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Operator: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the goeasy Q4 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Thursday, March 26 -- on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to James Obright, Senior Vice President. Please go ahead. James Obright: Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. I'm James Obright, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Capital Markets. Thank you for joining us to discuss goeasy Limited's results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025. Our Q4 news release, which was issued yesterday is available on SEDAR+ and the goeasy website. On today's call, Patrick Ens, goeasy's Chief Executive Officer, will provide an update on our fourth quarter performance and recent developments and an outlook for the business; Felix Wu, our Chief Financial Officer, will provide an overview of our Q4 and full year 2025 financial results as well as our liquidity position. Also joining us on the call today is Jason Appel, goeasy's Chief Risk Officer. After the prepared remarks, we will open the lines for questions from our research analysts. [Operator Instructions] The operator will poll for questions and will provide instructions at the appropriate time. Before we begin, I remind you that this conference call is open to all investors and is being webcast through the company website and supplemented by a quarterly earnings presentation, which will be referred to by our speakers today. For those dialing in by phone, the presentation can be found in the Investors section of the company website. As noted on Slide 2, forward-looking statements will be made on this call, which may involve assumptions that have inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially. I would also remind listeners that goeasy uses non-IFRS financial measures and metrics to arrive at adjusted results. Management evaluates performance on both a reported and an adjusted basis and considers both useful for assessing underlying business performance. These are more fully described in the appendix. With that, I will turn the call over to Patrick Ens. Patrick Ens: Thank you, James, and thank you, everyone, for listening today. I want to begin by acknowledging the impact on our shareholders, our lenders, our employees and our other stakeholders from the charge-offs at LendCare and the impact from the mitigating actions we have taken since disclosing those charge-offs to you on March 10. Since 2021, our strategy has been to grow the secured loan book through merchant channels at LendCare with certain expectations of returns and credit performance. Based on what we are observing now, those expectations are not being met. We are taking decisive action to pull back where we see the weakest performance and reoptimizing our strategy to focus on where we have the greatest confidence, our direct-to-consumer, unsecured and home equity personal loans. My top priority as CEO is to ensure we manage credit well and return to delivering the strong performance we expect of ourselves. Although we are significantly pulling back on our originations at LendCare, we see potential in these product verticals to be unlocked down the road by applying the best practices established in the strong easyfinancial business to our merchant-originated loans. Since this is my first call as CEO, let me provide a brief introduction. I've spent my entire professional career in credit, including serving as a Senior Credit Officer at a financial institution and working in the subprime lending sector for nearly 20 years. I came to goeasy in 2024 to lead easyfinancial, our direct-to-consumer lending business. It's a business I'm very proud of, one with strong fundamentals and it represents the majority of our loan book today. The challenges we're currently navigating pertain to LendCare, our indirect, merchant-originated point-of-sale financing business. On our call today, we're going to discuss the matters we disclosed on March 10 in more detail and have addressed in our current financial reporting, not only to help you better understand them, but critically, to highlight what we've already been doing to address them through our six-point action plan. We've taken decisive steps in recent weeks, initiated structural changes to our business and defined a road map to get goeasy back on track. We have work to do, but we have a clear plan, we're executing with urgency and we're committed to building back stronger than ever. Now let me walk you through where we are and where we are headed. Let's start with an update on the key financial developments of the quarter. As we'll get into in more detail later in this presentation, we saw higher levels of losses in LendCare, including an incremental charge-off of loans receivable and a related charge-off of loan interest and fees. We recognized a goodwill impairment charge, also related to LendCare, and saw an increase in our allowance for credit losses. Beyond identifying and promptly disclosing these matters, we've set out a six-point action plan and have already taken swift and decisive steps. While one part of our business is facing some significant challenges, the fundamental market opportunity remains strong and intact. We perform best where we have built direct relationships with our customers. That's where our credit performance has been strongest. easyfinancial, the direct business I led as President before becoming CEO, continues to perform as expected. That's why our strategy is focused on growing easyfinancial while we stabilize and rightsize LendCare by leveraging the best practices around credit discipline and collections in support of a unified operating model. Turning to a summary of our Q4 financial performance. You can see the impact of the challenges at LendCare across key metrics. Profitability in the quarter was significantly impacted by the $72 million net change in allowance for credit losses, the incremental $178 million of charge-offs and the $160 million goodwill impairment charge. However, as a reflection of continued strong customer demand for credit, Q4 originations drove continued growth in our consumer loan portfolio which ended the year at $5.5 billion, up almost 20% year-over-year. The origination levels in the quarter are a reminder of the opportunity we have to provide a valued service to an underserved customer base. This opportunity will remain available to us as we work through this period and beyond. But we are determined to approach this opportunity right. Let's look at exactly what we are doing to address the factors that impacted this quarter's results. As announced on March 10, we have a six-point action plan. Let me walk you through what we've already delivered over the last 3 weeks. First, we're focusing growth on easyfinancial channels. We've reoptimized our unsecured personal loan credit criteria and continue to underwrite loans where we have expertise and a strong track record. Second, we've reduced LendCare originations. We've significantly tightened credit standards and reduced exposure in auto lending, powersports and other merchant channels. We are maintaining a smaller presence in segments and merchants where we see better performance and opportunities for future optimization. We are fundamentally reassessing our approach in this area. Third, we're integrating functions across our business units as we adopt one unified operating model. We've already unified our easyfinancial and LendCare loan processing teams under shared leadership, eliminating duplication and ensuring consistent standards. Fourth, we're delivering operational and cost efficiencies. We implemented a workforce reduction in March, impacting approximately 9% of our employees that is expected to yield $30 million in annualized run rate savings that will flow through our P&L in coming quarters. The impact of these reductions was deepest in our LendCare business unit, consistent with the reduction in activity at LendCare, while we work on strengthening the business model. Going forward, we will be investing as appropriate to strengthen and develop our operations in areas where additional resources are necessary to deliver strong results. Fifth, as previously disclosed, we've brought in new leadership at LendCare with the appointment of Farhan Ali Khan as Head. And sixth, we've taken the first steps to strengthen our balance sheet and liquidity. Dividends and share buybacks are suspended to retain cash, and we've successfully negotiated covenant amendments with our secured lenders. This is a plan already in motion, and we will continue to pursue ongoing initiatives around adjusting our business mix, integrating LendCare, looking for further opportunities to drive efficiencies and enhancing our funding position and liquidity. Our six-point action plan does two things: it stabilizes the business in the near term and it sets out some of the core elements of the strategy to establish a stronger foundation for future profitable growth. So let me outline our road map for the next 3 years. This isn't just about fixing what's not working, it's about building a stronger, more resilient company that can deliver sustainable, profitable growth. In 2026, our focus is on decisive action and stabilization through our six-point action plan. This includes rebuilding our access to attractively priced capital, and we are pressing ahead with that work. As this year unfolds and into next, we will be investing in our platform for scalable disciplined growth. We will be strengthening our enterprise risk management with enhanced risk models, credit discipline and collections resources for our indirect merchant channel. We will prudently invest in technology to automate manual processes and drive efficiency and scalability. We will leverage our unique multichannel model to pursue growth opportunities and develop dynamic and personal digital customer experiences. Into 2028 and beyond, we're expecting to deliver disciplined high performance. Our strategy, which you'll be hearing more about in coming quarters as we refine our plans, is designed to deliver a return to sustainable profitability through balanced portfolio expansion, a scalable operating model and normalized credit metrics. goeasy will be oriented to sustainable and profitable growth throughout the credit cycle. By transferring best practices from areas where we are already performing well to the entire business, we will approach the future with a significantly strengthened enterprise. So I've told you about where we are taking goeasy, but wanted to spend some time on the company as it stands today. On Slide 9, we offer some new insights around our portfolio composition to underscore where we continue to see strong performance. We have two reporting segments: easyfinancial, our consumer lending arm that provides installment loans; and easyhome, Canada's largest lease-to-own company. Under the consumer lending umbrella are two operating segments. The easyfinancial operating segment is our direct-to-consumer lending business. This is the long-time core of goeasy and the business I was leading as President prior to taking the CEO role. We offer unsecured personal loans and home equity loans directly to customers through our nearly 300 locations across Canada and our digital channels. With easyfinancial, we have deep credit expertise, proven underwriting models and strong customer relationships that have yielded a track record of success through credit cycles. We acquired the second consumer lending operating segment, LendCare, in 2021. LendCare is our point-of-sale financing business. It operates through thousands of merchant partnerships, auto dealerships, powersports dealers and retail partners. It's an indirect channel, which means we're one step removed from the customer relationship. LendCare represents about 43% of our portfolio. Our direct channels, the healthy core of easyfinancial unsecured personal loans, secured home equity loans and easyhome lending comprised 57% of our portfolio. And on Slide 9, we look specifically at the performance of the components of our consumer lending reporting segment. We're providing the weighted average interest rate of these three business lines to highlight the relative returns before ancillaries and interest charge-offs. The decline in unsecured loans from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025 reflects the impact of the new maximum allowable rate of interest cap at 35%. Its impact has been moderating over time. Now here's what's critical. We saw stable credit performance in Q4 in both our easyfinancial secured and unsecured products. The elevated credit losses we experienced were not in our direct channels. The higher charge-offs in Q4, including the incremental $178 million were attributed to the LendCare loan portfolio. Our direct business continues to perform as expected, and that's where we're focusing our growth going forward while we invest in integrating and reoptimizing the LendCare business under Farhan's leadership. As I wrap up my initial remarks, I want to talk a little bit more about our easyfinancial direct business. Our platform addresses a large target market, 9.5 million Canadians with non-prime credit scores who collectively represent almost $238 billion in non-mortgage credit balances. That group is underserved by the mainstream financial institutions. With no dominant player, the market opportunity is attractive for participants that can execute with discipline. As the prior slide demonstrated, this part of our business is healthy and strong. Our customers know our top-ranked brand. We've earned a great Trustpilot rating, an overall measurement of reviewer satisfaction. And our customers have access to close to 300 locations nationwide and a whole suite of digital channels to engage with us and build relationships. As we have seen, the returns are attractive and the credit performance is consistent. In my time leading easyfinancial, I have been impressed with the team members I work with, the business processes, credit discipline and overall performance. By pursuing a unified operating model going forward, we will bring that culture of success to the whole goeasy organization. Our ability to execute this rebuild is grounded in our success with easyfinancial and our unique value proposition in the Canadian market. There is more work ahead but Felix and I and the rest of the executive leadership team here are determined to see it through. Before I turn things over to Felix to go into more detail on our financial performance, I wanted to take a moment to formally introduce him in his new role. This is Felix's first call since being appointed as our permanent Chief Financial Officer last month. Felix brings more than 20 years of senior leadership experience in finance, operations, risk and compliance at financial services companies. He served as CFO 3 times before, most recently at KOHO and previously at President's Choice Financial and Capital One Canada. At a time when we're focused on strengthening our foundation, rebuilding our balance sheet and enhancing our risk management practices, Felix is exactly the leader we need in this seat. I have full confidence in his ability to strategically lead our financial function going forward. Now I will turn it over to Felix for a discussion of our performance for the year and for the quarter. Felix, over to you. Felix Wu: Thank you, Patrick, and good morning. Before I recap the key financial developments in our business in 2025, I wanted to highlight three important points in our financials. The first is a difference in the presentation of certain financial information that takes effect with our Q4 2025 financial reporting. In the preparation of these results, we identified a presentation change around consumer loan interest receivable write-offs, which were previously shown as an offset to interest income, lowering the net revenue line. To align with IFRS 9, interest receivable write-offs are now being shown as a bad debt expense. This was purely a reclassification. It had no impact on net income, earnings per share, cash flow or our balance sheet. For consistency with prior presentation of certain non-IFRS measures and ratios such as total yield and annualized net charge-offs, we maintained our prior approach to the calculations. The second important point is the restatement of prior period information that corrects an error in the accounting treatment of certain customer payments. This had an impact on the gross loans receivable, interest and fees receivable, the allowance for credit losses as well as our delinquency and loan staging disclosures. I will describe this more fully in the coming slides. This was also an error in the over-accrual of -- there was also an error in the over-accrual of interest income on Stage 3 loans. As required by IFRS 9, interest income is recognized on the net carrying amount of the loan, whereas we were recognizing interest income on the gross loan amount for Stage 3 loans. The company has corrected this error in our previously provided financial reports. More details of our restatements can be found in Note 2 of our financial statements and in the sections of our MD&A headed Restatement of Prior Period Financial Information and Restatement Impact on Interim Financial Information. Finally, during our year-end assessment, we identified a LendCare-specific control deficiency related to the application of IFRS 9 in our financial statements. While this LendCare deficiency did not prevent us from accurately restating our financial statements and properly accounting for credit losses, we have determined that our internal control over financial reporting at LendCare requires enhancement. We are implementing additional controls and oversight mechanisms to strengthen our financial reporting processes going forward. Turning to the summary of our full year results. For the year, our top line was strong. We grew our consumer loan portfolio by nearly 20% and saw double-digit year-over-year growth in revenue as a result. However, our net income and return on equity were negatively impacted by the measures taken in the fourth quarter related to LendCare, namely a significant charge-off of late-stage receivables based on an assessment of collectibility, a meaningful increase in the allowance for credit losses on the expectation of higher charge-offs and the impairment of goodwill associated with our LendCare business. I will expand on these further in the coming slides. We had a positive year in originations and asset growth. Originations grew by nearly 10% for the year, driven by strong customer demand and volume of applications for credit. Gross consumer loans receivable grew by nearly 20% to $5.5 billion, with 45.6% of that number secured, down from the prior quarter due to the LendCare charge-offs and continued strong easyfinancial growth. Originations growth drove revenue growth of more than 10% for the full year. The chart on the right side shows total yield on our consumer loan portfolio, which declined to 26.6% and in the fourth quarter from 32.6% in the prior year. Yields faced downward pressure on three fronts. The most significant impact came from higher interest and fee receivable charge-offs relating to the LendCare portfolio. The ongoing impact of the new maximum allowable rate of interest on the company's unsecured lending product introduced at the beginning of 2025 was the second largest impact. And lastly, a higher proportion of larger dollar value loans, which have reduced pricing on certain ancillary products also weighed down yield. Let's get into expenses and cost management for the business. The company defines efficiency ratio as adjusted other operating expenses divided by total revenue, less bad debt on interest income. As we've seen in recent quarters, adjusted operating margin can move around for reasons beyond how we're managing costs, such as provisioning or credit performance. We also recognize that the efficiency ratio aligns more closely with how other lenders think about operating efficiency, which enhances comparability as revenue normalizes. Over the course of 2025, we continue to evaluate and implement measures designed to improve effectiveness and operational efficiency across all areas with a particular focus on credit underwriting and collection practices, which resulted in a Q4 efficiency ratio of 25% or 24.9% for the full fiscal year. As was noted by Patrick, the fourth point in our action plan is a focus on operational and cost efficiencies, which we expect will yield approximately $30 million in run rate savings. Our future focus is on enhancing our whole firm practices by building off of the rigor of the easyfinancial operating model. On both a reported and on an adjusted basis, which excludes the goodwill impairment, Q4 operating income was a significant negative, reflecting large items recorded in the quarter, pertaining entirely to our LendCare segment. The next three slides focus on our credit and underwriting performance in the quarter. Charge-offs are an important indicator of the health of our operations. Excluding the incremental $178 million, the net charge-off rate was 11% due to weakness in the LendCare portfolio that emerged in Q4 2025. In addition, in Q4 2025, we incorporated more recent data in the assessment of the collectibility of unsecured and secured loans that are greater than 90 and 180 days past due, respectively. There are now two scenarios where an unsecured loan can age beyond 90 days and a secured loan can age beyond 180 days, namely, the collateral has been seized, but we're still waiting on proceeds from sale, or we've entered into an agreement with the borrower to modify the loan, but the process has not yet been completed. With our current view of collectibility informed by additional data, we expect to see higher loss rates in our LendCare business. I want to reference the new disclosure Patrick covered on Slide 9, which showed net charge-offs in greater detail than we had previously shared. For Q4 2025, net charge-offs in LendCare were 40.6% as compared with 12.1% in easyfinancial unsecured and 1% in easyfinancial's home equity secured business. Regarding our delinquency disclosures, you will see some of the impact of the restatements I mentioned here. After the year ended December 31, 2025, we identified an error related to the financial reporting of certain customer payments initiated close to period end dates in Q4 2024 and the first 3 quarters of 2025. These payments were credited to our bank account by our banking partner, but had not yet settled with customers as of the relevant period end. We had reported them as customer payments. Although the cash was accessible to us at period end, under our banking agreement, we remain liable for payment reversals and retained credit risk until settlement. Ultimately, there was a meaningful number of payment returns. We reinstated the related loan, interest and fee receivables and recognized additional allowance for credit losses on the increased balances along with related tax impacts. We also corrected the disclosures for loan aging, staging classification. You will also note that this quarter, we amended the aging buckets to align with how we are now monitoring delinquent loans and managing the collection strategy. These updated loan aging data are shown in this delinquency table. The percentage in the 91 to 180-day bucket rose slightly quarter-over-quarter into Q4. This is a source of potential future charge-offs. Following the application of the updated assessment of collectibility I covered on the prior slide, only 0.5% of the loan portfolio was more than 180 days past due at the end of 2025 compared with 2.9% at the end of 2024. Turning to our allowance for credit losses. The net change was $72 million in the quarter and $168 million in the full year. Increases in allowance are driven by portfolio growth and by changes in expected credit losses. Our rate of allowance for expected credit losses, which we refer to as provision rate in prior quarters, increased to 9.6% in Q4 from 8.4% in Q3, and reflects our expectation for higher credit losses in our LendCare portfolio. I want to point out something about our business that may not be fully understood. So this chart should help to clarify. Our lending business generates strong cash flows. The significant principal repayments we receive together with interest paid by our borrowers, generates about $0.5 billion in cash flow per quarter or roughly $2 billion per year before originations. In the past, we directed much of that cash flow to meet customer demand for new loans and to support the growth in our gross receivables. To be clear, we are still making new loans, but we have a lot of flexibility to carefully manage the biggest use of cash in our business, originations, as we work to manage our liquidity in the near term and continue to strengthen our balance sheet. That flexibility also extends to our ability to control both the size and the mix of credit we underwrite and its associated risk and profitability. I want to wrap up my remarks with an update on our balance sheet. We announced on March 24, we entered into definitive agreements with the lenders under our revolving credit facility, securitization facility and loan purchase and sale agreements. These agreements provided that our revolving credit facility and securitization warehouse 1 would remain available to provide future funding as well as waiving compliance with certain covenants with respect to Q4 2025 and giving effect to other amendments. As a result of executing the definitive agreements, we are in compliance with all of the financial and other covenants under the facilities. We've provided detailed disclosures on these amendments in the appendix to this presentation and in our MD&A. Under current assumptions, new equity was not required in order to comply with the revised covenants. From a liquidity perspective, as I noted on the prior slide, we benefit from considerable cash flow coming in and our ability to control the volume of loans we originate. We'll be repaying our May notes maturity out of existing cash resources and have no other near-term maturities to manage. We'll continue to benefit from the low and mostly fixed hedge interest costs we have with an average coupon of 6.6% at the end of 2025. As Patrick outlined in our six-point action plan, by focusing our growth on easyfinancial channels, where we have a strong track record of originating highly profitable loans while reducing underperforming LendCare originations, we have outlined a strategy to deliver on covenant compliance and strengthening our balance sheet. Lastly, by suspending our dividend and share repurchases indefinitely, we're showing prudent retention of cash flow while we navigate this period. With that, I will turn the call back to Patrick for our outlook and concluding comments. Patrick Ens: Thank you, Felix. Let me talk about what you should expect from us in the near term and how we're thinking about our path back to strong performance. In terms of our outlook for the business, when we report Q1 next month, we expect ending loans receivable to be between $5.3 billion to $5.4 billion relative to $5.5 billion at year-end 2025. Yield on consumer loans is expected to land between 27% and 28%, and net charge-offs between 17.5% and 18.5%. We know that many of you had hoped we would share 3-year financial forecast today, as has been goeasy's historic practice in prior fourth quarters. While we're not providing that detailed financial guidance today, we did want to share some outlook for the year ahead, 2026. We expect gross loans receivable to decline before resuming growth in the second half. Yield on consumer loans is expected to improve over the course of the year as interest charge-offs decline. And finally, we expect net charge-offs to average in the mid-teens for the year, with improvements expected as the year progresses. Our focus for 2026 is execution, delivering on our six-point plan, prudent management of liquidity and strengthening credit performance. We aim to come back to you with well-thought-out commercial targets later this year, while we continue to deliver against the path forward we have outlined today. As we wrap up, I want to reinforce why goeasy remains an attractive opportunity even as we navigate these near-term challenges. First, we are serving the relatively fragmented $238 billion non-prime consumer credit market in Canada. There is significant room for a disciplined, experienced player to gain share, and we already have a leadership position. Second, we have a proven track record of meeting customer needs. easyfinancial is a well-known brand in the direct channel with more than 20 years of history of serving that market. Our top-tier ratings of customer awareness and trust, our expansive merchant channel and our 400-plus locations means a presence that is hard to replicate. Third, our core direct-to-consumer business is healthy and profitable, and we are building on that foundation going forward. And critically, we generate significant free cash flow before net principal written, $2.1 billion last year, that we can use to rebuild liquidity and balance sheet strength. This combination, a large market proven model, healthy core business and strong cash generation gives us confidence in our ability to execute on our six-point plan and emerge stronger. This is the foundation we're building on as we navigate this transition and position ourselves for success in writing the next chapter in goeasy's story. Thank you for your time today and for your ongoing support of our company. With the conclusion of our prepared remarks, I will turn the call back to our operator for questions from our research analysts. [Operator Instructions] Operator? Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Gary Ho with Desjardins Capital Markets. Gary Ho: I want to start off with the loan book and the cash generated. So you did mention a decline in loan book to $5.3 billion to $5.4 billion in Q1 and a recovery in the back half. So directionally, it sounds like Q2 could be the trough. Maybe just give us a sense of the size of the loan book as we progress throughout the year. And more importantly, under those assumptions, Felix, Patrick, I think you highlighted $2 billion of cash flow generated last year. But looking out, can you elaborate under those assumptions with additional loans, like what's your net cash flow look like first half and second half? And I think you also mentioned you don't need equity at this point. Maybe just talk us through what scenarios you perhaps might need some equity help, if at all? Patrick Ens: Thank you, Gary. Thank you for the question. Just to make sure that I was tracking there. I heard a request for a bit more color commentary on how our growth is expected to play out over the course of the year and how that pertains to our plans for funding that growth. So maybe just to pull it up a level, what we outlined in our action plan here is that we feel really strongly about the performance of our easyfinancial direct-to-consumer business. So that's where we're focusing our growth and attention while we're pulling back on the LendCare merchant-originated loans so that we can recalibrate and rebuild our formula on that side of the house. So we've shared for the full year that we expect our year-end gross loans receivable to be relatively flat by the end of the year. And so yes, declining in the first half of the year and then returning to some growth in the second half of the year to hit our year-end target of being roughly flat. We also shared that we've successfully partnered with our secured lenders to reestablish our covenants and funding facilities there. And so that plan really all works together to achieve and fund those stated growth goals and successfully done that without any requirements for equity. Gary Ho: Okay. And then -- sorry, I know it's limited to one question, but like under those scenarios, you probably ran under -- other assumptions, like what are maybe some of the KPIs we should look at from the outside? Is it your debt to tangible equity going to a certain range before there might be an equity raise, or no? Patrick Ens: Yes. Thank you, Gary. I think if you look as well in the appendix materials, you can see that we do have higher debt to tangible equity than we would have had in the past. What's important to note is that that's part of the plan that's been worked upon and agreed with our banking partners that doesn't require any additional equity. So we're going to start a little bit higher and then continue to bring that down as the year progresses. Operator: Your next question comes from Jeff Fenwick with ATB Cormark. Jeffrey Fenwick: Can you hear me okay? Patrick Ens: We can. Thank you, Jeff. Jeffrey Fenwick: Okay. Great. I just wanted just to get some clarification about the ability to access the funding under your amended credit agreements here. It looks like, obviously, there's an audit that needs to be completed on some aspects of the loan book through the end of Q1, some restrictions around advances and things like that. Like what -- just trying to understand realistically how accessible that base of funding is? Are you really going to -- it sounds like at least not until midyear, but just being able to draw on either the securitization facility or the revolver, how should we think about that? I mean, it looks like you're going to have to navigate largely with your own cash flows for the time being. And then it's just not quite clear to me that those dollars are there, but are they really desirable to be able to draw on? Are they available for you to draw on without a lot of incremental challenge there? Patrick Ens: Got it. Thank you, Jeff. I'm going to let Felix take that one. Felix Wu: Yes. Great question, Jeff. We have a lot of clarity in terms of the ability to draw on those amended facilities, both the securitization warehouse and the revolver. And so very clearly, on the revolver, we have access to it as of July 1. And so it's [ date ] driven from that perspective. On the securitization warehouse facility, there are two things that we need to accomplish, and we have a good line of sight to being able to deliver on that over the next few months -- the next 2, 3 months. The first one is the completion of an audit, and that continues to go well. And the second one is the changing of a backup servicer from that respect. And so we have no sort of -- there's no complications or obstacles in terms of executing on that. And so we foresee having unfettered access to both of those facilities at the end of Q2, beginning of Q3 from that perspective. Lastly, as we highlighted, we generate -- one of the big strengths of this portfolio is we generate a lot of cash. And so there is absolutely no issue in terms of liquidity. We can manage our originations to manage any short-term liquidity or liquidity needs that we do have. We do have a very small bond maturity on May 1 that we stated that we're going to pay down with our existing cash flows. And then our next big maturity from a high-yield bond perspective is not until December of 2028. And we can, again, as we highlighted, moderate our origination to manage any liquidity needs. Jeffrey Fenwick: Okay. And I guess just a nuance there is that external -- or sorry, third-party servicer you mentioned, it's a little unusual. I guess goeasy had been -- you had been servicing the loan book yourselves directly. So is this just to provide extra reassurance to the lending partners that they're more directly engaged in the process of the collections and remittance? Felix Wu: No, Jeff, let me be clear on this. This is a backup. And so we continue to service all of the loans on that side. But in the event sort of that there is an issue that they have the right to switch to a backup service provider from that side. So we are servicing our loans. Operator: Your next question comes from Stephen Boland with Raymond James. Stephen Boland: One question. I'll get to the main question, I guess. Patrick, I think there's some concerns about the culture, this big write-off comes at a point of where the media was reporting predatory practices, aggressive lending. So I guess, Patrick, I'm going to put you a little bit on the spot here. What is to blame here? Like -- or who is to blame? Is there a problem with the culture in the company? Some people have pointed to the 3-year guidance that it maybe has driven employees to be more aggressive than necessary. So how do you feel about the culture of this company? And does it need an adjustment or a change? Patrick Ens: Stephen, thank you for the question. Let me just maybe start by saying that obviously, the leadership team here is certainly spending some time reflecting on how we got to this point. These aren't results that we want to attain. So we've been reflecting quite a bit on that. And just looking back on the strategy of the organization, there was a strong kind of belief that leaning into growth through our merchant-originated secured business was going to generate a certain set of performance and credit results that would be net beneficial to the organization. And we're now learning that those expectations aren't being met based on the most recent data that we have. So it is an excellent learning opportunity for the organization and certainly one that we're institutionalizing. And it also just provides us an opportunity to recalibrate our strategy. So really, what we were sharing through our action plan as well is that focusing our growth on where we've seen the best performance and where we have the strongest track record is the formula for success at this company, and that's why we're leaning so far into easyfinancial and pulling back on LendCare. But we also think there's a lot of good things that we're doing in that easyfinancial business that could be applied to our merchant-originated business as well, and that's what's behind that point in our action plan around delivering a unified operating model because fundamentally, we have this really successful business, and we had one business where the performance expectations are not being met. So we want to take the great ingredients of that successful business and bring it to the whole organization. Operator: Your next question comes from John Aiken with Jefferies. John Aiken: Patrick, I wanted to explore the -- what I'm calling the runoff of the LendCare portfolio. Can you give us a little more details in terms of what you plan on underwriting going forward? Is it by product, merchant, geography? And then from the originations in the LendCare in the fourth quarter, how much of those originations represent things that are not going to be going moving forward? And then Felix, one sub-question for you. When you reassess the collectability within LendCare, was -- did any of those write-offs pertain to autos? Or was that all the pleasure craft vehicles? Patrick Ens: Thank you for the questions. Just to make sure I can track the two there. There's just one around where do we see opportunity in the LendCare business? What sort of business might we be underwriting going forward? And then the second one was just around the details of that kind of LendCare write-down. I might ask Jason Appel to answer the second one here. I can start with the first. So we have a broad range of products and merchant types in the LendCare business today. The two biggest verticals being automotive and powersports. We have seen some performance challenges in both of those verticals. We are taking the opportunity to fully reassess exactly that question. So we're going to deeply understand where we see stronger performance, maybe less strong performance, whether that be by customer segments or merchant types or kind of product verticals. And part of the reason we're not sharing the longer-term financial forecast today is just so that we can spend the time to do the rigor to answer exactly that question and come back to you with a more robust response. So I understand that might be a little bit unsatisfying, and just appreciate your patience on that. Maybe I can ask Jason here to lean in on your second question. Jason Appel: Just on the reassessment of collectibility, that would have extended to a very broad brush that we took across the entire organization, but specifically in the quarter, in Q4, it pertained principally to the auto and powersports businesses of LendCare. So hopefully, that answers your second question. John Aiken: And if I can just revert with a follow-on. Given the fact that you're still reassessing the LendCare business, can we assume that in -- going forward in the second quarter, there may not be any originations in LendCare as you're going [indiscernible] and that's one of the factors in terms of the decline in the portfolio? Patrick Ens: Yes. Maybe just coming back to the prepared remarks off the top. We have maintained a small presence in certain pockets of the merchant-originated channels there, particularly where we see better performance and where we have long-standing strong merchant relationships that we think there is long-term opportunity here. I would say that there's still more to be evaluated there and there could be more opportunity in other merchants as well. But we still have a presence that we're maintaining in Q2. Operator: Your next question comes from Jaeme Gloyn with National Bank. Jaeme Gloyn: Yes. I guess maybe a bit of a two-parter. First part would be how much of a deep dive into the loan portfolio did you complete to come to the charge-off guidance for 2026? Did that include the unsecured easyfinancial portfolio? And then related to that, if I think about the allowance rate at 9.6% compared to that mid-teens guidance. What's the risk? Like the risk I'm concerned about is that allowance rate continues to rise through 2026. Why would it not rise? Patrick Ens: Thank you, Jaeme. Jason, can you take that one? Jason Appel: Yes. Jaeme, just to answer the first part of your question, we did a pretty thorough deep dive across the entire portfolio so that would be both the LendCare channel as well as the easyfinancial channel. And I think as I mentioned in past quarters, we tend to break out the performance of the loan books in two ways. We look at both the back book, which is all the loans that are effectively out as well as the anticipated performance of the front book, which is the originations we are going to use moving forward. And both of those were modeled quite extensively using various scenario analysis to arrive at how we expected the charge-offs to run through. And as both Patrick and Felix mentioned on the call, we do expect those charge-offs to progressively move or ease as the quarters move along with an average coming in and around the mid-teens, which suggests that we should be -- we should be below that level by the end of the year. And as far as the allowance is concerned, I would say that it's just important to remember that, that allowance contains multiple moving parts. Obviously, it looks at the underlying performance of the portfolio and also takes into consideration mostly future-oriented performance. So you're right, we have indicated that charge-offs will remain elevated in our LendCare business, and that's partly why we saw an increase in the allowance in the quarter. But also keep in mind that as we write off certain portions of the LendCare book, that amount is netted against the allowance, which results in an allowance release. So you have to look at this as a series of puts and takes. I wouldn't go so far as to say that one would expect the allowance to rise. I'd say the other factor you have to keep in mind is there are also forward-looking indicators that weigh into the allowance that we have no direct control over. So all three of those component inputs can push the allowance up or down, and you'd be right in that the allowance has been moving up over the last number of quarters. But with the action plan, as we have outlined and as the charge-offs starting to move down quarter-over-quarter, we would naturally expect that allowance to start to reflect that trend over time as we move forward. Operator: Your next question comes from Bart Dziarski with RBC Capital Markets. Bart Dziarski: Great. I wanted to have you guys maybe confirm for us the unit economics embedded within your 2026 outlook numbers? And I'm thinking yield, losses, OpEx, cost of capital, et cetera. And I'm just trying to confirm whether you expect to be profitable based on that outlook and those embedded unit economics? Patrick Ens: Thank you, Bart. I appreciate the question. And yes, as you've noted, the economics of the loans we're originating are very important to our strategy. And so in providing the guidance that we did provide, which -- acknowledging it's relatively limited and directional on a couple of key elements, we expect the year to see net charge-offs starting higher than the average for the year and ending progressively lower throughout the year. That obviously impacts our yield. So our yield as well starts lower and then will rise over the course of the year. As you noted, we're pursuing fairly aggressively cost efficiency opportunities. And so we took a very meaningful step in the organization with the reduction in force that was implemented in March and certainly not one -- or not an action we take lightly. So there's a variety of moving pieces there that are all intended to strengthen and improve the profitability of the company as we move forward. We haven't directly provided -- or we haven't provided more precise guidance than that. We intend on doing that later on in the year. Once we've seen some of the actions that we've already got underway start to filter their way through the P&L, and we'll have more clarity and specificity for you. Operator: Your next question comes from Graham Ryding with TD Securities. Graham Ryding: Maybe we could talk about the securitization facility 1. It matures on October 30 of this year. What's your confidence that you can renew that important lending facility? And when would you actually look to engage in discussions with that? Would you look to do it before October 30? Patrick Ens: Why don't I have Felix take that one. Felix Wu: Thanks, Patrick, and thanks for the question. We have a lot of confidence in renewing that facility. That's based on the fact that, unfortunately, we had some tough news to share with our banking partners 2, 3 weeks ago, but we were able to quickly come to amendments after 2 weeks of effort. And so I think that, that just speaks to their support of the action plan that we have in place as well as the deepness of the relationship, and we acknowledge that support that we -- and collaboration that we received from our banking partners. And so for that quick resolution, I think, is a testament to our confidence in being able to renew the facility on that. And so -- and to your point, we would be looking to do that well before the October time frame in terms of discussions. There's obviously a couple of things that we outlined in terms of being able to access that facility over the next 2, 3 months, which is switching the backup service provider as well as completing this audit. And so we're taking it step by step. But if you look at the sort of what we've been able to accomplish in a couple of weeks in terms of this amendment, we are very confident on that side. Graham Ryding: Okay. That's helpful. And just with the higher spreads on the amended facilities, what's your sort of expectation for that blended cost of debt going forward relative to what we saw in Q4? Felix Wu: Look, I think that, that will be part of the overall discussion with our bank partners at the time. It's obviously -- one component is pricing, but it's also the borrowing base that is allowed and the collateralization levels and the different triggers. And so I think if we look at it at a portfolio level, it was up by 100 basis points. But when you take a look at sort of that overall funding mix compared to our total debt, this is 10% to 15% of our overall funding costs and so very manageable in terms of -- from a cost of funds impact. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from Jaeme Gloyn with National Bank. Jaeme Gloyn: Yes. So maybe two separate follow-ups. First, I think I understand this. The -- there's no expectation of repaying or paying down the warehouse facility or the revolver facility. Those balances outstanding today will remain outstanding for the next couple of quarters. Just want to make sure I'm clear on that. And then the second is just on the charge-off guidance. If the unsecured portfolio is running at 12% charge-off right now, and the auto, powersports portfolio, if you ex out the sort of onetime $178 million, it's running at about 12%, like why is it jumping to 18% in Q1? But what else do you see coming down the pipe? Why is it not -- like what did you miss in Q4, what did you not factor in, in Q4 that you need to take into account in Q1 and Q2, I guess? Patrick Ens: Thanks, Jaeme. We got two distinct questions there. So maybe Felix, you can start with the first question, and then maybe I'll pass it back to Jason to talk about the credit risk expectations there. Felix Wu: Yes. In terms of the first one, that is correct, Jaeme, there's no expectation to pay it down. In fact, because of this amendment and the support from the banks, we are able to access additional funding from that side so you would expect over time for that funding amount to increase from that perspective. And then I'll pass it over to Jason in terms of your second question. Jason Appel: Yes, Jaeme, if you look at the charge-off performance in Q4, you'd be right, the unsecured business of easyfinancial is throwing off about a 12% net charge-off rate. And then the LendCare business, in totality, I think we indicated, threw off a 40% net charge-off rate. And of that, roughly about 30% out of that 40% number is accounted for by the onetime charge-off of $177.9 million that we took in the quarter. So you'd be right in saying that the delta would be around 11% on that business. And if we look at how we're guiding the remainder of the year, it's taking into a combination of a couple of factors. One is obviously the reduction in the size of the LendCare portfolio that's taking place principally as a result of two things, the reduction in originations that's been mentioned as well as the continued high expectation of charge-off numbers. Felix commented on that when he walked you through -- or walked everyone through the delinquency numbers sitting as at Q4, where we still have a pretty appreciable size of loans in the late-stage buckets that we intend or expect a significant portion of that, which will charge off. So I would say that, that 11% number is informed by a combination of both the numerator and denominator. And as far as whether or not we've missed anything in the quarter, as I said before, we've modeled out both the back book historical performance as well as the level of originations we anticipate going forward. And that gives us a fairly high degree of confidence that, that overall charge-off number will reduce through time, recognizing that, again, movements in the denominator might change that percentage a little bit. But the important point to note is those charge-off numbers are moving down. They are moving down consistently. And until such time as we've got that judicious review and comfort as to how the overall LendCare portfolio will perform, we'll continue to be mindful of how much we originate moving forward. Jaeme Gloyn: Okay. So I guess it's just a seasoning and timing factor for some of these loans that are currently delinquent and what you expect will become delinquent? Jason Appel: Correct. Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Patrick Ens for closing remarks. Patrick Ens: Thank you, operator. In closing, we are committed to taking decisive action through a focused six-point plan to deliver strong financial performance, anchored in the strength of our direct-to-consumer business. Thank you again for joining us. Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.
