Good afternoon. This is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Carbios Half-Year 2023 Results Presentation. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Pascal Bricout, CFO, and Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of Carbios. Please go ahead. Thank you very much, and welcome to this conference. We want to present you our half-year results for 2023. To start with, let me remind you where we are in term of development of Carbios. I don't know if we could see the slides, please, on the screen. Oh, okay, I don't see the slides, so I'm sorry, but I'm a bit lost, but I will start with the first situation of Carbios at a glance. Currently, we are a little bit more than 120 employees at Carbios. We still a very strong focus on R&D, where we have developed the teams for developing our enzymes and developing our industrial process. Industrial team, where we have teams to operate our demonstration plant, but also a very strong team to build the project of our first biorecycling plant in the northeast of France. The commercial team, which is starting to develop heavily in order to sell our technology all over the world. We have 58 family of patents, and we continue to patent on a very regular basis our new development on enzymes and on the process. We operate on three sites already. We have Toulouse in the south of France, where we develop the enzymes. We have the part of Clermont-Ferrand, where we have the headquarters and where we industrialize our enzymes and in the lab, and then where we have the demonstration plant and all the supporting functions. And we also started to hire a few headcounts in Longlaville, in the northeast of France, where we will operate the first biorecycling plant. We have two technology at maturity at industrial scale. The PET, the biorecycling of PET, and also we have the biodegradation of PLA, which is our second activity, where we also develop the technology to be on the market very soon. So if you move to the next slide, please. I don't see the slide, but we, we should, we should be on the sites. So as I mentioned, we have Clermont-Ferrand, the laboratory, the pilot plant, pilot plant, and the demonstration plant, which is now fully operating and where we have about 80 people, a bit more than 80 people running. We have Toulouse, where we have our collaborative laboratory with our own researcher on enzymes, but also collaborating with the Toulouse Biotechnology Institute, INRA, INSA, and CNRS to develop the best enzymes on the plastics. And as I mentioned, Longlaville. Longlaville being a small city at the border of Luxembourg, where we will in partnership with our partner, Indorama, operate the first biorecycling plant of PET. So 2023. Maybe to start with, the plant, which is our main industrial projects. The plant will operate 50,000 tons of waste on a yearly basis. It's gonna be the equivalent of 2 billion bottles of PET or 2.5 billion food trays, or the equivalent of 300-400 million tons of T-shirts. So that's already a significant capacity. We build that plant in partnership with Indorama Ventures. Indorama being the largest PET producers in the world, operating on about 20 locations in the world. And I think in Longlaville also a PET plant, a textile PET plant, which will be the neighbor plant and our partner. And this plant will create about 150 jobs between direct and indirect jobs. The plan is to commission the plant by the end of 2025 and to start the construction in the quarter four of this year of 2023. So let me come back on what has been the key highlights of this first six months, and I will start with the partnership with Novozymes. We've been working with Novozymes for a long time already, but we have in January signed a long-term partnership, strategic partnership with Novozymes, to secure the production of enzymes, for our plants all over the world. And the board are very this partnership, this exclusive partnership on both sides, between Novozymes and Carbios, will secure the supply of enzymes, for all our partners, all our industrial partners, in our future plants. So that's a very important milestone for Carbios, which has been secured in this month of January 2023. Also, in 2023, we secured the financing, the fundings of the plant, as we were given subsidies for the plant. So we received EUR 42.5 million fundings for the construction of our reference plants in France. Thirty million coming from the French state through the program France 2030, and we also received a grant of EUR 2.5 million of subsidies from the Grand Est region, where we locate the factory. We also received support for EUR 11.4 million of the French state to accelerate our R&D and innovation on the process. That was also a signal of confidence of the French 2030 program in the Carbios program. A few days after that announcement from the French government, we also had the support of our French president, Mr. Macron, who posted on LinkedIn a support message to Carbios. So that happened in the month of May. Just a few days after that announcement of the subsidies, we also signed and published an agreement with Indorama. A memorandum of understanding was signed for the