more than 14% of ICL Potash Corp tried, and there's maybe another threshold, there was 30%. And is that -- those were about ICL, the company as opposed to the concessions? And is there anything that even apply anymore? Does that even care?

So just to make sure that we understand this agreement that we talked about today has nothing to do with the next concession. It's only about the current concession and how we transfer the assets. Having said that, you are right, in the new law, the government left the room for what they call national security arrangements. And in that respect, in the future, they will elaborate what are the limitations for foreign competitors to join the process. We don't have all the details right now, but they already declared that it will be taken into account these national security interests.

Okay. So what you're saying is the government itself may actually may limit who can own these concessions to people that are friendly or residing inside Israel, is that what you're trying to say? Okay, I think I understand what you're saying.

Yes.

Ben do you want to go ahead?

Yes. So two quick ones. So first, as we look at it, what initially was announced a few weeks ago versus what came out, it feels like that extension of like getting access from a downstream perspective that is like kind of like somewhat new. So just to understand kind of like what if scenarios, how would you think about the concession goes to someone else? And you still get, obviously, the next 5 years, the downstream supply, but what would alternatives be? How would you think or how would you prepare the company from an alternative sourcing perspective as it relates to what you need for your downstream businesses, the bromine compounds, et cetera? That would be my first question.

So it's a great question, and we still have like almost 10 years from now since the end of this agreed period, we will be prepared. The way I see it, I think the -- and again, we are talking about a scenario where ICL is not the new concession holder. And I believe the new concession owner will have to sell us bromine even after 2035. Yes, it defined as an option, but honestly, thinking -- talking, I think that will be its best alternative. Having that in mind, we will develop some other options that are not only dependent on bromine. So flame retardants, which are not only bromine related, you know that there are some regulation pressures on bromine in general, nothing to do with this specific concession. So we have 10 years to adjust the business. I think it's a doable mission.

Okay. And then second real quick, just from like how the process is going to work. I mean, this is basically in 4 years from now, the concession is going to come to an end when the payment schedule is set. But what's like the time line as to new bidders coming in, you guys obviously preparing your own bid. How should we think about like potential time line for announcements? Is that something that we know in 1 year, in 3 years, in 4 years, how should we think about the process of the new concession being assigned by the state of Israel?

So Ben, I will quote the government officials. But again, in that case, I cannot give you 100% guarantee, right? So because we share what I know. So their plan is to continue with this memorandum of law and transfer it to like valid glow. It will take in their eyes between 1 year to 1.5 years. In parallel, they would like to start the competitive process, and the first phase is the PQ, post -- prequalification, that's where the bidders will apply and get through the first screening.

So it's screening about the capabilities and experience of the bidder rather than the specific proposal at the time. And that will happen in 2026. In their eyes, the RFP will be out at 2027, and they aim to choose the next concession holder by the end of 2027 and allocate the concession by the beginning of 2028.

Now I think it's a bit optimistic schedule, but this is the one that they put on the table. So I tell you what I know.

I don't think we have any other questions. I think that was very comprehensive and transparent, and we will be hosting earnings in about 3 weeks, and I want to make sure I have the date right. Somebody just joined, I'm afraid that's the end of the call. February 18, where we'll address, obviously, the quarter and the full year. But until then, have a -- wherever you are, stay safe and warm. It's listed here in North America.

Thank you, guys. Thank you for joining.

Bye-bye.

Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to ICL Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Wednesday, November 12, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to Peggy Reilly Tharp. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Hello, everyone. I'm Peggy Reilly Tharp, Vice President of Global Investor Relations for ICL Group. I'd like to welcome you, and thank you for joining us today for our earnings conference call. This event is being webcast live on our website at icl-group.com. -- and there will be a replay available a few hours after the live call and a transcript will be available shortly thereafter. Earlier today, we filed our reports and our presentation with the securities authorities and the stock exchanges in both Israel and the United States. Those reports as well as the press release and our presentation are also available on our website. Please be sure to review the disclaimer on Slide 2 of the presentation. Our comments today will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

These statements are based on management's current expectations and are not guarantees of future performance. The company undertakes no obligation to update any information discussed on this call at any time. We will begin with a presentation by our CEO, Mr. Elad Aharonson, followed by Mr. Aviram Lahav, our CFO. After the presentation, we will open the line for a Q&A session. I'd now like to turn the call over to Elad.

Thank you, Peggy, and welcome, everyone, to our third quarter 2025 earnings call. Since our last report, we have begun to witness significant positive actions in Israel that ceasefire, the return of the hostages and the renewed focus on stability and peace. I'm sure you join us in looking forward to a new normal in the Middle East. Here at ICL, we are also looking forward to executing against our new strategic principles. In our earnings release, we included some details, and I will be sharing more information following our quarterly review. As a result, our call will be longer than usual. I want to thank you in advance for your patience, and I look forward to your questions. Now if you please turn to Slide 3 for a brief overview of the quarter.

