Imerys Aktie

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. It's a bit after 03:00 p.m., and I'd like to open our session. I'd like to inform you that in line with legal requirements, the presentations that will be made in the context of this meeting will be filmed and broadcast on our website and the meeting will also be available as a replay. Alongside me here today, we have Alessandro Dazza, who is our CEO; Pierre Lebreuil, the CFO, the new CFO of the group whom we agreed, and we're very happy to have him with us here in this new post and to Emmanuelle Vaudoyer, whom you know, who is the Group General Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Directors. And Ms. [indiscernible] also who is the lady Chair of the Appointments and Compensation Committee, will be joining us a bit later on to present the items concerning corporate governance. Also, we have in the room with us members of our Board of Directors who might like to greet including [indiscernible] and Michael Ogrin, who will be introduced to you later on. Johannes [indiscernible] will hopefully, be quoted by you at this meeting to the Board and Michael Agrin is a candidate to be a Board member. And we also have Nadia Laduli, who is a partner in Deloitte and Associated Pierre Olivier [indiscernible], who is a partner in PriceCooper House -- PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit representing the joint auditors. The general meeting is being held today on the first invitation, and it is an ordinary general meeting. I'd like to ask Emmanuelle Vaudoyer to please report to you the achievement of all of the formalities connected with the invitation to the meeting and the holding of the press meeting. Thank you sir.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to tell you that in line with the requirements, the prior notice of the meeting was published in the [indiscernible], the third of April 2026 presents also, of course, the agenda, the draft resolutions submitted to the vote here today and also the conditions for attendance and for voting in the general meeting. the registered shareholders were convened by e-mail and by post on the April 21, 2026 and the publication of the notice of the meeting was also on the 21st of April 2026. Also, the documents and the integration that are a legal requirement to be made available to shareholders by virtue of the French Commercial Code were made available online on the website of the company.

Thank you, Emmanuelle. So we see that the quorum of 1/5 applicable to ordinary general meetings is achieved here today. And you will see the detailed figure later on when we have the definitive quorum. we will now appoint the scrutineers of the meeting to shareholders who are present with us and who have the largest number of votes, who've accepted this [indiscernible] representing Belgian securities SCRL representing 92,681,340 votes and Paris [indiscernible] who represents Blue Crest Holding SA, representing 8,060,772 votes. And I'd like to thank both of you for being with us today.

And then [indiscernible], she was appointed Secretary of the meeting, as you know, and we have, of course, planned that we will have a Q&A session with the shareholders present. At the end of our meeting, you have voting devices that you'll be using later on to vote on the resolutions. And after the presentations, we will tell you how to utilize these voting boxes when it comes to voting on the resolutions.

Now I'd like at this point as a preliminary to share with you the opinion issued by the Economic and Social Committee -- Economic and Social Committee, concerning the economic and financial situation and the sustainable development performance of the group. And I will, therefore, if you don't mind, summarize what was said by the ESC this as follows. In the light of the items presented in the report of the accountant, we note that the situation is stable in the context of a difficult market loss of volumes.

But nonetheless, we have managed gross price increases and the net income was a deficit because of major impairments of assets, especially in the RAC segment with no impact on the cash flow as it was impairment of assets, the generation of net free cash flow was at a low level. The debt level was higher, and that means we've got to be vigilant in 2026 and 2027. The proposed dividend payout is going down. And it's not much compared to the cash generation of the group. We have the program called Horizon. That is a cost-cutting measure, EUR 50 million to EUR 60 million of savings are being targeted -- structural savings at group level and we have nonetheless maintained a level of nonstatutory profit sharing at the same level as 2024.

The main point of attention at the ESC are the following: the Horizon project, the potential impact on jobs, potentially 5 closures and jobs to go, also impact on the organization of work and working conditions and that hasn't been documented enough and provisions also have been booked. On the RAC segment, we need to clarify the industrial trajectory and our capacities, our investments, our CapEx, possible restructuring also in the light of the impairments enacted in 2025, then we need more visibility in terms of the trajectory for deleveraging the company and the priorities being set for 2026. This leads the ESC to give the following opinion. In the light of the information exchange during the consultation process, the elected representative issue the following caveats: Firstly, this year significant downturn of the industrial climate -- industrial relations climate and they fear that the repercussions on the employees might be neglected. We cannot neglect such percussions on employees in the wake of these measures.

We have some misgivings about the future of the project called Emily concerning lithium. And the challenge the jobs being done away with in the light of the Emily project. So we are worried about the job position, and we would like some answers from the general meeting, and we will be asking the management to update us regularly on all these topics. Thank you to our ESC for this detailed opinion that you've rendered and will be hearing presentations as we go through the meeting, that will go into these different points.

So ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I suggest at this point, we should start off with the presentation of the highlights of 2025 by Alessandro Dazza, who is our CEO. You have the floor, Alessandro.

Thank you. [indiscernible]. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us here today for this general meeting. Alongside me, I have Pierre Lebreuil, who is our new CFO, who was appointed last February as the Chairman said. Pierre is not a newcomer in Imerys, however, because you've been working with the company for the last 20 years. His presence now beefs up our management team, is guaranteeing continuity and he also, of course, has the experience necessary to help us to manage our business.

I'd like to start off by commenting on the highlights of 2025. The turnover, our revenue figure, EUR 3.384 billion overall in line with last year, on a like-for-like basis. These figures reflect selling prices that have held their own. They also reflect industrial activity at a low level in Europe and a rather sluggish construction sector in North America and in Europe. The adjusted EBITDA for all of 2025 achieved EUR 546 million, in line with the forecast established in July of 2025, in spite of an unfavorable ForEx effect of EUR 22 million in 2025. The depreciation of the dollar currency vis-a-vis the euro. This, I think, is a robust performance in a difficult context. It was flat with respect to 2024. Again, on a like-for-like basis and excluding variations in the contributions of the joint ventures that we'll see later on.

This is the result, in particular of a rigorous pricing policy for selling prices and ongoing efforts that were made in terms of cost control, cost management. The group generated a free cash flow of EUR 127 million in 2025 before the strategic CapEx and EUR 78 million after after strategic CapEx. The strategic was mainly connected with our lithium projects, and I'll go back to that topic a little bit later on.

The financial structure of Imerys is, therefore, sound, and our investment-grade rating has been confirmed. The current net income stands at EUR 146 million, and the ordinary dividend in cash of EUR 0.75 per share will be put to you for the vote during the resolutions later on at this meeting. The payout ratio is in line with what we had in previous years. Our last important point, the group conducted an impairment of goodwill for the solutions for refractories, abrasives and construction or segment for an amount of EUR 467 million in 2025. This impairment which was exceptional, has no impact on the cash position or the financing ability of the group. It reflects purely accounts and accounting adjustment that was made necessary through the changing conditions and market assumptions and does not challenge the solidity or the sound nature of our business activity. It will be a more in detail by Pierre Lebreuil a little bit later on in the financial section.

Now this slide underscores the robustness of our business model in times. On the left-hand side of the screen, you can see the adjusted EBITDA as it unfolded in 2025 compared to the previous year. We see a substantial impact by this scope. That is because of the divestment of assets that service the papermaking market in July 2024 and also the impact of the joint ventures especially the [indiscernible] Corporation, whose financial performance was exceptional in the first half of last year, much less so in 2025. And you can also see the substantial impact of the foreign exchange rates, especially the U.S. dollar in the first part of the year -- the earlier part of the year. What's most important, however, is that the core business of Imerys generated a resilient EBITDA practically in line with what we had in the previous year in spite of a difficult context, as we all know.

On the right-hand side of the screen, the price/cost balance highlight the continuous ongoing high-quality work put in by the group so as to reduce our cost, but also the agility of Imerys in adjusting our selling prices when that is deemed to be necessary. This remains a key success factor for Imerys going forward.

If you don't mind at this point, I'd like to give you a brief update on 2 key topics for the group. Firstly, the lithium projects. Concerning Emily in France, as was announced on the 11th of February last. The french state has acquired a minority stake in this project. This is a key step for the future of this project recognized as being strategic both by France and by Europe. This investment will enable us to support this project right as far as the finalization of the definitive feasibility study in early 2027. So EUR 50 million worth of stake for the French state.

Regarding Imerys British Lithium, the scoping study was finalized early in 2026, and that confirms the great value and the strategic relevance of the project. However, the group decided to mothball this project for the moment. As a consequence, other piece of investment or expenditure will be committed for the moment. On the right, you see the Chapter 11 proceedings concerning the talk entities in the United States and the court session confirming the reorganization plan before the bankruptcy court in Delaware was concluded on the sixth of February 2026 as planned. We're expecting the court to hand down its ruling in the coming few weeks, I would say, or even days. the potential confirmation of the reorganization plan -- this is important, should thereafter, subject to tops being filed reviewed and confirmed by the Federal Court in the United States. We remain confident about the positive outcome of this proceeding.

Cost and performance improvement called Horizon project. The objective was to reach -- to reinforce competitive standing of the group and improve the capacity and to improve our agility and the existing environment. This deals with the simplification, the streamlining of the organization is the group through reduction of the cost basis, improving the streamlining of the production capacity worldwide. This program is ongoing. We have social processes ongoing. They are planned and necessary. Now on the financial point of view, we are targeting annual savings of roughly EUR 50 million to EUR 60 million relative to the 2025 cost base with 50% of the savings expected as early as 2026 with a full impact in 2027. We estimate that the implementation costs of this program, which will impact the group's cash flow should amount to approximately 1 year's worth of savings.

To give you an idea of Imery's future growth drivers. This slide shows a few examples of the group's recent developments. Our conductive additives business continues to grow, thanks to the capacity expansion in Belgium and Switzerland. The same applies to our investments in China in the automotive sector and in India for refractories and construction. A final example is the ongoing increase in production capacity for [indiscernible]. This is a high purity [indiscernible] earth-based filtration product to filter blood and plasma for the pharmaceutical industry. Overall, these new industrial capacities contributed to more than EUR 30 million additional revenue in 2025. This figure is expected to grow in the future.

Similarly when it comes to innovation, launching new products takes time, but this is the foundation of the group's future growth. I will not talk too much about the details on the right in the slides, but you see a few examples of innovative products. Some are already generating sales. Others are currently being qualified in the process of customers. Specialty Minerals have unique and varied properties as well that give rise to new ideas and new applications every year.

And as you know, at Imerys, we have the broadest portfolio of minerals on the market. Let me now turn to the floor -- I turn the floor over to Pierre for a detailed analysis of our financial results.

Hi, everyone. It's a pleasure to be with you here today. Let me summarize briefly some of the key aspects of our financial performance, starting with revenue. The group's revenue amounted to some EUR 3.4 billion in 2025. This represents a 0.7% decrease at constant exchange rates and scope compared to last year with volumes down slightly and prices holding up well. As a reminder, the scope effect includes EUR 65 million coming from the sale of our assets dedicated to paper markets in July 2025. It was partially compensated for by EUR 50 million in sales generated that were acquired at the beginning -- in early 2025. Currencies had a negative impact of EUR 82 million, primarily due to a decline in the U.S. dollar against the euro, starting in the second quarter of 2025.

Let's now analyze the group's profitability. For the full year 2025, adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 546 million, corresponding to a margin of 16.1% by examining Imerys' direct operating performance, highlighted in the gray box, you can see that EBITDA was very resilient, down slightly by 0.7%, which represents a major achievement given the challenging economic environment in which the company operated in 2025. This performance is attributable to strict discipline on selling prices and cost control. Adjusted EBITDA decreased by 19% compared to 2024. This decline is due to a lower contribution from joint ventures, some EUR 74 million, changes in scope amounting to EUR 30 million; and lastly, an unfavorable exchange rate effect of EUR 22 million.

Let's look now at the bottom of the P&L at the bottom line. Net income group share is negative by EUR 409 million. As detailed on this slide, this is impacted by other operating income and expenses, which amounted to some minus EUR 555 million. This minus EUR 555 million is primarily related to 2 items. The first of which is a goodwill impairment charge of EUR 467 million related to the Refractories, Abrasives and Construction business, RAC, business. This impairment has no effect on the group's cash flow and reflects business performance that was lower than anticipated a year ago as well as the fact that the antidumping measures on import of used materials from China, which were ultimately implemented by the European Union are less protective than initially expected. It is important to note that the markets served by this business have finally stabilized. We expect a gradual recovery already observed in the third and fourth quarters of '25 during which RAC posted positive organic growth. So the expected savings from the Horizon project should also support improved profitability.

Other operating income and expenses are also impacted by asset impairments, with no cash effect. One related to the Horizon project for EUR 41 million and the other to the decision to place Imerys' British lithium into administration for EUR 31 million.

To conclude the financial review of 2025. Let us now examine the group's debt. It increased slightly in 2025 due to strategic capital expenditures and dividend payments. I would like to highlight a few additional points: First, net financial debt decreased in the second half of 2025, where cash flow was therefore positive in the second half of the year. Secondly, we do not anticipate any significant strategic investments in 2026. Since the definitive feasibility study for the Emily lithium project, will be funded through our partners' contribution to the project. I would also like to remind you that we have successfully placed EUR 600 million bond issue an unsecured bonds last November.

The average maturity of our bonds has consequently been extended to 4.3 years as compared to 3.4 years in June of 2025. Lastly, as investment-grade credit rating was confirmed by S&P and Moody's in the second half of 2025 with net debt representing 2.5x adjusted EBITDA, reflecting the group's solid financial structure.

