Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and Warm welcome to the annual shareholder meeting of BASF SE in 2025. I'm very happy to be able to welcome you here today. In my capacity as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I open the annual meeting and assume the chairmanship in accordance with Section 18, Clause 1 of the Articles of Association of BASF SE. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Executive Directors, I would like to welcome you, our shareholders, shareholder representatives, and representatives of the press who are following today's annual general meeting live via the online surface and those watching live on the internet. We are delighted that you are following the annual general meeting, shareholder meeting, and that we are able to exchange views today during the general debate. On behalf of the Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board, I would like to thank you for your interest in BASF. This brings me to the people on stage. All members of the Supervisory Board and the Board of Executive Directors are present today. I would also like to welcome notary Dr. Meier on stage. Dr. Meier will carry out the notarization required by the German Stock Corporation Act. Ladies and gentlemen, we are holding today's annual shareholder meeting as the virtual annual shareholder meeting. As you know, we held our annual shareholder meeting with physical attendance in 2023 and 2024 after the end of the coronavirus pandemic. This year, we decided to hold a virtual annual shareholder meeting in this new format for the first time. In doing so, we want to test whether the virtual format represents a useful and practicable alternative to the annual shareholder meeting with physical attendance. In doing so, we were also guided by the idea that the rights of shareholders in virtual annual shareholder meetings now largely correspond to the rights in physical attendance annual shareholder meetings due to new legal regulations and that interaction between shareholders and management is possible without any problems and legally compliant. However, I would also like to say explicitly that this year's decision in favor of a virtual annual shareholder meeting does not mean that we have decided against holding in-person annual shareholder meetings in the future. Rather, we will make a responsible decision about the format of the annual shareholder meeting every year in the best interests of BASF and its shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, I will now turn to the formalities of today's annual shareholder meetings and the report of the Supervisory Board, my contribution. Afterwards, I also will give you some information on the housekeeping. I will then concentrate on the focus of our work in the past year. Afterwards, Mr. Kamieth will report for the Board of Executive Directors, and then we will talk about the agenda, including the discussion with you, ladies and gentlemen. First, the formalities. The convening notice with the agenda and the convening of this year's annual shareholder meeting was published in the Federal Gazette on 26th March. The convening notice with the agenda and the proposed resolutions of the Board of Executive Directors and Supervisory Board are made accessible at the annual shareholder meetings on our website. A specimen copy of the convening notice will be included in the notarized minutes. No requests for additions to the agenda were received. I hereby declare that the annual shareholder meeting has been duly convened. Prior to the annual shareholder meeting, the company received two counter-motions in due time. We have published these on our website. I will return to these counter-motions in the further course of the annual shareholder meeting. Before we begin with the individual items on today's agenda, may I ask that we remember, as we do every year, all our employees and retirees who have passed away since the last annual shareholder meetings, and we please stand up for that. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I would first like to give you some housekeeping information about today's annual shareholder meeting. You will find information together with explanations on how you can exercise your rights as shareholders or shareholder representatives at today's annual shareholder meeting in the documents we have provided, in particular in the convening notice. We are broadcasting the entire annual shareholder meeting live for our shareholders via online service. In addition, my introductory remarks and my report, as well as the speech by the Chairman of the Executive Board, are made available for everybody online. If you have registered for today's annual shareholder meeting at due time and are connected via the online service, you can exercise all shareholder rights during the meeting. In the general debate, you can contribute. In the general debate, you can contribute via video communication, and you can also ask the Supervisory Board and Board of Executive Directors for information. As a chairperson of the meeting, I hereby stipulate that the right to information can only be exercised by means of video communication. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to make use of today's information because we have a different organization than in a present meeting. To organize your speech, please use the request for floor in the online service. As soon as we enter the general debate, I will call the speakers by naming groups 5 or 6. I will then ask you to enter the virtual waiting room. In the online service, you will see a dialogue window with a corresponding button. Once you have entered the waiting room, virtually, that is, you will be contacted by our staff to check the image and sound quality. Please be patient in the waiting room for a moment until our staff contact you. You can still follow the annual shareholder meeting live in the waiting room. After successfully checking the functionality of the video and audio transmission, I will give you the floor individually. Your contribution will then be transmitted live to the annual shareholder meeting. You can also submit motions or election proposals as part of your request to speak. If you would like to announce a motion or election proposal outside of a regular contribution, you can use the motion election proposal button. I would like to ask you in this case to briefly describe which motion you would like to submit. This will make it easier for us to decide whether your motion can be prioritized. We continue as with the request to speak. So far on the technical housekeeping of today's meeting, in the run-up of the annual shareholder meeting, shareholders had the opportunity to submit statements on the items on the agenda. These statements can also be accessed in the online service. Many of the statements referred to today's virtual format of the annual shareholder meeting, which not everybody of you liked very much. Please let me explain and say once more, the fact that this year we have a virtual shareholder meeting does not mean that we won't have any meetings in person in the next time. That brings me to the voting procedure. Voting rights can only be exercised at today's annual