Industrie De Nora Stock

Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Industrie De Nora First Half 2026 Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Chiara Locati, Investor Relations and ESG Executive Director of Industrie De Nora. Please go ahead, madam.

Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our First Half 2026 Financial Results Presentation, and thank you for joining us. I'm Chiara Locati, Investor Relations and ESG Executive Director. And with me on the call, there are today, Paolo Dellacha, CEO of the Group; and Luca Oglialoro, our CFO. They will guide you through financial and business performance for the first half of the year.

And following the presentation, we will open up the floor for a Q&A session. I would also like to remind you that the slides accompanying today's presentation are available in the Investor Relations section of our website. With that, I'm pleased to hand the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Paolo Dellacha. Paolo, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chiara. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. We are pleased to present the results of a fruitful first half of the year, both in terms of financial performance and the execution of our growth strategy. Our solid results shown on the right-hand side of the slide were driven by a marked improvement in the second quarter, leading to performance that in some areas exceeded our expectations. Beyond the numbers, we are particularly satisfied with the development of our business. Order intake remained robust, growing year-on-year, including BW Water on a pro forma basis, backlog reached over EUR 650 million, providing greater visibility for the coming periods and further supporting the execution of our growth strategy.

We also achieved a number of important strategic milestones during the period. We successfully completed the acquisition of BW Water on July 1, a transformative step for our water business. By the way, just a few days after joining De Nora Group, BW Water secured a new contract to provide water treatment solutions for a semiconductor project in Southern Europe. In energy transition, we were awarded and booked the full orders of Moeve, Southern Europe's largest green hydrogen project. In addition, our Italian gigafactory continues to progress in line with the plan and with the IPCEI framework. Construction activities are now nearing completion, while the first operational activities are already underway. Finally, we advanced our sustainability road map by defining the ESG targets for our sustainability-linked loan.

Thanks to the strong performance delivered in the first half on an organic basis, we are confirming our revenue guidance of EUR 830 million to EUR 850 million at the upper end of the range provided in March 2026 and increasing our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance to 18% to 20%. On top of this organic performance, BW Water is expected to contribute approximately $90 million in revenues in the second half of the year. In this slide, we present the main KPIs of our H1 2026 financial performances that Luca will comment on later. Now reviewing the performance of our business units, let me begin with the Electro Technologies. H1 '26 showed a strong commercial momentum with order intake increasing by 28% year-on-year to approximately EUR 240 million, driven by growth across all product lines.

The Chlor-Alkali business, which accounted for 71% of total orders recorded growth of more than 20%, supported in particular by the award of a large-scale chlor-alkali project in the Middle East. Electronics and electrowinning, which represented 16% and 13% of total orders, respectively, also delivered strong commercial momentum. Electronics recorded growth of more than 40%, primarily driven by robust demand in Asia, while electrowinning grew by more than 30%, mainly reflecting solid commercial activity in the Americas. New applications accounted for 60% of total order intake with the remaining 40% generated by the aftermarket service, reflecting both continued customer investment and the resilience of our installed base. Orders were also well diversified geographically with Asia accounting for 44%, followed by EMEA and Americas.

As a result, backlog reached EUR 284 million at the end of June 2026, up 13% compared to the year-end of 2025 and remaining close to the record levels achieved in the first quarter. Overall, our core Electrode Technology business remains solid, and we maintain a positive outlook for the short and medium term. Before reviewing the commercial performance of our Water business unit, let me first remind you of the strategic significance of BW Water acquisition, which we completed on July 1. By combining De Nora products and technology leadership with BW Water turnkey capabilities, we are creating a global integrated platform that strengthens our position across the value chain. This new platform dedicated to water treatment will operate through 3 complementary growth engines.

The Water Technology Systems, so-called WTS line, will continue to provide De Nora proprietary technologies and water treatment systems, while the integrated water solution, so IWS line, formerly BW Water, will deliver turnkey water treatment solutions worldwide. Together with -- together, these business lines will serve municipal and industrial customers, leveraging proprietary technologies, system integration expertise and full project execution capabilities while capturing cross-selling opportunities and cost synergies across the business unit. In addition, pools will remain a key growth driver for the water business.

Together, WTS, IWS and pools will form a highly diversified growth platform. Turning back to BW Water acquisition. With the transaction completed on July 1, our focus has now shifted to integration. We have already launched a comprehensive program aimed at capturing both revenue and cost synergies, accelerating growth across the group and further strengthening our competitive position. Looking ahead, BW Water's strong backlog provides solid visibility for 2026 and 2027. As of June, backlog stood at approximately EUR 150 million, reflecting a diversified mix of contracts across the semiconductors, municipal and desalination sectors. This positive momentum has continued following the closing.

In July, BW Water secured a new contract worth approximately EUR 9 million for a semiconductor water treatment project in Europe with a major international player, further reinforcing its position in one of the most attractive segments of the water industry. Let me now provide an update on order intake and backlog development within our Water Technology business during the first half of the year. Order intake increased by 8% year-on-year to EUR 198 million, driven by the strong performance of pools, which grew by 55% compared to the first half of 2025. Performance in the WTS business was softer during the period, mainly due to the delays in customer investment decisions related to the certain project in the Middle East, reflecting the current geopolitical environment. We expect these conditions to persist through the second half of 2026 with order intake in the region remaining relatively subdued.

However, as of this project related to critical water infrastructure, the delays are temporary in nature and reflect a postponement rather than a cancellation of the investment. Moreover, the current geopolitical environment has further reinforced the strategic importance of water -- water treatment as a critical asset of economic development, resilience and regional and global security. The long-term fundamentals of the water treatment market are solid, and therefore, we expect demand to globally grow meaningfully over the medium term. Turning back to the order intake analysis within WTS, orders remained well balanced across both municipal and industrial end markets as well as between new installation and aftermarket services.

From a geographical perspective, North America remained the largest contributor to order intake, accounting for approximately 63% of the total, largely driven by the pool business, which alone represented around 46%. This was followed by Asia, the Middle East and Europe, reflecting the broad geographical diversification of the business. Turning to backlog. The pro forma backlog, including BW Water exceeded EUR 330 million at the end of June, representing approximately 1.9x the level recorded at the end of 2025. On an organic basis, backlog remained broadly in line with December 2025 levels.

Finally, the commercial trends in both the WTS and pools lines remain fully aligned with our 2026 revenue organic guidance. This slide shows some key project wins secured during the second quarter of 2026. During the quarter, we were selected for the third phase of the North Field West LNG expansion project in Qatar, which consists of the delivery of 2 trains for a mega LNG production facility. De Nora will supply its CECHLO electrochlorination unit to treat approximately 93,000 cubic meters of water per day. This follows our successful execution of the first phase in 2021 and the second expansion phase in 2024, further reinforcing our leadership position and track record in this strategic market.

We also secured a UV modernization project for PUB's Joho River Waterworks in Singapore. Originally commissioned in 2011, the existing UV systems have operated successfully for more than a decade. As the systems approach the later stage of their operational life, PUB launched a tender for their replacement, De Nora Sentinel UV technology was selected based on its proven reliability in medium pressure applications, ease of maintenance and ability to be retrofitted into existing infrastructure without the need for a full system replacement. Finally, we were awarded a new greenfield water treatment facility in Alabama in U.S., supporting growing seasonal water demand linked to summer tourism. PFAS also continued to gain momentum.

The award of our PFAS -- of our first PFAS project in Sweden marks our entry into one of Europe's most advanced PFAS treatment markets. As a result, the total number of PFAS contracts awarded since the beginning of 2025 has reached 11 projects. Supported by 10 active fields pilot across the Americas and EMEA, we continue to see strong customer interest and a robust pipeline of opportunities. Overall, our Water Technology business remains a key growth driver for the group and is well positioned to play an increasingly important role in the years ahead, supported by the strong long-term growth prospect of both municipal and industrial water markets. Moving now to energy transition.

As anticipated during our Q1 results call, we secured all orders for Moeve Green Hydrogen project in Spain with a total value within EUR 30 million to EUR 40 million range previously indicated. These orders relate to the first phase of the Onuba project, part of the broader Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley initiative, one of the largest green hydrogen developments currently underway in Europe with a planned expansion over time to up to 2 gigawatts of electrolyzer capacity. Once operational, the green hydrogen produced at the site will support the production of renewable fuels for road, maritime and aviation applications. Following these orders, our energy transition backlog increased to approximately EUR 42 million, strengthening revenue visibility. We expect the Moeve project to begin contributing to revenues from 2027 onwards.

Looking at our pipeline, around 1.6 gigawatt of large-scale green hydrogen projects involving our joint venture thyssenkrupp nucera are currently advancing through FEED activities across Europe and India, reflecting the gradual progress of the market and growing interest in large-scale hydrogen solutions. Before moving on, let me briefly touch on lithium refining. In the near term, the 2 lithium refining projects in Japan remain on track. At the same time, we are working to finalize a contract worth more than EUR 10 million with Tholeva in the United States for the development of the largest electrochemical lithium hydroxide plant in the U.S. We see the lithium refining market as a key medium-term growth pillar for De Nora.

Global investment in the sector, excluding mining activities, is expected to double over the next decade, reaching approximately $50 billion by 2035. So splitting processes based on membrane electrolysis can play a transformative role in the downstream lithium refining. Compared with conventional technologies, they enable the production of battery-grade products with lower capital investment, reduced dependence on chemicals, significant cost savings and lower water consumption and reduced CO2 footprint.

Leveraging its leadership in electrochemical technologies, De Nora continues to invest resources and capital in electrochemical solutions that support the circularity of critical materials strengthening its ability to capture the significant growth opportunities emerging in this fast-growing market. Let me now provide an update on our Italian gigafactory project located within the new facility we are developing in Cernusco sul Naviglio, near Milan. We are very pleased with the progress achieved so far and all major project activities remain on track. Construction of the gigafactory section has been completed and initial preparations are already underway, while work on the broader Cernusco facility is progressing according to the plans and is expected to be completed by year-end.

We are progressing on the initiatives carried out under the IPCEI framework, which supports the development of innovative technology for green hydrogen production. In June 2026, we installed the production capacity required to meet the PNRR milestone and submitted the relevant documentation to MASE, the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security to demonstrate the achievement of the target. In parallel, we have launched the first operational and validation activities envisaged under the IPCEI program, and we remain on track to complete all planned initiatives by the end of 2026. More specifically, current work is focused on advancing our green hydrogen solutions for small-scale production.

A dedicated team of researchers is already operating at the gigafactory, supporting engineering, validation and industrialization activities. Looking ahead, the Cernusco facility has been designed to serve as a key industrial hub for De Nora. In addition to the gigafactory, it will host the manufacturing activities currently carried out at the 2 other Italian sites in the Greater Milan area. We have already defined the relocation plan and are planning the exit for the related lease agreements and properties. This will further enhance operational efficiency and optimize our industrial footprint in Italy.

With regard to hydrogen-related manufacturing capacity, we continue to see the most significant growth opportunities emerging over the medium term. In the meantime, we will maintain a lean cost structure with capital deployment remaining fully aligned with business development and green hydrogen market demand. As a reminder, with reference to the IPCEI hydrogen funding awarded by the Italian government in March 2025, we informed the market of our intention to reassess the project economic and financial assumptions in light of the evolving green hydrogen market in consultation with the relevant authorities.

Discussion with the relevant authorities have made significant progress, and we are currently awaiting formal communication from the Italian Ministries of Enterprise and Made in Italy, MIIT regarding the updated industrial and technological plan, which reflects volumes and activities aligned with the current market environment. Before moving on, I would like to briefly highlight some of the open innovation initiatives that are helping shape De Nora future. Innovation remains a key pillar of our long-term strategy, and we are currently advancing 2 complementary open innovation initiatives aims at accelerating technology development and supporting our long-term growth ambitions.

First, following the commitment announced in December 2024, we are leveraging our participation in the EUR 170 million 360 Life II Climate Tech Fund, where De Nora has invested EUR 10 million. This gives us privileged access to a broad pipeline of European climate tech companies and allows us to monitor emerging technologies that could shape the future of our industries. Second, in April 2026, we launched the EDGE Innovation Hub, a new program designed to orchestrate our global innovation ecosystem and accelerate collaboration with the big tech start-ups. The first challenge launched through EDGE focused on redesigning industrial operations, an area that is directly linked to operational excellence, productivity and sustainability.

We have already selected 5 promising start-ups to enter an 18-month long collaboration with our teams to validate, grow and integrate their technologies in our industrial processes. We believe that combining strategic venture exposure with a structured start-up collaboration model allows us to accelerate innovation while maintaining a disciplined approach to value creation. This initiative strengthen our ability to identify new technologies early, enhance our competitiveness and support sustainable growth over the long term. Overall, the first half of the year has been marked by solid business momentum and continued strategic execution, laying the foundation for the next phase of our mid- and long-term growth journey.

With that, let me hand over to Luca for a review of our financial results.

Thank you, Paolo, and good afternoon, everyone. As expected, the second quarter marked an acceleration in revenue growth. Revenues up 4.4% year-on-year. And excluding the impact of foreign exchange headwinds, underlying growth was close to 8%. Within Electro Technologies, revenues returned to levels broadly in line with the second quarter of 2025, following the double-digit decline reported in the first quarter. This recovery was mainly driven by double-digit growth in the electronics and electrowinning product line, together with a partial recovery in Chlor-Alkali, reflecting the execution of orders secured over recent quarters.

Our water business delivered a strong performance with revenues increasing by more than 40%, driven by the continued momentum in pools, primarily reflecting pricing actions as a consequence of raw material inflation alongside higher volumes. WTS also returned to growth with revenues increasing by around 10%, supported by favorable project execution timing. Finally, energy transition performed in line with expectations, reflecting the scheduled evolution of the order backlog.

Moving to the first half performance. Revenues grew by more than 2% at constant exchange rate. As shown on the slide, adverse currency movements, primarily related to the euro-U.S. dollar exchange rate and the Japanese yen continued to weigh on reported revenues, which declined by a low single-digit percentage year-on-year. Geographically, the Americas increased their contribution to 37% of group revenues, up from 33% in the first half of 2025, mainly driven by the strong performance of the water business.

APAC accounted for approximately 34%, broadly in line with last year, while EMEA contributed 29%, down from 33% in the first half of 2025. This mainly reflects the completion of the NEOM project, which has supported the revenues in the region, particularly during the early quarters of 2025. Turning to our business unit. Electrode Technologies delivered a solid recovery with the year-on-year decline halving compared with the third quarter as anticipated, supported by the strong execution of the order backlog. Aftermarket services accounted for approximately 44% of revenues. We expect the recovery to continue over the coming quarters. The Water Technology business reported a revenue growth of 27% or 33% at constant exchange rates.

This performance was supported by the pool segment, where revenues increased by more than 60%, driven by raw material inflation dynamics and a low single-digit growth in volumes, as already discussed, while Water Technology Systems remained broadly stable at constant exchange rates due to project execution timing. Aftermarket services represented 47% of Water Technology Systems revenues. Looking ahead to the second half of the year and assuming raw material prices to remain stable, we expect pools revenues to be broadly in line with the first half, while WTS is expected to continue its recovery with execution mostly concentrated in the fourth quarter.

On the geopolitical front, we continue to closely monitor developments in the Middle East. The conflict could temporarily affect the execution of certain projects, particularly within our Water Technology Solution business, potentially resulting in delays. However, the impact of such delays has already been factored into our 2026 organic guidance. As previously mentioned, energy transition revenues reflected the evolution of the order backlog. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, we do not expect an acceleration in this business as orders recently awarded by Moeve are expected to begin contributing to revenue from 2027 onwards.

Overall, our first half revenue performance keeps us firmly on track to deliver full year revenues in the range of $830 million to $850 million range, consistent with the expectations we outlined during our last call. We are now at Slide 17, where you can see our backlog by business unit, which Paolo has already commented on. Let me just highlight that De Nora's organic backlog, including all orders related to the Moeve project, exceeded EUR 500 million, up approximately 12% compared with December 2025, reflecting positive momentum across all business units. On a pro forma basis, including BW Water's backlog as of July 1, the figure exceeded EUR 650 million, representing an increase of approximately 46% compared with the organic backlog as of December 2025 and providing strong visibility on revenue development in both 2026 and 2027.

Turning now to our operating cost structure. As discussed during our first quarter results, in anticipation of the expected slowdown in the energy transition business and the temporary softness of the Electrode Technologies segment, we have implemented a number of measures to increase the flexibility of our production cost base, particularly with respect to the labor cost. This approach helps preserve product profitability, supported by a more favorable revenue mix. Turning to SG&A and corporate costs. This remained broadly in line with the first half of 2025 despite inflationary pressures. Finally, De Nora remains firmly committed to research and development, while recurring -- with recurring R&D expenses slightly higher than those recorded in the first half of 2025. Let's now move to operating profitability.

The first half closed with adjusted EBITDA of approximately EUR 82 million, slightly up compared to EUR 81 million in the first half of 2025. This improvement was primarily driven by stronger profitability with adjusted EBITDA margin reaching 24.4%, around 80 basis points higher than in the same period last year. The margin expansion was largely driven by the Water Technology business, which delivered an EBITDA margin above 25%. This improvement reflects both revenue growth and a more favorable revenue mix with the pools product line accounting for 57% of segment revenues compared with 43% in the first half of 2025.

Regarding the Electrode Technology business, the reduction in adjusted EBITDA margin compared with the first half of 2025 reflects both a different geo and product mix and lower absorption of indirect costs resulting from reduced volumes in the Energy Transition segment. Nevertheless, profitability proved more resilient than initially anticipated, supported in part by the cost containment measures implemented across the business.

Finally, as expected, the Energy Transition business recorded a negative adjusted EBITDA margin, this mainly reflects lower revenues combined with our continued commitment to technological development and product innovation, with R&D spending remaining broadly unchanged in absolute terms compared with the first half of 2025. The strong performance of the Water Technologies business, together with the group's solid first half profitability, give us the confidence to upgrade our full year organic guidance.