Now I'm going to hand over again to Alessandro to discuss the performance for the first quarter of 2026.

Thank you, Pierre. First, a few highlights from the first quarter of 2026. This was a good quarter for Imerys with revenue and adjusted EBITDA increased compared to last year like-for-like, despite nonetheless, a challenging environment with the crisis in the Middle East. Revenues of EUR 835 million was up 0.7% compared to the previous year's like-for-like, driven by volume growth and stable prices. It is important to note the unfavorable currency effect in the first quarter. The dollar have had a very strong effect. This amounted to approximately EUR 40 million offset represented fully minus 5% decline compared to 2025. Adjusted EBITDA for the period amounted to EUR 118 million, up 4% at constant exchange rate or like-for-like, reflecting the strength of our operational execution, higher sales volumes and our cost control. Regarding the progress of Imerys' key projects. First, the Horizon project, which you've heard about, it has been launched in the main countries concerned where the program is underway, and it's on schedule. This should enable us to make savings of EUR 50 million to EUR 60 million per year. Next, we announced on the April 10th the acquiring Great Lakes Minerals, 1 of the leading processes of industrial minerals for refractories and abrasives in the United States. Annual revenue for this business amounts to $80 million roughly. So that's -- so the conclusion should be any moment now. In this slide, we're summarizing the sales performance at Imerys per geographic region in the first quarter of '26. You can see clearly the sales in Asia were solid with growth driven by conductive additives for various applications.

And for polymers, very good activity in China. In Europe remained slightly negative, mainly impacted by the weakness of the residential construction market. Despite a slight increase we recorded a strong performance in consumer goods markets in Europe. We shouldn't forget that sales in this region included the Middle East, we are obviously in the month of March, inflected by the Gulf crisis to the tune of some EUR 4 million of loss in sales. Sales in North America were moderate in the first quarter, confirming the trend from the second half of 2025. In particular, the residential market remains weak in construction and the poor weather conditions in January had an impact of several million euros on our sales.

As a reminder, the first quarter of 2025 was a very positive currency effect, but that's not the case this year and South America was acceptable with solid sales in consumer goods. The last slide summarizes the excellent work done by the teams. On the left-hand side of the slide, you can see the trend in adjusted EBITDA compared to last year, the weakness of the U.S. dollar in the first quarter of 2026 had a significant impact on the reported figures. This effect should normally diminish and eventually disappear as the current exchange rate aligns with the exchange rates of last year.

At constant exchange rates, adjusted EBITDA increased by 4% year-over-year, primarily driven by volume growth and cost controls. On the right-hand side, the price-to-cost ratio highlights the group's efforts to control costs. despite inflation and higher volumes in the first quarter of 2026, fixed costs and variable costs and general cumulative overheads are lower. This results from our operational excellence programs and various cost savings initiatives, including those related to the Horizon project contributing to the strong performance.

Now a word about sustainable development which is an important topic. It's at the heart of the group strategy. As you recall, we had a program sustained Agility, which is aligned with the United Nations Global Compact goals, which is built around 3 pillars: empowering our teams, building their future with our customers and protecting the planet. These priorities are translated into medium-term goals, which we report on annually in our sustainability report.

Turning now to our sustainability performance. I am pleased to announce that we have successfully completed our sustained Agility 2025 road map. The group has met or exceeded 14 of its 16 key objectives. As you can see on the slide, you have the indicators and the progress made in 2025. All of these indicators and targets are detailed in Chapter 3 of the 2025 universal registration document available on our website with copies available -- there are some copies available in the room for review today.

If we take a closer look at our in sustainability is certainly the decarbonation. If we look at this more in detail, our climate trajectory, you can see on the slide that remains fully aligned with our 2030 targets. In 2025, specifically, our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions reached 1.780 kilotons of CO2, which represents a 28% reduction since 2021, which is well in line with the 42% reduction target by 2030. For Scope 3, as shown in the graph on the right, you can see that we have already achieved a 22% reduction compared to the 2021 baseline bringing us closer to our 25% target objective for 2030. This performance is supported by the EUR 82 million decarbonation capital expenditures invested since 2021. Primarily allocated to energy efficiency, heat recovery and transition to low-carbon electricity. The year 2026, an agility kicked off. Our third road map since 2018, the new road map, builds on the progress made during previous cycles.

It focuses on 10 objectives, which you see here that directly address the most material impacts, risks and opportunities identified for the group. I'm not going to go into detail. Everything is available. Lastly, our efforts towards transparency, combined with the continuous improvement of our indicators enabled us in 2025 to continue making significant progress in our ESG ratings, which you can see on this slide.

We have top-tier scores from the leading ratings agencies specializing in sustainable development. I will now hand over to the Chair.

Thank you, Alessandro. And so far as the dividend proposal, the Board of Directors proposes to this meeting the payment of a cash dividend of EUR 0.75 per share, which is lower than the dividend proposed last year, but remains in line with the payout ratios of previous years around 44%. I would like to ask Emmanuelle Vaudoyer to summarize for you the resolutions on which you're being asked to vote at this Annual General Meeting. And then obviously, [indiscernible] will be joining us to present the various recommendations of the appointments of Nominations Committee.

The general meeting is asked to vote on the agenda displayed on the screen. I would like to note that no request to add items to the agenda or to submit additional resolutions has been made by the shareholders. Furthermore, the resolution submitted for a vote produced in full on Pages 489 to 492 of the 2025 universal registration document as well as in the notice of meeting, both of which are available on the company's website. Copies of the universal registration document also been made available to you in the meeting room.

The first and second resolutions concern as is customary on the general meeting's approval of the company's management and annual financial statements and the group's consolidated financial statements for the past fiscal year is that we just discussed. And the third resolution concerns the appropriation of Imerys' 2025 net income. As indicated by the Chair, the Board of Directors proposed paying a cash dividend of EUR 0.75 per share. Under the fourth resolution, you are asked to vote on the statutory auditor special report on the regulated agreements entered into by the company in the session of the 19th of February 2026 reviewed all agreements reexamined all of the agreements concluded with related parties.

A regulated agreement entered into 2025 was already approved at the last shareholders' meeting, and no other regulated agreement was entered into during the 2025 fiscal year nor was any agreement entered into with a related party during a prior fiscal year, disqualified or reclassified as a regulated agreement. The Board also noted that no regulated agreement entered into during a prior fiscal year and already approved by general meetings continued into 2025.

Before proceeding with the presentation of the resolutions relating to corporate governance and in particular, to compensation, we'd like to remind you that all information regarding the 2026 compensation policies for corporate officers and details of any compensation paid or awarded in 2025 is included in Chapters 4 and 8 of the 2025 universal registration document. Thank you. I'd like to ask Mrs. [indiscernible] to join us and to go over the resolutions regarding corporate governance.

The floor is all yours.

Thank you, Patrick. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, in order to reinforce shareholder dialogue, the Board of Directors held a series of meetings with institutional investors and proxy advisory firms in November 2025 attended by the Chairman of the Board of Directors and myself, the Group's General Counsel and Secretary of the Board, the group's Chief Human Resources Officer and the Director of Investor Relations and Financial Communications. These meetings facilitated a constructive dialogue on governance and compensation issues within the company and provided input also for the work of the Compensation Committee itself and the Board of Directors.

Accordingly, the Board of Directors wish to make certain targeted adjustments, which are presented on the screen here. With particular regard to the CEO's compensation policy, these adjustments aim to enhance its clarity and alignment with the group's long-term strategy. The specifically concerned the refocusing of ESG criteria, all derived from the group's new sustained agility, 2026 to 2030 sustainability road map to enhance the clarity of this criteria and also avoid redundancies between those used for annual variable compensation and those used for long-term variable compensation and the introduction in the assessment of long-term performance of a relative performance criteria measured by total shareholder return TS or as we often call it. And this will be evaluated by comparison with the panel of similar companies.

These changes are detailed in the universal registration document. As in the past, we present below a summary of the components of these compensation policies for 2026. So pursuant to the fifth resolution regarding the compensation policy applicable to the Chairman of your Board, that is Patrick Kron. His compensation consists exclusively of a fixed annual growth salary of EUR 400,000, which has remained unchanged since 2022. Under the sixth resolution, the 2026 compensation policy for the Chief Executive Officer would include the following main components: an annual fixed compensation of EUR 920,000 unchanged since 2023, an annual variable compensation based on the achievement of quantifiable criteria related to the group's financial and ESG performance as well also as the achievement of personal criteria.

This annual variable compensation is capped a 165% of the Chief Executive Officer's annual fixed compensation. Then regarding the quantifiable criteria linked to the group's financial performance. These include adjusted EBITDA and operating free cash flow before strategic CapEx. These criteria account for 65% of the annual variable compensation. The expected achievement levels are identical to the 2026 budget targets. Regarding the quantifiable criteria related to the group's ESG performance then, these are limited to 3 and focus on diversity and inclusion, then biodiversity and thirdly, the climate. This refocusing enhances their clarity and consistency. These criteria and objectives are derived from the group's sustained agility road map, as it has just been presented to you.

The weighting of these criteria remains unchanged at 15% of annual variable compensation. In addition, the personal criteria focus among other things on restoring the group's target profitability, finalizing the exit also from the Chapter 11 proceedings for the group's former North American talk entities, evaluating also the group's post-Chapter 11 strategic options and fourthly, returning the group to a growth trajectory. These criteria account for 20% of variable compensation.

The CEO's compensation also includes the grant of 95,000 performance shares. This increased grant is justified by the introduction of the new TSR criteria, weighted at 30% of long-term compensation. The introduction of this criterion strengthens the alignment with shareholders and links the higher level of compensation to actual value creation, effective value creation that is. The purpose of the TSR is to compare the performance of the Imerys share with the median TSR of the peer group. The reference peer group was determined by the Board of Directors upon the recommendation of the Compensation Committee.

This peer group consists of international companies of comparable size and sector. The other performance criteria for long-term compensation have remained unchanged and concerns financial criteria. The net current income and free operating cash flow and ESG criteria. The annual objectives are set in accordance with the budget objectives and the sustained agility road map that the group has. Now the seventh resolution, the subject of that is the 2026 compensation policy for Board members. This resolution proposes to maintain the compensation policy unchanged as approved in 2025 by your meeting.

Under the eighth resolution, you are asked to vote on the compensation report, which is intended to provide you with a full account of all compensation and benefits of any kind as well also as various other items related to their terms of office for each corporate officer for the past fiscal year.

Under the ninth and tenth resolution, you're also asked to vote on the compensation paid or awarded in 2025 to each of the executive corporate officers. That is namely your Chairman of the Board, the company granted and paid in 2025, a gross annual fixed compensation of EUR 400,000. Also to your Chief Executive Officer, the company allocated [indiscernible] 2025, a gross annual fixed compensation of EUR 920,000 and paid in 2025 for the 2024 fiscal year and annual variable compensation of EUR 1,104,786 following approval by the shareholders' meeting on May 13, 2025. And allocated in 2026 for the fiscal year and annual variable compensation of EUR 809,600 corresponding to 80% of the target annual variable compensation for 2025.

This amount will be paid subject to the approval of this resolution by your meeting today. Your Chief Executive Officer's 2025 compensation also includes an allocation of thousand performance shares fully subject to performance conditions as well as benefits in kind, representing a book value of EUR 68,765.

The following resolutions concern the composition of the Board of Directors. As part of the development going on in the governance structure of GBL, the company's major shareholder, that is, the GBL Group, the Board coopted Johanne Sut, managing director of GBL on September 30, 2025. The ratification of capitation is submitted to this meeting here today. Furthermore, after serving on the Board for 16 years, Ian Gallienne, who is now Chairman of GBL will step down from his position as Director following this meeting. It was also decided to adjust GBL's representation on the board by reducing the number of directors appointed by [indiscernible] from 3 to 2. The appointment of Mikhail Orin will thus be submitted to a vote by the shareholders here today following [indiscernible] resignation from his position as Director.

As for myself, I have not sought reelection for a third term and will be leaving the Board of Directors following this meeting. You're there for us to vote on the following: under the 11 and 12 resolutions, the renewal of the terms of office of directors who are Stephanie Bene and Veronique [indiscernible]. Their terms will expire at the conclusion of this meeting. And in connection with the 13th and 14th resolutions you'll be asked to ratify the co-opting of Johannes Huth, Chief Executive Officer of GBL and to appoint Michael Ogrin, Investment Partner GBL as a Director. Finally, I would also like to inform you that Fatima [indiscernible] has joined the Board as a new director representing the employees following her election by the European work Council.

I'd like to invite first Johannes Huth to kindly introduce herself. And after that, Mikael Ogrin, if you don't mind, gentlemen.

Thank you very much, Amit. My name is [indiscernible]. I was born in Germany, in Heidelberg. After my studies in Germany, I came to France to study, and I also went to the U.K. and the U.S. to selling. And after that, I started my career in finance, and I spent almost 40 years, starting off in an investment bank and then in different investment funds. And it was with great pleasure that I took on a new post as Managing Director of the JBL Group, exactly a year ago now. And in that capacity, I hope you will confirm my co-opting to the Board of Imerys. It's a great pleasure for me to work with Alessandro and Patrick in advance for [indiscernible].