Operator: Welcome to the earnings call of SUSS Micro SE following the figures of 2025. I would like to welcome the company's CEO, Burkhardt Frick; the CFO, Dr. Cornelia Ballwießer; the COO, Dr. Thomas Rohe; and IR, Sven Kopsel, who will guide us through the presentation in a moment, followed by a Q&A session via audio line and chat. And with that, I hand over to you, Mr. Kopsel. Sven Kopsel: Thank you so much, and welcome to our full year conference call after today's release of our annual report 2025, including our outlook for the new financial year. First of all, one personal note from myself after 3.5 years with SUSS in total, 4 annual reports, 2 Capital Market Days and yes, countless investor and analyst interactions, today marks my final conference call with SUSS. While I truly love the company, I have decided to take on an exciting new role in a different listed German company as of May. So April 24 will be my last day at SUSS, and my colleague, Florian Mangold, will continue to be available to you as your point of contact. Now back to the official part. As you probably know from earlier calls, this call is being recorded and considered as copyright material. It cannot be recorded or rebroadcast without permission and participating in this call implies your consent to this procedure. Please be aware of our safe harbor statement on Page 2 of the slide deck. It applies throughout the conference call. And now I hand over to Burkhardt, our CEO, for some opening remarks, followed by our CFO, presenting the financial development. Burkhardt, please? Burkhardt Frick: Sven, many thanks, and also thanks for your great contribution over the past 3.5 years. We really enjoyed you having on board, and I'm sure you will have an exciting future ahead of you. So thanks a lot from my side. Let's now start with an overview on the key financials for 2025. Our order intake ultimately came in at EUR 354 million, more on this shortly with a particular focus on the fourth quarter. Revenue recorded at EUR 503 million, once again, a double-digit growth and exceeding EUR 0.5 billion for the first time. Profitability with a gross profit margin of 35.7% and an EBIT margin of 13.1%, we came short of our initial margin expectations. However, we did meet our most recent guidance. Now a few more words on revenue. EUR 503 million marks another record revenue figure and an all-time high for SUSS. Even more important, we have increased revenue over the past 2 years from around EUR 300 million to EUR 500 million, an increase of EUR 200 million. SUSS is now a significantly larger and more capable company. We are a growth company, and we intend to resume this growth in the midterm. Regarding order intake, in November, I stated that we could achieve EUR 100 million in order intake in the fourth quarter. We now can confirm an order intake of EUR 117.5 million. The book-to-bill ratio was thus around 1. Both segments contributed to the improved order situation with AI being the dominant driver, both in terms of HBM and CoWoS. Further good news, this positive momentum has continued into the first quarter of 2026. Now on profitability. We explained the deviation from our original plans during the Q3 conference call. And as we said in the Capital Markets Day in mid-November, we introduced the new product generations and innovative solutions to achieve a substantial improvement in margins. That's why we are very much looking forward to the next 2 to 3 years and the multiple launches we have lined up. Now let's take a look at the performance of our 2 segments. First, Advanced Backend Solutions. Order intake was approximately EUR 25 million lower than in the previous year and was distributed fairly evenly across the 3 product lines: imaging, coating and bonding. Demand for our imaging systems, specifically for UV projection scanner used in CoWoS process remains strong. Demand for bonding solutions was lower than in previous year, but has improved since the fourth quarter. Revenue grew by 10.7% to around EUR 350 million, while bonding was below 2024. Imaging and Coating Systems contributed the most significant growth, each posting an increase of more than 50% compared to the previous year. Profitability was significantly lower than in previous year, primarily due to weaker product and customer mix, strong growth in Imaging and coating and the frequently mentioned increased temporary ramp-up support provided to our customers for already installed tools as well as the establishment of our new production facility in Taiwan. Now to Photomask Solutions. Order intake of approximately EUR 80 million was significantly down by EUR 43.5 million from the previous year. Out of this number, EUR 31 million was due to lower orders from Chinese customers. However, Q4 showed an improved trend versus Q2 and Q3. Revenue growth of 17.3% to over EUR 150 million is very encouraging. Thanks to our improved operational capabilities, we have further significantly reduced our backlog and accelerated the completion of customer projects. Higher sales volume and an improved product and customer mix also led to a 5% point increase in the gross profit margin and an 8% point increase in the EBIT margin. Now let's zoom in on the fourth quarter of 2025. I already mentioned the positive order intake of EUR 117.5 million, reversing the negative trend of the first 3 quarters. Of this amount, EUR 92 million was attributable, difficult word, to the advanced back-end solutions and EUR 25.5 million to Photomask Solutions. We once again received several orders for our UV projection scanner for CoWoS process as well as for HBM-related follow-up orders, particularly for one of our memory customers. Orders for our mask aligner from customers in mainstream applications have also improved significantly. It may still be too early to speak of a turnaround in this business, but this was certainly a strong intake quarter. Revenue of EUR 119 million was almost unchanged from the third quarter of EUR 118 million. This demonstrates our significantly greater stability when it comes to executing customer projects. Gross profit margin remained low at 34.9%, though it improved slightly compared to the third quarter, where we had 33.1%. EBIT margin was 9.8%, which was slightly lower than Q3, but still better than we originally had expected. To wrap up the first part, here's a look at our new production facility in Zhubei, Taiwan, which is already fully operational. Following the opening ceremony at the end of October, all relocation work has since been completed. As planned, we returned all existing locations to our landlords by the end of February. We delivered the first tool made in Zhubei, a UV projection scanner to our customer already in February. Production is now in full swing, as you see on this picture, about 10 tools were built in Zhubei during the first quarter in 2026. Further capacity increase is under preparation. Q1 '26 is, therefore, also the last quarter in which the P&L will be impacted by the implementation of the new site. And with that, I hand over to Cornelia for some details on our financial development. Cornelia Ballwießer: Thank you, Burkhardt, and also a warm welcome from my side to all of you. Here, you see our key financial figures. First of all, I would like to point out that the previous year figures have been adjusted due to accounting changes made in the connection of the preparation of the 2025 consolidated financial statements. These changes are explained in detail in the notes in our annual report, which has been published today. The adjustments for fiscal year 2024 in short are a sales adjustment amounted to plus EUR 0.5 million. Gross profit was adjusted by minus EUR 1.5 million and EBIT by minus EUR 0.5 million, and net income was adjusted by EUR 0.4 million. In a nutshell, the main changes are based on a more detailed approach to revenue recognition. In particular, installation service following the delivery of our tools and upgrades are no longer recognized on a point-in-time basis, but rather on a period basis. This is from shipment to final acceptance by the customer. The second significant change was made to the provision for the equity-based compensation, which is now recognized on a pro rata temporary basis over the entire 4-year period, the vesting period rather than at the time of the grant of the virtual shares at their estimated value. This resulted in an adjustment of plus EUR 1.2 million in EBIT. And now let's have a look on our financials here on the screen. The order book was EUR 266.8 million at the end of 2025. The vast majority of these orders will be produced, delivered and recognized as revenue throughout 2026. Expenses for selling, administration and R&D increased from roughly EUR 100 million to EUR 118 million in 2025. The main reasons were an increase in R&D, plus EUR 7 million spending to support several product and technology development projects and for IT and digitalization projects, such as the mitigation of our ERP system. But that's not all. There are some other systems we introduce. And the full cost impact of new hires made in 2024 has an impact or the full impact in 2025. Net profit amounted to EUR 46.1 million in 2025, down from EUR 110 million in 2024 when the sale of the MicroOptics business had resulted in a significant onetime gain. Cash and cash equivalents were at EUR 98.7 million and compared to 2024, reduced by EUR 33.5 million. And this mainly because of a significant lower prepayments from our customers and of course due to our CapEx in 2025. Net cash amounted to EUR 49.1 million in 2025. And this is because of the deduction of the leasing liability from the lease agreement for our new Zhubei site which caused this decline. Free cash flow from continuing operations was EUR 20.6 million (sic) [ EUR 22.6 million ] in 2025 and in total at minus EUR 26 million. The fourth quarter was cash flow positive at EUR 5.6 million, but that was not enough to bring the figure back to 0. As our dividend policy is based on free cash flow and is designed for a payout of 20% to 40% of this figure, a dividend of EUR 0.04 per share will be proposed to the Annual General Meeting in June. CapEx increased to EUR 23.2 million in 2025, driven in particular by our new site in Zhubei. Now let's move to the development of our main financial KPIs over the fiscal year. Please be aware of that the '25 quarterly figures are as reported. This means they are not restated. In our reporting, in 2026, all prior year figures will be restated. Burkhardt has already mentioned the significant improvement in order intake in the fourth quarter of 2025. While this can certainly be attributed to seasonal factors and a traditionally strong fourth quarter, it is all the more important that we are able to confirm this improved demand in the coming months. We have already discussed profitability in the past. This overview clearly shows that profitability came under pressure particularly in the second half of the year. The decline in the second half of the year is not unexpected. The weak order intake in the first 2 quarters and the shift in its composition as well as some nonrecurring items and extra costs are clearly evident here. To achieve a significant improvement, we are working on new higher-margin product solutions, which will only begin to gradually impact the P&L starting in 2027. In both segments, we have an order intake trend reversal with strong bookings in both divisions versus previous quarters, and this trend continues in the first quarter. Photomask Solutions benefited in the fourth quarter from product and customer mix, also in connection with upgrade and service business and from some currency gains. The fourth quarter of Advanced Backend Solutions, a lower top line in the fourth quarter than in the third in combination with very negative product mix affected gross profit margin and EBIT margin. There were a lot of UV scanner, but we had the lowest amount of bonus in the fourth quarter. As you know, the double rental costs for the new fab in Zhubei affected the result. And in addition, write-offs for clean room equipment in our old Hsinchu site, which cannot be used in our new fab in Zhubei. This impacted the result in the fourth quarter. And also R&D expenses rise in the fourth quarter to support future growth projects. The R&D expenses also left the mark on the fourth quarter, especially projects for left chamber improvements and for a CoPoS project. On this side, we see our order intake by segments and regions. The order intake by region shows a familiar pattern. The APAC region once again accounted for the largest share of new orders at around 77%, with Taiwan as a dominant contributor. The remainder was distributed relatively evenly between EMEA and Americas. Now I would like to present the main balance sheet developments. Total assets increased by EUR 7.6 million. For the noncurrent assets, the main driver was the Taiwan expansion with the right-of-use asset and CapEx for the interior layout of the building in Zhubei. And as well, there were some CapEx in Europe, around EUR 8 million, mainly in Germany. In current assets, we have a decrease by EUR 54 million to a total volume of EUR 386.7 million. Inventory declined by EUR 39.1 million on a year-on-year basis and amounted to EUR 171.6 million at the end of '25. Contract assets and trade receivables in total increased by EUR 20.6 million. Cash and cash equivalents decreased, as I said, by EUR 37.5 million and of course, due to free cash flow of minus EUR 26 million. And of course, of the dividend payments in the last year and some repayments of our financial debt together in the amount of around EUR 10 million. On the liability side, the main changes already happened in the second quarter with the inclusion of the leasing liabilities from the Taiwan site. In noncurrent liabilities, the main driver was this lease liability for the Zhubei site. Current liabilities decreased at the same time, minus EUR 60.2 million. Here, the major drivers were lower prepayments from our customers who supported last year's steep ramp. And now we have less orders from customers, which usually accept prepayments. Equity increased by EUR 32.5 million, and equity ratio was at 62.2% at the end of December '25, which means that we have improved the equity ratio by 5.6 percentage points. Net income contributed with EUR 46 million and other comprehensive income and dividend payments amounted to minus EUR 13.7 million. And finally, I would like to give you a brief overview of the new syndicated loan, which we announced back in mid-February. Despite the current healthy liquidity position, it is very important for us as a company to increase our financial flexibility to finance further growth and to maintain sufficient reserves to cover industry typical fluctuations. We achieved this with the new syndicated loan agreement and the volume has roughly doubled to EUR 115 million, thereof EUR 85 million for revolving credit facility and EUR 30 million for guarantees. The new contract has a term of 5 years with 2 optional 1-year extension periods. We are now even better positioned to support our growth plan and we have sufficient buffer against industry-specific fluctuations as well as against a general deterioration in economic conditions and economic cycles. Finally, we had significantly reduced the liquidity risk. And now I gave back to Burkhardt, who will present the outlook for 2026. Burkhardt Frick: Thanks, Cornelia. As you said, I now would like to come to the guidance overview. As said before, 2026 will be a transition year. After that, we expect to resume our growth path. Forecasted sales range of EUR 425 million to EUR 485 million, indicating a decline of 9.6% at the midpoint of the range. We see a broadly stable gross profit margin of 35% to 37%, but a declining EBIT margin of 8% to 10%. On the next 3 pages, I will provide a bit more color on all 3 KPIs. First, on the sales guidance of EUR 425 million to EUR 485 million. When we compare the starting points for 2024, 2025 and 2026, obviously, we are beginning the year with a significantly lower order book. You see a detailed comparison on the right side. As a result, visibility at the start of the year is lower. Therefore, we decided to expand the guidance corridor from previously EUR 40 million to EUR 60 million. The extent of the revenue decline compared to 2025 will highly depend on the volume of orders we will receive in the first half of 2026. Thanks to our improved operational flexibility and shorter lead times, we will be able to execute the majority of the orders between January and June within the same year and recognize them as revenue. On gross profit margin, we forecast 35% to 37%, and thus are broadly stable in our expectation. As said before, in the financial year 2026, we will be offering more or less the same portfolio as in 2025. For portfolio-driven substantial improvements, we will launch and ship our new product solutions in the next 2 years. A change in the product and customer mix could still affect margins during the year, depending on the order intake from the first half of the year and beyond. For example, higher demand for Bonding solutions would generally be beneficial for us. Then there are various effects that are likely to neutralize each other. On the positive side, fewer one-off events such as the establishment of a new site in Taiwan and a more normalized ramp-up support for our customers for already installed tools. On the negative side, the impact of the expected decline in revenue on the fixed cost coverage. Finally, our EBIT margin, which is forecasted to a range of 8% to 10%. We had already explained in the Capital Markets Day that the expected decline in revenue is likely to impact the EBIT margin development. In that regard, I don't think the guidance came as much of a surprise. A few analysts had already placed their estimates within that range. So here is what we do expect to happen. First, lower sales volume, combined with a broadly stable gross profit margin will weigh on profitability. We have made a conscious decision not to reduce the R&D budget despite the lower revenue forecast. On the contrary, we actually expect an increase in this area as we are setting the base for future growth in the coming years. At the same time, we expect only a slight increase in sales and administrative expenses, and I can assure you that we will continue to strictly manage those budgets. Now some words on the expected development in our 2 segments. First, Advanced Backend Solutions. Expected sales decline of roughly 10% versus '25 is expected. Slight increase in gross profit margin and a broadly stable EBIT margin as lower business volume will have an impact on profitability. We anticipate the following trends in the market demand. Imaging Systems, there we see a stabilization of the strong 2025 level provided there is continued CoWoS-related demand for additional UV projection scanners. Coating, we see a slight improvement expected provided that the mainstream business picks up alongside a continued strong packaging and OSAT business. And on Bonding, significant improvements versus 2025 are expected as HBM customers commit to add more capacity again after a temporary digestion period which we experienced last year. Secondly, on Photomask Solutions, we have similar sales expectations as in the backend unit with roughly 10% versus 2025. Profitability is expected to decline as a result of the lower sales volume. On the market outlook, I can comment that we expect an improved order situation as high demand for semiconductors, again, driven by AI requires additional front-end equipment, see also the strong ASML order trend and consequently, also additional mask cleaning equipment. Preparation of customers for the introduction of High-NA also can play a role. Potential for additional momentum from the launch of 3 new solutions like the high-end mask cleaner, the mid-end mask cleaner and the first wafer cleaner addressing the 200-millimeter market can also give us a boost. When looking at our guidance for 2026, some might think that this year represents a step backwards for SUSS. I personally don't see it that way. As said, 2026 is a transitional year or rather a year of preparation for further growth and a substantial improvement in margins by 2030. These goals, which we presented in November Capital Markets Day, remain unchanged and recently are even getting tailwinds. Thanks to a strong focus on R&D and the development of new innovative solutions and next-generation products for selected faster-growing markets, 2026 is an important year and a necessary stepping stone into our bright future. And with that, we are opening the floor to your questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] We have already received some risen hands, for example, by Mr. Menon. Janardan Menon: Burkhardt, I just want to check whether you can give us any indication on how you would expect your sales and gross margin to trend through the year? Is it possible that Q1 is your low point for both sales and gross margin and then you will see a gradual improvement from there? Would that be a reasonable assumption? Or any other color how you see the first half versus the second half develop would be great. And I have a small follow-up. Burkhardt Frick: Janardan, that's a really good question. And of course, you are spot on. We see really us hitting in Q1 as a low point of the effects we saw last year. Remember, we had a 3-quarter declining order intake, and it started showing, of course, in the last quarter of last year, and it will extend into the first quarter. However, this is offset, of course, with a reverse trend in order intakes, which, of course, will take a couple of quarters to materialize in an improved situation. So we think we are approaching the bottom here and will climb up from there. Janardan Menon: Understood. And then I was in Taiwan recently, and there is some talk in the Taiwan market about TSMC looking to localize their equipment, especially on the backend where possible and working with some of the local companies. I was just wondering whether you have any thoughts on that. Do you see this as a potential threat? Or is this mainly in areas where SUSS is not involved right now? Burkhardt Frick: I see that as an opportunity because we are local at the doorstep of Taiwan with our main production site. That's, by the way, also where we are developing our next-generation EUV scanner also in Taiwan. So in that sense, you could even call us a local company. But at least on those products we are designed in, I think we have a fairly solid position. Janardan Menon: Understood. And last one, a short one. Is the prepayments that have fallen, is it mainly Chinese customers that give you prepayments? And is the cash impact because of lower China orders? Cornelia Ballwießer: Yes. Yes, it's the Chinese customers and Chinese demand is not that strong. But there are some other institutes like R&D institutes who make prepayments, but mainly from China customers. Operator: We have another question from Madeleine Jenkins. Madeleine Jenkins: I have a few. Just the first is on a slide you just showed on the different segments. And if I understand it correctly, you're saying that Imaging is going to be kind of roughly flat so as Coating and then Bonding is significantly higher than 2025. But then you've got your sales expectation down 10%. So I'm just trying to understand where exactly that weakness is coming from for that sales forecast. Burkhardt Frick: Madeleine, also good question. Of course, the lower expectations, they stem from the accumulated order intake we collected in the last quarters. So from this, we can, of course, pre-calculate what we have already in our books. The rest, of course, are orders which we have to collect in the running year, mainly in Q1 and Q2 and '26. And both together will, of course, create a forecast which we picked. We picked there a decline of 10% for both units because we see various effects, as I think detailed out in our presentation. For Photomask, it's the decline we saw from Chinese customers. And for the backend, it's really the combined effect of the low intake we have received so far. Now this trend, we see partially being now offsetted, but we need to know and, of course, experience how strong this new high order intake trend will last. Madeleine Jenkins: Perfect. Makes sense. And then my second question is just on HBM. I think you mentioned in your opening remarks that only one of the customers was really in the Q4 order book. Do you have any indication of when the second customer might come in? And also at your Investor Day, you mentioned the potential qualification of SK Hynix. Is that -- could you provide an update on that as well, please? Burkhardt Frick: Yes. As you know, the other Korean customer still sits on a lot of underutilized equipment. So we carefully planned in some kind of demand resuming in the second half of this year. But of course, that has to materialize. But I have some good news on the other -- the second Korean memory maker. There, we did receive some HBM-related orders. So basically, we can now claim that we are in all 3 major memory makers. Madeleine Jenkins: That's great. And just a final question quickly. On the wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding side, there's a lot of talk recently on its kind of application in 4 F-squared in DRAM. I just wondered if you're kind of in any early conversations here. Do you expect to be inserted in supplier for this in the next few years as that transition is made? Burkhardt Frick: Yes. Hybrid bonding, as you know, Madeleine, is moving a bit sideways, a little bit away from die-to-wafer application because runways are extended for TCB bonding equipment and also some customers, they are struggling with the process. Therefore, wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonding also comes in because you can bond the wafers first and then do the die stacking. I think there's some momentum going on there. But I think it's still in a, I would say, more experimental phase where we do see some interest, but we haven't seen it materializing yet. As you also know, we are not at the forefront with wafer-to-wafer hybrid bonders. I mean there are 2 other customers -- sorry, 2 other suppliers ahead of us. But we have our systems at IMEC, where we are running tests, and we can provide very good data. So I also expect more momentum picking up on that side also where we can benefit from. Operator: We have another question by Michael Kuhn. Michael Kuhn: Firstly, on the transition year again, maybe you could provide us with an update on, let's say, which of the products, the renewed products or the all new products you expect to contribute to sales first? What kind of ramp-up costs you expect and whether you see, let's say, some cost portion that you incurred this year as kind of nonrecurring and also for the context of R&D, is that mostly on medium-term projects? Or is there also a bigger portion, maybe including some external providers for, let's say, final engineering steps ahead of the product launches? Burkhardt Frick: Michael, yes, that's quite a mixed bag there. So let me start with the R&D side. So yes, we have external and internal R&D. And I think we made very clear in our call here that we have not reduced our spend in R&D. In reverse, we increased the spending to make sure that we can stick to the launch timing of those products we have in our pipeline. The first products are coming out this year, and there are notably 3 Photomask products. One is the high-end mask cleaning, the MaskTrack Smart. There we received the first order also in the first quarter of a large memory customer. And so that's the first shipment we are preparing for the second half of the year. The mid-end mask cleaners, we also there, are working on the first systems because we have more than a handful of firm orders for that mid-end cleaner, which will replace also our aging mid-end platform, which we then take from the market. And the wafer cleaner, that's the third product, we also received first hardware, and we are doing our internal commissioning and evaluation before we send it to a launching customer. So there are 3 projects which are really in the final stage for rollout this year. And then there's a backend product, which is our EUV scanner, which is panel capable, 310 x 310 projection scanner, which will be launched in Q3, also, of course, with a large Taiwanese target customer who already has set up a pilot line to evaluate the panel application. So in that sense, 4 products, which are launching this year. Maybe we can squeeze in the fifth, but we have to see to get all these projects on the road. And that's also the reason why we deliberately in that sense, bit the bullet in high continued spend in R&D because we want to make sure we are not letting down the customers. And we anticipate, therefore, this gap or this drop in EBIT. But this is, in our view, just very short term until we can reverse the trend. Michael Kuhn: Understood. And then maybe a follow-up in that context on wafer cleaning. At the CMD, you mentioned you're obviously starting with 200 millimeter, but saw pretty strong demand also for 300 millimeter and also accelerate that project. Where do we stand here in the time line? Burkhardt Frick: Yes. I mean, as you rightly said, the launching product is a 200-millimeter product. We want to, of course, get some feedback first, a, from our internal evaluation and then, of course, also from the first customer feedback, which is then also an input for the design. But we are preparing the design phase for the 300-millimeter tool in combination with an external partner. And we probably will kick off that design in the second half of this year, and we should see first hardware in the first half of 2027. Michael Kuhn: And then last one on the new EUV scanner. My understanding is that the current product comes with a relatively low gross margin. So should we expect the new product to be launched in Q3 to have a, let's say, sizable effect on the gross margin then because it's probably a relatively big part of your top line right now? Burkhardt Frick: Yes. That was the point in also redesigning this platform, which really came to age. Unfortunately, of course, the current CoWoS run, I couldn't wait for that. That's why we have to ship the old version, and we probably have to keep doing so because the first product we are launching is the panel version, which goes into a pilot line and panel production is not going into volume until '28-'29 time frame. So -- but very shortly after this panel version, of course, also our wafer version of the UV scanner, the next generation is coming. But that launches in 2027. And that, of course, depending on the conversion rate will then also improve this very low margin for the current DC. Operator: We have another question from Mr. Schaumann. Malte Schaumann: First one is on timing for potential Photomask uptake in demand for Photomask orders. We have seen quite a strong Q4 order intake at ASML, obviously, with shipments mostly scheduled for 2027. Is that kind of supporting the assumption that you would expect an uptake in demand in the second half of this year for the Photomask cleaning business? Burkhardt Frick: Yes, Malte, that's a good assumption. Of course, we are loosely connected because lead times and cycle times are very different if you compare us with an EUV system of ASML. But ultimately, we should see these effects. And as a matter of fact, we already see those effects because despite our expected decline in China, we currently see Chinese customers speeding up again, especially for photomask tools. But we also see international customers considering to pull in orders. So we are in the middle of evaluating the impact of that, but that is a trend which started late in Q4 last year, and we see it continuing in this quarter -- in the running quarter. Malte Schaumann: Okay. And for the Chinese demand you alluded to, is that then linked to the new mid-end cleaner? Or would these customers still order the current equipment? Burkhardt Frick: Actually, both. Of course, due to the equipment in use in China, the mid-end cleaner is more suitable for that market. But we see still a fairly high amount of high-end cleaning demand picking up again in China, which we didn't anticipate. Malte Schaumann: Okay. A quick one on Hynix. Do you see or do you expect kind of more or less regular follow-up business when production lines get extended with the product you have placed at Hynix? Burkhardt Frick: No, we are only interested in one-off sales, Malte. No, sorry, but I make a joke here. So obviously, yes, that's the intent to see follow-up business. But I think for us, it was important to get back into the door. So we are not talking volume orders here, but at least we have our hardware place now in the most recent HBM R&D line, which we can then, of course, exploit and hope fully get follow-up business. Malte Schaumann: Okay. Then on the guidance, I mean, given the current strength in orders that has continued into the first quarter of the year, the low end of the guidance at the sales level, actually appears a bit low. Is that reflecting uncertainty at customer level you're recognizing? Or is that rather linked to the overall global situation, which is not that stable at the moment? Burkhardt Frick: Yes. We -- of course, one good quarter doesn't make a full year, as we all know. And although we really have a very strong expectation because the quarter is almost over for the first quarter in intake. We have to see how long this strong push remains. When we created the guidance and also set our budgets, we had quite some expectations, and there was also a certain concentration in the second half of the year. But now we got strong demand already in the first quarter. And we have to see if this is a continued trend because if the second half also remains strong, then of course, we can come up with better results. Also the mix will have an important contribution here. So -- it's too early to just base it on one strong first quarter in order intake, I must say, because in sales, we will not see a strong first quarter. Malte Schaumann: Yes sure. Okay. Last one on double costs or one-offs, which are baked into the earnings guidance for this year. So are you able to quantify an amount, which is linked to double rent ramp-up costs and the like? Cornelia Ballwießer: There are some one-offs regarding Taiwan, as you know, because in the first quarter, we have some double rent double cost. And yes, that's more or less what we included in our guidance. Malte Schaumann: And that is a low single-digit amount. Cornelia Ballwießer: Yes, it's 0.4, something like this. Operator: We're moving on to Mr. Ries. Johannes Ries: Also a couple of questions from my side. Maybe let's first start with Taiwan, a short recap. How high was this payment you had made for the leasing which reduced the cash significantly? Remind us, please, how high this impact was? And how high is -- how much capacity you have now finally in Taiwan only to a reminder because it gets more and more important. Thomas Rohe: So Thomas speaking. The investment in Taiwan was a low 2-digit million euro budget, which we invested into the clean rooms and all these kind of stuff. And the leasing contract is now for 20 years and about EUR 40 million of leasing agreement, which we have there. But the cash out is really only on a yearly base for sure, but the leasing has to be accounted in our books already for the complete period. And the capacity only to really make this clear, we are really fully loading the factory as much -- as soon as possible. Right now, we have a load of around, let's say, about 70% with the old sites, which moved all into the new sites. So we are really heavily working to fill it up completely by at least the end of the year. Cornelia Ballwießer: Sorry, I just want to add, as Thomas explained, of course, the leasing liability is booked. It's around EUR 40 million. But you asked for cash out, and cash out is around EUR 2 million to EUR 2.5 million this year. Johannes Ries: Okay. The reduction in last year, but you mentioned partly was the leasing reason that the net cash or the cash has come down heavily. So that's a booking effect. Cornelia Ballwießer: Yes. It's KPI net cash figure, but it's not -- yes, it does not really says something about the duration of the liability in this case. So it's just net cash. But cash out is over the 20 years. Johannes Ries: Clear. On the capacity, from a revenue, how much revenue you can handle with the capacity you have now in Taiwan? Is it -- I have something of EUR 150 million, EUR 200 million in my head. Is that right? Thomas Rohe: That's a really good question, but it heavily depends on the product mix. As you know, we are introducing scanners there, coaters and bonders. And so from that point of view, it's really hard to say how much really revenue we can generate with this. But in general, I would say right now because we have half-half between Germany and Taiwan. So from that point of view, it's roughly perhaps the right order of magnitude, probably a little bit higher. Johannes Ries: Okay. Half of the total revenue came already from Taiwan? Thomas Rohe: Not yet completely, but we are targeting for this. Johannes Ries: Super. On the OSAT business, we hear from the OSAT that they are Amkor and ASE that they definitely heavily increased their budget. How much you have already seen in your own order income is much more -- it's more to come in the coming quarters from this side? Burkhardt Frick: Johannes, it's Burkhardt here. We already saw it last year, and I think I also mentioned that we saw this strong uptick for our Coating and Imaging business, which was mainly on the coating side contributed by additional demand from OSATs. They are expanding in their existing sites in Asia, but also they are planning to expand in the U.S. as also some other companies are. So there also, we expect a continued strong demand. Johannes Ries: And you mentioned that the Coating and Imaging business, there's also scanner in, which is low margin, but there's one reason for the lower margin. I always in my head that the coating -- at least coating had a quite good margin. Has it changed? Or is it only that maybe the scanner has brought down this average margin of Imaging and Coating? Burkhardt Frick: Coating is kind of pretty in the center of our margin distribution. So it is not as good as the bonders, but by far not as bad as the EUV scanners. Johannes Ries: Okay. I expected this. And also for your forecast, you're expecting a stronger business with temporary bonding for this year, but the margin in Advanced Backend Solutions will nearly stay flat. What is the reason? Because last year, it was a pressure coming partly from the temporary bonding came down, we expect an increase. Why is not maybe -- why we couldn't see a little bit stronger margin development in Advanced Backend? Burkhardt Frick: It depends how many more orders we see, especially from the bonding side. When we set out these corridors, we assumed a certain mix. We now see strong intake also on the bonder side. But we have to see how sustainable this is, Johannes. As I said, one good quarter doesn't make a full year. If the other Korean HBM maker doesn't place orders in the second half of this year, then I think we did everything right in our prognosis. But a lot of things can be happening. And as we saw last year, where we had to go in and correct twice our guidance. This is something we don't want to repeat. Johannes Ries: It's clear. But the bonding business is still above average at the margin side. Burkhardt Frick: Yes, well above average. Johannes Ries: Last question, R&D, will it further increase this year and only feeling how much it could increase? It will further increase but how much? Thomas Rohe: So it will increase only slightly. There are no big change really planned for this year. That's much more than EUR 2 million or EUR 3 million in total in absolute values. But we try to keep the headcount stable and also the investment in R&D. Burkhardt Frick: Maybe to add, Johannes, since the top line reduces, so the R&D ratio increases even faster. Johannes Ries: That's a fair point. Very fair point. But finally now, because I will meet him in person in the weeks, but I think it's the last call maybe of Sven as IR. And I think maybe even in the name of all other participants, all colleagues, I really want to say thank a lot for his work and great support, and it was a pleasure to work with him. Sven Kopsel: Thank you so much, Johannes. It was my pleasure. Operator: We're moving on to Mr. Devos. Ruben Devos: I had one follow-up on the EUV projection scanner. I think you've provided already quite some indications, but I was looking or whether you were able to maybe quantify what the EUV scanners actually contributed to the top line last year and whether you could give us a sense of the 2026 order funnel because I mean, there's many growth parameters out there. I think in itself, the products could be quite sizable for you, not only this year, but in the next 5 years. So it would be very helpful if we know a bit where you are currently. Burkhardt Frick: Yes. It's, I think, fair to say that the revenue contribution of the EUV scanner alone was between EUR 30 million and EUR 40 million last year. And this year, this number will be larger. Ruben Devos: Okay. All right. That's very helpful. I think on the -- and then just thinking about your other, let's say, younger products out there, thinking about the hybrid bonders, but also the inkjet printers, like on a combined basis, are we thinking this is about 5% of sales in '26? Or how should we think about that? Burkhardt Frick: Yes, that is really a low contribution because we sold single units to customers who are evaluating those systems. So this is not what I call a volume state. We are at the very beginning of that. So we had last year 2, 3 systems we sold. This year, we probably also have a couple of systems, but it's in the very single-digit percentage range. Ruben Devos: Okay. Okay. And then just for the temporary bonder business, looking a bit further out, with HBM4E and HBM5 sort of requiring thinner dies and even more bonding complexity. Are the existing platforms already compatible with those, let's say, next-generational stack requirements? Or will there be a meaningful upgrade or new tool generation needed? Burkhardt Frick: Well, our current generation of temporary bonders is, as we speak, qualified for HBM4. Otherwise, we wouldn't have received those orders. But of course, we are continuously improving those -- our products and also listening to our customers, what else they need. So we have, in parallel, a flanking program to improve bond chamber performance to meet also future needs because we are working both with the volume side of those customers, but also with the R&D centers who already work on the next N+1, N+2 generation of HBM stacks. So we stay tuned. And then we work with our customers when are we phasing in which improvements. It can be a running change. It can also be introduced in the next-generation platform. So we do both. I hope that helps. Ruben Devos: Okay. Great. And then just a final question on, I think co-packaged optics, you also talked about in the CMD, specifically on co-packaged optics on the interposer as a potential future opportunity. I mean, in the last few months, excitement on co-packaged optics has quite strongly accelerated. So my question is like within that further integration complexity, do I understand it well that basically your EUV scanner and coating portfolio map well on to this? And what is generally the last -- the traction you've been seeing in the last 3 to 6 months on Photonics in general? Burkhardt Frick: Yes, you're absolutely right. There's a lot of hype there, and we are kind of positioned with our existing portfolio. But of course, we need to enhance or upgrade our portfolio to also serve the co-packaged optics market well. So -- but it's from our side, more kind of technical feasibility, what additional features are needed, which can be added to our existing portfolio to also play a role there. But it's too early to really turn this into concrete products. So right now, it's on our side in an R&D development stage. And as soon as we have something noteworthy to report, we will do so. Operator: I think Mr. Schaumann has a follow-up question. Malte Schaumann: One follow-up question on the orders in the first quarter of the year. I mean the environment is pretty dynamic. So a continuation of the trend can have several meanings. So maybe some more color on what does that actually mean? I mean, typically, Q1 is not the strongest quarter in terms of order intake. So despite that fact, should we expect kind of more or less stable order development from the fourth quarter and the first quarter, which would be already good? Or do you see even an acceleration? So some additional color would be appreciated. Burkhardt Frick: Yes. I was almost fearing that this question will come, but it comes late now. So the -- I mean, first of all, I can confirm that we are breaking with that trend that in terms of order intake, this first quarter in '26 is a really very good quarter since we are in the last 2 days of the quarter. Of course, we already know what's coming. We know most of it. And I can say that much that we will be well above the Q4 number of last year in terms of order intake. Operator: We have another question by Mr. Jarad. Hello. Can you hear us? I can see that you're unmuted, but I cannot hear you. Abed Jarad: Yes, sorry. I have a question regarding -- a follow-up question regarding the sales forecast. So maybe you can help me understand it better. But based on your order book of EUR 267 million and assuming like 18% of aftersales, your implied order intake needed in H1 to reach the midpoint is very, very modest. And you are saying that in Q1, order momentum was strong. Burkhardt Frick: Yes. Of course, we need to have 2 strong quarters to complete the year because only what we have an intake in the first 2 quarters, the majority of that, we can still turn around in products assembled, shipped and recognized. So the first quarter, if that is strong, definitely helps to secure the guidance we provided. If we have a second quarter, which is also strong, that pretty much gives us some assurance that we are safe with that guidance. But again, this is speculation, so I don't want to speculate. I can only see a strong order momentum carried over from last quarter into the first quarter. And based on these 2 quarters, we have made our sales projection. Abed Jarad: Okay. Maybe correct me if I'm wrong, did you just mention that Q1 order intake is above Q4? Burkhardt Frick: Yes, I did. Abed Jarad: Okay. Wouldn't this already put you on the midpoint of guidance? So EUR 267 million plus EUR 117 million, let's say, and 15% after -- even assuming conservative 15% aftersales, you are above guidance? Or am I -- like midpoint of guidance? Burkhardt Frick: Well, first of all, the EUR 117 million of Q4 already included in the order book. So I cannot follow your math there completely. But yes, of course, the first -- if we have a strong first quarter, that relieves some of the concerns because it's a continued reversal of the trend at a very high run rate. And if we can also get a decent second quarter in, then I would start agreeing with you, but we are not yet in the second quarter. Sven Kopsel: Maybe, Abed, if I may add one sentence, the order book number of our annual report also always includes service business. So if we get service business, for example, a contract for 2 years, the entire period, this 2 years period is included in the total order book number. So service is not getting on top completely. It's partially already included in order book. Operator: We have one more question in our chat box by Mr. [ Dion ]. He's asking, do you see competition of ASML in the scanner business? And do you think there could be a competitor in hybrid bonding as well? Burkhardt Frick: Yes. I think ASML was late to the party to also join the backend business with the recent announcements and also their focus in that arena. I mean they already have a scanner out there targeted for backend. But this one, we don't see as a competition in the CoWoS process we are currently involved in. However, that is, of course, competition for other markets, our real competition, which is Canon is facing. So that I don't see us as a threat. The other activities, I think it's too early to gauge where this is heading. But of course, I mean, there are other companies, whether it's AMAT or Lam and already TEL who is already active in this domain. So with ASML, this is just the last party -- the last company joining the party. And I think this ultimately will just help the ecosystem to get on common ground here. So I see this rather as an opportunity to collaborate than anything else. Operator: I guess we have one last question by Mr. Jarad. He is raising his hand again. Abed Jarad: Yes, my bad. That was a mistake. Operator: Okay. Thank you so much. Well, with no further questions, we have come to the end of today's earnings call. Thank you very much for your interest in SUSS MicroTec SE. And a big thank you also to you, Mr. Frick, Mrs. Ballwießer, Mr. Rohe and Mr. Kopsel for your presentation and your time. If any further questions arise at a later time, please feel free to contact Investor Relations at SUSS MicroTec SE. I wish you all a successful day, and I'm handing over to Mr. Kopsel once again for your closing remarks. Sven Kopsel: Yes. Thank you so much and nothing really to add. So take care and yes, get in touch if you have any more questions. Thank you. Take care.