Sales were $1.853 billion, up 6% year-over-year. For our specialties-driven businesses, sales of $1.461 billion were up 3%. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $398 million. This amount improved 4% year-over-year and was up 13% on a sequential basis. In the third quarter, adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.10. Operating cash flow of $308 million improved nearly $40 million sequentially.

In general, the quarter was in line with expectations. Overall prices continued to improve in the third quarter. Trends were generally consistent across the end markets we serve. However, sentiment and performance varies by region. Let's start with a review of our divisions and begin with our Industrial Products business on Slide 4. For the third quarter, sales of $295 million were down slightly year-over-year. However, EBITDA improved on an annual basis and came in at $67 million. Overall, results were in line with the first half of the year as expected. For flame retardants, performance was mixed. Sales of phosphorus-based products improved. However, bromine-based sales were impacted by continued softness in the construction end market. Other end markets remained stable, including clear brine fluid sales to the oil and gas industry.

Specialty minerals reported strong results for the third quarter with good demand from the food end markets. Turning to third quarter results for our potash division on Slide 5. Sales were $453 million with EBITDA of $169 million. Our average potash price for the third quarter was $353 CIF per ton. This improved 6% on a sequential basis and was up nearly 20% year-over-year.

Potash sales volume of 1,046,000 metric tons in the third quarter were roughly stable on an annual basis. Importantly, we saw a sequential increase in potash production. During the third quarter, we continued to maximize the profitability of our potash resources. Whenever possible, we prioritize potash supply to the best global market. For this quarter, my commentary around potash goes beyond our financial results. If you will turn to Slide 6, I wish to address a matter that has resulted in some questions from investors. As you know, last week, we signed an MOU with the state of Israel regarding the Dead Sea concession. First and foremost, we view this MOU as a positive and proactive step. It is expected to provide long-term regulatory clarity and business certainty. It also allows ICL to responsibly prepare for the conclusion of the current concession in 2030 and also positions us for the awarding of the new concession at that time.

Importantly, we believe this agreement will improve the terms of the future concession and that we remain the leading candidate to be awarded the new concession and to extract the greatest economic value out of it. The situation required a careful review and choice between 2 alternatives, and I will now explain our rationale. The state made it clear that it plans to launch a competitive tender as required by law.

It also insisted upon the legal transfer of the assets upon expiration as stipulated by law. The law grants us the right of first offer and the right to compensation for the assets. We determined it was prudent to reach an informed upfront agreement rather than potentially face prolonged disputes or unilateral actions by the state of Israel, including by legislation affecting our rights. Now that the tender is open to all and a value has been placed on our assets, we believe the process will result in overall fairer and more attractive new concession terms. In addition, we believe we have achieved 2 critical certainties. First, we secured compensation of approximately $2.54 billion plus salt harvesting costs amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars if we were not to win the concession.

We also established certainty on the timing of this payment. Without the MOU, the end of the concession might have resulted in transfer of the assets without full and immediate compensation. Also, it is important to mention that the agreements regarding the asset value are not expected to have a material impact on our financial results.

Second, we avoided the possibility of extended legal proceedings. Preparing for and partaking in any complex legal action would have potentially disrupted the day-to-day operations essential for managing a global company. We favored the test of upfront consensus over potentially lengthy disputes and legal proceedings. And once the terms of the future concession are published, we will review them and determine if they are economically viable. We continue to believe that ICL is the most suitable candidate to be awarded the future concession. We currently intend to participate in the process once it begins, assuming, of course, that the terms are economically viable. At ICL, we have been operating the Dead Sea site for more than 100 years. Our knowledge is far deeper than any other potential bidder, will possess accumulated proficiencies and practical operational experience. These and other advantages position ICL as a proven entity with the capabilities to manage this unique and complex opportunity. Now turning back to our quarterly update with a review of the Phosphate Solutions division on Slide 7.

Strong quarter sales of $605 million were up 5% on an annual basis. Sales improved on higher specialty volumes and higher commodity prices. EBITDA of $134 million was in line with the prior quarter, but down slightly versus the prior year as expected. Overall, profitability was impacted by higher raw material costs, especially for sulfur. Specialty food Phosphates delivered its strongest quarter in 2 years with continued strategy execution. In China, our YPH joint venture benefited from both higher prices and volumes and an increase in demand for battery materials. Overall, Phosphate Specialties performance was as expected with most regions remaining stable. However, softness continue in Europe, a trend that is expected to linger into the fourth quarter. This brings us to our Growing Solutions business division on Slide 8. Third quarter sales of $561 million improved 4% year-over-year. Our continued strategic focus on global specialty solutions, which have been customized for regional customers helped to drive annual and quarterly improvement. This was the case in both North America and Europe. In both regions, we saw continued solid execution of our growth plans. Sales in Asia improved in the third quarter, but rising raw material costs impacted profit. This trend is likely to extend into the fourth quarter.