Turning to Slide 20. The bridge from EBITDA to net income highlights the key factors impacting net income evolution. Starting from a reported EBITDA slightly above the level recorded in the first half of 2025, net income was primarily influenced by 2 elements: net financial expenses and the contribution from our tk nucera joint venture. Looking first at net financial expenses, we delivered an improvement of more than EUR 5 million compared with the prior year. This performance was mainly driven by the optimization of the group's financial structure and treasury management activities, including the reorganization of intragroup business-related financial flows.

And these initiatives reduced our exposure to foreign exchange risk and consequently lowered the associated ForEx and hedging costs. The second factor relates to the contribution from our joint venture, which had a negative impact of more than EUR 16 million on reported net income in the first half of 2026. Excluding this effect, net income as of June 30 would have increased by approximately 25% year-on-year, reflecting stronger operating profitability together with the benefit of a significant lower financial expense base. Turning to the evolution of our net financial position. The bridge illustrates the main drivers of the change during the first half of the year.

As you can see, the change in net debt primarily reflects the seasonal working capital dynamics that typically characterize the first half of the year. In 2026, this effect was further amplified by the sharp increase in critical raw material prices, particularly noble metals. As these purchases are generally settled upon delivery, they resulted in a significant cash outflow as discussed during our main conference call. As expected, cash absorption was largely concentrated in the first quarter, while operating cash flow began to recover in the second quarter, returning to a slightly positive level.

Looking ahead, we anticipate a gradual improvement in operating cash generation during the second half of the year, driven by the normalization of the working capital dynamics and the collection of receivables. This should enable us to fund our planned capital expenditure and restore a balanced cash position, excluding the impact of BW Water acquisition. Let us now move to the guidance for fiscal year 2026. Starting with the -- with our organic guidance, we confirm that we expect revenues in the range of EUR 830 million, EUR 850 million, placing us at the upper end of the EUR 750 million, EUR 850 million range previously communicated. At the business unit level, we expect Electrode Technologies to deliver a low single-digit decline, an improvement on our previous guidance supported by a higher backlog, strong project execution and positive pricing effects linked to raw material inflation.

Turning to Water Technologies, we confirm that we expect performance at the upper end of the previously communicated guidance range, implying low double-digit growth. This outlook already incorporates the expected impact of the current geopolitical situation in the Middle East on WTS during the second half of 2026. Finally, in Energy Transition, based on the current backlog schedule, we expect revenues in the range of EUR 15 million, EUR 25 million. Supported by the strong profitability of our core businesses in the first half as well as the expected backlog execution and favorable product mix in the second half, we are raising our full year adjusted EBITDA margin guidance to 18% to 20% from our previous guidance of an adjusted EBITDA margin at the upper end of the 15% to 18% range.

Our guidance for capital expenditure remains unchanged. Turning to the BW Water, now our Integrated Water Solutions line, whose financial results will be consolidated starting from the second half of 2026. Let me remind you of the financial estimates provided when we announced the acquisition. This indicates approximately $90 million for the second half of the year with a positive low single-digit adjusted EBITDA margin. Therefore, for full year 2026, the total group revenues could reach between EUR 900 million and EUR 930 million.

I will now hand over to Chiara for an update on our [ ESG strategy ].

Thank you, Luca. Our commitment to sustainability as outlined in our 2030 ESG plan is increasingly translating into tangible financial benefits for the group. Over the past few months, we have selected and agreed with our lending banks on 3 ESG KPIs and related targets. From 2026, these KPIs will be linked to our financing margin through an ESG-linked adjustment mechanism. The facilities concerned are the revolving credit facility signed in November 2025 and the term loan facility aimed to finance the acquisition of BW Water.

Two of the KPIs are environmental, focusing on the reduction of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emission, the first and the reduction of the Scope 3 emission intensity, the second. The related targets are fully aligned with our SBTi-validated 2030 decarbonization plan. For the sustainability-linked financing framework, we have established annual milestone that follow a broadly linear path towards our 2030 objectives. The third KPI relates to the average gender pay gap, which De Nora is committed to maintaining within a defined range over the coming years.

This reflects our commitment to an inclusive workplace and to ensuring equal opportunities for all employees. We are particularly pleased, as you can imagine, to have linked our ESG objectives to the group financial resources. This marks an important step for De Nora and provides further evidence of our commitment to delivering on our sustainability goals. Given the nature of our business and the central role sustainability plays in our growth strategy, we believe this is an approach we will continue to build on in the years ahead.

I will now hand over to Paolo for his closing remarks.

Thank you. To conclude, the first half of 2026 has been a successful period for De Nora. Despite a challenging market environment, we continue to advance our growth strategy, delivering solid profitability, strengthening our backlog, expanding our water platform through the BW Water acquisition and further reinforcing our leadership position across our key businesses.

At the same time, we are seeing encouraging signs of momentum in energy transition markets for green hydrogen and lithium refining. We entered the second half with confidence, supported by a stronger backlog, positive market momentum and a clear execution plan.

With that, thank you for your attention. We are now available to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Daniele De Florentis, Equita SIM.

The first one is about the new guidance on EBITDA margin. You raised the midpoint of the EBITDA margin. So the first question is what are the main drivers behind this upgrade? The second question is about BW Water. So we have a pro forma -- you have a change in the pro forma for the full year contribution in revenues for the BW Water, so because in the second half of 2026, you guided for EUR 9 million revenues. And the third one is if you can you give more color on price volume contribution behind the strong revenue growth in pool business.

Thank you for the question. So with regard to the upgrade of the EBITDA guidance, I mean, after the strong performance in H1, we expect the second half to continue the same trend also because we will have higher sales in H2, then we expect good profit mix in the second half in both electrodes given the strong performance of the electronics and the high order intake that we just secured and also strong water performance due to the favorable mix given the pool performance.

On top of this efficiency we play, that we are, let's say, extracting from cost. We expect a good contribution also from efficiency cost in the second half. These are the main drivers for the upgrade of the guidance. With regards to BW, there is no change in what we communicated because the expectation is still to have $130 million of guidance in terms of revenues for BW that sees the concentration of sales especially in the second half of the year. So the $90 million is coherent with the $130 million already communicated.

This is due to the scheduling of the activities related to the orders already secured in BW. So exactly in line with what we communicated in the previous call with regards to BW. And then for the pools, the drivers of the growth are still to what we just said, so increase in volumes, low single digit and a good, let's say, price increase given especially the, let's say, raw material inflation.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from Vincenzo Antonio Buono, Banca Akros.

Congratulations on the results. I have 2 questions. First one is on the revenue guidance. I mean the midpoint implies around EUR 440 million of revenues in H2, which will still be lower than last year. Is this mainly due to delays in some water projects in the Middle East? Or are there other reason? Or I mean, are you a bit conservative on this? And second one is on BW Water.

I mean, can you give us an update on revenue synergies also in the next year? Should we include any revenue synergy in our estimates? Or should we currently consider only the cost synergies already announced?

Yes. With regard to revenue guidance, H2 is lower than last year due to the pool performance that we expect in energy transition given the short visibility that we have on order. This is the main reason of the reduction of the guidance. The rest is, let's say, performing well. And with regard to BW, we expect, as we said during the acquisition call to have, let's say, a few millions, a couple of millions of cost synergies in -- from now to the end of the year on BW and it's too early for the moment to expect revenue synergies from the combination of the businesses.

Gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time.

So thank you very much. Thank you for attending our conference call. And of course, as Investor Relations department, we are at your disposal for any kind of information or deep insight you need. Thank you.

All the best. Thank you.

Good morning. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the De Nora presentation on the acquisition of BW Water. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Chiara Locati, Investor Relations and ESG Executive Director of Industrie De Nora. Please go ahead, madam.

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to this conference call dedicated to the acquisition of BW Water announced earlier today. I'm Chiara Locati, Investor Relations and ESG Executive Director. Joining me on the call today are Paolo Dellacha, Chief Executive Officer of Industrie De Nora and Luca Oglialoro, our CFO. During the call, we will walk you through the strategic rationale of this acquisition and explain how BW Water fits into De Nora's strategy. After the presentation, we will open up the floor for a Q&A session.

Please note that the presentation materials discussed during today's call are available on our website in the Investor Relations section. A replay of the call will also be made available on the Investor Relations website later today. I will now turn the call over to Paolo Dellacha, our Chief Financial -- sorry, Chief Executive Officer. Paolo, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chiara. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's conference call. Today marks an important milestone for De Nora, as we have signed an agreement to acquire BW Water, a fast-growing global player in water and wastewater treatment. This acquisition is a step change for our water ambition and a powerful growth engine for the group. It will create an integrated solution-driven platform in high-growth end markets. At its core, this transaction strengthens our ability to address critical global water challenges such as scarcity and contamination by combining De Nora's technology leadership with BW Water system integration capabilities.

The acquisition expands our exposure to attractive markets such as semiconductors, desalination and mining, while strengthening our presence in Southeast Asia with manufacturing and engineering hubs in Malaysia and in the Philippines, respectively. This enhances our proximity to customers and efficiency in project execution to serve and penetrate the global market. It also creates meaningful cross-selling opportunities and supports a broader, more integrated product, technology and service offering to our customers.

And of course, sustainability remains at the heart of this move. The acquisition will be financed through a EUR 60 million, 5 years amortizing term loan facility with the option to incorporate ESG-linked KPIs currently under definition. From a capital allocation -- sorry, I have to give the word to Luca. I will now hand the call to Luca, who will provide an overview of transaction and financial KPIs. Sorry about that.

Thank you, Paolo. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. On Slide 4, we illustrate the impact of the acquisition on De Nora in terms of scale, backlog and top line contribution to give a clear sense of both the size of the deal and the company's strong growth profile. In 2025, BW Water generated revenues of approximately $92 million, equivalent to around 9% of De Nora's top line. Following closing, BW Water will be consolidated within our Water Technologies business perimeter, specifically within WTS line.

On a pro forma basis, this will increase the size of the WTS business by around 32%, representing a clearly transformational step. Paolo will comment shortly on the implications from a business model perspective. Turning to backlog. As of the end of April, BW Water reported approximately $190 million, representing around 40% of De Nora consolidated order book. Looking specifically at the Water Technology Systems segment, the combined backlog, meaning De Nora existing business plus BW Water would reach more than EUR 300 million, effectively doubling the stand-alone level of approximately EUR 140 million at the end of March. BW Water also enhances the diversification of our backlog by end market, adding strong exposure to the semiconductor industry, which accounts for more than 50% of its orders, followed by municipal applications, desalination, mining and other industrial segments.

Moving to profitability. BW Water delivered a normalized EBITDA of around $3 million in 2025. We have identified an initial package of cost synergies of approximately $7 million per year, expected to be fully realized by year 3 with around 30% already achieved from 2027. Finally, based on the current backlog, we expect BW Water full year 2026 sales to reach around $130 million. This reflects a strong growth trajectory with revenues more than tripling over the past 3 years, confirming both the company's momentum and the attractiveness of its end markets.

On Slide 5, we summarize the key terms of the transaction. The enterprise value of the acquisition is expected to range between $61.5 million and $66.5 million based on the net financial position as of June 30. And in any event, will not exceed $66.5 million. At closing, the consideration will be in the range of $53.1 million to a maximum of $61.5 million, depending on the level of trade receivables at the end of June. The final consideration and EV will be determined in the third quarter upon completion of the closing financial statement. At the agreed enterprise value range, the transaction implies a 2025 EV/sales multiple of approximately 0.7x, decreasing to approximately 0.7x (sic) [ 0.5x ] on 2026 expected revenues.

Based on the current backlog and depending on the final EV amount, the implied EV/backlog multiple is between 0.3x and 0.4x, which we consider particularly attractive given the quality and visibility of the backlog. Based on the 2025 normalized EBITDA and depending on the final EV amount, the implied EV/EBITDA multiple is in the range between 6.2x and 6.7x, including the preliminary $7 million of annual run rate cost synergies already identified and expected to be achieved within 3 years.

Please note that normalized EBITDA excludes nonrecurring items and adjust for accounting effects related to activities carried out in previous years. The acquisition will be financed through a EUR 60 million 5-year amortizing term loan facility with the option to incorporate ESG-linked KPIs currently under definition. From a capital allocation standpoint, our dividend policy remains unchanged with a payout ratio of up to 25%, fully consistent with our previous guidance. Finally, on time line and execution, following today's signing of the share purchase agreement, the transaction remains subject to customary condition precedent with closing expected on July 1 and the post-closing adjustment process to be completed within Q3. With that, I will now hand back to Paolo.

Thank you, Luca. As we move into the strategy section, let me start by briefly framing the context, shaping both our priorities and the opportunities ahead. I'm now on Slide #7. Water scarcity is becoming one of the defining challenges of our time. Population growth, climate change and the rapid expansion of water-intensive applications are placing increasing pressure on freshwater resources. Today, around 2.1 billion people still lack access to safe drinking water, and this number is expected to grow, while water stress is also affecting agriculture and industrial activities across many regions.

This is not a regional issue. This is a global constraint impacting municipalities, industries and critical infrastructure worldwide. As scarcity intensifies and water costs rise, we are seeing accelerating technological innovation and growing demand for solutions that enable water savings, recovery and reuse. This is driving a major global investment cycle. And with the acquisition of BW Water, we will be able to capture our fair share of this trend. In developed markets, aging infrastructure requires significant upgrades, supported by public funding and increasingly stricter regulation.

At the same time, new environmental standards, particularly in the U.S. and Europe on PFAS and other contaminants are transforming water treatment into a highly specialized technology-driven field. Against this backdrop, the need for more efficient and circular water management models is becoming essential rather than optional. Our priority is to ensure a secure, reliable and sustainable water supply for industrial and municipal users, while delivering long-term value for our stakeholders. This is precisely where our water strategy comes into play.

Turning to our external growth strategy on Slide 8. I would like to remind you that this acquisition fits perfectly with the De Nora M&A framework we outlined in March. At the same -- at the time, we set out a clear direction to accelerate growth through targeted acquisitions based on 3 key pillars: first, enhancing downstream integration along the value chain, enabling us to deliver high value-added end-to-end solutions and move closer to the final customer. Second, expanding into new strategic high-growth markets such as semiconductors and critical raw materials, while strengthening our global geographical footprint.

Third, acquiring technologies and references that reinforce our positioning across the value chain. BW Water ticks all those boxes.

Now moving to our vision for the platform we want to build, I'm on Slide #9. In the water treatment space, our ambition is to build and scale a high-growth global platform that goes well beyond our traditional product business, evolving toward a more integrated and solution-driven model that combines product excellence with a strong customer-centric approach. Our objective is to deliver integrated technologies, solutions and services to critical water-intensive industrial sectors as well as to municipal drinking water and wastewater applications.

To achieve this, alongside organic growth, we are pursuing a clearly defined M&A strategy across 4 key pillars: First, delivering end-to-end solutions consistent with the BW Water acquisition. Second, in the PFAS space, developing advanced destruction capabilities integrated with capture systems. Third, expanding our portfolio through additional technologies, also consistent with the BW Water acquisition. And fourth, acquiring digital and intelligence-driven capabilities. Within this strategic framework, BW Water represents our first cornerstone acquisition, laying the foundations for the next phase of expansion of our global water platform.

Let me now turn to the growth opportunities. This acquisition enable us to capture new markets, leveraging BW Water's strong references and proven track record. Our 2 main focus markets are semiconductors and desalination, areas where water treatment is becoming mission-critical and customers are looking for reliable turnkey solutions. The semiconductor market continues to benefit from strong structural drivers led by artificial intelligence, cloud and data center expansion as well as rising semiconductor content in automotive and industrial applications. Alongside these trends, water treatment is becoming an increasingly critical enabler. This segment is currently valued at around $4.2 billion.

On this, approximately $800 million is addressable within the scope and geographies of BW Water and De Nora with an expected 5-year CAGR about 7%. This growth is driven by the rising need of high-quality, reliable water in semiconductor manufacturing, where both water intensity and purity requirements are structurally increasing. The desalination market is also supported by strong long-term growth drivers, including rising water scarcity and urbanization. In this space, annual investment in water treatment are currently around $2.5 billion, of which approximately $700 million to $800 million is addressable within the scope and geographies of BW Water and De Nora with an expected 5-year CAGR of around 7%.

In this market, BW Water offers a premium solution developed through a BW Group joint venture, floating desalination unit, a scalable, modular and flexible way to address urgent water needs and availability with a minimal resource footprint. Beyond these 2 core markets, we also see high-growth opportunities in mining, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, cosmetics and other industrial applications where water constraints and tighter environmental standards are reshaping investment priorities. Across all these markets, water is shifting from a basic utility to a strategic resource, driving sustained demand for advanced treatment, reuse and process water solutions.

Let me now briefly introduce BW Water. I'm on Slide 13. BW Water is a fast-growing provider of integrated water and wastewater treatment solutions. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Singapore, the company has grown rapidly, both organically and through targeted acquisitions of technology-driven businesses with long-standing expertise. A good example is SafBon, a U.S.-based company with more than 30 years of experience in desalination. BW Water is currently part of BW Group, a leading global maritime group active in shipping, floating infrastructure and deepwater oil and gas production.

BW Group will remain a customer through BW Elara, a 50-50 joint venture between BW Group and BW Offshore, which is developing floating desalination units, leveraging BW Water's desalination expertise, as mentioned before. BW Water has built a solid track record with Tier 1 clients across key end markets we discussed earlier. This is reflected in its 2025 revenue mix. Semiconductors accounted for around 43%, mining for approximately 31%, municipal markets for over 20%, largely driven by desalination projects and other industries for about 5%. Geographically, 2025 revenues were well balanced across Asia, the Americas and EMEA.

In terms of footprint, BW Water operates 9 offices globally, supported by 2 manufacturing facilities, one in Germany in Klipphausen and one in Penang, Malaysia as well as an advanced engineering hub in Manila, the Philippines.