Philippe Palazzi: Good evening, everyone. I'm pleased to hold this presentation today together with our CFO, Angelique Cristofari. Just keep in mind that the figures we are presenting today are financial data that have not been yet approved by the Board of Directors and as well, they are not audited. Angelique will provide further details later on regarding the financial framework behind all these figures. I will start with a short introduction on where we stand in our transformation journey, followed by our key financial indicators for the full year '25. Then I will provide you with a brief reminder of our Renouveau strategic plan ambition, and I followed by an overview of key '25 business achievement per brand. Then Angelique will walk you through our financial performance for '25, and I will close the presentation by providing you with some perspective and insight on the French retail market. We'll take your questions at the end of the presentation. Let's start with a quick update on the turnaround plan status. Casino turnaround is a long-term 3-phase mission, restore, recover and grow. After an intense period of transformation, we're entering in the phase of recovering. Our strategic plan, Renouveau 2030 defined in Q4 '24 had been updated and expanded by 2 years last November with the objective to generate value over the period '26, 2030. We have also launched in November '25, the adaptation, the strengthening of our balance sheet structure. Angelique will provide you with more details during this presentation. Let me first start by introducing our '25 financial data estimate. First and foremost, '25 marks a new momentum in a strong increase in profitability for the group. '25 financial data estimates are fully in line with our value creation plan and confirm that the turnaround is well underway. Regarding our sales performance and for the first time since the financial restructuring, we are posting a positive like-for-like sales growth. Net sales reached EUR 8.3 billion with a like-for-like growth of plus 0.5% versus PY. Regarding our profitability, adjusted EBITDA before lease payment is growing by 14% versus last year and reached EUR 655 million. This result reflects the efficiency of our cost optimization, our store fleet rationalization measures and last but not least, the improvement of our retail gross margin. The adjusted EBITDA after lease payments reached EUR 198 million, representing a growth of EUR 86 million. Finally, our free cash flow reached minus EUR 120 million, an improvement of EUR 519 million versus PY. Let me give you a brief reminder of our Renouveau strategic plan ambition before to enter into the key business '25 achievement per brand. If I have to summarize our long-term strategy in one sentence, I would say, differentiate brands as possible and centralize resources as necessary. We are a group of 7 well-known brands that are all unique and complementary, which is Casino, Cdiscount, Franprix, Monoprix, Naturalia, Spar and the last one, Vival. We are now fully engaged in delivering Renouveau 2030 ambitions to offer our customers the best brands in convenience retailing. We have just updated and expanded our Renouveau strategic plan by 2 years and our vision, mission and direction remain unchanged. Our 2030 strategic plan is based on 5 key strategic levers supporting unchanging core vision for the group, strength of our brands, our culture of service, our strength as a group, the energy of our people and our societal and environmental values. These levers are all connected, interconnected and declined per brand to specific actionable measure. The entire company is focusing on execution on a day-to-day basis. Before providing you with the key business '25 achievement per brand, let me give you a brief summary of our Group '25 focus. Here are 6 core execution focus of 2025. First, brands and store concept investment, focusing on actions on creating, testing and launching pilots and rolling out store concept as well as refining brand personality. Investing in our franchisee development with now circa 85% of our store portfolio is franchised, streamlining our store portfolio to eliminate loss-making store with profitability as a key driver versus market share at any cost, managing COGS improvement, rationalizing and massifying private label volumes, increasing national brands assortment overlapping across brands, implementing Aura Retail and Everest alliances and continuing cost reduction, notably through the rollout of several group shared services such as IT, accounting, payroll, legal, name it. Last but not least, cash management with a definition and a follow-up of a detailed CapEx program and optimization of our remodeling costs. I will now guide you through an overview of the key business '25 achievement per brand. Let me start first by Monoprix. For you recall, Monoprix business unit represents 624 stores by the end of 2025, of which 283 are owned stores and 341 are franchised. Let me present to you in one slide the main Monoprix achievement in 2025. Monoprix sales reached EUR 4 billion in 2025, representing a like-for-like growth of plus 0.6% and an adjusted EBITDA growth by 10.9% versus PY. The results reflect the good performance of Monoprix, especially in fresh products, nonfood categories such as fashion and home decoration. What are the main Monoprix achievement in '25? First, several initiatives have been launched in the key quick meal solution market. Monoprix defined, tested and launched the new concept La Cantine in 12 stores by the end of '25, posting encouraging double-digit growth. During Q2, Monoprix introduced a new quick meal solution assortment with circa 250 SKUs rolled out in all of our stores. Second, regarding the food category, Monoprix was focusing on developing fresh category with the rollout of 25 new fresh counter and 14 stores with a new fruit and veg concept. The team continued to strengthen Monoprix singularity and personality brand, thanks to the introduction of over 800 innovation to the assortment this year. As far as the nonfood is concerned, Monoprix sustained growth in the beauty and fashion category by defining, testing and launching a new beauty concept rollout already in 14 stores and by developing a new collection supported by our 11 partnership with designers in '25 in home and fashion category. Fourth, we have also worked to continue our digitalization to position Monoprix as an omnichannel brand. To name a few, we extended our partnership with Amazon to 22 additional cities. We developed quick commerce solution with Uber Eats and Deliveroo covering today 92% of our store network in France. We finally developed our new e-commerce site, [monoprixshopping.fr], dedicated to fashion and decoration categories. In parallel, we kept on working core retail fundamentals, improving product availability and reducing shrinkage, increasing the number of conveyor belt checkouts plus 10 points versus last year, giving more shelf space to highly profitable nonfood category. We took the opportunity by closing 28 magazine and newspaper departments in our store. Regarding the Monoprix and Monop' store network management, 26 new stores opened over the period, while 20 underperforming ones were closed. 30 owned stores were switched to franchise. And last but not least, we started store remodeling with 7 stores in 2025. Let's now continue with Franprix. For you recall, Franprix business unit represent 999 stores by the end of 2025, of which 296 are owned stores and 703 are franchised. Let me present to you in one slide main Franprix achievement in '25. '25 obviously was for Franprix, a year of unlocking potential. Franprix sales reached EUR 1.5 billion in '25, almost flattish with -- sorry, adjusted EBITDA growth by circa 20% versus PY. The execution of the Renouveau strategic plan includes several important achievements. First, the rollout of our performing oxygen concept in 89 stores in '25, summing up to 107 stores at year-end. As far as our quick meal solution is concerned, we have proceeded with important space reallocation for snacking, development of a new stacking assortment and menu such as breakfast at EUR 1.9 or pizza menu at EUR 5.5, positioning Franprix as the cheapest among all our own competition in the market and launching a set of exclusivity such as Krispy Kreme. We also launched several customer-focused commercial initiatives. The new loyalty program, bibi! with circa 50,000 additional subscribers in '25. We launched as well the PF initiative that includes essential articles at highly competitive price. The rollout of daily in-store services such as Nannybag, Franpcles, et cetera. And finally, the rollout of Leader Price as a core private label of Franprix and Tous les jours as a brand as an entry price range. We also developed specific B2B promotional offers under the concept of buy more, pay less to help our franchisee in boosting their sales and profit. And finally, in terms of store network management, we maintain a disciplined approach with 20 new store opening, 85 store exit and 6 own store converted to franchise. Now let's continue with Casino, Spar and Vival brands. For you recall, Casino, Spar and Vival business unit in France represent 4,528 selling points by the end of 2025, of which 236 are owned stores and 4,292 are franchised, which is 95% of the stores are franchised. Let me show you in one slide, like for the previous brands, '25 achievement. Casino, Spar, Vival sales reached EUR 1.28 billion in '25, representing a positive like-for-like growth of plus 0.6% with an adjusted EBITDA decreased by circa minus 37% versus PY, mainly driven by HM/SM disposal dis-synergy that we carry them since '24. The execution of the Renouveau strategic plan includes several important achievements. We launched in '25 2 new store concepts. We defined, tested and launched the new concept of Spar called Origins in 5 stores by the end of 2025, posting encouraging double-digit growth. We defined a new Casino brand identity in Q4 2025. And the first store -- the first 2 store, I must say, will be inaugurated not later than tomorrow in Saint-Etienne. And in case you are close by, please, you will be welcome to visit us. In the key quick meal solution market, we continue to roll out of our Coeur de Ble concept with 53 corners deployed in '25, summing up since '24 to 62 stores up to date. We complete our snacking assortment by introducing 70 new SKUs in '25. We also launched several customer-focused commercial initiatives. We continue to roll out our Coup de pouce loyalty program launched in '24 with circa 128 new subscribers in 2025. In parallel, the team continues to strengthen Casino, Spar, Vival singularity and personality, thanks to the introduction of new assortment tailored to the trade areas as well as corner of Naturalia, for example, in 20 stores. As for Franprix, we introduced B2B promotional offer, buy more, pay less type of, and we launched new IA functionality of Casino Pro. Casino Pro is a tool for franchisees in ordering too but help them to better manage their store performance. In terms of store network management, we opened 151 new selling points, 1,052 stores were exited and additionally, 78 owned stores were converted to franchise. Now let me switch to Naturalia. For you recall, Naturalia business unit represent 213 stores, of which 152 are owned stores and 61 are franchised, means 29% on franchise. Let me show you in one slide what have happened in '25 for Naturalia. It was a year of growth acceleration for Naturalia. Sales reached EUR 300 million, representing a positive like-for-like growth of plus 8.6% and an adjusted EBITDA increase by circa 57% versus PY. Main achievement for Naturalia was the rollout of our performing La Ferma concept in 25 stores in '25. End of December to date, 36 stores are already rolled out. Naturalia had launched a new organic quick meal solution concept in 35 stores and a new beauty concept in 47. Teams have also worked to continue Naturalia digitalization by adding 7 new stores with our partner, Uber Eats and launched several commercial initiatives. In terms of store network management, 6 underperforming stores were closed and 1 store was opened in 2025. Let's finalize an overview per brand of '25 by Cdiscount. '25 was for Cdiscount the year of customer acquisition. Cdiscount GMV reached EUR 2.75 billion in 2025, representing a growth of plus 3.5% versus PY, EUR 1 billion of net sales and an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 67 million. Starting with our solid B2C performance, we saw sustained 3P momentum with a GMV increase by 7.7% in '25, reaching plus 8.1% in Q4. Our marketplace business grew representing now 67.3% of our total GMV, a 2% point increase over '24. We continue to expand our customer base, acquiring 2 million new customers in 2025. Our major investment plan has been fully deployed, providing support for both sales uplift, brand equity and obviously, customer acquisition. Moving on to our B2B activities. We've seen significant progress in enhancing the experience of our sellers, resulting in a notable or noticeable 20% reduction in support tickets. Furthermore, our Retail Media business has experienced strong growth with net sales up 13% compared to last year. Finally, we developed in-house conversational chatbot deployed with more than 900,000 customers, leveraging generative AI to enhance search and improve conversion. Let me now share with you a few group initiatives, starting with our store portfolio streamlining and how we strengthen our relationship with our franchisee. We continue streamlining our store portfolio to eliminate loss-making store and coordinate selective expansion with profitability, as I said, as a key driver versus market share at any cost. From Jan to end of December, 1,178 stores left our network portfolio. During the same period of time, we also opened 207 stores, and we switched 112 stores to franchise. In parallel, we continue to strengthen our franchisee relationship by organizing, for example, annual franchisee event, sharing monthly newsletter, implementing B2B Net Promoter Score and involving our current franchisees in the franchisee selection process for new store openings. Finally, we support franchisee store performance by providing them with user-friendly store performance report versus their local competition, for example, or versus the average network performance. As far as cost reduction is concerned, we have put a lot of effort in efficiency improvement, cost reduction and CapEx monitoring. In the first half of '25, we successfully launched 7 group shared service centers covering key functions like IT, accounting, payroll and [others]. We kept on increasing the assortment overlap for national brands across all our business units. We are continuously managing our CapEx with detailed calendarization and reduction of our concept remodeling cost per square meter. Finally, we strengthened our process to recover overdues receivable, ensuring better financial discipline. And last but not least, 2 purchasing alliances are now operational, supporting our retail gross margin improvement. The Aura Retail purchasing alliance with Intermarche and Auchan in place since March 2025 for large 20/80 supplier, the European Everest purchasing alliance since August '25 for international purchases. By the end of '25, 37 supplier were rolled-out. Let me now hand over to Angelique. Angelique Cristofari: Thank you very much, Philippe, and good evening to you all. Let me first provide the context and financial framework behind these key financial data estimates for 2025. This publication is intended to provide the market with financial information relating to 2025, subject to the formal approval of the financial statements for the year. As such, this information does not stem from a full set of financial statements since it has neither been approved by the Board of Directors nor audited by the statutory auditors. However, the process related to the preparation of the consolidated financial statement has been completed. This financial data have been prepared on a similar basis as that used for preparation of the consolidated financial statements in accordance with the IFRS reference framework and are based on the information known by the group as at the date of this presentation. These data have been reviewed by the Board of Directors at its meeting held today. The approval of the financial statements on the basis of the going concern assumption remains subject to a favorable outcome of ongoing negotiations among the stakeholders involved in the group financial restructuring. Here is a summary of our full year financial data estimates. As you can see from the table, the trend is reserve positive with a net sales like-for-like growth over the full year period at plus 0.5%, driven by solid initial reserves results of the rollout of new concepts in the food business and the sustained momentum of the nonfood activity. So a significant improvement in profitability with a 14% growth in adjusted EBITDA driven by, first, the implementation of action plans such as reducing shrinkage and improving receivables collection. Second, the benefit of purchasing massification under alliances. Third, the measures to streamline the network, as Philippe mentioned, and fourth, our cost discipline. Our consolidated net loss group share would come out at minus EUR 402 million, mainly due to the net financial expenses in continuing operations. Free cash flow before financial expenses remains negative at EUR 120 million, representing a strong improvement versus last year, mainly derived from the growth in operating cash flow and the change in working capital. Net debt stood at EUR 1.5 billion, up EUR 290 million compared to December '24, still impacted by cash outflows from discontinued operations. The group liquidity position was EUR 1 billion at the end of December '25. It includes operational financings for which the group has obtained from its creditors, an extension of the maturity to May 28 of 2026. The group aims to reach an agreement with its creditors and FRH, its main shareholder within this period and at the latest by the end of June. Let's now go into the market environment. According to Circana data for 2025 and more specifically the FMCG category, value sales across all channels were up plus 1.9% in '25 with inflation up plus 0.6%. The positive news last year is that volumes rebound in 2025 with plus 0.9% growth versus '24 after 4 years of decline in France alongside a slight premiumization trend. Combined with moderate inflation, these factors are driving revenue growth. In this context, the convenience store segment continued to outperform other store formats in '25 in both value, plus 6.3% and volumes, plus 4.9%. This supports our strategic positioning in line with changing consumer trends. As for Monoprix, its performance followed the general trend among supermarkets category. However, in Q4, market trends were marked by a significant decline in festive products in all segments over the key 4-week period ending January 4. It was minus 4.4% in value and minus 3.4% in volume. A similar trend was also observed in our operational performance for December '25. First of all, a quick overview of our group sales figures. Full year 2025 net sales totaled EUR 8.3 billion, up 0.5% like-for-like. This performance must be split into, first, a return to growth for our convenience brands, up plus 0.7% like-for-like with 0.6% at Monoprix and Casino, Spar, Vival, while Naturalia increased by plus 8.3%, but Franprix slightly declined. Second, a minus 0.7% decline for Cdiscount on net sales, sorry, which, however, reflects an improvement over the year with a strong acceleration in Q4 with plus 3.7%. On the GMV side, as Philippe mentioned, Cdiscount was up plus 3.5%, also supported by an acceleration in Q4 with plus 6%. Let's now focus on Monoprix. Monoprix net sales amounted to EUR 4 billion in '25, up plus 0.6% like-for-like, of which minus 0.5% in Q4. Nonfood sales representing about 30% of net sales were up plus 2.1% and once again supported the trend driven by Fashion & Home, which is outperforming the market. Food sales representing about 70% of net sales were stable, reflecting a contrasted performance with positive momentum in fresh products, plus 1.3%, offset by unfavorable market trends in festive products in December, as mentioned before. The brand recorded a plus 0.4% increase in footfall in '25. And in terms of adjusted EBITDA, Monoprix totaled EUR 424 million in '25, up EUR 42 million year-on-year. This change is driven by the reduction in shrinkage, the margin gains resulting from the alliance with Aura Retail, the cost savings, which partially offset the rise in store staff costs. Franprix net sales came to EUR 1.5 billion in '25, slightly decreasing by minus 0.4% like-for-like, of which minus 1.4% in Q4. The good performance of stores converted to the oxygen concept was offset by negative impacts from price cuts rolled out in September '24 and the nonrenewal of a promotional operation in Q1 '25. However, footfall rose by plus 3.8% in 2025, of which plus 2.5% in Q4 as a result of commercial offer developments. Loyalty program acceleration, as Philippe mentioned, the [prix francs] campaign with prices cut and frozen on 30 private label products, the development of services such as Francples for key duplication service or the Nannybag luggage security service. Adjusted EBITDA for Franprix totaled EUR 136 million in 2025, up EUR 22 million year-on-year, driven by strong cost management and lower impairment of receivables as a result of actions to streamline the store network. Casino Brands net sales amounted to EUR 1.3 billion in '25, up 0.6% like-for-like, of which 0.3% in Q4. 2025 net sales performance was positively impacted by strong momentum for seasonal stores as well as the efficiency of the supply chain with an improvement of service rate at 94.9%, plus 2.5 points versus 2024. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to EUR 29 million in '25, down EUR 17 million year-on-year. Excluding the impact of EUR 21 million in dis-synergies on operating costs and EUR 12 million in logistics dis-synergies, adjusted EBITDA would have increased by EUR 16 million, supported by the important streamlining of the store network and cost savings. As for Naturalia, sorry, net sales came to EUR 310 million in '25, up plus 8.3% like-for-like, of which plus 8.4% in Q4. The brand definitely benefited from a good momentum in the organic market and the success of its La ferme concept plus the effectiveness of measures taken in terms of product offering and assortments. E-commerce sales also performed well in '25 for Naturalia with double-digit growth of website, plus 19.1%, while the partnership with Uber Eats on quick commerce continues to be rolled out, covering 72 stores at the end of '25. Naturalia continues to benefit from a strong growth in footfall, up plus 8.2% in '25 and a solid loyalty customer base since 74% of its revenue is generated by loyalty cardholders. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to EUR 22 million in '25, up EUR 8 million year-on-year, driven by volume, FX and cost discipline. As for Cdiscount, the brand has enjoyed positive momentum in '25, thanks to its relaunch strategy initiated 18 months ago. Global GMV has returned to growth in '25, supported by marketplace GMV with plus 8% growth, while the direct sales GMV decreased by minus 1%, but keeps recovering with a return to growth in Q4, plus 3%. Cdiscount net sales came to EUR 1 billion in '25, down 0.7%, of which plus 3.7% in Q4, confirming the sequential improvement underway since 2024. Adjusted EBITDA came to EUR 67 million in '25, down EUR 4 million year-on-year due to higher marketing costs as part of this reinvestment plan, which was partially offset by strong commercial momentum, operational efficiency and cost savings. By contrast, adjusted EBITDA after lease payment increased by EUR 5 million, primarily supported by a significant decrease in lease payments resulting from the rationalization of warehouse capacities. By walking through the P&L statement, we would arrive at a consolidated net loss of EUR 402 million, including a net loss from continuing operations of minus EUR 571 million and the net profit from discontinued operations of plus EUR 168 million. The net loss from continuing operations was mainly impacted by EUR 64 million trading profit resulting from an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 655 million, but EUR 591 million of depreciation and amortization. Second, a reduction in other operating expenses, which amounted to minus EUR 258 million in 2025, including EUR 87 million related to assets disposals, mainly real estate assets, minus EUR 275 million asset impairment losses, including EUR 218 million in goodwill impairment and minus EUR 41 million from risks and litigations. A negative impact of EUR 369 million from net financial expenses, including a net cost of debt of EUR 192 million, interest expenses on lease liabilities for EUR 145 million and the financial cost of CB4X for Cdiscount of EUR 25 million. As regards the discontinued operations, the net profit of EUR 168 million was mainly due within the HM/SM segment to favorable settlements of liabilities related to reorganization costs, termination of operational contracts and store closures. It thus reflects costs that are ultimately lower than initially estimated. In 2025, we then reported a free cash flow deficit of EUR 120 million, an improvement of EUR 519 million versus 2024. This change reflects the growth in adjusted EBITDA after lease payment for EUR 86 million, a positive impact of EUR 403 million due to change in working capital. As you know, 2024 was marked by the financial restructuring with a return to normalized payment terms leading to a higher level of disbursement in '24. On 2025, we saw the implementation of the suppliers shared service center with a new organization requiring a complete overhaul of processes. Changes in working cap was also impacted by faster inventory turnover due to seasonal effects end of '25. Generally speaking, the basis of comparison had been adversely affected last year as well by the payment of EUR 153 million social security and tax liabilities placed under moratorium in '23, of which EUR 142 million coming from working capital and EUR 11 million from taxes. Excluding this effect, the free cash flow before financial expenses last year would have been negative for minus EUR 486 million, and the free cash flow would then have increased by EUR 360 million positive year-on-year. Now starting from the minus EUR 120 million free cash flow of the previous slide, our net debt position has been mainly impacted by the net financial expenses, of which EUR 118 million interest paid for the reinstated term loan. EUR 19 million cash flows from discontinued operations and asset disposal, including a negative impact of EUR 152 million in cash related to discontinued activities, but a positive impact of EUR 170 million from real estate disposals. As a result, our net debt has increased by EUR 290 million to EUR 1.5 billion end of 2025. On this slide, we can see our debt maturity profile. As you know, most of our debt accepted our main RCF matures in March next year. And for operational financing, we have secured last week an extension of the maturity from our banks until the end of May 2026. In the meantime, ongoing discussions with creditors are continuing with a view to reaching a comprehensive agreement that would, in particular, extend the maturity of the operational financing to a longer term and also revise downward the cost of debt. You can also see on the right the cost of our main debt instruments. In light of this maturity and cost of debt, last November, the group has launched a work to adapt and strengthen its financial structure, as most of you know. Now let's give you some insight on our liquidity position at the end of December last year, which standed at EUR 1 billion, including EUR 11 million of undrawn overdrafts. All the other credit lines were drawn as of December 2025, as you can see here, the main RCF for EUR 711 million, EUR 149 million of overdraft facilities, EUR 95 million of the Monoprix exploitation's RCFs and EUR 60 million of the French state-guaranteed loan, plus EUR 36 million of Monoprix Holding's bilateral lines of credit and EUR 20 million of another bank available line. Just as a reminder, under the loan documentation, available cash is defined as cash and cash equivalents, excluding the float and any trapped cash. Now moving on to our financial covenants. The financial covenants under those financing agreements include EUR 100 million minimum liquidity on the last day of each month. Hence, EUR 1 billion end of December was satisfying. And the same covenants also applies to each month of the subsequent quarter. Here, important for you to know that our liquidity position estimate for the end of Q1, which is tomorrow, is EUR 0.8 billion, of which EUR 0.2 billion is attributable to factoring, reverse factoring and similar programs. The total net leverage ratio at the end of each quarter must also comply with specific thresholds. As at December '25, this ratio was 4.66 based on EUR 194 million covenant adjusted EBITDA and EUR 900 million covenant net debt. It is below the threshold of 7.17, we were to comply with, and it doesn't take into account, sorry, any pro forma restatement as granted by the documentation. I would add that the ceiling of this ratio is set at 7.41% for March '26, and our EBITDA forecast for Q1 is to ensure compliance with this March test. Let's now focus on the project to adapt and strengthen the financial structure of the group. In order to support the execution of the strategic plan and in light of the maturity of our various indebtedness, we have initiated work to adapt and strengthen our financial structure since last November '25. The key terms of the proposals made by either the controlling shareholder or the creditors were made public in February and March and are detailed in the presentation available on the group website. It's important to highlight that such -- should such a transaction to adapt and strengthen the financial structure be completed, it would result in a significant dilution for existing shareholders. The company has last week secured an extension of the standstill agreement from the RCF, TLBs and operating financing creditors until May 28, 2026, while the standstill granted by the Quatrim creditors is in the process of being extended from end of April to end of May. Banks have also agreed to extend the maturity of the operational financing to the end of May 2026. As of today, unfortunately, no agreement has been reached between Casino, FRH and the creditors regarding the adaptation and strengthening of the Casino Group financial structure and discussions are continuing. So that concludes my presentation. Thank you for your attention, and I give the floor back to Philippe for his closing remarks. Philippe Palazzi: Yes. Thank you, Angelique. I will go to a conclusion. That means I would like to provide you with an overview of our market perspective and upcoming challenges that Casino Group will face in the coming months. First of all, I'm convinced that we are at the right place and at the right moment. Convenience retail market, as you have seen in the Angelique presentation, shows a positive trend aligned with change in the consumer habits, especially in the growing segment of quick meal solutions. There are still white spot for expansion in our targeted zone in France. Organic specialized distribution and e-commerce penetration are still growing, offering important opportunities for the group. Main French retailer operate -- move towards growing convenience retail sector on which there is significant investment, especially in Paris. [Recovery] will increase drastically in the upcoming months, most likely leading to a territory and price war. Moreover, traditional retailer position is exposed to risk from the aggressive expansion of nonfood discounters and ultrafast fashion e-commerce platform such as Temu or Shein. Finally, from a macroeconomic perspective, we'll also face consumption decline mainly to political instability in France, low consumer confidence, recent conflict in Middle East and the oil price increase. It's now the moment to conclude. I would say that we are in a dynamic convenience market at the right place, with the right brands at the right moment, but in a market increasingly competitive where players are fighting for price leadership. '25 financial data estimates are fully in line with our Renouveau 2030 business plan and confirm the relevance of our positioning and the successful execution of our strategic plan. We'll focus during the coming months on execution and constantly adapting our model to market evolution as well as to market revolution. I would like to thank you for your attention, and we will now answer your questions. Thank you. Angelique Cristofari: Okay. Then the first question is, when will the group pay the rest of the Quatrim bond given the high interest burden? So you may have noticed that EUR 21 million were repaid last Friday to the Quatrim secured bondholders. Hence, the nominal amount of the Quatrim bond is now EUR 120 million versus what it was end of December. The gross asset value of our real estate asset presently stands above EUR 200 million at the end of last year. And we are ahead of schedule, which means that thanks to this disposal program, we have reduced the coupon at 7.5% since April 2025 instead of an initial coupon of 8.5%. This bond matures on January 27, and it benefits from a 1-year extension option exercisable by the company, which will be -- we will see in the future how this is extended. We also have a question from ODDO. What to expect on margins from Casino and Cdiscount, which were somehow below expectations going forward? On margin, Casino and Cdiscount are not below our expectations. In the next year, we expect that Casino free cash flow should be 0 in 2030, as was shared through the Renouveau 2030 plan, and it should be for Cdiscount a EUR 67 million free cash flow. Philippe Palazzi: Yes. I think the question -- I will take that one. The question is it seems that somehow CapEx is below target slightly, but above all is it enough to growth in the context of increasing competition in proximity. I mean cash flow reached EUR 252 million in '25, slightly below our plan of EUR 263 million. It was just phasing effect we had at this time. As you recall in the presentation that I mentioned that we are very careful in the cost per square meters and as well as to make sure that we implement the right CapEx at the right store and at the right place. This year, we have accelerated at Monoprix as well all the investment, the CapEx investment we are doing in turnaround stores. You know that every store by the end of the plan of Monoprix will be touched till 2030, every single store will be touched on that one. If you take '25, 2030 is more than EUR 1.7 billion that will be invested into our network. And yes, to answer your question, is highly sufficient to fight against competition and even leading the pack. Angelique Cristofari: Yes. We have a question on net debt. So can you elaborate on the position as of December '25 and real estate disposals? How much of the cash from those disposals? Is this level of net debt a kind of run rate? Or shall we make some retreatment to have an idea of the real net debt, excluding divestments? So the consolidated net debt stood at EUR 1.5 billion end of December, increasing by EUR 290 million, as explained during the call. This variation was mainly impacted by real estate disposal for EUR 170 million, but financial expenses for minus EUR 382 million. Cash flows from discontinued operation for EUR 152 million and free cash flow before financial expenses of minus EUR 120 million. So net debt end of December '25 was yet impacted by the real estate disposals and discontinued activities, notably as indicated. Ongoing discussions to change the group financial structure will impact what is the level of group indebtedness and cost of debt going forward. So it's a bit early to answer what is the run rate for the net debt. Philippe Palazzi: And apparently, there is no more questions. But we would like to thank you for the time today and for your question. And we're going to see most of you quite pretty soon. And next financial update will be end of the quarter as well, first quarter. Thank you.
Unknown Executive: [Audio Gap] I'm honored to become the host and to brief you on the performance of China Coal Energy, Shanghai Energy and Xinji Energy. We have this consolidated earnings briefing and to do the reports and outlook. We want to express our gratitude for the Shanghai Stock Exchange, Roadshow Center and all the live streaming platforms, and we appreciate your support for our group. Those attending our meetings, we have Mr. Gao Shigang, China Coal's Party Secretary, Board member; Ms. [indiscernible], China Coal's Independent Executive Director and CFO, Chai Qiaolin, [indiscernible] General Manager for the Chemicals Department; Vice Director for Marketing Department, Mr. Li Ping; China Energy's Chairman, Mr. Zhang Futao; Independent Executive Director, Mr. [indiscernible]; General Accountant, Mr. Zhang Chengbin, Energy General Manager, Mr. Sun Kai; Independent Executive Director, Mr. Yao Zhishu; Vice President, Guoxiu Zhang, General Accountant, Mr. [indiscernible], Board Secretary, Mr. Dai Fei and all the business heads for the 3 subsidiaries. We have 5 items on the agenda. First is the basics about China Coal Group, our performance in the 14th Five-Year Plan, our outlook for the next Five-Year Plan outlook. And then the 3 listed subsidiaries will brief you on our performance, our tasks completed and our work tasks for the 2026, and then we will have the Q&A session. Let's give the floor to Mr. Gao Shigang to give you a briefing about the China Coal Group, our achievements in the 14th Five-Year Plan and the outlook for 2026 and the next 5-year period. Shigang Gao: Distinguished Investors, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Welcome to the 2025 Collective Performance Briefing for China National Coal Group's listed subsidiaries. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your continued attention and support for China Coal. I will provide a brief overview from 4 aspects; the basic profile for China Coal and its listed subsidiaries, key achievements during the 14th Five-Year Plan and the development plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan and analysis of industry trends, outlook for 2026. First, overview of China Coal. China Coal is a key state-owned backbone enterprise under the supervision of SASAC as a central enterprise, covering the entire coal industry chain shoulders' important mission of ensuring national energy security. Our core businesses include coal development utilization and trading, electricity and heat production and supply, coal-based new materials and related chemical product development, equipment manufacturing and engineering and technical services. We have controlled proven coal resources reserves exceeding 70 billion tonnes with a total capacity of 310 million tonnes and annual trading volume of 400 million tonnes. We operate and construct 11 chemical projects with a total capacity exceeding 20 million tonnes we have an installed capacity of over 47 gigawatts for thermal power in operation and under construction and renewable installed capacity of 7 gigawatts. We hold controlling stakes in 3 listed subsidiaries, China Coal Energy, Shanghai Energy and Xinji Energy. By the end of 2025, the group's managed total assets exceeded RMB 650 billion with 120,000 employees. We have received an A rating from SASAC for operational performance for 6 consecutive years and have been listed in the Fortune Global 500 for 6 consecutive years. China Coal Energy, the core listed subsidiary of China Coal Group. It's a large-scale energy enterprise integrating coal production and trading, coal chemicals, power generation and coal mining equipment manufacturing. It was listed in Hong Kong in December 2006, and we returned to Asia market in February 2008. Shanghai Energy was listed on the Asia market in August 2001, primarily engaged in coal electricity, railway operations and integrated energy services. Xinji Energy was listed on the Asia market in December 2007 and became a holding subsidiary of China Coal in 2016, mainly involved in coal electricity and renewable. Second, the key achievements during the 14th Five-Year Plan period and development plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China Coal and its listed subsidiaries diligently implemented the requirements from SASAC. We adhered to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, enhancing efficiency from existing assets and driving growth through new businesses pursued 2 integrated business models, established and refined governance systems, innovative information disclosure, strengthened IR management, took measures to enhance market cap and promptly conveyed confidence while stabilizing expectations. We delivered remarkable achievements characterized by steady growth, structural optimization. The key features are: first, focusing on core businesses with enhanced core competitiveness with the mission of ensuring national energy security. During the 14th Five-year plan period, we fulfilled medium- and long-term coal contracts of 730 million tonnes, reserved 160,000 tonnes of fertilizers and supplied nearly 10 million tonnes of urea, and provided over RMB 110 billion in benefits to society. We completed investments exceeding RMB 200 billion and paid total taxes with over RMB 180 billion contributing to local economies. We optimized our industrial structure. Total coal production capacity reached 310 million tonnes per year, up by 22% versus 2020. Installed capacity of thermal power in operation and under construction exceeded 47 gigawatts, quadrupling versus 2020. Installed capacity of renewable in operation and under construction surpassed 7 gigawatts, achieving leapfrog development. Significant progress was made in the 2 integrated business models. Through coordinated efforts in resource and marketing, we leveraged the synergies of the full coal-based industrial chain. Distinctive integrated coal electricity chemicals, renewable industrial chain with China Coal characteristics has gradually taken shape. Second, we focused on strengthening our business, achieving improvements in scale and efficiency. The enterprise has grown rapidly with total assets increasing from CNY 400 billion in 2020 to over RMB 600 billion. Production volumes of major products achieved substantial growth. Since 2023, coal production has remained above 240 million tonnes. Power generation went up by over 80% and the output of coal chemical was above 10 million tonnes, maintaining a safe, stable, long-term full capacity and optimal operating status. The average annual operating revenue during the 14th Five-Year Plan period was up by 80% compared with the previous period. Profitability was enhanced with average annual total profit exceeding CNY 40 billion. Thirdly, we focused on value creation, achieving quality improvement for listed subsidiaries. During the 14th Five-Year period, China Coal achieved an average annual total profit of CNY 30 billion, up by 253% versus 13th 5-year period with market cap growing by approximately 200%. We consistently ranked among the top of the China Top 100 listed companies and received the Shanghai Stock Exchange's A rating for information disclosure for 16 consecutive years. Shanghai Energy focused on strengthening its fundamentals, making efforts in areas such as system optimization, lean management, policy utilization and bidding procurement, achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Its average annual profit grew substantially, while its assets, market cap and stock price all maintained a stable upward trend. Xinji Energy promoted transformation and upgrading, advancing the integrated development of coal and power during the 14th Five-Year Plan. Its installed thermal power capacity went up by 298% from 2 gigawatts at the end of the 13th Five-year period to 7.96 gigawatts at the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, proving the effectiveness of the 2 integrated business models. Its average annual operating revenue increased with both average annual profit and asset growing. During the 14th Five-year period, the 3 listed subsidiaries cumulatively paid out dividends of CNY 30.9 billion, up by 360% versus the previous Five-year period. By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the combined market cap of the 3 listed subsidiaries reached CNY 176 billion. Fourth, we focused on problem-oriented approaches, achieving significant improvements in risk prevention and control capabilities. Safety supervision responsibilities were strengthened, safety awareness among all employees was enhanced, system support capabilities were reinforced. Overall safety production remained stable. We continue to strengthen pollution prevention and control, promoted application of clean production and energy saving emission reduction technologies, carried out mine ecological restoration, land reclamation, biodiversity protection and improved ecological environment in mining areas. Each listed subsidiary improved its ESG governance system, advancing specialized work such as climate change and double materiality analysis. Fifth, we focused on innovation-driven development, gaining momentum for transformation and development. The group refined its innovation system featuring a small internal brain plus large external brain. We established the National Natural Science Foundation of China Enterprise Innovation and Development Joint Fund in the field of Coal Energy, the National Key Research and Development Program, Disruptive Technology innovation key project, Energy Low Carbon Joint Initiative, reorganized the National Key Lab of digital and Intelligent Technology for Unmanned Coal Mining, established Energy and Low-Carbon Innovation Center of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei National Technology Innovation Center, got approval for the construction unit of the Central Enterprise Industrial green low-carbon original tech source and a leading technology-based enterprise with focused on national strategic needs. The development of original technology in the strategic emerging industries, the group increased our R&D spend by 2.2x compared with 13th Five-year period. Breakthroughs in key technologies were advanced, including special catalysts for polypropylene units filling the technology gaps. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China Coal and China Coal Energy will be guided by the Xi Jinping thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CPC and its subsequent plenary sessions fully implement the new development philosophy, deeply implement the renewable security strategy of 4 revolutions and cooperation, respond to the major strategic decision of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, fulfill our mission of ensuring national energy security, strengthening SOEs and state-owned capital and leading the high-quality development of coal industry, adhere to the dual wheel drive of efficiency gain of existing assets and transforming incremental assets practice. The 2 integration plus model build a hedging mechanism against the downward risk of the external market for own coal and against future carbon emission constraint, create an industry chain of coal, electricity, chemicals, renewable with China coal characteristics expand in emerging industry. Shanghai Energy will leverage its 3 major bases in Jiangsu Xuzhou, Shanxi and Xinjiang as strategic pillars to strengthen its coal power generation and renewable and integrated energy services. It will accelerate innovation, industrial transformation, achieving complementary advantages and tiered succession among its basis to become a benchmark for China Coal Energy's transformation in the Yangtze Delta region. Xinji Energy will focus on the Anhui and Jiangxi region aiming to create a CNY 100 billion level energy supply industrial cluster in East China. It will promote co-development of coal, thermal and renewable power with 7 major industrial bases in Huainan, Fuyang, [indiscernible] and Jiangxi, laying a solid foundation for high-quality development. China Coal will leverage the synergy of its listed companies to enhance high-end energy supply and service guarantee capabilities, striving to become a highly competitive integrated energy player by 2030 and by 2035, a world-class energy company with multi-energy complementarity, green and low-carbon exemplary leadership and modern governance. Third section, industry analysis. 2026 marks the start of China's 13th Five-Year Plan. China's development is characterized by strategic opportunities and risks with increasing uncertainties. The company's production operation reform and development will face a complex external environment. In macro economy, the world is undergoing accelerated changes with increasingly complex and intense great power competition affecting domestic development. At the same time, China has mismatched supply and demand and many risks and hidden dangers in key areas. However, the fundamentals supporting China's long-term positive economic outlook, including a stable economic foundation, numerous advantages, strong resilience and great potential remain unchanged. Supported by serious macro policies, especially the 15th Five-year plan, the development has great prospects. In terms of industry operation with profound adjustments in the global energy landscape and parallel construction of a new energy system, the green and low carbon transition is a long-term process. Ensuring energy security is essential for stable economic and social development and coal's role as a primary energy source and a safety net is more prominent. Considering international geopolitical tension, the supply and demand of China's coal market in 2026 is expected to be tight. The LTA mechanism for ensuring the supply of thermal coal will still be an anchor and the spot price of coal is likely to rise with more fluctuations. Looking into the 15th Five-year period, we are still in strategic window of opportunity. The foundational role of coal and thermal power will be strengthened and new power system with renewable as the mainstay is being accelerated. Technological and industrial innovation is integrating and a unified national market is advancing. This period presents both opportunities and challenges as well as pressures and drivers. Facing this new landscape, China Coal possesses the following advantages: first, resource and scale, abundant coal resources, ample production capacity, strong internal synergies, a solid development foundation and considerable industry influence. Second, value creation advantage. Lean management has been implemented with notable cost reduction efficiency gains and economic benefits and our operational performance consistently ranks among the top of the central enterprises. Third, industrial chain synergy. We continue to optimize our industrial structure, integrating coal, coal chemicals, renewables with more resilience. Fourth, innovation and mechanism. Investment in technology continues to grow. The science and innovation system is refined, giving us more momentum. Fourth section, outlook for 2026. In 2026, China Coal will adhere to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, efficiency gains from existing assets and growth from new businesses focused on our core business, deepen reform and innovation, accelerate the green transformation, co-work development and safety, strengthen core functions and competitiveness, promote high-quality development and contribute to ensuring national energy security and achieving a good start for the 15th Five-Year plan. First, we will scientifically optimize production organization develop potential and enhance efficiency. We will carry out special actions to improve quality and efficiency, strengthen refined management and cost control. Second, we will focus on project development and advance strategy implementation. We prepare the 15th Five-year plan, develop the coal electricity, chemicals, renewables business, strengthen the modern industrial system, create new growth engines and enhance the hedging capacity. Third, we will consolidate and deepen reform achievements and drive reform to greater depth. We promote reform to the grassroots level, remove institutional and mechanism obstacles. Fourth, we will strengthen the management of listed subsidiaries and solidify investment value. We will improve the market cap management, enhance the quality of information disclosures, strengthen investor communication and maintain overall stability in operational performance, barring significant market changes. Dear friends, the development of China Coal is inseparable from your trust and support. We will always uphold the principle of openness, transparency and mutual benefit to continue to improve our management to accelerate green transformation and innovation and strive to become a trustworthy outstanding listed company with long-term investment value. We firmly believe that with the joint efforts of all shareholders, investors and all sectors of society, China Coal will take on greater responsibility and make even greater contributions to the advancement of Chinese style modernization. Thank you. Unknown Executive: Thank you, Mr. Gao. Now let me give you a presentation of the operating performance of China Coal Energy during the 14th Five-year plan and the work arrangement for '26. So dear investors and analysts, I will begin with the performance presentation of China Coal Energy. Unless otherwise specified, this is subject to the Chinese accounting standard. China Coal Energy has resolutely implemented decisions and plans of the Central Committee and firmly grasp the theme of high-quality development and earnestly practiced development strategy of improving efficiency in existing operations and transforming new ones. It has accelerated the advancement of 2 joint operations and actually building the 2 hedging mechanisms, continuously enhancing development resilience. First, high coal output and stable sales with enhanced efficiency during the 14th Five-year plan, the company resolutely showed the mission of ensuring energy supply and carrying out in-depth benchmarking of refined management, we have achieved a total of 639 million tonnes of commercial coal output, an increase of 43% compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan and a total of 1.4 billion tonnes of commercial coal sales, an increase of 52.7% compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan period. In '25, the company made every effort to ensure safe and stable supply of coal and fully release the production capacity of high-quality mines. To maximize output and benefits, the company strengthened the management of coal quality at the source. We have increased the mining area by 18%, optimizing the output. However, due to stricter safety supervision and changes in the geological conditions, the company's coal output decreased. The total commercial coal output was approximately 135 million tonnes, a decrease of 1.8% but still at a relatively high level in history. The company adhered to the general tone of a stable and refined sales, strengthened the coordination between production and sales and deeply implemented the marketing strategy of a segmented product and segmented markets. It innovatively launched a new trading model such as a virtual coal mines and maintained the sales base under the background of deep pressure in the industry. The fulfillment rate of the medium and long-term contracts for thermal coal exceeded 90%, fully playing a role of a stabilizer in energy supply. In '25, the total commercial coal sales were 256 million tonnes, a decrease of 10.2%. And the self-produced commercial coal sales were 136 million tonnes, a decrease of 0.9%. And the purchased coal sales were 109 million tonnes, a decrease of 23%. The average sales price of self-produced commercial coal was CNY 485 per tonne, a decrease of 13.7%. Among them, the sales price of the thermal coal was CNY 448, a decrease of 10.2%. The sales price of coking coal was CNY 949, a decrease of 24.3%. The sales price of purchased coal was CNY 492 per tonne, a decrease of 15.6%. Second, stable and refined sales in coal chemical industry and rapid growth in new energy business. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the company's coal chemical business maintained a very robust curve. The total output of major coal chemical product was 28.9 million tonnes, an increase of 49.2% compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan. And the total sales volume was 29.545 million tonnes, an increase of 49.9% compared to the 13th Five-Year Plan. The total installed capacity of wholly owned and controlled coal-fired power plants under construction and operation was 53.9 million kilowatts, an increase of 58%. The total installed capacity of new energy has also reached 12 million kilowatts, growing from scratch. In '25, the company's coal chemical business adhered to the standard operations, strengthening basic management and successfully completed the national commercial reserve tasks. The total output of major product was 6.06 million tonnes, an increase of 6.5%. Among them, the output of polyolefins was 1.38 million decreased by 8.5%. The output of urea was 2.134 million tonnes, an increase of 14.1%. The output of methanol was 1.955 million tonnes, an increase of 13% and the output of ammonium nitrate was 0.58 million tonnes, an increase of 1.9%. The company continuously improves its marketing network, flexibly adjusted sales strategies, optimizing the layout and flow direction. In '25, the total sales volume reached 6.356 million, an increase of 8.8%. Specifically, the sales volume of polyolefins was 1.381 million tonnes, a decrease of 9%. The sales of urea was 2.423 million tonnes, an increase of 18.9%, the sale volume of methanol was 1.963 million tonnes, an increase of 14.4%, and the sales volume of ammonium nitrate was 0.58 million tonnes, an increase of 3%. The sales price of polyolefin was CNY 6,337 per tonne, a decrease of 9.4%. The sales price of urea was CNY 1,752, a decrease of 14.4%. The price of methanol was CNY 1,737 per tonne, a decrease of 1.1% and the price of ammonium nitrate was CNY 1,776 per tonne, a decrease of 13.5%. Thirdly, upgrading of coal mine equipment services and the prominent value of financial business. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the coal mine equipment business promoted the improvement and expansion of joint storage and supply and intelligent transformation, achieving a total output value of CNY 50.41 billion, an increase of 56.6%. The financial business is centered on the construction of the treasury system and continuously improving the level of centralized and lean management, maintaining an asset scale of over CNY 100 billion, and net profit continued to grow steadily. In '25, the coal mining equipment business will accelerate its transformation towards intelligent manufacturing plus modern services, achieving a total output value of CNY 9.21 billion. We have also obtained international orders worth CNY 1 billion, an increase of 22.9%. We have also been highly rated by SASAC. Fourthly, in-depth promotion of lean management. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the company deeply implemented standard cost management and all production centers established cost control mechanisms. In '25, in the face of a CNY 77 per tonne decrease in average selling price of self-produced commercial coal, the company deeply carried out the lean management approach. The unit sales cost of major product decreased significantly. In '25, the unit sales cost of self-produced commercial coal was CNY 251.51 per tonne, a decrease of CNY 30.2 per tonne or 10.7%. Specifically, material cost decreased by CNY 5.45 or 9.4%. Labor cost decreased by CNY 0.82 per tonne or 1.4%. Depreciation and amortization increased by CNY 1.76 or 3.9%. Maintenance expenses decreased by CNY 1.26 or 11.6% Transportation and port charges decreased by 1.82 or 3.2% and other costs decreased by CNY 22.63 or 43%. So this was mainly due to the company's implementation of cost management and also the optimization of production organization, which led to a decrease in the material cost per tonne of coal. Additionally, due to the need for safety production and future production continuation, the use of -- there's an increase of unit depreciation and amortization costs. And in 2025, due to the decline of the purchasing price of raw coal and fuel coal, the unit sales cost of some product decreased year-on-year, specifically, the unit sales cost of polyolefin was CNY 6,136, a decrease of 1.6%. The unit sales cost of urea was CNY 1,297 per tonne, a decrease of 21.7%. The unit sales cost of methanol was CNY 1,321 per tonne, a decrease of 35.7% and the unit sales cost of ammonium nitrate was CNY 1,412 per tonne, an increase of 7.4%. Number five, the company maintained a stable business performance and continuously optimizing the financial structure. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the company strengthened the operation management and focusing on improving quality and efficiency. We have reached annual revenue of CNY 198.2 billion, an increase of 91.8%. And the average annual profit was CNY 30 billion, an increase of 253%. The weighted average return on net asset increased by nearly 6 percentage points compared to the end of 13th Five-Year Plan. The average annual net cash flow from operating activities was CNY 39.7 billion, an increase of 109%. The company's market cap increased by 209%. And the total net profit attributable to parent company over the past 5 years was CNY 88.7 billion, laying a solid foundation for the long-term development. In '25, because of the decline in the market price of coal and chemical products, the company achieved a revenue of CNY 148.1 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 21.8%. The total profit was CNY 26.6 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 15.7%. The net profit attributable to parent company was CNY 17.9 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 7.3%. The comprehensive GP margin was 27.5%, an increase of 2.6%. The basic earnings per share was CNY 1.35. Despite the overall pressure in the industry, the company still maintained a strong profit resilience. The company continuously strengthens cash flow management with a net cash inflow from operating activities of nearly CNY 30 billion, providing a solid support for business development and shareholder returns. The asset liability ratio further decreased to 45.8%. The capital structure became more stable and the risk resilience is increased. The changes in the total profit in '25 were as follows: firstly, the unit sales cost of self-produced commodity coal decreased, increasing profit by CNY 4.16 billion. Second, the reduction in taxes and surcharges increased the profit by CNY 0.8 billion. Thirdly, the power business increased the profit by CNY 0.7 billion. Fourthly, reduction in period expenses increased the profit by CNY 0.53 billion. Fifth, the reduction in impairment provisions increased the profit by CNY 0.426 billion. The main profit decreasing factors were: first, the decline in self-produced commodity coal pricing by 10.5%. Second, the main coal chemical enterprises reduced profits by CNY 0.36 billion. Thirdly, the decrease in the sales volume of self-produced commodity coal reached profit reduced profit by CNY 0.35 billion. Fourthly, the reduction in investment income reduced the profit by CNY 0.34 billion. Fifth, the decrease in nonoperating income and expenses reduced profit by CNY 0.087 billion. Number six, the company steadily advances the 2 joint operations and enhance the momentum for development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the company accelerated the 2 joint operation program and also being the 2 hedging mechanisms of coal electricity, chemical and new energy, accelerating the installation of key projects. In 2025, the company's CapEx plan was closely centered around coal, about CNY 21.678 billion. And during the reporting period, a total of CNY 19.92 billion was completed, achieving 91.9%. Relevant key projects were steadily advancing. For example, the Libi Coal Mine is expected to achieve the dry operation by end of '27 and the Weizigou Coal Mine is expected to achieve a try operation by end of '26. The Wushenqi power plant is expected to be in operation in the second half '27 and the Yulin Coal Deep Processing Project has entered the equipment installation stage. The company's CapEx plan for '26 was CNY 21.32 billion, an increase of 7.05% compared with 2025. By business segment, the Coal segment plans to allocate CNY 7.24 billion. The Coal Chemicals segment, about CNY 8.48 billion; the Coal Power segment, about CNY 2.18 billion; the New Energy segment, about CNY 2.6 billion, the Coal Mining Equipment and other segments, about CNY 739 million. Seven, the foundation of safety and environmental protection remains solid. In '25, the company has strengthened the foundation and consolidating the basics, increased the safety protocols and carried out in-depth safety production efforts with no major safety incidents. The company strengthened the pollution prevention and ecological governance and also established a long-term mechanism. The regionalization and specialization reform was deepened. And the company maintained a leading position in the top 100 Chinese listed companies and has received an A level information disclosure evaluation from the Shanghai Stock Exchange for 16 years in a row. Number 8, the dividend payout policy continuously been optimized. The shareholder returns remained stable during the 14th Five-Year Plan. The company's cumulative dividends were CNY 28.2 billion, an increase of 393%. And since its listing, the company's cumulative dividend has reached CNY 46.1 billion. In '25, to enhance the investment value of the listed company, the company's Board of Directors proposed to distribute RMB 5.07 billion in a cash dividend to shareholders in '25, which is 35% of the company's shareholders' share of profit. After deducting the interim dividend of CNY 2.2 billion already distributed, the cash dividend to the distributed to the shareholders is CNY 2.87 billion. Number 2, main work arrangements for '26. In '26, the company will continue to adhere to the general principles of seeking progress while maintaining stability, improving efficiency and striving to have a good start of the 15th Five-Year plan. The company plan to produce and sell over 130 million tonnes of self-produced commercial coal with 1.45 million tonnes of polyolefin product and over 2.03 million tonnes of urea under the condition that the market does not undergo significant changes, the company will strive to maintain overall stability of revenue and profit. And also the company will fully ensure a stable supply of energy to fulfill its responsibility of energy supply security, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of energy service business to ensure the efficient and smooth operation of the entire value chain from production, transportation, sales, distribution and usage. And second (sic) [ third ], we will deepen the lean management and the cost control for the Phase 2 of Yulin Chemical project. And number four, we'll steadily promote the 2 joint operation programs as well as the co-electricity chemical, new energy industrial chain to promote the green development. Number 5, continuously deepen enterprise reform and mechanism innovation to consolidate the achievements of reform and improvement and to stimulate organizational vitality and talent potential. Number 6, we also strengthen the level of digitalization, increasing R&D investment as well as to cultivate new high-quality productivity with Chinese coal industry characteristics. And number 7, we will also enhance the ability to prevent and resolve major risks. We will strive to further consolidate the foundation of market value management. And number 8, the company will continuously consolidate the foundation of market value management as well as the level of corporate governance and the quality of information disclosure. Dear investors and analysts, looking back to the 15th Five-Year Plan and 2025, China Coal Energy against a complex and dire market environment, we have demonstrated resilience. And in 2026, we'll continue to maintain this attitude to forge ahead and also to reward our shareholders with even greater returns. Thank you. Unknown Executive: Thank you. Now please join me to welcome Mr. Zhang Futao from Shanghai Energy to present the performance in '25 as well as the work arrangement for '26. Zhang Futao: Dear Mr. Gao, Mr. [ Jiang, ] distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. I will present to you the performance in '25 as well as the plans for '26 and the 15th Five-Year Plan. Firstly, we have intensified efforts to improve quality and efficiency, enhancing the level of operation. The company closely focused on the 1 profit and 5 raised targets. For example, we have embraced some cost-down initiatives such as blending inferior coal and reducing all the materials. We managed to reduce cost by CNY 500 million and the production cost of raw coal and the cost of electricity sales decreased by CNY 40 per tonne and CNY 0.012 per kilowatt hour, respectively. We strengthened the management of off-peak electricity usage, saving nearly CNY 13 million in electricity fees. We have also coordinated the use of safety and maintenance funds, reducing cost by CNY 50 million. We have also expanded new customers. We are also proactively adapting to the market. We have also improved the value added to our products. This has led to an efficiency boost of CNY 16.28 million. And also the raw coal calorific value has also increased by 164 [ Kcol. ] Additionally, the company has also achieved operating income of CNY 7.67 billion and net profit attributable to shareholders of listed company of CNY 220 million, total profit of CNY 150 million, total assets of CNY 1,900 billion and net asset of CNY 12.63 billion and earnings per share of CNY 0.31 and the asset liability ratio of 35.28%. We have also strengthened the coordination of production, transportation and marketing. Faced with this continued downturn in the coal market and unprecedented production pressures, the company coordinates production, transportation and marketing, optimizing the production organization and also we all aim to stabilize the production capacity. So in '25, the company's annual commercial coal volume is 6.13 million tonnes and refined coal output has also improved to over 4.47 million tonnes and also the power generation capacity, 4.24 billion kilowatt hours. Among them, the power -- new energy-based power generation is 536 million kilowatt hours. And thirdly, we have also solidified the reform and continuously improving the development momentum. Additionally, we have also increased -- vigorously promoted unified allocation of human resources, deployed 216 personnel between mines, including 87 technical personnels that are operating under the mine. The ratio of the 3 lines has reached by 1 x 1.7 x 3. And number four, we have also steadily advanced the key projects. The company took key projects as the basis to accelerate the construction of the 2 joint operation programs or demonstration bases in Xinjiang and the first mining project of Xinjiang Weizigou coal mine smoothly entered the construction stage. Additionally, the construction of a key new energy project has also been accelerated. The 165,000-kilowatt PV project in the subsidence area of Ningdong mine has been fully connected to the grid for power generation. The installed capacity of new energy under construction has reached 672,000 kilowatts. The Datang Power Grid renovation was also put into operation. Fifth, the company has continuously strengthened innovation and R&D. The company has continuously increased our commitment to this direction with our R&D expense increase of 4.12% and also has won 24 provincial and ministerial level and the industrial level awards with 8 achievements reaching a domestic leading or above levels. The company has also obtained 45 national authorized patents, including 10 invention patents and key science projects such as carbon storage space and virtual power plant have been implemented in an orderly manner. The source grid load storage coordinated regulation microgrid project has also been included. Number 6, the company has paid close attention to shareholder dividends. Since its listing, the company has achieved a cash dividend for 21 years in a row with a total dividend amount of CNY 3.91 billion, which is 4.46x the raised funds of CNY 877 million. In September '25, the company implemented a 25 semiannual cash profit distribution, distributing a total of CNY 65 million. This is the company's second interim dividend. From 2017 to 2024, the company's cash dividend ratio to the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company has exceeded 30%. In '25, on the basis of implementing interim dividends, the company distributed a total of CNY 217 million in cash dividends to all shareholders at a rate of CNY 2.1 per 10 shares, accounting for nearly 100% of the net profit attributable to shareholders. At the same time, the company distributed 3 bonus shares per 10 shares to all shareholders and increased the share capital by 1 share per 10 share through capital reserve. Number 7, the company has continuously strengthened market value management and fully met market expectations. The company accelerated the pace of external development and -- we have also kickstarted the Phase 1 of the 400-megawatt PV power generation project in Luxi C [ Qidong ] City, and it has been approved by the Board of Directors and also the company actively completed the share purchase by some directors or former supervisors as well as senior management and middle-level management, purchasing 623,200 shares with a total value of CNY 7.10 million. China Coal Energy has increased the holdings of Shanghai Energy shares by 2.43 million shares with a holding ratio of 62.78%. It has continued to introduce active shareholders. For the next step, the company will continue to take value creation as the core, continuously boost investor confidence and promote reasonable reflection of the company's quality and its investment value through standardized governance, stable operation and transparency. Second, Shanghai Energy's 15th Five-Year Plan. At present, the company has formulated a preliminary 15th Five-Year Plan. The overall thinking is to resolutely implement the strategic orientation for green and low-carbon transformation and also leading a core mission of high-quality development in the coal industry as well as to fully incorporate the ESG concept into the company's strategy and operation. And again, the company is building the 2 hedge mechanism and remain firm in the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 development strategy without wavering. That is aiming at creating a new [indiscernible] mine, and we will build a hedge mechanism based on these 2 joint operation programs, creating 3 major bases in Jiangsu Xuzhou, and Shanxi and Xinjiang adhere to the regionalization integration principles and also strengthen the 5 coordinations of safety, stability, improving efficiency of existing assets and transforming new assets. We will also accelerate the expansion of external coal product from a single fuel to raw materials. We will also focus on researching and developing the technology of coal grading and quality differentiation. The 3 mines and the headquarters will remain stable production, increasing the planning of resources in [indiscernible] area and also promote the sustainable exploitation of resources in the headquarters. The 2 mines in Xinjiang will shift their focus to improving economic benefits, taking the path of differentiation and focusing on improving coal quality and also to achieve a key transformation from production growth to value creation. Power and new energy sector, we will adhere to our load-oriented approach, focusing on the load-intensive areas and also to build an integrated energy park service providers to meet the needs. The headquarters will fully leverage the integrated advantages and actively expand electricity customers. We will use different ways to obtain resources through investment acquisition and as well as building new projects in rural areas to obtain new resources. Comprehensively boosting the business for the energy service. We will firmly establish the concept of going out for development and also encouraging the high value-added and high-tech content business. Next, work plan for 2026. '26 is the starting year of the 15th Five-Year Plan. We will be guided by the Central Government to implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of CPC and also requirements of the Central Economic Work Conference. We will comprehensively strengthen the party's leadership unwaveringly implement the new development concepts. We will also strive to improve the quality and efficiency of operation and with a focus on the [ 1233/6 ] tasks as well as accelerating the start of the 330,000-kilowatt PV project in the remaining area of the 1 million kilowatt ecological governance clean energy base in Peixian. Additionally, we'd also try to strengthen the 3 production keys of roof control, system optimization and advanced prevention. Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen, the achievement of Shanghai Energy today could not have been possible without your long-term care support and help. I would like to express my sincere gratitude. We will take this opportunity as we will take this performance briefing as a new starting point and carefully listen to the valuable input and opinions of all investors and draw on the experiences of China Coal Group. In the next step, we will continue to optimize the effort of operation, continuously improving our corporate governance and strive to create greater returns for investors. Thank you. Unknown Executive: Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Let's give the floor to Mr. Sun Kai about the performance of Xinji Energy in 2025 and the working plans for 2026. Kai Sun: Distinguished investors, good afternoon. I'm very pleased to meet with all our friends at the Xinji Energy performance briefing. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and heartfelt greetings to all the friends from various sectors who have consistently cared for and supported the development of Xinji Energy. We forged ahead with innovation, achieving breakthroughs against challenges, marking a successful conclusion to the 14th Five-Year Plan. In 2025, it was a critical period for Xinji Energy as we navigated challenges and tackled difficulties head on. Our cadaries and staff united as one fully embodying the Xinji spirit of perseverance, resilience and dedication. We actively responded to multiple challenges, including a downturn in the coal market and spot market trading for electricity sales, achieving record results in key operating indicators. For the year, we produced 19.76 million tonnes of commercial coal and sold 19.69 million tonnes. We generated 14.2 billion kilowatt hour of the electricity and sold 13.4 billion kilowatt hours. We achieved operating revenue of CNY 12.3 billion total profit of CNY 3.1 billion net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company, of CNY 2.1 billion and EPS of CNY 0.8 for the year. By the end of 2025, total assets reached CNY 53 billion liabilities or RMB 33.7 billion with a gearing ratio of 60%. Owners' equity attributable to the parent company was CNY 17 billion, up by 9% year-over-year. In 2025, it also marked the conclusion of Xinji Energy's 14th Five-Year Plan. During this period, all categories and staff implemented the strategy of enhancing efficiency for existing assets and driving growth through new businesses, and we had 7 major achievements. The first as we made historical breakthroughs in transformation. We established a new industrial structure with coal at the foundation, thermal power as the support and renewable as the direction. The coal foundation was strengthened with commercial coal production up by 1.7 million tonnes, a growth of 10%. The thermal power business achieved a leap from single point projects to clusters with controlled installed capacity increasing by 5.96 gigawatts, nearly fourfold. The renewable business grew from the scratch, establishing a demonstration base for the group's 2 integrated business models and now a crucial milestone. Secondly, we made significant improvements in production efficiency. We improved our production layouts and with commercial coal production achieving an average annual growth rate of over 2%. The calorific value of commercial coal was up by 392 kilocal per kilogram, generating over RMB 1.5 billion revenue from quality improvement. Equipment upgrades improved with all 5 operational coal mines passing intelligent acceptance inspection. Third, construction of an intelligent safety protection and control system. We advanced system governance and intelligent construction upgrading intelligent safety systems and disaster early warning platforms, advanced tools like AI intelligent identification and video surveillance, intelligent safety perception network covering underground and service operations was established, enabling real-time monitoring and intelligent early warning of gas, water hazards and ground pressure, taking our risk control capability to the next level. Fourth, we achieved leapfrog growth in operating performance. Total assets exceeded CNY 50 billion, nearly doubling total assets and profit versus the end of 13th Five-Year Plan. We entered a fast track for both scale and quality, achieving a dual breakthrough in asset and profitability. Gearing ratio was 63%, down by 9.55 percentage points. Labor productivity per headcount reached CNY 724,800, up by 69%. Fifth, we reaped the fruits from our reform efforts, a corporate governance system known as 1135/11 was established, comprising 1 charter, 1 measure, 3 rules, 5 lists, 1 menu and 1 completion. We were selected as a demonstration enterprise for grassroots corporate governance by SASAC. We completed our 3-year action plan for SOE reform with high quality. Sixth, we achieved leading progress in tech innovation. We invested RMB 330 million intelligent construction. We undertook 3 national key R&D projects during the 14th Five-Year Plan period with 10 world-leading technological achievements. We were selected as one of the first batch of pilot enterprises for digital transformation by SASAC and established the industry's first 5G plus smart power plant. Seventh, we owned our social responsibility over the 5-year period, 76 million tonnes of LTA coal were delivered, exceeding national energy supply assurance targets and fulfilling our role as a pillar in ensuring energy security. We spent CNY 450 million to improve our employees' sense of gain and well-being. We paid CNY 13.67 billion in taxes. We've consistently built an ESG governance system. In 2025, we received the highest A rating for information disclosure and got recognized as an excellent enterprise for national coal industry, social responsibility report released for 8 consecutive years. 2026, we are setting clear goals systematically planning, outlining a grand blueprint for the 15th Five-Year Plan. 2026 is a pivotal year for Xinji's energy transformation and development with firm and clear objectives. Comprehensively improve production quality and efficiency with commercial coal production less than 18.5 million tonnes and aiming for 19 million tonnes. Power generation, no less than 30 billion kilowatt hours. We'll make every effort to improve operational quality, optimizing the annual budget targets for the 5 rays indicator will develop at full speed, ensuring timely commissioning of 3 power plants. 2026 also marks the start of Xinji Energy's 15th Five-Year Plan closely aligning with national requirements for building a renewable and modern industrial system and Anhui, Jiangxi, development plan and leveraging the advantages of the coal-based full industrial chain, we've established a 1245/7 development strategy. The focus will be on the following tasks: First, focusing on stable production and increased sales to build up on our strength in coal. Adhering to the development principles of safety, efficiency, green and intelligence while improving the quality and efficiency of the existing 5 operational mines, we will advance the level deepening of [indiscernible] Xinji #2 mine and 1 mine or we develop [indiscernible] the coal resources and complete the integration of coal [indiscernible]. We focus on changes in coal products and categories to enhance our competitiveness. Second, we will focus on the 2 integrated business models to fully advance new project construction. We will strictly control the safety and quality of power projects under construction to ensure the timely grid connection and power generation of [indiscernible] power plant, accelerate the renewable projects, construct and strengthen the renewable industrial landscape, achieving leapfrog development. Thirdly, we will focus on industrial upgrades to explore emerging industries. Leveraging the resources in coal mining areas and our renewables development, we conduct feasibility studies combined with water electrolysis, hydrogen production and CCUS for thermal power centered on the strategy of building a new energy system and based on the regional industrial parks and facilities, we will promote projects for substituting clean energy in regional heating and achieve industrial upgrades. Fourth, we focus on innovation-driven development to empower high-quality development. We will expand intelligent control applications, data lake integration and standardized governance. We will plan for the construction of high-value AI plus scenarios, creating a smart support system covering production, safety and management. We will accelerate the construction of national key labs, establish experimental environments for technologies such as unmanned intelligent mining, intelligent rapid tunneling and adaptive and control deep mine equipment. Fifth, we will focus on the 3 defense lines and solidify the foundation for stable development. Safety is the lifeline and environmental protection is the bottom line and compliance is the red line. We will strengthen these 3 defense lines. Sixth, we focus on strengthening the enterprise through talent. We will improve recruitment model, systematically maintain normalized recruitment and try to meet the labor needs of grassroots units. We improved the compensation system, break the equal pay for all approach and effectively safeguard the income of frontline workers. We conduct scientific analysis, promote competitive selection for positions and build a talent pipeline for cadres. Seventh, we focus on party building leadership to forge strong entrepreneurship. We will always adhere to CPC's leadership over SOEs, ensuring high-quality development with party building. We deepen the comprehensive governance of the party, consolidate the political responsibility, improve party building quality, advance the scientific standardized systematic construction of party building, promote the deep integration of party building with production and operations. Looking back, we have overcome obstacles and achieved remarkable results. Looking ahead, we are full of confidence. 2026 is a crucial transitional year for Xinji Energy's transformation. We will maintain an unrelenting spirit to strengthen our confidence for ahead and work diligently. We will make every effort to accomplish all annual targets and write a new chapter for the company's high-quality development during the 15th Five-Year Plan. We will keep improving quality and efficiency, supporting market cap growth through solid operations and rewarding all shareholders and investors with strong performance. I wish all investors a smooth work, good health and abundant rewards. Thank you. Unknown Executive: Thank you, Mr. Sun. Now we'll open the floor for Q&A with both online and on-site participants. We will give priority to the on-site questions while also addressing some online questions, please. Unknown Analyst: Thank you, Mr. Zhang and management from China Coal. I am analyst from CITIC Securities. I have 2 questions about coal chemical. Since the conflict in the Middle East, people are concerned about the pricing trend of coal chemicals. So what will be the trend now compared with the last year for coal chemical pricing? And the second question is about the polyolefin business. So last year, the production and sales volume of polyolefin has dropped. Do you think that this year, the production and sales would rebound? And if that's true, will that lead to better economies of scale and thus lowering the unit cost of sales for polyolefin? Unknown Executive: Okay. I would like to ask [ Ms. Li ] from the marketing to address this question. Unknown Executive: Okay. Thank you for the question. the international conflict has indeed an impact on the chemical products as well as on energy. So for China Coal Group, the pricing of our urea and polyolefin has also been affected, even though recently, it started to rebound to a more reasonable level. We have made some price comparison on March 31. So urea pricing is basically flat with the same period last year. So in 2025, the urea pricing was relatively stable. So it went down, but it has rebounded. This has something to do with the supply control as well as additional export. For polyolefin, the pricing is more volatile. The price is like 10% higher than last year. That's for the polyethylene. While for the propylene, the price is actually still higher. It's like CNY 1,000 higher than same period last year. Even though recently, both futures and spot prices are falling. And also, I think that in the Chinese market, the capacity and the supply abilities are relatively sufficient. So in 2026, there are a lot of new capacity. So in the '26, the price would be more reasonable but it won't drop a lot because indeed, this conflict has a huge impact on the energy sector. Unknown Executive: Okay. So regarding the production and sales volume of polyolefin, I'd also like to ask Mr. Shu from the Coal chemical BU to address this question. Unknown Executive: Okay. So in 2025, we have 2 sets of our devices are under major maintenance or overhaul. So judging by the current circumstances, reaching a full load or full operation is very probable. So this year, we have a plan the production volume of 1.45 million tonnes. And I think we are able to go beyond that by around 60,000 tonnes. And secondly, after the device overhaul, the overall operation is becoming better. So that means the cost will be lower, and that also extends to next year. So that means we'll have better outcomes. gentleman in the first row. Unknown Analyst: Okay. Thank you, Mr. Gao and also thank management from China. I am [indiscernible] from the [ Yangtze River Metal. ] I have some questions. So firstly, a question to Mr. Gao regarding the 15th Five-Year Plan of the group. I understand that in the 14th Five-Year Plan, the group has a lot of investment in the coal chemicals, and people are also interested to find more about the directions of our investment and the volume guidance for the 15th Five-Year Plan for Coal Chemical as well as whether the dividend payout of China Coal Group would also change with the changes of CapEx. So that's my first question. And the second question is about -- we know that in Anhui province, the electricity price is turning down this year. And actually, judging by the performance last year, the integration advantage is quite significant. revenue stream was quite stable. So after the placement of several power plants, what will be the prospect for like the power generation segment in '26 and '27? That's my second question. Last question is about market cap. As mentioned earlier, the company will continue to do more in the capital market. So the current the ratio is like still lower than 1. So what will be the plan to improve the price-to-book ratio or any other additional plans in the capital market? Shigang Gao: Thank you for the question. So this is about the coal chemicals. It's true that we've been paying close attention to this segment. The chemical business is one of our main businesses. So apparently, we need to be aligned with the national strategy to remain committed and unwavering in this direction. We are paying close attention to a few initiatives. We have some production bases in the Mongolia and the Shanxi province. We're also interested to find more about the opportunities in Shanxi province and Xinjiang for some like early technical investment or some demo project. And second thing would be the coal-based LNG. We are also engaging in some research in North China because for coal chemical business, it has a high requirement for the quality of the coal as well as the maturity of the chemical technology as well as the equipment readiness. So we are also considering these aspects. And thirdly would be coal to oil. As we know, because of this international insurgence, now China we have like 77% of like oil dependency on the foreign countries and also over 40% of gas dependency on foreign countries. So from a strategic point of view, the nation is trying to improve the supply chain activity, in particular, in light of the current international conflict. So we have also made some attempts in the coal-based oil but the profit margin is not as high as coal-based methanol or coal-based olefins. If the technology readiness is not good enough, then it might lead to loss-making. So we are engaged in the R&D in this area. This is also actually our forte. So for China Coal Group, we've been cultivating in these areas for many years. So these will be the main directions. And the other thing, as mentioned earlier in a prior presentation, the coal-based hydrogen and then using the hydrogen to generate grain alcohol, we are making some experiments in order. If the technology becomes more mature, then we might to invest more in this direction. As to how to land this project, that will be dependent on the state's industry policies as well as our technology maturity and also the coal quality and whether it matches with our know-how in the chemical segment. So we would try to seize the right timing, and we are currently engaged in some preliminary research. But please rest reassured that coal and the power and chemical and new energy, these are the main businesses for China Coal Group. And we would steadily step forward in these areas. Thank you. Unknown Executive: Next, please. Unknown Executive: Thank you for your question. I'd like to address the question about the commissioning of the power plant. So the last year, the [indiscernible] power plant, the power capacity is 14.2 billion. And this year, for the Xuzhou and Shanxi, with these new power plants, our electricity -- the generated electricity would increase by 13 billion. So I think that means the profit margin for the power business would be better. And also the power business is also correlated with the coal cost. 75% of the cost is actually the coal. And because of our 2 joint operation programs, we're able to leverage this advantage. So our power plants is very resilient against the risk. And thirdly, for our power plants, I think we have over 1 million capacity and over 660,000 capacity. So these are very ideal for the spot market transactions. So I think the profit prospect of the Power segment is something that we could look forward to. Thank you. Now move to Shanghai Energy. Let me briefly address the questions. So for Shanghai Energy, we've been driving these initiatives there are still some gap from our targets. So in 2026, we aim to address the following initiative. Firstly, to improve our operational ability, which is like the value of a listed company. So that means we would stabilize our production capacity to improve the quality, to optimize the product mix and also the production efficiency and in work to boost our operation. And secondly, from a perspective of development, we would also accelerate the cadence mostly in 3 directions. Firstly, for the coal industry, in principle, we would want to stabilize the coal output. So capacity will be controlled within the number 709. And regarding the quality, we would also try to speed up like the contribution ratio from external projects, including the Xinjiang project. We need to speed up the construction of the Xinjiang project and also improving the quality of coal output. And also, we also wanted to speed up the construction of our facility in Gansu province and Shanxi province. And at appropriate timing, we would announce more details to the capital market. In the meantime, for our power business at the headquarter level, we would also engage in some major expansions. As you probably have noticed, we had like this MA project. And we would have even more MA projects for new energy as well as some of our self-developed projects. And all of these will be carried out. At the same time, our ESS project is also in the validation stage. And maybe very soon, we're able to disclose more details. And also regarding the construction of the new power system like the distribution network as well as the micro grid, we are working on these agenda. At the same time, we have also a new direction that is low carbon and green initiatives, including making use of geothermal energy as well as the recycling of the coal ashes or coal powder. So all of these are on the right track. So we aim to leverage this development to drive the market value. And thirdly, we would also strengthen the communication with the capital market so that our investors would understand and appreciate the value of Shanghai Energy. At the same time, we are also actively introducing more shareholders and to improve the branding as well as driving the market cap. Thank you. Unknown Executive: Thank you, Mr. Zhang. Next, please. The lady in the middle. Unknown Analyst: I am from [indiscernible]. I have 2 questions. First, about dividend payout because we have noticed that in the recent years, China Coal has been improving your dividend payout. And you had some special dividend payout after the annual result after -- for 2023 and 2024 and also last year when the coal price was low, but you still improved your dividend payout ratio from 30% to 35%. And these measures were well received by the market. And many of the long funds they have been paying attention to the changes we have been making. But in this year's annual payout, you have used the payout ratio of 35%. You're not improving it further. And we used the Hong Kong performance at a relatively lower base to do the payout ratio. So that means for the A shares market, the payout ratio is about 28%. And this for the long insurance-based funds, this is a bit stressful for us because we expect higher returns. So my question for the management team is what's your plan for the future dividend payout? And we also noticed how the finance ministry has adjusted up the payment ratio for SOEs and for those in coal sector, it's at 35%. So does that affect your payout ratio? That's my first question. For question number two, we have noticed you have many of the good quality assets. In May 2028, so your commitment about the noncompete with [indiscernible] will expire and the PBE in Asia market is at 1.5x and in Hong Kong Stock Exchange, it's 1x. So that means you're no longer under the pressure to do further asset injection and the external environment is good for you. So do you have any plans to inject the good quality assets into the listed companies? Unknown Executive: Okay. The dividend payout question will be taken by Mr. Li. Unknown Executive: We were listed in the H-share market in 2006, and we made the commitment to have a cash dividend payout ratio of 20% to 30%. And it is part of our company charter. And from that IPO year, although we made the range of 20% to 30%, but it has never gone below 30%. And when we make the dividend payout policy, we want to strike the balance between our development, operation stability. We want to maintain our high-quality development. And we have been asking for the inputs from investors from our shareholders, from the management teams and from the Board. That's how we made the dividend payout policy. And for your question, I have several points to make. So people might say that we have a lot of the cash reserves and with so much cash on hand, why don't we pay out more. RMB 90 billion of those money market funds, we put such of the finance management under the holdings company. So out of the RMB 90 billion, about RMB 40 billion belongs to the group level. So that -- not all of those cash reserves can be tapped into. And also, we have got the special reserve funds for safety and environmental compliance. So it's not the idle funds resting our balance sheet. And if you deduct all that amount, we have only about RMB 40 billion at our disposal. And considering our revenue size of at least RMB 150 billion, this is a good enough ratio here. and we want to further improve our operational efficiency to give better returns to our shareholders. I want to explain more about how we are using those cash reserves. It's not being idly held. And of course, about investor returns, at the end of the day, it all comes back to the high-quality growth. It's not just about the cash payout. You can calculate our payout ratio in the 14th 5-year plan versus the market average. We are always on top. In 2020, we paid out RMB 1.7 billion. And in 2024, it was RMB 6.3 billion, and we also offered some special dividends. Last year was also about RMB 5 billion. And through further improving efficiency and improving our growth, we are expanding the base for dividend payout. And no matter how violent the market could be, we still have a stabilized growth, and that's a better guarantee for your returns. And about whether we can further expand the payout ratio. Well, in the 15th 5-year plan, you have been asking about the M&A possibilities and asset injection possibilities. These are part of our plan, and they all need funds. They need liquidity. For a good enough asset, we need to at least have RMB 10 billion or even RMB 20 billion to be part of the bidding process if we want to acquire it. And for all the transformations and the development we need for the 15th 5-year plan, we also need the ammunition. So we have to factor in all those different variables and also getting the input from investors and shareholders. And we will definitely listen to the input from you and then we welcome all advices from you to formulate the payout ratio policy. About your second question, we have got a lot of attention from our existing assets and the injection of other assets. Yes, the group has some other coal and electricity-based assets. And you're wondering what would happen to them. This is something we have been studying at the group level. We do not rule out the possibility to securitize those assets or injecting them into the listed subsidiaries. But as to how does that happen through what channel and when we are conducting the researches here. We do not have a finite solution here. If we have come to a conclusion, we would definitely disclose it to the capital market. And about the noncompete commitment being expired, thank you for noticing that, and we have been discussing this issue. And we are studying all these issues. And again, if there are some concrete conclusions, we would disclose them in a timely manner. Unknown Executive: Okay. Let's continue. Unknown Analyst: I'm from Minsheng Securities. I have 3 questions. First question for China Coal Energy. Last year, the coal price was trending down, and you have made different efforts to cut costs. That is why you had good enough performance. And based on your 2025 financial report, you have lower levels of the specialized reserve. And in 2026, we have a lot of uncertainties in the external market and the geopolitical landscape. So can you give us some outlook about the unit coal cost? How would that trend? And second question is for [indiscernible]. In Q1, the power plant in Shanxi and Xuzhou has been put into operation. Another one will be put into operation in the second half. And in 2027, 2028, what are the new growth drivers? Or would you prioritize paying the liabilities, paying for liabilities or increasing the payout ratio? And the third question, Xinjiang [indiscernible] subsidiary was loss-making. It's tied to the Xinjiang 106 coal mine. And in 2026 with the coal mine will go live. It's also based in Xinjiang. And once it goes online, what's your expectation for the profit level? Unknown Executive: About unit production cost of coal. So we have used more of the specialized funds last year. And in the 15th 5-year plan, we had good cost control. It was very effective. It's not about how much we tapped into the specialized fund, but our mines are modernized and highly efficient and production technologies and designs are very advanced. That matters. So no matter how strict or severe the circumstances are, we could have stable operation, and that's the most important foundation for the good operation. For the specialized funds, it mostly went to the inspection and safety. And we do not get to decide how to spend it. There are some strict state-level rules about how to spend it. So we have a very detailed rule about spending it. It's all going according to rule. So we do not get to decide to use it more or less based on the market trends. There is rules about this usage. And last year was -- last year for 14th 5-year plan, so we decided to invest more into safety and inspection so that we would have smooth operation for the 15th 5-year plan. Every year, there are different focuses for such investments. That is why it seems that we used more of the specialized funds. As for the smaller balance, starting from last year, we took some big measures. One part of the cost would be about the finances. We have unified. We have got a transparent procurement for all the raw materials and eliminating 90% of the middlemen. So we're connecting directly to the vendors, and we can have better management of the vendors. Last year, procurement cost was reduced by more than 7%, and we continue -- we will continue that trend this year. And we have done the online procurement for such procurement so that we can keep tabs on procurement. So that's what we have done from the source. And we have standardized cost control. And over the years, we have established a good SOP there. And Mr. Gao is being hands-on in monitoring this system, making sure that each step of the process, we can scientifically squeeze the costs. And this is still an ongoing process. We believe we can effectively control the costs here. But I want to emphasize, it's not about how much more you can squeeze the costs here because margin is also tied to the selling prices. The unit coal shipping fees could be tied with the sales. And we -- there could be different pricing for different varieties of the coals, and we could shift the manufacturing capacity for different varieties. And last year, we increased about RMB 800 million in profit through shifting the capacity for different varieties of coal. So it's not just about cutting costs, this one dimension. We have multiple levers to pull. Unknown Executive: Question about Xinjiang. Thank you for the question. In Q1, our Shanxi and Xuzhou power plant went live. This year, we increased the power generation by 30 billion kilowatt hour in Q1, up by 2 billion units. So that ensures our future profitability. Your question about our investments during the 15th 5-year plan. Mr. Gao in his report has mentioned our Xinji 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 strategy and the 2 hedging system. We have -- we're aiming to build the industry cluster in East China, and we will have 2 transformational sites. And we also have the coal power chemical renewable. We have got installed capacity for thermal plants, and we want to make a thermal power plant base. And for the coal-based chemical, it's also an important component. And for our coal production capacity, we are tying it with the chemical production and renewable production so that we can be better hedged against the future risks. And in the 15 5-year plan, we are adding another some incremental capacity. And in the 7 bases we have, we are conducting new businesses there. Question about Shanghai Energy. [indiscernible] company sustained loss last year. It had 1.8 million tonnes of capacity. And in 2025 because of the complex geological structure, it affected our production capacity. And also the 1.6 mine, there was an incident with a higher carbon monoxide level. And to prioritize safety, we had this thorough inspection and governance. And these 2 factors led to only 960,000 tonnes of 47% reduction versus our goal and also coal price was reduced a lot. In 2025, it was RMB 195 per ton, 30% down year-over-year. That is why mine 106 sustained losses in 2025. As for the WISCO mine, it is in the same region with Mine 106, but it has some features. It has bigger capacity, 3 million tonnes of capacity. And also during the construction of WISCO, we added the washing -- coal washing plant -- but for Mine 106, there is no washing and selection. But in WISCO, we have added the washing step, so it's more differentiated. So it's possible that we could use it for chemical coal. We could change our sales strategy. And we are also planning for a cost control here to better ensure cost reduction after it went online to achieve good efficiency. Unknown Executive: In the interest of time, let's have one last question. Unknown Analyst: I am from [indiscernible] Securities. I am [indiscernible]. Two questions for the management team. In the past decade, we saw how the 3 listed companies have got very advanced footprint. You're present in Shanxi, Xinjiang and in other regions in China. You're more advanced than your peers. And -- in the presentation, you said in the 15th 5-year plan, you have presence for coal power chemical renewable. But after 2030 when peak carbon emission has been reached, do you have any changes to coal power chemical renewable business? Are you adding new things? Or are you putting a stop to any of these sectors, any of these businesses? Question number two, Xinji is aiming to build 100 billion energy cluster. How do you make that happen? Shigang Gao: So you're already asking questions about the 16th 5-year plan. It's beyond 2030. So you're asking a very sharp question, tricky for us to answer. But based on what I have learned, this is from Mr. Gao and based on my knowledge about the group strategy, let me give you a response. About coal power, chemical renewable strategy, we have the 2 integration and 2 hedging system. So during my prepared remarks, I have mentioned the 2 integration coal plus thermal power so that we can be better protected against the changing prices of coal. If the coal price goes up, electricity could be sustaining losses. If the coal price goes down, it could be loss-making for coal. But if we tie the 2 together, we produce the coal and we use it ourselves so that there's less price fluctuations affecting our performance. And making sure that our margin would be steadily trending up, less fluctuations here. Second integration is thermal power being tied to renewable. Why do we do this? It's about the carbon emission restrictions here. We are onboarding many of the renewable projects. They are part of the green energy. It can offset some of the CO2 emissions from our thermal power generation. So this can address the carbon emission restrictions for us. That is why we set the 2 integration strategies, 2 integrations leading to the 2 hedges. As for -- in 2030, how will we develop the coal power, chemical renewable strategy, we have another strategy about efficiency gains from existing assets for our existing businesses. You already know that. But for our future growth, you have the thermal power and renewable. These are the focuses. Where is our leverage here? For the coal business, we want to use less human labor. We want it to be even unmanned. We want higher unmanned intelligent solutions so that we can have more efficiency gains. As for thermal power generation, many other power companies have high coal consumptions for the new power generation units, they could be reducing coal consumption by 10%. By consuming less coal, it means less carbon emission. And we also have other steps like desulfurization and that can also further be even more environmentally compliant. And as for the chemical, we are combining biomass with chemicals. We make hydrogen with green energy, and then we add hydrogen into our chemical devices. You're all experts here. And in the chemical process, hydrogen is used a lot. But the hydrogen we have now is gray hydrogen made out of coal. But now -- but in the future, if we have the green energy-based hydrogen and we add it into the chemical process, it can help reduce our carbon emissions, too. And through -- this is our rationale and our strategy. For carbon peak emission and carbon neutrality, this is the trajectory that we are on. We're not just grounded. We also have high ambitions. In the renewable sector, we are also making some explorations. For example, the gas, natural gas and also biomass-based protein and the green ammonia and green hydrogen. We're following those technologies, but they are not part of our main business just yet, but we're considering those new advancements. Unknown Executive: Thank you, Mr. Gao. The question about Xinji. Thank you for your question. About our 100 billion cluster in the 15th 5-year plan, we're headquartered in Huainan. And the Huainan mine should be -- we're trying to make it amend. And for the Fuyang green mine, we are trying to combine coal with renewables, and there was a new policy targeting it last year. And about the [indiscernible] industry, cycling industry for the Weixin power plant, where it is based, we are combining it with another coal energy. We're providing the local government with cheap energy and also heat generation. And fourth, around the Xuzhou factory, there is a zero carbon industrial park and we can combine it with heat generation and renewable. And for our Luan power plant, after putting it into operation in H1 this year, we could expand its possibilities based on what's available to us locally. And for the Tengchong base, it is around a development -- economic development zone. We could provide that region with thermal power. And it's the same story for [indiscernible] because renewable energy is taking some share from thermal power in the future, we want to work better with the government so that we can gain more inroads through such introductions. Unknown Executive: Well, let's wrap up the Q&A session. Dear friends and investors, the management team from the -- from our group has answered your questions. But in the interest of time, I know if you have some unresolved questions, you can keep in touch with us. You can reach out to us. We're happy to address your questions. Again, thank you for your questions. Thank you for following our development and participating in our earnings briefing. Thank you.
