Mondi PLC — Call Transcript 2026

Welcome to the Mondi Full Year Results 2025. Just to let you know, we do have captions on today's call, and these can be switched on and off within your Zoom settings, but please be aware they are automated and can sometimes contain errors. If you have a question today, then please use the Raise Hand function. I'm now gonna hand you over to Andrew King. Andrew, please go ahead. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Mondi's 2025 full year results presentation. I'm Andrew King, your Group CEO, and I'm joined this morning by our CFO, Mike Powell. As usual, I'll begin with some highlights for the year. Mike will then take you through the financial performance in more detail. I will then return to provide an update on our business units, discussing at the same time the current trading environment, and then take you through why we believe Mondi is strongly positioned to capture the upside as markets improve. After that, Mike and I look forward to taking your questions. As you'll see on the first slide, in terms of our full year performance, I believe we did deliver a resilient outcome, EUR 1 billion of underlying EBITDA, marginally down on the prior year. Pleasingly, cash generated from operations of EUR 1.07 billion was up on the prior year. As Mike will explain in more detail, we were also able to reduce CapEx below previously guided levels, which further supported our cash flow and balance sheet. As I mentioned, this is a resilient performance in the context of what remain challenging market conditions and reflects both the strength of our integrated asset base, the value of our unique product offering, and the impact of the self-help measures we have taken. While we remain confident in the structural drivers underpinning through-cycle growth in our sustainable packaging solutions, we're equally cognizant of the impact of the current downturn and the impact it's having on our near-term performance. In response, we have taken deliberate and decisive actions across the group, intensifying our focus on cost discipline, on operational excellence, on proactively optimizing our production footprint, and on cash generation, while at the same time continuing to focus on delivering a great value proposition to our customers. These actions take, together with the significant competitive advantages we continue to enjoy as a business, ensure that Mondi is strongly positioned to capture the upside as market conditions improve. With that, I'll hand you over to Mike for more color on the 2025 financial performance. Thanks, Andrew. Morning, everybody. Thank you for joining. On to our 2025 results, which demonstrate a resilient performance against a backdrop of the prolonged cyclical downturn that our industry continues to face. Underlying EBITDA of EUR 1 billion saw continued margin pressure associated with the challenging trading conditions, the makeup of which I'll come onto on the next slide. During the year, we successfully completed the build and startup phase of a number of major capacity expansion projects into our core markets. These investments, together with the Schumacher acquisition, position us strongly to capture the upside as market conditions improve. They have, however, led to a higher capital base, and as a result, you see an increase in depreciation and finance costs, which reduces the group's basic underlying EPS and return on capital in the year. On the right-hand side, I'm pleased with the stronger cash generation from operations, increasing to EUR 1,072 million through strong working capital management. So let me take you through the main movements in underlying EBITDA when compared to the prior year of EUR 1,049 million that you can see on the left-hand side of the chart. As you can see, the performance was resilient in an environment of macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, with only small movements year-on-year, which is testament to the strength of the cost-advantaged and integrated assets, the quality product offering, and the targeted actions taken. Sales volumes were up on the prior year, which included additional volumes from ramping up the new capacity. With respect to selling prices, this is mostly comprised of higher containerboard selling prices, which were more than offset by significantly lower uncoated fine paper and pulp selling prices, and Andrew will provide a little more color on that in a couple of minutes. The cost increase is mainly in relation to labor inflation, with other costs well controlled. Input costs were overall flat year-on-year against a muted economic backdrop. In the first quarter of 2026, we are seeing overall input costs remaining flat on 2025, despite some sizable headwinds related to lower energy-related income and emission credits. Lastly, the forestry fair value gain, EUR 32 million higher in the year when compared to prior year, all that adding up to the results of an underlying EBITDA of EUR 101 million for the year. As Andrew said, we're cognizant of the impact from the current downturn, and its effect on our near-term performance, so I wanted to spend some time outlining the actions we're taking to proactively manage the fixed cost base. Andrew will touch on operational excellence and productivity later. We execute targeted cost out initiatives to drive efficiency, eliminate non-essential activities, and strengthen the core revenue-generating areas of the business. It is what we continuously do to improve. Whilst we do have targeted incremental cost in growth areas, whether that's due to new capacity or customer demand, we have reduced headcount over the last 12 months elsewhere by approximately 1,000 heads, driven from greater efficiency in our operations, plant closures, and about a 13% reduction in our group services offices. We've also recently announced three further plant closures, which will reduce headcount by approximately another 200 in the coming year. We combined our corrugated packaging and uncoated fine paper businesses into a single business unit, and that facilitates a more streamlined organization, supporting faster decision-making, cost takeout, and delivery of operational synergies across our pulp and paper mills, while retaining our customer-focused value chain orientation. And therefore, for the 2026 year, I expect these actions to offset labor and other cost inflation. Let me now take you through the movement in net debt. We started the year with EUR 1.7 billion. You can see the EBITDA contribution I've taken you through of EUR 1 billion. In terms of working capital, I'm really pleased with our delivery since the half year. As you'll remember, at the half, we outflowed about EUR 100 million in the first six months, which tells you we drove around EUR 200 million inflow in the second half of the year to leave the total inflow that you see on the chart of EUR 83 million. Including interest tax and other items, the net result of these three items was cash delivered of EUR 767 million, and you see that highlighted in the box on the slide. The next three columns shows how we've allocated capital in the year. We invested EUR 673 million in property, plant, and equipment, lower than the previously guided EUR 750 million-EUR 850 million, driven by our ongoing focus on cash management. Dividends paid total EUR 352 million, and lastly, we completed the acquisition of Schumacher, which expands our geographic reach, drives greater optimization across our plant footprint, and unlocks efficiencies that support long-term growth. Integration remains on track. We're confident in the delivery of the EUR 32 million cost synergies over the 3 years from completion, and that's an increase from the EUR 22 million that we initially envisaged. So to conclude, all of that leaves the group with a net debt balance at the end of the year, EUR 2.6 billion, which is 2.6x levered. I also want to set out our robust financial position. We've investment-grade credit ratings. Our available liquidity totals around EUR 1.3 billion, and places us strongly to protect value in the short term and capture opportunities in the long term as they arise. We've refinanced short-term debt maturities in the year and have no further debt maturities until 2028, and as a reminder, we have no financial covenants. Let me now take you through some capital allocation points, starting on slide 9. So the group has a well-invested and cost-advantaged asset base in structurally growing packaging markets. Over the past few years, we've invested in a number of major capacity expansion projects, and we're very proud of the teams for completing the build and startup phase of these projects on time and on budget. Our focus is now on delivering full productivity ramp-up, executing our commercial strategy, driving cash generation, and delivering strong returns. In addition to these growth projects, we invest through the cycle in our asset base to maintain competitive advantage, and you can see here in the gray bars that exclude those growth projects, that this has averaged 107% of depreciation over the past 5 years. Our cash capital expenditure for 2026 is expected to be approximately EUR 550 million, lower than the EUR 650 million euros previously guided. Within the EUR 550 million is approximately EUR 50 million of cash still to flow for the growth projects, leaving a base of around EUR 500 million. This spend will focus on maintenance and targeted cost optimization opportunities, including enhancing energy efficiency, improving productivity, and strengthening the resilience of our asset base. Onto dividend. The board does recognize the importance of dividends to our shareholders. Over the last two years, we have consciously recommended dividends in excess of our policy on each occasion, carefully reviewing expectations for the coming period. Notwithstanding our continued confidence in the resilience and competitiveness of our business, consistent with our objective of retaining financial flexibility, the board has recommended a total ordinary dividend of EUR 28.25 per share for 2025, reflecting a return to the group's stated dividend cover policy of 2-3 times underlying earnings on average through cycle. Lastly, the technical guidance slide for 2026, hopefully all relatively self-intuitive. With that, let me hand back to Andrew. Thank you. ... Many thanks, Mike. I'll now take you through the review of the business unit performance and some thoughts on the current market dynamics before coming back to our competitive positioning. Before we get into the segmental review, I remind you that in Q4 2025, we combined the Corrugated Packaging and Uncoated Fine Paper businesses to form an enlarged Corrugated, Corrugated Packaging business unit. The segmental numbers are all based on the new reporting structure. To help comparability in the appendix to these slides, we have provided unaudited numbers on the old basis of segmental reporting. Coming first to Corrugated Packaging, a highlight was very much the good volume development achieved across all segments. Containerboard volumes were up around 15% year-on-year, against the backdrop of a flat European market demand, supported by increased export sales and the ramp-up of completed expansion projects in our Świecie, Kuopio, and Duino mills. In Corrugated Solutions, we achieved like-for-like volume growth, excluding the Schumacher acquisition of around 2%, in line with overall European market growth. In UFP, we were able to hold volumes stable despite market demand declines of around 5% in each of our key regional markets of Europe and Southern Africa, testament to our cost competitiveness and the quality and reliability of our products and services. The margin squeeze you see came through price. In Containerboard, average prices were moderately higher than the prior year, although this does mask a tale of two halves, where prices were moving up through the first half, followed by declines through the second half. In Corrugated Solutions, margins were squeezed as higher input costs were not fully passed on to customers due to intense competition in all key markets. In Uncoated Fine Paper markets, prices came under significant pressure through the year as industry moves to reduce capacity were not sufficient to mitigate the impact of significant demand-side weakness. This was exacerbated by lower pulp prices, which gave some breathing room to the higher-cost, unintegrated producers. Our South African business, which I remind you is a net seller of pulp, was further impacted by the unusually strong rand, which negatively impacted the rand price achieved for export pulp sales. It is nevertheless encouraging to see some modest pickup in pulp prices over recent months, and we are currently implementing price increases in certain uncoated fine paper grades in Europe on stronger order books and ongoing cost support. If I look back at where we are today in the corrugated packaging markets, margins remain under pressure due to the lingering supply-demand imbalance. Demand has clearly been impacted by the prolonged economic downturn seen in our core markets, lasting now the better part of three and a half years. That said, it is encouraging to see that even against a soft macroeconomic backdrop, box demand in Europe was still up around 2% last year. And in fact, if you look at the size of the European box market, it has still grown by around 7% since 2019, the year before COVID, for a compound annual growth average growth rate slightly above 1%. While clearly below historic growth rates of nearer 2% per annum, it is nonetheless still growing and I believe reflects the structural support we see from demand drivers such as e-commerce and sustainability. With a healthier macroeconomic backdrop, one would certainly expect these markets to return to trend growth rates of around 2% per annum. What has clearly been a major contributor to the overhang is the supply-side response. Containerboard capacity over the same period since 2019 has expanded by around 15%. In the short term, this overhang will continue to hold back margins in the industry in the absence of meaningful capacity rationalization and/or stronger demand-side recovery. In this regard, there's clearly ample incentive for capacity closures, with a significant portion of the industry cost curve currently loss-making. As for ourselves, we'll continue to focus on the controllables that we know will serve to strengthen and reinforce our advantaged competitive positioning in these markets, leveraging our market leadership positions, cost advantage to asset base, and integration strengths, and I'll come on to more of that a bit later. If we move then to the Flexible Packaging business, I'm very encouraged by the strong volume growth we achieved in our global paper bags business, with good contributions from all key markets that we serve. Pleasingly, in addition to the steady performance from traditional e.g., industrial end users, we are seeing an acceleration in demand growth for e-commerce solutions in both Europe and the U.S. We continue to invest behind these important growth markets that we are very well positioned to serve. Similarly, our consumer flexibles and functional paper and film segments continue to display their defensive qualities as we drive product, product mix improvements, supported by recent investments and ongoing innovation centered around sustainable packaging solutions. As noted on the slide, volumes in kraft paper were moderately down year-on-year as we responded to a generally softer demand environment with production downtime, particularly in the second half. While there is seemingly something of a disconnect between the strong volume growth in our bags business and the relatively softer kraft paper markets, our analysis suggests this is due to, due to a combination of industry stocking and destocking effects and product mix impacts. On the back of the softer demand, kraft paper prices came under pressure over the second half of the year and into early 2026, following modest increases through the first half of 2025. With the ongoing good demand picture in bags now seemingly translating into better order intake for our key sack kraft grades, we are currently implementing price increases across our range of sack kraft grades, reversing the declines we saw in late 2025 and early 2026. Again, if I step back briefly to understand how our industry dynamics are playing out in the context of the current challenging macroeconomic environment, unlike in the corrugated markets, we see the current margin pressure in this segment as being very much a cyclical demand side story. I remind you that sales in flexibles are split roughly 50/50 between more cyclically impacted industrial end users and the more defensive consumer end markets. On the industrial side, if I take, for example, European industrial bag demand from 2019 until today, it is off around 7%, heavily impacted by the slowdown in cyclically sensitive markets like cement and building materials. Over the same period, European Sack Kraft capacity has actually remained relatively flat. This is clearly a cyclical demand side challenge. As already mentioned, encouragingly, industry demand is improving, albeit modestly, from the lows seen in 2023. European industrial bag demand was up around 2% in 2024 and a further 2.5% in 2025. This also excludes new applications for our bags in non-industrial applications like retail and e-commerce and consumer markets, which are also adding to demand sources and contributed to the 5% growth we achieved in our bags business. With this backdrop, we'll continue to support the growth of our global leading paper bags franchise, supported by a strong backward integration into kraft paper and our complementary offering in functional papers. We are not waiting for the cyclical recovery, but rather continuing to develop new markets for our products, while also driving our operational excellence and cost optimization programs to enhance our competitiveness. Coming then to our competitive advantages, I just want to discuss briefly how we see Mondi positioned in these markets and reminding you of the significant advantage we have to deliver resilience in the most challenging of market conditions, and similarly, capture the upside as market conditions improve. I'll talk to each of these points over the next few slides. Our scale and market positions are a major strategic advantage. In corrugated, we enjoy market leadership positions in the niche virgin grades, where we also enjoy significant cost advantage. In emerging Europe, which typically enjoys higher growth rates, we are the leading integrated box producer. As you know, through the Schumacher acquisition last year, we have now extended our geographic reach across Northern Europe so that we can be a genuine option for regional key account customers, while at the same time leveraging our paper integration strengths. In fine paper, we are the number two player across Europe, with real strengths in our core regional market of Central Europe, while we are the clear market leader in our other core market of Southern Africa. In flexibles, we are the clear global market leader in both upstream kraft paper and downstream paper bags, with an unmatched global reach and integration strength. Similarly, we enjoy real strength in niche consumer flexibles markets in Europe, with, for example, the leading position in the high growth and highly demanding pet food market. These positions matter. They underpin our customer relationships, supply chain relevance, and cost competitiveness. As I've already mentioned, packaging demand is heavily influenced by macroeconomic growth in the short term. While there are many defensive end markets, such as food and beverage and other consumer non-durables, there's always an element of cyclicality in demand, even in the most defensive of markets. This is accentuated in our industrial exposures, as already noted, most notably in construction and related markets like cement and building materials. This has clearly been the dominant theme over the past three years as the fallout from COVID, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the more recent trade wars have all served to undermine consumer confidence, particularly in our core European markets. However, as I've already mentioned, it is pleasing to see that despite this very difficult macroeconomic backdrop, we are starting to see some growth coming back into these markets, albeit off a low base. Most importantly, we remain confident that the structural growth drivers in packaging are very much intact. Key among these are the increasing importance of e-commerce and the drive for sustainable packaging solutions. We are extremely well positioned to leverage these trends. As I will show you shortly, we offer a one-stop shop for all paper-based e-commerce solutions.... While I firmly believe our expertise across different flexible packaging so substrates and our vertical integration strengths gives real advantage when developing sustainable packaging solutions for our customers. You'll see on the right-hand side of the slide, we show an example of how new applications, largely driven by sustainability requirements, are driving demand for our specialty Kraft paper products, with a significant increase in applications across e-commerce, non-food, and industrial. A trend we expect to see continue and likely accelerate, driven by both regulation and consumer preferences. We continue to seek ways to bring this differentiated product offering to our customers in a way that delivers the best value proposition for them. Last year, we combined our e-commerce sales team from across corrugated and flexible packaging to provide a single point of entry for customers. Similarly, we continued to drive innovation across our broad portfolio of packaging solutions. I was delighted that we recently won nine WorldStar Packaging Awards for innovation, following a long tradition of success in developing innovative packaging solutions in partnership with our customers. This is, of course, all underpinned by our ongoing focus on operational excellence, which focuses on delivering right first-time performance, reducing lead times, and providing customers with the agility and flexibility that they expect from us. You'll see on the right-hand side of this slide, how our product breadth supports two of the most important end-use segments, FMCG and e-commerce, which together make up about half of our packaging portfolio. For each, we offer a full suite of corrugated and flexible solutions that are genuinely complementary and are designed around our customer needs. This is what customers value: one Mondi, comprehensive solutions and consistent quality. Our integrated model is a fundamental competitive strength, and here we need to differentiate between what I refer to as our bulk and niche packaging grades. We firmly believe that in the bulk grades, strength in integration is key. From the paper perspective, it provides security of offtake, allowing us to run our mills as efficiently as possible, while also allowing us to optimize logistics into our converting operations. Similarly, from the converter's perspective, it offers security of supply, logistics benefits, and innovation opportunities using the combined knowledge and expertise of the whole value chain. As you can see from the charts on the left-hand side of the slide, we are highly integrated in these grades. By contrast, in the niche virgin containerboard and specialty kraft grades, we are very comfortable with our strong open market positions. These products are sold on a global basis to a wide number of different customers, many of whom are other integrated producers who do not have these products in their portfolios. Key here is cost competitiveness, quality, reliability, and innovation, where we are again very well-placed to outperform. Coming to our cost competitiveness, which is particularly important in our upstream paper businesses, this chart illustrates that around three-quarters of our production is in the lower half of the relevant cost curves, a key determinant of long-term outperformance in these markets. We have achieved this by having the right assets in the right places to secure access to cost-competitive raw materials. We have then built on this natural cost advantage through judicious investment in the assets on a through-cycle basis. In addition to the scale benefits that come with the capacity expansion, these investments also deliver efficiency and cost optimization through increased energy self-sufficiency and raw material efficiencies. A culture of continuous improvement, delivering operational excellence, is then key to extracting the full value from these privileged assets. On the topic of operational excellence, as Mike says, this is a continuous program and embedded in our culture. We are very proud of our long track record of continuous improvement, as you can see from the example of what has been achieved at one of our flagship operations, Świecie in Poland, over the past year, 10 years on the right-hand side of the slide. However, we are always striving for more, and in early 2025, we initiated a multi-year program aimed at taking us to the next level of operational excellence through a zero loss mindset, embedding standardized processes and ensuring the sharing of best practice, facilitated by empowering our people and strengthening our leadership teams. While I'm being constantly reminded by colleagues that this is a long-term program and I shouldn't be expecting significant quick wins, I am nevertheless delighted by the initial results from the pilot projects. In Świecie, for example, this has already led to strong efficiency gains and reduced downtime on the machines. We are very excited by what this program can do for all of our operations as we systematically roll it out across the group. Our converting operations also have a proud track record of driving efficiency gains. Over the past 10 years, we have closed 22 plants, while at the same time growing volumes. As our larger plants get increasingly efficient, we are able to successfully transfer volumes from smaller operations, which in turn drives further efficiencies. The chart on the right-hand side of the slide illustrates the track record of productivity gains over the past 10 years in our Corrugated Solutions and paper bags plants, respectively. After a short period of slower rates of improvement, I'm delighted by the significant productivity gains achieved in the last 12 months of 4%-5%, reflecting a renewed focus on driving this key performance indicator. The Schumacher acquisition has further strengthened our Corrugated Solutions network, enabling further optimization across our footprint and unlocking efficiencies that support our long-term growth. As Mike mentioned, we recently announced three further plant closures, again, with the intention of transferring the volumes to other nearby plants in our network. While we fully acknowledge the challenges for those valued colleagues directly impacted by these decisions, we also recognize the critical importance of driving the ongoing optimization of our plant network. We will not hesitate to take the tough decisions on plant or mill closures when required. So let me then finish where I started. In the context of a prolonged cyclical downturn, we have delivered a resilient performance. We have taken and will continue to take decisive actions to drive value. We remain strongly positioned to deliver in the short term and capture the upside as markets improve. Our conviction is driven by our belief in the structural growth drivers underpinning growth in our packaging businesses, our leading market positions, our well-invested and highly cost-competitive assets, our compelling customer value proposition, and most importantly, our committed and highly capable people who live and drive our culture of excellence and continuous improvement. In this context, I'd like to finish by extending my sincere thanks to all our people for their great commitment and energy in navigating the current challenging market conditions and remaining steadfast in pursuing our goal of delivering sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders. With that, I thank you very much for your attention, and Mike and I are now delighted to take your questions. If you have a question today, please use the Raise Hand function on your screen. We'll just wait a moment for questions to come in. Our first question comes from Reinhard of Bank of America. Reinhard, please unmute and go ahead. Morning, folks. Can you hear me? We can. We can, Reinhardt. Morning. Brilliant. Thank you for taking my questions. I just wanna go to one of your comments. You mentioned that you won't hesitate to take tough decisions on plant closures. I think, you know, you mentioned that a lot of your assets are in the bottom half of the cost curve, but some of them are obviously not. So if we think about rationalizing supply here, as you know, for on the Mondi side, where do you think that incremental closure could potentially come from? Yeah, I think, Reinhard, it's. I mean, as I said, we've, we've got a, a track record of, of taking those decisions in order to continue to facilitate, the drive for more efficiency. Now, typically, historically, a lot of that has been facilitated by, our existing plants getting increasingly efficient, and so we are able to continue to serve our customer with a smaller fixed cost base as. And that's something we've continued to do, and we, we will- we won't hesitate to where the opportunity arises, and as I mentioned, we just recently, announced and are in the process of closing a further three plants. That is, plants in, Hungary, Germany, and, Turkey. If the opportunity arises to drive further efficiencies while making sure we look after our, our, our customers, that is something we'll continue to do. The plant network is obviously very extensive, and it lends itself to those opportunities. I think your reference was specifically to the paper mills. Clearly, you know, the most important value driver in the paper mills