Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Desiree, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Kerry Group 2025 half-year results webcast. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question again, press the star one. I would now like to turn the conference over to William Lynch, Head of Investor Relations. You may begin. Thank you, Operator. Good morning and welcome to our 2025 half-year results call. I'm joined in the call by our CEO, Edmond Scanlon, and our CFO, Marguerite Larkin. Edmond and Marguerite will take you through our presentation, and following this, we will then open up the lines for your questions. Before we begin, please take note of the disclaimer on our H1 presentation regarding forward-looking statements. I'll now pass over to Edmond. Thanks, William, and good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining our call. Beginning with slide four and the summary overview of H1, where we delivered a good overall performance, particularly given market conditions, with continued volume growth and strong margin expansion driving strong, constant currency earnings growth. Firstly, on revenue, we delivered 3% volume growth, which was well ahead of end-market and channel growth. This was led by a strong performance in the food service channel, with continued innovation activity on new menu items, seasonal launches, as well as cost-reduction solutions. Growth in the retail channel was supported by increased retailer brand innovation and nutritional renovation across the range of customers. On EBITDA margins, we delivered very strong margin expansion of 100 basis points in the first half, with a key driver being accelerated operational excellence, along with operating leverage and also product and portfolio mix benefits. On earnings per share, the combination of volume growth and margin expansion enabled us to deliver strong, constant currency growth of 9.8% in the first half. I will touch on the outlook in a little more detail later, but to summarize, there is no change to our full-year constant currency EPS guidance range. We are slightly moderating our volume growth outlook for the full year, similar to what we delivered in H1, while increasing our expectations for full-year margin expansion, which we will touch on shortly. Moving next to the business performance overview in slide five. Volume growth was 3% for both Q2 and H1. This represented a strong outperformance over food and beverage end markets, which were flattish overall. Pricing of 0.2% reflected limited overall inflation across our basket of input costs. Across our end-use markets, volume growth was led by beverage, bakery, and snacks end-use markets. This was supported by strong growth in savory taste, taste sense, salt and sugar reduction technologies, as well as botanicals, natural extracts, and proactive health ingredients. In emerging markets, we had volume growth of 5.6%, led by a strong performance in Southeast Asia and LatAm. Turning next to the performance by region, and starting with the Americas in slide six, where we had continued strong performance. Reported revenue for the region increased to over EUR 1.9 billion, driven by volume growth of 3.7% in H1 and 3.9% in Q2. EBITDA margins for the region increased by 90 basis points to 18.5%. Driven by accelerated operational excellence benefits, operating leverage, and product mix. In North America, we had strong growth in snacks through our range of savory taste profiles and taste sense salt reduction technologies across global and emerging brands, given the increased customer focus on improving nutritional profiles. Growth in bakery was driven by taste and texture solutions, as well as enzymes, while in beverage, we had good performances in the refreshing and low no alcohol categories through botanicals and natural extracts. Across our channels, we had a good performance in retail, supported by innovation and renovation activity across both customer and retailer brands, with food service continuing to strongly outperform traffic in the channel. Within LatAm, strong growth was achieved in Brazil and Central America across the snacks and meals end markets in particular. Business developments in the region included investment in enhancing our coffee extraction capabilities, which continues to be an area of innovation focus for our customers across many food and beverage applications and also across channels. Moving to Europe on slide seven, where performance was in line with expectations. Reported revenue for the region was EUR 731 million. With volume growth of 0.2% in H1 and 0.3% in Q2. On margins, we delivered strong EBITDA margin expansion of 90 basis points. Looking at our end-use markets, volume growth in beverage was led by nutritional beverages through our integrated taste technologies and proactive health ingredients, while growth in bakery was led by texture systems. Across our channels, food service had good growth through seasonal and new launch activity with quick service restaurants, with performance in retail remaining challenged. Business investments in the region included strong progress in the development of our new biotechnology center in Leipzig in Germany, enzyme capacity expansion in Ireland, as well as the expansion of our cocoa extraction capabilities in Grasse in France. Turning to slide eight, APMEA, where growth in the region was primarily driven by Southeast Asia, with solid growth in the Middle East and Africa, given