Hello, everyone, and welcome to Ahlstrom's first quarter earnings call. My name is Johan Lindh, and I'm responsible for investor relations. We will start with a presentation from our President and CEO, Helen Mets, and our CFO, Jörn Jensen. After the presentation, you may ask questions either via the chat box in the audio cast or in person in the conference call. Once again, welcome, and over to you, Helen. Thank you very much, and good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to you all. Yeah, if we can go to the first slide, Johan. I'd like to start, first of all, with the highlights. Actually, I think during the last discussion, we were also asked a little bit to provide a bit more color on some of the businesses. I'm going to go through the highlights and then also give a little bit more color to what we see going on. First and foremost, I want to start with the fact that we've continued, as we've come into 2023, to see very good momentum on our transformation journey. Initiatives such as our strategic sourcing, our pricing, are all well on track. I think the good news here is that we're building strong, sustainable capabilities within the company, and that's good news because you'll also see that the actual transformation costs themselves are reducing. We're really internalizing the transformation. You'll also see when Jörn gets to his discussion, that we are continuing to invest in our transformation when it comes to CapEx. I'm also, when it gets to performance, pleased to say that we've maintained the same good level of margin on variable cost per ton that we did in 2022. If you look at 2022, that was a strong comparison. Again, our initiatives, such as pricing, certainly playing into that. Our net sales increased 3% on higher selling prices, and I do want to add that we did pass through additional price increases in the quarter. We do, however, see ongoing destocking across various value chains, and this has resulted in lower volumes. As a result, our comparable EBITDA was affected. Due to what we see in terms of that ongoing destocking and a, let's say, some of the end user markets being slower, we've intensified our cost control, and we are continuing with temporary capacity adjustments as and when needed. Back to the transformation journey. We've also recently announced some changes in our leadership team that strengthen a couple of areas. One is in our core competencies in science and innovation. We brought in a very strong science and innovation leader because as I think you know, we've got a very strong technology company, and continuing to leverage this across the world provides additional growth momentum in both the short term and the long term. We've also brought in or bringing in, as of June 1st, a new CHRO to drive our people agenda. On a slightly different note, I wanted to highlight that in March, we started the consultation process with our employee representatives at the Stenay plant. Actually, looking at the possibility of either divesting the plant or closing if a buyer can't be found. The reason being that the plant, the technologies, the product capabilities are no longer a strategic fit for us. I think the good news there is we do have several interested parties who are involved in the discussion. That is an ongoing discussion, an ongoing process that we have. Of course, we're fully aware of the concerns of our employees, and we're doing the utmost to support them through the process, limiting any social impact. In conclusion, we're making ongoing, very good progress on our transformation journey. Margin on variable costs remains strong. We do see destocking continuing, and this typically takes a few quarters, so that would indicate a gradual improvement in customer activity in the latter part of the year. I do then want to go into just a little bit more context, a little bit more color in terms of the businesses. If we can go to the next slide. Here you see the actual net sales increase, so 3% to 801 million in the quarter. Of the five divisions, the largest division, Food and Consumer Packaging, actually delivered growth of 7%. The Filtration division, we're at the same good level as last year. Where we see some weaker demand is in Healthcare, and that is a result of a very strong 2022, which was predominantly driven by the COVID, the testing kits, et cetera. We saw a big uptick last year in our Healthcare division, and of course, right now that is slowing off. We also, if you look at the details, this Building Materials is down. We saw that coming down in the second half of last year. That continued in Q1. What I can say there is it's stabilized. On the other side, we actually grew the Technical Materials portfolio by 11%. I think that's the, you know, the good news about the business. A portfolio of different segments for us, so some different results per segment. That's why I wanted to make sure that we gave you a little bit more color on this call about what is going on in the different segments. Over to you, Jörn. Thank you. If we turn to slide five, which is the various components of net sales and comparable EBITDA. As already mentioned, net sales increased by 3% to 801 million, driven by higher prices. EBITDA, on the other hand, was held back by lower than normal volumes. However, we continued to manage cost inflation well, as reflected in the positive contribution of a higher margin on variable costs. The reason for the progress is primarily our consistent transformation efforts, through which we have structurally improved our variable cost efficiency and commercial capabilities. In order to protect our margins in the current business environment, we have further intensified cost control and continued with the capacity adjustments as needed. Next slide, please. Still on the margin on variable costs, i.e., the difference between net sales and variable cost per ton, the development has been stable. In 2022, we managed to improve the margin significantly, and as a result of our ongoing transformation initiatives, also in this first quarter, we managed to maintain it at the same good level. The next page, and when