NVZMY (NVZMY) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Novonesis H1 2026 Conference Call. I'm Moritz, your Chorus Call operator. [Operator Instructions] And the conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Tobias Cornelius Bjorklund. Please go ahead, sir. Tobias Björklund: Thank you very much, operator, and welcome, everyone, to Novonesis' Conference Call for the first half of 2026. As mentioned, my name is Tobias Bjorklund. I'm heading up Investor Relations here at Novonesis. In this call, our CEO, Ester Baiget; and our CFO, Rainer Lehmann, will review our performance as well as the outlook for 2026. The conference call will take around 50 minutes, including Q&A. Please change to the next slide. As usually, I would like to remind you that the information presented during the call is unaudited and that management may forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and beliefs and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statement. With that, I now have the pleasure to hand you over to our CEO, Ester Baiget. Ester, please.

Thank you. Thank you, Tobias, and welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning. We delivered a strong 8% organic sales growth in the first half of the year. This includes a negative effect of around 1.5 percentage points from exiting certain countries. Price contributed close to 2 percentage points and sales synergies contributed a good 1 percentage point. Growth was broad-based across all sales areas, and we achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 37.7%. Both developed and emerging markets grew 8% in the first half of the year, with growth across all regions. We continue to deliver growth through innovation and stronger market presence with tailored solutions. We launched 11 new biosolutions, and we are on track of our full year expectation of more than 30. These launches are responding to increasing needs for healthier products, higher yields, resilient and efficient production as well as replacing chemicals across industries. We've now passed 1 year after closing the Feed Enzyme Alliance acquisition, and we are delivering well in line with original commitments. We continue to see increasing traction with customers around the globe through a direct, broader and more integrated offering of enzymes and probiotics, positioning us well to harvest the growth opportunities from the acquisition. Based on the strong results of the first half year and a good trajectory for the rest of the year, we are increasing our full year guidance to 7% to 8%. Growth is expected to be mainly volume driven, supported by a good 1 percentage point from each from pricing and synergies. The outlook includes a close to 1 percentage point negative effect from exiting certain countries. With a stronger sales outlook, we now also expect the adjusted EBITDA margin to be at the higher end of the 37% to 38% range. We announced earlier this month that we signed an agreement to acquire the remaining shares of MicroBioGen, where we have been a minority shareholder since 2013, strengthening our yeast capabilities. We continuously look at our capital allocation. And with the developments we are currently seeing, we initiate a multiyear share buyback program of a total of EUR 1 billion that we expect to finalize in 2029. With that, let us look at the divisional performance, starting with Food & Health Biosolutions. Could you please turn to Slide #4? Thank you. Food & Health Biosolutions delivered a strong organic sales growth of 9% in the first half of 2026, including a negative impact from exiting certain countries of around 3 percentage points. Pricing contributed close to 2 percentage points and synergies contributed a good 1 percentage point to growth. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 36.2%, slightly higher than last year. This was mainly driven by economies of scale and synergies and partially offset by the ramp-up in commercial resources that we did over the course of 2025, product mix effects from HMO growth and currency headwinds. In the second quarter, organic sales growth was strong at 9%, including the negative impact of around 3 percentage points from exiting certain countries. The adjusted EBITDA margin improved by 160 basis points compared to the same quarter of last year, mainly driven by the sales leverage. During the quarter, we launched 3 new products in Food & Health, including an analytical data platform that enables producers to deliver yogurts with consistent fresh taste over the shelf life, accelerating the use of our bioprotective cultures. For 2026, we expect the division to deliver organic sales growth around the higher end of the group range, driven by Food & Beverages. Could you please turn to Slide #5? Thank you. Food & Beverages delivered strong growth sales -- sales growth of 11% in both the first half of the year and in the second quarter. Pricing and sales synergies contributed positively, supported by cross-selling and increased commercial scale. Performance was supported by all industries, driven by market penetration and increasing adoption of innovation. Demand continues to be supported by the increasing pull for resilient and cost-efficient food production, clean label and healthy products, all while delivering the right taste, the right texture profiles adapted to the local preferences around the world. Momentum in dairy continued to be strong, driven by productivity gains, upselling and customer adoption of innovation, including increasing demand for probiotics and high-protein products, all driven by health and GLP-1 trends. This was further supported