shareholder meeting by electronic postal vote or by authorizing the proxies appointed by the company. You can still cast, issue, change, or revoke your postal votes via the online service until the end of voting. As there may be delays in the live stream transmissions, I would like to ask you to vote or make any changes in good time. I will explain the voting procedure in detail after the general debate. As a connected shareholder, you can also use the online service to object to resolutions passed at today's annual shareholder meeting or to request that minutes be recorded in accordance with Section 131, Subsection 5 of the German Stock Corporation Act. You will find a button labeled accordingly in the online service. Please note that this is only possible until the end of today's shareholder meeting. The objection or your request for minutes will then be sent directly to an electronic mailbox of the notary. The list of shareholders attending or represented at the annual shareholder meeting will be updated at regular intervals until the end of the annual shareholder meeting. It can be viewed via the online service. I will then announce the current presence before the first vote. During the general debate, you will have the opportunity to make statements on all items on the agenda. You can take the floor throughout the debate via the online service. If you have any motions on the rules of procedure, please notify it when you make your request to speak. This will make it easier to deal with these motions. As always, private audio or video recordings of this meeting are not permitted. So much for my preliminary remarks and the main formalities of today's annual shareholder meeting. This brings me to the report of the Supervisory Board. Let me at this point be briefly referring to the work of the Supervisory Board in the past 2024 financial year. The detailed written report of the Supervisory Board can be found in BASF's report 2024. In the 2024 financial year, the Supervisory Board continued to regularly monitor the Board of Executive Directors' management of the company and provided advice on BASF's strategic development and the measures. A particular focus was on further improving competitiveness, especially in Europe, in the face of persistently challenging conditions. Investments for future profitable growth, particularly in Asia, were also a focus, as was the contribution for the oil and gas business, that's Wintershall, into the Harbor Energy plc. In the 2024 financial year, the Supervisory Board was regularly informed in detail by the Board of Executive Directors. This took place within and outside of the meetings of the Supervisory Board and its committees through written and verbal reports. Also, outside, the Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors and I had regular exchanges. I was always informed promptly and comprehensively about current developments and important issues. The entire Supervisory Board was involved in decisions of major importance at an early stage. The Supervisory Board held a total of 6 meetings in the 2024 financial year, each of which was attended by all members. BASF's future challenges and strategic options were discussed intensively at several meetings of the Supervisory Board and the Strategy Committee. The Winning Ways strategy involves far-reaching changes, particularly to portfolio management and capital allocation, as well as the management of individual businesses. The Supervisory Board is convinced that this strategy is in the interests of our shareholders and the company as a whole. The positive response from investors and the tangible support for this approach within the company confirm this assessment. The Supervisory Board will continue to closely monitor the implementation of the proposed measures. Reporting in accordance with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, abbreviation CSRD, and its implications were discussed in detail. For further details on the topics discussed at the Supervisory Board meetings, please refer to the report of the Supervisory Board on pages 463 and following of the annual report. There were no changes to the number of Supervisory Board committees in the past financial year. Details on the committees of the Supervisory Board can be found from page 465 forward in the annual report. There were special features relating to the annual financial and consolidated financial statements in 2024. The newly appointed Deloitte GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft audited the annual financial statements BASF SE and consolidated financial statements of the BASF Group for the first time in an unqualified audit opinion. As the CSRD Implementation Act has not yet been passed in BASF in Germany, sorry. BASF has prepared a non-financial statement for BASF SE and the BASF Group in 2024 using the European Sustainability Reporting Standards ESRS. Due to this legal situation, the Supervisory Board, following the recommendation of the audit committee, commissioned Deloitte to perform a limited assurance engagement on the content of the non-financial statement of BASF SE and the BASF Group, in addition to the statutory audit. Deloitte had no objections to this reporting. Dieser erstmals. As a result of this non-financial statement, which was prepared in accordance with ESRS, for the first time, the audit of the 2024 financial statements was significantly more extensive than before and took more time. This is why the audit and preparation processes were therefore extended. If you look at the annual report, you probably noted that more than 200 additional pages for the so-called non-financial reporting. At the balance sheet meetings of the audit committee and the Supervisory Board on February 25th and 26th of 2025, the preliminary business figures and key sustainability targets, as well as the proposal for the appropriation of profits, were reviewed. In the final balance sheet meetings of the audit committee and Supervisory Board on March 18th and 19th, 2025, the focus was on the non-financial statement prepared in accordance with the ESRS. The Supervisory Board approved the annual financial statements of BASF SE and the consolidated financial statements of the BASF Group prepared by the Board of Executive Directors at the final balance sheet meeting of the Supervisory Board on March 19th, 2025. Now to the members of the Supervisory Board. On April 25th, 2024, the annual shareholders' meeting elected Tamara Weinert as the successor to Dame Alison Carnwath. The five other shareholder representatives were confirmed in their offices for four consecutive years. As a result, the composition of the committees and their chairs were partly redefined. The Supervisory Board continues to meet all the targets it has set in terms of its composition and competencies. Please refer to the detailed written report of the Supervisory Board for further information on the Supervisory Board's activities. The Corporate Governance Report can be found in the annual report on pages 111 to 146, while the remuneration report can be found online at basf.com/vergütungsbericht in German with ue. An overview of the remuneration of the Board of Executive Directors can be found on page 440 of the annual report. The cooperation between the Supervisory Board and the Board of Executive Directors remained intensive and constructive, characterized by the joint pursuit of the best solutions for BASF's future success. The Supervisory Board would like to thank the Board of Executive Directors for its energetic commitment, courageous decisions, and successful management of the company. The Supervisory Board would also like to thank all our employees worldwide for their extraordinary commitment in another challenging year. Thus far my report preliminarily, and this brings me to the report of Executive Directors. Mr. Kamieth, you have the floor. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, you probably expected to see me on the stage, but if you want success, you cannot be satisfied with the expected. Successful companies question habitual practices. They try new things. They are constantly improving because they live change. This is always true, especially in volatile times like these. I'm convinced of this, and this motivates me. For me, it all started at BASF in the lab. That was to be expected for a chemist. I took on many different roles, always with new challenges. I worked in Germany, the United States, and Asia. Some things were unexpected. In my 26 years at BASF, my career has constantly changed, and I have learned a lot, so much about people and about the business, about how to change things for the better and what leads to success. Success does not just happen, and nobody succeeds in the long run on their own. Success is always the result of a strong team, a team that works passionately in the plants and labs, in sales interacting with our customers, and in the administrative offices, and also at the executive level. Stephan, Katja, Dirk, Anup, Mike, and myself formed the new Board of Executive Directors last year. We work closely together. We complement each other, and we rely on each other, and it's great fun. Also, because we can count on a strong BASF team. We are all united by a common goal. We want to create value. This is what drives us, and this is our shared ambition at BASF. So we are bringing BASF to its Winning Ways. We are creating value. Dear shareholders, this is what we aim to do with the new strategy, and this is why we call it the Winning Ways strategy. Especially in such economic and geopolitical turbulence, it is crucial we know our goal, and we know how we'll achieve it. This will be what I'm talking about in the next 30 minutes or so. What is important to me, how we are changing the company, and where BASF's path leads from here. I would like to start, however, with a brief look at the figures for 2024. It was a year where we showed we can achieve good results in a challenging environment. Our team successfully defended and gained market share. We increased our volumes in nearly all segments. In particular, we grew in our core businesses, i.e., in the Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, and Nutrition & Care segments. Here, our volumes rose by 5% worldwide. In Europe, we were able to achieve a 6% volume growth in these businesses, a great accomplishment. In addition, prices and margins improved over the course of the year, not in all, but in most of the segments. As a result, EBITDA before special items rose by 18% in the core businesses. Across the BASF Group, the increase was 2%. This goes to show that we are applying to the strengths of our core businesses: high-performance plants, efficient processes, excellent competitive positions, and a global footprint close to our customers. This is the strong foundation for profitable growth. We are also making good strides in costs. By the end of 2026, we want to achieve annual savings of EUR 2.1 billion, primarily in Europe. By the end of 2024, we already reached around EUR 1 billion. One-time expenses totaling around EUR 1.8 billion are associated with these programs. Around half of this amount was recorded by the end of 2024. This had a negative impact on our earnings, but it also shows that we are taking swift and decisive action. In 2024, we invested a lot, totaling EUR 6.2 billion, but EUR 300 million less than planned. Our teams on the construction sites optimized once more. Our teams in procurement renegotiated. This is important because it has a direct positive impact on our financial strength. We were also able to further reduce networking capital, for example, through even better inventory management. This too is a great achievement. Because of this, we have less capital tied up in the company. All this contributed to a Free Cash Flow of around EUR 750 million. Despite high investments, we had expected a maximum of EUR 600 million. This goes to show that we are disciplined and efficient with our capital allocation. Half of the analysts who cover BASF currently recommend our share as a buy. In the first quarter of 2024, it was only one in three analysts. All three of the main credit rating agencies give BASF a single A rating, so our credit ratings thus remain excellent. As you can see, the capital market believes in us, just as you do, dear shareholders, because your BASF is a strong company. Part of this is also a healthy distribution policy. Many of you have expressed this to us. For 2024, we therefore propose a dividend of EUR 2.25 per share. As you can tell, we've adapted our distribution policy. Here, we are focused on two different things. Firstly, we'd like to continue to offer an attractive yield. Secondly, we'd like to transparently show you what you can expect from us in the medium term. This is why, for the first time, we considered a four-year period. The important message for you: from 2025 to 2028, we aim for a total distribution at the high level of the past years in total at least EUR 12 billion. Of this, at least EUR 8 billion will be dividends, complemented by share buybacks of at least EUR 4 billion, which we aim to start by 2027 at the latest. The combination of dividend payments and share buybacks makes us even more resilient. It gives us financial flexibility and strength. We need both for our path into the future because we are firmly convinced chemistry has a future. Because we deliver the basic products for almost everything. Chemistry is connected with almost everything, and most things in the world would not work without chemicals. I find this fascinating, and this motivates everybody at BASF. Many have now realized chemicals are the blood flowing through the veins of industry, an irreplaceable part of daily life for billions of people, vital for the future. Chemistry is the source of change and innovation. This opens up immense opportunities to shape the future and good growth prospects for BASF. At the same time, our industry is undergoing structural changes. Markets are changing, competitors are changing, and customers' needs are changing as well. We are experiencing a geopolitical shift. Unfortunately, not for the better at the moment. This is challenging even for a strong company like BASF. Over the past years, we've done many things the right way. We've solidly mastered the crises. We've significantly reduced our CO₂ emissions. We've invested in renewable energies and growth