My name is Michael Orin. I'm Austrian, I was born in Vienna. I studied here in France. And I started off as an entrepreneur in reselling secondhand industrial plant and equipment, then I went into the world of investment in for 25 years. Now I've been in the investment sector in investment funds. And I met you understood some years ago in that context. And in my well, my adventure started with them way back then, and it's with great pleasure I would join the Board. I've got industrial experience to being a shareholder in another company in the same industry. So it will be a pleasure for me. If you put your [indiscernible] the great session for me there for to work with the members of the Board of Imerys.

Thank you very much, Johan, and thank you, Michael. You both are excellent French speakers. Thank you for introducing yourselves. As Chairman of the company, I'd like to thank Annette Chair of the nominating and Compensation Committee and a number of the strategy and sustaining the development community, who previously worked in the Audit Committee, belongs to the Board, I'd like to thank her for all the work she put in all the years she spent within the board, within this company. I thank you, Annette, for your commitment, your devotion and your contribution to the Board, you're active in other companies, too. And I wish you successful future.

I'd like to turn over to Ian Gallienne, a member of the Board. He's not with us actually physically today, but he was with us when we were working this morning over lunch on important matters for the group. And I'd like to thank him for the 16 years he spent within our Board. He discharge its duties for 16 whole years, and I would like to thank him for his valuable contribution, his vision and the role he played in the proceedings of the Board and the development of the group. And once again, thank you, Ian Gallienne, for your contributions and your constant devotion to the development of this fine company. I'd like to also turn to Martin [indiscernible], do member of the Board, extend our thanks to him for his contributions to the proceedings of the Board during his term of office, too.

So at this point, I'd like to also say that following these developments that are proposed to you subject to those developments being approved. Your Board would then be composed -- there's music in the room says the Chairman, that's nice. The Board would then be made up of 10 directors, the Board's independence rate, if you vote on the resolutions in question would be 62.5%, which is higher than existing recommendations for the company with a controlling shareholder with a core shareholder of [indiscernible].

So regarding gender diversity with 3 women out of 8 directors, excluding directors representing employees, the company meets the requirements for a balanced representation on its Board between men and women.

You can stay with us next, if you like or you can go back to your seat as you like, where ever you feel comfortable. Anyway, I'll give the floor to Emmanuelle next who will pursue with the reading of the different draft resolutions.

Thank you. The 15th resolution concerns the ratification of the transfer of the company's registered office currently located at #43 [indiscernible] and the 15,000 Smart Paris. The relocation would be to #7211 [indiscernible]. Also on the 15 so the Chairman, yes, and the [indiscernible] are on the smart Paris, which will be effective as of September 2026. This decision by the Board is part of an initiative that's aimed at providing the group with a modern, sustainable work environment that is fully aligned with this value.

This new headquarters intended to be a space that will foster collaboration, cooperation, innovation and cross-functional cooperation among our team. Subject to the approval of this resolution, the Article of Association, of course, will be amended accordingly. And the 16th resolution concerns as usual, the renewal for another 18 months of the company's authorization to repurchase its own shares for a new term of 18 months before. And the objective of this new share repurchase program, the objectives are staged on the screen here.

The maximum number of shares that may be acquired under this program has been set at 10% of the total number of shares outstanding as of January 1, 2026, of 5% in the case of shares acquired by the company for the purpose of holding them and subsequently delivering them in payment or an exchange as part of a merger spin-off or contribution. This resolution provides that the Board of Directors may not exercise this authorization during any period in which a public offering of the company's securities is in progress.

And finally, the 17th and final resolution is intended to grant the power necessary to carry out the legal formalities following this meeting.

Thank you. I'd like to now invite Mr. Pierre Olivier [indiscernible] to join us. He's there. He's a secondary partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers audit speaking on behalf of our joint auditors, I'd like to invite him to present the reports issued in respect of fiscal 2025 regarding the company. Thank you. You have the floor, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On behalf of the joint stationers, Pricewater Copis Audit in Deloitte and sir. I am pleased to report to you on the performance of our audit for the 2025 fiscal year. We've issued various support as required by law. Our reports cover the financial statements as well as related party agreements. Furthermore, although this is not the subject of a corresponding resolution to be put to a vote learn, we've also issued a sustainability information assurance report. In accordance with the customary practice of this meeting, I'd like to summarize the terms of our various reports, which will be made available to you by the company and are included in the 2025 universal registration document or URD.

Now regarding our engagement on financial matters, we've issued reports on the auditing of the group's consolidated financial statements as well as the annual financial statements of Imerys SA as of December 31, 2025. In accordance with professional standards, the objective of our work was to obtain reasonable assurance that the group's consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS, and the annual financial statements of Imerys SA prepared in accordance with the French GAAP were free from material restatements.

To this end, we performed our coordinated audit work at the group's principal subsidiaries. Our approach is tailored to Imerys' organization, its specific characteristics and the risk identified based on both quantitative and qualitative criteria. This approach also takes into account the principal events and transactions of the period. In our report on the consolidated financial statements, we draw your attention to 3 key audit matters to which we paid particular attention. The first concerns the assessment of the recoverable amount of goodwill.

The second relates to the assessment of provisions for the decommissioning of industrial sites and the rehabilitation of mining sites. And the third concern, the assessment of the financial consequences of the litigation related to the talk situation, the [indiscernible] entities in the U.S. With regard to the annual financial statements of Imerys SA, the key audit matter concerns the valuation of equity investments. Without qualifying our opinion, we draw your attention to the note application of ANC regulation number 2022 06 on the [ marginalization ] of the general accounting plan in the notes to the annual financial statements, which describe the effects of the change in accounting policies related to the first time application of this regulation. We've also focused on verifying the accuracy of the management report presented by your Board of Directors with respect to the accounting and financial information contained therein. Information regarding compensation benefits paid to corporate officers and finally, information regarding corporate governance. All of our work and not detailed conclusions were regularly shared with your group's Audit Committee and the Board of Directors.

In summary, having the net resources for sell our commitment to you, we have issued an unqualified opinion on the parent company's financial statements as well as the group's consolidated financial statements.

With regard to our special report on related party transactions, we stated in the first part of this report that we have not been notified of any new transactions to be submitted for your approval. And in the second part of this report, we note that an amendment to the agreement for the acquisition of the S&D group was signed in February 2025, and that this amendment has been approved in advance by our Board of Directors in December 2024.

And finally, regarding our engagement on sustainability-related information, we've performed the necessary work to provide you with limited assurance on the following 3 areas, the compliance of the process implemented by the company to determine the sustainability-related information to be disclosed in accordance with the European sustainability of Reporting Standards, the ESRS, the compliance of the sustainability information included in the management report with the ESRS and finally, compliance with the disclosure requirements set forth in the taxonomy. Upon completion of our work, we did not identify any material errors emissions or inconsistencies in any of these 3 areas.

Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, Mr. Chair, thank you for your attention. Thank you. More generally, I'd like to thank the statutory auditors for having accompanied us through this whole period, which results from many exchanges between our teams, and I'd like to thank you for that.

Before proceeding to the vote on the resolutions, I'd like to inform the meeting that we have not received any written questions prior to the meeting. And according to normal practice, I'd like to invite the shareholders present in the room who would like to ask us to ask us questions, and there are microphones that will be available to you to ask any questions you may have. You have the floor. Yes, sir.

Mr. Chair Patrick [indiscernible], shareholder for one year only. I realize I have the same initials as you. It's okay. We can survive it. Welcome to the club. Given the extensive activities in health, mobility, industry and equipment, electronics as well. I didn't see the semiconductor materials that are in your panel of activities. But having activities in 136 countries, is it hard to manage. There aren't many groups in the [ CAC 40 ] that have that bigger geographical coverage. Is that not hard for the group to handle that many countries when we look at the ratios like EUR 25 million per country. Just one question I had.

The second question having to do with long-term share ownership that we're going to be voting for the General Director. 65% of the shares our profitability related. I don't understand if the criteria were based on the figures of 2025, which are bad, so it would be pretty easy to respect. And or if it's on the average of the other groups in the area in materials, in which case, it wouldn't be hard to fulfill that. So could you enlighten us about that?

And third point, which is a comment, why not hold the general assembly in the new headquarters in the [indiscernible] Park next year. Thanks for your answers.

Thanks for the question. I'll start by the [indiscernible] In terms of semiconductors, Indeed, the group deliveries in semiconductors via a joint venture, a co-enterprise called [indiscernible] Corporation, which produces high-purity silicon, which is used to pure silicon wafers, which we think about that photo cells or semiconductors. So it's a 50-50 partnership with a Norwegian company. And since according to accounting rules, we cannot consolidate that. This joint venture of companies, which are more or less EUR 200 million, I think, EUR 200 million yearly with a very good level of profit around in 2025, it was 630. Globally yes.

You're only authorized to consolidate if our share was more than 50%. And for that reason, we do not speak about it in the document you have in front of you about the semiconductor or solar markets because in truth, we don't have the figures in that activity, but it is present, it's very important to us. It's a beautiful company. And that's important to us.

Second question, 136 countries. Imerys is present in 38 to 40 companies as production sites, so much less than the 136. That includes the sales in those 136 countries through. But often, it's just a container that's sold from France for Zimbabwe. It leaves from here, but we don't actually have a presence or activity in 126 countries. Certainly, in the 40, where we have production sites, we do in places such as South Korea, we don't have an industrial location, but we have a very active presence and physical presence with Imerys. I think it's probably not more than 50 countries and sales are in the 140, some 140 in the world in industrial minerals go everywhere and have all applications and they're necessary all around the world.

Now in terms of the means of distribution, this has adapted to the actual volume encountered. If you buy -- if somebody buys a container, which will -- we may refuse because they don't have the right organization, it could be just an export system about compensation of the General Director by definition, the General Manager has always paid too much, but if I try to be serious about it, the way in which the compensation is determined is calculated as a function of the performance of the 3 upcoming years on the variable part of pay, right? Which -- and this is measured objectively in terms of objectives.

So we try to streamline that, but that's how it works and it's been working very well. In fact, in times are difficult, I can assure you, the pay of General Manager feels that right away. So next year, you'll have the opportunity to observe how it moves over time. And I think that the system is quite well done.

In terms of the location of the next assembly, headquarters will be 100 meters away. We're going to see where exactly we do it. I can't give you a bad news to managers today. But we're in the neighborhood, we're going to do for the best. Thank you. Yes, sir?

[indiscernible] Fred, individual shareholder. You announced a strong depreciation of goodwill in the refractory and abrasive activities. And you announced at the beginning of the year the acquisition of in the U.S., which is in that activity. So it seems to be as apparent contradiction. Could you help us understand why we're going to buy a company and why not invest in an activity that's more buoyant, such as one in my country. which is supporting the actual share value.

I start with the end, we're investing a lot between the [ '20 and '25 ], we built 3 in Switzerland, 3 lines in Belgium and a fourth 1 in Belgium. I'd say 15, 25 million, in 60 million altogether. We invested EUR 200 million, and we -- to double our capacity in the 2 main markets, [indiscernible] Carbon Black and synthetic [ graphics ] to work in bacteria. Now if today, as we announced 2 weeks ago, we can have organic growth of 11% by the end of 2026 or 8% to 10% last year is because we invested a year or 2 ago thankfully.

Thankfully, that this Board and your shareholders supported the project and invested. I think that we have the capacity to cover at least the next 3 or 4 years, depending on the speed at which we are growing, but at least 3 years, maybe 4, but I think by 2 years kind of the start thinking about the next expansion or extension of capacity. In the 2 sites where we are at full capacity, we basically have to find a new site for production elsewhere, probably in Asia, most bacterias are produced over there anyway.

Obviously, to get back to the first question, depreciation. That's really an accounting point in the value in the books of the Imerys in RAC, which has served in the past 5, 10, 20 years ago, accounting value is not proportionate to the value of the activity today. So what has really impacted the activity. It is the highest -- with the highest consumption of energy in the group, especially in electricity and gas.

So this business has suffered a great deal from the inflation of the cost of energy in 2023 and even today, which placed us in a competitive disadvantage compared to agent producers typically Chinese, which won a lot of market share in '23 and '24. We asked some protection to the European committee. We are counting on the antidumping legislation with 3 or 4 European producers that was given in July was granted, but in January in the 16th of January '26, the European committee reduced the production. It's less than half of the imports are not protected. They're free. So they eliminated the rate of tariff. So this helped us to understand that those that led this activity in the past, it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, because the presidents of the Chinese and Chinese materials which are cheaper. For that reason, mechanically, the value in the books, it doesn't represent the actual value of the activity today. And that's why we took the action of depreciating that.

So the idea is that we're going to do a lot in 2022, 2023. These are a lack of net market share starting in 2024 with a reduction in cost, but it's come back. We've become more competitive. Last year, it was more competitive. We're an organic growth in the third quarter and the fourth quarter in '25 and the first quarter in '26. So today, and I hope with a crisis in the Middle East, it's not going to change much. But today, in terms of the cost of energy and the normal cost of energy in Europe, we can fight against of Chinese competitors. And to add to this, we've made an acquisition in the U.S. because the U.S. is the most dynamic market after all.