by solid growth in cheese with good contribution from conversion to our DVS format. Growth was led by North America and emerging markets. The strong growth across baking, beverages, meat and plant-based solutions was mainly driven by penetration and innovation. Our increased commercial presence and technology toolbox combining cultures and enzymes is positioning us well for an increasing reformulation activity and underpinning the strong growth we see in these segments. For 2026, a strong growth in Food & Beverages is expected to continue to be broad-based, supported by both synergies and pricing. Human Health delivered sales of a growth of 4%, both in the first half of the year and in the second quarter. Both pricing and synergies contributed positively. Performance was driven by Advanced Health & Nutrition, supported by both Early Life Nutrition and Advanced Protein Solutions. Growth in Early Life Nutrition was led by HMO with a strong growth across the regions, including cross-border trade into China. Advanced Protein Solutions grew alongside our anchor customer. Dietary supplements was impacted by a softening North American market, while the other markets contributed positively. We continue to see the resilience of the health care practitioner channel, a continued global pull for preventive health and demand for innovation, both in traditional areas such as gut health and women's health as well as in new categories such as weight management and GLP-1 support. For 2026, Human Health is expected to grow only slightly, supported by Advanced Health & Nutrition led by HMO, while dietary supplements is impacted by a temporarily cautious North American market. Please turn to Slide #6. Planetary Health Biosolutions delivered organic sales growth of 7% in the first half of the year and 9% in the second quarter. Pricing contributed close to 2 percentage points and sales synergies contributed a good 1 percentage point. The adjusted EBITDA margin in the first half of 2026 was 38.8%, up 40 basis points, driven by the Feed Enzyme Alliance acquisition and cost synergies. Margin improvements were partially offset by the ramp-up in commercial resources we did over the course of 2025 and currency headwinds. In the second quarter, the adjusted EBITDA margin was 38.2%, an increase of 80 basis points compared to the second quarter of 2025. In the second quarter, we launched 4 new solutions in Planetary Health. In Household Care, we launched a multi-enzyme blend for laundry detergents to provide higher performance and stability in various formulations. In Animal, we introduced a triple strain probiotic solution, improving the health of piglets and feed efficiency. For 2026, we expect the division to deliver organic sales growth around the lower end of the group range, supported by both Household Care and Agriculture, Energy and Tech. Please turn to Slide #7. Thank you. Household Care delivered organic sales growth of 8% in the first half of the year and 12% in the second quarter. Growth was broad-based and mainly volume-driven, supported by pricing. Performance was driven by increased market penetration with a strong traction among local and regional customers by the adoption of innovation across laundry and dish as well as other categories such as professional cleaning. In the second quarter, growth was driven by the same factors as those in the first half with particularly strong performance in emerging markets, also keeping in mind a relatively lower comparable. For 2026, we expect solid performance in Household Care, driven by continued innovation, increased penetration in both developed and emerging markets and continued support from pricing. Agriculture, Energy and Tech delivered organic sales growth of 6% in the first half of the year and 7% in the quarter. Growth in the first half was driven by double-digit growth in energy and supported by agriculture. Both synergies and pricing also contributed to growth. Strong growth in energy was driven by Latin America and Asia Pacific, particularly India, reflecting continued growth in corn ethanol production. North America also delivered strong growth through increased adoption of innovation and supported by higher ethanol production volumes driven by accelerating exports. This reflects a higher global demand for biofuels, driven by increasing need for energy security and supply stability. Additionally, increased penetration of biodiesel solutions and the ramp-up of second-generation ethanol production contributed to the strong growth. Growth in Agriculture was driven by animal, partially to an inventory buildup at the key customer in the first quarter as well as solid underlying performance in animal. Plant declined, impacted by weak U.S. farm economics. Tech declined in the first half of the year, driven by order timing in biopharma and a softer grain processing end market. In the second quarter, the performance was driven by double-digit growth in energy due to the same factors as the one in the first half of the year, but boosted also by increasing global demand in biofuels. In Agriculture, performance in animal was in line with expectations and did not include any inventory buildup, while plant was negatively impacted by weak U.S. farm economics. Tech was driven by growth in biopharma processing aids, while the soft grain processing end market impacted negatively. For 2026, growth in Agriculture, Energy and Tech is expected across all industries, led by Energy and Agriculture and supported by synergies and pricing. And now let me hand over to Rainer for a review on the financials and the outlook of 2026. Rainer, please.