The company employs more than 310 professionals with engineers representing over 30% of the total. It has a strong presence in Southeast Asia, where over 70% of employees are based. In April, BW Water reported a backlog of approximately $190 million with projects primarily located in Asia and in the Americas. EMEA represents a smaller share today, which gives us a clear opportunity to accelerate growth by leveraging our existing commercial footprint in the region.

Now moving to Slide 14 for an overview of BW Water Solutions and Technology portfolio. BW Water has a complementary business model to De Nora. The company operates as an EPF player, engineering, procurement and fabrication, delivering turnkey solutions that typically do not include the civil works. Its capabilities span the full project life cycle from feasibility studies and process engineering to project management, fully integrated with procurement and fabrication. BW Water supports execution through installation and commissioning and also provides aftermarket services.

The company offers a broad portfolio of industry-specific solutions, including desalination and high-purity process water treatments, such as demineralization and condensate polishing, designed to protect high-pressure and high-precision equipment. In addition, BW Water delivers specialized systems for ultra-high purity applications where water must be chemically pure and cannot contaminate products, such as in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, oil and gas as well as semiconductors and solar industries.

The company also offers a full suite of wastewater treatment solutions, including biological treatment, serving both municipal applications and industrial processes and enabling water recycling and reuse within production cycles. From a technological standpoint, the company has proprietary clarification and filtration technologies, which are particularly effective in primary municipal wastewater treatment. Importantly, a key feature of BW Water business model is in its technology-agnostic approach. The company can select and integrate the most suitable technology based on each client's specific requirement, ensuring optimal performance and efficiency.

Let me now turn to the strategic rationale for this transaction. I'm on Slide 16. The first driver is strengthening the De Nora Water technology through deeper integration across the value chain. As this slide shows, the 2 companies operate in highly complementary areas. On a stand-alone basis, each brings distinctive strengths. Together, they represent a clear strategic fit. De Nora brings a full suite of market-leading technologies, while BW Water adds strong capabilities in engineering, procurement and fabrication.

To be clear, De Nora has already begun developing these capabilities, mainly in its plant in Japan. However, BW Water allows us to accelerate that process and build a fully integrated platform at a global scale. From a business model perspective, De Nora is primarily product and aftermarket driven, whereas BW Water focuses more on turnkey projects with a technology-agnostic approach. Combining these strengths allows us to bring together a product-centric model with a customer-centric approach, enabling us to offer tailored industry-specific solutions and better address increasingly complex customer needs. This will support a progressive improvement in De Nora Water Technology Systems profitability and allow us to capture opportunities that were previously out of reach.

Moving to Page 17, where we show the combined global presence. Another key driver of this acquisition is the expansion of our geographical footprint, taking a meaningful step forward in scale and our global reach. Today, within Water Technology Systems, De Nora holds a leading position across the Americas, EMEA and Asia, including China, supported by our manufacturing plants and a well-established commercial presence. BW Water naturally complements this by adding a strong presence in Southeast Asia. This enhances our ability to win, develop and execute large-scale global projects, strengthens our proximity to customers in Asia and reinforces execution through dedicated engineering and manufacturing hubs.

Looking at the KPIs on the left-hand side of the slide, this transaction brings De Nora close to EUR 1 billion in revenues on a 2025 pro forma basis with a balanced mix across regions. From an organizational standpoint, our total workforce will exceed 2,300 people, including around 700 in Water Technology Systems segment. We will also have a higher share of our workforce base in Asia with a strong concentration of engineering capabilities. This will be a key enabler, as we continue to move toward a more integrated solution-driven model and manage increasingly complex projects.

The final key rationale of this transaction is our entry into new high-growth markets, complementing the end markets where De Nora already has a strong position. With that, and before the final remarks, I would like to hand the floor to Luca for a review of the cost and revenue synergies.

Thank you, Paolo. Let me turn to BW Water profitability on Slide 19. The current level of normalized EBITDA does not fully portray the underlying potential of the business, as it reflects a phased focus on top line growth and market positioning with less emphasis on margin. Going forward, we will focus on tighter project execution discipline, stronger risk management and cost control to better balance growth and profitability and gradually improve margins over time. De Nora brings proven execution excellence in managing complex projects globally, which we expect to transfer to BW Water. While the technical scope differs, the project dynamics are similar, enabling an effective transfer of best practices.

The combined entity will also focus on developing and fully leveraging aftermarket opportunities from its installed base. Overall, we are confident we can improve BW Water's profitability and gradually move its EBITDA margin closer to the levels of our Water Technology business. In parallel, through the combination of BW Water and De Nora, we expect to create value through both cost and revenue synergies. At this stage, we have identified around $7 million of annual synergies across the 4 levels outlined on this slide. First, procurement efficiency. By integrating purchasing, we expect to improve sourcing terms and streamline supplier management. Second, G&A optimization. We see opportunities to unlock value through the combination of our platforms, including the strengthening of governance and processes.

Third, engineering and fabrication. We will leverage BW Water engineering capabilities in the Philippines and Malaysia to support our water division, reducing overall project and engineering cost. In parallel, we will use BW Water fabrication capabilities to in-source selected assembly activities, improving both efficiency and execution. Lastly, footprint optimization is a more gradual level and is not fully reflected in the initial $7 million, but we expect it to provide additional upside, as the integration progresses. Turning to revenue synergies. We expect this to build progressively, driven by cross-selling opportunities, a broader offering and the integration of our technologies within BW Water Solutions.

In particular, we aim to leverage De Nora's commercial footprint, especially in the Middle East and North America to support BW Water's integrated solution offering and originate additional projects across municipal desalination and selected industrial applications. We also plan to expand our filtration portfolio by adding BW Water's Hydro-PAQ and Hydro-FIL products to the TETRA range and by introducing them into the North American municipal market through De Nora's existing channels. In addition, we expect to accelerate our penetration in Southeast Asia by leveraging BW's Water local fabrication and service presence, strengthening aftermarket services on the installed base and improving win rates on new projects.

Finally, we plan to broaden our offering with complementary membrane-based solution, supporting incremental aftermarket and retrofit opportunities. Overall, these initiatives are expected to support revenue growth, reinforce the combined water technologies platform and deliver additional profitability benefits, underpinning structurally higher margin levels, while strengthening our competitive positioning. With that, I leave the floor to Paolo for the final remarks.

Thank you, Luca. To wrap up, we are delighted to welcome BW Water into the De Nora family. As we have explained throughout this call, this acquisition will enable De Nora to create a scalable global platform to integrate -- for integrated water solutions, add high-growth water-intensive market sectors, expand core capabilities to drive growth, promote sustainable water use to address water scarcity and contamination challenges. And finally, as Luca said, to increase the De Nora Water Technology Systems operating profitability over time to structurally higher levels when the combined platform reaches full cost and scale synergy potential. Thank you for listening. We are now ready for answer -- to answer your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Vincenzo Antonio Di Buono, Banca Akros.

Yes. Two questions from my side. The first one is on funding. Could you provide more details on the cost of debt related to the term loan facility used to finance the acquisition? The second one is on growth outlook. Given BW Water's strong revenue growth in recent years, do you see this pace of growth continuing beyond 2026? And the last one is on CapEx. I mean it's just to know if there are any extraordinary CapEx required to integrate the 2 businesses?

Yes. Thank you, Vincenzo Antonio. So with regard to funding cost, so we prefer not to provide specifically the cost of funding for the transaction, but it's in line with our cost of funding. Globally, let's say, the cost of funding for the group, the gross cost of funding is below 3%. So it falls within the entire cost of funding of the group. So the acquisition does not require CapEx. It's definitely irrelevant. In terms of pace of growth, it's in line with the trends that we already provided with regards to the business, specifically with the water, which is mid-single-digit growth for the next years.

The next question is from Matteo Bonizzoni, Kepler Cheuvreux.

Two questions. I would say, one is a strong growth, 40% expected revenue growth this year. Where is coming from? I suppose semiconductor are a key contributor, but maybe can you help us understanding more across geographies and end markets where this 40% growth is coming from and also the historical growth trajectory of this company? Also, can you mention any particular, I don't know, market share or flag the competitive arena in semiconductor or desalinization?

Second question is on the margin and margin target. So the margin is particularly low as a starting point with 4% EBITDA margin. If we sum up this $7 million of synergies, we nevertheless reach around 10%. But you have said that ultimately, your target is to reach a margin not far from the water business, which is much higher. So currently, it's particularly high, 25%, including food. But I mean, there is a little bit of a gap, which I would like to understand between the margin, including the synergies, which seems to be around 10% more or less. And what you have said that you aim ultimately to reach a margin much higher than that?

Yes, Matteo, in terms of growth, the company is quite a young organization. They've been focusing for sure, as we said, on semiconductor, that is really a very interesting trend and there is a lot of reshoring. So they won and they are winning very, very important projects around the world in this new business. And then, of course, they have been also focusing on mining, on desalination. So definitely, they are working on sectors that they have a very nice growth trajectory and the competence of these people in providing engineered solution is really excellent. So they've been able to conquer the trust of the customers there.

Yes. Matteo, with regard to margin, the idea is to bring the level of BW Water margins to the level of WTS, definitely not to the level of the water division entirely. So you know that we do not provide specifically the margin -- the split of the margin between pools and WTS. But you know that, let's say -- I mean they are close to the -- they are low double-digit. So this is the level that we want to reach with BW Water through the, let's say, actions that we explained in the call.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is a follow-up from Matteo Bonizzoni, Kepler Cheuvreux.

Yes, a general question. We know that you are in general acquisitive in water. So just to know this is one of the -- I guess this is one of the targets which you were looking and you remain sort of acquisitive for the next few months, yes or no?

Yes.

[Operator Instructions] Gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time. I turn the conference back to you for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much for listening, and see you soon.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over, and you may disconnect your telephones.

Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Industrie De Nora First Quarter 2026 Results Presentation.

[Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Chiara Locati, Investor Relations and ESG Executive Director of Industrie De Nora. Please go ahead, madam.

Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our Q1 2026 financial results presentation. I'm Chiara Locati, Head of Investor Relations and ESG at De Nora.

With me on the call today, there are Paolo Dellacha, CEO of the Group; and Luca Oglialoro, our CFO. They will guide you through financial and business performance for the first quarter of the year. And then following the presentation, we will open up the floor for a Q&A session.

I would also like to remind you that the slides accompanying today's presentation are available in the Investor Relations section of our website.

With that, I'm pleased to hand the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Paolo Dellacha. Paolo, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chiara. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today.

Q1 2026 was a challenging quarter marked by geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is increasing pressure on the global energy system, weighing on economic growth, fueling inflation and driving up raw material prices. As a result, short-term financial trends remain more difficult to predict, particularly in light of the complex interaction between global growth dynamics, critical raw material price volatility and business developments in the regions affected by the conflict.

On the other hand, the risks related to the energy crisis once again underscore the critical need for Europe to strengthen its energy independence, including through alternative solutions such as low-carbon hydrogen. At the same time, energy efficiency, optimization and the circularity of critical raw materials are becoming essential drivers of sustainable global economic growth.

As outlined during our last conference call, De Nora business model is well positioned to tackle this global trend, whose dynamics and opportunities are already embedded in our medium- to long-term strategy. In this context, focusing on Q1 2026, the group delivered results in line with expectations, once again demonstrating the strong resilience of its business model. We achieved solid profitability, while backlog increased across our core businesses, reaching its highest level since the end of 2023, supported by a strong increase in new orders.

On the Energy Transition front, during the quarter, we continued to build our presence in the circular lithium market. And at the same time, the green hydrogen market is gaining momentum. As of today, we are proud to announce that we have secured our first order for the 300 MW Moeve project in Andalusia, Spain.

Based on the positive evolution of the backlog, the growth in selling prices observed in recent months, driven by inflationary effects on critical raw materials, the sales mix and the operational efficiencies we are progressively delivering, we confirm the guidance communicated in March and expected to achieve results at the upper end of the relevant range in terms of revenues and operating profitability.

In this slide, we present the main KPIs of our Q1 '26 financial performance that Luca will comment on later.

Reviewing the performance of our business units, let me begin with the Electrode Technologies. Q1 was a strong quarter in terms of new orders. Projects entering our backlog grew by 63% year-on-year, driven by the chlor-alkali line, particularly following the award of a large-scale new project in the Middle East already announced in March. The electronics line also recorded solid momentum with new orders more than doubling compared to Q1 2025, especially in Asia, while the electrowinning line reported a double-digit increase, mainly supported by new orders in the U.S. At business unit level, order intake was primarily linked to new installations as well diversified across our key geographies. At the end of March 2026, our backlog stood at around EUR 300 million, the highest level since June 2024, providing a bit better visibility for revenues over the coming quarters than previously announced.

Overall, our legacy Electrode Technologies business remains solid in the medium term, considering the resilience even in a complex macro scenario of our core end markets, such as chlorine, AI, electric mobility and non-ferrous metal extraction, where we lead.

Let me now turn to Water Technologies, a business that continues to deliver strong performance across our segments. In Q1 '26, the business unit order intake increased by 10%, exceeding EUR 100 million, mainly driven by the Pool lines, where order more than doubled year-on-year. Orders in the WTS, so the Water Technology Systems segment amounted to approximately EUR 50 million, lower than Q1 2025, mainly due to a high base effect and were evenly distributed between the municipal and industrial market. Aftermarket service, which, as you know, typically benefit from higher margin profiles, grew by 4%, accounting for 63% of WTS total orders.

From a geographic perspective at business unit level, North America remained the main contributor to the order income, accounting for approximately 60% of total orders, largely driven by the Pool line, which alone represented around 47%. This was followed by the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Finally, the overall backlog reached EUR 196 million, its highest level since the end of 2023. This was driven by a broadly stable WTS order portfolio alongside a doubling of the Pools backlog, providing strong visibility on revenue growth for the current fiscal year.

In the first quarter of 2026, our Water Technology business secured significant contracts across geographies and applications with a well-balanced mix of municipal and industrial projects. Here, you can see a selection of key projects awarded during the period.

In Hong Kong, the Water Supplies Department is providing drinking water quality for 7.5 million people through on-site chlorine production based on our CECHLO-MS technology, a project we successfully completed in 2023. We have now been awarded a 4-year term contract to provide on-site operations and technical support. The assigned services will ensure reliable CECHLO-MS' system operation through technical support, preventive maintenance and operational optimization, while enabling proactive life cycle management and spare parts opportunities.

The second contract shows in this slide is related to a project in Egypt, where we were awarded a wastewater refurbishment project, one of the largest capital controlled gas feed system installations in the country, designed to address pesticide contamination and serve around 10 million people. This project highlights our ability to operate in complex conditions and reinforces our municipal positioning in a key emerging market.

Finally, in the United States in Florida, we secured the TETRA filtration expansion project for a major steel manufacturing facility. The contract includes the replacement of 3 end-of-life filter vessels and increased the treatment capacity to 54.5 cubic meters per day. This award reinforces De Nora's role as a long-term life cycle partner for a strategic industrial customer and establishes a clear multiyear growth pathway, confirming the scalability and resilience of our filtration technologies in complex industrial environments.

Before moving to the Energy Transition, let me briefly update you on our PFAS business, which represents an attractive growth opportunity following our market entry in 2025. In the first quarter of 2026, we secured 2 additional PFAS projects in the U.S. and Italy in Piedmont. In particular, the contract awarded in the U.S. relates to an industrial scale project in California for a public customer that has launched a remediation program to address PFAS contamination within its system. This project represents a significant milestone for De Nora as it marks our first PFAS project in California, a particularly attractive market given its highly stringent regulatory framework on PFAS.

These 2 additional awards secured in Q1 '26 bring the total values of PFAS orders achieved since 2025 to approximately EUR 7 million across a total of 10 projects. This underlines strong customer demand and the positive momentum of this strategic segment, where we are driving penetration through an intense commercial effort, supported by an extensive piloting activity, particularly in the U.S. and Italy.

Let us now turn to the Energy Transition business. As you know, we are progressing in the lithium refining market, where we are developing an electrochemical process to refine lithium from both traditional feedstocks and end-of-life batteries, supporting the growing global demand for lithium and the transition towards a more circular economy.

During Q1 2026, we signed 2 important agreements in the U.S. and Australia, the first with Tuleva to develop the largest electrochemical lithium plant in the U.S., and the second with the Australian joint venture between Neometals and Mineral Resources, a global mining leader to jointly advance technology development. In parallel, we are already executing 2 contracts with Japanese customers for lithium recycling facilities based on spent batteries.

The green hydrogen market is gaining momentum. And within the 2 gigawatt of project currently in the FEED, so front-end engineering and design phase involving our joint venture, nucera, we are proud to announce that we have secured the first order related to the 300-megawatt Moeve project in Andalusia, Spain. Our technologies will be deployed in the first phase, known as Onuba of Moeve and Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley project, the largest alkaline water electrolysis project for green hydrogen production in Southern Europe.

Once completed, Onuba will produce around 45,000 tons of green hydrogen per year, reducing CO2 emissions by approximately 250,000 tons per year. The project is part of a broader initiative to build a hydrogen value chain in southern Spain, a region offering highly competitive conditions, thanks to a strong solar and wind resources as well as existing port and transport infrastructure connecting local supply to industrial demand in Northern Europe.

De Nora scope has a value of EUR 30 million to EUR 40 million with roughly half already secured and the remainder expected by the second quarter of fiscal year. Undoubtedly, the current geopolitical environment continues to highlight the strategic importance of Energy Transition themes, not only in Europe, but also in other major geographies, including China, as we are going to see in the next slide.

Recent geopolitical developments involving Iran have contributed to further shaping the green hydrogen market in recent weeks, especially in Asia. Several Asian countries that rely heavily on Iranian oil have been accelerating the adoption of green hydrogen, both as a fuel and as an energy vector with the aim of strengthening energy security and reducing dependence on the Middle East.