Dissimilar to the Europe, the tariffs in the U.S. are extremely protective. So there's a very strong pickup in local production ceramics, a steel and aluminum and so forth, which should normally help us specifically in this business, we're expecting a lot of growth, which is going to require refractories and abrasives in U.S. markets. I should be able to -- so we have -- I think we paid a very interesting price for this acquisition. The problem was raised of competitiveness in the industrial base was raised and has been raised for quite some time in Europe. We waited in Europe. We had hoped that the barriers and tariffs but it was basically only partial, and that's why, unfortunately, we had to depreciate things which you observed.

The interpreter can't hear the question. We hope in this -- the new player is going to be joining us and we'll be able to close very soon theoretically. Yes, sir? You'll be right after.

Individual shareholder. In your presentation, you spoke about that despite the decrease in the dividend proposed today, your distribution didn't vary that much. So I deduce from that, that if the net consolidated results went down. So when you look at the attribution of the social result, it stands at more than EUR 1 billion, the carryover. Is there not an exception to the rule here having to do with the policy of distribution and the level of distribution compared to the results. Could you put up Slide number -- the one dealing with this particular issue.

Which was it, which number is it?

Just after Mr. [indiscernible], 26 or 25. Let me have a look, sorry to do this exercise.

So you have here the figures, sir. There's no magic in these figures. You can see that the distribution rate we historically stood around 45, 50. We stayed on that. And indeed, we had [ 44 ] [ EUR 0.75 compared to EUR 1.73 ], which you have there. This is also consistent with the pressure on the cash flow that were subject to at the same time. So I think -- I believe that it's a bad performance. I'm not going to explain if you go from [ 0.45 to 0.75 ] is not great.

Otherwise, [indiscernible], you maybe with the carryover amount statutory, but in fact, it's a bit more. But our policy is to make sure that in the holding company, we have enough carryover from an accounting point of view to do the dividend that's decided by the shareholders. And you have to decide for the amount of the dividend, which is much relevant to look at the P&L of the year rather than the financial or statutory financial statements. It's the P&L.

Ladies and gentlemen, Olivier, individual shareholder. For the last 3 years, but it's been longer than I've been following the company. e-Metal, which became [indiscernible]. I have 2 questions. The first has to do with the dividend. They might give the impression that it's kind of the same thing that was just asked. But the question is going to be expressed differently. The second question has to do with prospectives. You went over your performance in the first quarter. I'd like to talk about perspective. About the dividend, if I've understood properly in describing the changes of indebtedness of the company. You spoke about the change in debt after payment of the dividend. And obviously, there's a carryover, but there's cash. Could you detail and don't be afraid to get into details. Could you go into the detail in which you finance the payment of the dividend, in particular, when you're using -- you're talking about bad financial performance.

The second question about perspective. You talked about the first quarter which is logging an increase of activity of 0.7% on an average. You referred to the contrasted aspect because in March, perhaps you might have noticed, it really was the beginning of a kind of a slowdown. Could you perhaps give us the details the way in which you felt the change in the market as time went by and is week after week, in the second quarter is moving forward. Thank you in advance.

Thank you, Mr. [indiscernible] can you deal with the first part? But the first aspect about funding of the payment of a dividend is not really any allocation of certain resources. I think we can represent look at the slide that talked about the change in our net debt. But ultimately, Imerys is generating an operating cash flow, which makes it possible to cover financial expenditures and to cover the dividend. So factually, when you look at the performance in '25, indeed, we had the increase of EUR 100 million in indebtedness. Clearly, for '26 in terms of perspective, that is an attention point for us.

As we indicated, you have to bear in mind that our operating cash flow in 2025 was impacted by our strategic investments in lithium. And today, a minority shareholder, which makes it possible to minimize that point. We also had increasing working capital requirements in '26. And -- so this -- so this led us to believe that the dividend is going to be more contained. The Chairman, and you can see on this slide then before us that fiscal 2025 reflects, obviously, pressure on the accounts that is self-evident the debt, the EBITDA, the net debt with respect to the equity.

You see the figures here. I mean, they speak for themselves, the total debt, the total net debt going to [ EUR 400 million ]. So you see the figures. So the fiscal year was difficult indeed, it was, in terms of our accounts, in terms of our leveraging and the cash flow, of course, as well.

And could I add something to -- just Well, in 2026, we won't have the expenditure in 2026 like we had in 2025 for lithium. And we have a financial partner that is fund with the stake of partners will have the monies. So to bring us right up to Q1 of 2020 so that's lesser CapEx for us in this year compared to the previous year. And the other thing is that in terms of our joint venture, we had about EUR 70 million worth of dividend paid to us. That didn't come in 2025 because we had to fund the expansion of capacity in the joint venture. Now that's been completed. It's all paid for in 2026, we should hopefully have a distribution of dividend to Imerys again from that joint venture. So those are the 2 main reasons that would give us hope that the operating performance will look up in 2026 the cash generation cash flow and the debt situation of the company.

Regarding the prospects going forward, concerning our business. Well, the first quarter of this year got off to a weak start in January, got better in February. And March was very good, was very strong. So it's counterintuitive in the way, it was the start of the war. But that's what it was. Now April, but we haven't totally closed out for April, but if we're faring pretty well in April. So we see direct clear impact on our cost at -- energy costs, in particular, now that we have to pass on to the market in terms of price increases. And so I'm not too worried about that. We have a business reduction that might be EUR 5 million of revenues less per month. And there's a site in [indiscernible], for example, that we're discontinuing. We're not selling much in the Emirates and Saudi Arabia and so on right now. there's a slowdown, not to say a total stoppage. There's still there would be that downturn in revenues per annum. Now in Europe and Asia and in the U.S., we're holding our own. The markets they are holding their own. But the open question, the open-ended question is this cost increase that becomes a price increase passed on by Imerys is customers to lead to inflation in the market. So for this inflation like that in price on the market, will it slow down the economy in general, I mean, the construction market investment in cars? Is there a risk that interest rates might go up as well? And more generally, political disorders as the Chairman that might have consequences on demand in certain markets.

That's obviously [indiscernible].

I'm an individual shareholder for quite a long time. I'd like to talk about lithium mining. We haven't heard much from you about that. I think the French President went down to the site. Yes. But 10 ministers and not the [indiscernible] as well. They were all there says Mr. Kron. So lithium, I have doubt about lithium myself. I mean look at [indiscernible], the Chinese, they brought out a sodium battery with exceptional performance. The sodium costs not much compared to lithium. So I have misgivings about the future of lithium, the advantage of opening a lithium mine. And then you're looking for allies to do the mining. How far is that got? Have you found partners? Now the lithium price globally is about EUR 7,000 to EUR 8,000 per ton metric ton at what price would you be producing the lithium from your mind? Because according to what I've heard, we would be far off those values.

Now in the criteria, you mentioned you talked about after 11. Is this -- are these proceedings in the U.S. [indiscernible] is it?

Yes, because the situation was frozen regarding [indiscernible] because this was one of the criteria for the remuneration of the CEO. Are you going -- could you tell us how far you got from that? What's the current status? Thirdly, you missed some of the criteria regarding ESG in the performance of the company. I think companies are here to earn money is respecting ESG criteria, not the opposite. So I mean you're changing the ESG criteria. I think it's just smoke and mirrors because of the results that aren't prudent.

Well, I'll talk about the last point you made the criteria, the ESG criteria. If you've been with us for 40 years, you'll know that there were people sometimes at our meetings weren't very happy about the ESG as managed by the company. And you can be in mining in the world if you use responsible means to operate your mines, and that's what we do. So subject to correction by anybody if I'm wrong. I don't think there were any changes in terms of the relative weight of ESG criteria and the remuneration of our corporate officers. That hasn't changed. -- it's still around 15%. It has not changed. My colleagues confirmed that. Then regarding Chapter 11. That's the procedure in the U.S. is the bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Chapter 11, you filed under Chapter 11 in the U.S. for bankruptcy.

And we're hoping to get out of those proceedings as quickly as possible as best possible. It took 3 years before the court is taken as we're awaiting the answers to be undone by the course. The decisions but it's still underweight hasn't been concluded yet. The [indiscernible] litigation in the U.S. Then Mr. [indiscernible]?

On lithium, technologically speaking. We purchased studies on the market that tell us that this year based technology will remain the basic technology for the upcoming 20 years for several reasons. The first one is that lithium was worked as a technology for battery 25 years ago. And I mean you can do things in the lab, but you've got to go industrial scale with other solutions, and that's not going to happen for years and years. So something we discover today, it won't be operating car straightaway.

And the next point is lithium is expensive, sodium is like tablesalt, but it's 4x heavier. 4x, it weighs 4x more. So I mean either you have a battery in your car that's 4x heavier. So the carbon can hardly move or you have 4x less energy, 1/4 of the energy. So we do 100 kilometers instead of 400, you see or your telephone that has a lithium ion battery. It will weigh 4x more. I don't think you're going to walk around with a very heavy-duty telephone in your pocket. So sodium technology exists. It's going to develop all right. They might find a niche market in energy storage moving static batteries connected with homes to do solar power, things like that. That might work. If it's 100 kilos or 400 kilos, it will make a different [indiscernible] than somebody seller to give them power.

So there'd be a niche market there maybe that might move to sodium, but cars, trucks, airplanes, mobile phones, mobility, if it's got to move around, it won't work on sodium, just won't work. It won't be efficient for pure chemical reasons. It's the lightest metal that exists. I mean if you look at the legible elements, you'll see that. So guarding the Emily project than in France. It's EUR 8 per kilo that price has been announced. Now you're right, the price lithium went down to 10 or 9 last year. And in December, went up to EUR 20 and now it's EUR 25, EUR 25 per kilo. That's the current price. So if we produce between -- a price between 7% and 8%, we were to productionize now and the prices is at EUR 25 that the selling price will go the fortune. But unfortunately, if it takes 5 years development time, there's a big lead time attached to that project. But for the moment, the current prices, lithium is EUR 25. And this massive piece of investment, if not millions, it's billions we're talking about when it comes to lithium-related projects as the Chairman and as the Chairman, I said, isn't a investment of [indiscernible].

[indiscernible] that will be required there. And if it's positive, with the outcome is positive, we'll have to invest EUR 1.5 billion, so to build the mine, the concentration plant and the conversion plant, the final conversion plan. So Imerys won't do it alone. There's no doubt about that. We wouldn't have the financial wherewithal to do it. So we're looking for allies or partners, as you say. And [indiscernible] is a partner for now but will be -- they won't be the only partner, we'll be looking for other investors and partners to do it with us. And you've seen the net debt of the group right now. We're continuing to invest the money of Imerys and -- but it's getting more complicated, and we do need partners. So naturally speaking, you want to derisk a project like that, and we need financial partners on board with us.

I mean we're talking about mining activities and spending EUR 1.5 billion to development project. There's a big gap. You've got to actually do it with others with partners.

So okay. Ladies and gentlemen, if that's all the questions I suggest we should move forward in our agenda. I consider that will -- we should now move on to vote on the resolutions, if that's all right with you. And we will give the floor to our dear Secretary, who will explain how we should proceed. If she doesn't mind.

Yes, of course. Thank you, Chair. Before we hold the vote, you've been given a voting box as you enter the room. This box can work only if the smart card is correctly inserted to vote. Just use 1 of the 3 keys that would be active only from the vote is open. So number one, in favor, number 2, against; and number three, abstention. If you make a mistake, you can press 1 of the 3 keys again. And so only the last time you press the key that we will take your decision into account. And we will go through each resolution 1 after the other, and we'll hold the vote for each resolution, we'll declare that the poll is open. And then you will see the timer on the screen. You have 10 seconds to vote. And after the pull is over, I declare that the poll is over and you can't vote after that.

You will see a reference saying [indiscernible] on your voting book. That means your voting has been completed, and we've taken account of your vote. And we'll have some [indiscernible] us as you leave the room to take back your voting boxes, if you don't mind. So at this point, we will vote upon the resolutions. By the way, since the Chairman of the quorum is 81.63%. By the way, that's 68,879,113 shares -- 68,879,113 shares. So we have that definitive quorum, so we are duly convened.

So Resolution 1 concerns the approval of the accounts the company's management and statutory financial statements for the year ended 31st of December 2025. Please vote now on resolution #1.

[Voting]

The poll is now over. And this resolution stands approved, the Chairman. You've noted that we have seasoned shareholders here because last year, we gave 15 seconds for the voting process. This year, it's only 10. We know you were very efficient that day.

Yes. Resolution number two, concerning the consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31st of December 2025. The vote is now open.

[Voting]

This resolution stands approved. Resolution #3, the appropriation of profit and setting the dividend with respect to the financial year ended 31st of December 2025. Please vote now.

[Voting]

The poll is now over. This motion down approved. Resolution #4, the statutory auditor special report governed by Article [ L225240 ] of the French Commercial Code on related party agreements. The poll is now open.

[Voting]

The poll is now over. This motion stands approved. Resolution #6, approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Chief Executive Officer. Please vote now.

[Voting]

This motion is approved. Resolution #7, the approval of the compensation policy for 2026 applicable to members of the Board of Directors. The vote is now open.

[Voting]

This motion stands approved. Resolution #8 is approval of the compensation of corporate officers for 2025 fiscal year. Please vote now.

[Voting]

The poll is now over. This motion is approved. Resolution #9, the remuneration for 2025 of the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Patrick Kron. Please vote now.