Thank you, Ester, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's call from my side as well. Let's turn to Slide 8. In the first half of the year, sales grew by a strong 8% organically and 7% in reported euro. Pricing and synergies contributed close to 2 percentage points and a good 1 percentage point, respectively. Currencies provided 4 percentage point headwind, while M&A contributed positively with 3 percentage points related to the Feed Enzyme Alliance acquisition. The organic sales growth included around 1.5 percentage point negative effect from exiting certain countries. In the second quarter, sales grew by 9% organically and by 10% in reported euro. Pricing contributed here around 2 percentage points and synergies contributed a good percentage point. Currencies provided 1 percentage point headwind, while M&A contributed positively with 2 percentage points. The organic sales growth included around 1.5 percentage point effect from exiting certain countries. The adjusted gross margin was 59.7%, an improvement of 100 basis points compared to H1 of last year. Pricing, productivity improvements, sales leverage and the Feed Enzyme Alliance acquisition supported the development, partly offset by product mix related to HMO growth. Total operating expenses adjusted for PPA-related depreciation and amortization were 29.1% of sales compared to 28.4% in the first half of last year. The development was mainly driven by the increase of resources over the course of 2025 from both organic expansion and the Feed Enzyme Alliance acquisition. The adjusted EBITDA margin in H1 was 37.7% compared to 37.4% last year, mainly driven by the higher gross margin and cost synergies. This was partly offset by higher operating expenses and currency headwinds. The inventory buildup at a key customer in animal in Q1 had a minor positive impact on the margin. Adjusted earnings per share, excluding PPA amortization, increased 9% year-over-year to EUR 1.09. Operating cash flow was EUR 523.3 million in the first half of the year, representing an increase of 23% year-on-year. This was mainly driven by higher net profit despite higher depreciation and amortization. CapEx in H1 amounted to EUR 216.2 million, equal to 9.7% of sales. Free cash flow before acquisitions was flat year-over-year at EUR 307.6 million. The development was driven by higher operating cash flow, offset by the expected higher investment level. The Board of Directors of Novonesis has approved an interim dividend of DKK 2.35 per share for the first half of 2026. The dividend will be dispersed on August 27, 2026, with August 24, 2026, as the last trading day with dividend. With this, let us now turn to Slide #9 to talk about the 2026 outlook. Please note that the outlook presented today is based on the current level of global trade tariffs and the prevailing foreign exchange environment. As Ester said earlier, based on the strong results in the first half of the year and the strong momentum and demand we see for our solutions, we are increasing the outlook for organic sales growth to 7% to 8%. This includes a negative effect of close to 1 percentage point from exiting certain countries and a softer second half in Human Health. Growth is expected to be mainly volume driven, supported by a good 1 percentage point each from both sales synergies and pricing across both divisions. Second half organic sales growth will also be impacted by the reimbursement of U.S. tariffs to customers. This will only have a minor negative effect and is included in the full year outlook. As we previously talked about, the first quarter and therefore, also the first half benefited from an inventory buildup at a key customer in the animal business. For the full year, this effect will be neutral. In addition, please keep in mind that in the third quarter, we will be facing high comparables. We expect the adjusted EBITDA margin to be at the higher end of the range of 37% to 38% following the increased sales expectations. Compared to last year, the improvement is expected to be driven by a stronger gross margin, the Feed Enzyme Alliance acquisition and synergies, partly offset by currency headwinds and slightly higher input costs. Net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is expected to be around 1.8x at year-end, supported by strong cash generation and continued deleveraging. Despite the increased CapEx level and the acquisition we announced earlier this month, where we have signed an agreement to acquire the remaining 77% of the shares in MicroBioGen. We have been a minority shareholder since 2013, and this is a good example of a bolt-on technology acquisition that expands our technology footprint, in this case, building and expanding our yeast capabilities. As previously communicated, our temporary step-up in CapEx means that in 2026, CapEx is expected to be between 12% to 14% of sales. On a different note, starting in 2027, sales trading updates will replace the current format of the interim announcement for Q1 and Q3. We have delivered strong results in the first half of the year, and we're seeing good momentum and strong demand for our biosolutions. To continue this journey, we're deploying our capital where it creates most value according to our capital allocation principles. Please turn to the next slide for a quick look at how we see this developing. Our #1 capital allocation priority is to reinvest in organic growth through innovation, people and capacity as this is where we see the greatest return on invested capital. We continue to deploy capital innovation and commercial reach, while at the same time staying disciplined on cost. An example of this is the more than 400 commercial roles we added last year to support future growth. In addition, and as previously communicated, we're making a temporary step-up in CapEx to build the capacity, flexibility and resilience needed towards 2030 and beyond. By 2030, we expect CapEx as a percentage of sales to normalize to a high single-digit level. These dedicated investments include significant expansions of our U.S. culture capacity, a new large-scale multipurpose enzyme facility in emerging markets, which we expect to initiate soon, expanding the new facility in Thailand for HMO and a new ERP system that allows us to scale and gain efficiencies. We see an attractive return profile on these growth investments. This is contributing to our target of doubling the adjusted return on invested capital, excluding goodwill, to 16% by 2030. If we exclude the merger-related PPA and goodwill, as mentioned in the strategy update last year, the underlying return on invested capital was around 20% in 2024 with a positive trend towards 2030. Next, we continue to look for complementary bolt-on M&A. The acquisition of MicroBioGen mentioned earlier is a perfect example of such a bolt-on technology acquisition. As we're entering our target leverage range, we are now also in a position to return excess cash to our shareholders. Therefore, we announced inaugural share buyback program in a total amount of EUR 1 billion, which we expect to be finalized by 2029, while giving us room to continue to deleverage. With this step, we clearly show our commitment to all 3 building blocks of our capital allocation principles. With that, I will now hand over to Ester for a wrap-up. Ester?