Against this backdrop, green ammonia prices in Asia have moved closer to gray ammonia levels. At the end of March, green ammonia was being offered at around USD 600 to USD 700 per ton compared to USD 700 to USD 800 per ton for gray ammonia. In India, the government has finalized contracts for the supply of around 700,000 tons per year of green ammonia, formalizing the so-called SECI, Solar Energy Corporation of India auction resulted from last summer with the goal of increasing self-sufficiency in fertilizer production and reducing exposure to the oil price volatility.

In Europe, the commission will anticipate the revision of the RFNBO, Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin, the RFNBO rules responding to long-standing concern from industry players regarding regulatory complexity and project bankability. While the transposition of RED III remains uneven across member states, around 1 gigawatt of electrolyzer capacity is expected to come online by year-end, including projects such as Stegra, Shell's Holland refinery and Air Liquide Normand'Hy. In particular, Germany has taken an important step forward in translating European obligations into national law, particularly regarding demand creation in the transport sector, and especially refineries.

Targets for 2030 for green hydrogen has been increased from 1.2% to 1.5%, but the 2040 target has also risen to 10%.

Overall, we are satisfied with our Q1 2026 performance, especially considering the challenging environment we are currently operating in.

With that, I leave the floor to Luca for financial review.

Thank you, Paolo, and good afternoon, everyone. Q1 closed with revenue performance in line with our expectations. Once again, currency headwinds, mainly related to the euro-dollar and the yen weighed on reported figures. At constant exchange rates, revenues would have recorded a low- to mid-single-digit decline. From a business perspective, performance was primarily supported by Water Technologies, while Energy Transition and Electrode Technologies, as anticipated, delivered softer revenues.

Geographically, the Americas increased their contribution to 35%, up from 33% in 2025, mainly driven by growth in the water business. APAC accounted for approximately 36%, broadly in line with last year, while EMEA reduced its contribution to 29% from 31% in Q1 2025. This mainly reflects the completion of the NEOM project, which had supported revenues in the region, particularly in the early quarters of 2025.

Turning to our business lines. Electrode Technologies reported a low double-digit revenue decrease. This was expected and mainly reflects the scheduling of projects within the backlog. It is worth noting that Q1 2025 was a particularly strong quarter, driven by the advancement of several large contracts, including, for instance, the OxyChem projects in the U.S. The business unit's softer performance was mainly driven by the chlor-alkali and electrowinning business decline, while electronics revenues were broadly stable. Aftermarket revenues represented approximately 40% of the total compared to 42% in Q1 2025.

As we covered in our previous call, Electrode Technologies is facing a softer year due to a temporary overlap in the completion of certain production aftermarket cycle. Looking ahead, we expect a progressive recovery in revenues over the coming quarters, driven by project scheduling. In addition, the current level of the critical raw material prices is driving revenues expectation for the full year 2026 towards the upper part of the guidance range.

Water Technologies delivered a solid growth of 22% at constant exchange rate. This performance was underpinned by more than 50% growth in the Pool segment, while the Water Technology Systems line recorded a softer quarter due to project scheduling. As usual, for this product line, project activity is expected to accelerate in the second half of the year. Strong Pools growth was driven by price increases linked to a critical raw material inflation with stable volumes.

Finally, the Energy Transition business unit reported revenues in line with expectations. This reflects backlog evolution following last year completion of the large green hydrogen projects at NEOM and Stegra.

On Slide 14, you can see our backlog by business unit at the end of March 2026, which Paul has already commented on. Let me just highlight that our core business backlog at the end of March reached the highest level of the past 2 years, marking a 10% increase compared to March 2025. This growth was driven by both the Water Technologies and the Electrode Technologies businesses. In Electrode Technologies, however, despite the strong backlog performance, this is not translating into revenue growth this year as the execution scheduling of some large projects extends beyond 2026.

As far as the Energy Transition segment is concerned, if we factor in the Moeve project for which we have already secured the first order, the backlog would be in the range of EUR 40 million to EUR 50 million.

Turning now to our operating cost structure on Page 15. In line of the extended slowdown in the Energy Transition business and the temporary softness in the Electro Technology segment, we have worked intensively on our industrial setup to make our production cost structure highly flexible, including to a very large extent, the labor cost component. This approach is allowing us to preserve product profitability broadly in line with historical levels, while also benefiting from a more favorable revenue mix.

Turning to SG&A and corporate costs. In the first quarter, thanks to optimization initiatives, we were able to keep the costs broadly in line with Q1 2025 despite ongoing inflationary pressures.

Finally, De Nora's commitment to research and development remains unchanged with recurring R&D costs broadly in line with those recorded in the first quarter of 2025.

Let's now move to operating profitability on Page 16. The first quarter closed with adjusted EBITDA of EUR 36 million compared to EUR 39 million in Q1 2025. This mainly reflects lower volumes, partly offset by improved profitability. As a result, the adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 20.2%, around 50 basis points higher than in the same period last year. The margin improvement was largely driven by the water business, which delivered an EBITDA margin about 25%. This was supported by strong growth in the Pools line revenues, which accounted for around 60% of the business unit's revenues compared to 43% in Q1 2025.

With reference to the Electro Technology business, the reduction in adjusted EBITDA margin compared to Q1 2025 reflects both a different product mix and for approximately 1 percentage point, a higher absorption of indirect costs due to lower volumes in the Energy Transition segment.

Finally, as expected, the Energy Transition business reported a negative adjusted EBITDA margin. This mainly reflects the revenue decrease, combined with our continued commitment to technological development and product innovation, with R&D spending broadly in line in absolute value compared to Q1 2025.

I'm now on Page 17, where we show the bridge detailing the evolution of our net financial position. As you can see, at the end of March, our net financial position was broadly at breakeven with cash absorption mainly driven by net working capital dynamics. The first quarter is typically characterized by a structural cash outflow, reflecting a recurring collection and payment pattern as well as the rebuilding of inventories to support production over the course of the year.

This year, as anticipated, during our last conference call, cash absorption in Q1 was particularly significant, driven by the sharp increase in critical raw material prices. In particular, purchases of noble metals, which are typically paid for upon delivery, resulted in an extraordinary step-up in cash absorption. Excluding this effect, operating cash flow would have been broadly in line with Q1 2025.

Looking ahead, the buildup of inventory and the impact of receivables growth may continue to result in cash absorption until the summer period. From the second half of the year, however, as receivables are progressively collected, we expect, as usual, a gradual recovery in operating cash flow.

Let us now move to the guidance for fiscal year 2026. We confirm the guidance communicated on March 18. Based on sustained selling price growth across the business lines and the positive development of the order backlog, we expect revenues to trend towards the upper end of the guidance range, mainly driven by the Electrode Technologies and the Water Technologies segment. Likewise, taking into account the expected revenue mix and the operational efficiency measures initiated during the first quarter, the adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to trend towards the upper end of the guidance range.

I will now hand over to Chiara for an update on our ESG.

Thank you, Luca. Let me give you a very quick update on our sustainability journey. In the first quarter of 2026, we reached another important milestone in our global program to decarbonize our manufacturing footprint with the installation of new photovoltaic systems at our plants in Japan and China, bringing the De Nora's total installed renewable capacity to 6.3 gigawatt hours per year.

Specifically, new installation were completed at our Okayama site in Japan and at the Suzhou plant in China, adding around 1.2 gigawatt hour of annual capacity. These systems have been operational since April and at full run rate are expected to cover approximately 35% of the Japanese sites and its needs, and about 15% of those of the Chinese site, representing a further concrete step in the decarbonization of our global operations.

In addition, based on the photovoltaic systems installed over the past 2 years across our production sites in Brazil, Germany, the U.K., the U.S. and Italy, bringing the total number of facilities equipped with solar system to 11 out of 14 plants worldwide. This initiative is part of our sustainability plan, which targets a 50% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emission and 100% renewable electricity by 2030. In 2025, renewable energies, maybe you remember, already accounted for 35% of total consumption, a sharp increase compared to just 3% in 2023. In addition to environmental benefits, decarbonization also supports greater operational efficiency, increased energy independence, reduced supply chain risk and long-term value creation.

Finally, in April, we published our sustainability report as part of the Annual Integrated Report. In addition to the regulatory disclosure, it outlines the progress of our 2030 sustainability plan, which includes 48 initiatives with both quantitative targets and qualitative objectives and initiatives. By the end of 2025, 25 initiatives had already been completed, fully in line with the planned time line.

At this point, I will hand over to Paolo for the final remarks.

Thank you, Chiara. As we wrap up, De Nora is delivering solid profitability and our core backlog remains strong, proof of a resilient business model. In a complex geopolitical and energy landscape, the megatrends we are exposed to are accelerating and continue to be a real tailwind for us. We will stay focused on executing our long-term strategy vision with discipline and pace.

Looking ahead to 2026, we expect revenues and EBITDA to trend toward the upper end of our guidance range, supported by the strength of our backlog.

We are now available to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] First question is from Isacco Brambilla, Mediobanca.

I have 3, should be quite quick ones. The first one is if you can give us a split of volumes versus pricing contribution in Electrode and Water Technologies revenues in the first quarter. You commented on Pools if I'm not mistaken, but it would be interesting to have indication on the rest of the business.

Second question is on net working capital. Just if you can help us understand how this component will evolve through the end of 2026. Is it fair to assume the component remain negative, but to slightly improve compared to the EUR 100 million that you booked in terms of absorption in the first quarter.

Final question is on margin assumptions in Water Technologies. You had a very strong margin trend in the first quarter. I would say even the top end of the guidance assumes some margin normalization in Water Technologies. Just to understand what is the driver of that? Is it just mix rebalancing with -- that the PS revenues are growing in the coming quarters, or is there anything else that should drive margin on Water Technologies down?

So with regards to Electrode Technologies and Water, it's mainly volumes. So there is nothing important on price -- Water Technologies, sorry. On Pool is definitely pricing and no volumes.

On the net working capital and the impact on the net financial position, net working capital was impacted by the stock, not in terms of volumes, but in terms of pricing of noble materials within the stock and this effect will remain at the current level of noble metals. The effect will not change, will remain until the end of the year. So it's directly related to the price of noble metals, and also there is another effect on commercial credits that will be recovered as usual in the second part of the year because we invoiced with higher prices due to the higher noble materials. And once collection will be collected, let's say, I mean, this effect will come back.

So we had an impact of around EUR 50 million in the stock due to noble metals and this effect is today within our estimation of the net financial position at the end of the year.

Margin on Water, we expect to see normalization of the marginality on Water due to a different mix in the second half of the year, in the next 3 quarters, especially in the second half of the year due to the typically higher portion of water systems within Water in the second part of the year with a lower margin than Pools. This implies a normalization of the mix and therefore, of the profitability.

Next question is from Matteo Bonizzoni, Kepler Cheuvreux.

I have just one question on this guidance. So it's pretty, I would say, obvious if you can say that you can beat your 18% EBITDA margin target, which is the top of your guidance range of 15% to 18%. A little bit more tricky to understand why you are positive also on the sales to exceed EUR 800 million. In particular, I would like to know on Water, which was up double digit for the Q1. Do you expect, first of all, double digit also for the rest of the year because the backlog in Pools has doubled?

Also what you have said, by the way, with your last answer, I mean, the Pool backlog is up double year-on-year, but the Water Systems is down. So the fact that for the rest of the year, you should have rebalancing is not reflected in the current evolution of the backlog, we should continue to have a strong growth in Pool and so the margin maybe is going to remain high for the division for that, just to understand.

Then also for the revenues, given that you have large sensitivity for Energy Transition, now which you have provided at the beginning of the year, currently, you are more, let's say, oriented to the mid, low part of the range or mid, high part of the range.

So with regards to Energy Transition, we see today, let's say, level of revenues that is closer probably to the low part of the range instead of the high part of the range, low part of the range.

With regards to Pools backlog, it's more an anticipation of backlog compared to past years. So we do not expect this trend of the backlog in the second part of the year, while we see an improvement in sales in Water Systems. So we have a good visibility for the second and third quarter of the year with regard to the entire water business. But the backlog should be read in this way. It's more of an anticipation of Pools backlog and not a trend that will continue for the entire year. Therefore, I was speaking about a different mix in total with a lower profitability compared to the one that you saw in the first quarter.

Next question is from Vincenzo Antonio Di Buono, Banca Akros.

My question is on the Pools. Do you think that this level of growth and margins can continue in the next quarter? Or should we expect some normalization?

Yes. Again, we see definitely a normalization in the second part of the year, so in the second, third and fourth quarter, especially in the second half of the year due to the different mix. The increase in the portion of sales for water systems within the water business will bring marginality down compared to Q1. In any case, I mean, we are very satisfied about the marginality that we expect for 2026 full year.

[Operator Instructions] Next question is from Daniele De Florentis, Equita.

I have 2 of them. The first one is about chemicals in Europe. After the Iran war, are you seeing reshoring of chemicals from Middle East to Europe? And do you think it's possible to have a strong demand from chemicals in Europe in the next months and years.

The other one is related and is about the green hydrogen. Do you see another increase in interest about this technology related to the Iran war or not?

I'm not sure if I understood the first question. You mean that because of what's happening in the Middle East, if we see sort of increase of activities in the chemical industry?

Yes.

Well, yes, I think it's a little bit too early, to be honest with you. Chemical industry is not an industry that changed overnight. So probably, yes, I agree. It could be the case because there are a lot of chemicals coming from the area, and that would, for sure, support the European industry as a guarantee for more security in supplies. But in my opinion, it's a little bit too early to say.

While on the hydrogen side, the answer is definitely yes. We are seeing movements, as I just said in my presentations that, of course, are somehow reconfirming that if we need to care more of energy security, the independency in generating in every country, a quantity of local molecules, thanks to renewable energy is becoming more and more attractive. And we are seeing really the first accelerations around the world, not only in Europe, by the way, but also in Asia, as I said, in India in that direction.

Next question is a follow-up from Isacco Brambilla, Mediobanca.

A quick follow-up on hydrogen. I noticed an improving tone on opportunities in Asia. Just wondering, is it something that may translate into additional orders and backlog for you already in 2026? Or should we keep in mind Europe as the main regions for potential orders over the next 12 months?

Our partners are also working on very interesting projects outside Europe, in Middle East, by the way, in India and even in North America. But we still believe that the likelihood of the mix in our backlog will mainly be driven by Europe in short term.

Next question is from Gianluca Pediconi, MOMentum.

I have a quick question for you, Paolo. Do you have the sense that any order from your partners are related to the data center power?

Yes, for sure, for sure. Data centers require a lot of electronics equipment. And so that's why when we mentioned that our electronics business is also driven by AI, AI basically means data centers.

Can you elaborate a little bit more on these topics where in data center power station your components are used if you can give us more visibility.

No, but it's not related to power units. I mean, we might supply electrodes to fuel cells in case fuel cells would be adopted to generate some power in the data centers. But what I mean in terms of data centers, AI is more in our Electrode Technologies business when we talk about the segment electronics, because we are involved in printed circuit board manufacturing processes and lithium batteries manufacturing processes, of course, this has an impact also in data centers because of AI continuous demand -- growing demand.

Yes. But fuel cells may also be adopted.

Yes. Well, there are a lot of information and articles on newspapers that because feeding these monsters is a critical factor, right, from the energy standpoint, one of the sources to create stability to avoid any shutdowns are the fuel cells. That means that they have to provide molecules, by the way, hydrogen and green hydrogen, hopefully, to feed whole or partially the energy demand of data centers. It's the beginning of a trend. You might have read about other companies in the fuel cell business that are starting to secure projects.

Yes, you have.

Yes, you have?

Yes.

Yes, there is a potential interesting trend.

[Operator Instructions] Gentlemen, we have no more questions registered at this time. So thank you very much for attending our conference call. And as usually, if you need, we are available in terms of our Investor Relations team for additional info or clarification. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Thanks, everybody.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.

Good morning. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Industrie De Nora Full Year 2025 and Midterm View Presentation. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Chiara Locati, Head of Investor Relations and ESG of Industrie De Nora. Please go ahead, madam.

So good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our full year 2025 financial results and midterm Outlook Presentation. My name is Chiara Locati, Investor Relations and ESG Executive Director at Industrie De Nora. With me on the call today are our Chief Executive Officer, Paolo Dellachà; and our Chief Financial Officer, Luca Oglialoro. This morning, we will start with a review of the group's key achievements for 2025, covering both financial performance and business evolution. We will then move to our midterm strategic priorities and offer an update on the execution of our sustainability plan. Following the presentation, we will open the floor for a Q&A session. I would like to remind you that the slides of today's presentation are available in the Investor Relations section of our website and that a replay of this webcast will be published in the coming days.

With that, I'm pleased to hand the call over to our CEO, Paolo Dellachà. Paolo, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chiara. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our call today. For us, the day started actually with very good news. Nucera, our joint venture, announced the signing of the contract with Moeve in Spain for 300-megawatt green hydrogen project. We are naturally very pleased with this milestone, and we are already working on the formalization of our contract and the related production scheduling. Now it is a pleasure to open this discussion with sharing that 2025 has been another year of solid growth for De Nora. The figures shown on the right-hand side of the slide clearly confirm our progress. We delivered strong results, exceeded our EBITDA margin targets and maintained a robust financial structure, further demonstrating the resilience of our industrial model even against a highly complex geopolitical backdrop.

This is even more relevant today given the increasingly challenging energy and geopolitical landscape, particularly in the Middle East, where the safety of our people remains our top priority and where no significant impacts on our operations have occurred. During the year, we entered 2 new markets, PFAS treatment and electrochemical lithium refining, where we are already seeing encouraging early results. In parallel, we advanced the construction of our new gigafactory in Milano, scheduled for completion in the early quarters of 2026. This facility completes the global production footprint we have strengthened in the recent years, a footprint that provides the flexible manufacturing capacity needed to support the group's medium- and long-term growth ambitions.