Operator: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Quadrise Interim Results Investor Presentation. [Operator Instructions] Before we begin, we'd like to submit the following poll. I'm sure the company will be most grateful for your participation. I'd now like to hand over to the team from Quadrise. Peter, good afternoon. Peter Borup: Thank you very much, and thank you very much for joining us for the interim reporting for Quadrise. As always, we start with a disclaimer. I will leave that to you and jump straight into the presentation. So the strategic challenges of Quadrise are clear and well known. So our focus is entirely on getting the MSC Cargill trial up and running. We have also since we last time met been having a meeting with OCP face-to-face that suggests we might be running a second trial with them leading into a commercial offtake agreement. But perhaps even more importantly, we have been upping and accelerating our efforts to build support from refineries. So we have feedstock supply available, or at least plausible for when we need to scale up after these trials. I have mentioned at previous occasions, latest at the AGM that we are looking at whether we can identify other shipping clients who would be willing to do commercial trials perhaps in other segments. And this is an ongoing effort where we've been speaking with a good number of people that we believe are willing to be upfront users or first movers rather than the traditional shipping approach where you are first adapters rather. And I think we know pretty much who this is. So we've had meaningful discussions. We are talking to the right departments and all these companies, but it's something that takes a little bit of time, but it's an effort that is ongoing. We're also aware that while our focus is entirely on the trial and on the scaling up the refinery efforts, we really need to look at the future as well. I think we have a great platform on the bioMSAR platform, but it's also one where much of the bio feedstock will vary. There's simply not enough feedstock in any one product to meet the IMO requirements should they ever be adopted. So as you will know, we have a stable product with the glycerine. We have been trying out the cash no oils, and we are trying out other feedstocks that are perhaps a little bit further away, but it's really important that we can speed up our, say, product or research to market time. And one of the ways of doing that is being -- modernizing our data infrastructure. It's actually quite good, but leading into building digital twins. We're already part of an EU project in that respect, but it's something that will help us fine-tune before we do the actual machine test, fine-tune exactly how do we make the feedstock, and prepare it for that test. And we can do that then in cyber instead of doing that on a machine. So hopefully speed up the whole process. We've been trying to sharpen our focus. Of course, we've conducted a lot of projects over the years. We're painfully aware that some of these are projects that are research-minded, so there can be longer periods of hibernation where nothing really happens and then they take off again. And that's just part of running a portfolio of different projects. But we also have more specific projects that you've heard about before and we're going to talk about today. And we just have to be very mindful that they continue to make commercial value to keep them alive. So that's an ongoing process. We have a clear focus on shipping clients. We have to make a choice. But it also means that in terms of power plants and industrial clients, they have to be really promising for us to invest time in it. Some of these other projects are far, far away geographically at least, but we are trying to focus on them by also using external clients to speed up the process to market. We'll come back to that on the individual projects. We are, of course, affected, and we are watching what is happening on the regulatory front. Fuel EU is moving along according to plan. We are very mindful that a number of countries are looking at the fuel EU rules and regulations to seek inspiration, and they are likely to be adopted there if IMO doesn't go ahead. Timing is uncertain. Localization is also a little bit uncertain. And clearly, as a former shipowner myself, there's nothing that shipowners fear more than having a number of different regulatory regimes, having the level playing field and having one set of rules has enormous value. What we're hearing from the IMO is that the talks are ongoing. The Americans have offered their view on how it to proceed, not very positive last Friday. Others have also offered their views. We're mindful that Liberia and Panama both suggested solutions that are close perhaps to the Greek position, which is lower fines, a broader base, more LNG involvement in the range of fuels that can be used. The feeling right now, certainly from my side, my personal view is that this is likely to take longer than just a 1-year suspension that the IMO decided last year in October in London. From the market point of view, we actually feel that the -- what happens at IMO might not impact Quadrise's technology that much. The main thing is that there are fuel EU rules, they're driving change. What we are mindful of is that there are a lot of other things on the agenda, also shipowners and most businesses the pace of technological change, not just in AI, but in many other technologies where exponential changes in these technologies is really changing the business landscape and no business can afford to ignore it or not be well briefed on it. Same thing we have on a broad term geopolitical transition that we have not seen at all at this level before in terms of a [indiscernible] role of international law, change in alliances, certainly uncertainty about many of the traditional alliances that we've been working with in the past, but also trading blocks changing quite rapidly. And that means that any company operating in this environment needs to look at their operational expenses before they look at anything else. So my clear impression from the last 6 months where we've been seeing a lot of shipowners and a lot of related businesses is that there's a strong focus on the green transition, but everybody understands that they need to make sure that their businesses are strong, so they are going to be around for the green transition. So the focus will be on cost to a very large extent. And that also matters for, of course, for the choice of technology that we can offer. We are still selling both MSAR and bioMSAR, but there's no doubt that the ability to deliver MSAR at below the cost of conventional fuels is a major for. And that's even before talking about the current conflict in the Middle East. What we are seeing is that many of the players we are dealing with are no longer competing on price or freight rates or even the availability of ships. It's about availability of bunker fuels, which is not a given, and that is impacting the value chain. Clearly, where sometimes we've been finding that we are dealing with much bigger players than ourselves, and that holds its own challenges because they have many, many concerns to take into account. In a case like this, dealing with primarily large players have some benefit because they will be first in line to get the bunker fuels. And I'm not saying it's easy for them either, but it's something that gives us some consolidation as we are trying to get trials in place with MSC and Cargill in the first place. We are -- if we look at the projects, first and foremost for us is the trials that have been planned for such a long time with MSC and Cargill -- we've had quite frequent meetings and discussions with both of them over the last 3 months. I think they're positive. They're down to a few items now. What also happens when things take time and, people are checking carefully the agreements they entering into is that certain things come up again. Most recently, we've been looking into whether VAT issues in the EU for the Antwerp trial would affect or would come into play with a tripartite agreement. It seems not to be the case. So that's been sorted out. We're now discussing or looking at the terms and conditions, which are standard for a big buyer of fuels. And my feeling is that we are getting very close now. We've had meetings again, face-to-face. We are experiencing that MSC is committed to the 2 trials that have been agreed, so one for MSAR and one for bioMSAR. But we're also experiencing that they are very helpful when we are talking to refineries, and others and pushing and endorsing not only the trial, but building a scale up in terms of feedstock supply afterwards. So I think that's quite positive. Some of the issues, some of the things that have to happen now, we have filed for a branch in Belgium, enabling us to start the production in Antwerp, and that might be a little bit early as we haven't signed yet, but we just want to make sure that doesn't hold it up. There'll be some certifications that have to be renewed, but it's -- the whole process has been simplified. But again, we want to do that already now, so we don't have to wait for that. So I think while I can't tell you that it's all been signed and dusted, we're ready to go. My feeling is that we're getting quite close. And our focus has shifted -- not shifted, but has now also been on how do we make sure that we can scale up after an expected successful trial. So no longer than 3, 4 weeks ago, Jason and I and Linda as well were in Singapore exactly to look for potential supplies from refineries, but also from buyer suppliers to make sure we're ready for that and had very positive meetings. Cannot really reveal who we've been talking to. But hopefully, we can talk more about that later in the year. With that, I will hand over to you, Jason, on OCP. Jason Miles: Thanks, Peter. Yes. So in terms of OCP, again, Peter and myself earlier this year, went out to Casablanca and met with the main people there. Quite surprising meeting because they were extremely positive in terms of the cost leadership program, which MSAR fits in with. So the current status is that the updated trial agreement is well underway. So basically, we're now sort of detailing exactly which site we're going to be at. The likelihood is it's not going to be the same kiln as we had before, which is slightly constrained with this OEM issue, which we documented before. But the key thing is, I guess, the time behind the amendment to the agreement, we make sure that there's an operational board, obviously involving Peter and the head of OCP there to make sure that it's got management buy-in and make sure we try and avoid the delays that we've seen so far. The trial itself, the actual duration depends a little bit on the scale of the kiln that we're operating on. So if it's a smaller kiln, it will be 30 days. If it's a bigger kiln, it's likely to be less. So really, the plan is to basically carry out that trial. And that's a longer-term trial is needed. We did -- the previous trial was done over a period of a week or so. OCP want at least a longer-term trial of a couple of weeks minimum to actually get the full operating data that they say is needed before they commit to commercial supply. So that's what we're doing. And in the meantime, our equipment remains on site and any costs that are being incurred, we're getting reimbursed for by OCP still, and that process has been working very well. In terms of the next project in the U.S. with Valkor for basically heavy sweet oil, which is essentially a low sulfur bitumen -- ultra-low sulfur bitumen product. We received obviously the first payment. We revised terms that people remember of the agreement last year. We basically received the first installment this year -- sorry, last year as well. We basically invoiced the second installment, which is due at the end of this month. So we're expecting payment of that 300,000. And then there's another 650,000 due at the end of the year. The samples that have been long overdue as well, they've been -- essentially the Valkor have been going through a change -- slight changes in their exact processing. So they've been holding back the samples until they know exactly which technology route they're going for, but that's now been finalized. So they're doing pilot runs at the moment to generate the samples that we expect to get fairly soon, so we can do the testing in the second quarter of the year. Their pilot plant that is due to go in, be operational in Q3 has been delayed slightly because of the site that they selected was not fit for purpose. So they had to move site to a new location. So that delayed some of the civil works that was planned to be up and running by now. But that's moving ahead. So they expect to be the installation to happen during Q3, and the plant to be up and running in Q4. In the meantime, we're preparing -- we prepared our unit. It's nearly complete now for shipment, and that will be done during the second quarter of the year to the U.S. with expected deployment then in what's obviously just part of the installation program in Q3. So really, the plan is then to carry out a paid for trial for -- to produce actual trial volumes of fuel for local consumers and it also initiates a marketing program that we've had in plan for some time with Valkor as well now that is actually live. But yes, Valkor they're fully funded. Obviously, they've got a position now in TomCo as well in the U.K. In terms of Panama, again, as you remember, we carried out a trial in July, which went very well. Essentially, we've got a letter of intent from Sparkle, basically stipulating what their demand will be. We know that there's other demand from other -- both plants, both within Panama and Central America region, specifically around Honduras. The fuel permitting process, we've got basically MSAR and bioMSAR have been basically approved as alternative fuels. So these are fuels that can be utilized when -- as they're trying to phase out potentially fuel or diesel. So that's been approved. The process for an import permit has also been detailed now. But obviously, we now need a live case where we can actually bring in the fuel with a partner. So we're discussing that with regional refineries and other logistics companies in the region with regards to commercial supply to Panama. And in the meantime, we've had some new arrivals to the team, including Matt Hyde from -- who's coming from BP, who's really helping with the sort of getting a deeper understanding of refinery economics there as well in that region. In terms of the bioMSAR program, which is ongoing, we've been doing a lot of testing with additional biofuel feedstocks, including doing things in the lab, but also doing testing at third-party facilities in Germany, where these engine facilities are used by quite a lot of parties. So it's a good endorsement for the fuel. We're also kicked off -- we also kicked off a collaboration with the University of Bath not just in terms of fuel research, but Peter mentioned before, some of the AI digitization as well. That's something that Bath can utilize in the future. And obviously, it's potentially a good talent pool for us going forward in terms of their engineering and the technical people as well. And in the meantime, as Peter mentioned before, there's a world beyond glycerin for the biofuel, which really comes from biomass-derived material, which is abundant, but obviously, there's different technologies to extract it. So we're working with the main technology providers there, but all of which has its own features and challenges, but we're working through to actually get some of their products to market faster than they would normally expect through some of their other technology platforms, which is why they're working with us. And then as part of the development program as well, we have an EU-funded project, which we're part of us amongst sort of 18 other companies ranging from universities through to people in the marine space as well and actually owners of vessels as well. So that's been going very well, and it's actually -- it's been quite active this year in putting together this digital twin, which again, Peter mentioned at the beginning, which is looking at 4 different types of existing vessels and 4 different types of new build vessels to see what's the optimum technology platform to decarbonize shipping, and it's looking at a range of different technologies of which MSAR is one of those on the biofuel space. So it's a good platform for us to market our technology. And then sustainable ships is something that we launched again with them today -- sorry, this year rather, with Linda and Alfie especially have been very active in getting that up and running, doing an online seminar. And that's brought through some quite good introductions already as part of that program. But it's a good way of comparing how MSAR competes with other -- MSAR and bioMSAR competes with other fuels. The next slide really just gives you a pipeline of the different fuel types that we're using and explains really what the bioMSAR is a mixing technology. It's a platform technology, which enables us to bring in a range of different biofuels into the finished product on the right, which needs to go through the appropriate engine testing, but ultimately can then be rolled out to the shipping fleet and really answer some of the questions around the abundance of biofuels. That's what we're really looking to nail and provide quite a unique difference in what we're offering because we can blend oil and water together. Some of these products like the sugars that we mentioned, some of the pyrolysis sugars and other means of other sort of components on here actually be water soluble as opposed to being easily blendable with oil. So we have the ability to blend both. And I'll hand over to David. David Scott: Thanks, Jason. So our results for the period are largely in line with the same period last year. Our loss has gone up a little. We've got some additional project and development costs in there this year. The main thing that is of interest based on the questions is our cash balance. So at the end of the period, at the end of December, we had $4 million in the bank. Now in addition to that, as Jason alluded to earlier, we're expecting another sum through from Valkor overall to take us through up to the USD 1 million that we're getting on the license fee, and that's expected in over the course of this calendar year. Now where that's going to take us to, we're going to have to see where we get to with our -- hitting our milestones and our projects for the period. So it's too early as yet to say how far that's going to take us to. We're based on our cash spend rate, which is historically about $3 million per year. We've brought in some new additions to the team. So that cash spend has gone up, but maybe only 10%, 15%. So that GBP 4 million is still way more than 1 year's worth of cash spend plus the Valkor money. So we're in a pretty healthy position cash-wise. The loss for the period -- loss per share for the period is in line with the prior period. And our tax losses of GBP 68 million will be there when we come to generate profits. And that's everything for me for the moment. Thanks. Peter Borup: Thank you. So there have been a few updates to the team. You will have noticed our RNS on Lauri stepping down from the Board and Michael Covington joining us. Michael brings in many years' experience in investment banking and private equity leadership also in energy. And just as importantly, he brings in a lot of energy, and drive and a willingness to contribute and participate on the board and in the daily work. So we're looking forward to that. We have also brought in Matthew Hyde, who has more than 30 years in refinery economics, most recently from BP. And that's a reflection of our decision to accelerate how well do we actually understand refinery economics because it's not something we can just do after a successful trial. Once we are having a production trial, we need to make sure we can scale up afterwards. so we can supply the material and the fuels to our clients. Right now, we're down to about probably a gross list of 25 refineries that has a good match to the kind of residues we are looking for. And then Matthew will need to analyze that further to find out which are the ones that will benefit the most from using the MSAR technology and the bioMTAR. So that's ongoing work, but also really important. And I feel we already -- we have already learned a lot compared to when he started. In summing up, -- we -- I feel we are making small steps forward in almost everything we are focusing on. And I'm really looking forward to being able to announce hopefully, the MSC agreement being done and then being able to move on to the next steps. And I'm also very mindful that it looms large to have the agreement signed now or the agreements signed, the next steps are going to call on something else from [Indiscernible] and we have to get into project management phase. We need to mobilize. We need to set up. We need to make sure that the crew on the ship or ships in question are ready for the trials, so we get the most out of them. And then we need to make sure that we scale up properly, that we have agreements in place with refineries -- and while we're starting in Anterp, it's quite clear that some of the next places we have to go, of course, shipping up like Singapore, it might actually be the Persian Gulf again at some point, but also the Mediterranean and the Americas. So that's what we are focusing on and trying to run a tight ship, of course, also on the resource side, still investing in our future, investing in the data platform and accessible data lakes. So that's where we're at. We have had a number of questions come in, I think 45. I'm going to hand over to David to take us through as moderator of the questions that have come in and the questions that you can still post on the platform. So with that, David. David Scott: So thanks to everyone who's submitted questions in on the INC platform. We're going to deal with the pre-submitted questions first, and we've grouped them into segments. So we're going to be going through each segment. After that, we will come in with the live questions that are coming in as we speak. And any questions that we don't want to address today will be dealt with on the INC platform in due course, likely early next week. So I'm going to start now with some of the strategy questions for Peter. And the first question is, what efforts are Quadrise applying to the market of new built dual fuel ships fitted with scrubbers? And how big is this opportunity? Peter Borup: Our focus right now is on talking to owners who have a willingness to move first. So owners who control their own ships. So one thing is owning it, but another one is actually controlling the daily operations. And of course, we're looking for ships that has the highest possible consumption per day of fuel because that's where we can really test them and where we really want to sell. So that is our priority. Secondarily, we are probably looking more for vessels with electronic fuel injection main engines because that works better with our technology. And that's even before looking at scrubbers or no scrubbers. But -- so I think we have a fairly good take of the segmentation there, both from the experience I have and Tony Foster and Linda Sorensen has in the shipping industry, but obviously, also because we have fairly good access to data from various databases on where the ships are with high consumption, and the fuel injection or electronic fuel injection, but also with scrubbers. So we can break that down, and we -- that's how we approach the marketing, if you will. Unknown Executive: Probably worth adding that the dual-fuel ships tend to prioritize LNG, right? There's a reason normally that people have built a dual-fuel ship that's to take advantage of LNG. So it wouldn't be our obvious first choice necessarily. But having said that, there are a number of dual-fuel vessels that are using fuel oil still if they can't get LNG. So -- but it's not the first choice, I would say. David Scott: Okay. So the next few questions are with regards to bringing in additional shipping companies. Do you expect to sign up an additional shipping company once the trilateral agreement is signed between MSC, Cargill and Quadrise? Can you update on how the search has progressed for additional shipping companies? And can you put a time scale on that? Peter Borup: So I -- we are hoping to add another trial. We are talking to tramp owners. We are talking to other types of owners. The time scale is a little bit hard to predict because right now, with all of them, I actually feel we have good access. So in some, we've started with the bunker departments. And then we referred to the technical departments. In others, we've been in with the technical departments first and then talk to the bunker traders or their ESG departments. We had a number of very good meetings in Singapore when we were there, too. So we are sort of spreading it out. We have been talking to family-owned companies, and to listed companies. But again, what we're looking for are people who have proven that they're willing to look at green transition fuels, who have invested in that because it comes often at a cost for them. If we can find owners who have vessels in place for Antwerp, that's another benefit. Predicting when something will be signed is way too early. All I can say is we're having fruitful and meaningful discussions. And some of the ones we've talked to will probably want to wait simply because they don't have ships in place or because the segments that they're operating in are under some pressure at the moment. So I don't want to put a time line on. All I can say is that I feel we are talking to all the right people, and I'm hopeful that we'll get another trial. David Scott: And are you seeing the interest being primarily BioMSAR or MSAR or both? Peter Borup: I would say both, right, at this stage. For some of the bigger players, I'm pretty convinced that the real interest will be for MSAR, but that's yet to be proven, right? But I just know what kind of cost pressure most of these owners are going to be on right now, and the uncertainty that they're operating in. And this is something that shipowners have done for centuries, right, dealing with uncertainty and volatility. So they know how to do that. But it always starts with making sure you have your cost under control. And MSAR is a great product for exactly that. David Scott: Okay. Up to Antwerp, what is the next plan to install MSAR or bioMSAR production? Can you confirm if this will be terminal blending or at refinery or both? Peter Borup: Yes, that's a great question. That obviously depends on our clients. But if you're looking at a very large line of network, or if you're looking at the temporary one, the obvious next place would be Singapore. That's where -- that's the biggest bunkering port in the world. It's a board that has done a lot to improve the transparency of their fuel markets, generally speaking. So they've had issues in the past with cappuccino bunker and all sorts of other substandard fuels, and they've dealt with it using transparency and different mechanisms. We had a fantastic number of meetings, both with governments and fuel providers in Singapore when we were there. I think a lot of what's going on is really, really exciting. But for a sheer size as a bunkering port, that's an obvious place for us to be. For the next places, we've looked at also refineries and suppliers in a number of different places, including in the Persian Gulf, but with what's going on right now, that's not -- doesn't seem to be a viable third place to set up, but we are mindful of the advantages once it becomes accessible again. But East and West Med, the Americas are obvious places. The trial that Jason spoke about with Sparkle is not just about a power plant, but it's also a strategic location for supplying fuel to shipping, right, at the natural bottleneck. So we are looking at these places, trying to identify what are the suppliers available on location that we could collaborate with. David Scott: You said in your interview this week about MSAR offers price competitiveness. So that's where our focus has to be. Is the intention to roll out MSAR commercially once the proof-of-concept data analysis is done and the proof of concept is signed off and successful by MSC? Peter Borup: We will roll it out as soon as we have a client willing to commit to it. Right now, a lot of the clients are willing to do this, their path to adoption will be much easier as a successful trial. So that's why the trial is so important. If somebody is willing to use it now, we have some experience with using the technology in the past in power plants. Now we have to prove it for shipping, but theoretically, there should be very few real issues. There's something about the mobility, et cetera. But if somebody was willing to take -- sign a takeoff agreement now, we would be willing to go ahead with that. But the trial is important for a lot of the owners we are talking to. So we do that first, and then we hope to be able to sign agreements or maybe trial supply agreements with shipowners as the trial shows some results. David Scott: And lastly, on this section, just one on sustainable ships. How is the Quadrise Fuels price model working as a sales tool? Peter Borup: I think it gets people interested. It also works as a sort of a uniform way of calculating because one of the things that we don't always talk about when we talk about biofuels or alternative fuels is that there are so many assumptions that goes in. So at what load do you run the engine, at what speed, what is the weather conditions like, at what end of the range? I mean, many of the -- certainly, many of the articles being written tends to overemphasize the high end of the range of any given product. So I think the sustainable ships platform offers a standardization of that, so we can compare better the different fuels. So I think it has helped us in getting people in the door, but it's also something we use on a daily basis when we are presenting to shipowners, or to people who are interested in the product in general to show what it would work like for a different ship type or a given conditions, or at a given time, right? Because let's not forget that fuel EU changes over time. So requirements will change in 30 and 32, I believe. And the same thing with the proposed IMO framework. So it's helpful for that reason alone. David Scott: Yes. So I'm going to go on to the technology section now, and these are primarily directed at you, Jason. So the first one is just on refinery setup. Is it true that new and updated refineries are having crackers fitted to extract more value from the input crude and that this will reduce the amount of residue available? Does this, therefore, mean that bunker and storage companies producing MSAR or bioMSAR are the path to success for Quadrise rather than refinery bio MSAR production? Jason Miles: Yes. I think in terms of existing refineries, I think those refineries actually installing, I guess, upgrading equipment in the minority. There's not many companies actually investing in downstream assets anymore. So -- but new -- certainly the case for new refineries. If you're building a new refinery, that tends to be a full conversion refinery and you don't produce any fuel oil at all. I think if you look at -- and people are doing this on the basis of a long-term plan that might be 5 or 10 years out, right, with the expectation that fuel oil or especially high sulfur fuel oil is in a decline. But in reality, it seems to be quite a popular product and it's still on the rise in terms of how it's being utilized. And there's still a very large market for heavy fuel oil. Based on our assessment, Peter mentioned before, we've got -- we've done an assessment of all the refineries available and there's at least 25 on our short list, which are really good candidates. And indeed, some of those actually have put cracking capacity in, but they still have a resid stream, which they have to blend the fuel oil, right? So not everybody is going not just because you put a cracker in doesn't mean that you have no fuel oil at all. Some still produce quite sizable amounts of fuel oil. So that's really where we see the refinery is key. I'd say that's the source of the lowest cost feedstock. But having said that, in the middle of that, refineries don't have a lot of tanks and not always involved in the bunker business. And that's where the storage companies and the bunker traders, et cetera, are also important to us as well. So I wouldn't rule them out as partners in the future because they are key to unlocking the logistics of getting it from the refinery to the end user of the shipowner. David Scott: What is the plan for supplying residual streams of bioMSAR at MAC2 to replace the HFO component and further reduce bioMSAR cost base? Also, do you plan to deliver biogenics to refineries to produce bioMSAR at the refineries, and minimize the cost base? Jason Miles: Yes. I think in terms of the, I guess, the residual streams, we're certainly looking at using the more viscous forms of fuel oil or a fuel or derivative. So the heavier the resid, obviously, the lower the cost. But it doesn't mean we can start using refinery resids at that particular facility because of the viscosity of it is just too high and the temperature that you need to handle it in makes it quite complicated from a logistics point of view. But we're certainly looking at the most viscous forms of fuel oil you can buy out there as one of the components. Yes. And in terms of other biogenic components, we're certainly looking potentially to supply those to refineries in the future where we can put a system in the refinery. Certainly, that would be an opportunity to supply them with a biofuel in the future to make the bioMSAR product as it becomes of interest. But the primary driver probably in the refinery is most likely to be the MSAR products initially. But every refinery likes to know that there's a biogenic pathway going forward as well, and we've got a range of different options and a pretty low-cost solution as well compared to some of the other things we're looking at. David Scott: Thanks. My next question is just on MSAR and bioMSAR production. Can MSAR be produced at refineries and then shipped to a bunkering location for further processing in the bioMSAR. So the question is, can we make bioMSAR out of MSAR? Jason Miles: The reality is it's a bit more problematic because MSAR has 30% water and bioMSAR has 10% water. So there's a limitation to how much bioMSAR we can turn into -- sorry, MSAR, we can turn into bioMSAR. So in reality, it's much better to produce the individual fuels. That's not to say it couldn't be blended in the future, but there are some physical limitations in terms of what you can do because ideally, what you'd want to do is replace the water with a biogenic component in the water phase. David Scott: Makes sense. Post BioMSAR, when could we expect other Biogenics to enter the bioMSAR offering at the commercial level? Jason Miles: I mean that's something we're testing at the moment. So there are -- Peter mentioned before, some available products, which are commercially sold today, but have the limitations in the case of methyl ester residues and cash in nutshell liquids and some of the other products out there that we could -- we're looking to introduce at an early stage. That requires some engine testing that we're still doing to confirm that. And obviously, then we need to present those engine test results to Wartsila and others and get a candidate vessel to actually utilize the fuel as well. So it's work in progress, but we're making very good progress in that regard in terms of offering another pathway for these products. David Scott: Okay. Just one here now on ISCC certification. Is ISCC certification a prerequisite to getting the trial agreement signed? Or does the fuel actively have to need to be produced, and the on-site setup audited in order to secure the ISCC certification? Jason Miles: Yes. So the ICC certification process, we're working on together with Cargill. We made some very good progress in that regard. And the new regulations that covers the EU, especially has simplified the process. So in terms of the application process, we're in good shape. The final part of that jigsaw is to actually get the -- an audit done once the plant is up and running -- basically once the plant is installed at MAC2 and being commissioned, that audit can take place, and that's the final rubber stamping. And to answer the first question that you had, I mean, the IC certification process is not holding up anything in that regard in terms of signing the agreements. That's purely the commercial and legal discussion being finalized between MSC and Cargill. David Scott: Yes. Okay. Thanks. There's a couple here on the financials. So I'll just deal with those ones. What is the other income of $12,000 in the interim accounts? So that $12,000 is grant income. So we received grant income for the SEASTARS project. Overall, it's about $50,000. So we've actually got that cash. And what we do is we release that in the P&L as the work against that program is completed. So as of December, we've released $12,000 against the P&L. And then a couple of questions just on where we're at with cash. I did cover that on the presentation, but just to reiterate, -- we've got 4 million at the year-end, which is still more than 1 year's worth of fixed costs despite the increases to the team and the headcount. On top of that, we're expecting USD 950,000 worth of some in from Valkor throughout the course of this year. So we need to work out where we're going to be over the next 6 months by reaching our milestones as to how long that's going to take us to. Then there's one in here as well. Shareholders have been advised that the last fund raise was sufficient to take the company through to commercialization. Given the cash holding and spend rate plus delays to revenue-generating contracts, does that guidance of sufficient cash to commercialization still hold true? And how appropriate was that guidance? So when that guidance was given, that was during -- after the last fundraise and during the last IMC, which is about 6 months ago. And that's where our projections were at that time. Obviously, things have been delayed a bit. So it's not a clear cut, but it's still too early to say. We need to see which milestones we hit over the next 6 months. The next section is on MSC, and I'm going to direct this to you, Peter. Can you provide -- can you provide detail on the delay associated with signing the MSC trial agreement and why trilateral agreement is now mentioned in the interim results RNS? Also specifically, what do you mean when you state in the RNS post-trial commercial considerations? What considerations constitute MSC putting in to paper? Peter Borup: Yes. So we have been talking about bilateral agreements, four lateral agreements and at some point, even bilateral agreements. And some of this is driven by attempts to make this work, right? So there was a concern about being subject to EU VAT in Antwerp. And that led us to look at if we could inject a bargain company in the agreement as well and hence, avoid it. It turns out not to be necessary. So we're back to a tripartite. It's not a fundamental change of the agreement at all. It's now we're back to the original tripartite, but still with a discussion over some of the terms and conditions that Cargill is going through as we speak. So that, I think, was the first question. On the second question, it was about the MSAR, was it? Of course, commercial considerations. Yes, that's really refers to the scale-up in the commercial contract, right? So my expectation is that, that will be for MSAR. My expectation is also that we need to have refineries ready, and we're hoping for MSC to use some of the leverage in helping us get in. But we're not leaving it at that. We are doing our homework. As I mentioned, we've hired Matt to help us do that homework, but we're also using 2 different consultancies who have different kinds of access and different perspective on this, and we can call on them when we need to get a little bit closer to any one of these refineries to make sure we can clinch such a supply. David Scott: Yes. Okay. Peter recently stated that the remaining parts of the draft agreements are now predictable, and we can expect signature soon. Was Peter referring to both tripartite and bilaterals, or just the tri-part idea? And have MSC and Cargill shared their view with the team that they will also expect the remaining parts to be predictable and signed off soon? Peter Borup: The outstanding contracts, a couple of bilateral ones and there's a tripartite as it looks right now, are all related. So it's the same issues that needs to be sorted out in order for us to finalize these. David Scott: So you would expect them all to be signed together? Peter Borup: I would expect it to be one signing, yes. I'm certainly hoping it will be, but I see no reasons why it shouldn't be. My conclusion that these are small is based on 30 years of doing shipping contracts and the issues that are remaining, I believe, is of a pragmatic nature rather than a principal nature. But with large companies, you want to make sure and you will involve your legal departments. So -- and that's where we're at, right? So what we can do now, I'm not going to give you a time frame because that's born to be something I regret. But what I can say is that we try to keep the pace up on this and try to make it a little bit simpler to get it expedited and push your own legal departments rather than us just waiting for it or answering us. So I think these are smaller -- I think these are -- of course, they're not small issues, but they are pragmatic issues, and we should be able to sort them out. But I'm also mindful that if you're running a fleet of 750 ships and you certainly can't get oil out of the Persian Gulf, that's probably going to be your prime area of focus right now, right? So we are competing with that. That's for sure, right? But that's one of the few things I can see should hold it up further. David Scott: Okay. Is the plan for MSAR rollout post MSAR proof-of-concept completion? Can you provide some detail on the plan once the MSAR proof of concept is confirmed as complete? Peter Borup: Well, it is that we need to be able to provide the manufacturing units in the locations where it's required. And it's going to be a gradual rollout. We're not going to open up all over the world all at once, but we will prioritize the big bunkering hubs, spoke a little bit to it earlier. So Singapore is an obvious choice. It's a very, very significant bunkering port. Maybe build out in Northern Europe, certainly in the Mediterranean at some point in the PG because on the Persian Gulf. Right now, that's off the table, obviously, and then the Americas. But that will also depend on the clients and what their preferences are, and they are also likely to perhaps change a little bit as the world changes around us. So we're flexible on that. As you know, we have collaborators who can help us scale up also on the production of these manufacturing units. Fundamentally, it comes down also to the partners we have both on the refining side and also in some places on the bio feedstock side. David Scott: Can you confirm if MSC has informed Quadrise that they'd be willing to use MSAR commercially under the interim law? And if so, how many vessels would that involve assumed agreements were reached? Peter Borup: We have not gotten into the detail like that, no. David Scott: Okay. Do MSC still regard MSAR as the main Quadrise fuel choice in the immediate future with bioMSAR use dependent on economic considerations going forward? Peter Borup: Yes, I think that's a very good question. It's probably one that MSC should answer, right? So my expectation is that there will be a strong focus on whichever one offers better saving over conventional fuel, and that would be MSAR. So I would expect that to be the case. David Scott: Okay. What is the status of MSAR supply to MSC, which we have been told is running independently of MAC2 facility with preferential supply in the Mediterranean? Peter Borup: We are assessing all the locations where we can provide this. But ultimately, it's up to -- it's also up to MSC and collaboration with us and other suppliers to determine where we can deliver the fuels. David Scott: Can you clarify the status of the interim loan oil for MSAR, and whether MSC have explicitly confirmed they would proceed to commercial use without a full loan oil following a successful proof of concept? If so, how have insurance implications been addressed to ensure this does not become a barrier to uptake? Peter Borup: Maybe, Jason, you could take the loan oil part. Jason Miles: I'll take the question if you want. I mean in terms of the interim loan oil was issued to Maersk from -- by Wartsila. So that's the status of the original interim loan, obviously, of which MSC is very much aware, right? So from their perspective, something is in place that covers that. And in terms of the, I guess, the trial itself, obviously, the test vessel is insured in terms of the product liability risk of using MSAR or bioMSAR that's fully insured as part of the development process. As part of doing the trial, obviously, you generate a lot of data and initial -- sorry, further approvals then in terms of the products that we're supplying, all of which helps to alleviate some of the initial risk that you get from insurers and others in terms of obstacles to actually move ahead. So our -- we're in very good contact with our broker and the underwriter on Lloyd's who covers this risk at the moment for us. And obviously, as data is approved upon as the tests progress, then that we should reduce the premiums in terms of using the fuel on various vessels. And we don't see that as a constraint going forward because it's being done with other fuels as well. David Scott: Yes. Okay. Have MSC indicated a desire to get our fuels used in their engines? Jason Miles: They have in the past. And obviously, Peter has been involved with discussions with M&A quite recently in Denmark in terms of what the approval process will look like. So that's something that we are progressing. So yes, I think -- but yes, for sure, M&A or Evolent is now called now are an important OEM that we need to bring up to speed as we get the data from the testing that we progress. moving to Morocco. David Scott: So we're going to move on to the OCP questions now. Can you remind us why the Morocco trial is actually needed given that there was already a successful trial in November 2023. Also, is the fuel to be used the same fuel that was shipped in December 2022? Jason Miles: Yes. So the additional test is needed because the first test that we did was designed essentially a proof-of-concept test by OCP. So that worked very well at Kariba. We basically tested both MSAR and bioMSAR. -- going in that over a short period of time. So the requirement from OCP was that that's gone well, very happy, but we need to have a longer-term test of up to 30 days depending on the kiln to get the data. So that's what we're planning for next is to complete that subsequent trial, anything between sort of 15 to 30 days is the plan at the moment. And we'll be utilizing -- we won't have to make fuel and bring it to Morocco. So all the fuels from the previous test, sorry, was utilized successfully without any problem. So it's not like we've got fuel sitting around there for that period of time, although that will probably still be stable if I'm honest. But yes, so we've been making new fuel in Morocco and using that for the test going forward. David Scott: Okay. For OCP, are you looking to set up Mediterranean fuel supplies previously? Or would the fuel now be made in Antwerp and shipped to Morocco? Jason Miles: Yes, probably have answered that one in terms of we'll be making it in Morocco as opposed to making it outside of the country at the moment. David Scott: I think this has probably gotten our post trial considerations. Jason Miles: Yes, yes, I guess this is with the OCP trial. But yes, in terms of post trial, definitely, that would be -- we'd be looking for most likely a refinery in the Mediterranean region in Africa. David Scott: Okay. And then one for you, Peter, on OCP. Haven't recently met OCP, what is your take on the general attitude to an interest using MSAR? Peter Borup: Also, I mean, we went to Casablanca for the meeting. I was quite positively surprised by their interest in using it. Also an approach that I think makes a lot of sense in involving the different business units to make sure they are motivated and they're measured on it. It's a reasonably small trial, obviously. But we have the equipment on location, if you will. And I think it makes a lot of sense for us to stick around and conduct the trial, and just make sure that the project management around it is something that we can all learn from and that it leads into a commercial takeoff agreement afterwards. David Scott: Okay. A couple of questions now on Valkor for you, Jason. Can you detail the plan on producing MSAR or bioMSAR at the Balcor facility? And how this gets to bunkering locations if MSC are prepared to trial the fuel? Jason Miles: Yes. So I guess the initial plan of Valkor is to produce an MSAR product because that's the simplest thing to do. We're using their heavy sweet oil, which is a very low sulfur asphalt type material to make a low-cost alternative to low sulfur fuel oil diesel potentially. So that's the initial plan is to produce an MSAR product. Obviously, the key thing about that is that as part of their production process, if they're able to demonstrate that the carbon intensity of the product is lower than low sulfur fuel or diesel as well, that's quite important because that gives you carbon credits we can utilize. But the initial market is to really focus on the sort of industrial and power type applications, first of all. The volumes aren't there yet or we don't expect the volumes to be there initially anyway to supply the marine sector other than maybe for the occasional trial volume. But in the past, we've discussed this with MSC at a high level. And in principle, they're obviously interested in testing it if it meets the specifications that we need to for marine fuels, especially around sort of levels of aluminum, silica, et cetera, which oil sands is important to reduce. But yes, so if it is supplied to the marine sector, we've looked into that. There are -- there's rail supply that's very reasonably low cost to get it from Utah, either to the West Coast or down to the U.S. Gulf Coast as well, which is the main markets for bunker fuel. But that's some way off at the moment. So initially, we want to stimulate a local demand, get up and running with that. And then obviously, as they expand, then we can start looking at the marine sector. David Scott: Okay. My next question is just on the status of the samples that we're expecting from Valkor, sort of why have they been delayed? And what's the current expectation? Jason Miles: Yes. I mean we've had some, I guess, some interim samples in the past, right, which have not necessarily been representative of their commercial products. So we were quite specific with them. We didn't want to waste time -- we're testing that if it wasn't essentially a good representation of what they'll be supplying. And in the meantime, they've also been changing some of the technology in terms of what they're installing, both in the oil sands plant and obviously, the downhole drilling program as well to overcome some of the issues they had initially. So that's now been settled. The pilot plant, as I mentioned in the presentation, is now up and running and producing a sample, hopefully, several [panamas] of samples that they're sending across to us. Imminently for testing, and then we obviously think can analyze that and provide a market spec for it as well that we can go out and start selling to end users. So that's all ongoing, but it has been delayed for sure, but not really down to us. David Scott: Okay. So that takes us on to spot. There's a couple of questions here. The first one is just on the Panama power market. Are you aware of the Panama 0 126 power tender where thermoelectric plants running on bunker or diesel that with long-term government contracts must convert to cleaner fuels within 36 months. Is this a target for BioMSAR, BioMSAR Zero with any of our Panama clients? Jason Miles: I mean the answer is yes. We're very much aware of that particular tender. Sparkle made us aware of it. And that's one of the reasons why it was important to get the approval of the Panamanian authorities for both MSAR and bioMSAR to be considered as alternative fuels basically to fuel oil and diesel, which they are. I think initially, the pathway will be still to go the MSAR route, first of all, to reduce the cost of generation there and be competitive, obviously, to LNG, which is the other source other than obviously renewable sources. But ultimately, bioMSAR is certainly seen as a viable means going forward as well compared to LNG and LPG, which are the main alternatives to them. David Scott: Okay. I don't think -- this is probably the last question because I don't think we've got time for many more after this. We were advised that the Panama fuel permits were expected to be received by the end of 2025. What has held them up? Are you working with the government on getting our fuels cleared to be used as cleaner fuels as per the Panama Zero 126 tender? Is this part of the permitting plan now? Jason Miles: Yes. I probably semi answered this in the last answer. But yes, I mean, in terms of the actual approval of the alternative fuels, certainly MSAR and bioMSAR are now considered by the authorities as such. In terms of getting the import permits, we actually need to have now the supply logistics nailed down in terms of which refinery, which terminal we're going to bring in, which partner potentially in Panama might we wish to use. And then we can apply either ourselves or through that particular partner for the import permit, which we've been given the procedure that we need to follow, all of which seems to be fairly straightforward, and meeting the guidelines that we're well used to in Europe and other places. So we're using internationally established guidelines to then get the fuel approved and imported. So we don't see any real holdups now in terms of other than bring the fuel in and make sure there's a commercial contract in place between buyer and seller. David Scott: Okay. Operator: That's great, David. Thank you very much indeed for moderating through the Q&A. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your engagement this afternoon. I know investor feedback is particularly important to you. And Peter, I'll shortly redirect those on the call to give you their thoughts and expectations. But before doing so, I wonder if I may just ask you for a couple of closing comments. Peter Borup: Yes. Thank you so much for listening in. Thank you for your support. Thank you for the many very good questions. I know there are a couple of questions that have come in on the platform live during our presentation. We will address them, as David mentioned earlier, on the platform latest by next week. So once again, thank you very much for listening in. Operator: That's great. Thank you very much indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now redirect you for feedback. On behalf of the management team of Quadrise, we'd like to thank you for attending today's