Thank you, Rainer. Could you please turn to Slide #11. Thank you. Let me summarize our message today. We continue to deliver strong results with positive momentum across all sales areas and in both developed and emerging markets, also driving a strong profitability and cash flow. Our sustained performance quarter after quarter underlines the growing need for biosolutions, underlines the strength of our offering and the resilience of our broad market reach. On this basis, we have raised the full year outlook. Overall, we are delivering on our promises of today while also positioning the business for sustainable value creation ahead. And with that, we are eager and ready to open the call for Q&A. Operator, please?

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Thomas Lind Petersen from Nordea.

Congratulations on the strong results. So 2 questions from my side, please. The first one is regarding the guidance and the second half assumptions. You've delivered a strong 8% organic growth in the first half. You raised the full year range to 7% to 8%. And I'm sorry for being greedy here, but what specifically prevents the second half growth from remaining around the first half level or accelerating? You touched a bit upon the tough comps, but you also have Russia -- the exit of Russia coming out. So just where is the greatest conservatism in your new guidance here? That would be the first question. And then the second question is regarding energy and E15. And I know you cannot say whether it will go through, but what are the customers currently assuming regarding year-round E15 in the U.S.? And has the probability or timing of approval changed your commercial planning or capacity decisions here? That would be my questions.

Thank you, Thomas, for your questions. Let me start with the first one, pass it to Rainer and then cover the E15 question afterwards. I'll let Rainer bring the specifics of the drivers of -- particularly in the second half. But let me put a little bit of color of how do we see where we stand. We are in a good place, in a very good place. It's been quarter after quarter that we have been delivering solid performance. We had delivered 8% in the first half. With that strong 8% and the good momentum year-to-date, including the momentum we're seeing in Q3 and including our read of the market and the continuous pull of the underlying demand of the solutions that we bring in, that puts us in a very good place to upgrade our guidance to 7% to 8%. With that also comes aiming to the high end of the profitability and also the strong position on cash flow. And Rainer, I'll pass it to you for...

Yes. So Thomas, let me give you some color on what actually impacts a little bit the H2 growth rate. Well, as I said, really having still strong momentum. First of all, we have that onetime effect on -- in Q1 about the inventory buildup in animal at one of our customer sites. There was a one-off. Of course, we said in the -- for the full year, this is going to be neutral. That means that, of course, this dampens the second half in this regard. Then we also have the tariffs basically that we got partially reimbursed and also partially are giving back to the customers. That, of course, has also an impact on the second half sales growth. In addition, we also flagged that Human Health will only have a slight growth. That means that we also see here an impact on the second half growth rate. All of that together, you're pretty much there where you said you expected us to be. These are basically the main drivers for that softening, in quotation mark, softening, I would say.