In Brazil, the overall market was under pressure and faced a variety of difficulties. Soy prices remained low and in some areas, there were significantly lower yields. Interest rates for farmers increased across the board, as did bankruptcies. For ICL, both sales and profit decreased in Brazil.

This was the result of lower volumes due in part to reduced farmer affordability, but also as raw material costs increased. Farmers are in wait-and-see mode and have deferred their decision-making. This has resulted in pressure on premium products and renewed competition in general. Overall, Growing Solutions product trends in the third quarter were positive. However, farmer affordability on a global basis remained under pressure. And while we continued to gain share in the market, we still have room to grow. And with that, I would like to turn the call over to Aviram for a brief financial overview before I share an update on our guidance and our new strategic principles.

Thank you, Elad, and to all of you for joining us today. Let us get started on Slide 10 with a very quick look at quarterly changes in key market metrics. On a macro basis, global inflation rates came down on average, as did interest rates, so 2 positive indicators. However, global industrial production and U.S. housing starts both decreased versus the prior quarter. For fertilizers, the picture was more mixed. Both the grain price index and farmer sentiment decreased on a quarterly basis. However, farmer sentiment was up significantly year-over-year.

Over the same time frame, potash and phosphate prices improved. There was also an increase in ocean freight rates - a reversal from the relatively stable trend of prior quarters. One of the other indicators we track is the price of Chinese bromine, which is relevant to industrial products and prices continue to improve in the third quarter. Durable goods are also an indicator for this business, and they picked up as well. We also follow remodeling activity as this is a good metric for both Industrial Products and Phosphate Solutions, while roughly flat on a sequential basis, it improved year-over-year. As Phosphate Specialty Solutions are an important part of the food and beverage end market, we also track these trends, which increased both through August and significantly year-over-year. If you will now turn to Slide 11 for a look at our year-over-year sales bridges.

For the third quarter, sales were up $100 million or 6% with Potash, Phosphate Solutions and Growing Solutions all demonstrating growth. Turning to the right side of the slide, you can see $127 million benefit from higher prices this quarter, which was partially offset by lower volumes. On Slide 12, you can see our third quarter EBITDA, which improved 4% versus the prior year. Similar to sales, we saw higher prices and lower volumes.

Once again, we saw a significant increase in raw material costs. Before I turn the call back over to Elad, I would like to quickly share a few highlights on Slide 13. Our balance sheet remains strong with available resources of $1.6 billion. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA rate is at 1.4x, and we delivered operating cash flow of $308 million. Once again, we're distributing 50% of adjusted net income to our shareholders. This translates to a total dividend of $62 million and results in a trailing 12-month dividend yield of 2.8%. And with that, I would like to turn the call back over to Elad for a review of our guidance and our strategic outlook.

Thank you, Aviram. Before moving to an overview of our new strategic principles, I would ask you to turn to Slide 15 and a review of our 2025 guidance, which we are maintaining. For our specialties-driven businesses, we continue to expect EBITDA to be between $0.95 billion to $1.15 billion in 2025. For potash sales volumes, we continue to expect this amount to be between 4.3 million and 4.5 million metric tons.

So until this point, we have talked about the third quarter and the Dead Sea concession. Now after 8 months as ICL's CEO, I would like to share with you how I see the company's future and where I would like to lead it in the next few years. Over that time, we see 3 megatrends taking shape, and these are shown in Slide 17. First, in a world with growing population and increasingly strained resources, the pressure for food availability is escalating. Second, many nations have realized the necessity of preserving resources in order to ensure the access to food and minerals. Third, in a world of deglobalization, geopolitics and trade wars, the importance of being a company with global reach and local customization is becoming even more critical. We see ICL as a strategic player capable of addressing these trends. On Slide 18, you can see that approximately 70% of our business addresses the issue of food availability. ICL also benefits from access to key mineral resources, mainly potash, phosphate and bromine. While potash is frequently thought of as our largest mineral, in terms of sales, it is actually a second to phosphate.