markets. We've strengthened our innovative power and customer focus. Taking stock, we must admit, we have not always lived up to our ambitions, especially when it comes to productivity, profitability, and value creation. BASF finds itself at a turning point, and this means we must decide for one direction, for one goal. Everybody expects a lot of BASF, our employees, our customers, and especially you, our shareholders. We are fully aware of this, and that is why it was important to the entire board team to quickly create clarity, to readjust the compass for BASF towards our highest priority as a company: creating value for you, the owners of BASF. This is what our Winning Ways strategy is all about. It is how we are bringing BASF to its Winning Ways, to the path of success. It all starts with our ambition to be the preferred chemical company to enable our customers' green transformation. Maybe a simple sentence, but with enormous meaning, because it contains everything we believe is important for BASF. It starts with chemistry. Chemistry is our core competency. This is what we are known for. This is what we are appreciated for. Chemistry is where it all began exactly 160 years ago. Chemistry made us big and strong, and chemistry excites us to this day. It continues with our customers. They are the focus. They decide where they buy. We'd like to impress our customers each and every day and want to be their partner of choice. At the end of the sentence, you find the word enable. By way of innovative chemistry, we want to be an enabler for our customers. We want to enable their growth. We want to enable their innovations, and we want to enable our customers' green transformation. This is our ambition. This is the foundation for our profitable growth. We have a real opportunity to make change for our customers. We want to bring solutions to the market. That's the motivation to go out of bed every day. It doesn't matter which industry. The focus is on our customer. The plant that we're in is Catalyst Cluster 2, and there's nothing comparable to this. We're making what are called custom catalysts, basically a substance without which a certain chemical reaction happens much slower or not at all. More than 80% of all of the processes that we have need a catalyst. BASF is one of the longest-standing heterogeneous catalyst producers in the world. The production of catalysts is extremely complex and tailor-made for each individual application. When we come with a new solution, we need to be sure that it's going to provide value. We can now go to a point where we can design catalysts for the specific needs of our customers. Without focus, there is no clear direction for the chemical value chain, but it also applies to the entire portfolio of BASF. As BASF, we are a key player in the industry in the vegetable seed business. We are active in more than 20 countries, and we are having more than 1,200 commercial varieties at this moment. Agriculture is facing now enormous challenges, which will trigger a strong transformation. One of the biggest challenges of the last years is tomato brown rugose virus, and BASF was really successful. We launched 25 ToBRFV resistance varieties. We are a market leader now in this segment. If you look at our customers, the growers, what they have to manage at the very end is to have a tomato which is appealing for the consumer. We have everything we need to excel. To stay relevant, you have to stay curious. Great innovations come from crazy ideas. [Foreign Language] During my first year as CEO, I traveled a lot, as did the entire board team. I went to BASF locations everywhere in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Everywhere I sensed energy, passion, and optimism. Our teams are living our ambition. They are giving their best, just like Arushi, Cees, Erwin, Katrin, Marco, Sylvia, and William from that short video. That is a great feeling. It motivates us, and it makes us proud. After one year in my new role, I feel one thing above all: gratitude for the outstanding performance of our teams worldwide. Gratitude that I am part of this great team. Also gratitude for discussions about tough topics, because we all know we still have to change a lot at BASF. We have to become more focused, and we have to become faster. We need to better leverage the value the green transformation offers at BASF, and we need to orient our corporate culture more towards success. These are my priorities for BASF. From the heart of our Winning Ways strategy, which we call focus, accelerate, transform, and win. This is how we bring BASF to its Winning Ways strategy. This is how we create value. Dear shareholders, you just saw it a minute ago. Vegetable seeds and process catalysts both are part of the BASF portfolio. Both stand for our innovative power and shared ambition. Surely you also noticed that these businesses are very different. Different when it comes to research, production, and marketing. Different when it comes to customer needs and market trends. Different also when it comes to success factors. These differences have become even more pronounced in recent years, and our previous portfolio approach did not always properly account for them. Everything under one roof, steered using the logic of the BASF Verbund, this no longer works in a changed market and competitive environment. This is why we are taking a more focused and differentiated approach to portfolio steering going forward, without losing sight of what our businesses have in common, being the preferred choice of our customers' green transformation. Businesses that are closely integrated into BASF's production Verbund and benefit from this are bundled as our core businesses. These core businesses range from basic chemicals and intermediates to high-value-added specialty products. They are grouped into our four segments: Chemicals, Materials, Industrial Solutions, and Nutrition & Care. No other chemical company masters these core businesses as well and as broadly as BASF. This is what our customers confirm, and this is what our figures show. We are innovative, a leader in terms of patent registrations, directly behind big tech companies. We have the technological know-how. We are close to our customers in all key markets. One particular strength in the core businesses is the Verbund. Long integrated value chains, a cleverly interlinked system where we efficiently use resources and steer processes more efficiently than any other company. These are the best foundations for organic growth. This is why we are making the Verbund even better, more productive, more cost-effective, and leaner. We are convinced this is how we can be even more successful in our core businesses and how we can further expand our strong position, grow profitably, create value. We also have businesses that are not as closely integrated into the BASF Verbund. We steer these as standalone businesses. Let me explain you why. Our standalone businesses are also successful, each of them in its own market. There they compete with the companies that are exclusively operating in that sector. Our standalone businesses are very distinct from our core businesses. They do not benefit much from the Verbund and therefore