Strong underlying overall and in a really good place, as Rainer mentioned. Then let me build back on your question on E15. It is true that what you mentioned that we don't predict the future. It is true that it passed the House and likely the hearing on the Senate this fall. It's never been that far, but it also -- we've seen it evolving and then going backwards in the past. What I can tell you is that's not part of what we have in our growth projections. It's not included on the long-term financial plan. The drivers of the growth that we're seeing, it's driven by innovation, by penetration and by the intimate relationship with our customers. The growth in bioenergy is broad-based. Yes, North America is strong, and we see also now an increasing pool of demand in North America for exports into Southeast Asia. But we also see good momentum in other areas like Brazil moved from E15 to E30 in August. Now they're starting a trial of E32 for close to 180 days. We also see India moving in the right direction or increasing the blendates and speaking, even porting a path for E100. We see countries in Southeast Asia talking about increasing blendates, not only for biofuels, but also for bioethanol, also for biodiesel. Overall, extraordinary pool that we see increasing with countries embracing bolder, the derisking and deleveraging of energy, not only from a climate perspective, but also from a national security, geopolitical stability and to drive local jobs. Wrapping it up, we're not making our long-term projections based on regulation based on what we have today. It's not in the plan, but we are present and sitting at the table, having the right conversations with our customers and ready to capitalize on the momentum when it happens.

The next question comes from Alex Sloane from Barclays.

Two also from my side, please. The first one, just on the Food & Beverage division. Obviously, another exceptional underlying quarter. But what really kind of stood out, I guess, is it's broad-based. So last year, I guess a lot of the conversation centered around dairy. This quarter, you're talking about strength in baking, beverages, meat, plant-based. Many of those end markets are not really growing as quickly as dairy. So could you give a bit more color on maybe what specific Novonesis solutions are gaining traction and driving that outperformance? And is it sustainable into the second half? Please. And then the second one, just on the buyback. I guess, should investors sort of interpret the announcement to -- on the buyback at this stage is kind of a signal that the current period of elevated capital intensity is temporary and that you have maybe growing confidence that the returns on that CapEx are coming through or will come through? And is it fair to assume that this level of buyback still leaves scope for deleverage and bolt-on M&A? And maybe on that latter point, can you give a bit more context on what the MicroBioGen bolt-on deal that you announced earlier this month actually provides you with full ownership?

Thank you, Alex. I'll answer your first question and then pass it to Rainer on share buyback. You summarized it beautifully on your question. Yes, it is broad-based. Yes, it's here to stay. Yes, it's underlying. Yes, it is the outcome of a lot of self-help. We're collecting the fruits of investments we've made in the past, and we're also collecting the fruits of the combination and having an extraordinary strong portfolio on enzymes, cultures altogether under one roof. There is -- we could go into many details in one by one, but maybe there is an underlying drive -- 2 underlying drivers of why that pull is very strong. Our solutions, biosolutions, the enabler lower cost, higher productivity, savings, higher yields and differentiated claims, cleaner label, healthier foods, higher protein. The demand and the pull for those ones has never been that strong, and we are the company who is best positioned to make it happen. We have a global market reach. We're investing 10% of our revenue in innovation. We're investing on CapEx. We give a lot of comfort to our customers that we are the partner for growth. When you put that together, GLP-1 trends, nutritional increasing needs, looking -- seeking for healthier products, increasing productivity in the way that foods are produced and our offering and the deep customer intimacy, that translates into growth. We feel we are in a very good place. We like the 9%. We see the underlying drivers, and we're very comfortable on the future ahead.

Alex, on the share buyback program, basically, yes, I can only agree to what you said, right? It's -- we pointed out or I pointed out several times that the elevated CapEx is temporary, right? That's really the next 2 years. By 2030, we're going to go into high single digit then gradually. You can see that also the share buyback commitment as another confirmation of that step. Yes, you're absolutely right. Of course, we see good returns. These are capacity investments. With our margins, of course, you see also then the high returns on these investments. It will -- the share buyback program will still leave room to deleverage, right? We expect at the end of the year, I said 1.8x. We're probably going to leverage down to 1.7x. Do we have to reach exactly the 1.5x? We always said around 1.5x. Therefore, that leaves us room in this regard. It still leaves us room for bolt-on M&As, absolutely. That is important because that's our second capital allocation principle and bolt-on here and it's basically in the volume of what, EUR 100 million to EUR 200 million around there. That should give comfort basically that -- into our capital allocation principles and also that we are true to what we said, right? Once we see that the deleveraging and mentioned that we're coming now into this target corridor that we are then ramping up. Ramping up is also the keyword here for the share buyback program. It will -- how it's -- from today's perspective, definitely more loaded towards the second half than the first half because there we still have the higher CapEx.