Our commitment to sustainability remains unwavering. It is embedded not only in our technological solution, but also in the way we operate and care for our people, generating positive impacts and strengthening our approach to risk management. In 2025, we achieved all the objectives set out in our sustainability plan for the year. Thanks to the essential contribution of our managers and all our colleagues across our global operations. Looking ahead, we are entering a demanding year that is already presenting new and complex challenges. Yet we face this context with confidence. The work carried out in recent years has equipped us with the structure, the capabilities and the determination needed to navigate periods of uncertainty and volatility. Our medium- and long-term strategy give us a clear direction, strengthening our core leadership, unlocking new markets through electrochemistry and water treatment and driving growth both organically and through selected external opportunities.

These priorities will guide our actions in the months ahead, ensuring that we continue to build a stronger, more resilient De Nora. In this slide, we present the main KPIs of our full year 2025 financial performance that Luca will comment on later. Reviewing the performance of our business units, let me begin with Electrode Technologies. In 2025, the business recorded a stable order intake of approximately EUR 400 million, in line with 2024, supported by solid demand across both the Chlor-alkali and Electronics segments. Orders remain well balanced, 58% for new applications and 42% from aftermarket, confirming the strong ability of our sizable installed base to generate a recurring business. From a geographical standpoint, Asia led with 51% of total orders, followed by EMEA, 26% and Americas, 23%.

In addition, let me also point out that, as you can see in the top left corner of the slide, if we include the large chlor-alkali project in the Middle East that we have announced today with our joint venture, nucera, total orders would exceed EUR 440 million. The backlog, including the order just mentioned in the Middle East, reached EUR 290 million. Overall, the business delivered a steady and broad-based commercial performance across regions and markets. Given its diversified geographical exposure, Electro Technology is expected to develop in line with global GDP trends over the medium term, although with possible temporary fluctuations in specific years, such as those expected in 2026, driven by maintenance cycles across the installed base and by evolving geopolitical dynamics.

Let me now turn to Water Technologies, a business that continues to deliver strong performance and significant satisfaction across our segments. Orders rose 16% year-on-year to EUR 365 million, driven by over 30% growth in pools and 6% in Water Technology Systems, so-called WTS, with WTS demand well balanced between municipal and industrial customers. Backlog increased 23% to EUR 180 million, enhancing visibility for 2026 with pools up 89% and WTS up 88% year-on-year. North America remained our largest market, accounting for 55% of orders, of which 33% came from pools, while the rest of the world also recorded healthy activity, confirming a well-diversified footprint. Overall, performance was very strong, reflecting both supportive markets and continued strengthening of our commercial capabilities and technologies.

The outlook for both segments remains constructive, reinforcing our confidence in sustained growth. In 2025, we secured significant water technologies contracts across all the geographies in which we operate with strong penetration in both municipal and industrial markets. This slide shows a selection of key projects awarded in the fourth quarter, spanning multiple regions and applications. Starting on the left, in the U.K. at the Sizewell C nuclear power station, the first new build nuclear facility in the country, De Nora will supply Seaclor electrochlorination technology for on-site seawater treatment supporting renewable energy for around 6 million homes and reinforcing our role in critical infrastructures. In Port Saint Lucie, Florida, we will provide the TETRA filtration technologies to enhance wastewater treatment for a population of over 215,000, further strengthening our municipal presence in the U.S. and supporting improved water issues and water use.

Moving to Finland, the National Emergency Supply Agency selected our CECHLO systems for Europe's first emergency use installation, producing sodium hypochlorite on demand to ensure supply security for essential operations. Finally, in Turkmenistan, in partnership with the Ahal Water Administration, we will deliver the region's first wastewater treatment plant using ozone and UV technologies, enabling advanced water reuse for irrigation in water-stressed areas. Together, these flagship awards underscore the strength of our technology portfolio and the growing trust customers place in De Nora to address their most critical water challenges. Before moving to the energy transition business, let me briefly update you on our entry into the PFAS treatment market, a segment in which De Nora made its debut in 2025.

Our position in this market is currently focused on PFAS capture, leveraging our advanced filtration technologies, which come with a long and proven track record in the treatment of complex contaminants. Our entry has been highly successful. During the year, we secured 8 contracts, 5 of which in the fourth quarter, building a backlog of approximately EUR 6 million to be executed between 2026 and 2027. Six of these industrial scale projects are located in the United States across Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Washington and Virginia. Here, our strong penetration has been enabled by long-standing relationship with municipal customers, many of whom already rely on De Nora for drinking water treatment and filtration solutions.

In addition, 2 contracts were awarded in Northern Italy, further broadening our early footprint in EMEA. The commercial pipeline is expanding rapidly and currently includes more than 180 opportunities, confirming the momentum of this market. Piloting activities continue to play a central commercial role. They allow us to validate the optimal treatment solution for each customer and have been instrumental in securing the contracts now included in our backlog. We currently have 8 pilots underway and expect this number to grow meaningfully over the course of the year. We are very pleased with this strong start. PFAS is emerging as a market with significant growth potential, and we remain fully focused on deepening our presence and capturing the opportunities ahead. Before moving to the energy -- sorry, I'm repeating the same chart by mistake.

Sorry. Let us now turn to energy transition business. At our 9-month results presentation, we announced the successful completion of our contribution to the NEOM green hydrogen project in Saudi Arabia, the world flagship initiative for green hydrogen production. The project is now moving on site, where our partners, NEOM Green Hydrogen will install and commission around 180 electrolyzers with a capacity of 20 megawatts each. Beyond NEOM, we are also pleased to announce the successful completion of our contribution to the Stegra project in Sweden. For this initiative, Europe's first large-scale green steel project with 740 megawatts of capacity, we delivered more than 11,000 electrochemical elements corresponding to 37 electrolyzers of 20 megawatt each. Together, these 2 landmark programs, along with other projects executed worldwide bring our accumulated green hydrogen technology track record to approximately 3.6 gigawatts, placing us among the very few players capable of executing at scale.

Finally, looking at our energy transition backlog, it currently stands at around EUR 19 million with the majority about EUR 11 million linked to the lithium refining projects. At the same time, considering the contract signed by Nucera for the Moeve project in Spain, our backlog will increase by approximately EUR 30 million in the next quarters. Before closing on green hydrogen, let me briefly update you on the progress of our small-scale hydrogen solutions. In particular, we would like to highlight an important step forward in our technology partnership with Asahi Kasei. Asahi Kasei has begun installing a containerized 1-megawatt alkaline water electrolyzer based on the NORA technology at Finland first commercial hydrogen refueling station in Jyväskylä.

The station will be operated by Cefmof and is scheduled to start activities in the summer of 2026. Once in operation, the system will produce around 400 kilos of hydrogen per day, supporting the development of hydrogen-powered mobility and serving as a reference case for applications in cold climate conditions. At the same time, our internal development activities on small-scale hydrogen production continue to advance, leveraging our Dragonfly electrolyzer. Several projects are currently underway in Italy and across Europe. While the short-term revenue impacts remain limited, building flexible and integrated solution retains strong strategic relevance for the medium- to long-term evolution of our hydrogen business.

For this reason, we are very pleased with this latest milestone in our partnership with Asahi Kasei and remain confident about future developments. Let me now turn to another area within our Energy Transition segment, the lithium refining. In 2025, we officially entered the lithium production market with an electrochemical technology that offers a reliable, efficient and ready-to-deploy alternative to traditional chemical refining. Last year, we secured 2 important contracts in Japan, totaling approximately EUR 14 million, a large-scale pilot to recover lithium from end-of-life batteries, worth around EUR 11 million and a smaller demonstration plant supporting circular lithium production. Progress continues this year.

We have signed a binding agreement with Tuleva for what will become the largest electrochemical lithium production plant in the United States, a contract of more than EUR 10 million, where lithium will be produced from primary brine feedstock. We also launched a partnership with Reed Advanced Materials to co-develop solutions to be tested at Rio Tinto site. This is a new market where we introduce a more efficient, sustainable and circular electrochemical route into an industry still dominated by chemical methods, a transformation similar to the one we led in pool disinfection with electrochlorination, where we are now the undisputed leader. We are very encouraged by these developments and firmly believe that lithium will become a strategic growth driver for the group in the mid- to long term. With that, I leave the floor to Luca for a 2025 financial results review.

Thank you, Paolo. Let me also thank all of you for joining today's call. 2025 closed with revenues up 1.4%, fully in line with the guidance disclosed in March 2025. Currency headwinds, mainly from the Euro-Dollar and the Yen weighed on the reported figure. At constant currency, revenues would have grown 4.4% year-on-year. Regionally, the Americas grew 7.7%. EMEA was broadly stable and APAC saw a slight decline. Turning to business lines. Electrotechnology was essentially flat at constant currency and slightly down on a reported basis.

The trend reflects a stable chlor-alkali line, a double-digit increase in electronics, while electrowinning declined by about 28%, reflecting the discontinuation of activities with a Russian customer. Aftermarket revenues were broadly in line with 2024.

The water business grew over 7%, 11% in constant currency, mainly driven by the excellent performance of the Pools segment, which reported a 27.5% increase. This strong growth was supported equally by volume expansion and by price increases, the latter reflecting higher valuations of critical raw materials. Let me underline that increases in raw material prices do not significantly affect the absolute value of our operating margin, thanks to our ability to index contract values to movement in noble metal prices, a mechanism embedded in the structure of our agreements with customers, where we are the market leader.

Any potential impacts are mainly linked to the physiological alignment of inventory values, resulting in rolling short-term effects over a few months of stock. Concerning the Water Technology system, revenues were up 3% year-on-year, excluding Forex effects and the Marine business disposal.

Aftermarket accounted for 42% of WTS revenues, up roughly 4 percentage points versus 2024 with a positive impact on margins. Finally, energy transition grew around 7%, supported by continued execution of the backlog, particularly the NEOM and STEGRA projects.

On this slide, you can see our backlog by business unit at the end of December 2025, which Paolo has already commented on. Let me just highlight that our core business backlog has shown solid growth over the past few quarters and a high single-digit increase compared with the end of 2024, primarily driven by the strong expansion of the water segment. Let me also point out that the backlog shown on this slide includes the large chlor-alkali project in the Middle East that we have announced this morning and will be booked in Q1 2026.

Turning now to our operating cost structure. Consistently with the comments shared during the 9-month results, the year-end increase in G&A and corporate costs reflects inflationary dynamics and the carryover impact of the corporate structure enhancements implemented in 2024. This increase in R&D expenses is primarily driven by the addition of more than 20 new researchers and reflects our commitment to continuously expand our technology suite, fully aligned with our long-term growth ambition.

Let's now move to the operating profitability. In 2025, adjusted EBITDA increased by 9% with a margin of 19.6%, above the guidance provided for the year.

This performance was mainly driven by the strong contribution from water and energy transition, both showing a marked improvement compared to 2024.

And more than offsetting the softer trend in Electro Technologies. The profitability dynamics of Electro Technologies reflected the revenue mix across product lines, including the impact of the Electrowinning revenue decline as well as the effect of the geographical mix. As highlighted in our quarterly calls, the growth of the Water segment was supported by the exceptionally strong expansion of the pools line, which reached 39% of water revenues compared with 32% in 2024 and by solid expansion of the WTS, which benefited from a higher margin aftermarket revenues.

Finally, the Energy Transition segment posted a strong increase in margins, supported by the operational efficiency achieved in our manufacturing processes. Here, we show the bridge detailing the evolution of our net financial position. 2025 closed with a net cash position of approximately EUR 87 million, reflecting an improvement of about EUR 20 million compared to the year-end 2024. Free cash flow before dividends amounted to EUR 40 million, supported by more than EUR 116 million in operating cash generation over the year, fully covering capital expenditures of around EUR 76 million, which included the ongoing investments related to the construction of the Gigafactory in Italy. Our solid financial structure and strong cash generation capabilities give us a robust foundation to support future growth initiatives, not only organically, but also, as I will comment shortly, through targeted M&A aimed at accelerating the group's expansion.

Let us now move to the guidance for fiscal year 2026. With regard to the current financial year, I would like to highlight that the complexity of the geopolitical landscape, which has been heightened by the recent tensions in the Middle East is reflected in a macroeconomic environment marked by significantly -- significant volatility. This volatility is also affecting raw material prices and exchange rate with potential impacts on our business, both on the downside and the upside. In this context, developing a reliable economic and financial projections for 2026 remains particularly challenging, including at the individual business unit level.

Even considering these dynamics, we confirm the consolidated guidance already communicated when we released our preliminary results last February. For 2026, we expect revenues to be in the EUR 750 million, EUR 850 million range. In particular, in the Electro Technology business, as previously communicated, we anticipated -- we anticipate softer revenues, mainly due to the geopolitical factors that may lead to temporary delays in customers' investment decisions as well as transitory timing effects related to the maintenance and recording cycles of the installed base.

In Water, supported by a favorable Pools cycle and strong order backlog momentum in WTS, we expect revenue growth from mid-single digit to low double digit, depending on the pace of Pools expansion and WTS project execution. For energy transition, the lower end of the range reflects the backlog at the end of 2025 and does not factor in potential new orders in hydrogen or lithium. That said, we see tangible opportunities in the pipeline, including the Moeve contract in Spain for hydrogen, which was signed and announced this morning by Nucera and the binding agreement with Tuleva in the Lithium segment. In terms of operating profitability, the adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be in the 15%, 18% range. This reflects both the anticipated revenue level, which influences the utilization of our operating base and the potential benefits of product mix combination that could enhance profitability at constant volumes. In addition, we are evaluating actions to mitigate the lower absorption of fixed costs resulting from the decline in sales volumes with the objective of maintaining an optimized operating and overhead structure.

These initiatives could start to deliver effects in the fourth quarter of 2026 and are expected to have full impact in the following years. For 2026, we expect total investments of around EUR 80 million, including EUR 40 million in maintenance and operating CapEx and approximately EUR 40 million dedicated to completing the Gigafactory, an amount that remains fully in line with the initial plan and includes a tail of investments not executed in 2025. Finally, with regards to the net financial position, we confirm that the ordinary course of business, together with investments planned for 2026 would allow us to maintain a positive NFP broadly in line with the mid-double-digit levels recorded in recent years. However, raw material prices also influenced by the geopolitical complexity, which has further intensified following the recent developments in the Middle East, continue to rise with some critical materials reaching record levels.

Should these dynamics persist in the coming months, we expect a one-off impact on the group's working capital component, bringing our expectation for the net financial position at year-end 2026 from a positive level towards a substantial breakeven. We are closely monitoring the evolution of the context and we'll update the market over the course of the year. I will now hand over the floor back to Paolo, who will walk you through the midterm view.

Thank you, Luca. Let me start with the title of today's presentation, Electrochemistry Frontiers, pioneering clean solutions in water, circularity and hydrogen, a concept that truly reflects who we are and where we are heading to. Electrochemistry sits at the core of everything we do. De Nora has long been a global leader in electrochemical technologies, expanding from chlor-alkali into electronics and electrowinning, water disinfection and treatment and more recently, green hydrogen, building a portfolio of highly differentiated industry-shaping solutions. And our innovation journey is far from over.

Electrochemistry and water technologies continue to open new pathways and provide a solid foundation to address some of the world's more complex challenges. Within this context, our strategy is anchored in 3 major megatrends: water scarcity, circularity and energy transition. The first megatrend is water scarcity, growing pressure on global water resources, together with increasingly stringent environmental regulations and rising expectations around human health and safety. It is creating a structural need for treatment technologies that are efficient, robust, sustainable and that increasingly incorporate circular solutions. Our water treatment solutions respond directly to these challenges, delivering high-quality water with lower chemical usage, a reduced environmental footprint and greater operational resilience across municipal and industrial applications.

The second megatrend is circularity. Industries are increasingly focused on extracting value from waste streams, valorizing precious chemical compounds, refining and recovering critical raw materials, especially those that are strategic and in short supply. At the same time, they aim to improve material efficiency and extend asset lifetimes. Electrochemistry provides highly selective, energy-efficient and industrially scalable routes to achieve all of this. And our technologies, the result of over a century of development are recognized for durability, performance and their ability to support second life and low-impact design. The third megatrend is energy transition. Global efforts to reinforce energy security and independence are accelerating the decarbonization of Hard-to-abate sectors and the electrification of industrial processes. Within this context, hydrogen is a critical enabler, offering a scalable pathway where direct electrification is not feasible and supporting the broader integration of renewable energy sources.

To sum up, these 3 megatrends are shaping our markets and opening long-term opportunities where we are ready to size. Let me now turn to our medium- to long-term vision. Our strategy is built around 4 pillars: Electrotechnologies, Water Technologies, green hydrogen and circularity, which reflect the group's 3 business segments with the addition of a dedicated circularity stream. The circularity stream currently part of the energy transition business will play an increasingly cross-functional role, contributing to the development of multiple business lines and expanding the application horizon to our electrochemical technologies. Let me briefly clarify what circularity means for De Nora. It's not new to our business, Nora is confined to a single business unit. The evolution of our technologies already bring circular economy benefits across all of them.

In water treatment, for example, our zero liquid discharge solutions support resource recovery and more sustainable operations. In electrode technology, for example, the hydrochloric acid solution developed more than 20 years ago with our long-standing joint venture, nucera enable chlorine recovery from the byproducts of industrial processes like hydrochloric acid, for example. And finally, our aftermarket activities from electrode recoating to full refurbishment are another clear and long-established example of operational circularity across all De Nora businesses. These activities are naturally embedded within their respective business units as part of our business as usual.

Today, we are also introducing new business initiatives that we started developing last year, lithium refining within our energy transition business and a broader product platform of salt splitting, which will potentially span multiple business units and which I'll come back to in a moment. Let us now turn to a brief overview of our 4 pillars. Let us now turn to the overview of the 4 pillars. In Electro Technologies, where we hold a clear global leadership position, our ambition is to further strengthen our market coverage through the continuous development of our technology suits and services. We are enhancing performance, broadening the range of solutions we offer and tailoring them more closely to the evolving needs of our customers.