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am [ Gaily ], your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Bally's Intralot conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the Bally's Intralot trading update. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Robeson Reeves, CEO of Bally's Intralot. Mr. Reeves, you may now proceed. Robeson Reeves: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. As a standard reminder, this call may contain forward-looking statements. Please refer to our 17th March full year results announcement for the full disclaimer detailing FY 2025 [Technical Difficulty]. Operator: Mr. Reeves, if I apologize, this is the operator. Can you hear me. Mr. Reeves, I apologize. This is the operator. Can you hear me? Robeson Reeves: Yes. Operator: I'm sorry. Your line is very bad. I cannot hear -- we cannot you very well. Robeson Reeves: Okay. I'll try again. Apologies. Operator: No problem. Robeson Reeves: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining. As a standard reminder, this call may contain forward-looking statements. Please refer to our 17th March full year results announcement for the full disclaimer and detailed FY 2025 financials. Today, I want to do 3 things. First, briefly recap the key numbers we published on the 17th of March '26, so we're all working from the same base. Second, reaffirm our 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance, and I want to be clear that reaffirmation is exactly what it is. And third, give you the Q1 2026 trading data, which I'm providing because it directly supports the confidence behind that reaffirmation. Let me get straight into it. On the 17th of March, we published our full year 2025 results. I'm treating that filing as read and want to reconfirm the headline numbers disclosed previously remain unchanged. A few points worth reiterating. The 39.7% adjusted EBITDA margin reflects the structural quality of this business. A U.K. operator running at that margin has a different risk profile to any operator running at 20% to 25%. That matters particularly now as we enter the period of U.K. gaming duty change. EUR 172.7 million of levered free cash flow gives us clear capacity to service debt, return capital and pursue M&A simultaneously if the right opportunity arises. The EUR 50 million of capital returns represents less than 30% of annual free cash flow. And we continue with our plan on deleveraging the balance sheet towards our 2.5x target. That is the base. Now let me tell you where we stand on '26. Our 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance of approximately EUR 422 million is reaffirmed. From today, the 1st of April, U.K. remote gaming duty moves from 21% to 40% of gross gaming revenue. We have been preparing for this since Q4 last year. So we have a mitigation bridge. If I go to the start point, that's approximately EUR 431 million. That's our 2025 pro forma adjusted EBITDA. So we get this gross tax impact of EUR 95 million, the direct cost of the duty increase on our U.K. gross gaming revenue. With our first mitigation, that's our generosity reductions and marketing optimization, we add EUR 25 million. That's already in motion, phased in Q1 and in the run rate now. Our second mitigation are the cost savings, headcount and operating expenditure adding EUR 10 million. That's been actioned in Q1. Mitigation 3, that's the transaction synergies, adding EUR 15 million, which tracks to be in line with the commitment we made at the time of acquisition. The final mitigation is just our organic growth across all markets, including our Lottery division with 0 U.K. gaming duty exposure, adding EUR 34 million. The net result of that is approximately EUR 422 million. That's a 2% impact on the 2025 pro forma. That is what I told you this cost would be, and that's where we remain. On leverage, we're at 3.46x. We are entering this tax change with approximately EUR 173 million of levered free cash flow. The mitigations are operational levers within our control. And as the Q1 data I'm about to give you will confirm, we are entering this change with stronger underlying trading momentum than at any recent point in our history. On margin, our B2C adjusted EBITDA margin was approximately 40% in Q4 2025. Most comparable operators are running below 25%. When Gaming Duty nearly doubles on gross gaming revenue, not profit, a 20% to 25% margin compresses to near 0. A 40% margin does not. That asymmetry is why our guidance is reaffirmed with confidence. Now on to trading. The reason I'm giving you Q1 data today is straightforward. Q1 trading is strong, and I want you to have that as context when evaluating our guidance reaffirmation. This is not a separate story. It is the evidence base. Please note that these numbers are unaudited and could change slightly as we close our Q1 accounts. So now I want to touch on sequential quarter-to-quarter performance. So Q4 to Q1. Q4 is always the biggest quarter, our biggest quarter. It's always that every time. October, November, December has the autumn sporting calendar, the Christmas build, peak promotional intensity across the entire market. So in Q4 '25, U.K. net gaming revenue was GBP 148.8 million. Q1 '26 was approximately GBP 147.9 million. That's essentially flat quarter-on-quarter against Q4, right? Q4 is always the biggest. So flat is exceptional performance. So that is the first thing to hold. Q1 2026, when we look at that for the quarter in full, U.K. B2C NGR for the quarter, as I said, GBP 147.9 million, up approximately 10.5% year-on-year. Every single month of Q1 delivered year-on-year growth. B2B performed in line with our expectations across the quarter. The B2B division is a core part of the business, and it's stable with a strong contracted revenue base, which provides additional resilience to the group during this tax transition period. Touching on some other customer metrics in Q1. Active players were flat quarter-on-quarter, so against a really strong Q4 base. This reflects sustained momentum in both acquisition and retention as well as efficient welcome offers. First-time depositors were up 10.8% quarter-on-quarter and 59.4% year-over-year. The customer pipeline is expanding into the tax change, not contracting. B2B is stable. It's operating within our expected parameters, and there's no material surprises. Noncore international markets are also stable. There are modest FX translation headwinds in certain markets and some market-specific dynamics we flagged at the FY '25 results. That picture has not materially changed. The group margin is carried by UK iGaming and our Lottery division. Both of those are performing. Noncore stability means they are not a drag. That's the message. This is the trading base on which we reaffirm our EUR 422 million of adjusted EBITDA guidance for 2026. Now on to capital allocation. So I'll start with buybacks. Approximately EUR 20 million has been executed since the EGM authorization. I believe our shares represent outstanding value. I intend to continue utilizing related TRS products of international banks that do not immediately impact our cash on balance sheet and give flexibility to execute buybacks when we determine that timing is right. On to dividends. The Board is recommending approximately EUR 30 million to the Annual General Meeting, leaving EUR 173 million of levered free cash flow, EUR 50 million returned, well within our capacity while deleveraging. On leverage, net leverage at year-end was 3.46x pro forma. The medium target remains at 2.5x, and we have a clear line of sight. On M&A, the tax environment is creating very motivated sellers, and we have the platform, the margin headroom and the management team to act on the right opportunities. So we are active. My closing remarks, I'll just give you a nice summary. FY 2025 published on the 17th of March, pro forma revenue of EUR 1.0858 billion, adjusted EBITDA EUR 430.8 million, margin of 39.7%, leverage 3.46x and free cash flow, EUR 172.7 million. 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance of approximately EUR 422 million is reaffirmed and our mitigation program is in execution with all 4 levers active. Q1 U.K. B2C NGR of approximately GBP 147.9 million, flat on the seasonal peak of Q4, up approximately 10.5% year-on-year. Active players flat Q-on-Q, but up 8.7% year-on-year. First-time depositors up 10.8% quarter-on-quarter and 59.4% up year-on-year. The customer pipeline is expanding into the tax change. B2B is performing in line with expectations and noncore international markets are stable. EUR 20 million of buybacks have been executed and a EUR 30 million dividend recommended. Deleveraging is on track to 2.5x. I said this before that the strong don't only survive, but they do get stronger, and I believe that we are getting stronger. We'll now take your questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Chinchilla Ricardo with Deutsche Bank. Luis Chinchilla: I wanted to start on the M&A front. As you mentioned that there is opportunities and that the press has recently mentioned that you are active. While respecting the company's confidentiality regarding specific targets, I would appreciate an assessment of the company's M&A appetite. This assessment could encompass suitable target profiles. Are you looking at B2C operators, technology stacks and a specific company within a market? And also, can you please also provide us with an evaluation of the maximum leverage that the company can sustain or that you will be willing to elevate just to move fast in an environment and consume something strategic for the business? Chrysostomos Sfatos: Robeson, shall I take this one? Robeson Reeves: Go for it, Chrys. Go for it. Chrysostomos Sfatos: Yes. Thank you for your question. We have said many times that we are on the lookout for any opportunity that will contribute towards either organic or inorganic growth. We're clearly on a growth path from this point on. So inorganic growth would cover -- our appetite for M&A is there. But on condition that we will be able to fulfill our financial policy goals as stated, which includes, first and foremost, our path to delever and the distribution to shareholders. So both goals, I think, on distributions, we've already covered enough on this call and through our announcement. On the path to delever, it remains our goal. We have disclosed what is the pro forma free cash flow generation. And with that, as you probably know, we have an amortization schedule with regard to our bank loans in our capital structure. And so we intend to make significant repayments and reduce the gross debt in the next 2, 3 years. So we are committed to deleverage. We will do whatever M&A is necessary by adding EBITDA by considering anything that's meaningful in terms of very, very substantial synergies that we feel comfortable we can deliver or cost reductions on the target. And at the moment, this is our message to the market. Luis Chinchilla: Got it. If I may do a follow-up. The company recently opened that casino in Newcastle and you had mentioned in the past that they wanted to expand into sports betting. Can you provide your thoughts on additional casino footprint in the U.K. And if you rather acquire a sports business or build it yourself from the ground up? Robeson Reeves: I'll take this one. For us, the retail casino in Newcastle is much more of an R&D piece. It's very, very small part of the actual footprint. There's no intention to expand into retail within Bally's Intralot. The retail presence we'll have will remain in the lotteries. With respect to Sports Betting product, we currently have an agreement with Kambi, who provides really a back-end sports betting solution. We're very happy with them. If we were to look at any opportunities out there, as we said, the U.K. market has become more attractive more because of the trauma, which has been created by this tax change. We would only consider things if we could see substantial cost-cutting opportunities as well as synergies. I would not underestimate how strong our margin profile is versus peers in this space. As long as we can bring things into our platform, and I mean our platform, how we manage things, how we operate things that gives us this margin improvement over others, then it can become very attractive. But we'll be very diligent and ensure that we protect our capital structure in whatever we do. Luis Chinchilla: If I could squeeze one last one. In the past, the company mentioned articulated growth opportunities contingent upon the integration of the [ Merck ] technology stacks. I was hoping if you could give us an update on these potential opportunities that at the time you mentioned that you would disclose once the merger was completed and you get permission. So any update would be very helpful? Robeson Reeves: So as we discussed previously, Ricardo, our intention is to launch into 2 B2C markets per year, utilizing the Intralot footprint and their relationships. These things are progressing. We will disclose those closer to the time. If we end up looking at other opportunities inorganically, that may change that plan if it accelerates expansion, but we're still on track for 2 new B2C markets being launched this year. Operator: The next question is from the line of Narula Raman with Principal Asset Management. Raman Narula: Just a couple from me, please. The first, just curious if you can disclose what percentage of your full year '25 U.K. revenue was Sports Betting and maybe the same for Q1 as well? And just if you could give a sense of how that's been growing, that would be appreciated. Robeson Reeves: Cool. Katherine, do you want to take this? Katherine Gomaniouk: Sure, Robeson. Thank you. Sports Betting still constitutes a fairly small percentage of our revenue, but we have seen healthy growth in that space as is demonstrated by the growth in our FTD numbers, which were in part driven by some sports events that happened in Q1. So we continue using sports as a funnel to acquire gaming customers, and that strategy seems to have been working as would have been demonstrated in our Q1 numbers. Chrysostomos Sfatos: And just to layer on top of that -- so thank you, Katherine. Just to layer on top of that, when we look at Sports Betting and iGaming, what you would have seen from many of our peers' recent releases around Q1 performance that there was a decline in Sports Betting and there was an increase in iGaming. Now if you've got the balance right between your product sets, so people might win on sports and they reinvest into iGaming and so on, then you would -- the net position would always be better, whereas actually, a lot of the peers are showing down by 5% or so in Sports Betting and up in iGaming by 5%. So they're not even really seeing any growth. What we've been very careful to do with our Sports Betting offering is ensure that it fits with all of the regulations which sit in the U.K. market, such as stake limits on slot machines. So you need to balance exactly the scale of bets that you would take alongside people's ability to reinvest. Sports betting just, call it, [ GBP 1 million ] or so per month is what we're seeing in the U.K. So small, but that's where a huge opportunity lies. Raman Narula: Understood. That's very helpful. And I guess as a segue into the next question, obviously, this year, huge sports calendar along with the World Cup. Just curious, maybe in a similarly stacked sports year like '24 with the Euros, I mean, what kind of effect did you see on your sort of core iGaming business during those months, those summer months when you had those big football tournaments ongoing? Robeson Reeves: We didn't see any -- if you're asking, is there any negative impact by having -- you have to understand, you've got the euros, you got the World Cup. How many of those matches are competitive and how many fixtures do they have in terms of volume. They are good acquisition drivers, but they're not necessarily big revenue drivers, right? You're going to have fixtures between Curacao and other matches, which are heavily one-sided. When it comes to soccer, you prefer fixtures, which are a bit more balanced or you have sufficient volume. The World Cup actually is, call it, a low period or the Euros is a low period in fixture volumes for actual revenues, but it does bring new customers to the market. So for us, this would aid the funnel for acquisition, and it's almost like a perfect storm in lots of ways because there's not enough matches for people to be betting on to constantly be active. If you think about normal Saturday, there's lots of fixtures for revenue to flow there. But actually, this will get the right prestige and coverage to acquire and then there's no matches, then people can play iGaming products and so on. Raman Narula: Makes sense. And then lastly, I just wanted to touch on dividend policy. Obviously, in the preliminary results, you stated that it's the intention to recommend a pre-dividend sort of along with the publication of H1 results. If you could just give us a sense of like the potential quantum? Is that going to be a percentage of the pro forma adjusted EBITDA? Or is that still a percentage of adjusted net income? Just if you could give -- remind us of your dividend policy, that would be really helpful. Robeson Reeves: Chrys, do you want to take it? Chrysostomos Sfatos: Sure. At this point, we cannot give you an estimate about the pre-dividend. I think the combination of buybacks and the dividend that we will distribute the EUR 30 million, which is what we already have available for previously undistributed profits in the past, which we could not distribute at the time due to losses that we're now covering. That's the only specific thing that we would like to share at the moment. We don't want to preempt what the results are going to be. We will evaluate the entire situation, our cash flows at the time, and we will make the decision once the results are available. Raman Narula: Understood. And could you just clarify the medium-term target of 2.5x. Do you expect to sort of be there around mid of '27? Or what are you targeting? Chrysostomos Sfatos: That will be in line with our amortization schedules. Yes. By the time we get basically to 2029 when we have the retail bond maturing, the EUR 130 million retail bond, the unsecured portion of our debt maturing in February 2029, we intend to repay that. And we intend to repay through amortizations, as I said, and eventually on maturity at the end of 2029, the Greek bank loan. Well, these 2 tranches together is EUR 330 million of gross debt, which we intend to reduce in the coming period. Of course, it will all depend on the cash generation, on our CapEx requirements and all of this. So in this period, we think that it's achievable if we manage to deliver our growth targets. What we said is that basically the imposition of a new tax regime in the U.K. will have, as a result, the delay of our plan by 1 year because we will be able to capture market share from a market which we believe is going to change fundamentally in the next year. Operator: The next question is from the line of [indiscernible] with Credit Suisse. Unknown Analyst: As part of the bond offering last year, the company included the helpful KPIs. You mentioned the impressive growth, 8.7% increase year-over-year in the first quarter. Is that going to be included in the annual report that -- in upcoming presentations? Chrysostomos Sfatos: I think you're referring to the U.K. market or to the combined growth. Unknown Analyst: Yes. Maybe the active online players, revenue per active players, that type of disclosure was helpful and it was including the bond offering, and you mentioned it again today. I guess it was more of a request to include it as part of your presentations. Robeson Reeves: Yes. I think going forward, we'll share the most relevant KPIs, which can indicate the future pathway as best as we can guide. But that's why we showed new player volumes. New player volumes will build on your base and actually drive future revenues. So we're trying to be as -- we believe that transparency is always a good thing. So we'll be as transparent as is sensible without giving away too much competitor information, let's say. So we -- yes, we'll try and be as transparent as possible in every quarter going forward. Unknown Analyst: And what is driving the impressive growth in the first quarter? Robeson Reeves: Well, with respect to the revenues, as we said, we've made some slight adjustments to our products, so some of the configurations with regards to ensuring that players basically lose at a very sustainable rate. So our objective has actually been to manage player spend almost down slightly on a visit frequency, which means that people retain better longer term. But we've seen really good numbers coming from, call it, marketing performance from acquisition spend. As I've said to all of you, the day following the tax announcement in the U.K., we saw improved performance from the same marketing spend amounts because there was reduced competition. For me, that's a pretty amazing sign that the statement of tax coming caused a reaction. So from this day, we'll see what performance looks like given now this is the first time that people with suppressed margins will have to start footing a bill with the increased gaming taxes. I'm very hopeful that if I think about my history in this sector, when I started working here, there was no tax on revenues, no gaming duty on revenues. Then it went to 15% tax of net gaming revenue, then flipped across on to gross gaming revenue, then became 21% and this is the next tax change. In every single period of this, it's led to consolidation. And actually, through this cycle, our EBITDA margin has grown because we're very, very good at, call it, flying through a storm and operators who don't see there's a storm there, even if it might be a clear blue sky, they just don't see opportunities because you can continuously improve and continuously improve your margins and improve your growth. So I'm quite excited about this next period. This is opportunity. Operator: The next question is from the line of Gondhale Pravin with Barclays. Pravin Gondhale: Firstly, on U.K. sort of growth outlook for 2025 and 2026, what's your assessment on that given the tax changes? And then within that, are you seeing any changes in channelization of online gaming? I realize it's just day 1 of the new taxes, but what's your outlook for that as well? Robeson Reeves: Yes. Okay. So you're talking about the overall U.K. market, right? Just for clarity. Pravin Gondhale: Yes, please. Yes, yes. Robeson Reeves: Yes. So the U.K. market, as I was indicating when I spoke about some of the peers who haven't been able to see reinvestment of winnings from sports betting go back into casino, there will be a degree of channelization coming from that. So people -- because the reason why people can't reinvest is due to limits on what they're able to spend. This can do multiple things. People could move to the black market slightly. But bear in mind, the U.K. Gambling Commission are investing substantially in trying to police this. I don't see the market growing by that much, if growing at all this year because of these changes to stake limits. Having said that, I believe it's a significant period of consolidation. So I'd expect all the big operators to gain share in this. There are many operators out there who are willing to hand over databases for royalty fees and so on. They're willing to exit. And that will just mean that we can soak up that revenue. So I don't see the market really growing. It will be minimal, a couple of, like, call it, low single digit if growth, right? But there will be consolidation into the big guys. Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question is from the line of Katsios Nestoras with Optima Bank. Nestor Katsios: Just a question from my side. Can you please repeat your free cash flow guidance because I missed that part. Chrysostomos Sfatos: We have not given the guidance for 2026. We have published the pro forma free cash flow for the combined entity at EUR 171 million -- EUR 172.7 million for last year. So that was on the background of an EBITDA of EUR 230.8 million -- EUR 430.8 million, sorry. So based on the guidance on EBITDA -- and it will depend a little bit on our CapEx requirements this year. Last year, the CapEx we published was around EUR 60 million. This year, it will be a bit higher because of certain renewals in the United States. And we are still waiting to hear from our bid for the Victoria Monitoring License in Australia. So we can't reveal the sensitivities on our CapEx. So it will depend on that alone. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to management for any closing comments. Thank you. Robeson Reeves: Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today. I'm sorry that we're interrupting your Easter break. I hope you all get a bit of time off. But we wanted to give you the most up-to-date summary of Q1, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon. Feel free to reach out to the company if you've got any further questions. So thank you for joining us. Goodbye. Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a good afternoon.
Operator: Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss Synergy CHC Corporation's financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025. Joining us today are Synergy's CEO, Jack Ross; CFO, Jamie Fickett; and Greg Robles with Investor Relations. Following their remarks, we'll open the call for analyst questions. Before we go further, I'd like to turn the call over to Mr. Robles as he reads the company's safe harbor statement. Greg Robles: Thanks, Liz. Good morning, and thanks for joining our conference call to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2025 financial results. I'd like to remind everyone that this call is available for replay and via a live webcast that will be posted on our Investor Relations website at investors.synergychc.com. The information on this call contains forward-looking statements. These statements are often characterized by terminologies such as believe, hope, may, anticipate, expect, will and other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and the actual results may be materially different from the results implied by forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause results to differ materially from those implied herein include, but are not limited to, those factors disclosed in the company's SEC filings under the caption Risk Factors. The information on this call speaks only as of today's date, and the company disclaims any duty to update the information provided herein. Now I would like to turn the call over to the CEO of Synergy, Jack Ross. Jack? Jack Ross: Thank you, Greg. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss Synergy's performance for the fourth quarter and full year 2025. While 2025 was a year of transition in many areas of our business, it was also a year of meaningful strategic progress that sets an important foundation for sustainable long-term growth. Before discussing our performance, I want to briefly address the 8-K we filed regarding our international license agreement covering the UAE and Turkey. As many of you recall, in mid-'25, we expanded our international license partnership to include UAE and Turkey for a baseline licensing fee with additional royalties tied to product performance. However, the licensee has elected to terminate the agreement, given the increasing instability and uncertainty across the region. As a result, the $2.5 million licensing revenue associated with the agreement had to be reversed in the fourth -- sorry guys. I have technical difficulties here. Just one second. Okay. While unfortunate, this outcome reflects the macro volatility outside of our control rather than any change in our conviction around the potential of FOCUSfactor internationally. We continue to view the UAE and Turkey as an attractive multiyear growth market for both our supplements and functional beverages. The groundwork we laid in 2025 hasn't been lost, the demand remains intact. The brand is strong and our international strategy continues to be focused on scalable, capital-efficient expansion. Before I turn the call over to Jamie, I want to touch on another development that further supports our international growth strategy. During 2025, we established our wholly owned subsidiary in Mexico. And in December, we initiated our first product shipments to Costco, Mexico. On the beverage side of our business, during the first quarter of 2026, we have generated over $600,000 in gross revenue surpassing the entire 2025 revenue, which now equates to $2.5 million run rate for 2026. We have shipped our focus in energy RTDs in shots to new key distribution locations, including EG of America, the parent company of Cumberland Farms convenience stores, Wakefern Foods, Indian Nation wholesale, Mackoul Distributors, Mancini beverages, [indiscernible] and Pine State Beverages to name a few. We have millions of cans of RTDs and shots in stock and ready to ship, and we expect 2026 to be a foundational growth year for our Beverage division. We continue to execute on our supplement side as well, having just shipped 3 new SKUs to all 1,600 Kroger locations. One initiative that we did not achieve in 2025 was turning back on the TV advertising, which is hugely important for our existing store growth. We will be diligently working towards executing this in 2026 to drive same-store growth within our key retailers. If the results that we achieved in the past hold true, we expect to see at least a 15% lift in same-store sales once the TV advertising is up and running. With those updates, I'd like to turn the call over to our Chief Financial Officer, Jamie Fickett. Jamie? Jaime Fickett: Thank you, Jack. I'll now review our financial results. Beginning with the fourth quarter, net revenue was $6.07 million compared to $10.27 million in the year ago quarter, a 41% decrease versus the prior year. The decrease was due to the termination of the license agreement of $2.9 million. Without that reversal, net revenue was $8.97 million, a 12.7% decrease. Gross margin for the fourth quarter was 36.6% compared to 63.3% in the same quarter last year. The decrease in gross margin was primarily driven by the termination of the license agreement of $2.9 million and the write-off of obsolete inventory of $1.04 million. Without those 2 items, gross margin would have been 68.8%, an increase from prior year. Operating expenses for the fourth quarter were $15.53 million compared to $5.14 million in the year ago quarter. The increase in operating expenses was largely due to one-time items of an allowance for bad debt of $6.6 million and the write-off of prepaid media credit of $0.9 million. Without those 2 items, operating expenses would have been $8 million. The majority of the increase was due to professional fees for our corporate development. Loss from operations for the fourth quarter of 2025 was $13.31 million compared to income from operations of $1.35 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. As discussed, this is largely due to onetime items of allowance of bad debt of $6.66 million, termination of the license agreement of $2.9 million, write-off of the obsolete inventory of $1.04 million and the write-off of a prepaid media credit of $0.9 million. Without those one-time items, loss from operations would have been $1.85 million, which is impacted by the increased professional fees for our corporate development. Net loss on the fourth quarter -- net loss for the fourth quarter was $14.82 million or $1.35 per diluted share compared to net income of $105,700 or $0.01 per diluted share income in the fourth quarter of 2024. This is largely due to one-time items of allowance of bad debt of $6.66 million, termination of the license agreement of $2.9 million, write-off of obsolete inventory of $1.04 million and the write-off of prepaid media credits of $0.9 million. Without those one-time items, net loss would have been $3.35 million, which is impacted by the increased professional fees for corporate development. EBITDA loss for the fourth quarter was $13.28 million compared to EBITDA income of $1.68 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the fourth quarter was $4.48 million compared to adjusted EBITDA income of $2.79 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Now turning to our full year results. For the full year of 2025, revenue was $30.38 million compared to $34.83 million in the year ago period. Without reversing the $2.9 million in license revenue, our net revenue would have been $33.28 million in 2025. Gross margin for the full year of 2025 was 66.8% compared to 67.9% in the year ago period. Without the previously discussed inventory write-off, gross margin would have been 70.3%, an increase over prior year. Operating expenses for the year were $28.76 million compared to $17.84 million a year ago. Without the one-time items previously mentioned, operating expenses would have been $21.24 million, which is impacted by the increased professional fees for corporate development. Loss from operations for the year was $8.46 million compared to income from operations of $5.8 million a year ago. The decrease is also due to the one-time items as discussed. Without them, the full year income from operations would have been $3 million, impacted by increased professional fees for corporate development. Net loss for the year was $12.3 million or $1.27 per diluted share compared to net income of $2.1 million or $0.28 per diluted share a year ago. This is also due to the one-time items as discussed, offset by a gain on the settlement of our notes payable of $2.15 million. Without those items, the full year net loss would have been $3.03 million, which again is impacted by the increased professional fees for our corporate development. EBITDA loss was $6.19 million in 2025 compared to EBITDA of $6.46 million a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA and income was $800,000 compared to adjusted EBITDA income of $7.35 million a year ago. Moving to our balance sheet and cash flow. As of December 31, 2025, we had cash and cash equivalents of $2.6 million compared to $687,900 as of December 31, 2024. Inventory was at $3.7 million at the end of the fourth quarter compared to $1.7 million at the end of 2024. At the end of December 31, 2025, we had $33.3 million in total liabilities compared to $33 million in total liabilities December 31, 2024. At December 31, 2025, we had a working capital surplus of $1.78 million as compared to a working capital deficit of $1.12 million as of December 31, 2024. For the 12 months ended December 31, 2025, our cash used in operating activities was $2.6 million compared to cash used in operating activities of $4.8 million at December 31, 2024. The decrease primarily reflects higher noncash charges, including bad debt write-offs and stock-based compensation as well as improved cash collections and accounts receivable, partially offset by the increased inventory investment and the gain on the settlement of debt. Now I will turn the call back to the operator. Operator: [Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from Sean McGowan with ROTH Capital Partners. Sean McGowan: Can you hear me okay? Jack Ross: We can. Sean McGowan: On your comments on the RTD year-to-date being better than all of last year, it kind of implies that the fourth quarter was, I don't know, maybe $200,000 or something and -- so what is still going on there that kept out from being a lot higher in the fourth quarter? Jack Ross: We -- as you know, we just raised the money to actually build the inventory in August and to actually get the inventory built takes time, meaning 8 to 12 weeks to build the inventory. So we just really received the majority of the RTD inventory in-house in December. So that's what affected that. Sean McGowan: Okay. And looking at some of the other lines, was, let's say, compared to the third quarter, was Flat Tummy up? Jack Ross: No. Flat Tummy continues to decline. The weight loss business is being heavily impacted by the GLP1s. It seems that the whole industry has moved to those. So we'll be making a strategic decision on Flat Tummy in the near future. Sean McGowan: Okay. And then on the core supplement group, what's going on there? Jack Ross: The core supplement group, I think, is relatively strong. We continue to add key retailers like Kroger, we mentioned, although the TV advertising is very key to that same-store growth. We have our competitors. We all know who the competitors are pounding the TV airways every single day and night and we need to get that TV turned back on. Sean McGowan: Okay. And what do you think the outlook is going to be with a lot of these one-time things behind you regarding gross margin? Jack Ross: Jamie, you want to talk to that? Jaime Fickett: Sure. We anticipate gross margin to maintain its current level or increase. Again, it was impacted largely by those one-time items. But other than that, our gross margin remains stable. Sean McGowan: Do you mean -- when you say at the current level, you mean excluding those one-time items? Jaime Fickett: Yes. Sorry, like as I read in the script. We look at it normalized. Sean McGowan: Okay. And has there been any other changes to your approach to kind of go-to-market strategy on the RTD as you look to roll that out? Jack Ross: No. I think again, it's a sales cycle, Sean, right? So these things are all driven by planograms. So you really get twice a year where you can really call gain meaningful distribution and we'll call it the major chains. Certainly, you can add smaller chains in the meantime. But we continue with the sales cycle. We do expect -- this is big news. We do expect to have some Costco roadshows coming up in different regions, and we expect to have a BJ's road show coming up. So it should be some meaningful growth there on the beverage side. Operator: [Operator Instructions] And our next question will come from Edward Woo with Ascendiant Capital. Edward Woo: Congratulations on the growth in Mexico. You guys recently formed a subsidiary in Mexico. Are there other international markets that you plan on creating a subsidiary to ship directly in those markets? Jack Ross: Edward, good speaking with you today. No, we don't have any other any other plans on open and international markets directly at this time, although Mexico is a massive opportunity for us to build out the retail network there. So having that subsidiary there allows us to do that. But as you can see, we've started a lot of initiatives last year and for Synergy 2026 is about executing against those initiatives. If those TVs turn back on, get the same-store sales growing, get the opportunities in Mexico that we've already identified up and running and continue to grow our beverage business, that's the focus for 2026. Operator: At this time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Ross for closing remarks. Jack Ross: Thank you, everyone, after joining the earnings call today. We look forward to speaking to you shortly as we report our first quarter 2026 results. Thank you. Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
Artur Wiza: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to welcome you very cordially to the conference dedicated to the results of the Asseco Group for 2025 today. At today's conference, we will summarize our operations for the previous year, for last year, and we'll also convey information pertaining to the backlog for the upcoming year, for the current year. During the first portion of the conference, we will have the presentation. The latter portion we will invite you for a Q&A session. We have the CEO, Mr. Adam Goral, and we also have Rzonca-Bajorek, who is the CFO of the group; as well as Marek Panek, who is the Vice President of the group. I'll go ahead and give the floor right now to Adam Goral. Adam Góral: [Interpreted] I would like to welcome you very cordially. I'm pleased that we're all here together. And above all, I see in the first row, we see people who decided to be here physically in attendance. And of course, with full respect for all those persons who are participating remotely. So I'd like to welcome everybody very cordially. So Artur didn't emphasize that this is a special meeting because in a year, we Rafal Kozlowski will have to be here. And for me, this is going to be a totally new situation, of course, with the hope and looking to the future because I'm going to move into the Supervisory Board where I should be the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. And so Asseco will always be with me, and this is my entire life, of course, outside of my family, but I treat this company as a member of my family. I'm going to have to be vigilant because I want Rafal to be a leader with his attributes. He's a little bit different. We're different from another. Of course, I have a guarantee of one thing that he represents espouses the same values and that he's perfectly well prepared to run this company -- and I'm sorry for saying that saying that I believe that it was well run. But I think the company was in good hands and was well run. And having in mind that I have a good hand towards other people and is managed by really great people. And so we come here in great sentiments. And these sentiments, of course, are somewhat toned down because I would like for the world to look a little bit differently. And there's a lot of bad people heading up some company -- countries. And even though you have wonderful results, people are aware of their responsibilities, their liabilities, and it's a shame that the world is -- has much turmoil, but we don't have any impact over that. Today, up until now, the various wars have not obstructed us. I don't really want to talk about it. So we have our leader on Friday, I was talking quite a bit with [ son ]. And when we hear that 12 times during the day that you had to go into like the bomb shelter, then you become aware of what it means to think about a war. It doesn't matter who started the war. It doesn't matter who's at fault, who's the guilty party. We have to think about these people who are suffering in Ukraine and those people who are suffering war at the hands of war. And so these wars, I'm not going to say they are helping us or acting as a boost, I'm sorry, during the pandemic period, I had hoped that these times would teach us something that the leaders of -- the global leaders would understand, would grasp the concept that there's not that much that needs to be done in order for us to be totally disappear. They have to understand that human life is of importance. And so that's all the more reason to be disenchanted. But thanks to the wonderful work of tens of thousands of people in the Asseco Group. I'm able to come here today in convey wonderful information. And the previous year was a great year. It was a record-breaking year. And the net profit of PLN 1.139 billion. We have the successful sales. We were able to sell at a good price. And so we had basically 119% growth. And so we made these decisions because we thought that Sapiens should have a new impulse. And today, jointly with Advent, we want to make sure that this impulse will continue to drive us forward. And we hope that, that 18% will have a huge loss of roughly PLN 500 million of that EUR 1.139 billion is due to Sapiens. The rest, which is also record-breaking is linked to the organic growth that we have achieved. And so I'm pleased that we are well positioned in Poland and Central Europe, and you've been able to look at that, and we had a more difficult period. And I'm, of course, under a great impression that as we've been having seen the organization being run by Jozef Klein, our leader. And so for me, the test of his person as a manager is an exceptional year. This was the difficult time when those countries and we are dependent on government projects. It didn't seem that it wasn't spending money on IT and it seemed that some of the substantial EU funds that were being allocated to the energy sector and then Jozef's ambitions led to a situation. Well, it was a very difficult point in time for him. So I'm pleased that they were able to survive and this very difficult period, they were able to draw conclusions, and they were able to perceive the weaknesses of the organization, and they utilize that time in order to eliminate those weaknesses. And today, they have a wonderful 2025. And today, we believe very strongly that they will continue to prosper in 2026. So that group in terms of what's linked to Asseco International, we have reasons to be proud. And in these difficult and challenging times, our teams in Israel. This is a global company, of course, has done very well has coped very well. And so we've known for years that we have exceptional wonderful people there. I remember because I'm going to have a request when we talk about our stock exchange. I don't entirely understand this that we're not able to vote on that 1.5% for my team. So take a look at this. I was a person who was looking at the interest of the investors, the management and the people working for this company. And if I'm going to be in the [indiscernible] I'm going to be in the Supervisory Board, I'm not going to be able to -- operationally, I'm not going to be able to scrutinize these things. Ralph is going to do it, but these 95 people, for us, for the investors, this is the safety in terms of people fighting for the value of this company. And this is the time to encourage you to look at this vote. Once again, it's really worth looking at closely. Do you know why we've been able to achieve such a great success in Israel, the first thing that I did was I met with guy and I gave him a certain number of shares. Of course, in the voting, I wasn't afraid that he's going to be -- he's going to be the richest person in the world. Of course, I wish that to him. Look at the business we've been able to do there. Of course, those equities might not have been the deciding factor, but he had an incredible amount of motivation to run the company in such a way because we say that we're controlling some company. But in our area, there's no bonafide control as a leader, I'm dependent on thousands of people. In terms of how they're operating. And if that later would want to do something, it would be possible to do that legally. And doing this simple maneuver, we were able to achieve a very simple and straightforward objective. And so the $143 million has paid back quickly. And I'm pleased that our investment in Israel is the largest Polish investment. And so we've only got good experience under our belt here. And some of you had given us heatings, warnings, but they're going to try to, let's say, maneuver you and somehow do something. We have a wonderful success there. Take a look at this case and think about my people, please. Think about them who are totally deserving. Of course, they've created this beautiful history of Asseco. And this is not a salary for the history. There is a portion of that is remuneration for -- but this is also remuneration for what they're going to do in the future. So I'd be grateful if you were to follow and embrace my thinking, I'll give the floor to Marek, and we'll drill down into some of the details, and we'll talk about the individual results. And then at the end, I'll take the floor -- I go ahead and bore you a little bit more because I continue to think about the future of this company, and I'm going to tell you a little bit about how I see the future. So I'll give the floor to Marek. Marek Panek: [Interpreted] Thank you very much. So having in mind what Adam said that we still have the final section of the meeting during which Adam is going to want to speak to the future. I today will try to speak more succinctly and I'll take less time than usual, especially since the trends we've observed over the last 3 quarters were sustained and nothing happened, nothing extraordinary happened in Q4. And I think this -- so it wouldn't be necessary to talk about. Let's talk about the profits. So Adam mentioned the net profit, which is PLN 1 billion nearly PLN 140 million. But look at some of the other 2 numbers. So we have revenue at nearly 16.7 -- so it's PLN 16.780 billion, and this is a 12% increase year-on-year. And