And we are well represented geographically across Europe, North and South America and Asia, both in terms of sales and production. This enables us to provide global reach with local empowerment, which is especially important as more countries are turning inwards in the search for critical solutions. but we know we can do more to maximize our resources and positioning. And that is why ICL is preparing to embark on its next chapter. Over the past several months, we completed a comprehensive review of the company, and you can see an outline of this process in Slide 19. We worked with our team and other experts to examine every aspect of ICL. We began by looking back at our results over the past 5 years. While we have had some good successes, we also experienced some misplaced opportunities, which became distractions to our core businesses. Next, we looked at the future and reviewed the challenges and opportunities ahead. With so many changes on the horizon, we needed to analyze the long-term healthiness of our current businesses and work to identify future growth engines. For this exercise, we looked both within our core and at new potential segments. For each specialty business, we reviewed market momentum, including top trends, market size and the value of the business.

We also analyzed our competitive position and our unique value proposition. At this point, we discovered that many of our businesses are at the core of ICL. They are stable and successful contributors, and we will work to maintain these businesses and improve their competitive position. However, our research also showed that some of our businesses might not be as good of a fit for our future. This led us to reach the key takeaways on Slide 20. First, we will expand in the markets that are within our core and where we have significant growth potential. While we carefully examine growth opportunities outside our core, we concluded that we are already participating in very attractive markets. Second, we will extract value from the markets where we are already leaders. For these businesses, we will focus on maintaining our position while driving cost and profitability. Third, we plan to examine businesses that are either not synergetic or have low potential. We will also consider redirecting our resources to focus on better aligned opportunities. This brings us to Slide 21 and our 3 strategic principles. The first is profitable growth, targeting specialty crop nutrition and Specialty Food Solutions. The second is relating to maximizing and improving the businesses that we have identified as core to ICL, and this includes our phosphate, potash and bromine resources. The third is dedicated to portfolio optimization and cost efficiency.

All 3 of these principles will benefit from our willingness to embrace new technologies like AI and our deep history of innovation. When combined, this renewed strategic approach will allow ICL to shape its own future. I would now like to share more about this future and our overall strategy going forward. The review we completed helped us to identify 2 distinct businesses, which you can see on Slide 23. We believe Specialty Crop Nutrition and Specialty Food Solutions have the potential to be significant growth engines for ICL. These are 2 areas where we already have deep experience and broad exposure and the future looks bright. To help share our vision, I would like to dive a bit deeper into each principle. Let's begin with our 2 growth engines, Specialty Crop Nutrition and Specialty Food Solutions. As you know, ICL's Growing Solutions segment is already a global leader in specialty Crop Nutrition with room to grow and become even more dominant in this space. On Slide 24, you can see that in 2020, our Specialty Crop Nutrition sales were $1 billion with EBITDA of approximately $60 million. Since that time, we have expanded geographically, enhanced our operations and logistics, completed multiple acquisitions and improved our R&D efforts.

As a result, in 2024, we delivered specialty crop nutrition sales of $2 billion. EBITDA increased more than 3x to approximately $200 million, and we are on track to continue this trend. But our research has shown that there is still room to grow. This is due to expected changes in the market and the overall macro environment, including global food security, which I already mentioned. As you can see on Slide 25, the population has doubled since the '70s, but the land meant to feed it has remained unchanged. Thanks to increased use of specialty fertilizers, which help improve yields, there is still enough food. The importance of specialty fertilizers is expected to increase as agriculture production efficiency and sustainability remain critical to food security. Specialty crop nutrition products are the answer. As you can see in Slide 26, this market is expected to grow at 6% rate from $32 billion in 2024 to more than $45 billion in 2030. Here at ICL, we are already well positioned to capture this growth. This is thanks to our broad portfolio of global specialty solutions and our significant regional presence. And going forward, we plan to target the areas on Slide 27 with a distinct focus on global reach with local empowerment. We will target strategic acquisitions, including bolt-on opportunities to expand our product capabilities.

We also intend to develop a leading position in the growing areas of biostimulants, nutrient fuel efficiency and organic and recycled products. Our efforts in these areas will be augmented by changes in our portfolio mix, which are designed to drive sales in more profitable product categories. And this work has already begun in Europe. We will also drive sustainable and profitable expansion into high-growth geographies such as India, China and Brazil. These expansions will be through targeted capital investments and will be both by acquisition and on an organic basis. Turning now to Slide 28 and our second growth engine, Specialty Food Solutions, which is part of our Phosphate Solutions segment. We are already leading the $1.5 billion phosphate food specialties market. However, this represents a small piece of the total food ingredients pie worth approximately $150 billion and growing at an expected rate of more than 6% over the next 5 years. On Slide 29, you can see how well we are positioned in the functional food ingredients market. However, we plan to move beyond the relatively narrow field of phosphate-based ingredients and to extend our reach into new target markets. As you know, ICL is already participants in many food end markets.