is your cost position. That's why you see us talk so much about the relative cost positioning. Now, those cost curves are not precise. It's... We take the industry cost curves from the various consultants to get a sense of where we are in that space. Quite a lot of the, 'cause people always point to the 25%, as you, I think, have alluded to, that is not in the lower half of the cost curve. Some of that, one has to acknowledge, is very much in the sort of specialty camp, which in some ways it's not appropriate to look at it on a simple cost curve analysis, and certainly, the margins that we see in those businesses are not necessarily the case. Clearly, the one asset of ours which is currently loss-making is the Duino mill in Italy for two reasons. One is it hasn't been optimized yet. It only started this year, so we are not yet in a fully optimized position because, of course, as the capacity ramps up, so the unit costs go down, and also your input costs get optimized. So we are in the process of doing that, but undoubtedly, there's also the market dynamic that's at play there. And as I mentioned, swathes of industry capacity are currently loss-making. The big challenge in that regard is, of course, you would logically see that the more marginal assets should go first. That's at the moment happening to some degree, but one expects more to happen, frankly, if the current paradigm continues. Duino is a mid-cost producer, by the time we are fully optimized on it, and importantly, we also require the security of supply that comes with having some recycled containerboard in our portfolio. As I pointed out in that slide on the integrated system, we actually remain short of recycled containerboard as a business. While it might not feel like it at the moment, given the oversupply in the recycled containerboard market, through the cycle, it is important to have some of your own recycled capacity for security of supply reasons into your box business. So there's always that strategic element as well. But, suffice to say that all the rest of our paper mills are extremely well-placed and are extremely cost competitive. Got it. No, that's very clear. Thank you, Andrew. Maybe if I just flip that question on its head, and ask about your capacity at the box level, at box plants. You're driving efficiency, that seems to be a focus right now. But how do you think about maybe some countercyclical consolidation investments? I mean, dividend is down now, CapEx, you're pulling back, so there seems to be some balance sheet capacity in the next few years. How are you thinking about countercyclical investments, at the box plant level? Yeah, I won't even ask Mike to comment on the balance sheet capacity, 'cause I know he's on set at 2.6 times leverage. I think we're very conscious that, you know, we're at the top of where we're comfortable in terms of leverage. Agreed. And so, our focus is very much on driving those self-help actions that we spoke about, and being as well-placed as we can to serve our customers in the current dynamic. And, you know, we've invested heavily in the business. We know that, and we have the capacity now. We have all the weapons in our armory to compete very effectively in the markets. That's the job to do right now with the assets that we invested in and the portfolio that we have. That is the focus. Very clear. Thanks a lot. I'll pass it along. Thanks, Reinhardt. Our next question comes from Detlef of JPMorgan. Detlef, please unmute and go ahead. Morning, guys. Just checking you guys can hear me? We can. Perfect. Morning. It's just a quick one on your CapEx. You know, if I look to 2025, coming in roughly quote, EUR 130 million below midpoint of guide, putting down 2026 by EUR 100 million. Can you run us through kind of what you've paid back, any specific projects? And has anything kind of been kicked to 2027, or is this kind of EUR 550 million-ish roughly okay, extending growth project? Short answer is, yes, we're very comfortable with that number. Clearly in the, you know, the current low growth market environment, it's not, it's, it's not a difficult trade-off to cut back on anything of a, of a significant expansionary nature. That said, there are some pockets of growth that we are still continuing to support, but, but they're very small, and they're within that overall number. The primary focus at the moment is on, on, in terms of the CapEx program going forward, is, is investing and to make sure the asset integrity is, is not impeded, and of course, that we do retain the exposure to the upside. But having invested significantly over the last few years, we're very confident that we can pull back on the CapEx spend while without prejudicing the asset integrity, and similarly, without prejudicing the exposure to the upside. In terms of what we might have prioritized or deprioritized, that's there's always that constant work being done to prioritize your CapEx programs and the like, but we're very confident that there's nothing we're doing now that, as I say, either prejudices asset integrity or indeed limits our exposure to the upside in the near term. Clearly, if we see markets, you know, starting to show real recovery in terms of from the demand side, there might be some other opportunities. You know, we have a great asset base that we continue to leverage if the opportunities are there, but we're very comfortable operating in this sort of envelope for an extended period of time. We've always said maintenance CapEx, you know, and that's not just sort of holding on to what we got, but adding some opportunities in the sort of 100%-110% of depreciation. So that's what we're operating with this year. Yeah, and Detlef, just to be explicit on your 2027 question, we're not stoking an issue for 2027. As Andrew said, we can operate at this 110%. We've got capacity that we've put on the ground that isn't yet full. And in this environment, I think we're very comfortable. We've got well-invested assets, and now we need to generate the cash and fill those assets. Great. Thanks so much. I'll hand it over. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Our next question comes from Lars of Stifel. Lars, please unmute and go ahead. Thank you for taking my question. I'll just start with a big question in terms of where your margins are today. They're obviously down quite a bit on the cyclical pressures and, and of course, you can reinvest it in your business with headwinds from starting up, et cetera, et cetera. Where do you think, considering what seems to be somewhat structurally higher wood costs, that your margins could, where they should be in some sort of normalized environment? And just on a short-term comments, you did say Kraft paper order books are starting to improve, and you, you reversing the, the sort of couple of quarters of price declines. What are you seeing in containerboard when it comes to demand trends? And of course, you have spoken to Andrew and many others, of course, and in reality, there's been a distress here for a long time. Are you seeing any real signs of this cracking? Okay, there's a few questions in there. I think on the first question, I'm not gonna, I know it's flavor of the month, but I'm not gonna give long-term forecasts. But I think, you know, yes, European wood costs are structurally higher than they were, you know, pre-Ukraine for obvious reasons, because of the restriction, well, the prohibition of supply out of Russia and Belarus, which of course, caused prices to go up. And yes, they've come down to some extent from the peak levels in 2022, but they're still above pre-Ukraine levels. So I think, you know, that is a structural change. At the same time, it clearly affects all players in Europe to a greater or lesser degree, but clearly everyone's impacted. So the whole cost, industry cost base has gone up. That's particularly relevant for, for example, the sack kraft grades, which are primarily made, as you well know, in Northern and Central Europe. And so the relative positioning hasn't materially changed on that. Clearly, where it has changed on a global basis is in, for example, pulp, where, as a globally traded commodity, you are competing with other continents where maybe you haven't seen that same level of input cost pressure. From our perspective, we are, we are not a pulp player. I mean, the only place we make open market pulp of any significance is in South Africa, and of course, there, the wood cost situation is actually relatively improved versus the European cost base. Clearly, that was the other reason that attracted us to Canada, where, again, in our Hinton mill, the wood costs are extremely favorable compared to Europe. So I think, you know, it's in that sort of market where you might have seen a relatively less competitive dynamic. In the kraftliner markets, which is the other big grade of virgin product that we make, again, all the European competitors have seen similar input cost inflation. I guess on a relative basis, people like the Latam producers have enjoyed a relative advantage. But as you know, they produce their kraftliner out of virgin hardwood grades. You can't add things like recycled content into those grades, which the Europeans and ourselves, in particular, are able to benefit from, so we can offset some of those cost disadvantages on the wood front with the PFR content and the like. So I think to your point, Lars, it is a relevant consideration on a global basis, but then you have to look grade by grade, where you have to compete on a global basis versus what are more regional markets. The question on containerboard, I think you mentioned it, it was basically a twin question on pricing and sort of where's the supply-demand picture, which of course are linked. Yeah, I mean, right now, margins across the industry are heavily squeezed. Clearly, the big capacity problem is in recycled containerboard. It's not on the virgin grades, but at the same time, we're the first to acknowledge that the overhang in the recycled grades is putting a cap on the ability to push pricing on the virgin grades, because on the margin, there is substitution. So you know, the question is how quickly this overcapacity can be absorbed into the market. I firmly believe it has to come through a combination of factors. Clearly, the demand side, albeit we're starting to see some okay demand. You know, last year, I think the box Europe box volumes were up around two percentage points. If you look at the industry statistics, that's okay in a normal environment. Of course, it's off a low base because we saw a sharp decline in sort of 2023 into 2024, and now it's only rebuilding now. So you have seen, on a trend basis, below trend growth for the last five years. At the same time, the capacity has been coming in on historic trend rates, if you look at it. So that has caused this oversupply. I do believe it will require further capacity closures to balance it. I don't think we can assume that demand, in itself, is gonna do all the heavy lifting here. But as I said in my opening remarks, there's every incentive for that. Now, we are starting to see some movement on that front. It's not these big-ticket sort of headline-grabbing moves, but you are starting to see closures take place. I firmly believe, as I say, there's every incentive for more closures, there must be huge pain at the high end of the cost curve. And simply put, the current margins are not sustainable. So if you believe in a structurally growing market, which we do—you know, the current incentive price is not there, certainly for new capacity, and its incentive is for closures. And you've got to believe something's gonna change on that front. Thank you. I hope that answers your questions, Lars. It does. Thank you. Thanks, Lars. Our next question comes from Cole of Jefferies. Cole, please unmute and go ahead. Morning. Thanks for taking my question. I appreciate the actions taken on the cost front, and, you know, Mondi has never, like many of your peers, announced separate kind of cost initiatives, but, you know, 1,000 headcount, group services, pulled back. That's all ultimately helpful for 2026. I'd just like a little bit more color on, you know, the message on costs. You're talking about stable costs, 2026 versus 2025. I'd just like some moving parts there. And then after the input costs, can you give any color on, you know, what would be the potential contribution from the Schumacher acquisition and the EUR 32 million synergies that you're trying to achieve in 2026? And, also a difficult one is the contributions from the CapEx projects. I know prices are low, and the market is still challenging, but the contribution from the major CapEx projects would be helpful. Thank you. Sure. Let me start, Cole, with the first couple, and then the last one sort of relates to wider market issues, which Andrew can comment on. Just in terms of costs, just so we're clear, if I take what some would call overheads, we call them fixed costs, we have taken those actions. We continue to take actions on overheads. Large part for us is people costs, some maintenance of equipment, but clearly that's around assets. Those people actions that we've taken, plus those other efficiencies that we'll drive through our overhead base, will offset, as I said in my words, will offset any inflationary pressures. So we still have, and we like to pay our workforce that are precious to us, inflation increases. The work we have done will offset that. So I'd expect our fixed cost overhead base to be flat, given the actions that we've taken. I think you also touched on input costs, so, above the line, direct materials, others might call it. Again, within that, it's early in the year. I would guide to flat if I was sat here today. Clearly, that will change as the year goes on. But as of today, we're seeing it flat on 2025. Why is that? We're seeing some headwinds. There's less energy emissions credits in various forms from governments. I think you've heard the rest of the peer group talk about those. For us, that's about EUR 60 million headwind on energy. We'll work hard to offset that. We've got some other cost categories coming down still, which I think reflects a sort of a pretty lackluster economy. It's things like chemicals are still coming down. And then within wood, we've got some ups, some downs. We've got Scandi wood coming down, Central Eastern European wood going up. I would say the ups and downs are much smaller than they've been. I know we're in a much more volatile world, so I don't want to diminish a sort of 20 up and a 30 down. But those movements are much smaller ups and downs than they were two years ago, or frankly, that they would be if economies recover. So I think what the, the puts and takes to give me confidence to go to flat is, is the puts and takes are, are probably a bit either way, and we're working hard internally to offset those energy grants from governments in various forms. So, so best guidance is flat on input costs, Cole. Hope that's a bit of color within the categories that you're after. And, and, Andrew, in terms of markets and- Yeah ... volumes. Yeah, so, I think just adding to the cost story, we, I'd frankly prefer our procurement guys to be struggling a bit more because it generally means an economic pickup, which puts more pressure also on input costs, but that's a far more favorable environment than sadly, the one we continue to struggle with, with the geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop that we see. It- But coming back to call it the self-help, Cole, which is very much also linked to the CapEx programme, I guess it can be divided into two parts. The one is what is within our control and the other, which is clearly the market dynamic that we're selling into, and of course, the two are somewhat interlinked. But if I look at it in broad terms, you know, on the big upstream capacity expansion, we've probably got another 300,000 tonnes to come this year from ramping up the projects. Now, about half of that is Duino, which I think I've already explained to you clearly in the current paradigm with the current recycled containerboard price, not seeing a big contribution on those extra tonnes at the moment. But as I said, it's, you know, it's the focus there is very much driving the productivity improvement, and it also has benefits on cost optimization and the like. For the rest, it's obviously very valuable tons, even in the current difficult environment, because it's expanding both the virgin capacity out of Świecie and Kuopio, and also the sack kraft production out of the PM10 in Štětí. And I remind you, last year, we took down the Stolbtsy mill, so this incremental capacity for the market is readily absorbable. And, you know, again, we're excited by the underlying growth we see in our bags and other applications for our kraft paper, so very confident that that can be placed into good markets. So that's where a lot of it comes from. In terms of the absolute contribution, the big challenge here is what is your pricing assumption, particularly on the paper grades. And which is, you know, what we're saying is this is gonna support our volume growth in 2026. We think we can, for all of those reasons, grow above market. The absolute pricing will obviously determine exactly what the contribution is from that, but this is good low-cost tonnage that we are bringing into the market. And similarly, in the converting businesses, again, there is always a much closer interplay with the market dynamics and the capacity. Putting up the capacity is the easy bit, getting it into the market at the right price is something which obviously is also a function of the overall market conditions. Again, though, I think we've got all the tools to be able to grow above market in the key markets where we've increased capacity, and that includes the Schumacher acquisition, which as I, you know, we said at the time, also comes with effectively some latent capacity, which it's incumbent on us to grow into the market, and we're very confident we can continue to do that. I think a very exciting area for us is that e-commerce area where, you know, as I said in my opening remarks, we do have a fantastic and unparalleled port-- breadth of portfolio there that is genuinely what our e-commerce customers are buying from us across the platform. I think I've got a example of the protective mailer behind us and the like. These are all products which are combining expertise in our corrugated and our flexibles business, which is fantastic, and that's why we brought together the sales team that can talk as one... as one voice for all our offering across our flexibles and corrugated business. And then just as a follow-up, you know, bringing the CapEx down to EUR 550 million is, you know, it's a strong effort, considering you had commitments for the major projects as well as, you know, the recovery boilers. Could you just break down that EUR 550 million CapEx number? 'Cause reducing it to that level, I know is must have involved a lot of work. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, just to be clear, we're not investing in any recovery boilers at the moment. Those things are properly expensive. Mm-hmm. We've got a few, I think you're referring to as biomass boilers. Right. Yeah. So firstly, just to be very clear, those are all in the numbers, so there's nothing on top or anything like that. No, I mean, as I said earlier, you know, we feel confident we can do this. Yes, I mean, as you rightly say, when you work across the organization, it's always a challenge because everyone's got essential CapEx, et cetera, and great growth opportunities and the like. But, you know, we are extremely confident that we are managing this CapEx at a level which doesn't impair the integrity of the asset base. It doesn't store up a problem for later because, you know, we're not believers in that. We believe in building a long-term sustainable business, but at the same... and similarly, doesn't prejudice the upside as and when it happens. So yeah, in short, we are very confident. It does still allow us to make those important investments in, for example, these biomass boilers, which are very important both in terms of, because as a stand business element, the existing capacity is end of life. But as importantly as that, it also gives us upside in terms of cost opportunity and importantly, CO2 reductions and things, which are very important for our customers. You know, our Scope 1 and 2 emissions is our customers' Scope 3. They are very focused on that. It is a genuine selling point and a very important value for them. So, these are very important steps, but that's all included in the numbers we guide to. Thank you. Thanks, Cole. Thank you. Our next question comes from Andrew of UBS. Andrew, please unmute and go ahead. Hi, gents. Can you hear me okay? We can. Mm-hmm. Excellent. So, yeah, you've had some relatively encouraging comments about the Kraft paper market. Can you just point to, like, which pockets of demand are sort of starting to come up at the moment? Are you seeing more growth in export markets? Is it specific customer segments within Europe? Like, what's the, what are the moving parts, and how much do you put down to kind of a restocking dynamic after last year's destock versus, like, a fundamental underlying improvement in trend? And how, and how do you see the rest of the year, given we've obviously got some infrastructure investments coming through on the cement side and things like that? I mean, can you just talk through that, that dynamic, if that's okay? Yeah. As I said in my remarks, it, it is a bit confusing, this seeming disconnect between bag growth, because bags use Sack Kraft, Mm-hmm ... and the relatively soft picture in the Kraft paper markets in 2025. Actually, if you recall 2024, it was a bit of a reverse. It was the other way around, as this- Mm-hmm ... the Kraft paper markets were stronger relative to the underlying bags. But to me, first and foremost, you look at the end users and which is the bag demand, and it is encouraging that last year, as I said, we grew 5%.... If you look just at the European market, the industry numbers tell us that it was about a 2.5% growth market in Europe. North America seems to have starting to show some growth as well now, which is encouraging. Again, we were growing strongly in North America, well, the Americas, but it's mainly North America. For us, it's Mexico and the U.S. And then, of course, important markets for us are also Middle East, North Africa, which always some volatility in those markets, in individual pockets of that, but if you take it as a whole, again, some good growth. So, you know, when I look at last year's contribution to the bags growth, it was everywhere contributed. On top of that, we obviously, as I mentioned, got these new sources of demand. So for the likes of, you know, I mentioned again, the e-commerce mailer bags and things like that, a nice extra area of growth. I mean, the core of that business remains in the industrial space, but these sort of applications are coming through, which both support the growth of our converting business, but also, of course, demand for the paper grades. So that is, you know, that has been the picture of 2025, and it's certainly continued into 2026 in terms of a decent-looking demand environment for our bags. It seems as though, as I say, having been a bit softer into the second half of the year with the kraft paper volumes, we did see that in our order books into the Q4. I think we cautioned about that at the Q3 numbers. Certainly that did continue into January, and we shouldn't, you know, we're generally not saying it's sort of first of January, suddenly things changed. But certainly now, we are starting to see that good position in bags translating into a certainly stronger order position in the kraft paper business. Yes, and on the back of that, we're currently in the market for price increases. You know, I hesitate to say, so remind you that this is very much recovering the pricing erosion we saw Q4 into early Q1 this year. Yeah. No, that's clear. Just a second question, so on the ramp-up of the projects. I mean, I remember when you acquired Schumacher, it was running at roughly 50% utilization after the large plant came on. Can you give us an update as to sort of broadly where that is and maybe also where Duino is running at, just so we can understand how that kind of movement in board versus sort of board demand internally sort of evolves as we go through this year? Yeah, Duino is easy because it's much easier to measure capacity in the paper machines. As I said earlier, you know, we could expect another 150-odd thousand tons production- Mm ... incremental production this year out of Duino if we run- Mm ... run full. In terms of the Schumacher capacity, I mean, again, it is also a function of the overall market. So clearly, we are confident we can grow above market, because as I say, we've got very strong base on which to believe that in terms of the asset base. So we have, we've obviously invested now in growing the commercial infrastructure to support the growth of that business in that Northern European region. But we have to also acknowledge, you know, when I mentioned that box demand growth across Europe was 2%-ish, you know, that does mask quite different regional growth rates. Mm. Clearly, Southern Europe, Spain was the star performer, where unfortunately, we don't have direct box exposure. We do obviously sell containerboard into there- Mm ... so that's helpful, but it's not direct exposure. Our indirect exposure in the box business from a European perspective is very much Northern Europe and Northern Central Europe. Clearly, Germany, I think box demand was probably half a percentage point or something growth last year. Mm. So the overall market remains slow, and, you know, we are working in that context. So, you know, we have to be realistic about what we can do in the short term, because what we don't want to do is chase volume at the expense of margin. That would be stupid and a very short-term- Mm ... short-sighted, 'cause we're here for the long term, so we must do it in a structured and systematic way, but we are very confident in the capability we have there to continue to grow above market. So that is the primary focus in terms of how we grow out the ... and fully utilize, as you say, the underutilized capacity we acquired as part of that acquisition. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's very clear. Thank you. Thanks, Andy. I think we've got time for one more, and we're probably over time, but happy to take one more. Yes, we'll take our final question from Kevin of Deutsche. Kevin, please unmute and ask your question. Thanks very much, and morning, all. Good morning. If I could do the first was on your guidance for downtime and the impact on EBITDA this year. Just presumably, that's weighted very much towards the corrugated packaging segment, but I just wondered if you could sort of help us think about the sort of weighting by segment and cadence we might expect during the year. And just if I could sneak in a second quick one. There's clearly a number of elements in the numbers today addressing capital allocation decisions. And I think you signaled in your piece earlier, Mike, that it's your leverage is sort of the higher end of where you're comfortable with, I guess. I just wondered what you're trying to signal today in terms of the timeframe you might get that leverage to a bit more of a comfortable, a more comfortable position for you guys. So any color on those two would be great. ... Sure. On maintenance, to keep it simple, it, it's about the same as last year. We've got it to about EUR 120 first half, EUR 80 second half. I think you should assume the same split. Yeah, on leverage, listen, I don't think you should use the, the phrase uncomfortable with where we are. I think it's at the top end, of where we'd like to be to have that financial flexibility. And you've seen a number of measures, that we continue to take through last year and into this year, around working capital, around cash generation off the assets, around, spend on CapEx. I think that's just prudent financial management in the current economic environment. How quick we de-lever, depends on two things. One is the net debt. I don't want to be sort of flippant. That's the one that we can control to an extent in terms of the cash that we consume and the cash that we choose to spend as a business. And then the other one is EBITDA, which actually, on a math basis, is much more powerful in reducing your leverage. That, as Andrew has said, will be a function of both the actions we take, but also how the market operates over the coming period. Clearly, if price moves, you de-leverage very, very quickly. We're not waiting for the markets to move. We're taking control of our own actions here. And I think you've seen that today. I think you'll continue to see it. As I said earlier, it is what Mondi does. Hopefully, that answers your question. Yeah, that's really helpful. Thanks a lot, and, yeah. Apologies for the difference in wording, I guess, but, you, you get the point, I think. No, that's okay. No, no, not at all. I just want to make sure I understand. Great. Thanks very much. Thank you very much. Very helpful. Thank you. Very good. And with that, we've taken up more than, more than, our allotted time, so I really appreciate the interest as always. As always, Fiona and team are available for any follow-up questions. And, for those of you, we look forward to seeing you in the on-the-road shows over the next few weeks. So, again, really appreciate the interest. I think, in summary, you know, we know the world is difficult out there. We are not standing still in that environment. We are starting... We are seeing good growth in some of our core businesses. We're supporting that with the right actions, to make sure we are as com- you know, extremely competitive in any environment and, with, really good positioning for the upside when it, when it comes. Really appreciate your interest, and thank you very much for your attention today, and goodbye from us. Thank you.