we take a look at the reconciliation of comparable EBITDA to adjusted EBITDA, I would like to remind you that the figures in the table only represent continuing operations, i.e., excluding the Decor business. At the end of the first quarter, adjusted LTM EBITDA was 512 million, slightly lower than 541 million three months ago. The estimated future contributions from the transformation initiatives are almost as significant as three months ago, while comparable EBITDA for the last 12 months has decreased slightly. To cash flow on the next slide. First of all, during the first quarter, IAC, or items affecting comparability, was -1 1 million, which is a much smaller number than has been seen before. This is an important turning point on our transformation journey. As you know, in the past, these costs have significantly affected both our reported EBITDA and cash flow, but they have also been well-targeted to structurally strengthen strategically important capabilities in the company. Now we have come a long way putting these capabilities in place, which also means that these costs will gradually come down. Our net operating cash flow was minus 23 million, and it was impacted by an increase in working capital, of which half was related to the short-term incentive payout on the strong results improvement we achieved in 2022. The other half of the increase is primarily due to lower market activity across the value chain. Payables were lower due to lower purchases, and we expect to see our own inventory levels start to come down more in line with customer demand. Moving further down to cash flow from investing activities. The first quarter was also investment-heavy, driven by several projects targeting both improved performance, efficiency, and growth. At the end of the reporting period, our adjusted net debt was 1,770 million, translating into a net debt to adjusted EBITDA of 3.5. Operating costs on slide nine, a few comments about this. As you all know, the markets have been quite volatile lately. In this presentation, we have illustrations of the development of some important reference prices in the appendix. For our part, variable costs per ton were largely unchanged compared to the previous quarter. Energy costs continued to rise, mainly as a result of previously made physical, fixed-price energy contracts and hedges, something we applied to reduce any energy cost volatility and control risks. When comparing to the first quarter last year, costs were, of course, significantly higher for most of our important cost categories, particularly energy and fiber, up some 60% and 30%, respectively, but also chemicals, although to a lesser extent. To compensate for the higher costs, we have taken various steps, including price increases and cost efficiency actions. Also, considering the recent development in the pulp market, we expect gradually lower costs. On pulp, the price changes in China tend to affect the European market with a certain delay, which in turn begins to affect our result with a time delay of approximately one quarter. Seasonally, energy costs tends to fall during the second quarter, which affects the open position, and as for the contracts for the hedged positions, these will also be at a more favorable level. Finally, on debt structure on slide 10, not a lot to add. ... Debt structure there hasn't been any material movements during the reporting period, and our liquidity is satisfactory. With that, over to you, Helen. If we can go just to the last slide, yeah, Johan. Just to conclude, I think a very clear message that the momentum continues on our transformation journey. We feel very good where we are, and the milestones are on track. Margin on variable costs per ton remains solid, and of course, that's a result of the transformation initiatives, including pricing. We do have intensified cost control and temporary capacity adjustments to make sure that we continue to protect margins, given the current environment. I just want to emphasize that we are seeing that inventory reduction across the value chain, which is expected to be passed into the latter part of the year. Maybe to wrap up then, long-term growth perspective remains exceptionally good. You know, we see the heightened demand for sustainable solutions, and that's really where our advanced fiber-based materials and our innovation power really comes into play. Back to you, Johan. All right. Thank you, Helen. Thank you, Johan. Now it's time to move over to the Q&A session. Operator, do we have any questions on the lines? If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad. There are no questions at this time. I hand the conference back to the speakers. Uh. The next question comes from Raul Sequeira-Bolivar from Banque Lombard Odier & Cie SA. Please go ahead. Good afternoon. Thank you very much for holding the call and for all the information. I'm just trying to ascertain basically the volume decline, and you've been talking about this inventory destocking taking place at your customers. Do you have actually any visibility with respect to that? To start with, is the magnitude of that destocking going to continue into the second quarter of 2023? What are your own expectations or maybe market expectations from experts on to when that destocking will abate? Basically, when basically it's going to normalize because inventories will be more normal going forward. If you can also just elaborate on to what kind of actually categories are the most affected and the least affected? That's the first question. I'm trying to understand the sensitivity basically in your EBITDA, comparable EBITDA, because obviously it's relatively significant when we see basically the comparable EBITDA walk year-over-year basis. If you can give us a magnitude and, for example, like if there's a certain% destocking taking place, the eventual impact that it does have in the EBITDA bridge? Thank you very much for that. Let me. Thanks for the question, and let me answer or try to answer, first of all, the destocking and give just a little bit of color. I think, you know, what I can say is that we expect this level of destocking