In 2024, our Specialty Food Solutions sales totaled more than $0.5 billion. We are confident that we have the assets and the capabilities to expand deeper into the robust food ingredients market. However, we want to be sure we do so in focused, strategic and successful manner. As a result, we analyzed a wide array of possibilities and looked at each based on both attractiveness in general and fit with ICL.

These efforts led to our focus on 4 distinct functional food ingredients. These markets will provide us with exposure to approximately $35 billion in value and expected average 5-year growth rate of approximately 6%. On Slide 30, you can see that we are well positioned to capture the expected growth in these markets. We will be able to leverage our existing global footprint. This includes production, innovation and sales locations across key and growing regions. Our specialty food solutions already cater to 7 out of the top 10 biggest global food companies, as shown on Slide 31. This is in addition to more than 2,000 other customers, and all of them demand quality and consistency from their partners. When it comes to Specialty Food solutions, ICL possess a unique combination of technical functionalities, robust infrastructure and category expertise shown on Slide 32. We expect to leverage these strengths as we expand deeper into functional food ingredients.

To grow in these markets, we intend to focus on the areas where we believe we can reach a market leadership position. On Slide 33, you can see that this includes preservatives and leavening agents, among others. As part of these efforts, we will aggressively target acquisitions and other opportunities that leverage our existing assets. This includes our people, global footprint, customer base and sterling reputation. Over the next 5 years, we are looking for organic growth rate of more than 6%. This growth will complement our strategic acquisitions. We expect to achieve this goal through solutions that provide existing customers and new food and beverage companies with bundled solutions. This overall approach to profitable growth by targeting specialty crop nutrition and specialty food solutions will allow us to significantly advance our business while reducing risk. It enables us to drive expansion while still staying close to our core businesses. which brings us to our next principle on Slide 34, maximizing our core businesses.

This includes our potash segment, our Industrial Products segment and our commodity phosphate operations. Let us first start with Potash on Slide 35. Earlier, we talked about the concession but I want to reiterate that we are preparing to win the next Dead Sea concession. This is part of our ongoing strategy as we continue to believe ICL is the most suitable candidate. In parallel, we will continue to work on operational excellence and to maintain our competitive cost position.

At the Dead Sea, we intend to return production rates to pre-war levels. In Spain, we expect to increase production to all-time highs as the turnaround at this location continues. The second of our core businesses found on Slide 36 is our Industrial Products segment, a stable and profitable part of ICL. We already serve as a global market leader in bromine. We intend to maintain that position and to continue developing new bromine and flame retardant applications. This is in addition to meeting customer demand from the various specialty end markets we serve. Our third core business is the nonfood-related portion of our Phosphate Solutions segment, which is shown on Slide 37. This includes our stable and profitable industrial phosphate solutions, which are part of a growing market with strong demand. Not only is our Phosphate Solutions segment fully integrated, which provides cost advantages, we are also the only Western manufacturer operating in China.

Our production there is interchangeable and serves both our Growing Solutions business and our phosphate commodities and specialties customers. I would like now to turn to Slide 39 and our final principle, optimization and efficiency. As part of this work, we intend to optimize our efforts and focus our resources on the opportunities best aligned with our core businesses. This will result in the examination of some businesses that have fewer synergies and lower potential.

As part of our portfolio optimization efforts, we have shifted our approach to LFP battery materials shown on Slide 40. While we will remain a provider of raw materials to battery customers, we will not be moving further downstream into cathode active materials. This means we will be discontinuing our planned global LFP expansion and this includes construction of the previously announced project in St. Louis, U.S. and in Spain. After a careful review of shifting external dynamics, it became apparent that this was the best course of action for ICL. With increasing level of investments on one hand, lower-than-expected prices on the other hand, proceeding with our LFP battery materials projects, would have impeded our ability to develop other businesses.

So at this time, we believe directing our most significant investments into our 2 growth engines will provide greater shareholder value. In addition to optimization, we also plan to drive efficiency and increase productivity across our entire business. As you can see in Slide 41, we expect to improve efficiency by transforming ICL into an AI-driven organization.

AI will be embedded into the core of our decisions, processes and products. We will not just be adopting isolated AI tools, we will rethinking how ICL innovates, operates and delivers value. We also expect to use AI to help drive the significant operational efficiencies shown on Slide 42. Our key focus areas and targeted initiatives encompass operations and maintenance, including labor costs, logistics, supply chain and procurement and product line optimization. Before we begin the Q&A, I would like to turn to Slide 43 and review our 3 principles one final time. The first is profitable growth, targeting specialty crop nutrition and Specialty food solutions. The second is relating to maximizing and improving the businesses we have identified as core to ICL. The third is dedicated to portfolio optimization and cost efficiency. As you can see on Slide 44, at ICL, we are moving beyond our legacy and are now actively shaping our future.