then we have operating profit, which is in excess of PLN 1.6 billion, and the increase here was 11%. As a matter of tradition, I will show you the split of our revenue by operating segments in terms of geographies. And you can see this is not a mistake. That all 3 of our segments were growing at exactly the same pace of 12% year-on-year. And if you start on the right side, Formula Group, which is the largest, and this is some 60% of our revenue, we've been able to achieve nearly the PLN 10 billion watermark. And then we have international, which is some 27% of total revenue in the group. So we have PLN 4.6 billion. And then we have the Polish segment, which is the Asseco Poland segment, and we have nearly PLN 2.3 billion in revenue. As I mentioned everywhere, we have across the board a 12% pace of growth year-on-year. We'll also show you the revenue by product groups. Here, I will not discuss this in great detail. You can see that all of our segments across the board are basically growing. In some cases, we're growing more quickly. In some cases, we're growing less quickly. All of the solutions that we have for public institutions, which represent 25%, so 1/4 of the total revenue of the group, we have very dynamic growth of some 15%. We're pleased with what's happening in banking sector from the very outset of our operations as Asseco. This is a very important and significant bulk of products or segment of products that we've been offering. So we have nearly PLN 4.7 billion. So it's more than 8% increase. And so all these things are pleasing to us. We're pleased with the diversification of our business. So the top 10 customers in the revenue of the overall group is a mere 12% of the total revenue of the group. And so -- so the largest customer represents 2% of total group revenues. So we're not dependent on any single customers or clients. And let me say a few words about our solutions for finance. We'll talk about the other segments as well. So we have across the group, some PLN 3.7 billion. We have in revenue, an increase of nearly 5% year-on-year. And so you can see in the Formula Group up until now, it was always the leader and was the major contributor of revenue in the financial segment. Now it's #2. And that is a result of the fact that Sapiens has been extracted because it was sold as was stated previously. And of course, this formula system segment is still doing very well. So it's nearly PLN 1.5 billion at 11% growth. Then we have Asseco International, which came in at PLN 1.6 billion, which is 4% growth. And we have Southeastern Europe and PST, which is our company in Portugal, which is operating in the Portuguese market. And then we have Asseco Central Europe. So all of these businesses are growing well. Then we have on top of that, Asseco Poland. So this segment, Asseco Poland segment has a 10% uptick in growth. And here, we're the market leader in terms of banking and lease companies as well as brokerage houses. And so we're very pleased because this business for many, many years has developed nicely. If we think about our public institutions, the growth is much more dynamic than in the financial sector. So we have a 15% increase year-on-year. So it's more than PLN 4.15 billion. And so we have the International segment. Well, for a couple of reasons, that's grown so fast because it's the Czech and the Slovakian markets. And as you recall, we had a stagnation there in previous years. We've been able to rebuild our position. And so the revenue is substantially higher. And the same is true in Southeastern Europe. In the Balkan Group, and so 2024 was clearly a softer year. And so we have experienced dynamic growth on this revenue. In Poland, our growth is nearly 20%. So we came in at PLN 1.2 billion in revenue. So in Poland, we are the leader in terms of our solutions for public institutions. We're a major player in terms of public administration for the health service as well as for the power sector, where our position is a leadership position. And so we're very pleased that the business has grown at such a fast clip. And then we have Formula Systems, which you can see is the major contributor to the revenue. In public institutions, it's seen 11% growth with revenue coming in at PLN 2. billion -- nearly PLN 4 billion. And the final segment that I would like to cover today is ERP solutions. So these are our businesses within Asseco International. So as a matter of fact, it's Asseco Enterprise Solution, ERP solution in Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic, we see 8% growth and revenue over PLN 1 billion. You might have noticed that another line disappeared Asseco Poland segment. But this is the reason -- the reason is that DahliaMatic that used to be reporting to Asseco Poland was transferred to Asseco Business Solutions and now is part of the Asseco International segment. Therefore, it made no further sense to show Asseco Poland segment. In Formula Systems, we also have our ERP solutions at a lower scale, but we are very happy to see a 14% increase and revenue over PLN 6 million. We continue our acquisitions 2 slides to cover this story. We are showing all the acquisitions completed last year, Asseco Poland segment and Asseco International segment and Formula Systems segment likewise. That was the greatest bunch. Altogether, we had 13 new entries joining the group last year. So we were keeping the pace from the previous years. Every year, we have a dozen or so new companies joining the group. And we continue our efforts as we speak. We are scanning the market. We are speaking to [ content ] companies, and we are looking for the best match. We have definitely more selective approach. We don't want to just build our mass, but we want to have entities that have specific features in terms of products and competence that they bring to the table. And obviously, we have to look at the price that we need to pay and the return that we can get on each deal. Now when we look at the formula, I have to emphasize that it was a special year for formula systems acquisitions and corporate governance involvement. In addition to the acquisitions that they made, you may recall because we've mentioned that already in Q1, this year, we reached the sort of final line. However, we've been working on it since 2024, namely the combination and Matrix and Magic were joined as one company. So today, they are the largest company in Israel and one of the top 10 IT service providers globally. That was a major project, and it turned out to be very successful. We've already heard that Sapiens sale was a long project, a difficult project, but at the end of the year, very successful. And another sort of tier that we are building here, Michpal, that's the new company that was listed on the Israeli Stock Exchange last year. This is mostly HR and payroll solutions, software companies and service providers. So we are happy to embrace that because we see a lot of growth potential here. So we see a lot of good prospects for the future. Guy has a lot of ideas. He has a healthy and sound pipeline of M&A projects, and I believe that he will be delivering that step-by- step. Thank you for your attention. Over to Karolina. Karolina Rzonca-Bajorek: [Interpreted] I will briefly cover the financials. On the first slide, you see the key numbers. Marek mentioned revenue. We are almost at PLN 17 billion. And we remember that Sapiens was sold in December last year. So it was already excluded from the individual items of our P&L. So it was shown in one line as a discontinued business. Therefore, this is all comparable when you look at these numbers. It's comparable to the prior periods. So over PLN 16 billion of sales. Our own proprietary services PLN 12.6 billion and a nice growth of 7% in both items. And Non-IFRS EBITDA and Non-IFRS EBIT, 8% and 9% up, respectively, and it's PLN 2.5 billion for EBITDA and over PLN 2 billion for Non-IFRS EBIT. And Non-IFRS net profit is PLN 742 million and CAGR, the best of the past 5 years, 9% up. And for some time, we've been showing P&L items between the years. And here, we are sharing this information again. You may see that there is less negative impact of the currency exchange compared to the prior years. It is still a negative impact, but not major, PLN 48 million in terms of revenue and PLN 4 million in terms of operating business and Non-IFRS. We are truly happy about our organic results, PLN 1.3 billion it's ours organic sales. Across the group. And that was translated into PLN 300 additional million operating profit, non-IFRS. And acquisitions is PLN 452 million at the revenue line and PLN 46 million at the operating income, Non-IFRS. Net profit, Non-IFRS, we show which segments were the greatest delta contributors on an annual basis. And we can tell that Asseco Poland is doing very well. The Marek company is showing exquisite performance, but you may scrutinize in the stand-alone financial statement, minus [ PLN 11 million]. So it's a [ interior ] contribution from Formula Systems segment. The main reason is that Sapiens was consolidated over the course of 12 months. But in Q4, we had a first restructuring processes and the cost of that charged the result for the Q4. And Asseco International contribution was PLN 49 million more compared to the prior year. When you look at the entire P&L statement, and we are happy about the dynamics, 11% growth year-to-year revenue and proprietary software and services, over 15% Non-IFRS EBITDA goes up and 20% nonoperating profit, Non-IFRS and 11% the standard operating profit. And here, there is a slight decline when it comes to profitability year-to-year. But please note that it was just Q4. And the reason is in the line that you will find below and namely M&A. This is all one-off events. PLN 67 million is the write-off at Formula Systems for ZAP company. Well, they were not doing as well as we were projecting at the moment of the acquisition. So we decided to actually write off that asset. Some costs were generated by the transaction that Marek referred to. So the merger of Magic and Matrix is PLN 67 million. And then we also have some write-offs from other companies and PLN 15 million was our own project, our own investment, goodwill and assets in Nextbank company. Now what is happening below the operating profit line? Well, you can tell that we are efficiently managing our debt. We were decreasing debt year-to-year. Interest income, the cost of interest is less year-to-year. And the currency line, it's mostly the formula. Formula is reporting in [indiscernible], but they were paid for the Sapiens deal in US dollars. And the translation of the currency balance, even with a small exchange rate decrease generated major foreign exchange impact. Well, we may say that this is just an accounting impact. M&A, I've already covered. And for some time, we've been affected by hyperinflation, and that is Turkish business. And the share in profit of associates looks very nice, but this is formula who is the main contributor. We had the indexation of the revaluation of the -- our investment in the company that was doing SPO, but this year. And therefore, we have the step-up and therefore, we are showing better numbers. In addition to that, we have profit on the discontinued business or discontinued operations. So this is the accounting result that we show on sale of Sapiens, PLN 500 million. This is what we show in the current report, and this is distributed to the shareholder of the dominating company. Now the Sapiens Group. I think that we need to align our projections when we look at the operating revenue and operating profit, well, the Sapiens was a major contributor to these lines. Therefore, for 2026, because of the sale of Sapiens Group, we will be probably PLN 2 billion short in terms of revenue on our operating business and probably around PLN 350 million profit on our operating activities. So Q4 was really charged with the cost of the sale transactions at the cost of restructuring. Therefore, I would rather look at prior year instead of Q4 2025. So that was the explanatory note to Sapiens. Now what is happening across different companies. As I said, we are truly happy to see the performance of the Marek company. In terms of the dynamics and profitability, both were very, very decent. Your notes, analytical notes, expressed some surprise about the net profit contribution. Let me just explain. But when we speak about deals like the sale of Sapiens, the taxes such as CFC are actually booked to Asseco Poland line. And therefore, it is really a charge to our net result. And this is a one-off effect. In case of the Sapiens sale, the Marek company had to pay -- or had to show almost PLN 24 million of additional tax, namely CFC. So the effective tax rate for the Marek company seems to be surprisingly high, but this is the one-off effect of that transaction. In terms of other operations in Poland, Asseco Data Systems is improving their performance, and I think that they are doing quite well and other major companies seem to be in good shape likewise. Now Formula. Here, we decided to show Matrix and Magic together in one line. And as Marek explained, in February, the merger was completed. Right now, they are going to operate as one company. Magic was taken off the stock exchange. It is actually the subsidiary of Matrix. Therefore, you need to look at them as one group. And in terms of other companies, we have consolidated Michpal that was listed on the Israeli Stock Exchange this year. And we have a new subgroup under Formula. The working name or actually the formal name is Formula Infrastructure. Now Asseco International segment, we are truly thrilled with the improvement that Slovakia demonstrated. Adam highlighted that. This is both true for the core business, the public sector business, our health segment in Slovakia. It seems that they really rebounded and they improved substantially. But it needs to be highlighted that in this line, we have our ERPs. So excellent performance of Asseco Business Solutions. We also have major improvement in profitability in Germany. So that's another reason to be happy. And now the Southeastern Europe -- so great performance in dedicated solutions, major improvement year-to-year, very good result in the banking sector. And the payment segment, very decent, too. We need to remember that they are actually charged with the write-offs in India. I believe that [ Piotr ] mentioned that during the conference earlier. And there are some risks that emerged in that segment because of the loss of one of the Turkish customer and the potential loss of another customer in Turkey. Both of them are actually switching to in-sourcing. Therefore, they will drop from our customer portfolio. If we look at cash, I think this is something that has been observed. We have very robust cash flow across the year in Q4 as well. And this is true across the board, across the group. So it's 122%. And if we look at EBITDA, this is something that we've been displaying for years. And Asseco Poland this is 124% it's 109% in international and Formula Systems, 128%. So we had specially good cash flow in the Matrix ID company. And let's take a look at the balance sheet. And you can see that the header is more up to date than previously. And you can see the amount of cash. So it's more than PLN 7 billion on the bank accounts of the companies in the group. and Asseco Poland, which is the mother company and from the sale of treasury shares, it's more than $1.5 billion. Then you have Formula Systems. Here, we need to remember that more than $750 million was obtained from the sale of Sapiens. And this is also on the accounts of the company or in the segment at the end of last year. If we look at the proportional recognition, as is the case in the full recognition, we have certain reconciliations year-on-year. And so we can look at the contribution of the organic businesses and so PLN 734 million and then EUR 110 million from acquisitions. And then if we look at the operating profit Non-IFRS and so we have 3 from acquisitions, PLN 216 million from organic results. We have to remember about some of those impairments. I talked about them previously, the M&A adjustments. And so they're in this proportional recognition. What's also important here, as I've mentioned, that some of these impairments are through Formula, but we also have the Asseco Poland as well. And if we look at the proportional results, we can see that the growth rate is better and the profitability and the improvement in profitability is better. And this is a result of the fact that the Polish segment and Asseco International saw market improvement. And we also show the main companies. I don't think I will discuss that because we've already discussed that. And if we think about the proportional recognition of cash flow generated, it seems that it's very decent, 27%. And so we have 124% in Asseco Poland and 114% in International and 127% in Formula Systems. And so then we have the balance sheet set up on proportional recognition. So the cash available to the shareholders or the holders of the parent company. And so it's PLN 3.3 billion, then EUR 1.5 billion in Asseco Poland and then Formula and Asseco International. So this information has been indicated that a portion of this will be paid out in the form of dividends of some $200 million has been communicated and that this will be paid out in the formal resolution of the shareholder meeting. Well, of the Board of Directors will be made after the -- this will probably be in May once the financial statements of Formula Systems are approved. Then if we look at the backlog, I think we've got a satisfactory growth rate. This information coming from your releases. And so -- if we look at own proprietary services and software and 19% in Asseco Poland is like 17%. And so it's more or less equally divided on public systems and financial sector. So hence, we've got 9% for Asseco International and 14% in Formula Systems. And if we look at this on a proportional basis, we have 16% in Asseco Poland and 10% in Asseco International and 14% in Formula Systems. And then I mentioned the dividend. I said that we have very decent cash flow, and we have a very stable position -- cash position if we look at our balance sheet. And these robust results give us the ability and the wherewithal to pay out a dividend of PLN 1.051 billion, which translates into PLN 13.05 as a dividend per share. Of course, treasury stock doesn't participate in that and 3% of our shares are in the form of treasury stock. And so the PLN 13 per share as dividend per share. And if we look at the consensus opinion here, it's probably around PLN 11 was, I think, the figure that was stated in the consensus. Why did we make the decision to pay out PLN 1.51 billion. The first tranche would be paid out in terms of the cash proceeds from the sale of treasury stock. So we had received more than PLN 1 billion. And so PLN 500 million with plus would be a little bit -- that would be half of that would be from the sale of treasury stock and the rest. And so we took a look at the free cash flow. We factored in on our balance sheet. We looked at the results, and we came to the conclusion that all of this taken together would give us the ability to pay a higher dividend from our current results and cash flow, and that's what fed into this defining the specific figure or calculating the specific figures. Adam Góral: [Interpreted] So thank you very much, Karolina and Marek and my friend who's been listening to us that these are wonderful results, and you guys are even smiling, so I'd like to apologize. It's because of my gravity because I was talking about the world itself. And let's forget about the world for a little bit. Because we have enormous reasons to be joyful and satisfied because these results are wonderful, and they're linked to our efficacy, to our wisdom and to the cogent execution of our strategy. These are things that have happened. I've never lived in the past. So only future is of interest to me. And so of course, we're living in interesting times. So there's the AI battle, which is not easy to monetize in terms of what -- it's not having an easy go at monetizing what is achieved up until now. So this world is giving us wonderful opportunities, and new hopes. We have this battle for the world in terms of AI with us. Of course, this world isn't monetizing things because they're thinking that we're operating too slowly and informing the world, quite the contrary, that we do appreciate what AI is doing because we've reconciled ourselves that this is happening with the tools, but there's a large number of our people who are following this world or tracking that world that we're going to utilize that in a wise fashion. And Asseco's strategy is unchanging. [ Rafal ] is something that will continue along with my new wonderful partners, and we agreed that at the outset, we will continue to make sure that we're going to specialize in the producing software and services related to the software we're going to write. And this is going to be the predominant or prevalent portion of our revenue. And where it's sensible, we won't, of course, resign from integration. We want to make sure there are several regions where we are very strong. We don't want to lose those footholds. We will continue to build and make sure that we're building our sector position, sectoral position. This is something that I'm very proud of. In the near future, I'll have a meeting with my teams responsible for the various sectors and each sector is coming in with its vision for the upcoming 3 years. Of course, our strength is [ individually ] our knowledge of our customers, our customer knowledge and our customer knowledge is something that's been proving its position, its importance in Asseco for some 35 years. So I've been the leader for some 35 years. So this year, we're celebrating the 35th anniversary. We're not going to make a major celebration as a result, isn't that true? But it's a wonderful Jubilee celebration. And the fidelity in terms of our education, the awareness processes that customers utilize. This is our greatest value in the marketplace. And having in mind these new times, well, our fortune is predicated upon the following that we are present in many institutions. Well, these are nonstandard solutions. So AI trying to learn those types of solutions is something that will take a lot more time for that to be replaced or for that to be done. And so this knowledge that we mentioned on the first slide in terms of the teams of people, we talk about our human intelligence. This is going to drive the future of the company. And here, we have an advantage. And I'll show you another slide in a moment. We talk about our experience in a given area is also a great source of value. On top of that, we are utilizing and we are utilizing AI. I will show you where we are because we've made enormous inroads for many years, we've allowed ourselves to be dispersed. We've been a little bit chaotic. So 1.5 years with [ Garrick Brown ] who was -- has been running business intelligence for many years in a wonderful way and in our business division. And so we've appointed him to be a leader in terms of AI. And then I'll show you what we've achieved thus far. Our goal, we want to utilize these tools to enhance the quality of our operations, our activities. We want to be more efficient. We won't use them to restructure. We want to do more with the exact same team. That's our concept. And I'll give you some evidence that we are far along the path in terms of implementing this concept. So in some cases, we have a little bit more time as opposed to those areas where the standard plain vanilla solution is the name of the game. So when we talk about the learning process, that standard, that plain vanilla approach for those companies that are selling the plain vanilla approach, this is going to be something that's going to be precarious for them because those companies will have greater problems. We -- by utilizing our tools wisely, we're going to speed up the pace at which we're utilizing those tools. So our sectoral knowledge, which is a type of capital, this is an edge that we hold. So we have more than 30,000 employees I don't like the word employees, but that's what we wrote on the slide because these are my business partners in some more than 50 countries, the knowledge about the banking sector, about the health care sector, about the government sector. And we have people from various countries. No country has been capable of creating a solution for the government that would be a plain vanilla solution that one size fits all. This gives us some time to learn these AI tools and utilize them at the right point in time. So 12 years is the average seniority in Asseco Poland, somebody could say, well, you guys are old. Well, take a look at the last item, more than 8,000 people applying to participate in our internship programs in 2025. So in the on-boardings, we need these young people, and I convey that to them. I impart that knowledge to them. We can be -- I've never lived by success. I only see problems, and I'm interested in solving problems because I know that we're going to be better as a result. But if people are, let's say, somehow have -- they're just quite. So we're bringing on board these young people. So 12, 15 years ago, I delivered a lecture at the Warsaw University where we're being promoted and touted and Artur hadn't yet joined us. And I was showing thousands of articles, lots of publications about us that everybody knows everything about us. And I was asking the most outstanding IT experts at the University of Warsaw Do you know something about Asseco? And they didn't know anything about Asseco. So I'd like to thank Artur here. From that point in time, we've made huge inroads because our brand recognition that the young people want to join us. And we have young people. Sometimes I'm surprised they want to learn COBOL because we have solutions at PKO BP, which is a COBOL solution. And so I'm pleased to see that young people want to learn COBOL. So you should learn it, but you should make sure that you're diversified in terms of your knowledge business. You can't lose from sight those tools that are timely today. And you have to have that knowledge about other types of tools. And so you should take pains to ensure that you have those things mastered. So that's why I'm calm at ease that this company is going to be healthy, but somehow not entirely quite, not calm. We're #1 in Poland and Europe, many countries. We always talk -- say one thing about that, but the other talk -- the other things we talked about in 10 years, we want to continue being a wonderful company. We want to be a competitive company. Of course, I fully believe that we will be such a company, and that's clearly the case. Why am I trying to be reasonable about AI? As a businessman and entrepreneur, I've been through a time when IT was about distributed architecture. We were one of the very first Polish companies that were centralizing IT systems. And some people were saying, "Oh, you will get lost, the Polish system will never survive." but we made it. We were able to centralize whatever had to be centralized. And then there was a moment of the Internet frenzy. Unfortunately, we were not the main players in that field because we didn't offer the tools. But please note that we were able to grab quite a place for ourselves and build it up. And then the cloud came up. And from the very beginning, I was cautious about it because cloud mean when you have a public cloud, it means that you give single individuals huge power over everyone else. And today, I'm really happy to see the Polish government taking measures and looking at the local content. This is what we are really trying to do. Other countries have done it earlier. I've been fighting for it over 30 years because I've always been of the opinion that Polish people should depend on themselves or [indiscernible]. Let's do it the same way other nations do it. Today when we look at our Diplomatic Corp and our economic diplomacy in different countries. I also noted a major progress. You can actually rely on the Polish ambassadors. They really want to help you. And it started back when we had the first government of Civic Platform and land justice was keeping it up. And now the coalition is doing it again. We have great ambassadors for our beautiful growth and development. I'm really proud that Artur is actually setting up the meetings and people show up. People want to help us sell because they show that we were able to grow. And I know for a fact, but if we take good care of all these things that I mentioned, we will not get lost in the new world where the AI becomes a major player. Now look at [ Adam Goral ] and his team. In June last year, they made a promise, Adam, in December, we will cover your entire internal production process with AI solution. It's been covered. We have been implementing it internally. No not much is going to change with our customers because when we approach our customers, we want to solve their core problems. We don't talk about the products. We say, okay, we help you increase your sales with IT solutions. A we enhance your security or we help you control and curb your costs. So we sell that. The tools are secondary. Why am I saying that we are cautious and we try to be wise about it. The only value that we truly have is our customers and the value that we are able to bring to them. If the customers are disappointed with the solutions that will be driven by AI, we will be doomed. And some AI-based solutions are not stable, are not mature. So this cautious approach, but I'm advocating here. Is something that is not appreciated by the evangelist of the new tools. They think that we should take a different approach. You may have noticed, but there are other peer companies that are similar to us, and they've been dropping in value 20%. This is like pressure on us to get our act together and act faster here. But I have a message to everyone who wants to make money on AI. No worries here. We are going to do it in a smart way. We are going to take advantage of everything that you have developed there, but we will do it in a way that brings the real and true value to our customers, and we are not going to experiment on our customers. So the entire AI process is somewhat atypical for our organization. That's the way we do it. We opted for the federated model, and this is how we do our business. We really wanted to enhance enterprise in all our locations. We didn't want to kill the local spirit. So 3, 4 years ago, we worked everywhere on these themes. Today, we are trying to integrate that and centralize that, not to overlap and double the costs. We are trying to develop the model where Slovaks do not feel fully dependent on Poles. We want to make sure that Balkans curb some room for themselves. And I believe in that model. So the advantage over the companies that have holdings is such that they have to actually scrutinize each of their group companies. They didn't integrate it. But we are pretty well integrated across different sectors. And therefore, once we have AI solutions, it will be much easier for us to implement that than for those who have completely distributed and dispersed business. Therefore, I do have faith. I think that this is my new passion, and that's something that we are going to deliver. I don't want to bore you with the stories of all the sectors that we support and cover. I'm proud of the leaders we are disruptive, but in a healthy way and our ambitions run high. But there are 2 things where my ambitions have not been met. One is cybersecurity. We have a small company concept, and we are not yet happy with them. They are not efficient. Despite the fact that they have smart people on board, they can do a lot, but we are honest about it. We haven't been able to develop the business model that would be fully aligned with Asseco philosophy. And another area is solutions for defense and armed forces. And we have very strong references because we are supporting Frontex. But nevertheless, something is missing here. I believe in my leaders, and I believe that we will see some progress in these areas. Right now, we have a great project in Togo on the radar. You may remember the project that we successfully completed during the pandemic in Togo. We have a Togo company shared with the government. Togo is a very pro-European country, and the leaders are very well educated. And I'm really thrilled because we signed a contract for the development of the system for the Togo Armed Forces for their army. So that also has to do with the cybersecurity and solutions that address the needs of the armed forces. But now we are also trying to find a good partner for cybersecurity business. We are looking for a company that would be better than our current capabilities. Today, we are talking to a company that is of great interest to us. But at the end of the day, there is a price. You pay for the history, but you are buying the future. So we have to be reasonable about it. So this is something that I'm going to really look at and take good care. I think that in our countries in Eastern Europe, these areas have not been truly developed yet in terms of business. I believe that if we find the right leader, we would be able to build a very strong regional position. So that's what I have in my screen. Okay. So once when I am going to be on the Supervisory Board, I'm really going to harass -- sorry for my word, but everyone who will be responsible for these areas that I have just mentioned. But they know how I handle that. I have a lot of patience and -- but I believe that we will be able to build a new position for our business. And the time comes when we have to assess our partnership with our friends from the Netherlands. I'm saying that they are our friends. It hasn't been a long time, but I have to say that we are really pleased I am grateful. Probably the transaction would have never occurred if we were not able to keep the Polish control, so to speak, in terms of the power and being able to decide about the strategy. They come from the background that has a different strategy. When we were buying companies, we were integrating and building our integrated position. Their philosophy is that each company that they acquire, they have as a separate company within the group, and they actually have a separate settlement for each investment. This is a different approach. But now they are looking at the way we are doing it because they truly appreciate the fact that we are in a very special point in time. AI is definitely affecting or impacting our world and our companies have to respond adequately. And I would like to really acknowledge our gratitude to them. I would like to thank them for their openness, for being so generous with their knowledge, the expertise that they have with acquisitions and with handling of the companies once they are acquired. They also have a lot of expertise in finance management. So I have to say that they were really open about it. We were actually borrowing some of their solutions and methods. Some KPIs that they have been using. This is not very surprising to us because they were looking at cash flow, and we were also very mindful of our cash flow. For them, cash was #1 and so has been for us. But they also have other KPIs that really help, but they keep people motivated. They also have KPIs for software companies that are able to identify certain weaknesses. We've been also looking at that, but I'm really happy that we were able to tap into the expertise of these KPIs because to be honest, we were relying more on our intuition here. And based on that knowledge, I think that Rafal can claim the greatest contribution here. Asseco growth. And this is the project that started a lot of commotion within the group because everyone thinks, okay, we've been doing it for years. We know everything about software. But suddenly, it turned out that others approach the same thing from a completely different perspective. So I have to say that it was a very informative and educational experience. And I really wish that we would have this 1.5% approved. I don't feel sorry about the 3% that I didn't get, although they told me openly that Adam, you have to get the 3%. But I say, okay, I can go about it because otherwise, it's like not appreciating the succession that you need. There is a change in generations, right? If you've been doing business with someone and they always deliver and never failed you, you really want to continue doing business with them. So in my generation is still there and is still quite efficient. Rafal has his own peers of his own generation, and he's navigating that very well. But my role is to make sure that we have proper continuity with this succession. So they came to us and they said, well, 3% is the right way to go. I told them, look, our market is not really ready for that. So they were disappointed that we were not able to take a good vote on that. So they don't understand our mindset and our investors. But they continue to respect our country and our market and our capital market. And we believe that together, we were able to vote in the favor of this 1.5%. Once we finally close 2025. Now 2026 makes us optimistic. I always say that it's great. I always say that we are good. And Artur was saying that we are phenomenal. We were great. We were phenomenal. I've already said that on several occasions when I was speaking about our company and our business. So I've been learning too. So very optimistic. Today, journalists were asking questions. They were saying, Adam, we would like to meet you again. I said, look, now Rafal is the key man. I am a very open person. I think that Rafal is more restrained. But if he's more restrained make sure that he's more down to earth, because media has never failed us. And even if I was saying way too much, they didn't publish everything when I said afterwards that, well, perhaps that shouldn't be published. It's not very much shame of that, but we are just humans. And to rank people who are onboarded in the company, I always tell them, look, we don't have a single individual in this company who has never made any mistake. The shame is to repeat the same mistakes again and then to lie about it. If you made a mistake and if you lie about it, then as a result, 100% can get sacked because of it. If you don't lie, if you're open about it, everyone will help you repair and remedy your mistake. That's the way we need to keep it at a [ side]. We have to be positive. You may say, okay, it's hard, but you have to multiply it by 10, saying what you can do to make it better. We are critical, but not in terms of complaining, but we are critical in terms of, okay, that needs to be improved. This is what has to be done about it. It's not about just complaining and saying, I don't know what to do about it. And we are not afraid to make mistakes. And we believe that customers are definitely sacred. They pay our bills. So if something prevents us from providing good service to the customers, we have to fight with that. You have to show it to us, but this is wrong and young people are coming full of power and energy. I love the onboarding experience. I always tell them that they have to address me as Adam. I have a great assistant and she's 24 years, and she's addressing me Mr. President. And I say, look, one order that I always give, I'm Adam. Look, I'm not saying farewell. I'm not really leaving for good, but I'm -- it will be tough because I've always loved meeting you. So I don't know. I will have to learn what to do not to get into Rafal's way. Rafal is definitely sharing and representing the same values. I know that he's prepared. He knows everything how to do the job, but he's a different person. I want him to be himself. I just cannot get in his way. And I know that things will be fine. And I would like to thank all of you for still coming to our meetings because we've been together on so many occasions, but probably you don't find me surprising. I said at the beginning that there are wars out there, and this is not a reason to be happy. But then there is another aspect. It's important to actually speak to people face-to-face. The more the people we have in the room, the merrier it is. It's easier to smile when you have real people sitting in front of you. I know that we have 100 people who are watching us online, but those who came here and are with us in person, it's really nice. Well, perhaps for those 100 that are just watching us online, we were not top performers. If there is anything we need to improve, please let us know. Operator: [Interpreted] So after this wonderful presentation and summary, we have the opportunity to move on to the Q&A session because there are questions coming to the forefront from some of our participants, our online participants. And so the idea is we'd like to move on now to the Q&A session. And at the end, we'll wrap up by bidding ado. So let's begin with the first question in terms of this year's recommendation for the dividend. Should we treat that as an extraordinary dividend? What is the dividend policy for the upcoming years? And in subsequent years, should we anticipate that there would be a higher amount or quantum of transfers to the shareholders? Unknown Executive: [Interpreted] If we will not acquisitions are still our passion. It's more difficult to buy things. There's an enormous amount of competition. We have certain boundaries. The only limit, I think I mentioned that in terms of relations with our new partners that the decisions, acquisition decisions, we make those decisions together. This is a limitation for Marek. This is something we wanted. We wanted to buy things at the optimum price. So we've had major success even if we were a little more intuitive than our new business partners. We've been very effective. I would like for Marek's team to have access to knowledge about how others do that. And I'm pleased that we have that access. So Marek has several potential acquisition targets. We're working on that now. But in Asseco, we always want to buy for organic growth. That's our obsession. One of the very kind journalists, Adam, you know you had Balkans, other areas, but those were different times. At that point in time, we were buying companies at normal prices. So today, if somebody is coming forward to us and we have tens of people, business owners talking with me per annum. And so Marek, of course, is talking with them because Marek, of course, introduces me as well. And so somebody is coming forward and what they've created, which is far away from our standard is pricing that at a multiple of tens over the profit, but they don't want to buy the brand. And I'm not interested in that because we have -- we can pay a lot for the past, for the history. But the fact that we're going to build the future together, well, because if you're using a very high multiple, let's say, 30 or 20 or 40, whatever, then we all understand what that means. And since there's a lot of competition, there are funds out there that have a pressure to spend money and Asseco is not going to participate in that type of battle. We want to attract business owners who understand that based on what you've created in Poland, you can create a wonderful European position because we've proven that we're capable. Our model has proven itself. We know how to attract business owners from other countries. And so if we can find partners like -- and we're looking for those types of partners and hypothetically, we have them, -- but of course, we can always haggle a little bit about price multiples. We are buying -- not to buy. We want it to be effective to generate a return. And jointly with our leaders, we want -- we're going to give them a lot of authority to build things. So if we don't have those type of projects, you can always count on a hefty dividend. And of course, if we have those type of M&A projects, then we won't have that cash. And so the dividend will be a little lower. And so this is a question to our colleagues from Business Solutions. In Asseco Business Solutions is the biggest impact of the national inventory system KSeF was it exerted in Q4 2025? Or will we see it in subsequent quarters? So perhaps I'll field that question because I'm in the Supervisory Board. And I think I might not be entirely precise. I think we can count on KSeF, this national invoicing system. I don't think I'm apologize for saying perhaps I don't know the figures. I don't think it was the biggest quarter for us, Q4 2025. So at the beginning of 2025, we were counting on the national invoicing system. The results were phenomenal because all of you in ABS are proud of what we have done. What Rafal did on an international basis, that integration of our teams with Germany, and Germany is doing very well and competing with Poland, trying to catch up. And of course, this will take a little bit of time. And so we're working strongly on Slovakia and Czech Republic because we want to have integration, I believe in that strongly. So I think in ABS, we will continue to deliver results through the national invoicing system,. And if we talk about recurring revenue, and this is something that's been prepared that we're going to have increase in recurring revenue. For people who might not know the Polish market, today, we have the opening the next wave of companies that will utilize the national invoicing system called KSeF. And so those companies, there's going to be many more companies starting to use that. And so this is coming down. It's going to be applicable to medium-sized companies and smaller companies. What are the problems with implementing or adopting the share system? And what are the obstacles to implementing this program? So based -- this is a little bit of gossip. Basically, what I'm hearing is as follows: the open-end pension funds, we can't give anything away free of charge because we're paying for the past, so we can't vote in favor. So I can embrace that -- I can accept that opinion. But I'm asking these OFEs for them to think about this because even if something is so highly regulated, that's against the development of the Polish capital market, and I'm always going to be an advocate because had it not been for the Polish Stock Exchange, we would not have moved for it because in 2024, nobody would have lended money to Adam Goral for his -- to build his fantasies because I wouldn't be able to prove to any bank in 2004 that I was going to be capable of doing something had it not been for the Polish Stock Exchange. There would be no Asseco. I'm sorry to say, I regret that we don't have a sufficiently large number of IPOs and business owners have started to stop seeing that there's opportunities linked to being on the exchange. So like PKO BP, baby was waiting for us with a credit to when we wanted to buy back shares. Well, the times are different nowadays. And we have to remember that times do change. So of course, I understand the regulations. Well, let's change things that are illogical. My friends from the Netherlands and Canada linked to Constellation, they don't really understand what's behind this because for them, the fact that we will vote this through, well, it's not a guarantee because we're making decisions together in fact. The fact that we voted through gives greater certainty to all of us as investors. So I would precede those. We understand those who can't do it because of the laws, but I hope that we'll have people, if we looked at the results of voting, I was nearly satisfied. We were only missing some 700,000 shares. So that's not very many. So maybe somebody want to come to the shareholder meeting, we're going to vote on that. And then we could vote it through. Let me tell you, honestly, I don't understand why they're behaving this way. We, as investors, why don't we want for one group of Poles that have worked hard and toiled hard for them 95 people for them to receive a total of 1.5% of the company. Of course, 1.5% PLN 200 million. Of course, it's PLN 200 million. That's 95 people that will be the recipients. We haven't -- we're not creating [ oligarchs ]. We want people to have interests aligned and be participating in the risk we have. And if we want to be active on the Polish Stock Exchange, if you want to have more IPOs, we have to have and utilize mechanisms that are utilized on mature stock exchange. I'm not sure if this is of importance, if it will have import. We've been -- we've received rewards or awards by like, for example, the Parkiet newspaper that gave us an award for the growth we've been able to achieve in terms of our market cap and so on and so forth. But I also asked and perhaps these words will exert an impression on somebody and they will vote through proposal through. Well, people are for those person, we want to take care of the stock exchange. The people who are taking care of our business interest, we want more and more of these people to think about the interest of the investors for them to buy for the value of the company and the shareholder value. Operator: [Interpreted] The next question, is it possible to think about the sales of the -- remaining 18% shareholder -- share stake in Sapiens? Well, you remember that after the sale of Sapiens, this is a strange case. We lost control because we sold almost all of the shares. We hope that we have an 18% minority stake, which we hold indirectly in Sapiens. Unknown Executive: [Interpreted] And so this is a good position to think about how to earn thinking about the new shareholder, what the new shareholder is doing in Sapiens, what the restructuring processes are in telling, and we surmise that advent because that's a new investor, if it makes the decision in a couple of years to sell Sapiens, then of course, we will, of course, join forces with them in that sale. Operator: [Interpreted] The next question, what will you earmark the money -- the proceeds from the sale of Sapiens in terms of -- because only a portion is going to the dividends. Unknown Executive: [Interpreted] But well, we don't have the right. You know Guy, even though he was started as a manager, we gave him shares. He's an investor. He's a business owner. He's an entrepreneur. And please note that everything that he did was with our consent and he's nearly made no mistakes over the last 16 years. He was buying at the right prices. We've all forgotten because you were -- perhaps you were right. We were buying shares in the holding, which was running a company that was slightly lost. This is not the Sapiens that was sold just recently. This was not the Magic. This was not the Matrix company. All of that was growing and expanding, not talking even forgetting about the new purchases. So in terms of investing in running these type of companies, he knows and he's very cognizant of. He knows it very well, and he talked -- he didn't give me much time sometimes for some decisions. That's true. But I always had that time to make a decision. I received the materials that were needed and so on and so forth. I continue to believe in him, and we're going to pay out a very hefty dividend. I think we can officially say -- so it was already announced at $200 million. And so we're also counting on a dividend. Well, Guy is working how to neutralize this fact, the sale of the majority stake. He has ideas. We won't talk about those ideas because I analyze this is a new topic in terms of building a position in a given area is still within the framework of IT. He's not running into other areas. And initially, this is something that really appeals to me in Israel. So we wish peace to that corner of the world. We hope that peace will be achieved. And major investments are in the works, infrastructural investments. And we would like to have a company, a group of companies prepared to participate in these projects because we have a very strong position there. We haven't agreed on this, but if there were no interesting targets on the marketplace to purchase, well, then we can always buy back some shares in formulas, we can increase our shareholding. We have some opportunities. I'm not saying that we as Asseco, but utilizing that money that's there. So we can have different types of ideas. Today, we're not being precise on that subject. But I wanted for this decision to be a joint decision about Sapiens because we were of the opinion that we were coming close to a wall that we might not have better ideas. And looking at Advent we're learning a new approach to these type of situations. We believe strongly that Advent is going to be effective and that our 18% stake will have the same value of what we sold. And -- this is something that we wish to those people who are now managing. We wish that from the bottom of our hearts. Operator: [Interpreted] The next question is about TSS and Constellation as your potential competitor in M&A in terms of consulting on M&A. Is that something that's beneficial to Asseco? Unknown Executive: [Interpreted] So Marek, he likes to argue. So this is my area. And of course, we're competing with TSA in Constellation and M&A. And that's not changing after the transaction, but we have written down what we're going to do together and how we're going to behave if we identify a conflict of interest. And so betraying what it looks like from the kitchen. So if we identify that there is a conflict of interest that we're competing on a given project, then we won't engage in these type of consultations in that case. So even members of the investment committee from the TSS that would not participate in these meetings. They would not have any role to consult on those projects. And so we can do that according to our own recognition, according to our best knowledge and our experience. But this is an area where there is competition. Well, this is high business culture. somebody might think about it whether or not you needed that. But take a look, had we not been together. We wouldn't know anything about it. We would compete with one another anyway. Today, I wouldn't preclude a situation, in fact, that we will not want to buy something and we'll inform them of that fact. And we'll give them that target for them to think because it's perhaps the case they might want to buy it because this could be aligned to a concept they harbor. This is something we're going to be able to master. Marek, there are some individual examples and we've developed -- we've cultivated them. There are some cases. It's hard to be surprised because TSS and Constellation are highly active players and the market of potential targets is finite in size, that universe is finite in size. So in many cases, in 5 cases, we had conflicts of interest. And if this is something that we can live with out of a number under 20. Operator: [Interpreted] The next question is to Marek. In terms of potential targets in cybersecurity, are there any Polish companies in that universe? Marek Panek: And the answer is brief, yes. And this is where I would stop. Operator: [Interpreted] And the final question that we have from remote participants, are you thinking about developing a motivation program where the strike price would be closer to the market price as opposed to, let's say, PLN 1. Unknown Executive: [Interpreted] Well, yes, in our concept, I don't know if somebody has noticed, we have 1.5% stake. Those are shares linked to my -- to me. I've selected some 95 persons who, in my opinion, will clearly drive the future. I would like to give shares to 33,000 people. There is no person in our company, in our group who will not drive the future. But just as such, that we had to make some choices. And so for group consists of 95 people. And I believe that these people have earned and deserve to take a role in the future. This is one program. And in that program, these objectives, we can discuss what those objectives should be. But this is going to be PLN 1 because we need these people as investors, but there is a program PLN 0.25. That is a program to change or slightly new bonus program and the bonus program this is experience that I've known from Constellation for years, and this is from [ Topicos]. And so Rafal Kozlowski is today coming forward to each one of our leaders in people who are heading up businesses. And the proposal is that a portion of their bonus would be paid out in shares, in equities, and they will be purchased at the market price. And so these shares would be purchased at market price. And so we'll have a program of that sort as well. I don't know the details, but [indiscernible] who set up Constellation in that overall concept. This is a person from the financial market. He himself with his family. I don't want to -- it was a 7% or 9% over 30 years. These were shares. These were these bonuses. That's how he was able to compile that position that were purchased at various points in time. We want -- our team doesn't have an obligation to follow that program, but we would also like to implement that program. And this will be an additional portion because the 95 people, this will give us a guarantee if you assist me in making sure that we can vote this through at the shareholder meeting, and then we'll make sure that, that other program is going to be available and that we want to remunerate people in the form of shares, of course, at the market price. So we'd like to thank you. Are there any other questions here in the room? Would anybody else like to we don't have a question from the room. So we'll wrap up the Q&A session. And we'd like to thank you very much. And so we've started this year very well. So it portends well. In the near future, we'll come back, but they won't take me to participate in the quarterly conferences. So I think Rafal will be Okay. You can -- so you can take him. I'd like to thank all of you, all those people who are participating remotely, the people here physically in attendance. And so I would like to thank you enormously because we are a very close-nit group, and we've lived many years together in a beautiful way, and you've all had a very positive contribution to the development of our capital market. You've never disappointed me. So I didn't have the 95% share. You've never disappointed me and the votes were always consistent with what I was thinking or what I came forward to propose. And so I'm very grateful because you have a real participation in what we as Asseco have achieved this great achievement. Let me tell you, this is a commercially viable approach. It's worthwhile to turn over that 1.5% equity stake to 95% [indiscernible]. So let's continue vying for our position for there to be peace across the world because then it will be very easier -- much easier for us than to smile then. So thank you once again, then Bye-bye. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]