disruption in places, and volumes in China remaining challenged. Reported revenue for the region increased to EUR 821 million, led by volume growth of 4.2% in H1 and 3.2% in Q2. On margins, we had EBITDA margin expansion of 60 basis points for the region in H1. Across our end markets, growth was led by bakery through food protection and preservation systems, as well as reformulation activity in areas including cocoa. Beverage continued to achieve good growth across refreshing, nutritional, and functional beverages through natural extracts, botanicals, and taste sense sugar reduction technologies with both local and regional customers. Meals also had good growth, while performance in snacks was impacted by disruption to order patterns during the period. Growth in our channels was led by food service, with leading regional coffee chains and quick service restaurants. Growth in retail was led by good performance in taste. Finally, business developments across the region included continued investment and expansion of our local taste capacity in the Middle East and Africa. With that, I'll hand you over to Marguerite for the financial review. Thanks, Edmond, and good morning, everyone. We delivered a good financial performance in the first half. Now turning to slide 10 and the financial overview to give you more detail. Revenue increased to EUR 3.5 billion with volume growth of 3%. EBITDA increased by 7.5% to EUR 556 million, with EBITDA margins up 100 basis points. Adjusted earnings per share of EUR 2.092 was up 9.8% in constant currency and 7.8% in reported currency. Return on capital employed of 10.7% reflected continued progression in the period. Free cash flow was EUR 309 million, with a cash conversion of 89% on an average basis. Turning to our group revenue bridge on slide 11, volume growth was 3%, as I mentioned. Pricing was positive 0.2%, reflecting limited overall input cost inflation and transaction currency was positive 0.3%. Foreign currency translation was adverse 1.9% due to movements in the U.S. dollar and weakness of some emerging market currencies versus the euro. The contribution from acquisitions of 0.6% related to the lactase enzymes acquisition. The effect from disposals of 0.9% related to, firstly, the divestment of two small non-core businesses and assets in the prior year, and secondly, the revenue associated with the exit of a manufacturing agreement at a taste and nutrition facility in Northern Ireland, which, following the Kerry Dairy Ireland transaction, has now been separated into two distinct manufacturing operations. Next to the margin bridge on slide 12. We delivered strong EBITDA margin expansion of 100 basis points, with EBITDA increasing to EUR 556 million. Looking at the key moving parts. Firstly, on operating leverage and portfolio mix, we had a 30 basis points improvement led by portfolio mix. Pricing was net neutral, given limited overall inflation in the period. The accelerated operational excellence program contributed strongly to growth, delivering 50 basis points of EBITDA margin expansion in the first half. Foreign currency was net neutral from a margin perspective, and acquisitions and disposals contributed a net positive 20 basis points, with acquisitions and disposals both contributing circa 10 basis points each. Overall, we are pleased with our margin expansion in the period. As we previously said, EBITDA margin expansion is greater in the first half due to the timing of the accelerated operational excellence benefits. In the second half, we expect strong EBITDA margin expansion, and we are increasing our expectations for the full year to 70 basis points or greater. Moving now to free cash flow on slide 13. We generated good free cash flow in the period of EUR 309 million, reflecting 89% average cash conversion on earnings and 83% on a point-to-point basis. Looking at the component parts for the first half, EBITDA increased to EUR 556 million, as I mentioned. Average working capital represented an investment of EUR 66 million, aligned to the growth and development of the business. For the full year, we are looking at a similar level of working capital investment. Capital expenditure of EUR 120 million was similar to the prior year, reflecting various strategic capital investments, as Edmond referenced earlier. Overall, we delivered good cash conversion in the first half, and we remain well on track to deliver cash conversion in the 80%-90% range in the full year. Finally, on cash, as a reminder, when looking at the free cash flow statement, the reported H1 2024 comparable period includes the impact of Kerry Dairy Ireland, which contributed circa EUR 35 million to EBITDA and was the main driver of the significantly positive working capital inflow in the prior year. Turning to our debt profile and credit metrics on slide 14. Net debt at the end of June was EUR 2.1 billion, with a weighted average maturity of 5.1 years and 7 years after the repayment of the refinanced EUR 950 million bond maturing later this year. Our credit metrics are strong, with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.7 times, and we have a very strong balance sheet, which will continue to support the further development of our business. Finally, to cover off a number of other financial matters on slide 15. Finance costs of EUR 26.5 million were similar to the prior year. Net non-trading items were EUR 15 million, primarily reflecting costs related to the closeout of the accelerated