Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Kelly, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Frigoglass conference call regarding the first half 2026 financial results. All participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on your telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. John Stamatakos, Treasury and IR Director. Mr. Stamatakos, you may now proceed. Thank you all for joining us. Today, we present the group's financial and business performance for the first half of 2026. The presentation focuses on our Commercial Refrigeration operations from continuing activities. In line with our previous calls, I am joined today by our CEO, Serge Joris, and our CFO, Manos Metaxakis. Please note that this conference call contains forward-looking statements. These statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements included in our slide deck. With that, I will turn the call over to Serge. Many thanks, John, a warm welcome to everyone joining us today. The first six months of the year have gone well for us, with healthy trading and a business that is executing consistently against its plan. Demand for our Commercial Refrigeration products held up well, with sales 18% higher than a year ago, with every one of our regions contributed to that increase. Europe and India continued to set the pace, while Africa added further to the result, a reminder of how well diversified our geographic footprint is. Volume growth fed through to profitability, and Comparable Adjusted EBITDA came in at EUR 24.8 million, nearly double the EUR 13.1 million we delivered in the same period last year. Looking at the rolling 12 months, Comparable Adjusted EBITDA now sits at EUR 24.9 million. Taken together, this is very much the outcome we had planned for and is consistent with the guidance we provided earlier in the year. In the first half, we also saw solid progress in our transformation program. We completed the sale of the glass packaging business in February, which took a significant amount of debt off our balance sheet. The proceeds allowed us to retire EUR 87 million of Senior Notes, leaving our capital structure in a considerably better shape. We exited our Russian operations in May. Getting there took time, as it required sign-off from the U.S., European, and Russian authorities, we obtained every approval and completed the transaction on schedule. With free cash flow generation and the retained funds from those two exits, we closed the period holding EUR 31 million of cash. All of this puts us in a stronger position heading into the second half, we are holding our 2026 guidance unchanged. That is sales up around 15% and Comparable Adjusted EBITDA up around 80%, eight, zero, against last year. Turning to slide five. This gives a clear picture of the momentum we have built in Commercial Refrigeration. Measured over the last 12 months, sales now stands at EUR 314 million. That is 27% above where we were in 2023, the year we set the transformation in motion. Several things have driven that. A wider customer base, including further wins in energy drinks and other non-Coke accounts, alongside our push to open up new opportunities, such as the Egyptian market we entered last year. Profitability has moved in the same direction, with last 12 months Comparable Adjusted EBITDA of almost EUR 25 million, an improvement of roughly EUR 30 million on 2023. Two forces are behind that, the operating leverage that comes with higher volumes and the consistent delivery of our cost and margin improvement program. Put simply, the operating performance keeps strengthening while we continue to carry out the transformation work that underpins value creation over the long term. Moving to slide six. I would like to take you through the key drivers of our performance in each of our regions. Beginning with West Europe. Sales increased by 20%, supported by healthy demand across main markets such as France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Norway, and Spain. Soft drink customers were particularly active during the first half. Above all, in the rapidly expanding energy drinks category, where sizable cooler investment programs worked in our favor. East Europe delivered a 12% increase, underpinned by share gains with customers we already serve, breweries in particular, together with a wider customer base. Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic were the standout markets in terms of order intake. Our Asset Performance Services business also kept growing and added further to the regional result. In Africa and the Middle East, sales increased by 9%, with South Africa and Nigeria providing the bulk of the increase, mainly on the back of brewery demand. Our entry into the Egyptian market had a positive contribution to growth as we continue to establish ourselves there. Asia was the fastest-growing region at 27%, driven by India, where customer acquisition initiatives and share gains with longstanding accounts increased volumes. That was achieved despite the unfavorable currency movements, primarily the weakening of the Indian rupee. Indonesia also improved, where a strong product line up translated into higher sales. Taking the regions together, Commercial Refrigeration sales were 18% ahead of last year, which speaks to consistent delivery everywhere where we operate, to the value of an increasingly broad geographic base. On that note, let me pass over to Manos, who will take you through the financials. Thank you, Serge, and good afternoon to everyone on the call. Let's move to slide eight, which presents how the continuing operations performed over the first half. Sales came in at EUR 207.3 million, 18% ahead of last year, driven by firm demand across Europe and India, as well as continued growth in Africa. Volume sold grew by 24% year-over-year. This performance was achieved despite currency headwinds of approximately EUR 7 million, mainly driven by the devaluation of the Indian rupee against the euro. Higher sales fed through strongly to profitability. Comparable Adjusted EBITDA excludes group expenses allocated to glass operations