Speaker 7: Welcome to the Mondi Full Year Results 2025. Just to let you know, we do have captions on today's call, and these can be switched on and off within your Zoom settings, but please be aware they are automated and can sometimes contain errors. If you have a question today, then please use the Raise Hand function. I'm now gonna hand you over to Andrew King. Andrew, please go ahead. Welcome to the Mondi Full Year Results 2025. welcome to the mondi full year results 2025 Just to let you know, we do have captions on today's call, and these can be switched on and off within your Zoom settings, but please be aware they are automated and can sometimes contain errors. just to let you know we do have captions on today's call and these can be switched on and off within your zoom settings but please be aware they are automated and can sometimes contain errors If you have a question today, then please use the Raise Hand function. if you have a question today then please use the raise hand function I'm now gonna hand you over to Andrew King. i'm now gonna hand you over to andrew king Andrew, please go ahead. andrew please go ahead

Speaker 1: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Mondi's 2025 full year results presentation. I'm Andrew King, your Group CEO, and I'm joined this morning by our CFO, Mike Powell. As usual, I'll begin with some highlights for the year. Mike will then take you through the financial performance in more detail. I will then return to provide an update on our business units, discussing at the same time the current trading environment, and then take you through why we believe Mondi is strongly positioned to capture the upside as markets improve. After that, Mike and I look forward to taking your questions. As you'll see on the first slide, in terms of our full year performance, I believe we did deliver a resilient outcome, EUR 1 billion of underlying EBITDA, marginally down on the prior year. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Mondi's 2025 full year results presentation. good morning everyone and welcome to mondi's 2025 full year results presentation I'm Andrew King, your Group CEO, and I'm joined this morning by our CFO, Mike Powell. i'm andrew king your group ceo and i'm joined this morning by our cfo mike powell As usual, I'll begin with some highlights for the year. as usual i'll begin with some highlights for the year Mike will then take you through the financial performance in more detail. mike will then take you through the financial performance in more detail I will then return to provide an update on our business units, discussing at the same time the current trading environment, and then take you through why we believe Mondi is strongly positioned to capture the upside as markets improve. i will then return to provide an update on our business units discussing at the same time the current trading environment and then take you through why we believe mondi is strongly positioned to capture the upside as markets improve After that, Mike and I look forward to taking your questions. after that mike and i look forward to taking your questions As you'll see on the first slide, in terms of our full year performance, I believe we did deliver a resilient outcome, EUR 1 billion of underlying EBITDA, marginally down on the prior year. as you'll see on the first slide in terms of our full year performance i believe we did deliver a resilient outcome eur 1 billion of underlying ebitda marginally down on the prior year Pleasingly, cash generated from operations of EUR 1.07 billion was up on the prior year. As Mike will explain in more detail, we were also able to reduce CapEx below previously guided levels, which further supported our cash flow and balance sheet. As I mentioned, this is a resilient performance in the context of what remain challenging market conditions and reflects both the strength of our integrated asset base, the value of our unique product offering, and the impact of the self-help measures we have taken. While we remain confident in the structural drivers underpinning through-cycle growth in our sustainable packaging solutions, we're equally cognizant of the impact of the current downturn and the impact it's having on our near-term performance. Pleasingly, cash generated from operations of EUR 1.07 billion was up on the prior year. pleasingly cash generated from operations of eur 1.07 billion was up on the prior year As Mike will explain in more detail, we were also able to reduce CapEx below previously guided levels, which further supported our cash flow and balance sheet. as mike will explain in more detail we were also able to reduce capex below previously guided levels which further supported our cash flow and balance sheet As I mentioned, this is a resilient performance in the context of what remain challenging market conditions and reflects both the strength of our integrated asset base, the value of our unique product offering, and the impact of the self-help measures we have taken. as i mentioned this is a resilient performance in the context of what remain challenging market conditions and reflects both the strength of our integrated asset base the value of our unique product offering and the impact of the self-help measures we have taken While we remain confident in the structural drivers underpinning through-cycle growth in our sustainable packaging solutions, we're equally cognizant of the impact of the current downturn and the impact it's having on our near-term performance. while we remain confident in the structural drivers underpinning through-cycle growth in our sustainable packaging solutions we're equally cognizant of the impact of the current downturn and the impact it's having on our near-term performance In response, we have taken deliberate and decisive actions across the group, intensifying our focus on cost discipline, on operational excellence, on proactively optimizing our production footprint, and on cash generation, while at the same time continuing to focus on delivering a great value proposition to our customers. These actions take, together with the significant competitive advantages we continue to enjoy as a business, ensure that Mondi is strongly positioned to capture the upside as market conditions improve. With that, I'll hand you over to Mike for more color on the 2025 financial performance. In response, we have taken deliberate and decisive actions across the group, intensifying our focus on cost discipline, on operational excellence, on proactively optimizing our production footprint, and on cash generation, while at the same time continuing to focus on delivering a great value proposition to our customers. in response we have taken deliberate and decisive actions across the group intensifying our focus on cost discipline on operational excellence on proactively optimizing our production footprint and on cash generation while at the same time continuing to focus on delivering a great value proposition to our customers These actions take, together with the significant competitive advantages we continue to enjoy as a business, ensure that Mondi is strongly positioned to capture the upside as market conditions improve. these actions take together with the significant competitive advantages we continue to enjoy as a business ensure that mondi is strongly positioned to capture the upside as market conditions improve With that, I'll hand you over to Mike for more color on the 2025 financial performance. with that i'll hand you over to mike for more color on the 2025 financial performance

Speaker 6: Thanks, Andrew. Morning, everybody. Thank you for joining. On to our 2025 results, which demonstrate a resilient performance against a backdrop of the prolonged cyclical downturn that our industry continues to face. Underlying EBITDA of EUR 1 billion saw continued margin pressure associated with the challenging trading conditions, the makeup of which I'll come onto on the next slide. During the year, we successfully completed the build and startup phase of a number of major capacity expansion projects into our core markets. These investments, together with the Schumacher acquisition, position us strongly to capture the upside as market conditions improve. They have, however, led to a higher capital base, and as a result, you see an increase in depreciation and finance costs, which reduces the group's basic underlying EPS and return on capital in the year. Thanks, Andrew. thanks andrew Morning, everybody. morning everybody Thank you for joining. thank you for joining On to our 2025 results, which demonstrate a resilient performance against a backdrop of the prolonged cyclical downturn that our industry continues to face. on to our 2025 results which demonstrate a resilient performance against a backdrop of the prolonged cyclical downturn that our industry continues to face Underlying EBITDA of EUR 1 billion saw continued margin pressure associated with the challenging trading conditions, the makeup of which I'll come onto on the next slide. underlying ebitda of eur 1 billion saw continued margin pressure associated with the challenging trading conditions the makeup of which i'll come onto on the next slide During the year, we successfully completed the build and startup phase of a number of major capacity expansion projects into our core markets. during the year we successfully completed the build and startup phase of a number of major capacity expansion projects into our core markets These investments, together with the Schumacher acquisition, position us strongly to capture the upside as market conditions improve. these investments together with the schumacher acquisition position us strongly to capture the upside as market conditions improve They have, however, led to a higher capital base, and as a result, you see an increase in depreciation and finance costs, which reduces the group's basic underlying EPS and return on capital in the year. they have however led to a higher capital base and as a result you see an increase in depreciation and finance costs which reduces the group's basic underlying eps and return on capital in the year On the right-hand side, I'm pleased with the stronger cash generation from operations, increasing to EUR 1,072 million through strong working capital management. So let me take you through the main movements in underlying EBITDA when compared to the prior year of EUR 1,049 million that you can see on the left-hand side of the chart. As you can see, the performance was resilient in an environment of macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, with only small movements year-on-year, which is testament to the strength of the cost-advantaged and integrated assets, the quality product offering, and the targeted actions taken. Sales volumes were up on the prior year, which included additional volumes from ramping up the new capacity. On the right-hand side, I'm pleased with the stronger cash generation from operations, increasing to EUR 1,072 million through strong working capital management. on the right-hand side i'm pleased with the stronger cash generation from operations increasing to eur 1,072 million through strong working capital management So let me take you through the main movements in underlying EBITDA when compared to the prior year of EUR 1,049 million that you can see on the left-hand side of the chart. so let me take you through the main movements in underlying ebitda when compared to the prior year of eur 1,049 million that you can see on the left-hand side of the chart As you can see, the performance was resilient in an environment of macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, with only small movements year-on-year, which is testament to the strength of the cost-advantaged and integrated assets, the quality product offering, and the targeted actions taken. as you can see the performance was resilient in an environment of macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical tensions with only small movements year-on-year which is testament to the strength of the cost-advantaged and integrated assets the quality product offering and the targeted actions taken Sales volumes were up on the prior year, which included additional volumes from ramping up the new capacity. sales volumes were up on the prior year which included additional volumes from ramping up the new capacity With respect to selling prices, this is mostly comprised of higher containerboard selling prices, which were more than offset by significantly lower uncoated fine paper and pulp selling prices, and Andrew will provide a little more color on that in a couple of minutes. The cost increase is mainly in relation to labor inflation, with other costs well controlled. Input costs were overall flat year-on-year against a muted economic backdrop. In the first quarter of 2026, we are seeing overall input costs remaining flat on 2025, despite some sizable headwinds related to lower energy-related income and emission credits. Lastly, the forestry fair value gain, EUR 32 million higher in the year when compared to prior year, all that adding up to the results of an underlying EBITDA of EUR 101 million for the year. With respect to selling prices, this is mostly comprised of higher containerboard selling prices, which were more than offset by significantly lower uncoated fine paper and pulp selling prices, and Andrew will provide a little more color on that in a couple of minutes. with respect to selling prices this is mostly comprised of higher containerboard selling prices which were more than offset by significantly lower uncoated fine paper and pulp selling prices and andrew will provide a little more color on that in a couple of minutes The cost increase is mainly in relation to labor inflation, with other costs well controlled. the cost increase is mainly in relation to labor inflation with other costs well controlled Input costs were overall flat year-on-year against a muted economic backdrop. input costs were overall flat year-on-year against a muted economic backdrop In the first quarter of 2026, we are seeing overall input costs remaining flat on 2025, despite some sizable headwinds related to lower energy-related income and emission credits. in the first quarter of 2026 we are seeing overall input costs remaining flat on 2025 despite some sizable headwinds related to lower energy-related income and emission credits Lastly, the forestry fair value gain, EUR 32 million higher in the year when compared to prior year, all that adding up to the results of an underlying EBITDA of EUR 101 million for the year. lastly the forestry fair value gain, eur 32 million higher in the year when compared to prior year all that adding up to the results of an underlying ebitda of eur 101 million for the year As Andrew said, we're cognizant of the impact from the current downturn, and its effect on our near-term performance, so I wanted to spend some time outlining the actions we're taking to proactively manage the fixed cost base. Andrew will touch on operational excellence and productivity later. We execute targeted cost out initiatives to drive efficiency, eliminate non-essential activities, and strengthen the core revenue-generating areas of the business. It is what we continuously do to improve. Whilst we do have targeted incremental cost in growth areas, whether that's due to new capacity or customer demand, we have reduced headcount over the last 12 months elsewhere by approximately 1,000 heads, driven from greater efficiency in our operations, plant closures, and about a 13% reduction in our group services offices. As Andrew said, we're cognizant of the impact from the current downturn, and its effect on our near-term performance, so I wanted to spend some time outlining the actions we're taking to proactively manage the fixed cost base. as andrew said we're cognizant of the impact from the current downturn and its effect on our near-term performance so i wanted to spend some time outlining the actions we're taking to proactively manage the fixed cost base Andrew will touch on operational excellence and productivity later. andrew will touch on operational excellence and productivity later We execute targeted cost out initiatives to drive efficiency, eliminate non-essential activities, and strengthen the core revenue-generating areas of the business. we execute targeted cost out initiatives to drive efficiency eliminate non-essential activities and strengthen the core revenue-generating areas of the business It is what we continuously do to improve. it is what we continuously do to improve Whilst we do have targeted incremental cost in growth areas, whether that's due to new capacity or customer demand, we have reduced headcount over the last 12 months elsewhere by approximately 1,000 heads, driven from greater efficiency in our operations, plant closures, and about a 13% reduction in our group services offices. whilst we do have targeted incremental cost in growth areas whether that's due to new capacity or customer demand we have reduced headcount over the last 12 months elsewhere by approximately 1,000 heads driven from greater efficiency in our operations plant closures and about a 13% reduction in our group services offices We've also recently announced three further plant closures, which will reduce headcount by approximately another 200 in the coming year. We combined our corrugated packaging and uncoated fine paper businesses into a single business unit, and that facilitates a more streamlined organization, supporting faster decision-making, cost takeout, and delivery of operational synergies across our pulp and paper mills, while retaining our customer-focused value chain orientation. And therefore, for the 2026 year, I expect these actions to offset labor and other cost inflation. Let me now take you through the movement in net debt. We started the year with EUR 1.7 billion. You can see the EBITDA contribution I've taken you through of EUR 1 billion. In terms of working capital, I'm really pleased with our delivery since the half year. We've also recently announced three further plant closures, which will reduce headcount by approximately another 200 in the coming year. we've also recently announced three further plant closures which will reduce headcount by approximately another 200 in the coming year We combined our corrugated packaging and uncoated fine paper businesses into a single business unit, and that facilitates a more streamlined organization, supporting faster decision-making, cost takeout, and delivery of operational synergies across our pulp and paper mills, while retaining our customer-focused value chain orientation. we combined our corrugated packaging and uncoated fine paper businesses into a single business unit and that facilitates a more streamlined organization supporting faster decision-making cost takeout and delivery of operational synergies across our pulp and paper mills while retaining our customer-focused value chain orientation And therefore, for the 2026 year, I expect these actions to offset labor and other cost inflation. and therefore for the 2026 year i expect these actions to offset labor and other cost inflation Let me now take you through the movement in net debt. let me now take you through the movement in net debt We started the year with EUR 1.7 billion. we started the year with eur 1.7 billion You can see the EBITDA contribution I've taken you through of EUR 1 billion. you can see the ebitda contribution i've taken you through of eur 1 billion In terms of working capital, I'm really pleased with our delivery since the half year. in terms of working capital i'm really pleased with our delivery since the half year As you'll remember, at the half, we outflowed about EUR 100 million in the first six months, which tells you we drove around EUR 200 million inflow in the second half of the year to leave the total inflow that you see on the chart of EUR 83 million. Including interest tax and other items, the net result of these three items was cash delivered of EUR 767 million, and you see that highlighted in the box on the slide. The next three columns shows how we've allocated capital in the year. We invested EUR 673 million in property, plant, and equipment, lower than the previously guided EUR 750 million-EUR 850 million, driven by our ongoing focus on cash management. As you'll remember, at the half, we outflowed about EUR 100 million in the first six months, which tells you we drove around EUR 200 million inflow in the second half of the year to leave the total inflow that you see on the chart of EUR 83 million. as you'll remember at the half we outflowed about eur 100 million in the first six months which tells you we drove around eur 200 million inflow in the second half of the year to leave the total inflow that you see on the chart of eur 83 million Including interest tax and other items, the net result of these three items was cash delivered of EUR 767 million, and you see that highlighted in the box on the slide. including interest tax and other items the net result of these three items was cash delivered of eur 767 million and you see that highlighted in the box on the slide The next three columns shows how we've allocated capital in the year. the next three columns shows how we've allocated capital in the year We invested EUR 673 million in property, plant, and equipment, lower than the previously guided EUR 750 million-EUR 850 million, driven by our ongoing focus on cash management. we invested eur 673 million in property plant and equipment lower than the previously guided eur 750 million-eur 850 million driven by our ongoing focus on cash management Dividends paid total EUR 352 million, and lastly, we completed the acquisition of Schumacher, which expands our geographic reach, drives greater optimization across our plant footprint, and unlocks efficiencies that support long-term growth. Integration remains on track. We're confident in the delivery of the EUR 32 million cost synergies over the 3 years from completion, and that's an increase from the EUR 22 million that we initially envisaged. So to conclude, all of that leaves the group with a net debt balance at the end of the year, EUR 2.6 billion, which is 2.6x levered. I also want to set out our robust financial position. We've investment-grade credit ratings. Our available liquidity totals around EUR 1.3 billion, and places us strongly to protect value in the short term and capture opportunities in the long term as they arise. Dividends paid total EUR 352 million, and lastly, we completed the acquisition of Schumacher, which expands our geographic reach, drives greater optimization across our plant footprint, and unlocks efficiencies that support long-term growth. dividends paid total eur 352 million and lastly we completed the acquisition of schumacher which expands our geographic reach drives greater optimization across our plant footprint and unlocks efficiencies that support long-term growth Integration remains on track. integration remains on track We're confident in the delivery of the EUR 32 million cost synergies over the 3 years from completion, and that's an increase from the EUR 22 million that we initially envisaged. we're confident in the delivery of the eur 32 million cost synergies over the 3 years from completion and that's an increase from the eur 22 million that we initially envisaged So to conclude, all of that leaves the group with a net debt balance at the end of the year, EUR 2.6 billion, which is 2.6x levered. so to conclude all of that leaves the group with a net debt balance at the end of the year eur 2.6 billion which is 2.6x levered I also want to set out our robust financial position. i also want to set out our robust financial position We've investment-grade credit ratings. we've investment-grade credit ratings Our available liquidity totals around EUR 1.3 billion, and places us strongly to protect value in the short term and capture opportunities in the long term as they arise. our available liquidity totals around eur 1.3 billion and places us strongly to protect value in the short term and capture opportunities in the long term as they arise We've refinanced short-term debt maturities in the year and have no further debt maturities until 2028, and as a reminder, we have no financial covenants. Let me now take you through some capital allocation points, starting on slide 9. So the group has a well-invested and cost-advantaged asset base in structurally growing packaging markets. Over the past few years, we've invested in a number of major capacity expansion projects, and we're very proud of the teams for completing the build and startup phase of these projects on time and on budget. Our focus is now on delivering full productivity ramp-up, executing our commercial strategy, driving cash generation, and delivering strong returns. We've refinanced short-term debt maturities in the year and have no further debt maturities until 2028, and as a reminder, we have no financial covenants. we've refinanced short-term debt maturities in the year and have no further debt maturities until 2028 and as a reminder we have no financial covenants Let me now take you through some capital allocation points, starting on slide 9. let me now take you through some capital allocation points starting on slide 9 So the group has a well-invested and cost-advantaged asset base in structurally growing packaging markets. so the group has a well-invested and cost-advantaged asset base in structurally growing packaging markets Over the past few years, we've invested in a number of major capacity expansion projects, and we're very proud of the teams for completing the build and startup phase of these projects on time and on budget. over the past few years we've invested in a number of major capacity expansion projects and we're very proud of the teams for completing the build and startup phase of these projects on time and on budget Our focus is now on delivering full productivity ramp-up, executing our commercial strategy, driving cash generation, and delivering strong returns. our focus is now on delivering full productivity ramp-up executing our commercial strategy driving cash generation and delivering strong returns In addition to these growth projects, we invest through the cycle in our asset base to maintain competitive advantage, and you can see here in the gray bars that exclude those growth projects, that this has averaged 107% of depreciation over the past 5 years. Our cash capital expenditure for 2026 is expected to be approximately EUR 550 million, lower than the EUR 650 million euros previously guided. Within the EUR 550 million is approximately EUR 50 million of cash still to flow for the growth projects, leaving a base of around EUR 500 million. This spend will focus on maintenance and targeted cost optimization opportunities, including enhancing energy efficiency, improving productivity, and strengthening the resilience of our asset base. Onto dividend. The board does recognize the importance of dividends to our shareholders. In addition to these growth projects, we invest through the cycle in our asset base to maintain competitive advantage, and you can see here in the gray bars that exclude those growth projects, that this has averaged 107% of depreciation over the past 5 years. in addition to these growth projects we invest through the cycle in our asset base to maintain competitive advantage and you can see here in the gray bars that exclude those growth projects that this has averaged 107% of depreciation over the past 5 years Our cash capital expenditure for 2026 is expected to be approximately EUR 550 million, lower than the EUR 650 million euros previously guided. our cash capital expenditure for 2026 is expected to be approximately eur 550 million lower than the eur 650 million euros previously guided Within the EUR 550 million is approximately EUR 50 million of cash still to flow for the growth projects, leaving a base of around EUR 500 million. within the eur 550 million is approximately eur 50 million of cash still to flow for the growth projects leaving a base of around eur 500 million This spend will focus on maintenance and targeted cost optimization opportunities, including enhancing energy efficiency, improving productivity, and strengthening the resilience of our asset base. this spend will focus on maintenance and targeted cost optimization opportunities including enhancing energy efficiency improving productivity and strengthening the resilience of our asset base Onto dividend. onto dividend The board does recognize the importance of dividends to our shareholders. the board does recognize the importance of dividends to our shareholders Over the last two years, we have consciously recommended dividends in excess of our policy on each occasion, carefully reviewing expectations for the coming period. Notwithstanding our continued confidence in the resilience and competitiveness of our business, consistent with our objective of retaining financial flexibility, the board has recommended a total ordinary dividend of EUR 28.25 per share for 2025, reflecting a return to the group's stated dividend cover policy of 2-3 times underlying earnings on average through cycle. Lastly, the technical guidance slide for 2026, hopefully all relatively self-intuitive. With that, let me hand back to Andrew. Thank you. Over the last two years, we have consciously recommended dividends in excess of our policy on each occasion, carefully reviewing expectations for the coming period. over the last two years we have consciously recommended dividends in excess of our policy on each occasion carefully reviewing expectations for the coming period Notwithstanding our continued confidence in the resilience and competitiveness of our business, consistent with our objective of retaining financial flexibility, the board has recommended a total ordinary dividend of EUR 28.25 per share for 2025, reflecting a return to the group's stated dividend cover policy of 2-3 times underlying earnings on average through cycle. notwithstanding our continued confidence in the resilience and competitiveness of our business consistent with our objective of retaining financial flexibility the board has recommended a total ordinary dividend of eur 28.25 per share for 2025 reflecting a return to the group's stated dividend cover policy of 2-3 times underlying earnings on average through cycle Lastly, the technical guidance slide for 2026, hopefully all relatively self-intuitive. lastly the technical guidance slide for 2026 hopefully all relatively self-intuitive With that, let me hand back to Andrew. with that let me hand back to andrew Thank you. thank you

