Dear ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference call of Evonik Industries AG. At our customer's request, this conference will be recorded. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be a question and answer session. If any participant has difficulties hearing the conference, please press star key followed by zero on your telephone for operator assistance. May I now hand you over to Tim Lange, who will start the meeting today. Please go ahead. Thank you very much, and good afternoon to our Q4 earnings conference call. With me, as usual, are our CEO and CFO, Christian Kullmann and Ute Wolf. I will hand over directly to Christian for the introductory remarks. Thanks a lot, Tim, and also very warm welcome from my side, and thanks a lot for being with us today. Under these, let's keep it light, the very special and worrying circumstances. There's war in Europe. This was hardly imaginable until a few days ago. Now, in the here and now, it is our reality. Less than 2 flight hours away from Germany, people are dying from tank and missile fire. Immediately after the attack on Ukraine, we at Evonik have set up a task force to assess the situation on an ongoing basis. Evonik has 59 employees in the region, 3 in Ukraine and 56 in Russia. We're in constant exchange, especially with our colleagues in Ukraine via SMS or social media. We'll do everything we can to support our employees, and if necessary and possible, bring them to Germany. Our first priority now is to alleviate human suffering and provide help where we can. That is exactly what we will do. I hope, I do pray for the people of Ukraine. Under these circumstances, it is really difficult to switch to daily business and a conference call on financial figures. We will nevertheless try to do so for the next hour. As a disclaimer right at the start, our outlook and forward-looking statements are based on our currently observable positive sales and order book development. As anybody else, we are currently not able to assess the impact on the war in Ukraine on the overall economic development. For our company, the different business impact is limited with only 1% sales share in Russia and Ukraine, of which the biggest part is from amino acids. With no production in the region, we are not impacted by any direct sanctions. We are monitoring the situation closely on all levels: IT security, international payment flows, procurement and energy sourcing. We are prepared and will take the appropriate measures. Our introduction and personal statement on the latest developments. Let's try the hard cut and switch to the latest development of Evonik. Ladies and gentlemen, let me start with a look back in the rearview mirror. Exactly one year ago in March 2021, here on this call, I shared with you my confidence about 2021 as the year of growth and progress. Despite the headwinds in the second half of the year, we grew EBITDA double-digit versus the pre-crisis year 2019. We were able to convert this at a high cash conversion rate, with free cash flow beating the 2019 level by even 32%. These results are definitely not a one-hit wonder. They extend and even accelerate our long-term growth track record since 2017, when we as management team have taken over. Our ambition level for 2022, we will strive to outperform our EBITDA growth rate of the last 2 years and deliver the fifth year in a row with higher free cash flow. Chart 5 describes the track record of the last 3 years in more detail, which can certainly be characterized as not being the easiest. Let me briefly summarize it in two sentences. First, by never losing the long-term view, by consistently executing our strategy, and by constantly improving the quality of our portfolio, we delivered on our promises. Here, we even upgraded our guidance in two of the last three years, something I could really get used to. An element which has become a more and more important growth driver for us over the last years is sustainability. Here are some highlights across our four defined sustainability focus areas. They are not only nice, shiny examples but real growth drivers of our business, which is expressed by the growing share of Next Generation Solutions within our group sales from 35-37%. SEPURAN membranes as one example. Since the first product launch in 2011, we have now delivered gas separation membranes to more than 1,000 reference plants worldwide. The business is growing at 35% per year. Continuing on chart 9, the other potential growth drivers for us is innovation. Well, actually, sustainability and innovation are two sides of the same coin for us. Also, for innovation, just one but therefore impressive figure. On our way to reach our target of more than EUR 1 billion sales in our six innovation growth fields by 2025, we already achieved more than EUR 500 million in the last year. This is a growth rate of above 40% in the last year, which is well above the actually necessary 25% annual growth rate to reach the EUR 1 billion target. It is unnecessary to say that we are very well on track here. The high growth will clearly show the acceleration in the commercialization of those innovative products. Health care solutions like our lipids for mRNA or active cosmetic ingredients like our Ceramides are just two examples. Ladies and gentlemen, that was a brief strategic review of the last year. Now Ute will shed some more light on the fourth quarter results. Thank you, Christian, and good afternoon from my side as well. Let me start with chart 14 as a good summary of the fourth quarter. We had to master some