And on MicroBioGen, do you want to comment there also, Rainer?

MicroBioGen, so on the financial impact here, basically, it's a vertical integration at the end of the day. On the biofuel, we're acquiring great capabilities in that space, and it's going to be, at the end of the day, slightly accretive to the margin.

Yes, a full ownership.

Yes, of course, full ownership, but we said that, right? We're acquiring 77%. So we have then full ownership. We currently have 23%.

The next question comes from Sebastian Bray from Berenberg.

I have 2, please. The first is on the Household Care. A lot of the arguments for why the sales have grown so nicely are pretty similar to what they were in previous quarters, higher investment, better penetration, but the organic sales growth was not 12%. Could you talk about if -- how -- to the extent to which this could moderate and if your assumption on what Household Care can grow at has changed as we move into '27? And my second question is on HMOs. Can you give an idea of the size of this business these days? Is it still underneath EUR 100 million sale and where the margin profile currently sits?

Perfect. Thank you, Sebastian. I'll take the first one and Rainer on HMOs. Household Care, yes, 12% growth in second quarter. Bear in mind also soft comparable in that quarter that were a driver of the higher comparable. Underlying continuous steady performance with the drivers that you mentioned, collecting the fruits of the investments in the past, collecting the fruits of innovation, responding to the consumer and customer needs, driving to productivity savings, but also driving to body grime removal, experience of freshness, quick and cold washes and particularly growth in emerging geographies. If you remember last year, we hired 400 people in commercial organizations, 2/3 of them in emerging geographies. They were not all in Household Care, but Household Care is benefiting also from that trend, where we see that the intimacy with the customers and the tailor-made solutions, we just saw us also launching another Medley, another blend formulated answer. We don't sell individual enzymes. We sell cocktails. We call them cocktails, blends of solutions to our customers fulfilling their needs, dropping solutions to give that excellent performance for the detergents that they produce, and we continue to see penetration in domestic markets and in emerging markets here.

HMO, basically is from the overall share of Human Health is actually 10% around there. To the margin profile, as we pointed out in the past, it is still dilutive to the group margin. We'll see that improving once we really scale up. The nice thing is we see also good growth momentum. Going forward, of course, with economies of scale, we'll get this up to the level of the group margin.

The next question comes from Lars Topholm from DNB Carnegie.

Congrats with an impressive quarter. Two questions for me also. The first one goes to the strong growth in Food & Beverage and the soft growth in Human Health. I just wonder if there's any cannibalization effect in here that maybe if people buy more yogurt containing probiotics, they buy less dietary supplements containing the same. So I wonder if it's something you see? And if it is, is it something you can try to maybe put a number on? And then the second question for you, Rainer, just goes to the tariff refunds I just wonder, I mean, there's an in and there's an out. Why does it negatively affect organic growth? And how do you account for this from an EBITDA perspective? Is there any effect?

Thank you, Lars, also for your kind words. We continue with the tempo. I take the first one. Rainer, you take the second one. On Food & Health, really good performance, 9% year-to-date, 9% in Q2. Yes, Lars, you pointed to an isolated case we see punctual also in North America dietary supplements. Important to mention, and you hindered that in your question, the trend of health, it's never been that strong. We see that, yes, in more probiotics in dairy, but we, for sure, continue to see that in dietary supplements and holistically in Human Health. We see growth with the exception of dietary supplements in North America. We see growth across all the areas. Even within North America, we see growth in the practitioner channel value chain, which is more stable and resilient. We continue to see the pool or HMO, where we're growing across the regions, also in China cross-border, but we're growing -- we continue to see the pool of infant formula where the trend of health as a valuable nutrition, it continues to be stronger. We are also very pleased with the quality and the caliber of our innovation pipeline. We have a product -- a new project we launched it a few months ago with Novo Nordisk, where we're starting to evaluate and doing trials in the second half with patients taking GLP-1 and evaluating the power or the impact of the synbiotic effect of prebiotics and probiotics and hence as a driver of a stronger and better quality life. Trend of Health continues to be strong. We see it across all areas, punctual effect on isolated North America dietary supplements market, but strong pipeline, a strong pull across all the areas and continue to be very comfortable about the long-term growth.