We also aim to continue developing partnership with key global players, reinforcing the collaborative model that has supported our growth over the years. More broadly, in selected business segments, we are evaluating opportunity to vertical integration moving toward more integrated solutions that bring us closer to our end customers. From a market development perspective, we confirm a low single-digit growth outlook across the main segments we lead as shown on the right side of the slide. Electronics, in particular, is expected to grow at a mid-single-digit rate over the medium term, supported by the expansion of artificial intelligence applications. In the short term, however, geopolitical uncertainties may lead to temporary soft phases in some markets with the expectation that growth will resume thereafter, supported by the fact that these segments serve a broad set of diversified and often critical end markets.

In Water Technology, we aim to strengthen our penetration across the different segments of a market that is experiencing solid expansion. One of our main development levers is the reinforcement of our technology portfolio. A key area, for example, is PFAS treatment, where we're already seeing the first positive results. Today, we are active in PFAS capture through our filtration technology, which have a strong track record in removing a wide range of contaminants, for example, arsenic. Looking ahead, we intend to develop in-house electrochemical solution for PFAS destruction during the capture phase, allowing us to address a broader portion of the market and offer our customers a more complete and efficient solution. Another growth lever is the strengthening of our presence in geographic -- in the geographies where we already operate, leveraging existing commercial channels to expand the range of products we offer.

In addition, through targeted external growth, we aim to enter new geographies and high potential industries and industrial sectors, such as semiconductors, for example, while also pursuing vertical integration along the value chain, moving from a pure technology provider model to more engineered offerings. From a market development perspective, pools, where we maintain absolute technological leadership are expected to grow between mid- and high single digits. Across the water treatment segments, industrial electrochlorination, filtration and municipal and industrial disinfection, growth is expected to be in the mid-single-digit range. In these areas, we rank among top 3 to 5 global players, and we hold a clear leadership in industrial electrochlorination.

Finally, at the bottom of the slide, you can see the size of the PFAS treatment market opportunity to 2030, including both capture and destruction, which is projected to grow at a high single-digit rate. It is certainly a large and competitive market with many global players already active, but it also opens attractive prospects for De Nora even assuming a limited market share. Let us now move to the green hydrogen within the Energy Transition business unit. Building on the large-scale execution track record we have accumulated over the past few years, we aim to pursue additional large-scale opportunities by strengthening the commercial alliances and partnership we have already developed.

We are also working to integrate and expand our offering, including through co-development with leading global players to deliver more integrated solution across the entire value chain from electrodes to stacks and from stacks to full small-scale electrolyzers while continuing to innovate and strengthen our technology suite. On the R&D side, we are working on IM, the Anion exchange membranes, which we expect to generate results over the long term. Market projection indicate an addressable market for De Nora of around 20 gigawatts accumulated by 2035 and around 3 gigawatt by 2030, considering the geographies and technology relevant for us. However, as we have repeatedly highlighted in previous quarters, timing remain uncertain. Our pipeline today includes approximately 2 gigawatts of large-scale projects in which our joint venture Nucera is currently engaged in engineering activities in Europe and India.

Among this, indeed, there is the 300-megawatt Moeve project in Spain already signed by our JV Nucera and the new 260-megawatt project in India announced yesterday afternoon, once again by our JV Nucera, which is currently engaged in a front-end engineering and design study. We view these developments as an encouraging signal of the gradual, albeit still slow and difficult to predict materialization of opportunities in the pipeline. Let us now turn to the circularity pillar. Within this framework lies our lithium refining business, which De Nora entered in 2025, achieving encouraging early results. The solution we are developing built on proven industrially validated electrochemical technologies and are designed to produce lithium hydroxide starting from lithium chloride, sourced either from brines or from end-of-life lithium batteries.

This is not the only technological pathway we are pursuing. We're also developing a future process to refine lithium sulfate derived from hard rocks minerals with the aim of expanding our long-term addressable market. This business line is expected to contribute progressively to our growth starting in 2026, supported by our order backlog and by partnerships currently under development. Electrochemical lithium refining is part of a broader area of activity, the so-called salt splitting or electrochemical process that use electricity and selective membranes to separate a salt to recover viable raw materials, De Nora is building a platform targeting high-growth end markets designed to enhance long-term expansion across our 3 business units.

In Electrotechnologies, in particular, salt splitting extends our core business by leveraging our proprietary DSA, electrodes and electrolysis know-how beyond chlor-alkali, converting waste salts into reusable acids and basis and creating scalable pull-through opportunities across systems and services. The global investment in lithium market, excluding mining, are expected to double in the next 10 years, around -- reaching around $50 billion by 2035. The segment addressable through electrochemical technology is still emerging, but has the potential to reach approximately $1 billion by 2035 for lithium chloride-based electrochemical refining alone, a meaningful opportunity, especially given De Nora undisputed leadership in electrochemical technologies.

Salt splitting likewise, represents a high potential long-term market opportunity with an estimated addressable market of roughly $800 million by 2035 for selected salt applications. These pillars are defined how we still -- we will shape the new markets and capture the opportunities ahead. Now before handing the floor to Luca again, let me briefly highlight the assets that will support us along this journey, a flexible and powerful global manufacturing footprint, unparalleled R&D capabilities and alongside a century-long track record of success, the more than 2,000 talented people who make up our organization, proud and deeply committed to make a difference.

With that, I will now turn it over to Luca for the financial outlook and midterm guidance. Luca, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Paolo. As we turn to our midterm outlook, the persistent uncertainty surrounding the timing of development in the green hydrogen market leads us to refrain from providing consolidated revenue guidance for the 2026-2028 period. Nonetheless, we remain confident in the progressive strengthening of the energy transition segment, supported also by the contribution of our lithium business. Our business model is anchored in our core businesses, which in 2025 accounted for roughly 91% of consolidated adjusted EBITDA and where the underlying markets are supported by well-established long-term growth dynamics closely linked to the global macroeconomic cycles. This is why we have chosen to present a financial framework that covers a 3- to 5-year economic cycle.

As Paolo has explained, we have set a clear direction for the business with the objective of creating long-term shareholder value. Our framework is built on 3 key principles: positioning De Nora for long-term growth, delivering attractive profit margins and maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation. In this slide and in the next one, we will outline the KPIs that translate these principles into measurable financial objectives and will shape our business over the period. For our core business, we expect average annual revenue growth of 2% to 4%. In Electro Technologies, in line with the trends observed in our end markets, we anticipate a performance ranging from broadly stable to low single-digit growth with EBITDA margin between 19% and 21%, depending on how volumes and product mix evolve.

In Water Technologies, we expect mid- to high single-digit growth, driven by the continued expansion of the pools and WTS lines and by the progressive materialization of PFAS-related opportunities with EBITDA margin expected to range between 17% and 19%. As anticipated, we are not providing specific guidance for the Energy Transition segment, primarily due to the limited visibility on the timing of the green hydrogen market developments, a factor that could translate into a slower pace of activity in the earlier years of the financial framework. Nevertheless, we continue to highlight that the growth potential associated with the conversion of our large-scale project pipeline, which includes 2 gigawatt of FEED stage opportunities within our joint venture, along with additional upside from small-scale green hydrogen solutions.

In addition, a further growth driver is expected to come from the gradual expansion of our lithium refining business. However, this remains an early-stage activity and visibility on timing and scale is still limited. At the consolidated profitability level, depending on the performance of the energy transition business and its ability to absorb shared operating costs, we expect an adjusted EBITDA margin in the 15%, 19% range. Consolidated profitability also reflects the investments and initiatives undertaken to develop new business areas and technologies aimed at accelerating the group's long-term growth. Let me now move to our priorities for capital allocation. We will allocate capital to support the company's transformation. We are proud of the foundations we have built, and we are very excited about the next cycle.

Our capital allocation rests on 3 fundamentals: organic investments, shareholder returns and M&A. Cash generation remains a top priority, and we expect, excluding M&A, to continue to achieve positive free cash flow. With regards to our organic investments, we expect this decline in the near term due to the completion of the Gigafactory this year. Within our financial framework, we expect maintenance and operating CapEx, excluding the real estate investments currently being finalized to be in the range of EUR 35 million, EUR 40 million. We also confirm our dividend policy with a payout of up to 25% of the period's net results. To accelerate and complete our growth strategy, we aim to pursue targeted acquisitions based on 3 pillars: the first focuses on downstream integration along the value chain, enabling us to offer engineered and high value-added end-to-end solutions that bring us closer to the final customer.

The second pillar relates to expanding into new strategic high-growth markets, such as semiconductors and critical raw materials and strengthening our geographical footprint. The third aims at acquiring technologies and references that reinforce our positioning across the value chain. Finally, from the free cash flow standpoint and excluding potential M&A transaction, we expect positive and growing organic cash generation starting from 2027. Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, the profitability of our core businesses and the strength of our financial position continue to provide us with ample firepower to invest, develop and accelerate the group's long-term growth. With that, I leave the floor to Chiara for a quick update on our ESG journey.

So thank you, Luca. To update you on the progress of our sustainability initiatives, we have prepared a short video. Let's take a look.

[Presentation]

I hope you enjoyed the video. As you have seen, it provided some details on how our technologies contribute to several SDGs, especially in terms of potential emission avoided, liters of water treated and square meters of electrodes reused. As you know, our technologies are true enablers and lie at the heart of critical industrial processes. We speak about potential emission avoided and potential liters of water treated because these impacts will materialize once our customer plants are fully operational. As you can see in the slide, all our R&D activities include initiatives aimed at improving the environmental performance of our solution. Let me add that with regard to the EU taxonomy, the share of aligned revenues was in 2025, 26% compared to 19% in 2024, mainly related to our green hydrogen technologies and circularity in our recoating activities, while EU taxonomy aligned CapEx accounted for 60%, up from 40% in 2024.

The video also provided an update on progress of our ESG plan targets. You have seen that our commitment to sustainability remains unchanged, is measurable and continues to involve all our plants worldwide, supported by the dedication of all the people working at De Nora. As part of this commitment, we are proud to share that this year, we have completed the first 11 ESG product scorecards. These scorecards allow us to clearly communicate to our customers and stakeholders the environmental impact of our technologies, especially in terms of carbon footprint. In addition, we made progress across our environmental KPIs, as you can see, reaching in advance some targets for the following years.

We continue to invest in people development, strengthening our support to local communities and advanced our efforts to build a sustainable supply chain. So as always, we say our journeys continue. With that, I would leave the floor back to Paolo for the final remarks.

Thank you, Chiara. Here, our final remarks. 2025 delivered results above guidance, supported by solid operating profitability and strong cash generation, demonstrating De Nora's resilience even in a challenging geopolitical environment. De Nora's technological leadership in electrochemistry, combined with the development of advanced water treatment solutions has unlocked access to markets such as PFAS and lithium hydroxide production, where technology innovation is a critical success factor. The group's strategic vision is built on 4 pillars: electrochemical technologies, water treatment, hydrogen and circularity initiatives, where electrochemical solutions offer a more efficient and sustainable alternative to traditional processes in high potential mission-critical markets.

De Nora remains committed to targeted inorganic growth, focusing on acquisitions that support integration to our turnkey solutions, expansion into fast-growing industries and entry into new geographies. This is the path that we will guide our future, a journey we will pursue together with our people, our customers and our partners at the center of everything we do. As we outlined today, we are exposed to powerful megatrends. We operate with a strong business model, and we have the right technologies and people, and we believe we are well positioned to deliver attractive shareholder returns despite the near-term challenging macro and geopolitical situation. Our markets are diversified, and we have multiple avenues for growth.

Now before opening to Q&A session, let me share with you our ambition. To pioneer clean solutions in water, circularity, hydrogen and electrochemical processes, enabling customers' transition towards sustainable operations. It's a clear and focused statement that defines our strategic direction for the long term. It reflects how we intend to pursue growth and create long-term value for our stakeholders, built on a disciplined and collaborative process. Our ambition is anchored in 4 fundamentals: a pioneering leadership in electrochemical technologies, the delivery of clean integrated solutions addressing complex customers' needs, a strong role as an enabler of our customer performance and sustainability goals, a highly sustainable operation with electrochemistry at our core. We are now available for the Q&A session.

Thank you very much, everybody, for listening.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Matteo Bonetoni of Kepler Cheuvreux.

I have 3 questions. The first one relates what you have written in your press release as regards to 2026, let's say, challenge or evolution on the raw material. So this is true, I think, in respect mostly to availability, but also working capital evolution and this can affect the net financial position. My question is, can you elaborate a little bit more what you are observing in the market over the last few weeks? Do you -- are you experiencing particular shortage in some of your noble metal raw material or other raw materials? So a little bit of color on this topic. Second question is on the indication which you have provided for the energy transition revenues in 2026, wide range, EUR 50 million to EUR 60 million.

Also in this case, can you provide a little bit more sensitivity between this EUR 50 million and EUR 60 million? And also, can you elaborate a little bit more on the action on cost and EBITDA expected at EUR 50 million or EUR 60 million, respectively. Last is more midterm view. There are clearly 2 very promising lines in your business, PFAS and lithium refining. The backlog is still small because PFAS is EUR 6 million and lithium is EUR 11 billion, but you have a very attractive projection for growth with a EUR 3 billion market in PFAS in 2030 and EUR 1 billion in lithium. What are the -- my question is what are the -- your ambition in terms of market share? I think that you are targeting significantly higher market share in lithium refining compared to PFAS. But can you elaborate a little bit more on the competitive situation and also your ambition for market share?

Thank you, Matteo. So with regards to the raw material, it's not a matter of availability or potential shortage. This is not -- so we do not see any potential risk from this point of view. It's just a matter of pricing that has 2 effects. One is on the economical effect where we -- as we said, we are able definitely to, I mean, transfer to the final products and on the pricing side, the effect of this price increase. So we do not see tension on profitability. While on the financial side, having, let's say, a stock of these raw materials that has a considerable amount within our balance sheet, the adjusted value of this stock will have a step-up in terms of financial need for the company that will stay as long as the raw material will remain at this price. I mean it's just an adjustment, a step-up in terms of the value that will have a financial impact this year.

Once it is completed, it will happen in 3 months, 3, 4 months because we have more or less 3, 4 months of stock of these raw materials, then the cash generation of the company will go back to the normal level. With regards to the ETR revenues, we have a wide range. The low base of the range is based on the backlog, which is more or less 50-50 in terms of lithium and hydrogen, as you know. And the upper side is related to our capability to transfer the, let's say, projects that we have in the pipeline and in the backlog in the pipeline, let's say, into production in 2026. Paolo, PFAS and lithium?

Yes. On PFAS, Matteo, we have a very, very long track record of success in capturing contaminants in water, arsenic, manganese nitrates. So we have been utilizing this know-how, adapting it to very efficient solution that gave us already 8 contracts in a very limited short period of time. No doubt that as long as we remain with the treatment with the capturing, it's a competitive market. There are other players that are operating or will operate in this market. So it's quite difficult for the time being to measure a market share. For sure, it's going to be competitive, and we are going to utilize at the best our very important know-how in this kind of treatment. Different will be when we will go into destruction also. So not only capturing these molecules, but also being able to destroy them directly into the water.

We have launched an R&D program within the company. So we decided to develop our own because it's going to be based on electrochemistry, combined with water process treatment. And in that case, we believe we will be quite unique. So once we'll be ready, it will take some years of research and development. But in that case, the market shares we expect will be definitely higher because we don't expect others to be able to compete with us. On the lithium side, it's very different because lithium is a widely used already process, but utilizing mainly chemical steps to move these natural sources into a molecule that can enter into the production process of a lithium battery. By replacing some of these chemical processes with our electrochemical systems, we have a pretty unique solution already now that has been progressively appreciated by the partners that we have and we are developing.

And that means to offer the customer a much lower impact on chemical processes, a much lower usage of water and a much lower power consumption. So there are 3 very successful combined elements that give a very high chance to conquer very high market shares in the lithium refining.

Sorry, Matteo, I forgot one question, which is the cost and EBITDA of ETR. So considering that we have a considerable pipeline and I mean, we have now a little bit more visibility on the potential backlog of the ETR. We are not able, as we said in the recent past to make the ETR cost, especially manufacturing variable because we need to keep the people and the know-how in manufacturing ready to deliver the products that are in the backlog. And therefore, for 2026, as you can imagine, this level of revenues, the EBITDA of ETR is negative. All these things are already embedded in the guidance and financial framework that we provided.

The next question is from Isacco Brambilla of Mediobanca.

I have 3. I will go one by one, if you don't mind. The first one is on the very short term. Yesterday evening, we saw a profit warning by your joint venture, Nucera looks fairly driven by company-specific items, but I would like to hear your thoughts on potential [operator instructions] cost for De Nora.

No impact on De Nora. It's coming from their execution on specific jobs. So no impact on De Nora. De Nora has been already delivering what they are in need for the jobs they are managing. So no impact from us.

Second question is a follow-up on 2026 guidance. Considering the different top line trends, how should we think about margin development for electrode and Water Technologies? Question is if 2025 margins are sustainable for electrode also in light of the soft volumes and if you see room for further margin expansion in water versus the already remarkable level achieved last year?

So for this, we should refer to the financial framework we have provided, let's say, a range of profitability. Let's say that for 2026, given the short level of revenues of ETR, there are costs that will not be absorbed by ET anymore and will impact slightly the profitability of water and ET business. Therefore, for 2026, I suggest you position yourself on the low part of the range provided in the financial framework.

Okay. Final question is more on the medium term. We have seen, let's say, signs of life from Nucera on green hydrogen recently with moving to FID, some front-end engineering studies across Europe and yesterday India. Can you give us a sense of the overall number of projects that you are pursuing either for Nucera or not that may materialize over the horizon time of the financial framework, having an idea of whether it is 3, 5, 10, 20-year project.

Isacco, thank you. The pipeline right now is around 2 gigawatt and considering that we keep somehow our joint venture, especially updating on the average size of their pipeline, which is between 200 and 300 megawatt average, we are talking about numerosity that is below 10%, mainly in Europe. And now there is this new project in India where they won the front-end engineering and design.