operational excellence program. We have initiated Accelerate 2.0 as planned, which will focus on footprint optimization and enabling digital excellence across the organization. We will update you in due course as we progress the program. On the input costs, we saw limited overall input cost inflation in the first half, which we expect to be somewhat similar for the full year. On capital returns, we have announced an interim dividend of EUR 0.42 per share, a year on year increase of 10.2%. On share buybacks, we repurchased EUR 256 million worth of shares during the period. On currency, we are currently expecting a foreign currency translation headwind of 4%-5% on adjusted earnings per share in the full year. To summarize, we delivered a good financial performance in the first half, with good volume growth ahead of end markets, strong EBITDA margin progression, and good cash generation. With that, I'll pass you back to Edmond. Thanks, Marguerite. Moving to our full year outlook on slide 17. Our strong end market volume outperformance in the first half of the year demonstrates the strength of our strategic positioning across our markets, channels, and customer base as an innovation and renovation partner. Looking to the second half of the year, we continue to be well positioned for volume growth with a good innovation pipeline. While recognizing this, end market volumes have softened through the period. We are looking at volume growth in the second half being similar to the volume growth of 3% we achieved in H1. On EBITDA margins, we are looking for strong margin expansion in 2025 of 70 basis points or greater, as Marguerite just referenced. We are maintaining our full year adjusted earnings per share guidance of 7%-11% constant currency growth. With that, I will hand you back to the operator, and we look forward to taking your questions. Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. If you are called upon to ask your question and are listening via speakerphone on your device, please pick up your handset to ensure that your phone is not on mute when asking your question. Again, press star one to join the queue. Our first question comes from the line of Patrick Higgins with Goodbody. Your line is open. Thanks. Morning, everyone. A couple of questions on my end, if that's okay. Firstly, you mentioned end markets have softened through the first half. Could you just give us a sense of what you think the end markets are growing or growing at all, if at all, in H1 and your expectation for H2? Secondly, following on from that, maybe could you just run us through your expectations for H2, I guess, by channel or by region, and what prompted you to pull back the full year guidance around the volume piece in particular? Thank you. Sure. Thanks, Patrick. I'll kick off here. I think in terms of, let's say, overall kind of market conditions and what we're seeing right now, our best estimate is that end markets are flattish right now versus what we would have seen earlier in the year and last year. I think, though, that headline probably does not tell the full story, as there are a lot of moving parts. There is good growth in retailer brands. There is good growth in local and emerging brands in many geographies. They are investing behind innovation, looking to extend their brand ranges, et cetera. I guess it is hard to kind of draw a conclusion by customer segment per se. The variability is really down to an individual customer level. Our best estimate right now is around flattish from an overall market perspective. In terms of our volume outlook for the full year, and just to put some color on that, we are slightly moderating our overall volume expectations to being similar to H1 in that 3% zone, like we mentioned. We are slightly moderating our expectations for the APMEA region and very slightly moderating our expectations in Americas. In reality, there is actually no major callout there. It goes back to that variability down at an individual customer level. We have seen a little bit more variability in APMEA and some softness in places, again, down to an individual customer level in U.S. food service. Looking out at the full year, we are expecting to see volumes in APMEA to progress in the second half. H2 will be stronger than H1 in APMEA. We do remain very positive on the region longer term. We have a strong track record there, and we have a great team there. Maybe in terms of food service, just for a second, we see traffic as being, let's say, quite flattish overall in the first half. At the same time, we delivered a very strong outperformance of greater than 400 basis points. Maybe back in the U.S., the reality is the environment is a little bit more challenging at the moment in terms of consumer sentiment and spending patterns. At the same time, we remain very positive on the channel, and we remain very positive on the US. Within retail in the U.S., we are very positive in terms of the opportunity that is out there in front of us in terms of reformulation, renovation, what is happening with retailer brands and private label. The reality, I guess, is customers are aggressively out there looking at ways to defend their positions, to try and grow their business. They are looking at innovation to do that, and we are very well positioned and ideally positioned to actually enable them to do that. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Charles Eden with UBS. Your line is open. Hi, morning, Edmond. Morning, Morning, Marguerite. Just one question for me on the Americas region, where obviously volumes accelerated to 3.9% in Q2. Could you just talk a little bit around what you think's driving that? I know you've said in the past, really, any sort of reformulation benefits from making America healthy again is a 26 story. Is that just underlying markets a little bit better? I guess you'd call out food service. Is there any color there and your expectations for that region specifically going into the second half? Just to clarify, I think the answer is no, but the assumption is there's no pull forward of demand because of tariffs because you are quite local for local. Is that correct? Thank you. Thanks, Charles, and good morning. I think, look, in the Americas and North America in particular, I think we've been very consistent. The reality is that we have a powerhouse of a business in North America. We're clearly recognized as food and beverage applications experts globally, but especially in that region. We have a phenomenal customer access right across channels and end-use markets. The reality is that the underlying market conditions actually have deteriorated, actually, in the second quarter. I guess from our perspective, what we are seeing and where we're well positioned is that, number one, we've seen a pickup in innovation with retailer brands, with private label customers and private label retailers. We see customers trying to defend their positions and new and emerging players trying to scale their businesses. I guess that pickup in innovation that we touched on earlier in the year, that is actually continuing. The second point is that more customers are actively planning to reformulate products. And that's more ahead of us right now, to be frank. I mean, the impact on our business today actually is reformulation that was planned 12, 18 months ago as such. The reformulation that's going to be worked on now is going to be more of a kind of a 2026 impact and beyond, as opposed to a 2025 impact. There is no doubt there is a reformulation is top of mind for many customers right across the retail landscape in particular. Customers are formulating plans. Some have initiated renovation plans, and others are kind of assessing and waiting. This is very much top of mind. I guess is giving us confidence about or continues to give us confidence around the North America market in the medium term and long term. The third area, I guess, is food service. While the underlying market in food service is challenged, we continue to outperform the market by somewhere in the tune of 400 basis points. For us, it's really these three key areas that are presenting us with opportunities for strong market outperformance. That's what you're seeing coming through in the overall volume growth performance in the region. We are very slightly moderating our expectations in that market in the second half, purely based on the marketplace. Tariffs aren't a feature here. It's really back to those three areas of strong underlying innovation, reformulation being a key factor, and food services being a consistent underpin for us in the region. Thanks, Edmond. If I could just ask a follow-up, and it's semi-related. On the slightly raised margin expectations for the year, is that largely a mix factor? Americas is a bit stronger than you'd thought, maybe APMEA, which is slightly lower margin, a bit weaker o r is it cost savings coming through slightly quicker than expected? Just trying to understand the drivers of that slightly better margin expectation for the year. I might just come in on the margin expectation. You're right. The increase is principally attributable to expected mix benefits a nd some greater operational excellence benefits b ut I'd call out the mix as being an important factor here. Thank you both. Thank you both. If you would like to ask a question, please press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from the line of Edward Hockin with J.P. Morgan. Your line is open. Hello, all. Thank you very much for taking my questions. My first one's a bit of a follow-up on the volumes picture into the second half of the year. I understand APMEA should be getting a bit better. Am I right in thinking that you're expecting some moderation in H2 compared with H1 in the Americas region? On reformulation trends that we've mentioned, I was wondering whether you can quantify. We've seen a lot of headlines in recent weeks about companies reformulating for various ingredients. Are you able to give some kind of quantification of the kind of uptick in interest or uptick in projects that you're working on that might come through in 2026? My other question, sorry, is on free cash flow o n the working capital outflows you saw in the first half of the year, can you give any indication what you're expecting working capital to land for the full year? Thank you. Thanks, Ed. Good morning. I'll kick off. Basically, just to recap, the APMEA region will progress and will be stronger in H2 versus H1. In the Americas, we're calling out a slight moderation there, a very slight moderation there in terms of our expected volume outlook. That's purely down to, let's say, the marketplace dynamics that I just referenced. In terms of reformulation, I think, Ed, you'll appreciate these things are kind of hard to measure per se. I mean, I think what we can confidently say is that reformulation as a topic has never been as topical, basically, with customers