Operator: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Xaar plc investor presentation. [Operator Instructions] Before we begin, I'd like to submit the following poll. I'd now like to hand you over to John Mills, CEO. Good afternoon, sir. John Mills: Thank you very much. And first of all, thank you, everybody, for taking the time to come on and listen to the story of Xaar. For some people who will have known Xaar from old, I just wanted to kind of quickly run through some of the history and some of the things that would have characterized Xaar historically and hopefully how Xaar today contrasts with that. So if you go back to 2013, Xaar was a FTSE 250 company, had GBP 140 million of revenue, made GBP 42 million profit, market cap of around about $1 billion, but it was effectively a single product into a single market, and that was ceramics. And that market, Xaar lost that market for various reasons and left the company really with no other revenue streams. And over the last decade, it's really been recovering from that situation. In contrast today, I've been with the company now for 6 years, and we've really focused on making sure that we have a broad portfolio of applications based around a value proposition, which is unique to Xaar. And really, what I would like you to take away with today is really two things. Firstly, that we have a unique capability to print fluids that no one else can and that we deploy that capability across a broad range of applications, which potentially give us significant revenue opportunity and indeed quite significant resilience against any individual market problems. So in order to first of all, explain to you what the value proposition of the business is that we make industrial inkjet printers and printheads. And we compete with companies like Epson and Fuji, Kyocera, Ricoh, Konica and also Seiko. These are huge Japanese corporations with global reach and substantially lower manufacturing costs than we have. And I think that the challenge or the problem for Xaar over the previous 15, maybe 20 years is trying to compete with these companies on their home territory is incredibly difficult and ultimately, Xaar has lost. And having joined the company in -- back in 2019, I, having known the company for many years, really focused on the attribute that Xaar had, which was unique, which is that we can print fluids that no one else can. And that parameter that's really important is viscosity. And viscosity is a measure of how thick the fluid is. So water has a viscosity of 1. Cream is 22. olive oil is 65 and yogurt all the way up at 1,000. So if you take the global #1 Epson, they can go up to around about 8 center points. So -- and some of the other competitors may be able to get over 20 and approaching 30, but really, that will probably be a generous assessment. We've got applications well over 100. And therefore, we have this capability of printing fluids that no one else can print. And the way to think about that is that if you have a fluid, if you want to add things into the fluid to add functionality to the fluid, the more you add in to the fluid, the more functionality you will have. But the more you add in, the more viscous or the thicker the material, the fluid is likely to become. So there is a correlation between functionality and viscosity. So the more functional the fluid, typically the thicker, more higher the viscosity is. And therefore, what we are seeing at Xaar is we can print fluids that are far more functional than other printhead manufacturers. And so the question then remains is, well, what do you do with that? And what I'd like to do today is just share with you some of the applications that utilize this unique capability, so you can see the sort of the breadth of applications that we are currently operating in. So the first one is decorating of cars. So today, if you want to put a graphic on a car, you need to use a sticker. If anybody has a mini or know somebody with a new mini, typically, they have some form of graphic on there that's a sticker. And those are not really well liked in the industry. So if you want to put graphics on there, that's pretty much the only way you can do that. We started working with Axalta, who are one of the major global suppliers of car paint to the industry and also Durr who make robots and 50% of the world's paint shops have their robots in them. And collectively, we have created a technology called NextJet, and this allowed you to digitally print graphics onto cars. So if you see the bottom right-hand corner, we're printing on the side of a door. And you could imagine that if we had a low viscosity watery fluid, then that would actually just drip and run down the side of the car, you would not be able to print graphics on a vertical surface. And so what I hope is clear from this that you actually need to have high viscosity capability to be able to print graphics onto vertical surfaces in this application. And so there's no other printhead that can do this, and we've enabled an industry to adopt digital technology through our ability to print high viscosity fluids. Just to go through another application. So this is car batteries. So this is another application where we started working with the battery industry about 5 years ago. There are issues around battery safety. And one of the contributory factors to this is that the insulation layer, the blue plastic film that goes around the battery to provide electrical insulation can be damaged through mechanical rubbing or through heat cycling of the battery as it's charged and then utilized. Having developed a fluid which is UV curable, you print on the battery, you shine UV light on it and it turns into plastic. This coating is nonflammable. It's much stronger. It doesn't crack and it has better peel strength away from the battery. So this is a better solution than the wrapping of the battery. As of today, we have 3 OEMs who we sell printheads to. They've built machines that print the battery. You see one of those operated on the bottom left-hand side of the video. And there are now 10 production lines in China that are making batteries on a daily basis for cars. And to give you some sense of scale, we have about GBP 150,000 worth of revenue for each production line. There's 10 in there at the moment, and we expect another 10 to 15 going in this year. And overall, there are 1,300 production lines in China. And so if the industry adopts this fully and changes all of the production lines to this digital coating, that would represent around about GBP 200 million of revenue for us. And if they did that over a 5-year period, that would be a good volume of revenue per year. For each of the applications that we have, there's a secondary revenue stream, which is from the replacement printhead cycle. So once you have an installed base, depending on the life of the printhead in that application, and that's a function of the type of fluid and the environment it works in. And in this application, the life of the battery may be -- may be, say, 4 years, then every year, you would expect to replace 25% of your printheads. What that means is if you have an installed base of GBP 200 million worth of printheads, then 25% would get replaced on an annual basis. So -- and that's the same across all industries. So you have revenue of printheads going in for new machines. And then depending on the replacement cycle, you have an annuity revenue from the replacement and printheads. So that's the battery coating. Change in tacks. If anybody has a desktop 3D printer, it's probably for those who recognize the term, an FDM printer, which is like a roll of fishing line that essentially goes through a nozzle and heats up and basically an arm scribes a path around and the fiber sticks to the fiber that was previously laid down and that way you build up a 3D model. And it typically is one color or a couple of colors and it's not very high resolution. And that's the typical 3D printer that's bought today, but there are 5 million of those printers bought every year. If you want to print something high resolution in full color, so things like you see on the bottom of the screen, all the things on the table next to the machine and the little farm on the left-hand side, if you want to print high-resolution things of that nature, you probably have to pay somewhere between GBP 40,000 and GBP 150,000 for an industrial machine. We've been working with Flashforge. They're one of the major suppliers of the desktop 3D printers. They sold 700 units last year. We have been working with them to develop the world's first desktop 3D printer. We estimate that, that printer will be on sale for around about GBP 2,500 to GBP 3,000. And with the occurrence now of AI, you can take a photograph of somebody or any object, AI will render that into a 3D model, and you can print it out on the printer. Equally, you can describe something into AI, and it will create the figure for you. So hobbyists around the world will be able to print whatever they would like to fulfill their needs in their hobby. So just if you have opportunity if you were to Google Flashforge CJ270, you'll be able to see the pre-marketing -- prelaunch, which we expect to be in the next few months. It's actually been shown at multiple trade shows to date ahead of the launch later this year. So I'll just play you the promotional video for the product. [Presentation] John Mills: Just to give you some sense of scale, the 500,000 desktop printers are sold each year, 1% of the market were to buy this machine that would represent GBP 25 million of revenue for Xaar. What we don't know because it's a brand-new product into the market is exactly how many units will be sold. So we're quite excited about this, so -- but the exact number is very difficult to predict, and so we will look forward to launch and see how many did sell. One of the things that's really impacted the numbers this year, we started working with the wax industry about 3 years ago, 4 years ago. This is an industry which uses wax to create bespoke high-quality jewelry in gold and platinum. What happens here is that the wax is actually heated up with melts and then you inkjet print the wax onto a substrate and you build up the facsimile of whatever you want in the gold or platinum in the wax. You then take that wax model and in case in effect like a plaster of Paris and it dries. And then once it's dried, you then heat up, the wax melts and then runs out and then you've left with the mold and then you can pour your gold and platinum into the mold. And then once it cools down, you break the mold and you've got your piece of jewelry. The -- we've taken that market very quickly because the -- again, the ability to print a wax that's much better, much stronger than the previous wax means that you can produce higher quality and more intricate jewelry. So when this was actually launched by the first company, the quality of the jewelry that was produced was so differentiated that every single other OEM looked at that and said, "We need to use our printheads because we won't be able to compete". So we went from 0 revenue in '23, we had around about GBP 1 million revenue in '24 and then GBP 8 million of revenue in '25. So we think we've got a sizable share of that market now. So we expect some growth in '26, but that's an example of a market where, again, we've taken market share purely down to the fact that we can print a better fluid than what was previously printed. The final application I'll show you today is on printing of cardboard. Probably all of you will receive Amazon packages. These are sort of cardboard boxes or sort of envelopes that you -- and they will all have a plastic -- a white plastic label with the address and the barcodes and other things on it. That's -- the plastic label that's on it is expensive, and it also makes it more challenging to recycle. And the reason for that is you can't print white ink onto -- digitally on to cardboard because what happens is that it's low viscosity and it just soaks into the cardboard, which is what you see in the image at the top here. As it sinks in, it takes the pigment with it into the cardboard and you can't see any of the white pigment left. Closer to a slowdown, you see that by contrast, a high viscosity fluid and a high viscosity fluid has less water. It's thicker. It doesn't soak into the cardboard and therefore, the pigment stays on the surface. So this gives us the opportunity to actually print digitally onto cardboard, which would be a significantly cheaper process, but also help with recycling. So again, this is just about the benefit of using a high viscosity fluid. So hopefully, that's been helpful. What I'll do now is hand over to Paul, who can take you through some of the financials. Paul James: Thank you, John. Yes. Okay. I'm not going to plow through the slides, slide by slide. If you want to see that, it's available on our website, but what I would like to do is just highlight some key financial numbers that we've delivered and talk about the shape of the numbers going forward over the medium term. So first of all, the group is organized into three divisions. The largest one, one of the greatest scale is Printhead, and then we have Megnajet, which is predominantly dealing in producing ink systems, and then we have EPS in the United States, which builds machines for high-speed single pass printing direct-to-shape purposes. And then you look at how they performed in 2025 versus 2024. Overall, the group is up 12% year-on-year, but Printhead revenue standout performance of 22% up versus the prior year. And that performance is driven, as John has alluded to, primarily from the Wax segment, the growth there. And actually, that 22% revenue growth, over half of it was a volume increase. And so more about that and its effects on our numbers in a moment. Megnajet broadly flat 2% and EPS down 10%. And the reason for that was they had a large multiyear contract to basically print on golf balls, and that came to a sudden unexpected end at the beginning of last year. And the then management team hadn't yet built a sufficient pipeline to backfill that loss of contract. So we have had a dip in performance there, but we brought in new management. And interestingly, despite that 10% reduction in revenue, the gross margin at EPS grew by 300 basis points, and that is as a result of restructuring, cost-out initiatives and so on and so forth. So the new manager has dealt with that. He's dealt with a number of intractable issues, and he's also rebuilt that pipeline. And one of the attributes of EPS is the way revenue is recognized. You kind of know 6 months ahead of time how much revenue you're going to have. So EPS is very much back into growth mode and we will, I'm sure, continue growing, continue performing financially very well. And then back to Printhead, as we said, 22% up, and that also came with 300 basis points increase in gross margin. And that is a key attribute of this business, which is that we have a very effective operational gearing effect. If volume does increase, then margin will increase too. So let's talk about first number, how that's -- we see that, how it's going to develop over the medium term. 40% gross margin overall. I had a look back -- by the way, I've been in Xaar just over a year. I had to look back over its history and the high watermark in terms of gross margin performance was probably about a decade ago where it was nudging 50%, high 40s certainly. Now you've got to be a bit careful making that comparison with then because, of course, it's apples and pears and revenue was made up of different constituent parts. But nevertheless, 50% does seem to be a laudable target to get back to. And so the current management team, we're now all working towards that over the medium term increasing that gross margin. And yes, operational gearing will help. If the business grows, the volume increases. But also, we are looking at cost-out initiatives. We're looking at -- we'll be looking at procurement, better procurement initiatives. And we've also shifted part of our supply chain to China to be closer to our customers. I describe as sort of ancillary activities. It's not the core IP activities that go into China and the inkjet systems construction also in China. So two benefits of that. We'll be close to the customer base, the Chinese customer base, but also it will take a lot of cost out of our base. So yes, 50% is we've set ourselves that medium-term goal to get as close to that as possible. I think another thing I'd like to talk about is the balance sheet and how that's shaping up. So it's true to say that in recent years, Xaar has held elevated levels of inventory. I'm not interested in why that was, but it's a fact, and it does need addressing. So we are setting ourselves the goal of -- and I've done this in other companies I worked in, of, if you like, a continuous improvement goal of increasing stock turn year in, year out, a minimum of half turn increase, preferably a 1 turn increase every year. And rather than just obsessing about a particular absolute number, stock turn has the benefit of being linked to how the business is performing, how the business is growing. And I see that as a way to free up more cash and get into that sort of virtuous circle of investing more, growing more, et cetera, et cetera. So that's something else perhaps you should look out for going forward with Xaar. In terms of investing in growth, a couple of things there. We spend about 8% to 10% of our revenue on R&D, and that feels about the right number at the right level. And in terms of capital expenditure, we have had last year elevated levels of CapEx, but that was investing in capability to basically speed up sales and to deal with some bottlenecks. And I think going forward, you can expect slightly higher elevated levels of CapEx, too, just to invest in growth, but also -- perhaps also to deal with some legacy issues in terms of replenishment of the asset base in the factory that we do need to address. So I hope that gave a bit of a flavor for the business. And yes, I'll hand back to John. John Mills: Good. I mean it's quite difficult to judge these things when the -- you can't see the audience. So hopefully, that's given you a sense of the company. I think the summary for me about the business is that when I go around and talk to particularly institutional investors, many of them have -- know Xaar. And one of their concerns is that Xaar has historically been boom and bust, and very difficult to predict the future revenues. I think what we'd say today is that we've worked hard on making sure that we have a very clear value proposition, and we only enter into markets where we have a unique and clear value proposition against the competition and that we now have 21 separate markets where we derive revenue. And we have in most of those many customers and a strong pipeline of applications that are coming through. So we feel confident about the business model, and we feel confident about the revenue growth over the coming years. What's very difficult to predict is the detail of when any individual application tool will land. And therefore, we tried to avoid talking about specifics of timing. But I think the key thing is that over time, the ones that are in the pipeline will come through. So for those who've got a slightly longer time horizon in the sort of 3 to 5 years, I think where we are today, it's difficult to see how we're not going to grow revenue substantially over that time. And with the operational gearing, we should see some of that falling through to the bottom line. John Mills: So with that, I think we'll look at any questions that we have. So I can currently see four questions that have come through. So please write any questions in the thing, and we'll do our best to answer them. We have a bit of time left over, so we can hopefully answer those questions as we go through. So I'll take them. First question, do we have any collaboration with [TeraView]? No, we don't at the moment. It's interesting that we're now starting to see companies coming to us once they understand our capabilities. So maybe that's something we should pursue. The second question is that with the 22% increasing in Printhead revenues, how much is initial system adoption versus recurring? That's from Matt. Matt, I think the revenues that we see coming in, we would describe as all recurring revenues. What we would normally see is that you have several years where you sell printheads into an OEM as they start developing machines and selling machines, then eventually, you get to a level of saturation where everybody who needs a machine has got one. And then you left to replacement recycle of the machine and you are left to growth within that market. And then the replacement heads for your installed base. So the revenue would peak after a number of years and then would move into a steady state where there will be slower growth, it might fall back by 20%, 30%. So that's how we tend to think about it. And therefore, what we -- when we model revenues, we look at layering on different applications. And so we take sort of fairly modest views of growth after the initial market size and try and layer that on. So hopefully, that answers the question. The second question is how visible are revenue levels over coming years from the new application areas? And again, this is a really good question and one of the fundamental ones for understanding the business. We sell printheads to OEMs. And if you take the battery situation, we sell printheads to OEMs who make the digital printers. They sell the digital printers to companies that develop production lines for the battery manufacturers and the battery manufacturers buy the production line. So we're three companies removed from the decision-makers in relation to the batteries. And therefore, we're not having direct conversations with the battery companies. We take our information from a number of sources and try and integrate that together to create a picture of what we think is going to happen. So it's incomplete. We are not selling machines directly to an end user. So in many cases, our information is not perfect in that. We do our best to try and understand forecasting and we ask our OEMs' forecast and what they believe are going to happen, and we have to interpret that in the best way that we can for planning. Typically, things usually take longer. The numbers that get delivered are usually smaller. And we try to take that into account when we look at any forecast that we publish. Next question I have is that the revenue opportunities for battery coating and 3D printing, are those annual revenue? How does the drop-through margins in each section differ? Yes, very good question. I think on the 3D -- on all of the -- as I said earlier, on all of the applications, we really are looking at recurring revenue. We don't see any revenue that comes in for a single year and then stops. So the revenues we talk about should be recurring revenues. The margins are quite different across different market sectors. The wax and the battery coating, the margins are quite strong. If you look at the consumer market, the desktop 3D, the margins are much lower in those areas. So we tend to try and price to value rather than looking at competitive pricing. And we try to maintain margins on the basis that we are enabling industries to do things they previously couldn't do. We're not competing on price in many of these markets. So -- and in terms of drop-through, this year, we did GBP 0.8 million profit on the revenues. As the top line grows, we should have -- we're now at that kind of breakeven point with the factory. So as we go forward, we should see more of that revenue dropping through. Okay. Next question is around IP from Paul. The IP protection, particularly as we are exposing the technology in China. Yes, really good question. We have very strong IP, but our strategy is to patent in -- according to GBP. So we take the top 6, 7 countries, excluding China, and we patent in those countries. And the reason we do that is that I think if we have a Chinese company, for instance, that did infringe our IP, we may find it difficult to enforce our IP in China. However, if those companies then build a printhead and sell that printhead outside of China into a territory where we have IP, then whoever uses that printhead is infringing our IP, and therefore, we can send the cease and desist. So our strategy is to enforce it in territories where we are able to kind of follow up and prosecute our IP effectively. So that's really what we would do. Somehow all the questions have disappeared. Paul James: You've answered them, I think. John Mills: Hopefully, that -- is there any more questions that we could -- I'm going to let you take that one, Paul. Paul James: Yes. Okay. So we obviously have a medium-term strategic plan, which we've not yet... John Mills: Please go and state the questions, Paul, you probably have to read the question. Paul James: Sorry. Thanks for reminding. So the first question, what level of turnover and profitability would you target in 3 to 5 years? So we obviously do have a medium-term strategic plan. It's been discussed at Board level and all signed up to. You would expect to see the growth levels we've achieved last year of 12% for the group, according to our plans, that's not inconsistent with the sort of annual growth levels you could expect to see going forward. And in fact, if you look at the consensus numbers that are out there, the revenue growth is broadly consistent with that. So a sort of 10 and a bit percent growth in revenue going forward. And then as we've mentioned a couple of times, the operating leverage benefits will start to kick in as well with that volume growth. By the way, I expect at least half of that revenue growth will be volume at least. And so as I said earlier, I am pushing for gross margins to be heading towards as close to possible 50% and with an operating margin in the high teens. That would be the sort of place I'd like to be in terms of profit and revenue. I think the next question is a congratulatory note, I think. Operator: That's great. Thank you for answering all those questions you can from investors. And of course, the company can review all questions submitted today, and will publish those responses on the Investor Meet Company platform. Just before redirecting investors to provide you with their feedback, which is particularly important to the company, John, could I please just ask you for a few closing comments? John Mills: Yes. Well, thank you very much for taking the time to come and listen to the story. We're quite excited about the business. It's been a bit of a grind for 5 years to build the pipeline and to do that. We do feel we're in a position now where we're at a kind of inflection point. And we can see growth coming over the coming years. It's important to say with any of these applications, it's very, very difficult for us to predict the exact timing or volume of any individual applications. So I wouldn't buy our shares on the basis of one particular application, but I think I'd encourage everybody to look at the broader value proposition of the unique capability of high viscosity fluids and the impact that has on industry and the breadth of the opportunity that we have because I think ultimately, that will be the thing that drives consistent revenue growth over the coming years. So again, thank you very much for your attendance. And hopefully, we can see some of you joining the share register in the near future. Thank you very much. Paul James: Thank you. Operator: That's great. Thank you for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close the session as you'll now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This may take a few moments to complete, and I'm sure will be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation, and good afternoon to you all.
Operator: Good day, everyone. Welcome to the Milestone Scientific Inc. Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results and Business Update Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, James Carbonara with Hayden IR. The floor is yours. James Carbonara: Thank you, operator. Good day, everyone. Before we begin, please note that today's call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results differ materially from those projected. Please refer to our earnings press release as well as our filings with the SEC, including our 2025 Form 10-K for a discussion of these risks. A replay of this call will be available shortly after its conclusion. With that, I'll turn the call over to our CEO, Eric Hines. Eric Hines: Thank you, James, and good morning to everybody, and thank you for joining our call today. When I stepped in as a CEO in August of 2025, the company was in the middle of the quarter and had been operating without a consistent executive leadership team. I found an organization where spending wasn't always tied to revenue generation or clear ROI. And from day 1, we went line by line through every expense,, cut what wasn't moving the needle and made sure every dollar had a purpose. We also chose not to raise capital just to fund that kind of spending. Our shareholders deserve better. Our focus has been on responsible stewardship while building a stronger operating model. Our early priority was understanding the business, restructuring and building the right team. We also invested in organizational structure, building a capable commercial team and strengthening leadership to ensure we have the talent, processes and tools to execute. The restructuring completed in 2025 allows us to move past stabilization and begin to play offense smartly, investing where we see clear returns and staying disciplined and everything else. By Q4, we began that shift to increasing targeted digital marketing and launching initiatives across both business segments that drove early traction. Our dental business remains the company's backbone. Internationally, adoption of the STA, Single Tooth Anesthesia system continues to grow, reflecting the strength of our technology and distribution relationships. We are also pursuing registrations in many other countries, including Japan, India and Mexico, which could open meaningful new markets. Domestically, we see significant room for expansion with still less than 2% of the overall market. The pilot launch of our dental Ambassador program in December sparked renewed engagement. And in January '26, we took it national. We continue executing that program and pursuing international registrations, and we expect to see results from these efforts beginning in the second and third quarters. Turning to the medical side. CompuFlo is increasingly important to our story. This patented system provides real-time pressure feedback to guide precise epidural injections and clinician interest continues to build. We believe CompuFlo represents a transformative growth driver as reimbursement and clinical adoption expand. In 2025, we relaunched commercialization efforts for CompuFlo and advance the foundation for broader adoption, expanding clinician awareness, progressing regulatory and reimbursement efforts and strengthening key account engagement. In February 2026, we introduced our CompuFlo Advisor program, bringing together more than 10 physician partners and a dedicated reimbursement support infrastructure to drive utilization and accelerate adoption. Looking ahead, we are advancing broader Medicare reimbursement, onboarding new distribution partners and pursuing national and local VA channels. These programs position us to translate early traction into meaningful growth over the coming quarters. Turning to the guidance for 2026. We expect total revenue of $9.8 million to $10.2 million, reflecting double-digit year-over-year growth, driven by expanding adoption across both markets. We expect CompuFlo to contribute $500,000 to $600,000 and approximately 400% increase over 2025. Combined with 2025 cost actions, this 2026 top line growth should meaningfully improve operating leverage and significantly reduced cash burn relative to prior year levels. I want to be direct. Our goal is to reach cash flow breakeven in early 2027 and build real lasting value for shareholders. With a stronger organization, clear commercial focus and innovative products at the heart of our business, Milestone Scientific is entering 2026, ready to deliver. I'll now turn the call over to Keisha now for a few reviews of the financials. Keisha? Keisha Harcum: Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. Let's take a look at our financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025. For the 3 months ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, total revenue was $2.1 million and $2 million, respectively, an increase of 2.2% or $45,000. Gross profit was $1.5 million, unchanged compared to $1.5 million for the prior year period. Operating loss was $1.1 million, an 89% improvement of $953,000 compared to the operating losses of $2 million in the prior period. Net loss was $1.1 million compared to the net loss of $2 million for the prior period. Turning to the full year. Net sales totaled $9 million, up 4% from $8.6 million in 2024, driven primarily by the growth in international and dental sales. Gross profit remained flat at $6.4 million, reflecting changes in product mix and cost structure. Operating losses for 2025 improved by $1.1 million to $5.7 million, down from $6.8 million in 2024, primarily due to lower SG&A, reduced of dental-related and R&D expense. Net loss was $5.7 million or $0.07 per share, an improvement of $1 million on a dollar base compared to $4.7 million $0.06 per share in 2024. As of December 31, 2025, the company had $1.1 million in cash and debt of $800,000 and a strong working capital position to support continued growth initiatives. With that, I'll -- With that, operator, we can open the floor for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question is coming from Bruce Jackson with Benchmark Co. Bruce Jackson: You mentioned that with -- I think it was CompuFlo, you've put in place some reimbursement support with the doctors. Maybe you could elaborate on that a little bit more. Eric Hines: Thanks, Bruce, and good to hear from you. So yes, so one of the things that I observed even in the past as a shareholder is that we really didn't have the infrastructure in place to sort of shotgun the CompuFlo out globally. And so what we've done as part of the Advisor program is we have put a very robust group of individuals, in fact, 2 consultants Evelyn Gittinger and [ Rhonda Turner ], both 20-plus year Medicare veterans, who will be supporting our doctors that are part of the Advisor program with reimbursement claims and so forth as they start to initiate that process. So not only that, we've also got a call center, dedicated call center with 3 to 4 people that will be also helping the offices deal with rebuttals and so forth from a claims perspective. So we've got a good team with a lot of experience who will be helping the doctors through that process. Bruce Jackson: Okay. Great. And then 1 more reimbursement question. Are you still currently in 3 of the MACs? Eric Hines: We are. Bruce Jackson: And then the idea is to go more deeply into those 3 regions and then consider expanding from there? Eric Hines: Yes. So the focus will be on Novitas and First Coast in those 3 respective regions. However, we are already into, I believe, 2 additional MACs that we are -- that are part of Advisor program. So we are going to be pushing down and pressing down hard on the First Coast of Novitas MACs, but also expanding into others. Bruce Jackson: Okay. And then last question for me. The gross margins had a nice little tick up this quarter. Is that something that's going to be sustainable going forward? Eric Hines: I'm going to turn that over to Keisha. I think we're more or less going to be consistent with the gross margins. I think we'll stay in the 70% range is kind of the plan. Keisha Harcum: Yes, that is our plan. However, with issues of tariffs and anything like that might arise, we still have to look at all of those options to make sure that we are putting in accruals and different things like that, but we have not been affected totally with tariffs or anything like that at this time. Operator: Your next question is coming from Anthony Vendetti with the Maxim Group. Anthony Vendetti: Yes, Eric, I was just wondering the guidance for the CompuFlo, for the Epidural System for pain management. Is -- are there specific milestones you need to reach or specific number of pain clinics or physicians using it to get to that? How much of that is -- how that guidance is from current signed up clinics or physicians? And then how much of that do you need to actually go out and procure? Eric Hines: That's a great question. So it will be a combination of a handful of things, right? So it will be -- I'm going to say 3 different things, right? First and foremost, it will be the existing customers, right? We've got 1 of our Board members Dr. Demesmin, whose clinic and others within that group use the solution. And we've got several that were generated under the prior administration. We also have added quite a number of new physicians, and we're finding that the adoption rate is maybe a little bit higher than even we expected because people that get it, get it and see the value even in spite of some of the Medicare challenges right at this moment. And then the third is international, right? So we've got sort of 3 components to that. But right now, we are seeing quite an appetite for people and for new customers, embracing the units. And I think you'll see that reflected in our Q1 highlights at some point. Anthony Vendetti: Okay. And then switching gears to the dental program. you launched a new program, the Wand Ambassador program. How does that differ from any other marketing strategy the company has had in the past? And what specific KPIs do you need to hit? Or do needs to occur for that to be deemed successful for '26? Eric Hines: Yes. No, another good question. So how it differs is historically, we've got a relatively small inside sales team who chases the dental business. So we've got 1 person who focuses on the installed base and another person that's focused on new business. And we've really fortified sort of our digital marketing tremendously to the point that we're seeing so many leads come in that it's a tough time for us to sort of keep up with the staff we have to do the demos. So the Ambassador program is a little bit more of a local push. So I believe that as of now, we've signed up nearly 200, I think, about 175 ambassadors nationally, which include, I don't know, maybe 20 or 30 states, and so the point there is that we get people out physically in the marketplace talking with expertise because these are registered for the most part, dental hygienists, until we get people out in the community who know the doctors in their respective communities out visiting offices, in some cases, in a physical way. And in other cases, them using some of our own content to broadcast the great things about the Wand STA on their own social media channels. So it's really an effort to get out into the physical market, more so than relying on inside sales and relying on digital marketing. We've generated, I think, close to 30 demos as a result of it so far. And again, there's a certain percentage of those that translates into new sales. So as far as what we expected to contribute in 2026, the goal is somewhere in the neighborhood of a few hundred thousand dollars of new sales as a result of the Ambassador program. And more recently, I think in the next -- in the coming days, we have -- I don't know if it's like a refresher, but we have monthly meetings with our entire ambassador staff, they're sort of giving them FAQs, what's working, what's not working, who's having success, what content seems to be working. So it's still a little bit new, but at the same time, we're pretty happy with the results of thus far. Anthony Vendetti: Okay. And then on the guidance, I think the total guidance is $9.8 million to $10.2 million. Obviously, most of that is the dental program, the STA. You mentioned you're looking at other international opportunities in Japan, Mexico, India. Is -- does the guidance include any revenue from those new countries? Or is the guidance -- or if you start generating revenues in 1 of those other countries in '26, that would be upset. Eric Hines: Yes, the numbers don't contemplate any business from Mexico, India or Japan at this moment that -- we're still waiting for the final registrations to be approved. We're 85%, 90% of the way through those, but it's up to each individual country to work through their respective systems to get us the official registration. But we're pretty far along in each of them. We had expectations that we might 1 or 2 in the first quarter, but we're probably a couple of months. So we'll see. We hope that will be accretive to the guidance. Anthony Vendetti: Okay. Great. And then last question, just switch back to the CompuFlo. So I know one of the reasons that the focus has moved to the pain clinics versus the hospitals for OB/GYN. For CompuFlo, the hospitals are a much longer sales cycle, tougher to penetrate and get traction as a small company and the pain clinics are a little bit faster conversion cycle in terms of marketing to them and seeing the benefits and hopefully, getting a sale. Is -- do you have a -- at this point, a good grasp on how long that takes? How long is the sales cycle for the pain clinics. And is there any way to shorten that at this point? Eric Hines: Yes. No, we've seen sales cycles as short as a day, right? I mean, so -- and I don't think that we're just missing OB/GYN, neurosurgery, what we're finding is we're still kind of a little bit in the discovery phase where we pivoted from labor and delivery over to pain. We're not convinced or at least I'm not convinced that this -- the CompuFlo doesn't have an opportunity to penetrate all respective markets. Again, we want to do our best to be focused. On the other hand, we're -- we don't want to completely walk away from things where we think there's huge potential. I mean, labor and delivery being one of those, right? Because there, the doctors going blind with no fluoroscopy. And when you get into more complex cases and neurosurgery up in the cervical spine and even the thoracic, you've got ribs in the way that compromise the x-ray. So it makes it more difficult for them in more difficult cases. We're seeing spinal stimulation opportunities. So we haven't completely dismissed any of the markets. We want to remain focused on pain, and we're seeing sales cycles like I said, that can -- anywhere from a few days, right? I'll just give a shout out to 1 of our great Board members, Dr. Sayed, who's been tremendously helpful in introducing us to lots of people within that community. Operator: [Operator Instructions] your next question is coming from John [ Corb ], a private investor. Unknown Attendee: Eric. I have a very short comment. As you may know or remember from our last quarterly call, I'm a long-term shareholder, been a shareholder for many years with Milestone. First of all, I really like the way you are handling this company since you came on Board. And there's -- the last line in your comment or your written comment yesterday, I don't think I've ever read anything like this from Milestone. Our objective is clear: position the company to achieve cash flow breakeven by early '27. That's extremely focused. I've asked in the past, when will you be cash flow neutral positive and the answers were always nebulous. You're extraordinarily focused, and I'm greatly encouraged by your stewardship at Milestone. So I just want to thank you for your efforts. Eric Hines: John, I appreciate that, and I couldn't do any of this without Keisha. She's sitting here with me, and she's tough, right? And we, together as a team are going to ensure that we -- every money -- every cent that comes into this company is going to be used in the right way. And as a former shareholder and current shareholder like yourself, a lot of us were discouraged by the way the company was handling some of that. And I can promise you, we're going to do everything we possibly can to get to cash flow breakeven. And as I pointed out in the conversation we had moments ago, we are not going to take money and send it toward bad situations. And the money that we receive or that comes into the company will be used in a very judicious way. And if we can't get to breakeven next year, I'll be disappointed. Operator: [Operator Instructions] There are no questions in queue at this time. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Eric Hines for any closing remarks. Eric Hines: I just want to thank everybody for joining, and we greatly appreciate all of our shareholders. This is going to be a shareholder-driven company here until I'm gone. Hopefully, that's not for a long time. And I'm looking forward to a great 2026. And I hope everyone has a happy and healthy week ahead of them, and good luck to all of us and thank you Kelly and thank you, James, for managing the call, and good luck. Thank you. Operator: Thank you, everyone. This does conclude today's conference call. You may disconnect your phone lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. Thank you for your participation.