construction of this first plant, where Indorama plans to mobilize about EUR 110 million in the project between equity and non-convertible loan financing. Also, it was decided at that time that Carbios would acquire the 13 hectares land from Indorama to for the exploitation of this plant, where we will build the plant. And Indorama will secure 100% of the repolymerization of the output of the plant. This non-binding MoU was signed also very beginning of June. And we continue, of course, with Indorama Ventures to get this agreement binding by the end of the year. So, again, in summary, this first PET plant, biorecycling plant in France, 50,000 tons will be located in the Grand Est region, in Longlaville, will operate in five shifts and 24 hours, seven days a week. And we expect to produce about 340 days a year, and the output is expected to be above 45,000 tons of equivalent PET, recycled PET. So where is the planning going? So if we go to the side of the planning, we have been working already for quite a while on the project. The permitting was requested at the end of 2022. We should get the permitting in the coming few weeks. So according to the planning, we are on time with the planning. We are finalizing now, we are in the final stage of the final design of the plant and the final planning of the plant, which will be secured by mid-October, and we have already started the procurement of the long lead time item to build the plant. So the construction work should start as soon as the permitting is obtained, and we expect to have the permitting very early October. So we should be able to start the construction in the month of October, starting with the land preparation before we start the building construction itself. We have today a team of 15 people of Carbios working on the project, and 65 engineers from Technip Energies. So a total of 80 people work on a full-time basis on this project, which is a very important project, mobilizing a lot of suppliers, efforts, and consulting people to make sure we will deliver the time, on cost and on time. So also in 2023, first half, we published our purpose. At the end of 2022, we published for the first time our sustainability report, and we thought it was important for Carbios to mobilize the energy and our employees and our stakeholders on the purpose. So we have decided to make the circularity of plastics and textiles possible at scale, and make all our action in accordance with that. So we have in June incorporated our purpose in the bylaws of our company, namely, to generate a positive and significant social, societal, and environmental impact on the conduct of our activities. So that's a very important step for Carbios. Now, I would like to go on the milestones, what we have on the 6 June 2023, we did a strategic update, and we published some milestones, which are important for our shareholders to know what we will deliver and where we want to go. So we said in 2023, we will deliver a textile pre-treatment line, our demonstration plant, which will be fully operational, and we are on the timeline to get there. We will sign first feedstock contracts with... We have already signed one with Citeo on the food trays, but we continue to work on the feedstock contracts, and we will have more news before end of this year. And that we will start the construction of our industrial plant, and as I mentioned, we should be in a position within a few weeks, as soon as the permitting is official, being able to start the construction of the plant. We have said also that we will start the staffing and prospecting in North America. We are currently doing that. We have already a prospecting team in North America to look at the market and possible opportunities for the first plant in North America. We also said that we would extend our R&D teams, and patent on new polymers, and we will be patenting new polymers before end of this year. In 2024, of course, most of our work would be mobilized on the developing the plant and building the plant, but also on signing first licenses on the biorecycling technology, and all the activities done to get there. We will also generate first sales of the PLA in the North American continent of our PLA solutions, enzymatic solutions, and that will be achieved very early of 2024. If we continue the story in 2025, of course, we want to commission the plant, and the planning is to get there, and we want to continue to extend beyond European and North American markets to other geographies. We are already preparing that stage of looking at other geographies, including Asia, for future expansion. So that's basically in a nutshell what happened in this very important 2023 first part of the year. Now I want to leave the floor to Pascal Bricout to give you a little bit of an update on the financial situation of Carbios. So, Pascal, the floor is yours. Yeah. Thank you, Emmanuel. Am I on the slide on the P&L? Yes. So, if you see on the screen, our net income is reduced year-on-year by EUR 1.8 million, from EUR -11.8 million to EUR -13.6 million, which is in line with our budget and plans. This reduction is coming from operations. 