We have a clear and resilient strategy focused on growth, productivity and efficiency. We have aligned with global trends and are guided by a focused strategy, and we are ready to turn today's opportunities into sustainable and profitable growth for the future. Before we move to Q&A, I would like to thank all of our employees around the world for another good quarter. As employees of ICL, we are more than just a company. We are a global community connected by purpose and grounded in the values of humunity, respect, resilience and responsibility. And with that, I would like to turn the call back over to the operator for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions]

Our first question comes from the line of Ben Theurer with Barclays.

So obviously, a lot to unpack here. And I'd like to pick up on some of these strategic highlights that you've presented over the last couple of minutes and really want to understand a little bit what you're seeing in terms of future potential in those 2 major areas, thinking of especially Crop Nutrition and Food Solutions. So starting off on Crop Nutrition, and you've nicely highlighted this, how you've achieved bigger -- basically a doubling in sales, but more than a tripling on EBITDA.

So the margin still looks though below what some of the traditional businesses or the legacy businesses would be. So I just want to understand how you think about that business over time from a margin contribution as you evolve and grow that on Specialty Crop Nutrition. And then on Food Solutions, you've highlighted that you've talked about you want to expand beyond what might be phosphate-based. So can you help us maybe understand a little bit if that's more an M&A-driven idea, if that's a partnership? What are the things that you can do in order to expand beyond what is phosphate-based solutions? Those were my 2 main questions.

Thank you, Ben. Great questions, and let me answer the first one first. So as for Specialty Crop Nutrition, so the potential is huge, and I do agree with you that even though we tripled the EBITDA in the last few years, still there is room for improvement. And in that respect, what we intend to do is, first, there are some R&D efforts that we invested in, in the last 2, 3 years that will bring fruits in the coming 2, 3 years. It takes time. And that brings some very unique solutions in which -- of which we can take premium prices that are really unique.

But on top of it, there is another -- another effort, and that's about the portfolio mix. When we are talking about specialty fertilizers or specialty crop nutrition, it's not everything the same. And within this scale of different portfolio products, there are products with much better profitability like biostimulants, control release fertilizer and more unique stuff. On the other hand, there are less profitable products. I'll give you one example. That's a product based on polysulphate from Boulby mine in the U.K. And what we are doing now, and we start this journey in Europe already and we saw the results in Q3, but it's just the beginning of the journey is to change this to switch the mix of the portfolio to more profitable products. And I believe it will bring us to EBITDA mid-double digit. And that's our target in that respect on top of the growth itself, which will come from organic growth, but also M&A. So that's about the specialty crop nutrition. As for the food ingredients, this is a different story. We have a business of $500 million, give or take nowadays within the functional food ingredients. However, we are very focused on a subsegment of this, which is the phosphate-based solution.

And we saw that very similar, very close by, we have some bigger potential market of $35 billion, which is the functional food ingredients, which are not only phosphate and that's what we are targeting. It will be based on 2 parallel efforts. One, organic growth in our labs, in our R&D labs and with our own workforce, we can do much better once we unlock this other market. But on top of it, for sure, we are going for acquisitions. Some of them will be more strategic, some of them will be brought on. But it will not only the organic growth. It will be also in nonorganic or M&A-based growth. And we are open also for partnerships.

If I may, Ben I would like to add one thing that from time to time meetings, I pointed out, and it's quite strange that strange or not strange that in the specialty fertilizer as well, the contrary, for instance, the crop protection world, there is no global powerhouse. There is what we see is an opportunity to build a global powerhouse in specialty fertilizer. Now the analysis can be that such a global strong body did not grow because maybe regulatory was not harsh at this stage.

But if you think about it over time and the capability of such a global powerhouse to take things from one region to another, from one country to another to develop centrally portfolio and then disseminate it in various countries, I believe that you can see the potential that ICL from this point onwards will become significantly bigger. It can go from strength to strength. I think that if you look in the future, and it's not quarter-over-quarter, but a little bit deeper into the future. there should be and there will be a very central point for such a body. That's something that strategically I would point out, and I think it's worthwhile. That's interesting. On the food, I have [indiscernible].

Okay. Very clear. And then just one real quick 1 as we look into, I mean, obviously, you're kind of like on track delivering everything and you've reiterated the guidance. But you've highlighted a few things, particularly in South America, pharma sentiment affordability.

So I just want to understand how much might have been just more of a timing issue? What not has happened? May have shifted into the fourth Q? And what is really underlying on a sentiment base, just the availability of credit. How challenging is the situation right now in South America?