[Voting]

This resolution is approved. Resolution #10 on the remuneration for 2025 of the CEO, Alessandro Dazza. The poll is now open.

[Voting]

The resolution is carried. Resolution 11 on the reappointment of Stéphanie Besnier as a director. The vote is open.

[Voting]

Resolution is carried. Resolution 12, on the reappointment of Veronique [indiscernible] so as a Director. The vote is open.

[Voting]

The resolution is carried. Resolution 13 on the reappointment of Veronique -- I'm sorry, a coaptation of Johannes [indiscernible] as a Director.

[Voting]

Resolution is adopted. Resolution 14 on the appointment of Michael Ogens as a Director. The vote is open.

[Voting]

The vote is closed. Resolution adopted. Resolution 16 on the authorization to be granted -- I'm sorry, 15 to the ratification of the relocation of the company's registered office. The vote is open.

[Voting]

The vote is closed. Resolution is adopted. Resolution 16 of the authorization to be granted to the Board of Directors to enable the company to buy back its own treasury shares. The vote is open.

[Voting]

The vote is carried. Resolution 17 on powers to carry out formalities. The vote is open.

[Voting]

Resolution is carried. Thank you.

Thank you, Emmanuel. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, we have finished our general assembly. It's almost 16:45. All of the resolutions have been approved and we will be publishing as soon as possible the results of this, which will be available online on the side of the company. We have finished the agenda, and we now declare the session closed. It's almost 16:45, and refreshments are available upstairs for the shareholders. Thank you once again for your participation and your interest.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Imerys First Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to our first speaker today, Alessandro Dazza, CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good evening to all of you. Thank you for joining us today to review Imerys Q1 2026 results. With me here, Pierre Lebreuil, our CFO.

Let me start, as usual, by giving you some highlights of the first quarter '26. I'd say immediately a strong quarter for Imerys with organic growth, improved profitability at constant exchange rate in a market which was certainly challenging. Revenue at EUR 835 million was up 0.7% versus last year at constant FX, driven by volume growth and steady pricing.

To be noted, the significant currency headwinds in Q1, representing approximately EUR 40 million or 5% of sales compared to last year when the dollar was still very strong. Pierre will show you in detail later on this specific effect. Adjusted EBITDA for the period amounted to EUR 118 million, up 4% at constant exchange rates, reflecting solid execution, volume increases and cost control.

Short update on our strategic road map. Project Horizon, very important for this year, one of our priority has been launched across all main relevant countries. Social and legal processes are ongoing and in progress deployed, I would say, per plan, on time, on track to deliver the targeted savings. And I remind you, EUR 50 million to EUR 60 million minimum versus the 2025 cost base and as I said, on time.

We announced on April 10, a binding agreement to buy -- to acquire Great Lakes Minerals, a processor of industrial minerals in the U.S.A. addressing typically refractory and abrasives, approximately $80 million sales at run rate.

If you look at the following slides, it shows Imerys sales performance by geography in Q1 '26. We start by Asia, very strong, strong growth driven by good sales of conductive additives, but in general, good industrial activity, especially in China. Europe, still slightly negative, I would say, impacted by softness of the residential market, progressing, as we said, but still at a starting phase and low industrial activity.

Good performance in consumer markets in Europe as well as everywhere else in the world. Europe, Middle East and Africa. So EMEA also includes the Gulf area. And we did -- we were impacted by the Gulf crisis. We estimate missed sales of approximately EUR 4 million, and I will go in a bit more detail in a couple of slides, only for the month of March.

North America sales, subdued in Q1, confirming a bit the trends of Q4 of last year. Softness in the -- especially in the housing segment, poor weather condition in January, do not forget the very cold weather that costed us a few million euros in January. And the Q1 '25 with the strong dollar was, of course, a very strong starting base. I would say, business, however, in March showing significant rebound. So probably the worst even in America -- in North America behind us. South America was strong, solid, good consumer goods, a bit weaker in construction, but positive, especially including the FX exchange in the area.

If we look on the next slide on end markets and their trends, largely reflecting what I already said on the previous slide. But if we talk more in general, I would say the year '26 started slow. January was low, a bit of the same trend in Q4 '25. It started improving in February, and we recorded a very solid month of March. Now the real question is what will be the impact or long-lasting impact of the Middle East crisis going forward. And frankly, I think nobody knows. But the trend is definitely pointing in the right direction.

Looking specifically, I would say construction activity, subdued compared to expectation, especially in the U.S., positive trend in Europe, rebounding slowly, but certainly. Consumer goods, as I said, very solid in all geographies. Automotive, soft, basically everywhere in the world with the exception of electric vehicles -- sorry, electric vehicles, which continue to grow strongly, certainly in China and now also steadily and certainly in Europe.

Finally, general industrial activity, it follows a little bit other -- or is a consequence of other industries. So rather soft in Western economies, but better in Asia and in China in general.

So focus on our activities in the Gulf and our presence. I would like to start by saying we have a plant in the area in Bahrain, a greenfield project we established in 2014 with a local partner. The idea behind was a competitive cost base to produce locally and export to customers worldwide our fused minerals. We have around 103 employees, and I can tell you all of them are safe, which is the most important thing. Operations were stopped on the 28th of February, the night the war started. We did experience some explosion very close to the site, although the site has not been touched by any event.

Middle of the month of March, we have gradually restarted operations, but we did not experience or we did not register any sales in the month of March because the commercial port is closed and to exit Bahrain, you have to go to the Strait of Hormuz. Therefore, exporting from this base is today still impossible. This unit normally has a turnover of approximately EUR 25 million per year. So you can estimate a normal month would be in the area of EUR 2.5 million, which have been missing in March of this first quarter.

We are investigating alternative routes to ship containers to our customers. There are possibility to go through Saudi Arabia still under investigation, being tested at the moment, certainly expensive.

On top of this local business that exports, we do sell as a group into the area, into the Gulf area, Emirates, Saudi, Qatar, Israel itself, approximately EUR 30 million per year. It was impacted in March, yes, especially everything going via container to the area for the very same reason. We estimate that about 1 million or slightly more the sales that have been canceled because of the war. I expect this nonrealized sales to continue as long as the strait remains closed.

Summarized, EUR 4 million sales approximately lost in the month of March. altogether, a business of around EUR 55 million to EUR 60 million per year, so potentially up to EUR 5 million a month if the situation does not improve or alternative routes are found.

On the next page, the last slide on my side to underline the good work done by the teams. On the left side, you can see the evolution of the full year adjusted -- sorry, of the first quarter adjusted EBITDA year-on-year. Compared to last year, a strong impact of the U.S. dollar, which in Q1 '26 is significantly lower. This effect should normally reduce eventually disappear as current FX level aligned to those of last year Q2 and certainly Q3, Q4.

At constant exchange rates, adjusted EBITDA improved year-on-year by 4%, mainly thanks, as I said, to volumes, positive volume, steady pricing and good work on costs.

On the right side, the balance price cost, which highlights the good and continuous work done by the group on cost reductions. Despite inflation because we do live in a world with inflation and despite higher volumes, as I said before, accumulating fixed cost, variable costs and overheads, we are in Q1 '26 below Q1 '25 in absolute terms. You see the minus 1 as the sum of the three. That's really our operational excellence programs, saving initiatives and also the first effects of our Project Horizon. All of these contributed to this good performance.

Pricing, prudent, I would say, to adapt to competitive pressure, but also because we do -- we can afford to be more prudent this year. Pierre will now give you some more details or a more detailed analysis of our financial results. Pierre, over to you.

Thank you, Alessandro. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. So let me recap some of the key aspects of our financial performance, starting with revenue. Group sales amounted to EUR 835 million. This represents a 0.7% increase at constant exchange rates and perimeter compared to last year, especially driven by a 0.5% growth in volumes.

Price increases were moderate to reflect improved costs and protect market shares. Currencies had a strong negative effect of EUR 42 million. So as a reminder, USD was at a strong USD 105 per euro level in the first quarter of 2025.

Let's now look more in detail at our three business segments, starting with Performance Minerals. As a reminder, this business generated EUR 597 (sic) [ 497 ] million in Q1 2026. It represents 60% of Imerys group sales.

Overall, the business remains very resilient given market circumstances, showing just a slightly negative organic growth with contrasted performances between America and Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. For Performance America, sales volume declined slightly by 1.1%, impacted by continued softness in the housing market and poor weather conditions in January. This was partly offset by a solid increase in sales to consumer goods, particularly filtration prices continue to hold well.

In the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific region, sales were solid in consumer goods, notably filtration and animal feed and in automotive, driven by market share gains. This was partly offset by slower sales to construction, notably in the ceramic business. Prices showed a positive trend.

Now let's look at our solutions for Refectory, Abrasives & Construction business. Sales volume increased by 1.1%, supported by a dynamic momentum in the Asia Pacific region, offsetting the impact of the Middle East conflict, including disruption at our Bahrain plant as Alessandro was reporting and offsetting as well poor weather in the U.S. in January.

Selling prices were slightly lowered by -- to reflect improved cost and protect market shares. The solutions for Refractory, Abrasive & Construction business delivered a third consecutive quarter of organic growth.

Now let's complete the segment review with solutions for energy transition. Starting with Graphite & Carbon, which delivered a very good first quarter with a 10% revenue growth at constant exchange rate. Revenue is solid at EUR 65 million, fueled by 11% volume increase. This is due to strong sales of conductive additives for electric vehicles, energy storage systems and polymers and confirms the trend of previous quarters.

To complete this segment review, let me now say a few words on TQC. As a reminder, TQC is our 50% joint venture in high purity quartz business. You may remember that we disclosed figures for this JV only on a half year basis. We can nevertheless report that business is normalizing in the context of markets which remain challenging in Asia.

Now let's look at the group's profitability. For the first quarter, adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 118 million, corresponding to a 14.2% margin. Looking at Imerys direct operational performance highlighted in the box in gray color in this slide, you can see that adjusted EBITDA was very resilient with a 4% year-on-year growth, driven by positive sales volumes, disciplined pricing, good cost management and a slightly higher contribution from joint ventures.

On a reported basis, EBITDA decreased 8% in comparison to first quarter of 2025 as a consequence of a massively unfavorable exchange rate effect of EUR 14 million.

Let's now move to the bottom of the P&L. As expected, financial expenses are increasing as a consequence of the EUR 600 million bond issued last November. Other operating expenses are negative by EUR 20 million. Most of this EUR 20 million charge corresponds to restructuring costs related to Project Horizon and to the [indiscernible] of Imerys [indiscernible]. As a consequence, net income group share is marginally positive at EUR 1 million I will now hand back to Alessandro for the outlook.

Thank you, Pierre. So let me conclude with a few words on the current situation and what to potentially expect going forward. The Middle East crisis had a limited impact in the first quarter, as we saw, costing us approximately EUR 4 million in missed sales, but limited cost increases. It becomes now evident that energy prices go up and will stay high for longer. Therefore, we expect energy, raw materials and logistic costs to rise over the remainder of the year. Am I worried? No. As in the past, the group will react. Actually, it has already started to react and started implementing price increases to cover such higher costs.

And the group will continue to take appropriate actions to protect our profitability and cash generation. And I think the inflation phase of 2021, 2022 has shown that we deliver on our commitments. What we cannot estimate now are the indirect effects of a prolonged conflict and how this could adversely or not, we don't know, affect the global macroeconomic environment and consumer sentiment. That's the big question for the nearby future. Thank you very much for your attention, and I now hand over to you for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] And the first question comes from the line of Sven Edelfelt from ODDO BHF.

Congratulations for this publication. I would have a few questions. If I look at your hedging and how current spot evolve, is it fair to assume that the energy bill would be up maybe 10% to 20% in H2? And how confident are you to cover with the price increase? Can you perhaps quantify the price increase that you have already announced?

Second question would be on the asbestos. I think you were, Alessandro, mentioning maybe something positive end of March. We are end of April. So can you maybe update us on what's going on? Why is it taking so long?

And the last one would be on the volume. I think I was expecting a volume way lower than that. So it's a bit better. Can you explain maybe what's in between? And is there any prebuy effect from your customers because potentially you have announced some price increase for April, and therefore, they have bought some material in advance.

Sven, I will start, let's say, from question #2, and I will let then Pierre comment on our hedging policy on our hedging levels today and going forward. And I don't know if he's able so rapidly to assess how much it could cost us overall for the year, the current levels to simplify around $100 per barrel oil and maybe around EUR 45 per megawatt hour to EUR 50 per megawatt hour gas. What it would cost us for the rest of the year? He will give you more and more expectation. What I can tell you, I start there is we are very confident that we will cover these extra costs via price increases. I remind you that when the conflict started, everybody, frankly, thought it's going to be quick and therefore, nobody moved. So in the month of March, very little happened, very little cost increases, no price increases on our side.

The first one to move were, as usual, freight suppliers, truck drivers, containers because it's immediate. The moment that oil price goes up, you have immediately in your bill and they tend to implement immediately. The easiest one because freight is a pass-through. We buy freight for our customers. We put it in the invoice. If it moves, we just change and adjust. So it goes fast, but it's passed through very fast. What takes a bit longer is the impact of energy, so oil, gas, electricity partially. And when you buy raw materials that are impacted, your supplier will send you a letter, will explain, we do understand and we do exactly the same towards our customers.