The next question is from Chris Leonard of UBS.

I have 3 on my side, if that's okay. And thinking about the midterm guidance is the first one and looking at the water business and particularly on the EBITDA guidance for margins at 17% to 19% in the midterm. Can you just give us our expectation for what you're expecting in the Pools segment within the division? Obviously, it was a very healthy margin in 2025 and probably driven due to the mix of pools. So just to get your view, do you believe that is now reducing looking out to 2028 as to why that EBITDA guidance is lower on the margin versus '25?

Yes. As I said, thank you, Chris. The profitability level of water is expected to remain in that range, 17%, 19%, where we do not see a reduction of the profitability of the pools we see a healthy market that will continue to grow in the range that we provided. The level of profitability is slightly lower than what we have done in this year because of -- mainly of the lower absorption of the cost from ETR that will impact the other business units. And therefore, I mean, there is a higher level of cost allocated to the water segment. But we see definitely a good level of profitability in pools.

As a follow-up to that, why aren't you just leaving that cost within the ETR business? Why are you deciding to spread it across water and electrode because it maybe doesn't give us a reflection of the underlying business performance in those core units, which you guys will continue to be working to drive growth in. So would it not make more sense just to leave the cost within the ETR business?

I'm not sure I captured the question.

So I'm just saying why aren't you leaving the fixed cost within the energy transition business? Why are you taking across into water and electrodes? It would be [indiscernible].

We provide a guidance to the market, which is based on the final EBITDA, and we have also internally an EBITDA, which is only with the allocation of cost. We have certain costs that are in, let's say, some unshared cost like my cost or the cost of Paolo that have certain drivers, for instance, the turnover [indiscernible] allocated from an accounting point of view this way. So I mean, if there is a lower level of revenues in DTR segment, the rest of the cost structure of the company has to be paid by the remaining business. That's why we need to allocate unfortunately, higher cost on the other business lines, which is, let's say, a normal way of typical allocation of cost when we have different business lines.

Sure. Okay. That makes sense. And going to the other question, just looking at the 300-megawatt order for green hydrogen from TK Nucera today with Moeve. And just questioning, I think Paolo, on the call just now, you said that, that could be worth EUR 30 million of backlog. Is that correct? And then secondly, do you think in terms of time frame, what's your delivery view? I mean, presumably, this can contribute given you have capacity this can contribute into 2026 revenue?

Yes. The value is not fully defined. So it's within a range. So it could be around EUR 30 million or maybe something more. But in general, we do have the capacity, as you imagine, we could start tomorrow potentially. But as usual, our scope of supply has to fit within a very precise schedule that now our joint venture will define with the customer. So it's still unknown to us how much of this job we can execute in the course of 2026 and consequently, how much will be left for 2027. I think this is going to be defined over the next weeks potentially. So we can be more precise at the next call.

That's great. And then just the last one for me. You spoke about M&A and bolt-ons, and we've spoken about this before. But could you maybe talk to if you would decide to take leverage on board for the right type of acquisition, what type of net debt to EBITDA would you be comfortable with? And then as an extension to that, could you just update us as to like the end markets that you're concentrating on for these bolt-ons and where you think your offer needs to be bolstered by further acquisitions?

So in terms of balance sheet and, let's say, leverage, considering the balance sheet that we have today, the dimension of the acquisition, which is a potential acquisition that we are starting based on a bolt-on strategy, not a transformational deal at this moment, will keep us -- will leave us with, let's say, a low level of leverage. So it's definitely a low impact on the financial structure of the company. Paolo, do you want to add?

No, no, nothing in particular. I mean we hope to be able to disclose something over the next months. We've been very, very actively working on M&A in the last months. So hopefully, we will have something interesting to announce over the next months.

Just a recap of where that would be, please, as in what markets you're looking at for bolt-ons generally?

Mainly water.

[Operator Instructions] have a follow-up question from Mr. Isacco Brambilla of Mediobanca.

Just a follow-up on my side. This is a clarification on the low end range of your midterm view. Doing some rough math on top line margin projections by division for Electrode and Water, it looks like at the low end of your margin guidance of 15% at group level, still the implied EBITDA of energy transition is somewhere in the negative [indiscernible] so is it fair to say that this 15% midterm EBITDA margin assumes no benefit from cost containment action pickup in green hydrogen. Otherwise, can you elaborate a bit more on the building blocks at the low end?

Yes. So the low range of the guidance assumes a negative ETR business, as we said. Let's say, we have a containment of cost, which is, let's say, same control of cost within the company for the 3 years plan. But on top of this, we are analyzing additional possible opportunities, both on the manufacturing and on the G&A and R&D. On the manufacturing, obviously, as we said -- and this is not embedded within the guidance provided in the financial framework. On the manufacturing side, as we said, we are keeping an additional flexibility in terms of capability because we need to strongly retain the know-how even if we have today lower-than-expected level of revenues on ETR. While on the G&A, we are launching certain initiatives that will require some time in order to automatize and make more efficient certain activities within G&A and R&D activities.

This will require time in order to study and implement also from the ATE perspective, these initiatives. So it's something that we do not see as a potential benefit for 2026, probably in the last quarter, but probably this will produce some positive effect starting from 2027 onwards, which is not embedded in the financial framework yet.

Ms. Locati, gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time.

So thank you very much. Thank you for attending this call. And as Investor Relations team, of course, we are available to be in contact with you for any kind of further information or questions. Thank you.

Thank you, everybody, for listening.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over, and you may disconnect your telephones.

Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Industrie De Nora 9 Months 2025 Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Chiara Locati, Head of Investor Relations and ESG. Please go ahead, madam.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our first 9 months financial results presentation, and thank you for joining us. I'm Chiara Locati, Investor Relations and ESG Executive Director at De Nora. With me on the call today are Paolo Dellacha, CEO of the Group; and Luca Oglialoro, our CFO. They will guide you through the financial and business performance for the first 9 months of the year. Following the presentation, there will be a Q&A session. The presentation slides can be found in the Investor Relations section of our website.

With that, I would like to hand it over to Paolo. Paolo, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Chiara. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome from my side as well. The third quarter proved to be another very strong period, enabling us to close the first 9 months of 2025 with growth across all major financial indicators despite foreign exchange headwinds and a volatile macroeconomic environment. As shown in the slide, we delivered solid performance across revenues, adjusted EBITDA and net income, all of which increased. Notably, the adjusted net results rose by 22% year-on-year.

These robust results were reflected across all divisions, each reporting revenue growth in line with guidance. The core business, Water and Electrode Technologies, recorded an increase in both order intake and total backlog compared to the same period in 2024. In the Energy Transition segment, we successfully completed the NEOM project and continued executing other contracts, delivering over 800 megawatts of green hydrogen technology. We are also advancing the development of cutting-edge solutions and strengthening strategic partnerships to maintain a leading role in a market expected to grow significantly over the medium term.

In the first 9 months, the favorable revenue mix, combined with strong operational efficiency led to profitability exceeding expectations. This enabled the second consecutive upward revision of our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance, now projected at approximately 19% for the full year 2025.

Our financial structure remains solid, allowing us to stay focused on business growth opportunities, both organically and through potential acquisitions, particularly in the Water segment. To support this, we continue to optimize our treasury processes and medium-term debt structure, aiming to enhance cost efficiency and financial flexibility.

Lastly, our commitment to sustainability remains unchanged as we execute our 2030 plan with a concrete and measurable approach that integrates sound financial principles and robust risk management practices.

This slide shows some key KPIs from our 9 months 2025 financial performance, which Luca will discuss in more detail later.

Reviewing the performance of our business units, let's begin with our Electrode Technologies business that achieved EUR 310 million new orders, marking a growth over 20% compared to the same period of 2024. Order intake accelerated significantly in the third quarter with a year-on-year increase of around 60%. Growth was well balanced between aftermarket projects and new installations. From a geographical standpoint, approximately 50% of new orders came from Asia, 26% from EMEIA region and 22% from the Americas. Order development involved both the chlor-alkali and the electronics segments, with the latter benefiting from the positive momentum driven by artificial intelligence.

By the end of September, the backlog was broadly in line with last year level and higher than in June 2025. Let me note once again that the backlog here isn't a solid predictor of future revenues since project cycles turn over quickly and can be affected by a few large multiyear contracts.

Overall, the business showed, in the first 9 months, robust commercial dynamics across markets and geographies. Taking a wider view, the international macroeconomic environment remains volatile and complex, shaped by evolving trade relationships among countries, which continue to impact the global economic growth. The scenario is further compounded by persistent geopolitical uncertainty. These factors may influence the timing of investment decision by certain clients, and we are strictly monitoring the business evolution.

We are now on Slide #7. The Water segment continues to benefit from a supportive market environment. The increase in order intake and the resulting growth in backlog enhances our business visibility for the coming quarters and confirms both the strength of our market position and the sector's solid growth outlook. As shown on the slide, the backlog at the end of September rose by more than 20% compared to -- with the year-end 2024, leading to a stronger book to revenue ratio for 2026 than at the same time last year.

Order intake continued to grow in the third quarter, bringing the 9 months total to a 16% increase. In terms of geographical distribution, North America accounted for more than 50% of new contracts with approximately 29% linked to the pools line. Remaining orders were well balanced across Asia, particularly in China, the Middle East, Europe and South America.

Looking at the Water Technologies Systems segment, we recorded an 8% increase in orders, split between new equipment and aftermarket services. Growth was especially strong in Asia and South America. The pools line reported order growth of over 30%, with further acceleration in the third quarter.

While North America remains the core market, 2025 has also seen particularly strong momentum in Europe. We're very pleased with these results. They not only reflect the positive market dynamics, but also the efforts we have made over the past few years to strengthen our commercial capabilities and reinforce our commitment to customer satisfaction through a portfolio of advanced technologies tailored to meet specific client needs.

Finally, the market outlook remains positive across both the pools and the WTS segments, supporting our confidence in continued growth.

On this slide, we highlight some of the key projects awarded during the third quarter, spanning multiple geographies and covering both industrial and municipal. Let's start with our flagship initiative in Brazil. This project is being developed in partnership with Chlorum Solutions, which will build, own and operate water treatment systems for 2 municipalities in Brazil. De Nora will supply 2 CECHLO systems, enabling access to clean water for approximately 10 million people. The initiative eliminates the transport of liquefied chlorine gas, improving safety and cutting environmental risk.

Now, moving to the bottom of the slide, we see 3 additional key projects. The first 2 are filtration initiative using our DE NORA TETRA technologies, located in Qatar and in the United States. In Qatar, the project is owned by Qatar Electricity & Water Company and focuses on desalination. It will add 2,300 megawatts of power generation and produce around 16,000 cubic meters of potable water per day. This large-scale effort is designed with energy efficiency in mind, addressing the country's growing demand for reliable freshwater resources. In the U.S., we are supporting a municipal upgrade in the City of Rock Hall's wastewater treatment plant in Maryland. The system will help protect the Chesapeake Bay from nutrient pollution, contributing to long-term environmental preservation. The third project is located in British Guiana, where our SEACLOR electrochlorination technology will safeguard water systems in one of the South America's most significant offshore energy developments, owned by ExxonMobil.

Before we move to the Energy Transition business, I'd like to give you a brief update on our entry into PFAS market started in 2025. In 2025, we secured our first 3 full-scale projects in the United States, focused on PFAS removal from drinking water. These projects build on our multiyear expertise in contaminant removal. The first 2 are located in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts. They were presented already during our May and July conferences. The third project was awarded only a few weeks ago in Washington State. This achievement represents an important milestone in our growth within the PFAS market, firmly establishing the De Nora position among the leading players in the sector.

In parallel, we are continuing to expand our piloting activities with 12 initiatives currently underway across the U.S., Italy and Saudi. Additionally, De Nora is actively participating in 2 EU-funded projects, aimed at advancing PFAS treatment technologies, where we are contributing our proprietary solutions.

We're also proud to highlight the expansion of our well-established SORB product line through the launch of the so-called SORB FX pack, an affordable and compact contaminant removal system, designed specifically to support small and rural communities, particularly across the U.S., in achieving their PFAS removal goals. This represents a niche market with strong potential for both development and profitability.

Looking ahead, we anticipate steady growth in this segment, driven by regulatory developments, increased funding availability, including government support, and continued innovation in contaminant removal technologies.

Let's now move on the Energy Transition segment. We are pleased to announce the successful completion of our contribution to the NEOM green hydrogen project, a global flagship initiative for green hydrogen production. As of August, De Nora has delivered the final components for this groundbreaking project. From early 2023 to today, we manufactured and supplied approximately 2.2-gigawatt best-in-class alkaline water electrolysis technologies, totaling around 33,000 individual cells, which form the heart of the engine of NEOM green hydrogen project.

The project now continues on site where our partners, NEOM Green Hydrogen, will install and commission around 110 electrolyzers of 20 megawatts each. Once fully operational, these systems will produce up to 600 tons of green hydrogen per day, powered entirely by renewable energy, specifically 2.2 gigawatts of solar and 1.6 gigawatts of wind. The green hydrogen produced will be converted into green ammonia, which will be distributed globally, supporting the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors and enabling clean energy trade across countries and continents. This means avoiding about 5 million tons of CO2 emission each year, a major step in advancing global decarbonization. We take great pride in contributing to this transformative initiative. Our contribution centers on producing the core elements of the electrolyzers, supported by over a century of experience in high-performance coated electrode technology. This positions De Nora as a key player in the green hydrogen industry. This project also lets us make a real difference in reducing global CO2 emissions, perfectly aligned with our sustainability values.

In the first 9 months of 2025, we made significant strides in our green hydrogen portfolio, delivering over 820 megawatts of technologies, including 300 megawatts in Q3, in line with the production schedules agreed with customers and confirming our strong execution capabilities. Looking ahead to Q4, we expect to finalize the Stegra project, completing all hydrogen-related contracts currently in our backlog. As previously shared, our backlog also includes approximately 10 million lithium recovery initiative from end-of-life batteries, scheduled for completion in 2026, further expanding our presence in sustainable and circular technologies.

From a pipeline perspective, commercial dynamics are promising, although uncertainty persists around the timing of final investment decisions. Our joint venture is actively involved in front-end engineering design projects and has been selected as the preferred supplier for multiple contracts across Europe and Australia, totaling approximately 3 gigawatts. We anticipate that several key European projects will materialize in short term, reinforcing our market position and providing visibility of future revenues. As shown in the chart at the bottom left of the slide, since 2022, we have developed and delivered approximately 3.2 gigawatts of green hydrogen technologies. This track record confirms our role as a key player in a rapidly emerging industry with strong medium and long-term growth potential.

From a market standpoint, low-emissions hydrogen production is expected to grow robustly through 2030 as the sector continues to evolve and mature. Key enablers for market acceleration include the regulatory certainty and balanced public financial support, but also long-term offtake agreements and demand stimulation, which are now essential to ensure bankability and build a sustainable ecosystem. In the short term, market volatility is driving a wave of consolidation already underway since last year. This will likely result in a new landscape, dominated by a few large solid industrial players, able to offer advanced technical solutions and support fair, stable pricing. De Nora is well positioned in this evolving scenario, thanks to a strong financial structure, versatile global footprint and unparalleled cutting-edge technological offering.

With that, I'll hand over to Luca for the financial review.

Thank you, Paolo, and good afternoon, everyone. The third quarter marked another period of strong performance, building on the solid results achieved in the second quarter. As shown in the top-left chart, revenues grew year-on-year despite the negative impact of certain currencies, particularly the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen. At constant exchange rates, revenue growth would have been close to 12%. Top line expansion was matched by an increase in EBITDA margin, which reached approximately 20%, the highest level in the last 4 quarters.

Looking at the individual business units. As shown in the top-right chart, the Electrode Technologies business reported a decline in revenues as anticipated in our production plans and consistent with full year guidance. The business unit revenue evolution should not be viewed as a quarterly trend, but rather assessed over the fiscal year as quarterly fluctuations are driven by production schedules agreed with customers. Furthermore, as previously noted, the overall revenue performance in 2025 versus 2024 reflects the interruption of business with our Russian customer, following the sanction packages issued in Q3 2024. From a profitability standpoint, the adjusted EBITDA margin, while remaining solid, has experienced fluctuations, primarily due to changes in volume and product mix.

The Water business in the bottom-left chart posted revenue growth above 15%, and nearly 22% at constant exchange rate. This performance was primarily driven by the pools line, which posted a record year-on-year increase of 40%, while the WTS line recorded low-single-digit growth, partly impacted by a change in scope, following the disposal of the Marine business. Profitability in the Water business remained particularly strong with margins at approximately 22%. This positive -- this performance was driven by the expansion of the pool division, which accounted for 44% of the business unit revenues, up from 36% in the third quarter of 2024.

Lastly, the Energy Transition business reported strong revenue growth, in line with production plans agreed with clients. The year-on-year comparison also benefits from the temporary production slowdown recorded in Q3 2024 due to supply chain issues. From a profitability standpoint, the increase in volumes, combined with notably strong operational efficiency, resulted in an EBITDA margin of 15.7%.

Let's now move on to the 9 months results. Revenues grew by 5%, reaching EUR 631 million. The result was negatively impacted by around EUR 12 million due to the evolution of the currencies, mainly the U.S. dollar and Japanese yen. Excluding this effect, growth would have been 7%. The geographical breakdown is perfectly balanced. Compared to the same period in 2025, we recorded a 15% increase in the Americas, mainly driven by pools and chlor-alkali lines. Growth in EMEIA and APAC was around 1%, reflecting a combination of differing dynamics across the 3 business units.

The Electrode Technologies business grew by 1.4% year-on-year. The performance was primarily driven by the chlor-alkali and electronics lines, both posting high-single-digit growth. As expected, the electrowinning line recorded a 30% decline, mainly due to the interruption of business with the Russian customer. Additionally, currency headwinds negatively impacted revenues by around EUR 6 million. At constant exchange rates, revenue growth would have been close to 3%. Aftermarket revenues accounted for approximately 45% of the segment's total sales. The business unit's 9-month performance is in line with guidance, which anticipates a slight revenue decrease for the full year 2025.