Speaker 1: ... Many thanks, Mike. I'll now take you through the review of the business unit performance and some thoughts on the current market dynamics before coming back to our competitive positioning. Before we get into the segmental review, I remind you that in Q4 2025, we combined the Corrugated Packaging and Uncoated Fine Paper businesses to form an enlarged Corrugated, Corrugated Packaging business unit. The segmental numbers are all based on the new reporting structure. To help comparability in the appendix to these slides, we have provided unaudited numbers on the old basis of segmental reporting. Coming first to Corrugated Packaging, a highlight was very much the good volume development achieved across all segments. ... Many thanks, Mike. many thanks mike I'll now take you through the review of the business unit performance and some thoughts on the current market dynamics before coming back to our competitive positioning. i'll now take you through the review of the business unit performance and some thoughts on the current market dynamics before coming back to our competitive positioning Before we get into the segmental review, I remind you that in Q4 2025, we combined the Corrugated Packaging and Uncoated Fine Paper businesses to form an enlarged Corrugated, Corrugated Packaging business unit. before we get into the segmental review i remind you that in q4 2025 we combined the corrugated packaging and uncoated fine paper businesses to form an enlarged corrugated corrugated packaging business unit The segmental numbers are all based on the new reporting structure. the segmental numbers are all based on the new reporting structure To help comparability in the appendix to these slides, we have provided unaudited numbers on the old basis of segmental reporting. to help comparability in the appendix to these slides we have provided unaudited numbers on the old basis of segmental reporting Coming first to Corrugated Packaging, a highlight was very much the good volume development achieved across all segments. coming first to corrugated packaging a highlight was very much the good volume development achieved across all segments Containerboard volumes were up around 15% year-on-year, against the backdrop of a flat European market demand, supported by increased export sales and the ramp-up of completed expansion projects in our Świecie, Kuopio, and Duino mills. In Corrugated Solutions, we achieved like-for-like volume growth, excluding the Schumacher acquisition of around 2%, in line with overall European market growth. In UFP, we were able to hold volumes stable despite market demand declines of around 5% in each of our key regional markets of Europe and Southern Africa, testament to our cost competitiveness and the quality and reliability of our products and services. The margin squeeze you see came through price. In Containerboard, average prices were moderately higher than the prior year, although this does mask a tale of two halves, where prices were moving up through the first half, followed by declines through the second half. Containerboard volumes were up around 15% year-on-year, against the backdrop of a flat European market demand, supported by increased export sales and the ramp-up of completed expansion projects in our Świecie, Kuopio, and Duino mills. containerboard volumes were up around 15% year-on-year against the backdrop of a flat european market demand supported by increased export sales and the ramp-up of completed expansion projects in our świecie kuopio and duino mills In Corrugated Solutions, we achieved like-for-like volume growth, excluding the Schumacher acquisition of around 2%, in line with overall European market growth. in corrugated solutions we achieved like-for-like volume growth excluding the schumacher acquisition of around 2% in line with overall european market growth In UFP, we were able to hold volumes stable despite market demand declines of around 5% in each of our key regional markets of Europe and Southern Africa, testament to our cost competitiveness and the quality and reliability of our products and services. in ufp we were able to hold volumes stable despite market demand declines of around 5% in each of our key regional markets of europe and southern africa testament to our cost competitiveness and the quality and reliability of our products and services The margin squeeze you see came through price. the margin squeeze you see came through price In Containerboard, average prices were moderately higher than the prior year, although this does mask a tale of two halves, where prices were moving up through the first half, followed by declines through the second half. in containerboard average prices were moderately higher than the prior year although this does mask a tale of two halves where prices were moving up through the first half followed by declines through the second half In Corrugated Solutions, margins were squeezed as higher input costs were not fully passed on to customers due to intense competition in all key markets. In Uncoated Fine Paper markets, prices came under significant pressure through the year as industry moves to reduce capacity were not sufficient to mitigate the impact of significant demand-side weakness. This was exacerbated by lower pulp prices, which gave some breathing room to the higher-cost, unintegrated producers. Our South African business, which I remind you is a net seller of pulp, was further impacted by the unusually strong rand, which negatively impacted the rand price achieved for export pulp sales. It is nevertheless encouraging to see some modest pickup in pulp prices over recent months, and we are currently implementing price increases in certain uncoated fine paper grades in Europe on stronger order books and ongoing cost support. In Corrugated Solutions, margins were squeezed as higher input costs were not fully passed on to customers due to intense competition in all key markets. in corrugated solutions margins were squeezed as higher input costs were not fully passed on to customers due to intense competition in all key markets In Uncoated Fine Paper markets, prices came under significant pressure through the year as industry moves to reduce capacity were not sufficient to mitigate the impact of significant demand-side weakness. in uncoated fine paper markets prices came under significant pressure through the year as industry moves to reduce capacity were not sufficient to mitigate the impact of significant demand-side weakness This was exacerbated by lower pulp prices, which gave some breathing room to the higher-cost, unintegrated producers. this was exacerbated by lower pulp prices which gave some breathing room to the higher-cost unintegrated producers Our South African business, which I remind you is a net seller of pulp, was further impacted by the unusually strong rand, which negatively impacted the rand price achieved for export pulp sales. our south african business which i remind you is a net seller of pulp was further impacted by the unusually strong rand which negatively impacted the rand price achieved for export pulp sales It is nevertheless encouraging to see some modest pickup in pulp prices over recent months, and we are currently implementing price increases in certain uncoated fine paper grades in Europe on stronger order books and ongoing cost support. it is nevertheless encouraging to see some modest pickup in pulp prices over recent months and we are currently implementing price increases in certain uncoated fine paper grades in europe on stronger order books and ongoing cost support If I look back at where we are today in the corrugated packaging markets, margins remain under pressure due to the lingering supply-demand imbalance. Demand has clearly been impacted by the prolonged economic downturn seen in our core markets, lasting now the better part of three and a half years. That said, it is encouraging to see that even against a soft macroeconomic backdrop, box demand in Europe was still up around 2% last year. And in fact, if you look at the size of the European box market, it has still grown by around 7% since 2019, the year before COVID, for a compound annual growth average growth rate slightly above 1%. If I look back at where we are today in the corrugated packaging markets, margins remain under pressure due to the lingering supply-demand imbalance. if i look back at where we are today in the corrugated packaging markets margins remain under pressure due to the lingering supply-demand imbalance Demand has clearly been impacted by the prolonged economic downturn seen in our core markets, lasting now the better part of three and a half years. demand has clearly been impacted by the prolonged economic downturn seen in our core markets lasting now the better part of three and a half years That said, it is encouraging to see that even against a soft macroeconomic backdrop, box demand in Europe was still up around 2% last year. that said it is encouraging to see that even against a soft macroeconomic backdrop box demand in europe was still up around 2% last year And in fact, if you look at the size of the European box market, it has still grown by around 7% since 2019, the year before COVID, for a compound annual growth average growth rate slightly above 1%. and in fact if you look at the size of the european box market it has still grown by around 7% since 2019 the year before covid for a compound annual growth average growth rate slightly above 1% While clearly below historic growth rates of nearer 2% per annum, it is nonetheless still growing and I believe reflects the structural support we see from demand drivers such as e-commerce and sustainability. With a healthier macroeconomic backdrop, one would certainly expect these markets to return to trend growth rates of around 2% per annum. What has clearly been a major contributor to the overhang is the supply-side response. Containerboard capacity over the same period since 2019 has expanded by around 15%. In the short term, this overhang will continue to hold back margins in the industry in the absence of meaningful capacity rationalization and/or stronger demand-side recovery. In this regard, there's clearly ample incentive for capacity closures, with a significant portion of the industry cost curve currently loss-making. While clearly below historic growth rates of nearer 2% per annum, it is nonetheless still growing and I believe reflects the structural support we see from demand drivers such as e-commerce and sustainability. while clearly below historic growth rates of nearer 2% per annum it is nonetheless still growing and i believe reflects the structural support we see from demand drivers such as e-commerce and sustainability With a healthier macroeconomic backdrop, one would certainly expect these markets to return to trend growth rates of around 2% per annum. with a healthier macroeconomic backdrop one would certainly expect these markets to return to trend growth rates of around 2% per annum What has clearly been a major contributor to the overhang is the supply-side response. what has clearly been a major contributor to the overhang is the supply-side response Containerboard capacity over the same period since 2019 has expanded by around 15%. containerboard capacity over the same period since 2019 has expanded by around 15% In the short term, this overhang will continue to hold back margins in the industry in the absence of meaningful capacity rationalization and/or stronger demand-side recovery. in the short term this overhang will continue to hold back margins in the industry in the absence of meaningful capacity rationalization and/or stronger demand-side recovery In this regard, there's clearly ample incentive for capacity closures, with a significant portion of the industry cost curve currently loss-making. in this regard there's clearly ample incentive for capacity closures with a significant portion of the industry cost curve currently loss-making As for ourselves, we'll continue to focus on the controllables that we know will serve to strengthen and reinforce our advantaged competitive positioning in these markets, leveraging our market leadership positions, cost advantage to asset base, and integration strengths, and I'll come on to more of that a bit later. If we move then to the Flexible Packaging business, I'm very encouraged by the strong volume growth we achieved in our global paper bags business, with good contributions from all key markets that we serve. Pleasingly, in addition to the steady performance from traditional e.g., industrial end users, we are seeing an acceleration in demand growth for e-commerce solutions in both Europe and the U.S. We continue to invest behind these important growth markets that we are very well positioned to serve. As for ourselves, we'll continue to focus on the controllables that we know will serve to strengthen and reinforce our advantaged competitive positioning in these markets, leveraging our market leadership positions, cost advantage to asset base, and integration strengths, and I'll come on to more of that a bit later. as for ourselves we'll continue to focus on the controllables that we know will serve to strengthen and reinforce our advantaged competitive positioning in these markets leveraging our market leadership positions cost advantage to asset base and integration strengths and i'll come on to more of that a bit later If we move then to the Flexible Packaging business, I'm very encouraged by the strong volume growth we achieved in our global paper bags business, with good contributions from all key markets that we serve. if we move then to the flexible packaging business i'm very encouraged by the strong volume growth we achieved in our global paper bags business with good contributions from all key markets that we serve Pleasingly, in addition to the steady performance from traditional e.g., industrial end users, we are seeing an acceleration in demand growth for e-commerce solutions in both Europe and the U.S. pleasingly in addition to the steady performance from traditional e.g industrial end users we are seeing an acceleration in demand growth for e-commerce solutions in both europe and the u.s We continue to invest behind these important growth markets that we are very well positioned to serve. we continue to invest behind these important growth markets that we are very well positioned to serve Similarly, our consumer flexibles and functional paper and film segments continue to display their defensive qualities as we drive product, product mix improvements, supported by recent investments and ongoing innovation centered around sustainable packaging solutions. As noted on the slide, volumes in kraft paper were moderately down year-on-year as we responded to a generally softer demand environment with production downtime, particularly in the second half. While there is seemingly something of a disconnect between the strong volume growth in our bags business and the relatively softer kraft paper markets, our analysis suggests this is due to, due to a combination of industry stocking and destocking effects and product mix impacts. On the back of the softer demand, kraft paper prices came under pressure over the second half of the year and into early 2026, following modest increases through the first half of 2025. Similarly, our consumer flexibles and functional paper and film segments continue to display their defensive qualities as we drive product, product mix improvements, supported by recent investments and ongoing innovation centered around sustainable packaging solutions. similarly our consumer flexibles and functional paper and film segments continue to display their defensive qualities as we drive product product mix improvements supported by recent investments and ongoing innovation centered around sustainable packaging solutions As noted on the slide, volumes in kraft paper were moderately down year-on-year as we responded to a generally softer demand environment with production downtime, particularly in the second half. as noted on the slide volumes in kraft paper were moderately down year-on-year as we responded to a generally softer demand environment with production downtime particularly in the second half While there is seemingly something of a disconnect between the strong volume growth in our bags business and the relatively softer kraft paper markets, our analysis suggests this is due to, due to a combination of industry stocking and destocking effects and product mix impacts. while there is seemingly something of a disconnect between the strong volume growth in our bags business and the relatively softer kraft paper markets our analysis suggests this is due to due to a combination of industry stocking and destocking effects and product mix impacts On the back of the softer demand, kraft paper prices came under pressure over the second half of the year and into early 2026, following modest increases through the first half of 2025. on the back of the softer demand kraft paper prices came under pressure over the second half of the year and into early 2026 following modest increases through the first half of 2025 With the ongoing good demand picture in bags now seemingly translating into better order intake for our key sack kraft grades, we are currently implementing price increases across our range of sack kraft grades, reversing the declines we saw in late 2025 and early 2026. Again, if I step back briefly to understand how our industry dynamics are playing out in the context of the current challenging macroeconomic environment, unlike in the corrugated markets, we see the current margin pressure in this segment as being very much a cyclical demand side story. I remind you that sales in flexibles are split roughly 50/50 between more cyclically impacted industrial end users and the more defensive consumer end markets. With the ongoing good demand picture in bags now seemingly translating into better order intake for our key sack kraft grades, we are currently implementing price increases across our range of sack kraft grades, reversing the declines we saw in late 2025 and early 2026. with the ongoing good demand picture in bags now seemingly translating into better order intake for our key sack kraft grades we are currently implementing price increases across our range of sack kraft grades reversing the declines we saw in late 2025 and early 2026 Again, if I step back briefly to understand how our industry dynamics are playing out in the context of the current challenging macroeconomic environment, unlike in the corrugated markets, we see the current margin pressure in this segment as being very much a cyclical demand side story. again if i step back briefly to understand how our industry dynamics are playing out in the context of the current challenging macroeconomic environment unlike in the corrugated markets we see the current margin pressure in this segment as being very much a cyclical demand side story I remind you that sales in flexibles are split roughly 50/50 between more cyclically impacted industrial end users and the more defensive consumer end markets. i remind you that sales in flexibles are split roughly 50/50 between more cyclically impacted industrial end users and the more defensive consumer end markets On the industrial side, if I take, for example, European industrial bag demand from 2019 until today, it is off around 7%, heavily impacted by the slowdown in cyclically sensitive markets like cement and building materials. Over the same period, European Sack Kraft capacity has actually remained relatively flat. This is clearly a cyclical demand side challenge. As already mentioned, encouragingly, industry demand is improving, albeit modestly, from the lows seen in 2023. European industrial bag demand was up around 2% in 2024 and a further 2.5% in 2025. This also excludes new applications for our bags in non-industrial applications like retail and e-commerce and consumer markets, which are also adding to demand sources and contributed to the 5% growth we achieved in our bags business. On the industrial side, if I take, for example, European industrial bag demand from 2019 until today, it is off around 7%, heavily impacted by the slowdown in cyclically sensitive markets like cement and building materials. on the industrial side if i take for example european industrial bag demand from 2019 until today it is off around 7% heavily impacted by the slowdown in cyclically sensitive markets like cement and building materials Over the same period, European Sack Kraft capacity has actually remained relatively flat. over the same period european sack kraft capacity has actually remained relatively flat This is clearly a cyclical demand side challenge. this is clearly a cyclical demand side challenge As already mentioned, encouragingly, industry demand is improving, albeit modestly, from the lows seen in 2023. as already mentioned encouragingly industry demand is improving albeit modestly from the lows seen in 2023 European industrial bag demand was up around 2% in 2024 and a further 2.5% in 2025. european industrial bag demand was up around 2% in 2024 and a further 2.5% in 2025 This also excludes new applications for our bags in non-industrial applications like retail and e-commerce and consumer markets, which are also adding to demand sources and contributed to the 5% growth we achieved in our bags business. this also excludes new applications for our bags in non-industrial applications like retail and e-commerce and consumer markets which are also adding to demand sources and contributed to the 5% growth we achieved in our bags business With this backdrop, we'll continue to support the growth of our global leading paper bags franchise, supported by a strong backward integration into kraft paper and our complementary offering in functional papers. We are not waiting for the cyclical recovery, but rather continuing to develop new markets for our products, while also driving our operational excellence and cost optimization programs to enhance our competitiveness. Coming then to our competitive advantages, I just want to discuss briefly how we see Mondi positioned in these markets and reminding you of the significant advantage we have to deliver resilience in the most challenging of market conditions, and similarly, capture the upside as market conditions improve. I'll talk to each of these points over the next few slides. Our scale and market positions are a major strategic advantage. With this backdrop, we'll continue to support the growth of our global leading paper bags franchise, supported by a strong backward integration into kraft paper and our complementary offering in functional papers. with this backdrop we'll continue to support the growth of our global leading paper bags franchise supported by a strong backward integration into kraft paper and our complementary offering in functional papers We are not waiting for the cyclical recovery, but rather continuing to develop new markets for our products, while also driving our operational excellence and cost optimization programs to enhance our competitiveness. we are not waiting for the cyclical recovery but rather continuing to develop new markets for our products while also driving our operational excellence and cost optimization programs to enhance our competitiveness Coming then to our competitive advantages, I just want to discuss briefly how we see Mondi positioned in these markets and reminding you of the significant advantage we have to deliver resilience in the most challenging of market conditions, and similarly, capture the upside as market conditions improve. coming then to our competitive advantages i just want to discuss briefly how we see mondi positioned in these markets and reminding you of the significant advantage we have to deliver resilience in the most challenging of market conditions and similarly capture the upside as market conditions improve I'll talk to each of these points over the next few slides. i'll talk to each of these points over the next few slides Our scale and market positions are a major strategic advantage. our scale and market positions are a major strategic advantage In corrugated, we enjoy market leadership positions in the niche virgin grades, where we also enjoy significant cost advantage. In emerging Europe, which typically enjoys higher growth rates, we are the leading integrated box producer. As you know, through the Schumacher acquisition last year, we have now extended our geographic reach across Northern Europe so that we can be a genuine option for regional key account customers, while at the same time leveraging our paper integration strengths. In fine paper, we are the number two player across Europe, with real strengths in our core regional market of Central Europe, while we are the clear market leader in our other core market of Southern Africa. In flexibles, we are the clear global market leader in both upstream kraft paper and downstream paper bags, with an unmatched global reach and integration strength. In corrugated, we enjoy market leadership positions in the niche virgin grades, where we also enjoy significant cost advantage. in corrugated we enjoy market leadership positions in the niche virgin grades where we also enjoy significant cost advantage In emerging Europe, which typically enjoys higher growth rates, we are the leading integrated box producer. in emerging europe which typically enjoys higher growth rates we are the leading integrated box producer As you know, through the Schumacher acquisition last year, we have now extended our geographic reach across Northern Europe so that we can be a genuine option for regional key account customers, while at the same time leveraging our paper integration strengths. as you know through the schumacher acquisition last year we have now extended our geographic reach across northern europe so that we can be a genuine option for regional key account customers while at the same time leveraging our paper integration strengths In fine paper, we are the number two player across Europe, with real strengths in our core regional market of Central Europe, while we are the clear market leader in our other core market of Southern Africa. in fine paper we are the number two player across europe with real strengths in our core regional market of central europe while we are the clear market leader in our other core market of southern africa In flexibles, we are the clear global market leader in both upstream kraft paper and downstream paper bags, with an unmatched global reach and integration strength. in flexibles we are the clear global market leader in both upstream kraft paper and downstream paper bags with an unmatched global reach and integration strength Similarly, we enjoy real strength in niche consumer flexibles markets in Europe, with, for example, the leading position in the high growth and highly demanding pet food market. These positions matter. They underpin our customer relationships, supply chain relevance, and cost competitiveness. As I've already mentioned, packaging demand is heavily influenced by macroeconomic growth in the short term. While there are many defensive end markets, such as food and beverage and other consumer non-durables, there's always an element of cyclicality in demand, even in the most defensive of markets. This is accentuated in our industrial exposures, as already noted, most notably in construction and related markets like cement and building materials. Similarly, we enjoy real strength in niche consumer flexibles markets in Europe, with, for example, the leading position in the high growth and highly demanding pet food market. similarly we enjoy real strength in niche consumer flexibles markets in europe with for example the leading position in the high growth and highly demanding pet food market These positions matter. these positions matter They underpin our customer relationships, supply chain relevance, and cost competitiveness. they underpin our customer relationships supply chain relevance and cost competitiveness As I've already mentioned, packaging demand is heavily influenced by macroeconomic growth in the short term. as i've already mentioned packaging demand is heavily influenced by macroeconomic growth in the short term While there are many defensive end markets, such as food and beverage and other consumer non-durables, there's always an element of cyclicality in demand, even in the most defensive of markets. while there are many defensive end markets such as food and beverage and other consumer non-durables there's always an element of cyclicality in demand even in the most defensive of markets This is accentuated in our industrial exposures, as already noted, most notably in construction and related markets like cement and building materials. this is accentuated in our industrial exposures as already noted most notably in construction and related markets like cement and building materials This has clearly been the dominant theme over the past three years as the fallout from COVID, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the more recent trade wars have all served to undermine consumer confidence, particularly in our core European markets. However, as I've already mentioned, it is pleasing to see that despite this very difficult macroeconomic backdrop, we are starting to see some growth coming back into these markets, albeit off a low base. Most importantly, we remain confident that the structural growth drivers in packaging are very much intact. Key among these are the increasing importance of e-commerce and the drive for sustainable packaging solutions. We are extremely well positioned to leverage these trends. As I will show you shortly, we offer a one-stop shop for all paper-based e-commerce solutions.... This has clearly been the dominant theme over the past three years as the fallout from COVID, wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the more recent trade wars have all served to undermine consumer confidence, particularly in our core European markets. this has clearly been the dominant theme over the past three years as the fallout from covid wars in ukraine and the middle east and the more recent trade wars have all served to undermine consumer confidence particularly in our core european markets However, as I've already mentioned, it is pleasing to see that despite this very difficult macroeconomic backdrop, we are starting to see some growth coming back into these markets, albeit off a low base. however as i've already mentioned it is pleasing to see that despite this very difficult macroeconomic backdrop we are starting to see some growth coming back into these markets albeit off a low base Most importantly, we remain confident that the structural growth drivers in packaging are very much intact. most importantly we remain confident that the structural growth drivers in packaging are very much intact Key among these are the increasing importance of e-commerce and the drive for sustainable packaging solutions. key among these are the increasing importance of e-commerce and the drive for sustainable packaging solutions We are extremely well positioned to leverage these trends. we are extremely well positioned to leverage these trends As I will show you shortly, we offer a one-stop shop for all paper-based e-commerce solutions.... as i will show you shortly we offer a one-stop shop for all paper-based e-commerce solutions While I firmly believe our expertise across different flexible packaging so substrates and our vertical integration strengths gives real advantage when developing sustainable packaging solutions for our customers. You'll see on the right-hand side of the slide, we show an example of how new applications, largely driven by sustainability requirements, are driving demand for our specialty Kraft paper products, with a significant increase in applications across e-commerce, non-food, and industrial. A trend we expect to see continue and likely accelerate, driven by both regulation and consumer preferences. We continue to seek ways to bring this differentiated product offering to our customers in a way that delivers the best value proposition for them. Last year, we combined our e-commerce sales team from across corrugated and flexible packaging to provide a single point of entry for customers. Similarly, we continued to drive innovation across our broad portfolio of packaging solutions. While I firmly believe our expertise across different flexible packaging so substrates and our vertical integration strengths gives real advantage when developing sustainable packaging solutions for our customers. while i firmly believe our expertise across different flexible packaging so substrates and our vertical integration strengths gives real advantage when developing sustainable packaging solutions for our customers You'll see on the right-hand side of the slide, we show an example of how new applications, largely driven by sustainability requirements, are driving demand for our specialty Kraft paper products, with a significant increase in applications across e-commerce, non-food, and industrial. you'll see on the right-hand side of the slide we show an example of how new applications largely driven by sustainability requirements are driving demand for our specialty kraft paper products with a significant increase in applications across e-commerce non-food and industrial A trend we expect to see continue and likely accelerate, driven by both regulation and consumer preferences. a trend we expect to see continue and likely accelerate driven by both regulation and consumer preferences We continue to seek ways to bring this differentiated product offering to our customers in a way that delivers the best value proposition for them. we continue to seek ways to bring this differentiated product offering to our customers in a way that delivers the best value proposition for them Last year, we combined our e-commerce sales team from across corrugated and flexible packaging to provide a single point of entry for customers. last year we combined our e-commerce sales team from across corrugated and flexible packaging to provide a single point of entry for customers Similarly, we continued to drive innovation across our broad portfolio of packaging solutions. similarly we continued to drive innovation across our broad portfolio of packaging solutions I was delighted that we recently won nine WorldStar Packaging Awards for innovation, following a long tradition of success in developing innovative packaging solutions in partnership with our customers. This is, of course, all underpinned by our ongoing focus on operational excellence, which focuses on delivering right first-time performance, reducing lead times, and providing customers with the agility and flexibility that they expect from us. You'll see on the right-hand side of this slide, how our product breadth supports two of the most important end-use segments, FMCG and e-commerce, which together make up about half of our packaging portfolio. For each, we offer a full suite of corrugated and flexible solutions that are genuinely complementary and are designed around our customer needs. This is what customers value: one Mondi, comprehensive solutions and consistent quality. I was delighted that we recently won nine WorldStar Packaging Awards for innovation, following a long tradition of success in developing innovative packaging solutions in partnership with our customers. i was delighted that we recently won nine worldstar packaging awards for innovation following a long tradition of success in developing innovative packaging solutions in partnership with our customers This is, of course, all underpinned by our ongoing focus on operational excellence, which focuses on delivering right first-time performance, reducing lead times, and providing customers with the agility and flexibility that they expect from us. this is of course all underpinned by our ongoing focus on operational excellence which focuses on delivering right first-time performance reducing lead times and providing customers with the agility and flexibility that they expect from us You'll see on the right-hand side of this slide, how our product breadth supports two of the most important end-use segments, FMCG and e-commerce, which together make up about half of our packaging portfolio. you'll see on the right-hand side of this slide how our product breadth supports two of the most important end-use segments fmcg and e-commerce which together make up about half of our packaging portfolio For each, we offer a full suite of corrugated and flexible solutions that are genuinely complementary and are designed around our customer needs. for each we offer a full suite of corrugated and flexible solutions that are genuinely complementary and are designed around our customer needs This is what customers value: one Mondi, comprehensive solutions and consistent quality. this is what customers value one mondi comprehensive solutions and consistent quality Our integrated model is a fundamental competitive strength, and here we need to differentiate between what I refer to as our bulk and niche packaging grades. We firmly believe that in the bulk grades, strength in integration is key. From the paper perspective, it provides security of offtake, allowing us to run our mills as efficiently as possible, while also allowing us to optimize logistics into our converting operations. Similarly, from the converter's perspective, it offers security of supply, logistics benefits, and innovation opportunities using the combined knowledge and expertise of the whole value chain. As you can see from the charts on the left-hand side of the slide, we are highly integrated in these grades. By contrast, in the niche virgin containerboard and specialty kraft grades, we are very comfortable with our strong open market positions. Our integrated model is a fundamental competitive strength, and here we need to differentiate between what I refer to as our bulk and niche packaging grades. our integrated model is a fundamental competitive strength and here we need to differentiate between what i refer to as our bulk and niche packaging grades We firmly believe that in the bulk grades, strength in integration is key. we firmly believe that in the bulk grades strength in integration is key From the paper perspective, it provides security of offtake, allowing us to run our mills as efficiently as possible, while also allowing us to optimize logistics into our converting operations. from the paper perspective it provides security of offtake allowing us to run our mills as efficiently as possible while also allowing us to optimize logistics into our converting operations Similarly, from the converter's perspective, it offers security of supply, logistics benefits, and innovation opportunities using the combined knowledge and expertise of the whole value chain. similarly from the converter's perspective it offers security of supply logistics benefits and innovation opportunities using the combined knowledge and expertise of the whole value chain As you can see from the charts on the left-hand side of the slide, we are highly integrated in these grades. as you can see from the charts on the left-hand side of the slide we are highly integrated in these grades By contrast, in the niche virgin containerboard and specialty kraft grades, we are very comfortable with our strong open market positions. by contrast in the niche virgin containerboard and specialty kraft grades we are very comfortable with our strong open market positions These products are sold on a global basis to a wide number of different customers, many of whom are other integrated producers who do not have these products in their portfolios. Key here is cost competitiveness, quality, reliability, and innovation, where we are again very well-placed to outperform. Coming to our cost competitiveness, which is particularly important in our upstream paper businesses, this chart illustrates that around three-quarters of our production is in the lower half of the relevant cost curves, a key determinant of long-term outperformance in these markets. We have achieved this by having the right assets in the right places to secure access to cost-competitive raw materials. We have then built on this natural cost advantage through judicious investment in the assets on a through-cycle basis. These products are sold on a global basis to a wide number of different customers, many of whom are other integrated producers who do not have these products in their portfolios. these products are sold on a global basis to a wide number of different customers many of whom are other integrated producers who do not have these products in their portfolios Key here is cost competitiveness, quality, reliability, and innovation, where we are again very well-placed to outperform. key here is cost competitiveness quality reliability and innovation where we are again very well-placed to outperform Coming to our cost competitiveness, which is particularly important in our upstream paper businesses, this chart illustrates that around three-quarters of our production is in the lower half of the relevant cost curves, a key determinant of long-term outperformance in these markets. coming to our cost competitiveness which is particularly important in our upstream paper businesses this chart illustrates that around three-quarters of our production is in the lower half of the relevant cost curves a key determinant of long-term outperformance in these markets We have achieved this by having the right assets in the right places to secure access to cost-competitive raw materials. we have achieved this by having the right assets in the right places to secure access to cost-competitive raw materials We have then built on this natural cost advantage through judicious investment in the assets on a through-cycle basis. we have then built on this natural cost advantage through judicious investment in the assets on a through-cycle basis In addition to the scale benefits that come with the capacity expansion, these investments also deliver efficiency and cost optimization through increased energy self-sufficiency and raw material efficiencies. A culture of continuous improvement, delivering operational excellence, is then key to extracting the full value from these privileged assets. On the topic of operational excellence, as Mike says, this is a continuous program and embedded in our culture. We are very proud of our long track record of continuous improvement, as you can see from the example of what has been achieved at one of our flagship operations, Świecie in Poland, over the past year, 10 years on the right-hand side of the slide. In addition to the scale benefits that come with the capacity expansion, these investments also deliver efficiency and cost optimization through increased energy self-sufficiency and raw material efficiencies. in addition to the scale benefits that come with the capacity expansion these investments also deliver efficiency and cost optimization through increased energy self-sufficiency and raw material efficiencies A culture of continuous improvement, delivering operational excellence, is then key to extracting the full value from these privileged assets. a culture of continuous improvement delivering operational excellence is then key to extracting the full value from these privileged assets On the topic of operational excellence, as Mike says, this is a continuous program and embedded in our culture. on the topic of operational excellence as mike says this is a continuous program and embedded in our culture We are very proud of our long track record of continuous improvement, as you can see from the example of what has been achieved at one of our flagship operations, Świecie in Poland, over the past year, 10 years on the right-hand side of the slide. we are very proud of our long track record of continuous improvement as you can see from the example of what has been achieved at one of our flagship operations świecie in poland over the past year 10 years on the right-hand side of the slide However, we are always striving for more, and in early 2025, we initiated a multi-year program aimed at taking us to the next level of operational excellence through a zero loss mindset, embedding standardized processes and ensuring the sharing of best practice, facilitated by empowering our people and strengthening our leadership teams. While I'm being constantly reminded by colleagues that this is a long-term program and I shouldn't be expecting significant quick wins, I am nevertheless delighted by the initial results from the pilot projects. In Świecie, for example, this has already led to strong efficiency gains and reduced downtime on the machines. We are very excited by what this program can do for all of our operations as we systematically roll it out across the group. Our converting operations also have a proud track record of driving efficiency gains. However, we are always striving for more, and in early 2025, we initiated a multi-year program aimed at taking us to the next level of operational excellence through a zero loss mindset, embedding standardized processes and ensuring the sharing of best practice, facilitated by empowering our people and strengthening our leadership teams. however we are always striving for more and in early 2025 we initiated a multi-year program aimed at taking us to the next level of operational excellence through a zero loss mindset embedding standardized processes and ensuring the sharing of best practice facilitated by empowering our people and strengthening our leadership teams While I'm being constantly reminded by colleagues that this is a long-term program and I shouldn't be expecting significant quick wins, I am nevertheless delighted by the initial results from the pilot projects. while i'm being constantly reminded by colleagues that this is a long-term program and i shouldn't be expecting significant quick wins i am nevertheless delighted by the initial results from the pilot projects In Świecie, for example, this has already led to strong efficiency gains and reduced downtime on the machines. in świecie for example this has already led to strong efficiency gains and reduced downtime on the machines We are very excited by what this program can do for all of our operations as we systematically roll it out across the group. we are very excited by what this program can do for all of our operations as we systematically roll it out across the group Our converting operations also have a proud track record of driving efficiency gains. our converting operations also have a proud track record of driving efficiency gains Over the past 10 years, we have closed 22 plants, while at the same time growing volumes. As our larger plants get increasingly efficient, we are able to successfully transfer volumes from smaller operations, which in turn drives further efficiencies. The chart on the right-hand side of the slide illustrates the track record of productivity gains over the past 10 years in our Corrugated Solutions and paper bags plants, respectively. After a short period of slower rates of improvement, I'm delighted by the significant productivity gains achieved in the last 12 months of 4%-5%, reflecting a renewed focus on driving this key performance indicator. The Schumacher acquisition has further strengthened our Corrugated Solutions network, enabling further optimization across our footprint and unlocking efficiencies that support our long-term growth. Over the past 10 years, we have closed 22 plants, while at the same time growing volumes. over the past 10 years we have closed 22 plants while at the same time growing volumes As our larger plants get increasingly efficient, we are able to successfully transfer volumes from smaller operations, which in turn drives further efficiencies. as our larger plants get increasingly efficient we are able to successfully transfer volumes from smaller operations which in turn drives further efficiencies The chart on the right-hand side of the slide illustrates the track record of productivity gains over the past 10 years in our Corrugated Solutions and paper bags plants, respectively. the chart on the right-hand side of the slide illustrates the track record of productivity gains over the past 10 years in our corrugated solutions and paper bags plants respectively After a short period of slower rates of improvement, I'm delighted by the significant productivity gains achieved in the last 12 months of 4%-5%, reflecting a renewed focus on driving this key performance indicator. after a short period of slower rates of improvement i'm delighted by the significant productivity gains achieved in the last 12 months of 4%-5% reflecting a renewed focus on driving this key performance indicator The Schumacher acquisition has further strengthened our Corrugated Solutions network, enabling further optimization across our footprint and unlocking efficiencies that support our long-term growth. the schumacher acquisition has further strengthened our corrugated solutions network enabling further optimization across our footprint and unlocking efficiencies that support our long-term growth As Mike mentioned, we recently announced three further plant closures, again, with the intention of transferring the volumes to other nearby plants in our network. While we fully acknowledge the challenges for those valued colleagues directly impacted by these decisions, we also recognize the critical importance of driving the ongoing optimization of our plant network. We will not hesitate to take the tough decisions on plant or mill closures when required. So let me then finish where I started. In the context of a prolonged cyclical downturn, we have delivered a resilient performance. We have taken and will continue to take decisive actions to drive value. We remain strongly positioned to deliver in the short term and capture the upside as markets improve. As Mike mentioned, we recently announced three further plant closures, again, with the intention of transferring the volumes to other nearby plants in our network. as mike mentioned we recently announced three further plant closures again with the intention of transferring the volumes to other nearby plants in our network While we fully acknowledge the challenges for those valued colleagues directly impacted by these decisions, we also recognize the critical importance of driving the ongoing optimization of our plant network. while we fully acknowledge the challenges for those valued colleagues directly impacted by these decisions we also recognize the critical importance of driving the ongoing optimization of our plant network We will not hesitate to take the tough decisions on plant or mill closures when required. we will not hesitate to take the tough decisions on plant or mill closures when required So let me then finish where I started. so let me then finish where i started In the context of a prolonged cyclical downturn, we have delivered a resilient performance. in the context of a prolonged cyclical downturn we have delivered a resilient performance We have taken and will continue to take decisive actions to drive value. we have taken and will continue to take decisive actions to drive value We remain strongly positioned to deliver in the short term and capture the upside as markets improve. we remain strongly positioned to deliver in the short term and capture the upside as markets improve Our conviction is driven by our belief in the structural growth drivers underpinning growth in our packaging businesses, our leading market positions, our well-invested and highly cost-competitive assets, our compelling customer value proposition, and most importantly, our committed and highly capable people who live and drive our culture of excellence and continuous improvement. In this context, I'd like to finish by extending my sincere thanks to all our people for their great commitment and energy in navigating the current challenging market conditions and remaining steadfast in pursuing our goal of delivering sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders. With that, I thank you very much for your attention, and Mike and I are now delighted to take your questions. Our conviction is driven by our belief in the structural growth drivers underpinning growth in our packaging businesses, our leading market positions, our well-invested and highly cost-competitive assets, our compelling customer value proposition, and most importantly, our committed and highly capable people who live and drive our culture of excellence and continuous improvement. our conviction is driven by our belief in the structural growth drivers underpinning growth in our packaging businesses our leading market positions our well-invested and highly cost-competitive assets our compelling customer value proposition and most importantly our committed and highly capable people who live and drive our culture of excellence and continuous improvement In this context, I'd like to finish by extending my sincere thanks to all our people for their great commitment and energy in navigating the current challenging market conditions and remaining steadfast in pursuing our goal of delivering sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders. in this context i'd like to finish by extending my sincere thanks to all our people for their great commitment and energy in navigating the current challenging market conditions and remaining steadfast in pursuing our goal of delivering sustainable long-term value for all our stakeholders With that, I thank you very much for your attention, and Mike and I are now delighted to take your questions. with that i thank you very much for your attention and mike and i are now delighted to take your questions