challenges during the quarter. There was a power plant outage in Marl that has cost us EUR 20 million for externally sourced energy. The further sharp increase in raw materials impacted especially our 2 divisions, Specialty Additives and Smart Materials. Additionally, Specialty Additives was hindered in volume growth due to raw material and supply chain shortages, and deliberately, the business decided to bear higher logistic costs to secure reliable customer servicing. The Smart Materials division continued to cope with higher fixed costs, like linked to the PA 12 ramped up. Baby Care had another, most likely the last quarter of unfavorable contract prices. The good news about these negatives is that all of them are fading out or even turning positive throughout the current year. On the other side, the positive trends observed in Q4 will continue or even accelerate in 2022. One of the very positive trends are the healthy volumes across virtually all businesses, as well as the continuous and further accelerating prices, pricing campaigns in Specialty Additives and Smart Materials. In Performance Materials, we see a normalization in butadiene. The other products of our C4 chain, namely butene-1, Oxo products, and specialties, are expected at sustained positive spreads into 2022, and they stand for 70% of our C4 chain. As you know, Performance Materials and the product spreads benefit from a higher Naphtha price. This is the natural hedge in our portfolio against higher oil prices. Nutrition and Care had a strong finish of a very successful year, 2021. The three drivers behind that were the ramp-up of lipid sales, the outstanding sales growth of more than 50% in active cosmetic ingredients, as well as rising prices at healthy volumes in amino acids. Again, all of them will even accelerate in 2022. Fading negatives and accelerating positives, this is a nice headline for the year 2022. Let me spend some more time on raw materials and pricing initiatives. On group level, our own price increases amounted to around EUR 600 million in Q4 after EUR 450 million in Q3. They already overcompensate the cost inflation effects. This was mostly visible in Performance Materials and Nutrition and Care, and explains their strong performance in Q4. In Specialty Additives and Smart Materials, both the specialty character of the business, as well as another sharp increase in raw materials like siloxanes or silicon metals, resulted in a gap to yet fully compensate the higher costs. Nevertheless, we have reached already around 80% in pass on in Q4. The negative gap in 2021 will turn into a positive gap in 2022. To put it differently, the EBITDA burden in 2021 will turn into a positive EBITDA contributor in 2022. On the cash flow side, we came out at EUR 950 million and achieved a conversion rate of 40% in line with our long-term target level. Free cash flow in Q4 came out well below last year's level. This had two main reasons. First, we observed the expected higher tax prepayments adapting to the higher earnings levels. Second, clearly lower net working capital inflows. This, on the one hand, was caused by valuation effects in inventories based on the inflated price levels. On the other hand, inventories and goods in transit were tied up in the system due to inefficiencies in logistics and to avoid the risk of shortages. The latter will reverse in 2022 and turn into a clear free cash flow support. Taking the full year perspective on cash flow again, we were able to grow significantly in absolute terms for the fourth consecutive year and by more than EUR 230 million compared to the pre-crisis year, 2019. With that, back to Christian for the outlook. Thanks a lot, Ute. Let's dive into our full-year outlook. Again, let me repeat the disclaimer from the start of the call. Our outlook and forward-looking statements are based on our currently observable positive sales and order book development. As anybody else, we are currently not able to assess the impact of the war in Ukraine on the overall economic development. Based on the confidence in our resilient portfolio and our proven ability to manage challenging times, the direction is crystal clear. We are well set for growth in 2022. Resilient businesses like Nutrition & Care, the positive price trend in amino acids for animal nutrition, and the natural hedge in Performance Materials against higher oil prices support this ambition level despite the uncertain economic environment. We aim to achieve an adjusted EBITDA between EUR 2.5 billion and EUR 2.6 billion. The range expresses our confidence in our strong structural growth, in our sustainability and innovation achievements, as well as the ramp-up of our pricing initiatives. The narrower range is a sign of trust, of trust in our resilient portfolio quality and based on the conviction that virtually no business has over-earned in 2021. As of today, I can report that we had a pretty good start into the year. This is reflected in the guidance for the first quarter of at least 10% EBITDA growth year-on-year, which is even above the upper end of the full year guidance range. On free cash flow, the high cash conversion rate achieved in the last years is the level we will sustain going forward. Accordingly, we guide cash conversion on a high prior year level of around 40%. Based on the guided higher EBITDA level, this translates into a higher absolute cash flow number for 2022 for the fifth year in a row. Let me close our presentation with a save the date. We today spoke about the importance to have a clear strategy and to stick to its consistent execution. Therefore, we continue to work on our strategic agenda and adapt it to the ever-changing environment. On May 11, my board colleagues and I invite you to our Capital Markets Day. On this occasion, we will give a strategic update, but you will agree that there's no reason for a revolution of the successful strategy over the last years rather than an evolution into the next transformation period. Going along with this, we will focus in more detail on two main growth drivers of our portfolio. First, sustainability, and second, innovation. With that, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your interest and your time so far, and now we are happy to take your questions. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin our question and answer session. If you have a question for our speakers, please dial 0 and 1 on your telephone keypad now to enter the queue. Once your name has been announced, you can ask a question. If you find your question is answered before it is your turn to speak, you can dial 0 and 2 to cancel your question. If you are using speaker equipment today, please lift the handset before making your selection. One moment, please, for the first question. Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press 0 and 1 on your telephone keypad now. The first question is from Sebastian Bray, Berenberg. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Hello. Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. Good afternoon, I should say. I'd have two, please. The first one is on the cash flow. I don't know if this was mentioned in previous quarters, but could you please just elaborate on what the EUR 145 million settlement the previous M&A transaction refers to? Is that all remaining amount that was for the finished plant on PLEXIGLAS? But I'm not quite sure if it was that magnitude. So what is this amount, please? And my second question is on the margin development in Nutrition & Care. This is quite positive as it continues for the next, let's say, 2-3 years, the specialties continue to take share and so on. Is it fair to say at the moment, i.e., in Q4, the margin made in methionine was pretty similar to the margin made in Health Care? Thank you. Good afternoon, Sebastian. I'll start with cash flow. These are purchase price adjustments from our methacrylate sale and another settlement, which is a little bit older. When we sold Carbon Black, there was a dispute with regard to the U.S. Clean Air Act, which was also settled this year. These two should make up the biggest part of this EUR 145. Okay, I will take the second question. Hi also from my side. Good to hear, and I guess your assumption is fair to say that the margin development in methionine and in Health Care are quite similar. Yes, I would agree about your assumption. Andreas Woehrl, we couldn't hear you at the moment. Could you please repeat if you had anything else to say? No. Apologies if you couldn't hear me. I said, thank you for taking my questions. All right. I'm happy to pass on. All right. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press zero and one on your telephone keypad now to register for the queue. The next question is from `Martin Rodiger, Kepler Cheuvreux Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Yes, thanks, and also good afternoon. I have three questions. First is on energy costs. Can you disclose what has been the absolute energy costs in the year 2020 and in the year 2021? What is your expectation for 2022, and what would be the level based on today's energy prices if your energy hedges are running out? The second question is on methionine. I was a bit surprised to see your announcement about the investment in the U.S. I understand it's a quite lucrative investment, but this is a capital-intensive business. So can you please explain how this investment fits your strategy of focusing on low capital-intensive activities? The third question is on free cash flow guidance. I'm still trying to get my head around that. You expect significantly lower net working capital outflows, but it should be clear that selling prices are further rising, input costs are rising, volumes are rising. What makes you confident that net working capital will shrink in 2022? Thanks. Hi, Martin. Good to hear you. Tristan speaking. First of all, it is to underpin that our methionine business, we do take this business as a cash cow, and in this respect, nothing has changed. Second, having said so, it means that we have to constantly and continuously increase the efficiency and to improve our cost position. It is not about being the market leader. It is about being the cost leader. Following this idea, I would invite you to take a look at the initiatives in the past that we have closed our methionine production, for example, in Wesseling, that we have started a lot of activities to cut and to reduce costs coming out of a double-digit million EUR cost savings per annum. Now that is to say, from a strategic point of view, that we do have three main hubs all over the world, one in Asia, Singapore, one in Europe, Antwerp, and one in the United States of America, which is in Mobile, Alabama. Here we need to better our cost positions over the course of the next years. In other words, this investment you have tackled helps us to extend and to expand our leading cost position for methionine in North America, and we will definitely benefit from this nicely. We do see here significant annual savings of about a little bit more than EUR 15 million. It is worthwhile to mention that it will help and