need a different management approach. We have given the standalone businesses more entrepreneurial freedom, so they can react better and faster to their markets and customers. However, on the capital market, their value is not fully reflected, i.e., and not in the BASF share price. That is why we're taking the next step. We consider them to be independent of our core businesses. Let me explain briefly what this means. Our mobile emissions catalyst business provides strong cash contributions, has low investment needs, and is gaining market share. We are open to a value-creating transaction, but at the moment it is not imperative. Battery materials is a young business at BASF operating in a very dynamic market. This entails some uncertainty. In 2024, the market risks in Europe and North America in particular increased significantly. That is why we are currently cautious with new investments. Instead, we are filling our existing capacities. At the same time, we want to minimize risks, for example, through stronger collaboration along the value chain. For our coatings business, a joint venture could be an option or a full divestiture. We are currently looking at which option offers the greatest value, but one thing is already clear. We are selling the decorative paints business to Sherwin-Williams. We quickly initiated this first portfolio measure, and we thus exceeded expectations, also with a very good selling price of $1.15 billion. We are giving our ag solutions business an independent organizational and legal structure by 2027. Simultaneously, we are preparing it for an IPO because that would be one value-creating option to place a minority share on the capital market. We've described different paths for our standalone businesses, but in all cases, the aim is the same. We want to create the greatest value for BASF and for you, our shareholders. We are currently experiencing tectonic shifts in the global order: political, social, and economic shifts, tariffs instead of shared objectives, confrontation instead of cooperation, and as a result, uncertainty instead of reliability. In my view, none of these are good developments, but BASF is prepared. We are active in all important regions. We produce locally for local markets, in America for America, in Europe for Europe, in Asia for Asia. This has always been an advantage for BASF, even more so in times like these. It creates stability. It makes us more resilient than many others, also against tariffs. In the U.S., we generate more than 80% of our sales with products we produce there. In Asia, the share is similarly high. In Europe, it is even higher. Obviously, we live in a globalized world. Right now, it is difficult to predict the impacts of U.S. tariff policy on demand and global trade flows and what will happen next. That is why we are preparing ourselves for various scenarios. The good news in these volatile times is the market for chemicals will grow in the long run, but the growth will differ markedly from region to region. In Europe and North America, we expect only weak to moderate growth for the chemical industry. Here, we are focusing on utilizing our capacities, defending, and expanding our strong position. The growth driver for the chemical industry is and will remain Asia, primarily China. We want to continue to grow with the market in China. Our new Verbund site in Zhanjiang is the foundation for this. With this, we are setting new standards with regard to technology, efficiency, and sustainability. This makes us attractive to customers and strengthens our competitiveness. We will start up Zhanjiang in the second half of the year fully on schedule and on budget. This is the result of incredible teamwork by colleagues on site in Zhanjiang and worldwide as well. In addition to China, we are also focusing more on India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. These seven countries will account for around 80% of global chemical growth by 2035 because of a growing population there and increasing prosperity, and because they are playing an even stronger role in the global economy. In India and the aforementioned ASEAN countries, we want to grow faster than the market, and we will achieve this through targeted investments, partnerships, and cooperations. Asia is the most important market for the chemical industry. That is why we are expanding our footprint there. Dear shareholders, we have invested a lot in recent years in Asia, but also in Europe and the United States. We have established the capacities that we need. 2025 will be another capital-intensive year, primarily because we are starting up Zhanjiang. From 2026 forward, we will start significantly scaling back our CapEx because you rightfully expect that our capital employed must bring yield. That is why we are taking a more focused approach to resource allocation, targeting toward where we project long-term growth. This is why we're working flat out to fill the new capacities quickly and improve the utilization of existing capacities. This is why we are rigorously implementing our savings programs, and that is why we are tying up as little capital as possible in the company. We want to grow profitably with high capital efficiency and high capital discipline, with a clear focus on what really matters: creating value. To do this, we also need to become faster. That is the second lever of our Winning Ways strategy: accelerate. Our analysis shows the quality of our products and our reliability are excellent. This is what we're known for, and our customers appreciate it. BASF is complex, and that sometimes makes us slow and unwieldy. That is why we're changing the way we do things. We are sharpening roles and responsibilities. We are giving more responsibility to our divisions. We are streamlining decision-making processes and reducing bureaucratic burdens. We simplify our organizational structure. All of this makes BASF faster, more efficient, and more productive. We also want to get faster and better thanks to artificial intelligence. We will intensify our use of AI. We are focused on applications which really make a difference, which create value. We are testing these in pilot projects. When something works, we roll it out throughout the company, just like our colleagues in Geismar, Madrid, and Ludwigshafen have done together as a strong team for AI in production. Absolutely groundbreaking. Quicker decisions, quicker checklists. This is 21st-century stuff, okay? It's at your fingertips. Phenomenal. After I was coming to Geismar in the plant, I had already plant experience, and I knew how to work in a plant and to run a plant. Here, I had to do all this training again. PlantGPT is an AI chatbot, which is supporting each plant member to get immediate answers for each question you could have. Having this tool where you can very quickly ask, "I only have three pumps active instead of four. Am I okay to keep running the plant in these conditions?" In seconds, you get that answer, and you get the procedure of why and the reasoning of why. Training time is still money. The knowledge base of things that happened in the past is starting to dwindle. I wanted to capture that for everybody. At the very beginning, the tool was