50% of it, roughly, is resulting of the increase of staffing in our commercial operation to start. And this is what we do, as Emmanuel was saying, to prospect and discuss with the people in the US specifically, but anyway, beyond Europe. And the rest, the 50%, is an amortization entry connected to the incentive plan, the BSPCE. Then you have the no change in the financials, the income, but you see that the charge and the revenue increased. This is why we received the EUR 30 million loan from the European Investment Bank late June 2022. So the revenue and the financial charge from that loan only starts on the 2023 first half compared to last year. Next, please. So on the balance sheet, first, on the asset side, there is not much to say. There is two main movements. One is the tangible asset that increased by EUR 10 million from 25 to 35, and this is exactly consistent with what Emmanuel is saying about the Longlaville project. We start to invest there to anticipate long lead time equipment. So this is about this EUR 10 million plus engineering cost. Then on the bottom side, bottom of the balance sheet, you have the reduction of the treasury, the cash position, from EUR 100 million to EUR 78 million minus EUR -22 million. This is about this EUR 10 million, and also the net, the bottom line, I've just commented on the previous slide. For sure, the capital raise we made for EUR 141 million is not included in this number, because we cash in the amount, the proceeds, thirteenth of July. Also the subsidies that we were granted, they will be cashed in along the way of the project. If then, if we move to the liability side, there is not much to say here, except the net result that is in the range of EUR 13 million, again, is in line with our budget and plans. Then if you move on the last slide, on the cash, you see the reduction in the cash position by EUR 22 million, which is exactly what I was saying about the EUR 10 million investment in Longlaville project and the EUR 13 million from operations. There is a bunch of amortization there. That's why you see only 11.7 the cash from operation. There is a big change in the financing activity compared to last year, because December 2022, as I was mentioning, we received from the European Investment Bank this EUR 30 million loan. I think that's very simple for the first half. We are on plan and on budget, and we are on track. Thank you. S o maybe I suggest we, we take the questions which are, start to happen on the chat. So we have a first question of: what will happen in 2024? So I think I tried to answer that question in, in the, in the key milestones. Just to remind that we published our key milestones in our, strategic update of, of June 6 this year. But again, what will happen key in 2024 is all on the, on the industrial side, is the construction of the plant, which has to be commissioned in 2025. So there is a lot of, work which is done on the building, on the, equipment, first equipment, and to make sure we are on plan to, commission the plant by 2025. Then we have, on the commercial side, a strong activity by securing the first license and starting, as I said, and also we have already started the prospection beyond U.S. and beyond Europe, in Asia, and the first business in the PLA. We also want to go on the business side, beyond the packaging industry. You know, we have already a consortium on the packaging industry with L'Oréal, Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo, and Suntory. We have a consortium on the textile with Patagonia, On Running, PVH Corp., PUMA, and Salomon. And we have other industries which are interested by our products, and there will be probably other consortiums or strategic agreement with big brands beyond the textile and beyond the packaging. I'm thinking of automotive, healthcare, or luxury goods. So that's the key milestones we expect for 2024, where we should generate our first revenues from licensing. The second question, just a reminder on the which was, I think, clear in what I said, but with your precision, I want to say on the subsidies we have received from the French state and the support we receive for our R&D, those grants are promises but will be received progressively and are not yet in our accounts, not yet in our books. I have a question from and I think I should do it in English. The question is in French. The question is on the effluents we produce from our industrial units, what are the nature and if there is any problem for the environment. So the first thing I want to remind is we do a biological recycling, so we use, beyond water, no solvents. So we have no solvents in our process of depolymerizations. So that's very important to have that in mind. There is no solvent in the process. Now, of course, when we receive waste, whether it's packaging waste or textile waste, it's never 100% pure PET or pure polyester. We have always a small quantity of other polymers, and we have also pigments of colors that we have to separate in the filtration part of our process. And that part, which represent a very small fragment of non-PET products, is separated, and then we find ways to valorize that in combustion for cimenteries or other activities. So