increase the supply security, which is needed to make sure that we could provide our customers with a sufficient amount of methionine. To sum it up, no change of strategy in this respect, but because following the strategy we have given to you that methionine is a cash cow, it is from time to time we need to better our cost position, and this is a good opportunity, we're going to tackle. With this, I do hand over to Ute. Thank you. Martin, good afternoon. First, on the energy cost, we had energy costs in 2021 of around EUR 700 million. The comparison with 2020 makes only limited sense as 2020 with COVID, of course, was not a normal year. I think for this year, we will see another EUR 200 million-EUR 250 million increase, maybe a little bit more depending on the overall gas price and market situation. We are hedging three years in advance. Of course, the first year has a very high hedge rate, and then the following years have lower hedge rates. We have increased the hedge rates a little bit already back in last year. So from that point of view, I think we're pretty well-positioned here. Please keep in mind that the discussion on high gas is a European one. In the U.S. or in the Americas and in Asia, we have a different picture. We will always see. We have to see the full group. I think to speculate what would it be without hedges is somewhat going very far because you never know when would you buy. I think we should leave it with the numbers we know and not with the numbers that might come depending on whatever scenarios. Higher energy costs are part of our pricing initiatives, and in some of the products we have also energy prices as part of pricing formulas. A big part of that will be passed on to our customers. The question regarding net working capital is a very valid one. You are right. We had quite a build-up of inventory in last year, and of course, now as raw materials are still rising, that goes into the valuation of our inventories. Of course, we are also raising prices on the sales side, and this year that should overcompensate the rise in raw materials and energy. From that point of view, from Q2 and Q3 onwards, we will have also more cash in from our receivables, and this is how we look at it. First quarter, I think we'll still be influenced by this rise in raw material prices, but then I think in the consecutive quarters, step by step, that should in the end level out. Thank you. Can I have a follow-up question on the free cash flow in general, the free cash flow guidance? On page 35, I see that you're also factoring M&A in the free cash flow. Are there any disposed proceeds baked in your free cash flow guidance for 2022? I don't know which page 35 you mean. On the presentation. M&A is not part of our free cash flow. It's CapEx is in that. I think that's the net debt bridge referred to there. Net debt, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, in the net, of course, that's in. No, that's clear. Not in the free cash flow. Okay, thanks. The next question is from Geoff Haire, UBS. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the questions. Two questions from me. You're clearly guiding to 10% EBITDA growth in Q1, but I look at the midpoint of your 2022 guidance for the year at 7%. That's a slow down as we go through the rest of the year. Could you just talk a little bit about what that's relating to? Or is it just cautiousness? And then secondly, I was just wondering if you could give us some thoughts on how we should think about the LNP sales for 2022, given we are seeing COVID obviously easing in the Northern Hemisphere, at least, as we go through this year. I'll start with Q1, Geoff. Good afternoon. As LNP is Christian's favorite topic. Yeah. I think what we see is really customer demand is strong across all divisions. You know, we really see continued strong and resilient demand, and we see that our price increases are accepted quite well and go through quite well. We have also strong order book in our industry-related businesses. The consumer side, of course, there is still some pent-up demand, but also in industry-related business. As we said, of course, we are now having another increase in raw material, energy, logistics, we discussed that. As I said, the price increases accelerate further. As described, they will outpace the cost increase on the energy and material side. From that point of view, we have a strong start into the year. That's why we give that very positive guidance. Of course, you might argue it's more positive than the full year, but on the other side, we have more visibility on Q1 than on the full year. Maybe I think that explains why your math is not working between Q1 and the full year. Okay, I take the second question about the lipids. Yes, I'm really excited about the business because it is one of our growth drivers in the future. Last year, we have crossed EUR 100 million revenues for mRNA and the lipid-based therapies. It was, you know, split it up, one half was about pure lipid production, and the other half, that is worthwhile to mention, was about development and manufacturing of a very complex parenteral lipid nanoparticle system. Taking this in consideration, that translates for me and for the company, and hopefully for you, into higher sales in 2022. Why am I excited about the future of this business? Yes, as of today, it is focused on fighting the corona pandemic, but in future, there is much more growth we do expect from different opportunities and options like, for example, fighting cancer and a lot of other ideas we do have. Here, in this