in the comparative period. In the first half of 2026, Comparable Adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 24.8 million, nearly double the level recorded in the comparative period. The Comparable Adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 450 basis points to 12%. This strong performance was driven by higher volumes, which improved fixed cost absorption, lower material cost, reflecting the benefits of our cost savings program, a favorable product mix, as well as selective pricing. These factors were partly balanced by higher raw material prices, mostly in Asia and primarily in the second quarter, and unfavorable currency movements, mainly due to the devaluation of the Indian rupee against the euro. Conditions in the Middle East are still feeding into our Asian cost base. We are focusing on balancing that with pricing actions and additional savings on materials. All in all, reported EBIT increased from EUR 8.8 million to EUR 19.3 million, a swing of EUR 10.5 million, highlighting the strength of the underlying operating performance. Slide nine sets out the components of our cash generation in the first half. Excluding the proceeds received from the sale of the Nigerian Glass and Russia businesses, as well as non-recurring income and advisory-related expenses, adjusted free cash flow from continuing operation was an inflow of EUR 7.1 million, compared to EUR 6 million in the comparative period. Last year's free cash flow was also adjusted to exclude the charges to the glass business. That is a good result given the seasonal shape of the business. Working capital requirements peak in the first half when most sales occur. Then unwind progressively through the second half of the year. Breaking down the movement, EBITDA added EUR 11.7 million, though this was absorbed by a net trade working capital outflow of EUR 9.7 million. That working capital outflow came mainly from higher trade receivables, reflecting the natural impact of the sales growth delivered. Beyond that, other items and capital expenditure absorbed a further EUR 0.6 million and EUR 0.3 million, respectively. We continue to keep a close watch on inventory levels while at the same time making sure that we have the materials in place to service the order book in the months ahead. Overall, cash flow remained resilient despite rapid revenue growth and the usual first half working capital needs. All in all, we ended June with a cash balance of EUR 31 million, supported by the proceeds retained from the disposals. The cash balance further increased to EUR 35 million in July end. Thank you for your attention. Let me hand you back to Serge. Thank you, Manos. Let me close by setting out how we see the balance of 2026. The year has opened well for us, with sales 18% higher than a year ago and a Comparable Adjusted EBITDA margin in double digits over the six months. The wider backdrop is still hard to read, but the start of this quality leaves us reasonably confident about meeting what we have set out for the full year. The agenda ahead of us is straightforward and comes down to delivery. We intend to carry the momentum of the transformation into faster, profitable top-line growth, a wider EBITDA margin compared to 2025, and a stronger position against our competitors. Energy drinks remain a priority. The demand picture there is appealing, and we have already shown we can win in that space. We also expect to take further share with our key accounts, helped by a product range that stands apart from the alternatives on offer. Asset Performance Services is another avenue for growth through new customer wins, which broadens our revenue base and tilts the mix further towards value-added services. Alongside this, we are bringing new products to market, opening up a larger addressable market and creating revenue streams of a recurring nature. Working alongside our technology partners, we set out how we bring together what we know about cooling with digital capability to deliver the next generation of unattended retail solutions. That places us in a small group of manufacturers able to offer a genuinely end-to-end retail proposition. On margins, we look to procurement-led savings, supported by targeted pricing initiatives where it's needed to absorb external cost pressure and the uncertainty in trading conditions. Pulling it together and taking account of the first half results and where commodity prices sit today, we look for sales to grow by around 15% for the year with an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 7%-8%. We will also keep a firm grip on working capital so that the growth we generate continues to protect liquidity and convert into cash. Finally, we will keep looking at strategic options that could build on this progress and further sharpen our competitive edge. I thank you for your time today. Manos and I are now happy to take your questions. Over to you, operator. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we'll begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Please use your headset when asking your question for better quality. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. Once again, to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. As a final reminder, to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to management for any closing comments. Thank you. Thank you, operator. Again, thank you to everyone for joining us today. To close, the first half has shown what this business can do when the transformation plan is executed with discipline. Sales are 18% ahead. Comparable Adjusted EBITDA has almost doubled to EUR 25 million. The disposals of Glass and Russia have left us with a rather more focused business and a stronger balance sheet. That progress is why we are reaffirming our guidance for the year and why we approach the second half with confidence despite the challenging market conditions. I thank you for your time and for your continued support. Do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any further questions. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a pleasant afternoon.
Loading workspace