Speaker 7: If you have a question today, please use the Raise Hand function on your screen. We'll just wait a moment for questions to come in. Our first question comes from Reinhard of Bank of America. Reinhard, please unmute and go ahead. If you have a question today, please use the Raise Hand function on your screen. if you have a question today please use the raise hand function on your screen We'll just wait a moment for questions to come in. we'll just wait a moment for questions to come in Our first question comes from Reinhard of Bank of America. our first question comes from reinhard of bank of america Reinhard, please unmute and go ahead. reinhard please unmute and go ahead

Speaker 8: Morning, folks. Can you hear me? Morning, folks. morning folks Can you hear me? can you hear me

Speaker 1: We can. We can. we can

Speaker 7: We can, Reinhardt. Morning. We can, Reinhardt. we can reinhardt Morning. morning

Speaker 8: Brilliant. Thank you for taking my questions. I just wanna go to one of your comments. You mentioned that you won't hesitate to take tough decisions on plant closures. I think, you know, you mentioned that a lot of your assets are in the bottom half of the cost curve, but some of them are obviously not. So if we think about rationalizing supply here, as you know, for on the Mondi side, where do you think that incremental closure could potentially come from? Brilliant. brilliant Thank you for taking my questions. thank you for taking my questions I just wanna go to one of your comments. i just wanna go to one of your comments You mentioned that you won't hesitate to take tough decisions on plant closures. you mentioned that you won't hesitate to take tough decisions on plant closures I think, you know, you mentioned that a lot of your assets are in the bottom half of the cost curve, but some of them are obviously not. i think you know you mentioned that a lot of your assets are in the bottom half of the cost curve but some of them are obviously not So if we think about rationalizing supply here, as you know, for on the Mondi side, where do you think that incremental closure could potentially come from? so if we think about rationalizing supply here as you know for on the mondi side where do you think that incremental closure could potentially come from

Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, Reinhard, it's. I mean, as I said, we've, we've got a, a track record of, of taking those decisions in order to continue to facilitate, the drive for more efficiency. Now, typically, historically, a lot of that has been facilitated by, our existing plants getting increasingly efficient, and so we are able to continue to serve our customer with a smaller fixed cost base as. And that's something we've continued to do, and we, we will- we won't hesitate to where the opportunity arises, and as I mentioned, we just recently, announced and are in the process of closing a further three plants. That is, plants in, Hungary, Germany, and, Turkey. Yeah, I think, Reinhard, it's. yeah i think reinhard it's I mean, as I said, we've, we've got a, a track record of, of taking those decisions in order to continue to facilitate, the drive for more efficiency. i mean as i said we've we've got a a track record of of taking those decisions in order to continue to facilitate the drive for more efficiency Now, typically, historically, a lot of that has been facilitated by, our existing plants getting increasingly efficient, and so we are able to continue to serve our customer with a smaller fixed cost base as. now typically historically a lot of that has been facilitated by our existing plants getting increasingly efficient and so we are able to continue to serve our customer with a smaller fixed cost base as And that's something we've continued to do, and we, we will- we won't hesitate to where the opportunity arises, and as I mentioned, we just recently, announced and are in the process of closing a further three plants. and that's something we've continued to do and we we will- we won't hesitate to where the opportunity arises and as i mentioned we just recently announced and are in the process of closing a further three plants That is, plants in, Hungary, Germany, and, Turkey. that is plants in hungary germany and turkey If the opportunity arises to drive further efficiencies while making sure we look after our, our, our customers, that is something we'll continue to do. The plant network is obviously very extensive, and it lends itself to those opportunities. I think your reference was specifically to the paper mills. Clearly, you know, the most important value driver in the paper mills is your cost position. That's why you see us talk so much about the relative cost positioning. Now, those cost curves are not precise. It's... We take the industry cost curves from the various consultants to get a sense of where we are in that space. If the opportunity arises to drive further efficiencies while making sure we look after our, our, our customers, that is something we'll continue to do. if the opportunity arises to drive further efficiencies while making sure we look after our our our customers that is something we'll continue to do The plant network is obviously very extensive, and it lends itself to those opportunities. the plant network is obviously very extensive and it lends itself to those opportunities I think your reference was specifically to the paper mills. i think your reference was specifically to the paper mills Clearly, you know, the most important value driver in the paper mills is your cost position. clearly you know the most important value driver in the paper mills is your cost position That's why you see us talk so much about the relative cost positioning. that's why you see us talk so much about the relative cost positioning Now, those cost curves are not precise. now those cost curves are not precise It's... it's We take the industry cost curves from the various consultants to get a sense of where we are in that space. we take the industry cost curves from the various consultants to get a sense of where we are in that space Quite a lot of the, 'cause people always point to the 25%, as you, I think, have alluded to, that is not in the lower half of the cost curve. Some of that, one has to acknowledge, is very much in the sort of specialty camp, which in some ways it's not appropriate to look at it on a simple cost curve analysis, and certainly, the margins that we see in those businesses are not necessarily the case. Clearly, the one asset of ours which is currently loss-making is the Duino mill in Italy for two reasons. One is it hasn't been optimized yet. Quite a lot of the, 'cause people always point to the 25%, as you, I think, have alluded to, that is not in the lower half of the cost curve. quite a lot of the 'cause people always point to the 25% as you i think have alluded to that is not in the lower half of the cost curve Some of that, one has to acknowledge, is very much in the sort of specialty camp, which in some ways it's not appropriate to look at it on a simple cost curve analysis, and certainly, the margins that we see in those businesses are not necessarily the case. some of that one has to acknowledge is very much in the sort of specialty camp which in some ways it's not appropriate to look at it on a simple cost curve analysis and certainly the margins that we see in those businesses are not necessarily the case Clearly, the one asset of ours which is currently loss-making is the Duino mill in Italy for two reasons. clearly the one asset of ours which is currently loss-making is the duino mill in italy for two reasons One is it hasn't been optimized yet. one is it hasn't been optimized yet It only started this year, so we are not yet in a fully optimized position because, of course, as the capacity ramps up, so the unit costs go down, and also your input costs get optimized. So we are in the process of doing that, but undoubtedly, there's also the market dynamic that's at play there. And as I mentioned, swathes of industry capacity are currently loss-making. The big challenge in that regard is, of course, you would logically see that the more marginal assets should go first. That's at the moment happening to some degree, but one expects more to happen, frankly, if the current paradigm continues. It only started this year, so we are not yet in a fully optimized position because, of course, as the capacity ramps up, so the unit costs go down, and also your input costs get optimized. it only started this year so we are not yet in a fully optimized position because of course as the capacity ramps up so the unit costs go down and also your input costs get optimized So we are in the process of doing that, but undoubtedly, there's also the market dynamic that's at play there. so we are in the process of doing that but undoubtedly there's also the market dynamic that's at play there And as I mentioned, swathes of industry capacity are currently loss-making. and as i mentioned swathes of industry capacity are currently loss-making The big challenge in that regard is, of course, you would logically see that the more marginal assets should go first. the big challenge in that regard is of course you would logically see that the more marginal assets should go first That's at the moment happening to some degree, but one expects more to happen, frankly, if the current paradigm continues. that's at the moment happening to some degree but one expects more to happen frankly if the current paradigm continues Duino is a mid-cost producer, by the time we are fully optimized on it, and importantly, we also require the security of supply that comes with having some recycled containerboard in our portfolio. As I pointed out in that slide on the integrated system, we actually remain short of recycled containerboard as a business. While it might not feel like it at the moment, given the oversupply in the recycled containerboard market, through the cycle, it is important to have some of your own recycled capacity for security of supply reasons into your box business. So there's always that strategic element as well. But, suffice to say that all the rest of our paper mills are extremely well-placed and are extremely cost competitive. Duino is a mid-cost producer, by the time we are fully optimized on it, and importantly, we also require the security of supply that comes with having some recycled containerboard in our portfolio. duino is a mid-cost producer by the time we are fully optimized on it and importantly we also require the security of supply that comes with having some recycled containerboard in our portfolio As I pointed out in that slide on the integrated system, we actually remain short of recycled containerboard as a business. as i pointed out in that slide on the integrated system we actually remain short of recycled containerboard as a business While it might not feel like it at the moment, given the oversupply in the recycled containerboard market, through the cycle, it is important to have some of your own recycled capacity for security of supply reasons into your box business. while it might not feel like it at the moment given the oversupply in the recycled containerboard market through the cycle it is important to have some of your own recycled capacity for security of supply reasons into your box business So there's always that strategic element as well. so there's always that strategic element as well But, suffice to say that all the rest of our paper mills are extremely well-placed and are extremely cost competitive. but suffice to say that all the rest of our paper mills are extremely well-placed and are extremely cost competitive

Speaker 8: Got it. No, that's very clear. Thank you, Andrew. Maybe if I just flip that question on its head, and ask about your capacity at the box level, at box plants. You're driving efficiency, that seems to be a focus right now. But how do you think about maybe some countercyclical consolidation investments? I mean, dividend is down now, CapEx, you're pulling back, so there seems to be some balance sheet capacity in the next few years. How are you thinking about countercyclical investments, at the box plant level? Got it. got it No, that's very clear. no that's very clear Thank you, Andrew. thank you andrew Maybe if I just flip that question on its head, and ask about your capacity at the box level, at box plants. maybe if i just flip that question on its head and ask about your capacity at the box level at box plants You're driving efficiency, that seems to be a focus right now. you're driving efficiency that seems to be a focus right now But how do you think about maybe some countercyclical consolidation investments? but how do you think about maybe some countercyclical consolidation investments I mean, dividend is down now, CapEx, you're pulling back, so there seems to be some balance sheet capacity in the next few years. i mean dividend is down now capex you're pulling back so there seems to be some balance sheet capacity in the next few years How are you thinking about countercyclical investments, at the box plant level? how are you thinking about countercyclical investments at the box plant level

Speaker 1: Yeah, I won't even ask Mike to comment on the balance sheet capacity, 'cause I know he's on set at 2.6 times leverage. I think we're very conscious that, you know, we're at the top of where we're comfortable in terms of leverage. Yeah, I won't even ask Mike to comment on the balance sheet capacity, 'cause I know he's on set at 2.6 times leverage. yeah i won't even ask mike to comment on the balance sheet capacity 'cause i know he's on set at 2.6 times leverage I think we're very conscious that, you know, we're at the top of where we're comfortable in terms of leverage. i think we're very conscious that you know we're at the top of where we're comfortable in terms of leverage

Speaker 8: Agreed. Agreed. agreed

Speaker 1: And so, our focus is very much on driving those self-help actions that we spoke about, and being as well-placed as we can to serve our customers in the current dynamic. And, you know, we've invested heavily in the business. We know that, and we have the capacity now. We have all the weapons in our armory to compete very effectively in the markets. That's the job to do right now with the assets that we invested in and the portfolio that we have. That is the focus. And so, our focus is very much on driving those self-help actions that we spoke about, and being as well-placed as we can to serve our customers in the current dynamic. and so our focus is very much on driving those self-help actions that we spoke about and being as well-placed as we can to serve our customers in the current dynamic And, you know, we've invested heavily in the business. and you know we've invested heavily in the business We know that, and we have the capacity now. we know that and we have the capacity now We have all the weapons in our armory to compete very effectively in the markets. we have all the weapons in our armory to compete very effectively in the markets That's the job to do right now with the assets that we invested in and the portfolio that we have. that's the job to do right now with the assets that we invested in and the portfolio that we have That is the focus. that is the focus

Speaker 8: Very clear. Thanks a lot. I'll pass it along. Very clear. very clear Thanks a lot. thanks a lot I'll pass it along. i'll pass it along

Speaker 6: Thanks, Reinhardt. Thanks, Reinhardt. thanks reinhardt

Speaker 7: Our next question comes from Detlef of JPMorgan. Detlef, please unmute and go ahead. Our next question comes from Detlef of JP Morgan. our next question comes from detlef of jp morgan Detlef, please unmute and go ahead. detlef please unmute and go ahead

Speaker 4: Morning, guys. Just checking you guys can hear me? Morning, guys. morning guys Just checking you guys can hear me? just checking you guys can hear me

Speaker 6: We can. We can. we can

Speaker 4: Perfect. Morning. It's just a quick one on your CapEx. You know, if I look to 2025, coming in roughly quote, EUR 130 million below midpoint of guide, putting down 2026 by EUR 100 million. Can you run us through kind of what you've paid back, any specific projects? And has anything kind of been kicked to 2027, or is this kind of EUR 550 million-ish roughly okay, extending growth project? Perfect. perfect Morning. morning It's just a quick one on your CapEx. it's just a quick one on your capex You know, if I look to 2025, coming in roughly quote, EUR 130 million below midpoint of guide, putting down 2026 by EUR 100 million. you know if i look to 2025 coming in roughly quote eur 130 million below midpoint of guide putting down 2026 by eur 100 million Can you run us through kind of what you've paid back, any specific projects? can you run us through kind of what you've paid back any specific projects And has anything kind of been kicked to 2027, or is this kind of EUR 550 million-ish roughly okay, extending growth project? and has anything kind of been kicked to 2027 or is this kind of eur 550 million-ish roughly okay extending growth project

Speaker 1: Short answer is, yes, we're very comfortable with that number. Clearly in the, you know, the current low growth market environment, it's not, it's, it's not a difficult trade-off to cut back on anything of a, of a significant expansionary nature. That said, there are some pockets of growth that we are still continuing to support, but, but they're very small, and they're within that overall number. The primary focus at the moment is on, on, in terms of the CapEx program going forward, is, is investing and to make sure the asset integrity is, is not impeded, and of course, that we do retain the exposure to the upside. Short answer is, yes, we're very comfortable with that number. short answer is yes we're very comfortable with that number Clearly in the, you know, the current low growth market environment, it's not, it's, it's not a difficult trade-off to cut back on anything of a, of a significant expansionary nature. clearly in the you know the current low growth market environment it's not it's it's not a difficult trade-off to cut back on anything of a of a significant expansionary nature That said, there are some pockets of growth that we are still continuing to support, but, but they're very small, and they're within that overall number. that said there are some pockets of growth that we are still continuing to support but but they're very small and they're within that overall number The primary focus at the moment is on, on, in terms of the CapEx program going forward, is, is investing and to make sure the asset integrity is, is not impeded, and of course, that we do retain the exposure to the upside. the primary focus at the moment is on on in terms of the capex program going forward is is investing and to make sure the asset integrity is is not impeded and of course that we do retain the exposure to the upside But having invested significantly over the last few years, we're very confident that we can pull back on the CapEx spend while without prejudicing the asset integrity, and similarly, without prejudicing the exposure to the upside. In terms of what we might have prioritized or deprioritized, that's there's always that constant work being done to prioritize your CapEx programs and the like, but we're very confident that there's nothing we're doing now that, as I say, either prejudices asset integrity or indeed limits our exposure to the upside in the near term. Clearly, if we see markets, you know, starting to show real recovery in terms of from the demand side, there might be some other opportunities. But having invested significantly over the last few years, we're very confident that we can pull back on the CapEx spend while without prejudicing the asset integrity, and similarly, without prejudicing the exposure to the upside. but having invested significantly over the last few years we're very confident that we can pull back on the capex spend while without prejudicing the asset integrity and similarly without prejudicing the exposure to the upside In terms of what we might have prioritized or deprioritized, that's there's always that constant work being done to prioritize your CapEx programs and the like, but we're very confident that there's nothing we're doing now that, as I say, either prejudices asset integrity or indeed limits our exposure to the upside in the near term. in terms of what we might have prioritized or deprioritized that's there's always that constant work being done to prioritize your capex programs and the like but we're very confident that there's nothing we're doing now that as i say either prejudices asset integrity or indeed limits our exposure to the upside in the near term Clearly, if we see markets, you know, starting to show real recovery in terms of from the demand side, there might be some other opportunities. clearly if we see markets you know starting to show real recovery in terms of from the demand side there might be some other opportunities You know, we have a great asset base that we continue to leverage if the opportunities are there, but we're very comfortable operating in this sort of envelope for an extended period of time. We've always said maintenance CapEx, you know, and that's not just sort of holding on to what we got, but adding some opportunities in the sort of 100%-110% of depreciation. So that's what we're operating with this year. You know, we have a great asset base that we continue to leverage if the opportunities are there, but we're very comfortable operating in this sort of envelope for an extended period of time. you know we have a great asset base that we continue to leverage if the opportunities are there but we're very comfortable operating in this sort of envelope for an extended period of time We've always said maintenance CapEx, you know, and that's not just sort of holding on to what we got, but adding some opportunities in the sort of 100%-110% of depreciation. we've always said maintenance capex you know and that's not just sort of holding on to what we got but adding some opportunities in the sort of 100%-110% of depreciation So that's what we're operating with this year. so that's what we're operating with this year

Speaker 6: Yeah, and Detlef, just to be explicit on your 2027 question, we're not stoking an issue for 2027. As Andrew said, we can operate at this 110%. We've got capacity that we've put on the ground that isn't yet full. And in this environment, I think we're very comfortable. We've got well-invested assets, and now we need to generate the cash and fill those assets. Yeah, and Detlef, just to be explicit on your 2027 question, we're not stoking an issue for 2027. yeah and detlef just to be explicit on your 2027 question we're not stoking an issue for 2027 As Andrew said, we can operate at this 110%. as andrew said we can operate at this 110% We've got capacity that we've put on the ground that isn't yet full. we've got capacity that we've put on the ground that isn't yet full And in this environment, I think we're very comfortable. and in this environment i think we're very comfortable We've got well-invested assets, and now we need to generate the cash and fill those assets. we've got well-invested assets and now we need to generate the cash and fill those assets

Speaker 4: Great. Thanks so much. I'll hand it over. Thanks, guys. Great. great Thanks so much. thanks so much I'll hand it over. i'll hand it over Thanks, guys. thanks guys

Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 7: Our next question comes from Lars of Stifel. Lars, please unmute and go ahead. Our next question comes from Lars of Stifel. our next question comes from lars of stifel Lars, please unmute and go ahead. lars please unmute and go ahead

Speaker 5: Thank you for taking my question. I'll just start with a big question in terms of where your margins are today. They're obviously down quite a bit on the cyclical pressures and, and of course, you can reinvest it in your business with headwinds from starting up, et cetera, et cetera. Where do you think, considering what seems to be somewhat structurally higher wood costs, that your margins could, where they should be in some sort of normalized environment? And just on a short-term comments, you did say Kraft paper order books are starting to improve, and you, you reversing the, the sort of couple of quarters of price declines. What are you seeing in containerboard when it comes to demand trends? Thank you for taking my question. thank you for taking my question I'll just start with a big question in terms of where your margins are today. i'll just start with a big question in terms of where your margins are today They're obviously down quite a bit on the cyclical pressures and, and of course, you can reinvest it in your business with headwinds from starting up, et cetera, et cetera. they're obviously down quite a bit on the cyclical pressures and and of course you can reinvest it in your business with headwinds from starting up et cetera et cetera Where do you think, considering what seems to be somewhat structurally higher wood costs, that your margins could, where they should be in some sort of normalized environment? where do you think considering what seems to be somewhat structurally higher wood costs that your margins could where they should be in some sort of normalized environment And just on a short-term comments, you did say Kraft paper order books are starting to improve, and you, you reversing the, the sort of couple of quarters of price declines. and just on a short-term comments you did say kraft paper order books are starting to improve and you you reversing the the sort of couple of quarters of price declines What are you seeing in containerboard when it comes to demand trends? what are you seeing in containerboard when it comes to demand trends And of course, you have spoken to Andrew and many others, of course, and in reality, there's been a distress here for a long time. Are you seeing any real signs of this cracking? And of course, you have spoken to Andrew and many others, of course, and in reality, there's been a distress here for a long time. and of course you have spoken to andrew and many others of course and in reality there's been a distress here for a long time Are you seeing any real signs of this cracking? are you seeing any real signs of this cracking

Speaker 1: Okay, there's a few questions in there. I think on the first question, I'm not gonna, I know it's flavor of the month, but I'm not gonna give long-term forecasts. But I think, you know, yes, European wood costs are structurally higher than they were, you know, pre-Ukraine for obvious reasons, because of the restriction, well, the prohibition of supply out of Russia and Belarus, which of course, caused prices to go up. And yes, they've come down to some extent from the peak levels in 2022, but they're still above pre-Ukraine levels. So I think, you know, that is a structural change. At the same time, it clearly affects all players in Europe to a greater or lesser degree, but clearly everyone's impacted. Okay, there's a few questions in there. okay there's a few questions in there I think on the first question, I'm not gonna, I know it's flavor of the month, but I'm not gonna give long-term forecasts. i think on the first question i'm not gonna i know it's flavor of the month but i'm not gonna give long-term forecasts But I think, you know, yes, European wood costs are structurally higher than they were, you know, pre-Ukraine for obvious reasons, because of the restriction, well, the prohibition of supply out of Russia and Belarus, which of course, caused prices to go up. but i think you know yes european wood costs are structurally higher than they were you know pre-ukraine for obvious reasons because of the restriction well the prohibition of supply out of russia and belarus which of course caused prices to go up And yes, they've come down to some extent from the peak levels in 2022, but they're still above pre-Ukraine levels. and yes they've come down to some extent from the peak levels in 2022 but they're still above pre-ukraine levels So I think, you know, that is a structural change. so i think you know that is a structural change At the same time, it clearly affects all players in Europe to a greater or lesser degree, but clearly everyone's impacted. at the same time it clearly affects all players in europe to a greater or lesser degree but clearly everyone's impacted So the whole cost, industry cost base has gone up. That's particularly relevant for, for example, the sack kraft grades, which are primarily made, as you well know, in Northern and Central Europe. And so the relative positioning hasn't materially changed on that. Clearly, where it has changed on a global basis is in, for example, pulp, where, as a globally traded commodity, you are competing with other continents where maybe you haven't seen that same level of input cost pressure. From our perspective, we are, we are not a pulp player. I mean, the only place we make open market pulp of any significance is in South Africa, and of course, there, the wood cost situation is actually relatively improved versus the European cost base. So the whole cost, industry cost base has gone up. so the whole cost industry cost base has gone up That's particularly relevant for, for example, the sack kraft grades, which are primarily made, as you well know, in Northern and Central Europe. that's particularly relevant for for example the sack kraft grades which are primarily made as you well know in northern and central europe And so the relative positioning hasn't materially changed on that. and so the relative positioning hasn't materially changed on that Clearly, where it has changed on a global basis is in, for example, pulp, where, as a globally traded commodity, you are competing with other continents where maybe you haven't seen that same level of input cost pressure. clearly where it has changed on a global basis is in for example pulp where as a globally traded commodity you are competing with other continents where maybe you haven't seen that same level of input cost pressure From our perspective, we are, we are not a pulp player. from our perspective we are we are not a pulp player I mean, the only place we make open market pulp of any significance is in South Africa, and of course, there, the wood cost situation is actually relatively improved versus the European cost base. i mean the only place we make open market pulp of any significance is in south africa and of course there the wood cost situation is actually relatively improved versus the european cost base Clearly, that was the other reason that attracted us to Canada, where, again, in our Hinton mill, the wood costs are extremely favorable compared to Europe. So I think, you know, it's in that sort of market where you might have seen a relatively less competitive dynamic. In the kraftliner markets, which is the other big grade of virgin product that we make, again, all the European competitors have seen similar input cost inflation. I guess on a relative basis, people like the Latam producers have enjoyed a relative advantage. But as you know, they produce their kraftliner out of virgin hardwood grades. Clearly, that was the other reason that attracted us to Canada, where, again, in our Hinton mill, the wood costs are extremely favorable compared to Europe. clearly that was the other reason that attracted us to canada where again in our hinton mill the wood costs are extremely favorable compared to europe So I think, you know, it's in that sort of market where you might have seen a relatively less competitive dynamic. so i think you know it's in that sort of market where you might have seen a relatively less competitive dynamic In the kraftliner markets, which is the other big grade of virgin product that we make, again, all the European competitors have seen similar input cost inflation. in the kraftliner markets which is the other big grade of virgin product that we make again all the european competitors have seen similar input cost inflation I guess on a relative basis, people like the Latam producers have enjoyed a relative advantage. i guess on a relative basis people like the latam producers have enjoyed a relative advantage But as you know, they produce their kraftliner out of virgin hardwood grades. but as you know they produce their kraftliner out of virgin hardwood grades You can't add things like recycled content into those grades, which the Europeans and ourselves, in particular, are able to benefit from, so we can offset some of those cost disadvantages on the wood front with the PFR content and the like. So I think to your point, Lars, it is a relevant consideration on a global basis, but then you have to look grade by grade, where you have to compete on a global basis versus what are more regional markets. The question on containerboard, I think you mentioned it, it was basically a twin question on pricing and sort of where's the supply-demand picture, which of course are linked. Yeah, I mean, right now, margins across the industry are heavily squeezed. Clearly, the big capacity problem is in recycled containerboard. You can't add things like recycled content into those grades, which the Europeans and ourselves, in particular, are able to benefit from, so we can offset some of those cost disadvantages on the wood front with the PFR content and the like. you can't add things like recycled content into those grades which the europeans and ourselves in particular are able to benefit from so we can offset some of those cost disadvantages on the wood front with the pfr content and the like So I think to your point, Lars, it is a relevant consideration on a global basis, but then you have to look grade by grade, where you have to compete on a global basis versus what are more regional markets. so i think to your point lars it is a relevant consideration on a global basis but then you have to look grade by grade where you have to compete on a global basis versus what are more regional markets The question on containerboard, I think you mentioned it, it was basically a twin question on pricing and sort of where's the supply-demand picture, which of course are linked. the question on containerboard i think you mentioned it it was basically a twin question on pricing and sort of where's the supply-demand picture which of course are linked Yeah, I mean, right now, margins across the industry are heavily squeezed. yeah i mean right now margins across the industry are heavily squeezed Clearly, the big capacity problem is in recycled containerboard. clearly the big capacity problem is in recycled containerboard It's not on the virgin grades, but at the same time, we're the first to acknowledge that the overhang in the recycled grades is putting a cap on the ability to push pricing on the virgin grades, because on the margin, there is substitution. So you know, the question is how quickly this overcapacity can be absorbed into the market. I firmly believe it has to come through a combination of factors. Clearly, the demand side, albeit we're starting to see some okay demand. You know, last year, I think the box Europe box volumes were up around two percentage points. If you look at the industry statistics, that's okay in a normal environment. It's not on the virgin grades, but at the same time, we're the first to acknowledge that the overhang in the recycled grades is putting a cap on the ability to push pricing on the virgin grades, because on the margin, there is substitution. it's not on the virgin grades but at the same time we're the first to acknowledge that the overhang in the recycled grades is putting a cap on the ability to push pricing on the virgin grades because on the margin there is substitution So you know, the question is how quickly this overcapacity can be absorbed into the market. so you know the question is how quickly this overcapacity can be absorbed into the market I firmly believe it has to come through a combination of factors. i firmly believe it has to come through a combination of factors Clearly, the demand side, albeit we're starting to see some okay demand. clearly the demand side albeit we're starting to see some okay demand You know, last year, I think the box Europe box volumes were up around two percentage points. you know last year i think the box europe box volumes were up around two percentage points If you look at the industry statistics, that's okay in a normal environment. if you look at the industry statistics that's okay in a normal environment Of course, it's off a low base because we saw a sharp decline in sort of 2023 into 2024, and now it's only rebuilding now. So you have seen, on a trend basis, below trend growth for the last five years. At the same time, the capacity has been coming in on historic trend rates, if you look at it. So that has caused this oversupply. I do believe it will require further capacity closures to balance it. I don't think we can assume that demand, in itself, is gonna do all the heavy lifting here. But as I said in my opening remarks, there's every incentive for that. Now, we are starting to see some movement on that front. It's not these big-ticket sort of headline-grabbing moves, but you are starting to see closures take place. Of course, it's off a low base because we saw a sharp decline in sort of 2023 into 2024, and now it's only rebuilding now. of course it's off a low base because we saw a sharp decline in sort of 2023 into 2024 and now it's only rebuilding now So you have seen, on a trend basis, below trend growth for the last five years. so you have seen on a trend basis below trend growth for the last five years At the same time, the capacity has been coming in on historic trend rates, if you look at it. at the same time the capacity has been coming in on historic trend rates if you look at it So that has caused this oversupply. so that has caused this oversupply I do believe it will require further capacity closures to balance it. i do believe it will require further capacity closures to balance it I don't think we can assume that demand, in itself, is gonna do all the heavy lifting here. i don't think we can assume that demand in itself is gonna do all the heavy lifting here But as I said in my opening remarks, there's every incentive for that. but as i said in my opening remarks there's every incentive for that Now, we are starting to see some movement on that front. now we are starting to see some movement on that front It's not these big-ticket sort of headline-grabbing moves, but you are starting to see closures take place. it's not these big-ticket sort of headline-grabbing moves but you are starting to see closures take place I firmly believe, as I say, there's every incentive for more closures, there must be huge pain at the high end of the cost curve. And simply put, the current margins are not sustainable. So if you believe in a structurally growing market, which we do—you know, the current incentive price is not there, certainly for new capacity, and its incentive is for closures. And you've got to believe something's gonna change on that front. I firmly believe, as I say, there's every incentive for more closures, there must be huge pain at the high end of the cost curve. i firmly believe as i say there's every incentive for more closures there must be huge pain at the high end of the cost curve And simply put, the current margins are not sustainable. and simply put the current margins are not sustainable So if you believe in a structurally growing market, which we do—you know, the current incentive price is not there, certainly for new capacity, and its incentive is for closures. so if you believe in a structurally growing market which we do—you know the current incentive price is not there certainly for new capacity and its incentive is for closures And you've got to believe something's gonna change on that front. and you've got to believe something's gonna change on that front