that small, very small part of our process, the residue, is eliminated from the PET recycling. Today, we are in over 90% conversion, so from a ton of PET waste, we are able to do over 900 kilos of equivalent PET materials. So there is the second question is on the resources, and do we need resources in water, which could be in competition with the needs of the population? Very good question. Because we are doing hydrolysis process with no chemical solvents, yes, we do use sort of water. Water is a resource where we work on to minimize the consumptions, because obviously it's a cost. Now, it has been very well studied for the first plant in Longlaville, and it has been approved by the authorities, who, after a very deep analysis, have approved the fact that we have a consumption of water which won't be competing with the population. So I have a question on if I could share some light on potential new licenses agreement in 2024, which stage are you right now, and which potential customers? So yes, we have several companies with advanced discussions on licensing. Obviously, I cannot disclose which company and which geographies before we have an agreement, but we have many companies who have been approached or who have approached us, and we are within those number of companies looking at our technology, various companies, we are where we have advanced discussions, which means we are already in a deep analysis of the technology and the economical backgrounds of the projects. So a question on the feedstock. Is the feedstock secured? So the for the Longlaville plant, what kind of PET are you focused, PET bottles or textile waste? So, okay, for Longlaville, we start to secure plastic waste, so in the form of food trays and other plastic where we are securing already some. We have already a first contract with Citeo on the food trays. Now we have discussion, advanced discussions to go beyond that, in France, in Germany, and in the Netherlands and Belgium with different prospects, so we should be able to have more agreements announced before the end of the year. I also want to remind that Indorama is one of the largest recycler in Europe, and they have also, by themselves, a very strong access to feedstocks, and in particular, in the northeast of France, where Indorama operates several recycling plants, mechanical recycling plants in the northeast of France. So there is a question, do we plan to create a plant in North America and benefit from the green initiative of the Biden administration? So as I mentioned, we have started a strong prospection on the North American market. So obviously, it's a market where there is a big PET consumption and where we believe that our technology could be very well suited to meet the demand of the brands. So we are looking actively at the North American market. Now, I don't have yet an official projects to announce, but definitely it's one of the market where we will intend to implement our technologies through licensing. Okay, a question on the other feedstock contracts on top of CTO, can we elaborate? So none of those contracts are yet signed, so we will, of course, communicate to the market as soon as we sign some agreements, but we have several contracts under discussions for the feedstock securitization of the plant. I don't see more questions on the chat. No, sorry, yes, there are more questions coming. Can you tell us where you are on the commercial development regarding licenses? I think I already answered that question. Are you confident to sign the first license in H1 2024, on which geographical areas? So we have several prospects in several geographies. So of course, as soon as a license is gonna be signed, we will, of course, communicate about that. The timing is announced is 2024. I'm not going to commit on the months because a license is a complex project, so obviously, it takes times, but the timing, the target is still 2025. So I have a question, is there any order to obtain the building permit for the plant? No, there not. I said it's not an easy process. I mean, it's an easy process. Just want to remind that fortunately, we are not on a Seveso plant, so we have an operation which use no solvents, so we don't need a Seveso permitting, which are generally more complex to obtain, and we are not in a Seveso site. We have done the last part of the process, which was last week, and now we expect the official permitting, which should happen in the next few weeks. So it's more a question of weeks than a question of months to get the permitting, and we have processed that in a rapid timing for the French authorities, with a lot of support, of course. So the question of the permit is more a question of weeks, as I mentioned, and I will, we will announce and communicate on the permitting as soon as it's obtained officially. So Pascal, there is a question on the... Can you comment the evolution of the stock price since January 2023? Maybe I will let that question to you. Yes, I think we know that the stock price didn't go well since the capital increase, but there is multifactor about that. First, if you compare the previous trend of the previous capital increase, the drop was 