to continue in Q2. I think, and it's with the caveat that, you know, visibility remains quite low, but I would say across the value chain, that is a shared expectation. Destocking continuing through Q2, and coming into the second half of the year, some expectations, and with the caveat of visibility remains relatively limited. Now, I think how I would give color to it is what. You know, the developments that we see in the first quarter, which I gave a little bit of color to, you know, Building Materials staying low but stabilized. Our Filtration, relatively okay. Our Technical Material is relatively okay. There's different segments in Technical Materials, I think that's, you know, we may see a little bit more destocking there. Food and Consumer Packaging, you know, we see still some of the segments in food strong. That to me is a little bit more of a question mark. Could there be a slightly deeper destocking or not? Pretty similar to what we're seeing in Q1. Hopefully that gives a little bit of the context of, yes, it continues. What we saw in Q1 continues into, to Q2. The expectations are that it moves out then into the second half of the year. Thank you very much. The drivers of that destocking, shall we assume it's elevated prices, basically, and customers holding back to try to really, you know, in the expectation that those prices will normalize and come down moving forward, given the evolution that you have on the input costs. Is that driven really because prices are just simply too high? Or is it basically because their own activity levels are also much weaker, given the weakness in global GDP? Or is it a mix of both? The pricing element is, for me, that's not something that we hear at all. I would add to, you know, in terms of there is still stocking across the value chain. Actually, there's still been a lot of stock that's been held in the value chain. It's a little bit of a mix, depending on the business, but it's more of the destocking combined with some of the end-use slowdown. I think, you know, if we can just imagine that in 2022, there was a high level of stock build across several of the value chains, from end use all the way through, and we're still working through that destocking in most segments. Fantastic. Any kind of sensitivity or correlation between a certain percentage decline in volumes, for example, I don't know. It might be difficult, given all the segments that you do have and the comparable EBITDA, just to have an idea. I'm actually not sure I have the right answer. No, you mean if volume is ±X, then that would directly have an effect of ±Y on EBITDA. It is. Yeah, if we can. It is, of course, a little more complicated. Yeah. There's many elements in between, pricing being one of them. The lower inflation or the deflation that we do expect and see in the coming quarters in our input costs, and so on and so forth. It's not, it's definitely not one-to-one. And ma- Yeah. Maybe a good comparison is if you look at the slide that we've got on the, you know, the quarter by quarter growth, you know, you can see some of the developments there. Okay, we'll definitely pay close attention to that. Thank you. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad. There are no questions at this time, I hand the conference back to the speakers. All right, thank you. Let's continue with questions in the chat box here. The first concerns the CapEx figure. What drove our CapEx in the first quarter, and do we have an indication or the full year CapEx figure? We are like last year, we are spending on CapEx this year, and it is a little bit front year loaded, but it is the usual, it's the usual, of course, maintenance CapEx, and it is where we see a need to invest in order to improve our business to be even more efficient than we already are, or where we see over time, opportunities to further grow our business in those parts of the business that is strategically important to us, which obviously are the ones with the highest margins, and so on. The next question concerns the volume decline in the quarter. It's a number that we, I'm afraid, not provide or report on. We like to focus more on a net sales development. The best indication for the volume development, obviously, you can see, and they can calculate from the net sales bridge in the slide deck as such. Then we talked quite a lot about. There's a number of questions concerning the stocking in the businesses. I think we ran through those quite well. There's a question on sales and EBITDA outlook for the second quarter. Well, yeah, well, well, as you know, we're not guiding, that specifically, on any of the elements, definitely not by quarter. As we have kind of, talked to, well, as Helen was just saying, volumes, is kind of one story in itself on destocking. Pricing are good. We're seeing lower and lower input costs, and we are becoming more and more efficient. Let that be the direction. There's a final question also concerning the items affecting comparability here, which decreased by two-thirds year-over-year in the first quarter. How does the outlook for this cost look like for the remaining part of the year? At two-thirds, a reduction of two-thirds, that is a little too much. They will be definitely on a full year basis, much lower than last year. There's more questions, one here concerning the leverage. When do we expect that to peak? We expect that to peak, relatively soon. Very good. Thank you. That was actually all questions in the chat box, so maybe over to you, Helen, for final remarks. I think just to conclude again, we're very positive on the transformation journey that we're on. The momentum continues, the milestones are on track. Those include the strategic initiatives, like the sourcing, like the pricing. You can see that come through in terms of our margin on variable cost. While we continue to see, let's say, the destocking in the second quarter, we're very much focused on the cost actions, the inventory actions, and remain extremely confident about the long-term outlook for the company. Thanks very much, everybody, and we will speak to you again at the end of next quarter.