Yes. Lars, regarding the tariff refunds, you're absolutely right. It's an in and out. It's just that the out is in a different position than the in. Therefore, basically, we have the basically credit note affects the sales number. Therefore, we see here an impact on organic sales growth, but the -- on the expense side. To your second question then regarding EBITDA, the impact on the EBITDA is neutral. There's no impact on the absolute number of the EBITDA in this regard.

And it correctly understood that in H2, the impact on organic growth is a drag of around 40 bps.

Up to 40 bps, yes, that's correct.

The next question comes from Chetan Udeshi from JPMorgan.

My first question is a bit weird one, and maybe this is for Ester. When I speak to some investors, some potential investors, the impression I get is Novonesis is doing so well that people are worried that this is not sustainable, that is just too good to be true. And frankly, if you look at your Q2 numbers, 9% organic growth, I mean I don't think anybody can debate that it's not good. I guess the question I have is, how will you address that concern of growth being too good to be true? I mean you mentioned new products. I look at your OpEx, which is up almost high single-digit organic. Your CapEx is very, very strong. So it feels like underlying there's a huge amount of investment going on and yet people tend to fear that your growth is too good to be true. How do you -- or how -- I mean, I don't know if any -- I don't think it's an easy thing to do, but if you were to maybe give some more fillers to the market in terms of getting comfort around the sustainability of growth, not just for Q3, but maybe in terms of next 3, 4 years, I think that would be quite useful. And the second question, just I was looking at your cash flow statement, and there is a decent step-up in intangible asset spend. And I'm just curious, is this the ERP spend? Or are you capitalizing more R&D this year?

Chetan, excellent questions. Short answer, it is true. It is good and it is true. Long answer, let me give you the try here. Biosolutions are the building block of how the world will produce and consume in the future. We are changing the way that foods will be produced, the goods that we will consume. We are the best company to -- the company that is best equipped to capitalize on that trend. The pull is absolutely clear. There is -- we do 2 things. We do more with less. We bring productivity, efficiency, cost gains for our customers. We bring differentiated claims, something that makes our customers be able to capitalize a stronger momentum and grow faster. We bring healthier nutrients. We do clean label. We enable high protein. We enable replacing chemicals. It's a combination of higher productivity, higher yields, high efficiencies and differentiated claims. Responding to a strong pull on the market with a growing population that has the need exactly of what we're talking about. The what is there, the pull is there. Then the other question that you make so nicely is why us? Why are we going to win? Well, because we are the leading player on biosolutions. We invest 10% of revenue in R&D. We have a global market reach. We have deep customer intimacy. We connect those needs into answers. More importantly, we bring them to scale competitively and reliably for our customers, and we're investing. That's why we're delivering and why it's going to be sustainable is because we continue to invest, to continue to be closer to our customers, to continue to innovate and continue to be able to supply. The best thing I can do, continue to deliver, continue to show you it's true, continue to make that trend and make it obvious for everybody.

And Chetan, regarding your cash flow question, you're spot on. The intangibles there are -- the increase in intangibles are related to our ERP journey, so the S/4 journey that we're having. Keep in mind, we do not capitalize R&D. That is actually -- so it's really driven by the capitalization of the S/4 related expenses.

The next question comes from Soren Samsoe from SEB.

Congrats on the impressive results. So 2 questions. First, on Household Care, very high growth. Just wondered if there's any sort of extraordinary in the growth, i.e., is there a customer doing an inventory build ahead of a new product launch or anything similar to that? And also, if you could comment besides emerging market pulling, is there any impact from maybe private label in the U.S. using more enzymes? Is there any impact from higher oil prices yet? Or is that still too early? That's my first question.

Excellent. We'll answer this question, and then we'll wait for the second one. The main driver of the 12% growth, it was softer comparables in -- or that was a strong driver of the 12%. Then all the drivers that you commented, yes, penetration. Penetration, it's not only in the emerging geographies, it's also in domestic markets where we see continuous pull and the beauty of reaching and bringing a stronger penetration of enzymes across the globe for detergents. Too early to see impact on the trends that we're seeing, not only on oil prices, but it's also on accessibility and reliability of supply of raw materials. But there, if I would say something, it is we see increased momentum. We see good dialogue with our customers, too early to be translated and to see it reflected in the sales. It takes time to move from those dialogues into answers. The drivers of the growth today are innovation of the past, investments we've made in more boots on the ground, both in domestic markets, but also in U.S., where we continue to see the pool of private label together growing with our customers around the globe.