right across channels, especially in North America as it is today. There are many drivers, and you would have heard me talk about these drivers already. Yes, there is the potential, and let's see how that plays out, but potential for new regulations to come into place in North America. It's not exactly clear what direction of travel that's going to take. That's certainly part of the backdrop. Even that aside, there continues to be reformulation from a nutritional perspective continuing, and from a cost perspective as well, as well as availability of raw materials. Sitting here today, actually, when we look at our reformulation activity, a lot of it is activity that was already in the pipe probably a year ago around salt and sugar reduction across snack, beverage, and multiple end-use markets, but primarily snack. On, let's say, beyond that, I think it is more around key raw materials that have had significant supply issues. Areas like cocoa replacement, that is an important part of our reformulation pipeline, not just in North America, but actually globally, and was an important part of our performance in APMEA in particular here in the first half. The other area I would call out is citrus, again, well flagged in terms of availability of raw materials, and again, an area where we're very well positioned in terms of helping customers to reformulate. Maybe the last one I touch on is the whole coffee area. There's a lot of things going on in coffee. There's some noise around tariffs and what have you, especially obviously back into North America or back into the U.S., and that's an area where we continue to build out our capability on coffee extraction, again, to be able to partner with customers to help them to reformulate. I think it's a matter of this topic being really top of mind for customers right across the board for lots of reasons. I guess it's something that gives us confidence in our business and confidence in our strategy as we look out over the coming quarters. On your working capital question, we expect to have an investment in the full year similar to the half year. That is very much aligned to the growth and the development of the business. We delivered good cash in the first half. For the full year, we expect another year of strong cash conversion in the 80-90% range. Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Alex Lowen with Barclays. Your line is open. Yeah. Hi, morning, all. Thanks for taking the questions. Two from me, please. The first one, just in terms of the volume guidance. I mean, obviously, back in 2023, you moderated the volume outlook a few times down in the year. Clearly, it was a very different backdrop. We had significant industry destocking at that time. What is your confidence level that there should not be sort of further downside to this slightly revised volume outlook this year? I guess, what are the puts and takes as to why you might be above or below that 3% level? The second one, I mean, perhaps slightly related question, but the Americas, obviously, that is where you have sort of slightly moderating expectations in the second half. You talked about flat end-market growth. I think that was a global comment. Could you just maybe tell us what you are assuming in terms of the Americas end-market growth now versus maybe what you were assuming before? Thank you. Thanks, Alex. Good morning. I think in terms of the market outlook overall, I think in the U.S., we call it broadly similar, maybe a tad lighter than flattish, but in that zone nonetheless. I think that's really been the difference between where we are today versus maybe where we were a few months ago. Just going back to your question versus 2023, I think we're in a completely different place. I think the level of innovation that's happening in the industry today is in a completely different place versus where it was in 2023. The strength of our pipeline and the level of customer engagement around innovation is in a completely different place to where it was back then. I mean, maybe just to touch on food service for a second. I've seen an unprecedented level of innovation in food service, especially in the area of beverage around North America in particular, where customers on the food service channel are just aggressively going out there and fighting for customers and using beverage as a platform to do that. We're perfectly positioned to enable them to do that. I think then on switching to the retail side, with the level of unprecedented inflation that has come through over the last several years, retailers have a pretty unique opportunity here to take market share. Again, it's a category of customers that needs help to launch into, to try and, I suppose, develop out their strategies and to launch new products into the categories in which they want to potentially lead. Again, these weren't factors that were at play in 2023. Our visibility, I would say, is much better, and the level of innovation in the marketplace is at a completely different level to what was there in 2023. Okay. Thank you. As we have no further questions, I'll now hand you back to Kerry for any closing remarks. Thank you, Operator. Thank you, everyone, for joining us and for your questions this morning. All that's left to say on our end is if there are any further questions, please do reach out to the IR team. We wish you a very good day. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you all for joining, and you may now disconnect.