30%, and the share bounced back because we had, at that time, a news flow quite heavy. Now the market situation is different, as you know, rates volatility, and also summertime is a break season, and also we didn't have then much news flow. Now the people are looking at the milestone to be delivered. So there is no worries on our side about these drops. It's a question of time, and Carbios is a long-run story, not short term. Okay, I see another question on the first license. I think I answered that question. Question on when do we expect the Carbiolice activity to start to take off? So Carbiolice activity, just to remind you, is the biodegradation of the PLA. And we have the food grade authorization, which should come very soon in North America. We expect it at the very end of this year or very beginning of next year, and therefore, we should be able to start the process of commercialization of the PLA solution in North America by very early 2024. So I have a question: Are we able to obtain the permitting for the plant in the coming weeks? Ecologists are against it. Okay, we had a, as any strong project, we had many meetings with the authorities, where we had the public inquiry, we had an investigation from the- from independent sources. All those processes are positives. All the answers were done by Carbios on due time. The file is very complete. We have received a lot of support, so we are extremely confident to receive the permitting on due time in the coming few weeks or few days. How do we perceive the potential emergence of competitors? What do we think of Samsara Eco, and do we use AI to discover new enzymes? So that's three different questions. So, on the competitors, I cannot comment because today in depolymerization technology, there is not much competition yet. Many projects have been announced, a few are ongoing, a few are just in the paper. So we are not yet started at all. So I will not comment on the competition on that, but we know that the market of recycling PET is going to boom, particularly after 2025, when the incorporation obligation starts. And basically, we are confident that there is enough space for a few players, and Carbios will be among the largest ones. So we are very confident that there is enough space for other players. Our technology has a lot of benefit compared to chemical recycling, and we believe we can really take the lion's share of this market. Question on Samsara Eco. I cannot comment on Samsara Eco. When we look at, in terms of patent, or in terms of what has been announced, in terms of CapEx investments, and, to understand what's really beyond that, we are not 100% sure that it's a fully enzymatic process, but we'd have to wait before we see more patents, in the market before we can assess this, potential competitor. At this stage, I just want to remind that we have 58 patent family of patents, and with very strong IP on our side, so we are quite, comfortable on the performance of our enzymes in the, in the marketplace. So, to what extent, do industrial processes should depend on energy such as electricity or gas? So it's a very good question. Obviously, like any industrial process, we have, we need utilities, we need energy. We have the chance to operate at low temperature. I just want to remind that our enzymatic solutions works between 60 and 70 degrees Celsius. So we need energy, but we don't need as much energy as competitive processes, but obviously, we need some energy. So we have plans to, of course, maximize the source of renewable energy in our plants. We are looking actively at potential sources of new energy, renewable energy for the plant, like biomass. That will not be for the beginning, but that's part of the projects we are looking on. And we continue to optimize our process to minimize the energy we need. So we need pure energy, but we are still going to optimize it because we know it's going to be a growing expense, a growing cost for the future. I also want to say that we have made big progress on our LCA, and with the support of ADEME in France, we have been able to demonstrate more than 50% CO2 savings compared to a virgin PET. So we are quite comfortable on the fact that we still have a competitive advantage on the energy cost. There is a question, Pascal, can you tell us about the owners and/or shareholders of Indorama? I'm not sure I understand the question. Who are the owners and shareholders of Indorama? It's a question for Indorama. Now, the question is, Indorama is not a shareholder of Carbios. Indorama is a very strong industrial partners for the first plant, but not a shareholder of Carbios. They will be a partner in the JV for the first plant. So, now, who are the owners, and now who is the capital structure of Indorama? I think it's more a question to address to Indorama. It's a listed company in Bangkok, so the- Yeah ... information is public. So thank you very much for your questions. Once again, thank you for your support. 2023 first half have been very exciting time. We are on track with our milestones, and we expect to give you, again, very good delivery of our milestones in the second half of 2023. Thank you very much. Thank you.