So in March, I would say no price increases. First half of April, very limited. I would say probably we started implementing with April 15. And I would say with the month of May, we should be largely implemented with all adjustments. So a slight delay, but not significant compared to the cost increases.

What is the price increase? It changes a lot. If you sell a product that is aligned with gas, it might be significant. If you are in the U.S., limited, gas in the U.S. did not move much. So to give you a rough number is difficult because it can really change from one product to the other, from one country to the other, depending on the on the impact really specifically in the country or in the geography and on the product. Then on volumes, as I said, the year started a little bit in line with Q4 last year, so slow or soft. It kept improving through February, it improved in March. March was a very solid month in all businesses, in all geographies fundamentally.

Prebuy, I don't think so for two reasons. First, it was too early. I mean the world was the first days of March. First, you realize there is a war. You don't think of the long-term consequences. And if you call Imerys on the 15th of March and you want more material, I can guarantee to you, we cannot supply it in 10 days. So prebuy for me is excluded. I think, as we said, the economy is turning. Construction in Europe is turning in the right direction. The U.S. has been more resilient than expected. Yes, construction is still soft, but overall activity with less uncertainty after all the chaos caused by tariffs is okay.

China is remaining -- is remaining dynamic, a lot of exports, fine. So overall, I think the year started well. I can tell you, feeling is looking at my order intake that April is on a good trend. The question is really what is the consequence of this war mid, long term. are we ahead of a higher inflation and therefore, again, consumers stopping investing -- or sorry, spending, companies stopping investing, people don't buy new cars, not renovating the house because inflation is up. Will interest rates move up again, stopping the recovery of the construction industry. These are all the questions that we cannot answer today. But I think as predicted, I think the economy has turned the corner, had reached the bottom, was going up. And therefore, the volume increase for me is good news, but not totally surprising.

Last comment on asbestos or on the Chapter 11 case, we do have regular interaction with the judge. The judge is writing her ruling intensively. We were hoping to have sometimes end of March, beginning of April and announce, of course, immediately the outcome. It has not come. For me, it should not be interpreted in any way, simply a very precise judge that wants to write the most solid judgment plus a very busy judge because she has many cases. I did check the last rulings and specifically the very last one was on the Boy Scouts of America. It was 250 pages. So I do understand that I don't know if hours will be that long, but I think it's really a matter of timing in drafting the document.

Good, solid, clear trustworthy judgment is in the interest of everybody because it will really give validity and solidity to the judgment. So we patiently wait, and we do not interpret in any form. And I hope any day, including tonight, if we are likely to give you the good news that the ruling is out, and I remain confident we will be positive. But really, it could come any day. Pierre, on hedging?

Hedging at energy, so a few facts and figures. First probably worth remembering you that energy globally represents roughly 10% of our sales at Imerys plus or minus out of which, 50% electricity, 25% gas and 25% for other energy. So this is the first point. Then in terms of impact that this was your question, you might consider that going forward, the impact might be around, say, 10% to 20% of our energy bill. Obviously, as Alessandro was mentioning, this will be offset by price increases and will be smooth especially in the first month by the impact of our hedging. We are quite well hedged especially in Q2, Q3 might consider that we are hedged around [ 50%-60% ].

And if I can complete, if you say around 10% on a full year basis, we are talking about EUR 35 million, which is roughly our estimation of what the cost could be of a barrel at $100 and gas at EUR 50 per megawatt hour between now and the end of the year. So with sales of around EUR 3.5 billion, we are talking about potentially a 1% price increase needed to cover.

Of course, this is all theoretical because it's on a full year basis, and we are in March, April and hedging. But to give you the feeling, we are way, way far from '21, '22 when we were talking about 8%, 9%, 10%, 11%, 15%. So it's a limited effort that we need to ask our customers. And again, it might be 3%, 4% if you're an energy-intensive European product or if you are a low energy in the U.S. gas based where there is basically no move. But that's the ballpark, something absolutely reasonable. Sven. I think we addressed all your questions.

Now we're going to take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Ebrahim Homani from CIC.

I have three, if I may. The first one is about the plan -- the cost reduction plan. Could you give us an update on how does it at which level you are at this time? My second question is about the Quartz business. You said that it's -- the situation is stabilizing now. So maybe what should we expect for the next quarter stabilization or maybe an improvement of the situation? And my last question is about the acquisition you made, Great Lake Minerals, maybe more numbers in terms of scope effect and the multiple or price you will pay on this acquisition?

Ebrahim, I start with Quartz. I think business, as we saw around the second part of '25, the business is definitely becoming more normal, more constant, more predictable and slightly recovering. As I said in the last messages, inventories, again, it's largely a Chinese business, largely solar, less limited visibility and not fully reliable information. But what we see is the inventory is coming to more -- down to a more normal level, and therefore, activity is slowly but progressingly picking up.

What is still for me remain the key is as long as this industry as a whole does not become rationalized, meaning excess capacities are taken out, so that producers make money, producers run their plants well, efficiently and full, then the need for high-quality products will remain a little bit behind. And that's what we see. We are starting, but they are trying to optimize the cost position because they have empty plants. Still, I would say Q1 this year is definitely ahead of Q1 last year. So overall, the trends could continue to be in the positive direction. So that's overall even with the market installation of solar panels this year that should be growing less or even some estimation are stable because China has removed a lot of subsidies. The rest of the world is still pushing, but China will buy a bit less this year or will install a bit less this year. So a good way, not yet not yet fully rebounding as we wish.

On the acquisition, it's a private transaction. So what you see disclosed is what we can disclose. The only thing I may say is the business is doing good or has a good level of profitability in line with the group. And I believe we were able to agree on a price or on a multiple that is absolutely reasonable for current market conditions. And I would say it's -- it would be relutive to the group, probably below our current trading multiple. So good acquisition for the group.

We do expect some synergies. It is in a very dynamic market, the U.S., as we know very well, they go down, but they rebound fast and rapidly and serving abrasive refractory, so basically the general industry and steel production, aluminum production, we do expect midterm to see good business based on the reshoring of industrial activities to the U.S. that the President is pushing and all these tariffs should normally support. So I think a good time to purchase. And we do look forward to close as soon as possible. No regulatory -- significant regulatory hurdles. So it should be done very fast. And I'll let Pierre comment on a few numbers on the Horizon.

Few numbers on Horizon [ in detail ], Alessandro. So first thing to confirm that the project has been launched in the main relevant countries with social legal processes currently ongoing. So the program is being deployed and is fully on track to deliver the EUR 50 million to EUR 60 million savings versus 2025 cost base that has been announced communicated before.

The group expects as well to meet the projected time line, meaning that at least 50% of expected savings will already impact our profitability in 2026 and then the full run rate will impact our accounts from 2027 onwards. It's worth mentioning that in terms of cost, we are quite well in the picture of what we have communicated so far, so cost around, corresponding to around 1 year of savings.

And just as a proof and as a sign of the impact of those savings, if you just look at the EBITDA waterfall that we presented a few minutes ago, you can see that the fixed cost overhead effect is negative minus -- minus EUR 1 million, excuse me, considering that in a given month, our -- in a given quarter, excuse me, fixed cost plus overheads represent roughly EUR 500 million. If you just apply inflation, probably inflation in our fixed cost overhead was EUR 8 million to EUR 10 million. So this means that this is showing already -- this has already offset in our financial, by the first effect of Horizon plan. This is already visible.

Yes. Some countries go faster, Ebrahim, U.S., for instance, I think they have already implemented a large part of our program. Other countries, and I take France as an example, the procedures are extremely long. So announcements and discussions have been done are ongoing. But the impact, you will see it probably around the end of the year because you know well that the time line of such a program is given by law and it's long. Then there are a lot of countries in between, and they will come on stream as implemented. Absolutely.

And the question comes from the line of Sebastian Bray from Berenberg.

My first one is on the absence of a quantitative '26 guidance statement and extent of seasonality because we're at a stage of the year where Imerys probably knows roughly what's happened in the first 4 months. Let's see what has happened in April. And what speaks against just providing a wide range at this stage? Are there any signs that trading has changed materially in April versus March across the group?

And my second question is more around the -- the performance of the new energy part of the group. So this seems to have done quite nicely. It maybe even picked up some market share. Is Imerys at its current level of CapEx capable of growing 10% per year indefinitely within the new energy part of the portfolio?

Sebastian, on guidance, I know you started recently to follow Imerys, but it is our practice to give guidance only at midyear where we have a bit more visibility on what's going on. So that's why in Q1, there is no guidance. And on top, frankly, giving guidance today with the actual world, I would feel very uncomfortable as it can go in all directions. So I'm glad we -- we stick to our principles.

What I can for sure tell you is if I look at my April trading, as I said before, for the time being, it's rather in line with March. So I see no crisis, no significant drop of activities at all. I do see my sales in the area or going out of the area missing, as I saw in March, but it remains a small number. For the rest, activity is okay. It's okay. It's absolutely okay. So no reason to panic or the contrary.

Second question around new energies, especially graphite and carbon that has posted a 10% volume growth. Indefinitely, no. I wish, but no, we cannot indefinitely grow at 10%, but we can grow at this level for a few years. We invested heavily in this business in the years '22 to '25. We have built a Line 3 in Belgium, a Line 4 in Belgium that we just commissioned at the end of last year. So we do have adequate capacity to follow, I would say, at least the next 3 years. We've invested in Switzerland, again, with new lines that even probably a bit longer than that. So we are ready to accompany our customers without any significant CapEx at least for the next 3 years.

Then as you well know, when you build new lines, the next step is optimizing these lines and debottlenecking. So we do consider already now how we could squeeze more out of existing lines. So we might have here and there a few millions to debottleneck. And that should give us, again, a little bit of time before considering the next serious investment.

One day, I believe we will get there because this market is growing strongly. I think electrification, and I'm not talking only on vehicles. I think electrification of vehicles will continue. China will move to 100% electric. They are only at 55% new sales. Europe is around 20%, will continue to grow. It doesn't matter what the U.S. do. They are irrelevant to today's numbers in EVs. But not only that, a big, big market that is growing very strongly is energy storage, so static batteries. that you put next to data centers, next to wind turbines, next to solar parks or solar farms to compensate the peaks and the lows in production. And grids are starting to do the same because it's cheaper to have a battery rather than starting up a power generation plant to cover 1 or 2 hours where you have a low. So there is a whole new market that is just at the beginning that could guarantee long-term further growth of this business.

And the next question comes from the line of Jason Fairclough from Bank of America.

A couple of quick ones for me. And then I'm going to sort of go all over the place here. First of all, in terms of the plant in Bahrain, do you continue to incur costs there even while the sales are being impacted? And I guess, is there opportunity to produce product and sell product from other plants to make up for the fact that you can't deliver from this plant?

Second one was just on BESS. So thanks for the background on that, the battery energy storage systems. I wanted to understand here whether you feel like you're geared to China enough because it seems to me that a lot of the hardware for the battery energy storage systems is ultimately coming out of China. Are you in a position where you can actually supply to people in China? Or is your business more geared to Western battery producers?

And then third one, I guess, Alessandro, would just be about the nature of the recovery. I think it was about 12 months ago, we were talking about some green shoots and maybe we'd start to really see a pickup in activity and then nothing has happened, right? And if I look at some of the revenue numbers, sort of low single-digit changes doesn't really feel like a V-shaped recovery. So I'm just wondering how you're thinking about the nature of the recovery that we're seeing here or not seeing.

Jason, Bahrain? First of all, we are at the very beginning or early on in this crisis. So I think things might change. I have to admit that the government, the local government has supported us when we shut down the plant immediately in the early days of the conflict. And people were home. The government gave us a kind of economic support for employees -- for the cost of the employees. You have no other costs. You don't have commitments to power consumption and so on. So it's really mostly relating to labor cost, 103 employees, a little bit similar to what happened in COVID times in Western countries, the government jump in and help.

So -- so we lost sales, we lost profitability on these sales, but we did not fully incur in all the costs. So good news. Future, I don't know. I don't know what the new decision. It was rapid, and we will see.

We have restarted production. We run around probably 30%, 40% of capacity. So we are back in production. We are -- as I said, we are trying to reroute sales via Saudi Arabia going to the Red Sea and exiting the area from the other side. We are not the only one with these good ideas. So prices for containers out of Jeddah are expensive. So we are testing, and we will see if it's viable mid, long term. And Jedda itself as a port has to ramp up to the new challenge. It could be a solution long term, but still in experimenting phase at the moment.

And yes, we were caught by surprise ourselves. But yes, we are now trying to supply our customers from other locations in the world. We do have other locations in the world in China as well as in Europe, producing the same product. So we are ramping up other locations to try to keep our customers going and keep them loyal to Imerys going forward. But it's really transition. So it will work. But today, it's still -- let's say, the lost sales are really lost. Now we're trying to recover them either directly from Bahrain or via supplier from other countries. So I am quite confident that midterm, the impact will not be as bad as the month of March where we were really caught by surprise.

Energy storage, ESS or energy storage systems, we are absolutely exposed to China totally. And thankfully so because if we were supposed to supply Western producers, we would probably be starving. So all our main customers are in China, in Korea, in Japan, then followed by Italy, Germany and so on, U.S. So definitely strong exposure to China. That's where batteries are made. That's where the biggest producers are. Technology is similar to an EV and therefore, producers are fundamentally the same as for EVs with some new people coming up dedicated specifically to energy storage, but we are present, our products are really a bit the reference in the lithium-ion world. And therefore, very present.