Okay. Then on the DSM Feed Alliance, it looks like the run rate is getting close to what you said when you made the acquisition. But when I do the backwards calculation, it looks like you're still somewhat behind delivering those 3% of revenue and EBITDA of EUR 70 million, but you are getting closer. But maybe you could just tell us sort of how close you are and how is it going with that acquisition?

We basically said initially when we acquired the Feed Enzyme Alliance, it's close to 3 percentage points contribution, and we are actually there. That is -- I would still consider it as in line. Therefore, the overall animal business is doing really, really well. The EBITDA contribution also that we actually set out, which was important. That one we also fulfilled. You really see that in the accretion in our margin also in the division. We are overall, and as Ester pointed out also in the beginning opening comments, the commitments that we put out there at the beginning, we fulfilled basically now after 12 years. Of course, we continue to then 12 months -- sorry, not 12 years, feels longer. Therefore, we expect that -- we consider this in expectations.

The pipeline is very strong. If there is only one little thing I would add is that the momentum and the conversations with our customers is really, really strong. We do see the penetration in areas where we were not relevant, starting to crystallizing nicely, but also with a good pipeline in place.

The next question comes from Matthew Yates from Bank of America.

Just had a couple of questions around CapEx, please. Rainer, did I hear earlier in the call, you spoke about potentially initiating a large new build plant somewhere. I think you might have said in emerging markets. Just in terms of calibrating expectations for CapEx next year, is it still another year of CapEx probably above 10% of sales? And then just more shorter term, if I'm not mistaken, you've got a big investment that's been going on in Wisconsin. I think that was supposed to come online mid or late '26. I guess my question is, clearly, the growth you've been delivering in Food & Beverage is very, very impressive. I'm wondering to what extent you're delivering that growth despite being capacity constrained in any way. So the extent to which you can bring on more capacity over the coming months, does that actually give reason to believe that growth could accelerate? Or do I need to be a bit more prudent on kind of the speed at which you can ramp up new plants?

Regarding the CapEx overall, it's absolutely correct. Actually, I flagged that before, right? We said this year, 12% to 14%. Also said that next year, we expect basically nominal the same kind of value in this regard. Therefore, this is this temporary elevated part before we then go down to the high single digit in 2030. In that, there is, of course, all these expansions that I mentioned included, right, also the basically bigger multipurpose facility in the emerging markets that is, of course, takes several years to build and then to be commissioned. That is basically in line with also the all long-term guidance that we gave. When it comes to the short-term, absolutely correct. We made the investment in West Allis. It's coming online basically, I would even say, a little bit ahead of time, which is great. That is happening as we speak, the first batches being produced. But I want to make sure we are really not constrained on capacity here, right? We're timing that fortunately nicely and are able to really use the assets around the world in order to satisfy any kind of growth peaks that we have in the different markets. All in line with our expectations. Yes, looking forward to West Allis then fully being commercialized.

One last question, operator, please.

Today's last question comes from Andre Thormann from Danske Bank. André Thormann: First of all, can you maybe put a bit more color on what you're seeing in the second half for Human Health, which I understand would be weak? And then second of all, if you can also add some color on when you plan to in-source HMO fully in this Thailand factory?

Thank you, Andre. We are, as described it, expecting only a small growth in Human Health. That means that we're not forecasting or not reading the market as the particular situation on North America moving into an improvement. That's punctual. It could change. If it happens, I can guarantee you we will capitalize on that momentum. But at this moment, what we are seeing is we're not forecasting changes on the North America cautiousness of the consumers from a dietary supplements point of view. What we're seeing in the second half in Human Health is continued pull of our solutions across the globe, continuous good momentum also in the dietary supplements in North America practitioner channel and a continued growth on HMO and on infant formula. Those are the drivers that we see as growth. Then on HMO, we are producing it today internally, as you well know. Thailand is an acquisition that we make that brings small capabilities to produce HMO. With this, we're setting the foundation for the future. Rainer indicated that it's at the expenses of profitability, but it's also coming with a diligent mindset from a capital allocation. We will invest and build a plan accordingly and put us in a position to continue to support our customers and then expand -- lead to a better place from a profitability point of view. With that, we're finalizing the call. Thank you very much for your questions. Looking forward with the dialogue with many of you also with the team, the rest of the team in sessions for the rest of the week. Thank you.