Speaker 5: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 1: I hope that answers your questions, Lars. I hope that answers your questions, Lars. i hope that answers your questions lars

Speaker 5: It does. Thank you. It does. it does Thank you. thank you

Speaker 6: Thanks, Lars. Thanks, Lars. thanks lars

Speaker 7: Our next question comes from Cole of Jefferies. Cole, please unmute and go ahead. Our next question comes from Cole of Jefferies. our next question comes from cole of jefferies Cole, please unmute and go ahead. cole please unmute and go ahead

Speaker 3: Morning. Thanks for taking my question. I appreciate the actions taken on the cost front, and, you know, Mondi has never, like many of your peers, announced separate kind of cost initiatives, but, you know, 1,000 headcount, group services, pulled back. That's all ultimately helpful for 2026. I'd just like a little bit more color on, you know, the message on costs. You're talking about stable costs, 2026 versus 2025. I'd just like some moving parts there. And then after the input costs, can you give any color on, you know, what would be the potential contribution from the Schumacher acquisition and the EUR 32 million synergies that you're trying to achieve in 2026? And, also a difficult one is the contributions from the CapEx projects. Morning. morning Thanks for taking my question. thanks for taking my question I appreciate the actions taken on the cost front, and, you know, Mondi has never, like many of your peers, announced separate kind of cost initiatives, but, you know, 1,000 headcount, group services, pulled back. i appreciate the actions taken on the cost front and you know mondi has never like many of your peers announced separate kind of cost initiatives but you know 1,000 headcount group services pulled back That's all ultimately helpful for 2026. that's all ultimately helpful for 2026 I'd just like a little bit more color on, you know, the message on costs. i'd just like a little bit more color on you know the message on costs You're talking about stable costs, 2026 versus 2025. you're talking about stable costs 2026 versus 2025 I'd just like some moving parts there. i'd just like some moving parts there And then after the input costs, can you give any color on, you know, what would be the potential contribution from the Schumacher acquisition and the EUR 32 million synergies that you're trying to achieve in 2026? and then after the input costs can you give any color on you know what would be the potential contribution from the schumacher acquisition and the eur 32 million synergies that you're trying to achieve in 2026 And, also a difficult one is the contributions from the CapEx projects. and also a difficult one is the contributions from the capex projects I know prices are low, and the market is still challenging, but the contribution from the major CapEx projects would be helpful. Thank you. I know prices are low, and the market is still challenging, but the contribution from the major CapEx projects would be helpful. i know prices are low and the market is still challenging but the contribution from the major capex projects would be helpful Thank you. thank you

Speaker 6: Sure. Let me start, Cole, with the first couple, and then the last one sort of relates to wider market issues, which Andrew can comment on. Just in terms of costs, just so we're clear, if I take what some would call overheads, we call them fixed costs, we have taken those actions. We continue to take actions on overheads. Large part for us is people costs, some maintenance of equipment, but clearly that's around assets. Those people actions that we've taken, plus those other efficiencies that we'll drive through our overhead base, will offset, as I said in my words, will offset any inflationary pressures. Sure. sure Let me start, Cole, with the first couple, and then the last one sort of relates to wider market issues, which Andrew can comment on. let me start cole with the first couple and then the last one sort of relates to wider market issues which andrew can comment on Just in terms of costs, just so we're clear, if I take what some would call overheads, we call them fixed costs, we have taken those actions. just in terms of costs just so we're clear if i take what some would call overheads we call them fixed costs we have taken those actions We continue to take actions on overheads. we continue to take actions on overheads Large part for us is people costs, some maintenance of equipment, but clearly that's around assets. large part for us is people costs some maintenance of equipment but clearly that's around assets Those people actions that we've taken, plus those other efficiencies that we'll drive through our overhead base, will offset, as I said in my words, will offset any inflationary pressures. those people actions that we've taken plus those other efficiencies that we'll drive through our overhead base will offset as i said in my words will offset any inflationary pressures So we still have, and we like to pay our workforce that are precious to us, inflation increases. The work we have done will offset that. So I'd expect our fixed cost overhead base to be flat, given the actions that we've taken. I think you also touched on input costs, so, above the line, direct materials, others might call it. Again, within that, it's early in the year. I would guide to flat if I was sat here today. Clearly, that will change as the year goes on. But as of today, we're seeing it flat on 2025. Why is that? We're seeing some headwinds. There's less energy emissions credits in various forms from governments. I think you've heard the rest of the peer group talk about those. So we still have, and we like to pay our workforce that are precious to us, inflation increases. so we still have and we like to pay our workforce that are precious to us inflation increases The work we have done will offset that. the work we have done will offset that So I'd expect our fixed cost overhead base to be flat, given the actions that we've taken. so i'd expect our fixed cost overhead base to be flat given the actions that we've taken I think you also touched on input costs, so, above the line, direct materials, others might call it. i think you also touched on input costs so above the line direct materials others might call it Again, within that, it's early in the year. again within that it's early in the year I would guide to flat if I was sat here today. i would guide to flat if i was sat here today Clearly, that will change as the year goes on. clearly that will change as the year goes on But as of today, we're seeing it flat on 2025. but as of today we're seeing it flat on 2025 Why is that? why is that We're seeing some headwinds. we're seeing some headwinds There's less energy emissions credits in various forms from governments. there's less energy emissions credits in various forms from governments I think you've heard the rest of the peer group talk about those. i think you've heard the rest of the peer group talk about those For us, that's about EUR 60 million headwind on energy. We'll work hard to offset that. We've got some other cost categories coming down still, which I think reflects a sort of a pretty lackluster economy. It's things like chemicals are still coming down. And then within wood, we've got some ups, some downs. We've got Scandi wood coming down, Central Eastern European wood going up. I would say the ups and downs are much smaller than they've been. I know we're in a much more volatile world, so I don't want to diminish a sort of 20 up and a 30 down. But those movements are much smaller ups and downs than they were two years ago, or frankly, that they would be if economies recover. For us, that's about EUR 60 million headwind on energy. for us that's about eur 60 million headwind on energy We'll work hard to offset that. we'll work hard to offset that We've got some other cost categories coming down still, which I think reflects a sort of a pretty lackluster economy. we've got some other cost categories coming down still which i think reflects a sort of a pretty lackluster economy It's things like chemicals are still coming down. it's things like chemicals are still coming down And then within wood, we've got some ups, some downs. and then within wood we've got some ups some downs We've got Scandi wood coming down, Central Eastern European wood going up. we've got scandi wood coming down central eastern european wood going up I would say the ups and downs are much smaller than they've been. i would say the ups and downs are much smaller than they've been I know we're in a much more volatile world, so I don't want to diminish a sort of 20 up and a 30 down. i know we're in a much more volatile world so i don't want to diminish a sort of 20 up and a 30 down But those movements are much smaller ups and downs than they were two years ago, or frankly, that they would be if economies recover. but those movements are much smaller ups and downs than they were two years ago or frankly that they would be if economies recover So I think what the, the puts and takes to give me confidence to go to flat is, is the puts and takes are, are probably a bit either way, and we're working hard internally to offset those energy grants from governments in various forms. So, so best guidance is flat on input costs, Cole. Hope that's a bit of color within the categories that you're after. And, and, Andrew, in terms of markets and- So I think what the, the puts and takes to give me confidence to go to flat is, is the puts and takes are, are probably a bit either way, and we're working hard internally to offset those energy grants from governments in various forms. so i think what the the puts and takes to give me confidence to go to flat is is the puts and takes are are probably a bit either way and we're working hard internally to offset those energy grants from governments in various forms So, so best guidance is flat on input costs, Cole. so so best guidance is flat on input costs cole Hope that's a bit of color within the categories that you're after. hope that's a bit of color within the categories that you're after And, and, Andrew, in terms of markets and- and and andrew in terms of markets and-

Speaker 1: Yeah Yeah yeah

Speaker 6: ... volumes. ... volumes. volumes

Speaker 1: Yeah, so, I think just adding to the cost story, we, I'd frankly prefer our procurement guys to be struggling a bit more because it generally means an economic pickup, which puts more pressure also on input costs, but that's a far more favorable environment than sadly, the one we continue to struggle with, with the geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop that we see. Yeah, so, I think just adding to the cost story, we, I'd frankly prefer our procurement guys to be struggling a bit more because it generally means an economic pickup, which puts more pressure also on input costs, but that's a far more favorable environment than sadly, the one we continue to struggle with, with the geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop that we see. yeah so i think just adding to the cost story we i'd frankly prefer our procurement guys to be struggling a bit more because it generally means an economic pickup which puts more pressure also on input costs but that's a far more favorable environment than sadly the one we continue to struggle with with the geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop that we see

Speaker 6: It- It- it-

Speaker 1: But coming back to call it the self-help, Cole, which is very much also linked to the CapEx programme, I guess it can be divided into two parts. The one is what is within our control and the other, which is clearly the market dynamic that we're selling into, and of course, the two are somewhat interlinked. But if I look at it in broad terms, you know, on the big upstream capacity expansion, we've probably got another 300,000 tonnes to come this year from ramping up the projects. Now, about half of that is Duino, which I think I've already explained to you clearly in the current paradigm with the current recycled containerboard price, not seeing a big contribution on those extra tonnes at the moment. But coming back to call it the self-help, Cole, which is very much also linked to the CapEx programme, I guess it can be divided into two parts. but coming back to call it the self-help cole which is very much also linked to the capex programme i guess it can be divided into two parts The one is what is within our control and the other, which is clearly the market dynamic that we're selling into, and of course, the two are somewhat interlinked. the one is what is within our control and the other which is clearly the market dynamic that we're selling into and of course the two are somewhat interlinked But if I look at it in broad terms, you know, on the big upstream capacity expansion, we've probably got another 300,000 tonnes to come this year from ramping up the projects. but if i look at it in broad terms you know on the big upstream capacity expansion we've probably got another 300,000 tonnes to come this year from ramping up the projects Now, about half of that is Duino, which I think I've already explained to you clearly in the current paradigm with the current recycled containerboard price, not seeing a big contribution on those extra tonnes at the moment. now about half of that is duino which i think i've already explained to you clearly in the current paradigm with the current recycled containerboard price not seeing a big contribution on those extra tonnes at the moment But as I said, it's, you know, it's the focus there is very much driving the productivity improvement, and it also has benefits on cost optimization and the like. For the rest, it's obviously very valuable tons, even in the current difficult environment, because it's expanding both the virgin capacity out of Świecie and Kuopio, and also the sack kraft production out of the PM10 in Štětí. And I remind you, last year, we took down the Stolbtsy mill, so this incremental capacity for the market is readily absorbable. And, you know, again, we're excited by the underlying growth we see in our bags and other applications for our kraft paper, so very confident that that can be placed into good markets. So that's where a lot of it comes from. But as I said, it's, you know, it's the focus there is very much driving the productivity improvement, and it also has benefits on cost optimization and the like. but as i said it's you know it's the focus there is very much driving the productivity improvement and it also has benefits on cost optimization and the like For the rest, it's obviously very valuable tons, even in the current difficult environment, because it's expanding both the virgin capacity out of Świecie and Kuopio, and also the sack kraft production out of the PM10 in Štětí. for the rest it's obviously very valuable tons even in the current difficult environment because it's expanding both the virgin capacity out of świecie and kuopio and also the sack kraft production out of the pm10 in štětí And I remind you, last year, we took down the Stolbtsy mill, so this incremental capacity for the market is readily absorbable. and i remind you last year we took down the stolbtsy mill so this incremental capacity for the market is readily absorbable And, you know, again, we're excited by the underlying growth we see in our bags and other applications for our kraft paper, so very confident that that can be placed into good markets. and you know again we're excited by the underlying growth we see in our bags and other applications for our kraft paper so very confident that that can be placed into good markets So that's where a lot of it comes from. so that's where a lot of it comes from In terms of the absolute contribution, the big challenge here is what is your pricing assumption, particularly on the paper grades. And which is, you know, what we're saying is this is gonna support our volume growth in 2026. We think we can, for all of those reasons, grow above market. The absolute pricing will obviously determine exactly what the contribution is from that, but this is good low-cost tonnage that we are bringing into the market. And similarly, in the converting businesses, again, there is always a much closer interplay with the market dynamics and the capacity. Putting up the capacity is the easy bit, getting it into the market at the right price is something which obviously is also a function of the overall market conditions. In terms of the absolute contribution, the big challenge here is what is your pricing assumption, particularly on the paper grades. in terms of the absolute contribution the big challenge here is what is your pricing assumption particularly on the paper grades And which is, you know, what we're saying is this is gonna support our volume growth in 2026. and which is you know what we're saying is this is gonna support our volume growth in 2026 We think we can, for all of those reasons, grow above market. we think we can for all of those reasons grow above market The absolute pricing will obviously determine exactly what the contribution is from that, but this is good low-cost tonnage that we are bringing into the market. the absolute pricing will obviously determine exactly what the contribution is from that but this is good low-cost tonnage that we are bringing into the market And similarly, in the converting businesses, again, there is always a much closer interplay with the market dynamics and the capacity. and similarly in the converting businesses again there is always a much closer interplay with the market dynamics and the capacity Putting up the capacity is the easy bit, getting it into the market at the right price is something which obviously is also a function of the overall market conditions. putting up the capacity is the easy bit getting it into the market at the right price is something which obviously is also a function of the overall market conditions Again, though, I think we've got all the tools to be able to grow above market in the key markets where we've increased capacity, and that includes the Schumacher acquisition, which as I, you know, we said at the time, also comes with effectively some latent capacity, which it's incumbent on us to grow into the market, and we're very confident we can continue to do that. I think a very exciting area for us is that e-commerce area where, you know, as I said in my opening remarks, we do have a fantastic and unparalleled port-- breadth of portfolio there that is genuinely what our e-commerce customers are buying from us across the platform. I think I've got a example of the protective mailer behind us and the like. Again, though, I think we've got all the tools to be able to grow above market in the key markets where we've increased capacity, and that includes the Schumacher acquisition, which as I, you know, we said at the time, also comes with effectively some latent capacity, which it's incumbent on us to grow into the market, and we're very confident we can continue to do that. again though i think we've got all the tools to be able to grow above market in the key markets where we've increased capacity and that includes the schumacher acquisition which as i you know we said at the time also comes with effectively some latent capacity which it's incumbent on us to grow into the market and we're very confident we can continue to do that I think a very exciting area for us is that e-commerce area where, you know, as I said in my opening remarks, we do have a fantastic and unparalleled port-- breadth of portfolio there that is genuinely what our e-commerce customers are buying from us across the platform. i think a very exciting area for us is that e-commerce area where you know as i said in my opening remarks we do have a fantastic and unparalleled port-- breadth of portfolio there that is genuinely what our e-commerce customers are buying from us across the platform I think I've got a example of the protective mailer behind us and the like. i think i've got a example of the protective mailer behind us and the like These are all products which are combining expertise in our corrugated and our flexibles business, which is fantastic, and that's why we brought together the sales team that can talk as one... as one voice for all our offering across our flexibles and corrugated business. These are all products which are combining expertise in our corrugated and our flexibles business, which is fantastic, and that's why we brought together the sales team that can talk as one... as one voice for all our offering across our flexibles and corrugated business. these are all products which are combining expertise in our corrugated and our flexibles business which is fantastic and that's why we brought together the sales team that can talk as one as one voice for all our offering across our flexibles and corrugated business

Speaker 3: And then just as a follow-up, you know, bringing the CapEx down to EUR 550 million is, you know, it's a strong effort, considering you had commitments for the major projects as well as, you know, the recovery boilers. Could you just break down that EUR 550 million CapEx number? 'Cause reducing it to that level, I know is must have involved a lot of work. Thank you. And then just as a follow-up, you know, bringing the CapEx down to EUR 550 million is, you know, it's a strong effort, considering you had commitments for the major projects as well as, you know, the recovery boilers. and then just as a follow-up you know bringing the capex down to eur 550 million is you know it's a strong effort considering you had commitments for the major projects as well as you know the recovery boilers Could you just break down that EUR 550 million CapEx number? 'Cause reducing it to that level, I know is must have involved a lot of work. could you just break down that eur 550 million capex number 'cause reducing it to that level i know is must have involved a lot of work Thank you. thank you

Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, just to be clear, we're not investing in any recovery boilers at the moment. Those things are properly expensive. Yeah, I mean, just to be clear, we're not investing in any recovery boilers at the moment. yeah i mean just to be clear we're not investing in any recovery boilers at the moment Those things are properly expensive. those things are properly expensive

Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. mm-hmm

Speaker 1: We've got a few, I think you're referring to as biomass boilers. We've got a few, I think you're referring to as biomass boilers. we've got a few i think you're referring to as biomass boilers

Speaker 3: Right. Yeah. Right. right Yeah. yeah

Speaker 1: So firstly, just to be very clear, those are all in the numbers, so there's nothing on top or anything like that. No, I mean, as I said earlier, you know, we feel confident we can do this. Yes, I mean, as you rightly say, when you work across the organization, it's always a challenge because everyone's got essential CapEx, et cetera, and great growth opportunities and the like. But, you know, we are extremely confident that we are managing this CapEx at a level which doesn't impair the integrity of the asset base. It doesn't store up a problem for later because, you know, we're not believers in that. We believe in building a long-term sustainable business, but at the same... and similarly, doesn't prejudice the upside as and when it happens. So yeah, in short, we are very confident. So firstly, just to be very clear, those are all in the numbers, so there's nothing on top or anything like that. so firstly just to be very clear those are all in the numbers so there's nothing on top or anything like that No, I mean, as I said earlier, you know, we feel confident we can do this. no i mean as i said earlier you know we feel confident we can do this Yes, I mean, as you rightly say, when you work across the organization, it's always a challenge because everyone's got essential CapEx, et cetera, and great growth opportunities and the like. yes i mean as you rightly say when you work across the organization it's always a challenge because everyone's got essential capex et cetera and great growth opportunities and the like But, you know, we are extremely confident that we are managing this CapEx at a level which doesn't impair the integrity of the asset base. but you know we are extremely confident that we are managing this capex at a level which doesn't impair the integrity of the asset base It doesn't store up a problem for later because, you know, we're not believers in that. it doesn't store up a problem for later because you know we're not believers in that We believe in building a long-term sustainable business, but at the same... and similarly, doesn't prejudice the upside as and when it happens. we believe in building a long-term sustainable business but at the same and similarly doesn't prejudice the upside as and when it happens So yeah, in short, we are very confident. so yeah in short we are very confident It does still allow us to make those important investments in, for example, these biomass boilers, which are very important both in terms of, because as a stand business element, the existing capacity is end of life. But as importantly as that, it also gives us upside in terms of cost opportunity and importantly, CO2 reductions and things, which are very important for our customers. You know, our Scope 1 and 2 emissions is our customers' Scope 3. They are very focused on that. It is a genuine selling point and a very important value for them. So, these are very important steps, but that's all included in the numbers we guide to. It does still allow us to make those important investments in, for example, these biomass boilers, which are very important both in terms of, because as a stand business element, the existing capacity is end of life. it does still allow us to make those important investments in for example these biomass boilers which are very important both in terms of because as a stand business element the existing capacity is end of life But as importantly as that, it also gives us upside in terms of cost opportunity and importantly, CO2 reductions and things, which are very important for our customers. but as importantly as that it also gives us upside in terms of cost opportunity and importantly co2 reductions and things which are very important for our customers You know, our Scope 1 and 2 emissions is our customers' Scope 3. you know our scope 1 and 2 emissions is our customers' scope 3 They are very focused on that. they are very focused on that It is a genuine selling point and a very important value for them. it is a genuine selling point and a very important value for them So, these are very important steps, but that's all included in the numbers we guide to. so these are very important steps but that's all included in the numbers we guide to

Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 1: Thanks, Cole. Thanks, Cole. thanks cole

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question comes from Andrew of UBS. Andrew, please unmute and go ahead. Thank you. thank you Our next question comes from Andrew of UBS. our next question comes from andrew of ubs Andrew, please unmute and go ahead. andrew please unmute and go ahead

Speaker 2: Hi, gents. Can you hear me okay? We can. Hi, gents. hi gents Can you hear me okay? can you hear me okay We can. we can

Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. mm-hmm

Speaker 2: Excellent. So, yeah, you've had some relatively encouraging comments about the Kraft paper market. Can you just point to, like, which pockets of demand are sort of starting to come up at the moment? Are you seeing more growth in export markets? Is it specific customer segments within Europe? Like, what's the, what are the moving parts, and how much do you put down to kind of a restocking dynamic after last year's destock versus, like, a fundamental underlying improvement in trend? And how, and how do you see the rest of the year, given we've obviously got some infrastructure investments coming through on the cement side and things like that? I mean, can you just talk through that, that dynamic, if that's okay? Excellent. excellent So, yeah, you've had some relatively encouraging comments about the Kraft paper market. so yeah you've had some relatively encouraging comments about the kraft paper market Can you just point to, like, which pockets of demand are sort of starting to come up at the moment? can you just point to like which pockets of demand are sort of starting to come up at the moment Are you seeing more growth in export markets? are you seeing more growth in export markets Is it specific customer segments within Europe? is it specific customer segments within europe Like, what's the, what are the moving parts, and how much do you put down to kind of a restocking dynamic after last year's destock versus, like, a fundamental underlying improvement in trend? like what's the what are the moving parts and how much do you put down to kind of a restocking dynamic after last year's destock versus like a fundamental underlying improvement in trend And how, and how do you see the rest of the year, given we've obviously got some infrastructure investments coming through on the cement side and things like that? and how and how do you see the rest of the year given we've obviously got some infrastructure investments coming through on the cement side and things like that I mean, can you just talk through that, that dynamic, if that's okay? i mean can you just talk through that that dynamic if that's okay

Speaker 1: Yeah. As I said in my remarks, it, it is a bit confusing, this seeming disconnect between bag growth, because bags use Sack Kraft, Yeah. yeah As I said in my remarks, it, it is a bit confusing, this seeming disconnect between bag growth, because bags use Sack Kraft, as i said in my remarks it it is a bit confusing this seeming disconnect between bag growth because bags use sack kraft

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm Mm-hmm mm-hmm

Speaker 1: ... and the relatively soft picture in the Kraft paper markets in 2025. Actually, if you recall 2024, it was a bit of a reverse. It was the other way around, as this- ... and the relatively soft picture in the Kraft paper markets in 2025. and the relatively soft picture in the kraft paper markets in 2025 Actually, if you recall 2024, it was a bit of a reverse. actually if you recall 2024 it was a bit of a reverse It was the other way around, as this- it was the other way around as this-

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm Mm-hmm mm-hmm

Speaker 1: ... the Kraft paper markets were stronger relative to the underlying bags. But to me, first and foremost, you look at the end users and which is the bag demand, and it is encouraging that last year, as I said, we grew 5%.... If you look just at the European market, the industry numbers tell us that it was about a 2.5% growth market in Europe. North America seems to have starting to show some growth as well now, which is encouraging. Again, we were growing strongly in North America, well, the Americas, but it's mainly North America. For us, it's Mexico and the U.S. ... the Kraft paper markets were stronger relative to the underlying bags. the kraft paper markets were stronger relative to the underlying bags But to me, first and foremost, you look at the end users and which is the bag demand, and it is encouraging that last year, as I said, we grew 5%.... but to me first and foremost you look at the end users and which is the bag demand and it is encouraging that last year as i said we grew 5% If you look just at the European market, the industry numbers tell us that it was about a 2.5% growth market in Europe. if you look just at the european market the industry numbers tell us that it was about a 2.5% growth market in europe North America seems to have starting to show some growth as well now, which is encouraging. north america seems to have starting to show some growth as well now which is encouraging Again, we were growing strongly in North America, well, the Americas, but it's mainly North America. again we were growing strongly in north america well the americas but it's mainly north america For us, it's Mexico and the U.S. for us it's mexico and the u.s And then, of course, important markets for us are also Middle East, North Africa, which always some volatility in those markets, in individual pockets of that, but if you take it as a whole, again, some good growth. So, you know, when I look at last year's contribution to the bags growth, it was everywhere contributed. On top of that, we obviously, as I mentioned, got these new sources of demand. So for the likes of, you know, I mentioned again, the e-commerce mailer bags and things like that, a nice extra area of growth. I mean, the core of that business remains in the industrial space, but these sort of applications are coming through, which both support the growth of our converting business, but also, of course, demand for the paper grades. And then, of course, important markets for us are also Middle East, North Africa, which always some volatility in those markets, in individual pockets of that, but if you take it as a whole, again, some good growth. and then of course important markets for us are also middle east north africa which always some volatility in those markets in individual pockets of that but if you take it as a whole again some good growth So, you know, when I look at last year's contribution to the bags growth, it was everywhere contributed. so you know when i look at last year's contribution to the bags growth it was everywhere contributed On top of that, we obviously, as I mentioned, got these new sources of demand. on top of that we obviously as i mentioned got these new sources of demand So for the likes of, you know, I mentioned again, the e-commerce mailer bags and things like that, a nice extra area of growth. so for the likes of you know i mentioned again the e-commerce mailer bags and things like that a nice extra area of growth I mean, the core of that business remains in the industrial space, but these sort of applications are coming through, which both support the growth of our converting business, but also, of course, demand for the paper grades. i mean the core of that business remains in the industrial space but these sort of applications are coming through which both support the growth of our converting business but also of course demand for the paper grades So that is, you know, that has been the picture of 2025, and it's certainly continued into 2026 in terms of a decent-looking demand environment for our bags. It seems as though, as I say, having been a bit softer into the second half of the year with the kraft paper volumes, we did see that in our order books into the Q4. I think we cautioned about that at the Q3 numbers. Certainly that did continue into January, and we shouldn't, you know, we're generally not saying it's sort of first of January, suddenly things changed. But certainly now, we are starting to see that good position in bags translating into a certainly stronger order position in the kraft paper business. So that is, you know, that has been the picture of 2025, and it's certainly continued into 2026 in terms of a decent-looking demand environment for our bags. so that is you know that has been the picture of 2025 and it's certainly continued into 2026 in terms of a decent-looking demand environment for our bags It seems as though, as I say, having been a bit softer into the second half of the year with the kraft paper volumes, we did see that in our order books into the Q4. it seems as though as i say having been a bit softer into the second half of the year with the kraft paper volumes we did see that in our order books into the q4 I think we cautioned about that at the Q3 numbers. i think we cautioned about that at the q3 numbers Certainly that did continue into January, and we shouldn't, you know, we're generally not saying it's sort of first of January, suddenly things changed. certainly that did continue into january and we shouldn't you know we're generally not saying it's sort of first of january suddenly things changed But certainly now, we are starting to see that good position in bags translating into a certainly stronger order position in the kraft paper business. but certainly now we are starting to see that good position in bags translating into a certainly stronger order position in the kraft paper business Yes, and on the back of that, we're currently in the market for price increases. You know, I hesitate to say, so remind you that this is very much recovering the pricing erosion we saw Q4 into early Q1 this year. Yes, and on the back of that, we're currently in the market for price increases. yes and on the back of that we're currently in the market for price increases You know, I hesitate to say, so remind you that this is very much recovering the pricing erosion we saw Q4 into early Q1 this year. you know i hesitate to say so remind you that this is very much recovering the pricing erosion we saw q4 into early q1 this year

Speaker 2: Yeah. No, that's clear. Just a second question, so on the ramp-up of the projects. I mean, I remember when you acquired Schumacher, it was running at roughly 50% utilization after the large plant came on. Can you give us an update as to sort of broadly where that is and maybe also where Duino is running at, just so we can understand how that kind of movement in board versus sort of board demand internally sort of evolves as we go through this year? Yeah. yeah No, that's clear. no that's clear Just a second question, so on the ramp-up of the projects. just a second question so on the ramp-up of the projects I mean, I remember when you acquired Schumacher, it was running at roughly 50% utilization after the large plant came on. i mean i remember when you acquired schumacher it was running at roughly 50% utilization after the large plant came on Can you give us an update as to sort of broadly where that is and maybe also where Duino is running at, just so we can understand how that kind of movement in board versus sort of board demand internally sort of evolves as we go through this year? can you give us an update as to sort of broadly where that is and maybe also where duino is running at just so we can understand how that kind of movement in board versus sort of board demand internally sort of evolves as we go through this year

Speaker 1: Yeah, Duino is easy because it's much easier to measure capacity in the paper machines. As I said earlier, you know, we could expect another 150-odd thousand tons production- Yeah, Duino is easy because it's much easier to measure capacity in the paper machines. yeah duino is easy because it's much easier to measure capacity in the paper machines As I said earlier, you know, we could expect another 150-odd thousand tons production- as i said earlier you know we could expect another 150-odd thousand tons production-

Speaker 2: Mm Mm mm

Speaker 1: ... incremental production this year out of Duino if we run- ... incremental production this year out of Duino if we run- incremental production this year out of duino if we run-

Speaker 2: Mm Mm mm

Speaker 1: ... run full. In terms of the Schumacher capacity, I mean, again, it is also a function of the overall market. So clearly, we are confident we can grow above market, because as I say, we've got very strong base on which to believe that in terms of the asset base. So we have, we've obviously invested now in growing the commercial infrastructure to support the growth of that business in that Northern European region. But we have to also acknowledge, you know, when I mentioned that box demand growth across Europe was 2%-ish, you know, that does mask quite different regional growth rates. ... run full. run full In terms of the Schumacher capacity, I mean, again, it is also a function of the overall market. in terms of the schumacher capacity i mean again it is also a function of the overall market So clearly, we are confident we can grow above market, because as I say, we've got very strong base on which to believe that in terms of the asset base. so clearly we are confident we can grow above market because as i say we've got very strong base on which to believe that in terms of the asset base So we have, we've obviously invested now in growing the commercial infrastructure to support the growth of that business in that Northern European region. so we have we've obviously invested now in growing the commercial infrastructure to support the growth of that business in that northern european region But we have to also acknowledge, you know, when I mentioned that box demand growth across Europe was 2%-ish, you know, that does mask quite different regional growth rates. but we have to also acknowledge you know when i mentioned that box demand growth across europe was 2%-ish you know that does mask quite different regional growth rates

Speaker 2: Mm. Mm. mm

Speaker 1: Clearly, Southern Europe, Spain was the star performer, where unfortunately, we don't have direct box exposure. We do obviously sell containerboard into there- Clearly, Southern Europe, Spain was the star performer, where unfortunately, we don't have direct box exposure. clearly southern europe spain was the star performer where unfortunately we don't have direct box exposure We do obviously sell containerboard into there- we do obviously sell containerboard into there-

Speaker 2: Mm Mm mm

Speaker 1: ... so that's helpful, but it's not direct exposure. Our indirect exposure in the box business from a European perspective is very much Northern Europe and Northern Central Europe. Clearly, Germany, I think box demand was probably half a percentage point or something growth last year. ... so that's helpful, but it's not direct exposure. so that's helpful but it's not direct exposure Our indirect exposure in the box business from a European perspective is very much Northern Europe and Northern Central Europe. our indirect exposure in the box business from a european perspective is very much northern europe and northern central europe Clearly, Germany, I think box demand was probably half a percentage point or something growth last year. clearly germany i think box demand was probably half a percentage point or something growth last year

Speaker 2: Mm. Mm. mm

Speaker 1: So the overall market remains slow, and, you know, we are working in that context. So, you know, we have to be realistic about what we can do in the short term, because what we don't want to do is chase volume at the expense of margin. That would be stupid and a very short-term- So the overall market remains slow, and, you know, we are working in that context. so the overall market remains slow and you know we are working in that context So, you know, we have to be realistic about what we can do in the short term, because what we don't want to do is chase volume at the expense of margin. so you know we have to be realistic about what we can do in the short term because what we don't want to do is chase volume at the expense of margin That would be stupid and a very short-term- that would be stupid and a very short-term-

Speaker 2: Mm Mm mm

Speaker 1: ... short-sighted, 'cause we're here for the long term, so we must do it in a structured and systematic way, but we are very confident in the capability we have there to continue to grow above market. So that is the primary focus in terms of how we grow out the ... and fully utilize, as you say, the underutilized capacity we acquired as part of that acquisition. ... short-sighted, 'cause we're here for the long term, so we must do it in a structured and systematic way, but we are very confident in the capability we have there to continue to grow above market. short-sighted 'cause we're here for the long term so we must do it in a structured and systematic way but we are very confident in the capability we have there to continue to grow above market So that is the primary focus in terms of how we grow out the ... and fully utilize, as you say, the underutilized capacity we acquired as part of that acquisition. so that is the primary focus in terms of how we grow out the and fully utilize as you say the underutilized capacity we acquired as part of that acquisition

Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's very clear. Thank you. Thanks, Andy. Mm-hmm. mm-hmm Yeah, that's very clear. yeah that's very clear Thank you. thank you Thanks, Andy. thanks andy

Speaker 1: I think we've got time for one more, and we're probably over time, but happy to take one more. I think we've got time for one more, and we're probably over time, but happy to take one more. i think we've got time for one more and we're probably over time but happy to take one more

Speaker 7: Yes, we'll take our final question from Kevin of Deutsche. Kevin, please unmute and ask your question. Yes, we'll take our final question from Kevin of Deutsche. yes we'll take our final question from kevin of deutsche Kevin, please unmute and ask your question. kevin please unmute and ask your question

Speaker 9: Thanks very much, and morning, all. Thanks very much, and morning, all. thanks very much and morning all

Speaker 1: Good morning. Good morning. good morning

Speaker 9: If I could do the first was on your guidance for downtime and the impact on EBITDA this year. Just presumably, that's weighted very much towards the corrugated packaging segment, but I just wondered if you could sort of help us think about the sort of weighting by segment and cadence we might expect during the year. And just if I could sneak in a second quick one. There's clearly a number of elements in the numbers today addressing capital allocation decisions. And I think you signaled in your piece earlier, Mike, that it's your leverage is sort of the higher end of where you're comfortable with, I guess. If I could do the first was on your guidance for downtime and the impact on EBITDA this year. if i could do the first was on your guidance for downtime and the impact on ebitda this year Just presumably, that's weighted very much towards the corrugated packaging segment, but I just wondered if you could sort of help us think about the sort of weighting by segment and cadence we might expect during the year. just presumably that's weighted very much towards the corrugated packaging segment but i just wondered if you could sort of help us think about the sort of weighting by segment and cadence we might expect during the year And just if I could sneak in a second quick one. and just if i could sneak in a second quick one There's clearly a number of elements in the numbers today addressing capital allocation decisions. there's clearly a number of elements in the numbers today addressing capital allocation decisions And I think you signaled in your piece earlier, Mike, that it's your leverage is sort of the higher end of where you're comfortable with, I guess. and i think you signaled in your piece earlier mike that it's your leverage is sort of the higher end of where you're comfortable with i guess I just wondered what you're trying to signal today in terms of the timeframe you might get that leverage to a bit more of a comfortable, a more comfortable position for you guys. So any color on those two would be great. I just wondered what you're trying to signal today in terms of the timeframe you might get that leverage to a bit more of a comfortable, a more comfortable position for you guys. i just wondered what you're trying to signal today in terms of the timeframe you might get that leverage to a bit more of a comfortable a more comfortable position for you guys So any color on those two would be great. so any color on those two would be great

Speaker 6: ... Sure. On maintenance, to keep it simple, it, it's about the same as last year. We've got it to about EUR 120 first half, EUR 80 second half. I think you should assume the same split. Yeah, on leverage, listen, I don't think you should use the, the phrase uncomfortable with where we are. I think it's at the top end, of where we'd like to be to have that financial flexibility. And you've seen a number of measures, that we continue to take through last year and into this year, around working capital, around cash generation off the assets, around, spend on CapEx. I think that's just prudent financial management in the current economic environment. How quick we de-lever, depends on two things. One is the net debt. ... Sure. sure On maintenance, to keep it simple, it, it's about the same as last year. on maintenance to keep it simple it it's about the same as last year We've got it to about EUR 120 first half, EUR 80 second half. we've got it to about eur 120 first half eur 80 second half I think you should assume the same split. i think you should assume the same split Yeah, on leverage, listen, I don't think you should use the, the phrase uncomfortable with where we are. yeah on leverage listen i don't think you should use the the phrase uncomfortable with where we are I think it's at the top end, of where we'd like to be to have that financial flexibility. i think it's at the top end of where we'd like to be to have that financial flexibility And you've seen a number of measures, that we continue to take through last year and into this year, around working capital, around cash generation off the assets, around, spend on CapEx. and you've seen a number of measures that we continue to take through last year and into this year around working capital around cash generation off the assets around spend on capex I think that's just prudent financial management in the current economic environment. i think that's just prudent financial management in the current economic environment How quick we de-lever, depends on two things. how quick we de-lever depends on two things One is the net debt. one is the net debt I don't want to be sort of flippant. That's the one that we can control to an extent in terms of the cash that we consume and the cash that we choose to spend as a business. And then the other one is EBITDA, which actually, on a math basis, is much more powerful in reducing your leverage. That, as Andrew has said, will be a function of both the actions we take, but also how the market operates over the coming period. Clearly, if price moves, you de-leverage very, very quickly. We're not waiting for the markets to move. We're taking control of our own actions here. And I think you've seen that today. I think you'll continue to see it. As I said earlier, it is what Mondi does. I don't want to be sort of flippant. i don't want to be sort of flippant That's the one that we can control to an extent in terms of the cash that we consume and the cash that we choose to spend as a business. that's the one that we can control to an extent in terms of the cash that we consume and the cash that we choose to spend as a business And then the other one is EBITDA, which actually, on a math basis, is much more powerful in reducing your leverage. and then the other one is ebitda which actually on a math basis is much more powerful in reducing your leverage That, as Andrew has said, will be a function of both the actions we take, but also how the market operates over the coming period. that as andrew has said will be a function of both the actions we take but also how the market operates over the coming period Clearly, if price moves, you de-leverage very, very quickly. clearly if price moves you de-leverage very very quickly We're not waiting for the markets to move. we're not waiting for the markets to move We're taking control of our own actions here. we're taking control of our own actions here And I think you've seen that today. and i think you've seen that today I think you'll continue to see it. i think you'll continue to see it As I said earlier, it is what Mondi does. as i said earlier it is what mondi does Hopefully, that answers your question. Hopefully, that answers your question. hopefully that answers your question

Speaker 9: Yeah, that's really helpful. Thanks a lot, and, yeah. Apologies for the difference in wording, I guess, but, you, you get the point, I think. Yeah, that's really helpful. yeah that's really helpful Thanks a lot, and, yeah. thanks a lot and yeah Apologies for the difference in wording, I guess, but, you, you get the point, I think. apologies for the difference in wording i guess but you you get the point i think

Speaker 6: No, that's okay. No, no, not at all. I just want to make sure I understand. No, that's okay. no that's okay No, no, not at all. no no not at all I just want to make sure I understand. i just want to make sure i understand

Speaker 9: Great. Thanks very much. Great. great Thanks very much. thanks very much

Speaker 6: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. thank you very much

Speaker 9: Very helpful. Very helpful. very helpful

Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 1: Very good. And with that, we've taken up more than, more than, our allotted time, so I really appreciate the interest as always. As always, Fiona and team are available for any follow-up questions. And, for those of you, we look forward to seeing you in the on-the-road shows over the next few weeks. So, again, really appreciate the interest. I think, in summary, you know, we know the world is difficult out there. We are not standing still in that environment. We are starting... We are seeing good growth in some of our core businesses. We're supporting that with the right actions, to make sure we are as com- you know, extremely competitive in any environment and, with, really good positioning for the upside when it, when it comes. Very good. very good And with that, we've taken up more than, more than, our allotted time, so I really appreciate the interest as always. and with that we've taken up more than more than our allotted time so i really appreciate the interest as always As always, Fiona and team are available for any follow-up questions. as always fiona and team are available for any follow-up questions And, for those of you, we look forward to seeing you in the on-the-road shows over the next few weeks. and for those of you we look forward to seeing you in the on-the-road shows over the next few weeks So, again, really appreciate the interest. so again really appreciate the interest I think, in summary, you know, we know the world is difficult out there. i think in summary you know we know the world is difficult out there We are not standing still in that environment. we are not standing still in that environment We are starting... we are starting We are seeing good growth in some of our core businesses. we are seeing good growth in some of our core businesses We're supporting that with the right actions, to make sure we are as com- you know, extremely competitive in any environment and, with, really good positioning for the upside when it, when it comes. we're supporting that with the right actions to make sure we are as com- you know extremely competitive in any environment and with really good positioning for the upside when it when it comes Really appreciate your interest, and thank you very much for your attention today, and goodbye from us. Really appreciate your interest, and thank you very much for your attention today, and goodbye from us. really appreciate your interest and thank you very much for your attention today and goodbye from us

Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you. thank you