Last on the recovery, 1 year ago, we were very positive, not in Q1, but in February when we announced our full year results and then Liberation Day came, and there was a mess. Uncertainty followed and the economy slowed down, construction slowed down, interest rates, especially in the U.S. did not drop, and we have lived a very soft 2025. I said around the end of last year, prudence, but I see a change in trend. Is it a V-shape? I doubt it. I would say, a slow progressive recovery, construction, automotive probably has turned the corner. And all of this will carry industrial activity in general.

Iron and steel in Europe should be supported by tariffs that will apply from July. So I don't see a V-shape, but I do see maybe a U or a flat U, going forward. And again, with a question mark on the impact of this war on -- really on a macroeconomic level. I think the U.S. are more protected, more independent. Europe is fully exposed and some parts of area of Asia are also exposed. So question mark on the continuation and/or acceleration of this recovery.

Alessandro -- could I maybe just do a follow-up question, if you don't mind. I mean the other thing, I sit right next to the guys in our office who cover chemicals. And what they've seen over the past 4 years or 5 years is that Chinese companies have emerged as major, major aggressive competitors in the chemical space. And I'm just wondering if you're seeing any of that in your verticals?

Yes, to a very small extent. Otherwise, the answer is no. Why? What is the big barrier to entry in our business? What is the big, big advantage in diversifying element in Imerys. We have a mine, Jason. We mine our products to 80%, 85%. Nobody can copy. Nobody can copy cheaper. If you don't have access to the resources, you will never be able to do a product in competition to Imerys.

Yes, there are competitors in America, in South America, in Europe, very little in China. So fundamentally, the exposure to this fierce competition that you say and we follow very much in the chemical industry cannot and will not happen on Imerys because we are naturally protected. We need the market, the underlying market to be solid to grow, and it will not be a market share gain.

Then I said almost entirely no, we do have a small part of the business. I quantify it in around 15%, maybe 20%, which is synthetically made. And that's exactly where we do feel the competition of China. Typically, in Europe, when you do it synthetically, you need a lot of energy to create synthetically a mineral. And when you produce in Europe, you are extremely exposed to high energy costs, and that's where one of our businesses, specifically the Fused Minerals within the RAC business unit suffered in '23 with a big inflation, '24 and '25. That's why we took an impairment on this business. I think competition has done its part. I think market shares have settled. This business has posted three quarters of organic growth because I think we have lost what we unfortunately needed to lose competition, typically Asian, not to say China.

Now it's more stable. We fight on quality on service. We have specialty products, a bit of health through antidumping measures imposed in Europe or introduced in Europe. So even this part of the business, I would say, and numbers prove it. Q1, again, organic growth. So that should have at least stabilized, if not started to progress in the proper direction.

So you cannot apply the rule of the chemical industry, fortunately, because it's really tough for the European chemical industry, it doesn't apply for Imerys.

[Operator Instructions]

No more questions? Thank you.

Yes. There are no further questions. And I would like now to hand the conference over to Alessandro Dazza for any closing remarks.

Thank you very much, and thanks to all participants for dedicating this hour to Imerys. We complete a good quarter. We're prudent on the future because of what's happening in the Middle East. But I think the trend is positive, and I do look forward to a good 2026. Thank you all, and have a good evening.

Have a good evening. Bye.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day.

Good morning. This is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Imerys 2025 Annual Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Alessandro Dazza, Chief Executive Officer; and Pierre Lebreuil, Chief Financial Officer of Imerys. Please go ahead.

Good morning to all of you. Thank you for joining us today to review Imerys Q4 and full year 2025 results. I think the first word is dedicated to Pierre Lebreuil, our CFO, next to me, our new CFO. Pierre is not new to Imerys. He has been with us for more than 20 years, new in his role. I'm very proud of this promotion because Pierre will bring strong leadership to the team, experience and will guarantee continuity in this business. Pierre, welcome.

Thank you, Alessandro.

And as usual, let me start by giving you some highlights of the year we just closed. 2025 revenue amounted to EUR 3.385 billion, broadly in line with last year. Q4 at EUR 800 million, also broadly in line with last year, both on a like-for-like basis, reflecting, I would say, solid pricing in a market with subdued industrial activity and construction demand in North America and Europe still lacking.

Full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA landed at EUR 546 million within our guidance despite currency headwinds impacting EBITDA for the full year for EUR 22 million, and this was particularly evident in Q4 given the devaluation of the U.S. dollar. Year-on-year performance, EBITDA-wise, was also broadly in line with last year at minus 0.4% at constant exchange rates and excluding, of course, perimeter and joint venture effects. So all in all, very resilient for our core business, supported by disciplined pricing and ongoing continuous cost management.

Q4 '25, also very similar to the rest of the year. The group generated free operating cash flow for the year of EUR 127 million before strategic CapEx and expenses and around EUR 80 million as reported. Strategic CapEx in 2025 were relating only to our lithium projects, and I will return on the topic a bit later. Imerys structure remains sound, investment grade confirmed.

Current net income was EUR 146 million, and the Board of Directors will propose an ordinary cash dividend of EUR 0.75 per share at the shareholders' meeting on May 12 of this year. The payout ratio is consistent with all last previous years.

Last important topic, the group did a noncash goodwill impairment of the solution for Refractory, Abrasive & Construction business for an amount of EUR 467 million. We will return on this. This impairment has no impact on the group cash position or financing capacity. It purely reflects an accounting adjustment necessitated by changed market conditions and assumptions do not call into question the soundness of this business, and I will further elaborate on this.

Here, we see a little bit our sales performance by geography for the full year and Q4. Europe, main markets posted a light recovery in Q4, which is -- gives us good hope for 2026, improving construction and improving industrial activity. Positive sign for the future. For the full year, however, as we see here, the business is still behind 2024, fundamentally due to low construction, industrial and automotive activity, partly only compensated by good and solid performance in consumer markets.

North America, we had a very differentiated picture throughout the year, solid first part and a weaker Q3 and Q4, the trend that we have seen already in the last 6 months, fundamentally impacted by weak industrial construction. Should be noted that a further impact on this activity is the devaluation of the U.S. dollar, which is affecting sales in euro as we report of -- at the level of 5% compared to last year, so very significant.

Asia sales continued to grow nicely, not only in India, but also in China, which remains quite dynamic, especially around new technology, electric vehicles and, I would say, strong exports. South America, after a strong first half, slowed down a bit in the second part of the year, partly in relation to U.S. tariffs on Brazilian products.

Let's now look rapidly at our main underlying markets and their trends, which, of course, partly reflect already what I just described. But overall, I would say Q4 in line with Q3 in terms of trends, maybe with some signs of recovery in Europe and continuous strong growth of electric vehicles and energy storage.

Construction was not a great year, especially in the U.S. In Europe, where we see, however, a reverse of this negative trend, so positive signs for the future. Consumers remains very resilient in all geographies.

Automotive, poor in Europe, a bit more stable in the U.S. and a very strong China, very strong EVs as well. And industrial activity normally follows the other markets. So I would say, in line -- I would almost say in line with the average of the others.

Imerys does not only rely on underlying markets, we proactively target growth. And in order to give you an idea of some solid avenues of future growth, you see on this slide some of the recent business developments of the group. We start, of course, with our conductive additives business. It's continued to grow, thanks to capacity expansion. You remember in the last 3 years in Belgium as well as in Switzerland, same for our investments, in China, in automotive, lightweighting on polymers in India for refractories and construction.

And last example, which we have not publicized a lot, but also because it is still ongoing, a capacity increase for our high-purity diatomite filter aid called Celpure, which is used widely in the pharma business with strong growth, which we will accompany with new CapEx. Together, they are contributing more than EUR 30 million revenue in '25 with further growth ahead as we ramp up sales.

Similarly, on innovation, launching new products takes time. That's why it's important to have a pipeline, but it is the basis for future growth. I will not enter into the many details. Here are only a few examples. There is a lot more. Some are already generating commercial sales, some are under qualification and will be the engine of future growth.

The fact that specialty minerals have unique and varied properties, this creates new ideas, new applications every year on a continuous basis. And we know, as you know, Imerys has the widest portfolio of specialty minerals in the world.

If you look at our -- the development of our EBITDA in this slide, you see the robustness of our business model. On the left side, you can see the evolution of the full year adjusted EBITDA year-on-year. We do have a significant impact of perimeter coming from the divestiture, as you remember, of our assets serving the paper market in July '24. Joint ventures, which did an exceptional year in '24, especially the first part of '24 and exchange rates, FX. If you remove these, let's say, external factors, what is most important, the core activity of Imerys delivered a very resilient EBITDA basically in line with last year despite what we all know was a challenging context in 2025.

On the right side, you see the balance between price and costs, which highlights the good and continuous work done by the group, especially on cost reductions, first and foremost, but also on agility to react to market changes in terms of pricing when situation change. This remains and will continue to be a key factor for future success and profitability of this company.

An important topic we mentioned today and we go in more detail, we already announced in October with our Q3 results, an improvement program. So here, finally, more details on it. We are launching a cost and performance improvement program named Project Horizon, which aims at restoring our targeted profitability, will consolidate the group's competitive edge, so our competitiveness, will drive efficiencies and facilitate the agility needed in this ever-changing environment.

It focuses on simplifying and streamlining the organization of the group. Structurally is important because these savings are here to stay, structurally lowering our cost base, adjusting our industrial footprint and rationalizing our capacity worldwide when possible. The program is ongoing. It is subject, of course, to the completion of the required social and legal processes.

On the financial side, on the right, Project Horizon targets annual cost savings of at least EUR 50 million to EUR 60 million run rate per year versus a starting point 2025 cost base. And we do expect to have benefits of at least 50% of the program already in 2026 with the rest coming in 2027. We expect the cash cost of implementing such a program at approximately 1 year of saving, which makes it particularly attractive.

Let me now give you a short update on the 2 key -- other 2 key topics for the group, lithium. First, announcements have preceded this call. So you are aware on EMILI in February -- on February 11, we announced that the French state has acquired a minority stake in the project. It is a key milestone for the future of the project. It's an investment of EUR 50 million in the equity of the company, which will support and finance the EMILI project in finalizing the definitive feasibility study until the end of '26 and probably in early '27.

As far as our second project, Imerys' British Lithium is concerned, the scoping study, which is the step before the pre-feasibility study, was concluded and finalized in early '26, confirming at the end, a high value and a strategic relevance of this project. However, the group has decided to place the project on maintenance and care. And consequently, there will be no further investments in this project in the nearby future.

With regards to the Chapter 11 process of the North American Talc entities, another milestone, the confirmation hearing as planned, started on February 2 and was concluded on time on February 6 at the Court of Bankruptcy in Delaware. We anticipate the court to issue its ruling in the following weeks. The potential confirmation, if positive, will then need to be subject to -- or subject to an appeal will need to be reviewed and affirmed by the U.S. Federal District Court. We remain confident in a positive outcome of this process.

Moving to our sustainability performance. I'm pleased to share that we have successfully completed our '23-'25 SustainAgility road map. You see here some indicators. Of course, I will not read them all, but 14 out of 16 have been overachieved. This demonstrates how deeply we have integrated sustainability in the core industrial strategy of this group.

And knowing that it is a topic of particular interest, if we focus a bit more specifically on CO2 emissions and climate change, we can look at the next slide. Our Scope 1 and 2 emissions amounted in 2025 to 1.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent. This is a 28% reduction versus 2021, the starting point, which puts us well ahead of the pace required to reach 42% reduction by 2030.

On Scope 3, we have already achieved 22% reduction against 2021 baseline, nearing our 2025 target for 2030. This performance is great and derives fundamentally from actions and investments in several areas, in particular, energy efficiency, heat recovery, switching to low-carbon energy. This achievement also confirms that we have met our sustainability performance targets for our 2021 sustainability-linked bond with a positive effect on the interest rate.

We've done well in the past. We move on to the future, and we are launching our third road map to building on the experience of the last 8 years and this continuous progress. We've taken the opportunity to strengthen and simplify our midterm objectives and focus really on what stakeholders expect while being, of course, fully aligned with the latest CSRD guidelines. I will not go through the list, but I assure you that our targets are both ambitious but also reachable.

I now hand over to Pierre for a detailed analysis of our financial results.

Thank you, Alessandro. Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be there with you today for the first time. So let me recap some of the key aspects of our financial performance, starting with revenue.

Group sales were EUR 3.4 billion for the full year 2025. This represents a 0.7% decrease at constant exchange rates and perimeter compared to last year with volumes slightly down and prices holding well. As a reminder, the perimeter effect includes a negative impact of EUR 165 million from the disposal of our assets serving the paper market in July '24. It is partly offset by the EUR 50 million of sales generated by the Chemviron business acquired at the beginning of 2025.

Currency had a negative effect of EUR 82 million, mostly coming from a drop of the USD versus euro from the second quarter onwards. You can see Imerys performance for the fourth quarter at the bottom of the chart. Trends in sales volume and prices were similar to what we saw for the full year. The currency impact was, however, much more negative. It represented 4.2% of sales and was driven by impact of the weak USD.

Let's now have a look more in detail at our 3 business segments. Beginning with Performance Minerals. This business generated EUR 2 billion of revenue in 2025, representing 60% of Imerys group sales. Overall, the business remains very resilient given market circumstances, showing just a slightly negative organic growth compared to last year at minus 1.3%.