I think when you say South America, you probably mean that more specific in Brazil, even though South America as a whole, in Argentina, there's a different story going on right now. Other countries are in different shape, but specifically in Brazil, I believe at this stage is quite a unique situation where, obviously, a very, very good and successful agricultural country, has a few factors that are leading hard on it.

The credit side is significant, credit available to farmers and the chain, as they call it, is tight, the ability to export to China will probably be hampered to a degree by what is happening between the U.S. and China, specifically talking about.

So the interest rate, the real interest rate is being kept very high interalia because the Bank of Brazil, who is really independent, believe it or not, is at war with Lula and especially as they enter an election year. And all these things together lead us, and I think what's important to say that I think are a very responsible company, and we are working on this constantly.

And yes, we could have sold significantly more if we had more propensity to let further credit evolve. We are taking the market that we believe is the right one. We are examining all the time. And yes, to a degree, there's some. However, I do believe that over time this will probably be resolved. Not sure Q4 is a cue that is happened. But definitely, going forward, I think it will be because Brazil has been and will be the #1 country in the world for agriculture. There's no question about that. So I think that's probably the essence.

And the next question comes from the line of Laurence Alexander with Jefferies.

This is Kevin Estok on for Laurence. So thank you for really diving into your top priorities in specialty crop nutrition, Food Solutions. I guess my first question is sort of in the same vein as one of the -- one aspect of the previous analyst. And I guess you mentioned biostimulants, but I was wondering if you could share what else was in your pipeline currently? And maybe how much of your assumptions are around sort of acquiring incremental capabilities? And maybe how ICL was positioning itself against its competitors in these spaces.

Okay. So as you probably know, in the last few years, we already acquired 5 companies in this segment, the growing solutions, specialty fertilizers. And we intend to acquire more. One effort is to expand to some new territories and the other one is to put our hand on some new technology, which is in progress. As for the portfolio itself, I already mentioned, we are moving towards biostimulants, both botanic-based biostimulants and microbial based. So this is one element. The other one is nutrient use efficiency. So we are, I think, leader in controlled release fertilizers.

Now we are bringing the new generation biodegradable controlled release fertilizers and also in the liquid and water soluble fertilizers that includes biostimulants, this is another area. There are some other developments that from commercial perspective, I would not like to disclose at this point, but we are working on. We have a very strong R&D teams across the globe, and we'll bring some news in the near future. Again, the portfolio mix will be changed and the profitability, the gross profit of this new portfolio will be much better than the existing one. It will not be made in one time. It will take time, but we are on our way.

Got it. And just for my second question is basically on some of the weaker end markets, industrial and construction. I guess I was just wondering if you were seeing any green shoots there yet. And maybe what your thoughts were around, I guess, what it takes to turn the bulk end market?

Yes. It's Aviram. I think that there's quite a segregation between the different markets. I think in the electronics side, we are seeing better trends. First of all, you see in the end of the day, we switched obviously to the value or volume, and we see that the prices quite significantly better.

In China, China is the main driver. So the electronics, I think it's turned the corner. It's not as high as it was in covid, but it's better, and this is -- we are actually enjoying this side.

On the housing, I believe that there's a long way to go. First of all, housing is much more geographic. In the U.S., I think you know the market very well. It is okay, but not that way in China. On the other hand, there are most significant issues. Again, they come from too much that was done at the time and a lot of credit stories that are there. So this is a market which will probably come around slower, but all in, if you look at how the division is performing, it is performing well. You can see the results and the shift to value and really leading the market is nice for us.

And the next question comes from Joel Jackson with BMO Capital Markets.

I'll ask a few questions. Maybe first, short some -- maybe just first, a short-term question. Can you talk about your major businesses here in Q4 and talk about how each 1 is faring versus Q3 or whatever you want to say.

Look, I think I'll take it for a minute, but Elad obviously, will expand and give you his thoughts which are important. But look, we are confirming our guidance that has a lot after caretaking. We are there. We see in Q4 will probably be okay. But as now, there's the logic and continuation of what we're seeing right now, but I think that on a trajectory. I don't see something major changing. Okay.

Joel, I'll say things that maybe obviously, potash prices, keep the same prices, give or take. Phosphate prices also remain same level, relatively high, good same level. However, sulfur cost is going up. So margin will be affected by that. Bromine prices a bit higher. I think right now, it's about 3,600 something like that in China.

So prices will remain relatively strong. However, cost mainly of sulfur, it's an issue. And the rest, I don't see any drama.

That's for sure. And I guess the potash business is pretty stable. Pricing was down, volume pretty stable, margin stable? Is that fair for Q4?