very basic, very slow. You start to really learn about it, see the potential of it. That technology has enabled us to serve something that is not yet covered in our tool stack so far. BASF has been using AI for a long time, but this is the first time that we have used these new AI models. A lot of plants were interested, so we have a list of 140 that want to also have PlantGPT. Definitely, PlantGPT will help the new operator to find a document and make it easier for them. The impact for BASF is speed. A software tool can increase efficiency and reliability of also older plants without doing huge investments. Been here since startup. I only have a couple of years left. I'll retire. When I'm gone, at least I know the information that I had can be passed on. Probably the highlight of my career. Artificial Intelligence helps us to operate our plants more efficiently, and AI helps us to be faster and more successful in the market by better utilizing our immense data volumes for better planning and better service. Or when searching for new molecules for innovative products. The direction for our research and development is clear: less CO₂, more circular economy, greater sustainability. Today, we already supply thousands of products that offer sustainability advantages for our customers, and that is why we call them Sustainable- Future Solutions. By 2030, their share of BASF's relevant sales should rise to more than 50%. Our customers' green transformation will be an even stronger driver for our profitable growth. That is why we must also transform BASF, and this is the third lever of our Winning Ways strategy. I think we all sense it. Right now, there's also a lot of uncertainty around climate protection and sustainability in politics, in business, in the population, and worldwide. Our customers are taking various approaches to their green transformation. They have different priorities. They are moving at different speeds from region to region and from industry to industry. We need to take account of this, take a differentiated approach to the developments in our markets, carefully consider when we invest in which products and technologies, what truly creates value. In doing so, we have an enormous advantage compared to many of our competitors, the BASF Verbund. We can flexibly and quickly adapt our production on a large scale, but without major investments toward products with growing demand, toward products for which our customers are also willing to pay more for greater sustainability. We have everything we need for this: high-performance plants, significant volumes of renewable energy, access to alternative feedstocks, and the expertise to cleverly combine these components, our Verbund. Each customer thus gets exactly the product that suits their transformation path. Now, I will show you what these polyurethane molds have to do with this and how our customer Vitra benefits from it. I can't imagine a green transformation without polyurethane. This can accelerate the whole sustainability way forward. This is the real efficiency of BASF. Wherever you need a material that is really long-lasting, polyurethane, that's really a good choice because in the end, it's not wearing out. BASF and Vitra have been partners for many years. We share that sort of ambition of applying innovative new materials and technologies. It's quite a long chain up to the final customers. BASF Antwerp is a frontrunner when it comes to sustainable production. If you look at our MDI production here in Antwerp, we have by far the best product carbon footprint in the industry. With the Verbund concept, we have the possibility to really use raw materials in a very efficient way. We are at the steam cracker trying to make our production more circular. We also have participation in an offshore wind farm, providing green electricity to our site. The Antwerp site is unique in having multiple individual intermediate chemicals being made, which then ultimately end up in the end product that is being sold to the client. MDI is one of the components of a polyurethane. The second important component is a polyol. It is also produced here on site. Those materials will come to Lemförde. We will mix it in a customized way, bringing those two liquids to the customers. They will mix it together, and then finally, we do have the PU foam. The main requirements of our customers have changed over the last years. In the past, it was always, I think, price and mechanical properties. Now, customers put much more focus on sustainability, and we also try to fulfill that requirement. We produce high-quality products, and we want to make sure that they stay in use for as long as possible. The polyurethane industry had a big problem for a long time because PU was not properly recyclable. Recyclable PU foam is, of course, a huge improvement in terms of circularity. If we have more collaborations like we had with Vitra, this can accelerate the whole sustainability way forward. For me, that's the definition of Winning Ways. [Foreign Language] Dear shareholders, we see our customers as partners, and that is also how we understand our role in society. We help solve global challenges. By 2050, we aim for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. This is expected of us, and we are committed to it. I will say it clearly: we are not transforming BASF only because of this goal. Rather, we are transforming in line with our customers' needs and the requirements of our markets. This way, we can be a pioneer and create value. Initially, we are transforming what we have. We are feeding renewable energy and alternative feedstock into our existing plants, testing new technologies. Only once we are certain that these work for us, will we roll them out on a larger scale. Only when more and more customers are buying more sustainable products will we make investments. This way, we gain certainty and time. Certainty about market trends, technologies, and our customers' willingness to pay. Time to make investment decisions. Because it is clear to me, the green transformation is coming on a broad scale. Those who do not want to believe it or attempt to turn back the clock with pseudo-facts have not recognized the signs of the time. In some regions, the green transformation will come earlier. In other regions, it will be later. BASF will benefit from this change. This is also true for our largest site in Ludwigshafen. Ludwigshafen remains a strong pillar for our success. Our goal is clear. Ludwigshafen will be a leading sustainable site in Europe, for Europe. Nearly 80% of the plants in Ludwigshafen are competitive in the short and long term, also compared with imports. This is shown by a thorough analysis. For around 20% of the plants, we have a risk to competitiveness, either in the short, medium, or long term. Here, we act swiftly and decisively. We will close some plants because we can no longer operate them profitably. At other plants, we will consider how we can make them better, for example, with regard to cost or capacity utilization. We continuously adapt our plants at the site, just as our markets are also constantly changing. To strengthen profitability and competitiveness, we look at all areas to see how