The Water business posted overall growth of more than 8%, which would rise to above 11% at constant exchange rates. This performance was led by the pools line, which grew by 30% year-on-year, driven by both volume and price increase. The WTS segment recorded a decline of around 4%, mainly attributable to the already mentioned change in scope, following the disposal of the Marine business in 2024, which impacted the comparison by approximately EUR 4 million. Adjusting for this effect and excluding a roughly EUR 3 million negative impact from the U.S. dollar exchange rate, the performance would have been positive by approximately 2%. A particularly positive note comes from the aftermarket services, which represents more than 43% of the WTS revenues in the first 9 months, up 9% year-on-year with a positive impact on the business profitability.

Finally, in the Energy Transition business, project execution is progressing as planned. Revenues accelerated in the third quarter as expected and are projected to remain strong in the final quarter of the fiscal year. Overall, the 9-month revenue dynamics confirm the full year 2025 guidance across the business unit.

On Page 15, you can appreciate our backlog at the end of September 2025 that Paolo has already commented on by business unit. Let me just highlight that the core business has shown a steady, albeit moderate growth over the past few quarters, primarily driven by the strong expansion of the Water segment and the stability of the Electrode Technologies business at the end of September 2025 compared to September 2024.

We are now on Slide 16, which presents an overview of our operating cost structure. [ Consistently ] with the comments previously shared during the half year results, at the end of September, the increase in G&A and corporate costs reflects inflationary dynamics and the carryover impact of corporate structure announcement implemented in 2024. R&D expenses remained broadly stable as a percentage of revenues compared to 9 months 2024, averaging around 2%, including the R&D cost in the Energy Transition segment, eligible for the IPCEI grant that, as from 2025, have been accounted as nonrecurring. I'm pleased to highlight that we have added over 20 new researchers to our laboratories, reinforcing our investment in the development of cutting-edge technological solutions in the sector.

Let's move on to Slide 17. Adjusted EBITDA for the first 9 months recorded a year-on-year growth of approximately 15%, reaching 19.7% of revenues, about 200 basis points higher compared to 2024. Profitability is in line with what was already reported in the first half of the year and reflects a particularly strong performance in the pools line and the Energy Transition business.

Looking at individual business units, the Electrode Technologies business reported a healthy 20.9% profitability, reflecting, compared to the same period of 2024, a different mix of product lines and geographies and especially a lower contribution from the electrowinning revenues. This trend is expected to be confirmed in the fourth quarter of this year, in line with the projected revenue evolution.

The Water Technologies business achieved a strong 50% growth in adjusted EBITDA with a revenue margin close to 22%, approximately 6 percentage points higher than in the first 9 months of 2024. The improvement in profitability compared to both 2024 and the guidance was primarily driven by a stronger-than-expected expansion of the pools line. Its contribution to total business unit revenues increased to 43%, up from 36% in 2024, resulting in a significant margin uplift. It is also worth noting that the WTS line reported an improvement in operating profitability, supported by the expansion of aftermarket revenues, which accounted for 45% of total sales over the 9-month period and by operational efficiencies, following the disposal of the Marine business. For the final quarter of the year, we expect the positive revenue trend in the pools to continue with stable profitability in WTS, keeping the full year adjusted EBITDA margin in the region of 20%.

Finally, the Energy Transition business reported a high-single-digit margin, supported by solid volume growth and excellent operational efficiency. This result is particularly positive when considering, as previously noted in earlier calls, the impact of one-off costs related to a customer's financial difficulties, approximately EUR 2 million, as well as R&D expenses amounting to around 8% of revenues.

Now, on Slide 18, let's take a look at the evolution of the net financial position. In the third quarter of the fiscal year, operating cash flow exceeded EUR 45 million, supported by the typical seasonal trend in the net working capital, which tends to generate cash in the final 2 quarters of the year. In the fourth quarter 2025, we expect a further strengthening of the net cash position, driven by operating cash flow, despite an anticipated increase in quarterly CapEx. We are consistently committed to optimizing treasury processes and the medium-term debt structure. In this context, the recent voluntary early partial repayment of our senior facility reflects our strategic goal to reduce the cost of debt and maximize financial flexibility. Further actions in this direction are expected to continue over the coming quarters. Additionally, we aim to continue maximizing operating cash flow through the effective management and optimization of the net working capital. Finally, in terms of capital allocation, we are carrying out an in-depth analysis of potential targets in the WTS segment, while maintaining our strict economic and technological discipline.

We are now on Slide 19, where we will give an update on our 2025 outlook. We confirm our revenues guidance, which points to low-single-digit growth for the full year. While 9 months revenues performance slightly exceeded this target, there is a potential risk that the continued strengthening of the euro against the U.S. dollar could partially erode the volume gains achieved year-to-date. Regarding the adjusted EBITDA margin, given the solid and better-than-expected profitability achieved so far this year, especially in the Water and Energy Transition businesses, we are raising our guidance for the second time in a row, now targeting approximately 19%.

With that, I leave the floor to Chiara for the update on our ESG journey. Chiara?

Thank you, Luca. I'm happy to give you a quick update on how our sustainability plan is progressing. We are consistently monitoring, measuring and improving the environmental impact of our technologies. At the top left, this slide showcases our contribution to 3 selected SDGs during the first 9 months of the year: emission avoided through the delivery of green hydrogen technologies; sustainable water management and treatment, enabled by new orders in our Water Technologies Systems line; and circular economy through the reuse and recoating of electrode surfaces.

On carbon footprint reduction, in 2025, we installed and activated new photovoltaic systems across all our plants worldwide, reaching an installed capacity of about 5.1 gigawatt hours. The largest systems, each above 1 gigawatt hours, are located in Brazil, Sorocaba; U.S., Mentor; and Germany, Rodenbach. This capacity covered approximately 15% of our 2024 energy needs. And we are evaluating additional solutions to meet our renewable energy targets, while improving safety, cost efficiency and sustainability of our energy sources.

On the people front, initiatives to enhance well-being and engagement continue globally. This year, we earned Great Place to Work certification in 6 countries: Italy, U.S., China, India, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. We also strengthened our affinity network. Notable initiatives include Empower Her, hosted at our headquarters in Milan in collaboration with Valore Donna, which brought together women directors, managers and emerging talent for a transformative journey in female empowerment, leadership and collective group. In addition, we have initiated a new partnership in U.S. with the Society of Women Engineers.

Finally, ESG supplier assessment now cover 40% of active suppliers, up from 21% at the end of 2024. In addition, in Q4, we will conduct our first ESG audits on 2 critical suppliers. Our sustainability journey remains focused on delivering measurable impact across the value chain with a concrete and financially sound approach to risk management.

Before closing, I'm excited to announce that on November 20, we will host our first in-person stakeholder engagement event, gathering insights and perspectives on sustainability topics.

With that, I hand the floor to Paolo for the closing remarks.

Thank you, Chiara. To wrap up, this slide presents our final remarks. So let's go through them. We had a solid operating and financial performance with revenues to net income and robust free cash flow generation in Q3. Core business is growing in volumes and profitability with double-digit increase in order intake. Energy Transition projects are on time. NEOM project has been completed. We are ready to seize the near future opportunities and continue to advance our technologies.

Financial structure is strong. The optimization of treasury and financial management activities continues to strengthen free cash flow and lower debt costs. Focus on external growth by leveraging M&A opportunities in the Water sector to strengthen vertical integration and expand into new markets.

So I would like to reiterate our strong and ongoing commitment to the group growth with a particular focus on external expansion initiatives within the Water segment. In this area, we are carefully assessing a number of potential targets with the aim of strengthening vertical integration and expanding our presence into new markets and industries.

So we are now happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Isacco Brambilla of Mediobanca.

A couple of questions on my side. The first one is on Water Technologies. So results, specifically in pools, continue to be quite impressive, exceeding again expectations in the third quarter. Looking ahead, maybe even beyond 2025, is it reasonable to take current margins as a reliable starting point for next year? Or should we model a reversal towards 2024-2023 level? I know it's a bit early for 2026 guidance, but any directional indication would be helpful.

Second question is a follow-up on Electrode Technologies. Considering your statement on international market environment, how should we read this? Should we think about 2026 that this maybe a bit back-end loaded in the second part of the year in this segment, Electrode Technologies, hoping that in the second half, maybe macro uncertainty may fade?

I'll take the first one. Thank you, Isacco. So, as you said, the water margins in the first 3 quarters of the year have been at 22% level. And as I said, we expect to have, for the full year, a margin more in the region of the 20%, so slightly lower due to a soft Q4 compared to the first 3 quarters of the year. The improved EBITDA margin compared to the past was due to the Water slightly -- performance that was slightly above our targets due to higher aftermarket than the past versus original equipment and also a good geo mix, geographical mix. The pools have been higher than expected, both for volumes and price. So it is today -- it's soon now to anticipate 2026 level of profitability of Water because it really depends on the mix of pools versus Water Technologies, the geo mix and aftermarket versus OE. So we are assessing and we are calculating now the next plan and budget economics. So I cannot anticipate anything, but I hope I gave you some information to assess by yourself the right level of profitability.

Yes. Isacco, on the second question, for sure, we are in continuous, of course, daily contact with our customers. But these uncertainties on the geopolitical level might delay some projects, no doubt. So we are monitoring that. We have a strong backlog, as you have seen. But for sure, this situation might create some delays in the decisions of customers. So we are collecting all the data and the numbers to be able to have enough visibility in short.

The next question is from Chris Leonard of UBS.

Could I maybe ask 2? And maybe following on from the Water Technologies side on the pools business, how much more of an opportunity do you think there is for the aftermarket replacement wave looking into '26 and 2027? Presumably, a lot of this growth for this year, like 40% in Q3, has been from the replacement after the adoption during COVID-19 and the staycation effect in the U.S. market refurbing pools. So do you have any indication of how much is left to do there for the replacement cycle? That could maybe help us out modeling past '26 and '27?

And then, the second question is following on -- from the comments on the call on the PFAS technology and opportunities you have here. Is there any update as to how material you think this can be for the Water business in 2026 and '27 for revenue? And equally, do you still need an acquisition or similar in the U.S. to really push your commercial offering further for the PFAS market?

Yes. With regard to pools, we expect -- so we do not have, let's say, a clear view of this growth being essentially, let's say, characterized by a replacement cycle. So we think this is a healthy level of sales for the pools. I mean, it's soon, again, to anticipate what we see for 2026, but it's not entirely due to the replacement cycle after COVID.

For the PFAS, Paolo?

Yes. On PFAS, Chris, the 3 orders we already received are around a couple of million dollars, and we do have a number of interesting projects in the pipeline. So maybe not yet so material for 2026, but no doubt, we are talking about a few million dollars that we foresee for '26 and probably even better for 2027, considering the level of increasing activities we have around this business.

On the acquisition side, well, we have, for sure, in our pipeline of potential [ project of ] acquisition, there is also PFAS to some extent. On the other side, we have also made some decisions to develop internally some specific technologies around PFAS. Instead of spending equity on M&A, we are going to do also some internal R&D projects. So it's going to be a combination of organic growth, but also potentially some inorganic growth there.

And just following up on the water pool business, in the U.S. in particular, I mean, do you have a view on how much new pool installations have been driving volumes for this year to date? I mean, residential markets are pretty weak in the U.S. in 2025. Would you anticipate if we see a buildup again in residential markets if interest rates drop that you could be in for more new-build activity? Just interesting to hear how much new-build you think has been present so far in 2025.

Yes. Well, our customers are not so generous in disclosing this kind of numbers and breakdowns because they know that we serve everybody, and we don't want to disappoint anybody in asking or to be too intrusive in this. For sure, it's well known that the real estate market in 2025 didn't perform well -- particularly well, but we are also conscious that the potential decrease of interest rate might give a boost over the next years to that part. Let's keep in mind that the biggest drivers for us in terms of growth in pools are: first one, replacement; second one, conversion from traditional pools treated with chemicals to the automatic disinfection system that we can provide. So those are the 2 main drivers. We are not so much influenced by new-build pools connected to the real estate.

The next question is from Matteo Bonizzoni of Kepler Cheuvreux.

I have 2 questions. The first one is on your post-2025 guidance, which you provided last March. Clearly, as you have said, you have upgraded guidance for this year twice, 2 percentage points, more or less, from 17% to 19%. So I would like to know -- it's a little bit early clearly to have the 2026 guidance, but the range, 15% to 17%, if you are starting from 19%, could also seem a little bit low even if we know that next year, the Energy Transition business should decline pretty significantly, and this should have an impact on the consolidated margin. So do you have any commentary on this 15% to 17% guidance range, which we provided last March, is still reasonable or it's becoming also too low?

And the second question is, as we approach the end of the year, do you have an indication of the revenue decline, which we should expect in Energy Transition for next year? I was looking at the consensus in Visible Alpha is for about [ half, so revenues to half ]. I have an estimate which is likely more prudent, around minus 60%. Do you have maybe some sensitivity color in relation also to the upcoming intake in the last part of the year? And also, related to margin for this specific division for next year, what we -- what is the number to imagine?

Okay. Thank you. So again, not easy to anticipate what we see for 2026 after 2025 that has been characterized by pools above expectation, clearly, both in terms of volume and in terms of margin, a positive mix from both geographical point of view and product mix, except for [ ET ], where the mix was not favorable, and also strong discipline in industrial and corporate costs. So 2026 will really depend on the product mix and volumes, definitely. But I mean, also important to refer what we said in the Q3 press release, where we anticipated that the complex macroeconomic and geopolitical scenario could have an impact on investment decision of some of our clients in both Electrode and [ ETR ] business. So we are now assessing this new scenario within the new 2026-2028 plan. Therefore, I cannot provide any additional insight now, Matteo.

With regards to the Energy Transition, you know that the backlog at the end of the year will be -- with regards to hydrogen, will be close to 0. In order to be able to invoice something in -- let's say, a measurable and important amount in 2026, we need to receive orders within the next couple of months. Otherwise, it will be almost impossible to industrialize the new business. So, for the moment, the backlog is 0. As Paolo said, we are positive on certain possible orders to come in the next quarters. But for the moment, we do not have anything signed. And therefore, I mean, it's very difficult for the moment to predict what will be the 2026 evolution of this business, while we remain obviously positive for the medium term. [indiscernible], as you know, is the most important and probable order that could come in the next couple of weeks or months. So it's the most concrete, let's say, possibility to have something to invoice in 2026.

The next question is from Daniele De Florentis of Equita SIM.

The first one is about Electrode Technologies.

Sorry, we didn't hear you properly. Can you say it again?

Sorry, can you hear me?

Not very well, but please talk close to the mic.

The first one is about Electrode Technologies. And my question is about the order intake because you show a 61% increase of order intake. So my question is, what is the driver of order intake? And if you could share with us -- the second is, if you could share with us a target [ MSP ] for the end of the year? And if you have any idea of improvement for the dividend per share for the next year?

So you know that the order intake for the Electrode in such a market characterized by big projects is not linear. So there might be quarters where we have an increase or reduction of the backlog and the order intake. Therefore, I mean, the orders were expected. And thanks to this order, we are now at a level which is close to the one of last year, that is positive. So nothing strange. It's just the -- how the business works.

With regards to the net financial position, we are working -- you know that the first half is characterized typically by an absorption of cash. The third quarter has been very good. In the first half, we have absorbed EUR 60 million of cash -- sorry, in the third quarter, we have generated EUR 40 million of cash, sorry. In the fourth quarter, we expect a further generation of cash to bring the level of the liquidity, so positive net financial position of the group, at least in line with the one of last year after the payment of dividend. So we expect to have a net financial position that will be close to the one of last year. We are working on net working capital and also on treasury and debt optimization in order to extract value from every line of the cash generation.

The next question is a follow-up from Isacco Brambilla of Mediobanca.

Yes. A follow-up on Energy Transition to your comments on the pipeline. So there are a number of projects mentioned in Slide 11. Some of them has been in your presentation for a while now. Is there any additional insight you can share with us from your conversation with clients or with nucera on how, say, mood is evolving on clean hydrogen and these projects specifically?

Well, roughly half of those projects are in Europe and they are advancing. The most close one is [indiscernible] that after many months of waiting and there was this issue with the government in Spain about the big blackout of this summer in Spain, there were some delays in defining how to fit this project with the current grid and renewables and batteries. So according to our colleagues, nucera, we should be quite close to the final investment decision. So, that should be the closest one. And the others, according to them, should be finalized within the next 12 months. So things are moving, no doubt. And half of them are in Europe, which is another good sign that Europe is still moving ahead with a number of projects and initiatives from every government and the EU Commission.

The next question is a follow-up from Chris Leonard of UBS.

Another question on Energy Transition, please. And we know that you're waiting and keeping capacity ready for the wave of orders that could potentially come in green hydrogen. But how long will you be willing to wait, would be the question. And what sort of further actions could you have to mitigate if we see that no orders -- hypothetically, no orders come in the next 12 months and you look at 2027 and there's still a lack of revenue growth, how would you proceed from that vantage point?

Well, the capacity has been established and, as you well remember, is pretty versatile. So we can adjust the capacity to different products within our factories. And of course, we have -- right now, we are working on 3 shifts, 7 days a week that, of course, we can reduce accordingly to the volumes. So we are pretty flexible. No doubt that if volumes will be lacking, we will have actions to be taken inside our factories. But again, we have a very high versatility and together with a very high flexibility in terms of hours of work to be dedicated to that segment.

[Operator Instructions] Ms. Locati, gentlemen, there are no more questions registered at this time.

So thank you very much for attending this question, and as Investor Relations team, of course, we are at your disposal for any additional information or clarification. Bye.

Thank you.

Bye-bye, everybody. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones. Thank you.