Yes. Yes. We made progress on potash production quantities in the last few months. We are very happy with the improvement. It's like post war improvement, I would say. But by the way, not only in Israel, in Spain, regardless of or no wars in Spain as far as I know, but still, we see an improvement in new product in Spain. So quantities on production are going up, which is an upside.

Okay. And then on the new strategy, which I have a lot of elements of strategies that has been presented by last decades of CEOs and CFOs in corporates, what tangibly in 2026, should we expect to see from ICL to start hitting your milestones for your strategic -- new strategic priorities? What tangible milestones should we see in 2026?

So let me go back to the first part of your sentence or question. So it's not exactly the same strategy. When it comes to specialty fertilizers, I agree with you, and we are going to accelerate, but we are on track. And as we showed, we already doubled the top line and triple the EBITDA and by improving the mix and some additional acquisitions, I think we'll get better. On the other hand, when it comes to specialty food solutions, the functional ingredients, this is a different strategy. In the past, it wasn't a growth engine for the company. We take now a different direction. We are going to expand it.

We are going to accelerate the growth. We believe in this segment. And again, the change is that we are not only looking it as an outlet for phosphate and staying at the phosphate-based solutions, we are going to address the bigger market of the food ingredients of the -- sorry, functional food ingredients, which is much bigger market, more than 20x bigger than the phosphate-based solution, which is part of it.

And that will be done, as I mentioned, also by acquisitions I hope we'll have some news about it in the coming few quarters. So that could be a change. On the other hand, we changed or the other part of the strategy that was about LFP cathode material. Yes, we are going to remain as a raw material provider to the battery industry, but we are not going to go one step downstream and get into this huge investments in the dynamic of the current market. So in that respect, we changed the direction.

Thank you for correcting me on some of that. I appreciate it. Finally, obviously, we all saw what happened last week with the MOU. You've laid out the transparency of it now and can you talk about what do you think the market has gotten wrong on ICL last week as this news came out?

Yes. That's a great point. I'll say, honestly, I think it's -- we have 2 dimensions here. One is the MOU itself. Is it good or bad? I can elaborate. I already talked about it during the presentation. I think it's good and positive step to ICL, more certainty, more clarity. We know what we get.

And most important, I think it doesn't hurt our chances to be the next concession owner. But on the other side, we'll get better terms for the next concession better than the option that we were source or the only player on the field. And I can elaborate, but I know very well the dynamic with the state of Israel. If we were the only one to play in this game, the terms would have been much, much more severe. So that's -- in that respect, it's a good sign. I think part of the surprise was because people realized for the first time that the concession is going to end in 2030. Now everyone knows it or knew it, but it becomes a little bit more real. Still, I think with all the caveats, I think ICL has great chances to be the next concession owner. But not less important, I think this step will make sure that the economical terms will be much more reasonable than what it could have been.

Let me, if I may, just to add about the value of the assets. In the end of the day, we at replacement costs believed and believe that the value of the assets is obviously as high as we noted. And of course, we always said that there are different methods of calculation, et cetera, et cetera. .

But the perception in the market was that this value is so high that it will basically deter every new bidder. Now that in itself is, in a way, is a semi-cooked idea because in the end, as Elad said, okay, I suppose that there is no other bidder, and we are the sole game in town what would be the conditions of the new concession. And that is something that I fully agree it was sort of sidetracked and not taken into account.

Now I'm saying again, the value of the assets, we believe that replacement obviously is much higher, but we do get an insurance policy that if we walk away, by the way, if we want the concession has a very, very high likelihood than we would have, we will want it to know if it makes sense. What we have now is certainly that if 1 reason or another, we do not have it, then we have a minimum agreed upon threshold, which we will get and we will see the money at the end of the current concession.

This could have been very different otherwise. So when you put it all, we actually were very, very positive, very positive about this arrangement. The market, on the other hand, as you say, for differently, maybe didn't factor it in, maybe was deterred by the difference in the price between the $3 billion and the $6 billion, and it can be quite a lot of the things put together. I think it was, to a large extent, interalia that indeed, obviously, it's 4 years a quarter from now, but still there is an event at the end of March 2030. Probably that's a constant.

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would like to turn it back to for Elad Aharonson closing remarks.

Okay. So again, the way we see it, a good quarter for ICL and also, we wanted to spend some time with you today give our feedback on the MOU about the concession and mainly on at least the highlights of the strategy. So thank you for taking the time. and we are in other channels for more questions. Thank you very much. And maybe the last sentence, I'd like to thank very much the ICL employees all across the world, for dedicated work and very nice achievements. So thank you all the ICL employees. And thank you all, and see you next time.

Thank you. And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.