we can get costs down and profitability up, for example, through better operational processes, by making our central research more focused, by further optimizing our procurement and services, and yes, also by reducing positions because headcount and productivity must be proportionate. At the same time, we are investing in the future of our largest site, for example, in a new alcohol-laden plant in technologies such as water electrolysis and, as we just decided, in a new plant for ultra-pure sulfuric acid. This is essential for the establishment of semiconductor factories in Germany and Europe. Without ultra-pure sulfuric acid, this is impossible. The sulfur Verbund in Ludwigshafen is an enabler of chip factories in Germany. With the right balance between saving and investing, we will bring the site back to its Winning Ways. Ludwigshafen will become leaner but stronger. This is the goal. I cannot understand why the necessary restructuring is being instrumentalized. Why false claims are being made on social media about relocating production or supposedly inevitable deindustrialization to get people heated up. It makes people scared. It rattles their faith in the future. Yes, we do have problems in Germany and Europe at BASF and in the economy as a whole. The issues have been recognized. The new European Commission is clearly prioritizing the competitiveness of European industry, including the chemical industry. The coalition contract between CDU, CSU, and SPD contains many encouraging initiatives for more growth and competitiveness. It acknowledges the importance of the chemical industry and that we now need to be quick and pragmatic in our forward motion. That makes me optimistic. Everywhere, people are working on solutions. Many things are in flux. We as a society do not need to be afraid or pessimistic. We need to look forward rather than backward. We need to do more and complain less. Roll up our sleeves, not throw in the towel. Dear shareholders, the right attitude often makes all the difference. This is true for an entire country as well as for one company. It is how one approaches things, staying positive even in turbulent times. That is why the fourth lever of our Winning Ways strategy is especially important to me. It is our drive toward a winning culture at BASF. Every single one of us must take on responsibility, strive for good results, act quickly and pragmatically, focus on the important things, and fight for the best solution. The BASF team has very clear expectations for the leadership team, namely, we must serve as role models for all of this. We must motivate and inspire, give ownership rather than narrow supervision, allow mistakes and learn from them, provide candid and constructive feedback. For all of us at BASF, it is time to question our behaviors, to live the change, everyone from apprentices to board members. On a day-to-day basis, this is easier said than done when you are under major pressure, when the expectations are high, and this is what teams tell me when I chat with them, and I notice it for myself. Each time we change our behavior towards a Winning Culture, it makes us better. The trust between us grows. Each of us grows, and BASF as a whole grows as well. That is what I want to see because we have ambitious medium-term goals. By 2028, we want to increase our EBITDA before special items to between EUR 10 billion-EUR 12 billion from a level of EUR 7.9 billion last year. For the years 2025 to 2028, we aim for accumulated Free Cash Flow for more than EUR 12 billion. In 2024, it was around EUR 750 million. In 2028, we want to achieve a return on capital employed of around 10%. Last year, our ROCE was 5.1%. This is going to be hard work. In the first year of our new strategy, we do not expect any tailwinds from our markets. Our EBITDA before special items in the first quarter of 2025 was nearly at the level of the prior year period and thus within the range expected by analysts. This is okay given the volatile environment. However, the uncertainty in the markets is very noticeable for us as well. In North America, volumes have declined considerably. They increased slightly in Europe and Asia-Pacific and rose significantly in South America. We are keeping our outlook forecast unchanged, also because the underlying conditions are difficult to forecast at this time. Dear shareholders, in this dynamic environment, we are not relying on external factors. We are not hoping for someone to smooth the way for us. Instead, we are focusing on what makes us strong, on what we ourselves can influence and what really counts. That is our motto for 2025: Make it count. A year with high expectations, which we want to fulfill. That is why we're changing ourselves and why we are changing BASF: to focus more on what brings profitable growth, for more speed and a lean organization, for a green transformation in line with the needs of our customers, for a performance-oriented corporate culture. This is how we bring BASF to the Winning Ways. This is how we create value for you, our shareholders. This is our ambition. Thank you for your trust. There is really a big transformation ongoing. Innovation is needed to support this transformation. Take risks. Be bold. To stay relevant, we need to stay curious. Put your decisions, focus mindset, and bring your ideas to the table. This can accelerate the whole industry. This is the future. In the end, it's all teamwork. Having everyone being involved, moving in the same direction, that's the definition of Winning Ways. Dear Markus, thank you very much for this exciting and encouraging report on the developments and plans of BASF. In the physical meeting, we would hear applause, so we virtually imagine it. That's possible as well. Ladies and gentlemen, this brings me to dealing with the agenda. This is quite formal, and I want to explain it very briefly. Agenda item one: the adopted financial statements of BASF SE and the approved consolidated financial statements of the BASF Group for 2024, as well as the combined management report of BASF SE and the BASF Group for 2024, including the explanatory reports pursuant to sections 289a and 315a of the German Commercial Code, the report of the Supervisory Board, and the proposal for the appropriation of net income. All this was published on the internet together with the other documents in accordance with the statutory provisions and were and are available for inspection. Financial statements of BASF SE and the consolidated financial statements of the BASF Group, as well as the combined management report of BASF SE and the BASF Group, have been audited by the appointed auditors and issued with an unqualified audit opinion. Financial statements of BASF SE and the consolidated financial statements of BASF Group were approved by the Supervisory Board. The annual financial statements of BASF SE were just adopted in accordance with Article 9 of the SE regulation in conjunction with Section 172 of the German Stock Corporation Act. A resolution on the ASM on this item is not required. As already announced in the invitation to the ASM under Agenda item two, the Board of Executive Directors and Supervisory Board are submitting a proposal to the ASM for the