respect, we have already started deep discussions and negotiations with a lot of potential customers, and they are really keen on making use of our capabilities to foster their own ideas about this brilliant new technology. Sum it up, good start of a good amount of revenues we have reached last year, and this year we will definitely see higher sales in this area of mRNA and lipid-based therapies if I compare it to the last year. You talk to a CEO which is filled up with hope and confidence about the future of this business. Please forgive me that I'm talked about a little bit more excited about it than you might have expected it, but I'm really here convinced about and therefore, forgive me on my bold statement about the future of our business in this respect. Can I just follow up on that? Is the growth in 2022 expected to come from, more from lipids or the, or the delivery systems that you're developing or both? From both. Take it as a mixed, a pretty nice mixed picture. From both sides, we do expect a similar growth. If I look to our order books, they are already filled up. Yes, from both sides. Okay. Thank you. The next question is from Georgina Fraser, Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Hi. Thank you. Good afternoon, Christian and Ute. Firstly, I just want to thank you for your sincere words related to the difficult context in which you're running your business and that we're all working in. Now, I know there are various scenarios that are impossible to predict, but I was wondering if you could describe the key end market assumptions that you made in the guidance range that you gave today. Maybe if you could break out how much of your growth is driven by capacity expansion versus margin recovery. My second question is that we have seen limited wage inflation in recent years, but we are undeniably in a strong inflation environment. I was just wondering if you factored in higher labor costs in your outlook, and if so, at what rate. I have one final question, on the lipids business. Would Evonik prefer to grow its capabilities organically or are acquisitions in this field also possible? Thank you. Good to hear you thinking about our strategy in respect of enhancing of expanding and extending our lipid capacities. We do not have in mind here to tackle M&A opportunities. Here it is to grow organically because we do have the capacities, we do have the staff to do it on our own. By the way, it is not so costly if we would do it here in this respect with M&A. Here we focus on investments in organic growth so far. Second, about higher labor costs and the inflation, I do not worry about it because I'm convinced that the head of the trade union, Michael Vassiliadis, will have good and fruitful and open-minded negotiations. The outcome of this will be, let me say, reasonable. I do not hesitate about the results of those kind of discussions. There have been some more questions, maybe, Ute, you could assist. I'll take the first one, the key end market assumptions and key growth drivers. I think we should go through this division by division. If we look at Specialty Additives here, of course, we have Crosslinkers with high volume demand in their applications. We have Comfort & Insulation, where there is also some pent-up demand. We have Oil Additives that were constrained last year as raw material shortages and logistic constraints were limiting their growth. I think there it is really a mix of demand growth, better usage of capacities. If we go to Smart Materials, of course, here is a big driver, our new PA 12 capacity. Here is clearly one driver, the new capacity. But also if we look at the other businesses like Active Oxygens, they have seen growth. In 2021, both in the traditional and also in the specialty applications, and we have enough capacity here to grow the business also in this year. If we look at Coating Additives, I think also here good growth. I think that is what really drives the growth in the more material-oriented division. If we look at Nutrition & Care, we discussed it here and there already. We have good demand in our overall Animal Nutrition, good price levels for all the amino acids, and we have since many, many years a very, very solid and healthy demand and volume growth. If we look at Care Solutions, again, they increase the sales with our active ingredients dramatically. They are working on that. They have two smaller M&A acquisitions that they integrate. Of course, that will fuel growth. I think that is for Care Solutions. For Health Care, we discussed with our lipid nanoparticle business, but also with other applications where we have a good pipeline with Pharma Polymers growing at very, very good margins over the last years. I think that more or less describes the picture that we have in our outlook. That's really helpful. Thank you both. The next question is from Chetan Udeshi, J.P. Morgan. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Hi. Thank you for taking my question. You know, I had one question. Maybe this is for Christian, given that you are also head of the German Chemical Industry Association. I mean, it's a broader question. How do you see this huge spike in energy prices impacting the German chemical industry and the competitiveness of the industry? I'm not asking this from a Q1 or Q2 perspective. It's more a philosophical question from a, you know, say, you know, the structural perspective. Second, I mean, the Q1 guidance. Can you... Is that growth driven primarily by methionine prices, or do you see other segments also contributing to that more than 10% growth for the group earnings? Chetan, good to hear you. By thinking about how to answer your first question, I try to answer your second one. To be very clear about this, it is not exclusively driven by methionine. It is a broad and therefore right growth in all and every of our businesses. It is, let me say, very well underpinned in Smart Materials and Specialty Additives and in Nutrition & Care too. Sometimes, to give you a little bit more color about this, sometimes Yann d'Hervé, the head of the Nutrition & Care division, with a twinkled eye, looked at me and said, "Christian, do you know what? I'm a little bit not really satisfied because the so attractive growth rates we do have in Care Solutions and in our Health Care business, they are not really treasured, for example, by the capital markets because everybody is talking about methionine. Having said this, now coming to your first question, that is, I will try to differentiate the answer a little bit, splitting it up and saying, first of all, those German companies who are global players, they could definitely better, in a better way, balance the energy prices out because they do business all over the world. Here, the energy prices, the uplift of energy prices is really, let me say, pressing some kind of pressure on the midcap companies here in Germany because they do not have the chance of diluting the increase of those energy prices. But second, that is definitely worthwhile to mention, being in touch with the Minister of Economy, Mr. Habeck, in Berlin, we are on good speaking terms about the question how he could help to ease the energy prices here in Germany impacting German industry overall. I'm confident that we will, over the course of the year, not be able to resolve it, but I'm confident that we will find a way to relieve those energy prices here for German industry. My first answer was very concrete, and my second answer was, as you have expected it, more on a level of a philosopher, but I'm not. Understood. Thank you. The next question is from Jaideep Pandya, On Field Research. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. My first question really is around your competitive landscape, especially focusing on Wanhua, who is potentially a very small competitor today, but, you know, going to enter PA 12 soon, i.e., in the next year or so, and then, you know, the move from them to also signal entering into methionine. Just when you look at your competitive landscape today, given you guys are so downstream and, you know, you've had technology advantage, an innovation advantage over the years. I mean, what is your intel on new competition? You know, especially on products where it's been sort of, if I may use the word, in few hands or few company hands, as technologies over the years. That's my first question. The second question to you, Christian, is really around the share price. I apologize for asking this question, but, you know, you've done a fantastic job over the last four years in EBITDA growth and in cash flow as well. But share price remains between EUR 25 and EUR 30. From your point of view, I mean, what is it that you guys wanna do to unlock value here? Is it, you know, a share buyback or is it a special dividend or is it, you know, how are your conversations with your anchor shareholder for that matter? Because frankly, for me, this is the biggest puzzle, is what you could do to sort of breach 30. Thanks a lot. Pleasure. Let me start with the first question, the competitive landscape. Here in this respect, talking about Wanhua. You would make a brilliant mistake to underestimate the potentials and the perspectives of Wanhua, and that is a mistake we do not want to do. Second, the more specialty technologies, businesses, markets are, the more it is about customer intimacy, the better the position of Evonik in this respect, for example, of PA 12 is. As you could see, as you could observe, there is a remarkable delay of Wanhua to ramp up their PA 12 capacities. Here in comparison to us, we are front runner. To sum it up, I do like competition because that is the best chance for us to make the difference. Each and everybody is really invited to tackle our markets and to see what will come out of it. Competition helps us to become better. Second, oh yeah. You know, that's a very German phrase. It's close to goodness gracious. If I look at our share price, we are really, let's keep it like this, disappointed. And Ute is the same. As you know, the members of the extended board of directors are shareholders. It is anything but sufficient if I look at the development of our share price. What could we do? It is not about thinking about super dividends or super some whatever, something else. It is about to remain and to stay put to our strategy, which translates into good EBITDA growth, which translate into good free cash flow growth over the course of the last five years in a row. I'm confident, and I've rolled my sleeves up for it, and I'm going to work my knuckles bloody for it, to make Evonik together with Ute and the members of the standard board of directors a better company. I'm therefore convinced that there will be a point of time when this blossoming up of the company will be recognized by the present investors, and that will help to lift the share price up. Stay put, move ahead, roll our sleeves up, work our knuckles bloody, and create more and better growth and more and better growth perspectives. That is what we do have in mind about thinking about the future. Thanks a lot. Pleasure. The next question is from Thomas Wrigglesworth, Société Générale. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Yes. Good afternoon, everybody. I have two questions, two related on your portfolio cleanup opportunities. Firstly, on Baby Care. I heard you saying that the contracts are set to roll forward and the margins are set to improve. I think there is also a anti-dumping probe in the U.S. which should help earnings. So I figure this business could become, you know, very quickly, triple-digit EBITDA again. So my question here is, you know, is it fair to assume that Baby Care is finally to go out this year? Or do you still have hopes that you could get more for it if you wait for another year? And secondly, on Performance Materials and Performance Intermediates. I think if I remember correctly, your cash flow issues in the past were partly keeping you from thinking in a divestment. I mean, that looks fixed now. Congrats, by the way. Is it time to revisit? Is it time to think of Evonik excluding Performance Materials? Thank you. Yeah, Thomas, good afternoon. Baby Care. Yeah, as we described, last year, they still had unfavorable price constellations, but that really turned with the new contracts that start this year. The earnings are improving here. As you rightly said, the anti-dumping cases will help support that. I think the final decision in Europe will come somewhat in April or May. In April. I think the U.S. then later in the year. What we have done, we have prepared Baby Care. Technically, the carve-out is completed, and now we will then see the operating performance, and then decide when is the right time to start the process. I think normally it makes more sense to have somewhat positive track record. I think that might take just the one or the other quarter before we start the official process here. Yeah, C4, I think that question also is some kind of evergreen. For us, Performance Intermediates is a cash generator for the group. This is how we run it. I think at this point in time, we do not invest into growth here. From that point of view, that's how we do. If we look at the portfolio, we really take a step-by-step approach. We divested MMA, we carved out Baby Care. We are now preparing the sale of some smaller parts of the portfolio for Functional Solutions, and this is how we look at it. Generally speaking, of course, if you wanna sell something, you have to prepare the business for divestment. Of course, you have to see that you have a good, ideally the best timing in the cycle. This is how we look at this. Yeah, this is helpful. Thank you. The next question is from Charlie Webb, Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking the questions. Maybe just following up on Thomas's question there, Ute, around divestitures. You mentioned what's kind of currently underway, but when you look at the portfolio, I guess other parts like lysine have kind of come up as potentially non-core, and other bits and pieces. Just wondering, you know, where are we in terms of those divestiture opportunities or restructuring opportunities as you look at the portfolio today, you know, versus perhaps last year? Just for a bit more detail perhaps on other parts that may be in scope, looking ahead. Then just second question on PA-12, and thinking about the ramp up there. Can you help us understand what the ramp costs were in the second half of 2021, and just how we should think about its contribution this year as it gets fully ramped? Think that'd be helpful. Thank you. Charlie, good to hear you. I take the first question and Ute will take the second one. About divestment candidates, it is an easy one because the businesses we do have in our non-core Performance Materials division, they are flagged as non-core. Here it means that it is next step is, and you know, taking this into consideration, it's all about timing to sell the Baby Care business. We've started a process to find a solution for our site in Germany, close to Cologne, in Lülsdorf. That is, if I look to it, a good amount of the Functional Solutions business line, and these are the next two steps. Once again, Ute has already mentioned, and it is worthwhile to repeat, all the businesses which are located in the division, Performance Materials are non-core businesses. Here it is to work on them step by step. Then you have asked if there is anything else, is there, et cetera, anything, some new ideas about what could be non-core or not. Here is the answer. It's an easy one. It is two letters and one message. The two letters are an N and an O, and the message is no. With this to Ute. Yeah. Charlie, good afternoon. On the PA-12 ramp up, it's actually much more than two letters here. The fixed costs last year were around EUR 20 million roughly. As soon as the facility is starting production, we expect significant positive contribution because the market of PA-12 is very, very short. So really the market is really waiting for the material. We'll see a quick ramp up and a quick contribution here to EBITDA, and maybe even somewhat more. We thought originally the ramp up takes a couple of years, but given the market environment and really the supply shortage in that market, we think that we will have a decent contribution in this year already. Ladies and gentlemen, this ends our call for today under these very special circumstances, and our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Ukraine. Thank you for your attention and take care. That closes today's call. Bye. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance. This call has been concluded. You may disconnect.