appropriation of net retained profits, which provides for a dividend of EUR 2.25 per share. Agenda items three and four concern the resolutions on the discharge of the members of the Supervisory Board and the members of the Board of Executive Directors for the past business year. I would like to draw your attention to the following with regard to Agenda items 5, 6, and 7. In addition to the election of the auditor and the election of the auditor for the review of the half-year financial report 2025, item five on the agenda for the first time includes the precautionary appointment of an auditor for sustainability reporting for the 2025 fiscal year. The legislator has not transposed the directive on sustainability reporting, which provides for the appointment of an auditor for sustainability reporting into German law. This implementation may take place this year. The election of the auditor for sustainability reporting is therefore a precautionary measure in the event that an explicit election of an auditor for sustainability reporting by the ASM be required following the transposition of the directive into German law. Based on the recommendation of its audit committee, the Supervisory Board therefore proposes that Deloitte GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft be appointed as the auditor of the annual financial statements and the auditor of the half-year financial report, and as a precautionary measure as the auditor for the sustainability report. Agenda item six concerns the resolution on the new version of the authorization of the Board of Executive Directors to provide for the holding of a virtual ASM. The previous authorization of the Board of Executive Directors to hold a virtual ASM expired on May 8. The Board of Executive Directors made use of the authorization for the first time this year. In each of the past two years, as I alluded to before, we held a physical ASM. The Supervisory Board and the Board of Executive Directors agree that it should also be possible in future to decide on the format of the ASM. For this reason, the Board of Executive Directors and Supervisory Board are proposing a new version of the authorization to hold a virtual ASM, and the term of the authorization, as before, should be limited to two years. We have the consent to a control, transfer, and profit and loss transfer agreement. This will be explained by Dr. Dirk Elvermann, our CFO. Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let me briefly address the key aspects of Agenda item 7. Under this agenda item, we propose that you approve the conclusion of a control and profit and loss transfer agreement between BASF SE and a subsidiary. On March 18th, 2025, BASF SE and BASF Agricultural Solutions Deutschland GmbH, BASD for short, concluded a control and profit and loss transfer agreement. The conclusion of this agreement requires the approval of both the ASM of BASF SE and the shareholders' meeting of BASD. The shareholders' meeting of BASD already approved the agreement on March 11th, 2025. Under the control and profit and loss transfer agreement, BASD places the management of its company under the control of BASF SE. On the basis of this agreement, BASF SE is authorized to issue instructions to the management of BASD. In addition, BASD undertakes to transfer its entire profit to BASF SE. In return, BASF SE undertakes to assume any losses of BASD. BASD is a so-called IP holding company, and IP here stands for Intellectual Property. This means the company holds brands and licenses of the BASF Group companies. BASD has generated losses in recent years but expects to make a profit of around EUR 0.2 million in 2025. The operating business of BASF's Agricultural Solutions division, including any shareholdings in this division, is to be transferred to BASD at a later date. This serves the progressive independence of the Agricultural Solutions division, which is particularly relevant in view of future strategic decisions such as a possible IPO. The conclusion of this agreement was necessary due to the intra-group transfer of the shares in BASD from BASF Handels und Exportgesellschaft MBH, H&E for short, to BASF SE as of December 31, 2024. BASD was previously a second-tier subsidiary of BASF SE. As a result of this transfer, BASD is now a directly wholly owned subsidiary of BASF SE. A control and profit and loss transfer agreement has been in place between BASD and H&E since 2006. A control and profit and loss transfer agreement has been in place between BASF SE and H&E since 1989. As a result, the conclusion of a new control and profit and loss transfer agreement between BASD and BASF SE will essentially only continue the situation that already existed indirectly in the changed structure. Ladies and gentlemen, on the basis of the control and profit and loss transfer agreement submitted to you for approval today, the existing corporate and tax effects can therefore be maintained and continued in the new direct shareholding relationship. The agreement creates a fiscal unity for corporate and trade tax purposes between BASF SE and BASD from 2025 onwards. This enables the offsetting of profits and losses for tax purposes and the transfer of profits without any tax burden. There are no particular consequences for the shareholders of BASF SE, with the exception of the obligation to assume losses, which, however, already existed indirectly. The loss assumption obligation is not expected to play a role in 2025 anyway, as BASD expects a profit for this year. No compensation or settlement is owed to outside shareholders or partners, as BASD is a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF SE and has no outside shareholders or partners. The conclusion of the agreement was examined very diligently by our legal, tax, and financial experts. In our view, there was and is no economically viable alternative to concluding the control and profit and loss transfer agreement. Further details are included in the joint report of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF SE and the management of BASD that can be found on our website for the annual shareholders' meeting 2025. In conclusion, I'd like to state that in the opinion of the Board of Executive Directors and the Supervisory Board, the conclusion of the control and profit and loss transfer agreement is advantageous for both BASF SE and BASD. The Board of Executive Directors and Supervisory Board therefore proposed that the control and profit and loss transfer agreement between BASF SE and BASD be approved. Now I hand back the floor to Mr. Bock. Thank you for the report and the explanations why it makes sense to approve this agreement. Agenda item eight then concerns the resolution on the approval of the remuneration report in accordance with Section 162 of the German Stock Corporation Act. Please refer to the published agenda for the complete resolution proposals of the Board of Executive Directors and Supervisory Board. This brings us to the general debate. I thank those who showed interest in BASF by watching our internet webcast. Our shareholders can follow the rest of the annual shareholders' meeting live via the online service, and this concludes the public broadcast on the internet.