Full year 2025 revenue in the Americas was down by 1.3% at constant scope and exchange rates versus last year and stood at EUR 841 million. Sales were impacted by a weak residential market in the U.S., suffering from high interest rates, unsold housing inventory and by a soft consumer market. Prices held well.

Full year 2025 revenue in the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific region decreased by 1.7% at constant scope and exchange rates compared to last year. Volume were down by 2.8%, driven by muted construction and automotive markets. This decline was partly compensated by a good level of activity in the consumer market. In Q4, the performance was in line with previous quarters.

Despite lower volume, Performance Minerals adjusted EBITDA is above last year by 4% like-for-like, a strong achievement, driven by price discipline and cost management. The EBITDA margin was resilient at 17.8%. It is worth noting that performance on the Chemviron, the diatomite and perlite business acquired in January '25, was ahead of expectation, thanks to quick synergies implementation.

Let's now look at our solution for Refractory, Abrasive & Construction business. Full year sales to the refractory market were impacted by the low industrial activity in Europe and in Asia, while the U.S. market resisted better. Pricing remained steady. It is worth flagging that organic growth was positive both in third and fourth quarter of 2025, driven by commercial actions and strong sales of advanced ceramic products.

Full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA declined by 9.8% at constant scope and exchange rates due to lower volumes, which were partly offset by a positive price/cost balance and cost savings initiatives.

Let's now have a look at Solution for Energy Transition to complete this segment review. Starting with Graphite & Carbon. Full year 2025 revenue increased by 11% like-for-like, driven by solid end market, primarily electric vehicles, along with new product launches and robust conductive polymers business.

Fourth quarter revenue was stable as some external and temporary factors delayed sales by a few million euros. Full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA increased by 41.2% over the previous year. This substantial improvement is primarily attributable to significant volume increase. Adjusted EBITDA margin reached 25%, a gain of 5.5 percentage points.

Let's now focus on TQC results. As a reminder, TQC is our 50% joint venture in high-purity Quartz business. Full year 2025 revenue amounted to EUR 167 million, a significant drop from a record-breaking previous year. Performance was affected by disrupted solar value chain, even if inventories are now at healthier levels. Revenue improved in H2 '25 at EUR 85 million, outperforming both H1 2025 and H2 '24. Full year 2025 net income dropped to EUR 35 million. TQC delivered for the full year a solid 36% EBITDA margin.

Now let's look at the group's profitability. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 546 million, corresponding to a 16.1% margin.

Looking at Imerys' direct operational performance highlighted in the box in gray color, you can see that EBITDA was very resilient with just a slight decrease of 0.7%, a great achievement given the economic context and supported by price discipline and cost management. On a reported basis, EBITDA decreased 19% in comparison to 2024. This reflects the lower contribution of joint ventures by EUR 74 million, perimeter changes for EUR 30 million and an unfavorable exchange rate effect of EUR 22 million. The picture is similar for the fourth quarter, where adjusted EBITDA matched prior year levels once adjusted for currency fluctuation, changes in perimeter and joint venture performance.

Let's now move to the bottom of the P&L. Net income group share is a negative EUR 409 million. As detailed on this slide, it is impacted by other operating income and expenses amounting to EUR 555 million. This EUR 555 million are mostly related to 2 items. The first one is a noncash goodwill impairment charge of EUR 467 million related to the solutions for Refractory, Abrasive & Construction business. This impairment reflects a lower performance of the business plan than anticipated 1 year ago and the fact that antidumping measures on Fused Minerals import from China finally implemented by European Union are less protective than initially anticipated.

It is important to flag that markets have eventually stabilized, and we do expect a progressive recovery of this business from 2026 onwards, as already noted in Q3 and Q4 '25 when RAC posted positive organic growth. Savings expected from the Project Horizon should further support recovery.

The second items are noncash write-offs related to Project Horizon for EUR 41 million and to the decision to place Imerys British Lithium on maintenance and care for EUR 31 million.

Let's now have a look at the cash flow generation. Current free operating cash flow amounted to EUR 78 million in 2025 or EUR 127 million before strategic CapEx. In comparison with 2024 year, free cash flow generation is primarily impacted by a decrease in dividend received from joint ventures, with no dividend received from TQC in comparison with approximately EUR 70 million received in 2024.

You will note as well the EUR 26 million increase in working capital, primarily driven by higher inventory in the RAC business area, where we had anticipated a stronger impact on sales of antidumping measures in Europe, which finally did not materialize. Inventory and more generally working capital will definitely be an area of continued focus in 2026.

Lastly, paid capital expenditures amounted EUR 317 million. New CapEx booked in 2025 amounted to EUR 297 million, including EUR 47 million related to our strategic investment in the lithium projects. The remaining EUR 250 million recurring CapEx were well below historical level of more than EUR 300 million and below our estimate provided in H1 2025. We do expect that capital expenditures in 2026 will continue to be limited and in the EUR 200 million to EUR 270 million range. This should allow us to achieve a robust cash generation in 2026.

To conclude this financial review, let's now look at net debt. It slightly increased in 2025 as a result of strategic CapEx spend and dividend paid. I will highlight a couple of additional points. First, net financial debt went down in H2 2025, confirming the positive trajectory of our net cash generation. Second, we do not expect any significant strategic CapEx in 2026 as the financing of the definitive feasibility study for the EMILI Lithium project will benefit from the contribution of our partner in the project.

I would also like to remind you that we successfully placed a EUR 600 million senior unsecured notes last November. The average maturity of our bonds is consequently extended to 4.3 years from 3.4 years at June 2025. Lastly, Imerys' investment grade was confirmed both by S&P and Moody's in second semester 2025. Net debt represents 2.5x the adjusted EBITDA, reflecting the solid financial structure of the group.

On this positive note, I will now hand back to Alessandro for the outlook.

Thank you, Pierre. So let me summarize this presentation by saying 2025 was a challenging year, but I think the group, especially in its core activity, did quite well. We have managed to keep sales flat, our overall EBITDA flat, excluding external factors, FX, perimeter, all JVs. Performance Minerals increased its profitability. Graphite & Carbon was exceptional. And RAC, which was negative compared to last year, posted growth in the second part of the year, which makes me quite optimistic for the future.

How do we see '26 going forward? Don't expect a guidance as we -- as in the past, we will not do this. We release it typically after having seen the outcome of H1. Personally, I'm optimistic, but I've learned to be prudent as markets have been slow in recovery. Yes, we expect good construction in Europe, but we are still uncertain on the speed of recovery in the U.S. and automotive, which is a big market for the group, remains difficult to interpret. For sure, electric vehicles will continue to grow strongly in Europe as well as in China.

So with this prudence, which is I think needed so early in the year, what I know is that the group will deliver what is in its hands, and I'm talking about our restructuring program, Project Horizon is ramping up capacities that we have built. So they are available. The markets are there. We don't need to invest further. We need to ramp it up as we showed in '25 and will continue, and we'll continue with our innovation efforts because we need to build the future.

So thank you very much, and I would like now to open to Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] First question is from Sven Edelfelt, ODDO.

Yes. Welcome to Pierre. So I will have a couple of questions. Alessandro, I quite understand the usual view of not giving any guidance, but this year is a bit more complicated to understand because there is a cost cutting, construction of somehow improving in Europe. You mentioned that you managed to the core business, you managed to make it stable this year. So if you add up the number of EBITDA for '25 plus the cost cutting, it's probably a minimum. Hello?

Yes, we hear you well, Sven.

Okay. Sorry, I've got another call. And secondly, on asbestos, it seems that it's going extremely well since the last hearing. I see a lot of certificate of no objection being published. So there is a hearing on the 24. Can we consider a positive outcome as early as next week? And the last question is on CapEx. I think you mentioned EUR 250 million. Is it a maximum? And can we expect CapEx to be a little bit below this level?

Thank you, Sven. Many questions. I'll try to address them all. As I said, we don't give a guidance. Therefore, I will not comment what '26 looks like. Yes, we will do the cost-cutting program because it's in our hands. I trust that construction will rebound, especially in Europe, but it's not in my hands. That's the market. And we know we have seen construction in the U.S. rather slowing down in the second part of '25. So we do need construction in the U.S. also to be solid before we can say, yes, it's going to be a good year. And that's why my prudence, which is really we are exposed to markets. If you remember a year ago in this room, I said '25 will be a good year, volumes will go up. And then we had tariffs and then we had interest rates that did not drop fast enough, and we ended up with a slightly negative volumes. So for me, prudence is the minimum that is required in this very challenging and rapidly challenging world. But we will deliver what is in our hands.

And you mentioned CapEx. you've seen the agility of the group. Typically, we invest EUR 300-plus million. We saw that this year volumes are -- sorry, in '25, we saw volumes are not coming, so we could reduce rapidly our CapEx, and we ended up for, let's say, running rate for the core business with EUR 250 million.

What will be '26? We will adjust. We will adjust as volumes grow. But I expect in a normal year to be maybe EUR 260 million. Don't forget, there are CO2 rights that now need to be booked as CapEx. So I think in the region, EUR 250 million, EUR 270 million could be a realistic number, and we will really adjust it based on what we need. We have good invested assets. I think it is the new normal to go down to these levels. The EUR 300 million plus is the past.

And I remind you that, as Pierre mentioned, in '26, we will not have strategic CapEx because our strategic CapEx was the lithium projects. We have paused the U.K. We have found a partner that contributed capital in France. So for '26, there will be no further expenditures. And I can continue to comment on other cash items, but we'll do it later.

Lastly, Chapter 11. We have always been confident. I think it was important to start this confirmation hearing and to conclude it. So it went on time. No surprises. We can remain confident. We shall remain confident, but now it's in the hands of the judge to issue the ruling. It's the final hearing, the confirmation hearing. So it will be a very comprehensive ruling. So I expect several tens of pages, maybe hundreds of pages. So it's something that will take time. I'm convinced because of the complexity of the case and the requirement of the law. Frankly, this 24 date, 24 that you have mentioned is not known to me. We have no outstanding deadline. It's really waiting for the issue of the ruling. So we remain confident, but we can only wait for the ruling. And I think I addressed all your questions, Sven.

Next question is from Auguste Deryckx, Kepler.

I have 2 questions. The first one is on the lithium project in the U.K. The decision to end this project contrast with the positive momentum on prices. What should we conclude from this? Is this project failing to achieve the targeted cash cost? Or is it linked to the French stake in the EMILI project? So basically, what are the reasons for this decision?

And the second question is on the cost-cutting plan. A large part of it is for 2026, but there is also costs associated with this plan. So should we expect a net impact close to 0 for 2026?

Thank you, Auguste, for the questions. The lithium project in the U.K., so British Lithium is a good project. We have finished the scoping. So we know roughly the potential of the deposit, the cost of the CapEx and the cash cost of production tomorrow. It's a good project. Of course, scoping means you have less certainty on these numbers than you have when you do a pre-feasibility study, which is complete in France and/or a definitive feasibility study, which is exactly what we are doing in France.

So the project is good and it's not ended. It's paused. Maintenance care means you have something, it's of great value, but at the moment, you decide not to pursue. So we paused it. So we could restart it. It will depend on several things. One of them is do we find investors that join us. I always said we need investors to join us. These projects are too big in size for Imerys alone. So we need investors to join us.

So -- and secondly, the project in France is way more advanced. We are at least a year, 1.5 years more advanced in terms of studying engineering pilot plant. So we prefer to go full steam on this one today and focus all our resources on this one and accelerating rather than running 2 in parallel, which would have been complicated. So this is the analysis.

Lithium prices, you're absolutely right, jumped. In December, November, when we spoke last time, they were around $10. They are today around $20 per kilo. So they doubled. I remind you, as we always said, we believe the mid-, long-term price of lithium should be between USD 20 and USD 25. That's what all expert studies show. At that price, EMILI Lithium project is more than EUR 1 billion NPV. So we are talking about a fantastic project. Yes, this level of price will raise new interest of investors. So we do expect to receive and we are in discussion to further consider partnering, first of all, as I said, for France, and we will see in the future for the U.K.

On the cost cutting, I think your analysis is roughly okay. Costs will go -- cost of implementation -- cash cost of implementation will go with savings. Typically, you will have social plans, redundancy. So the moment you exit people, you will have -- you will incur the cost, but you will have the savings. So I would say, if we manage to achieve at least half of the savings in '26 and a full scale in '27, we will probably have a bigger part of costs in the first year and a bit less in the second year since the overall cost, which I think at 1 year of savings max is very competitive, I would say, because I think we will manage well this cost spending. I think cash-wise, yes, you might be more or less at 0 in year '26. I think it's a fair assumption, whereas we will have the full benefit then recurring from '27 without costs.

Next question is from Sebastian Bray, Berenberg.

I have 2, please. One is on the level of interest charge. Is the full year '25 level now recorded a good proxy for what to expect in future years? I appreciate that there was a step-up in the cost of interest because of the successful bond refinancing, but I suspect there might be 1 or 2 one-offs in the '25 interest charges. Are we now at a stable good level as we look forward?

And my second question is on the Quartz company. It looks like things are getting better. Can you talk a little about the pricing and volume trends as we've moved into the half year of '25 and into '26? Is this business returning to positive pricing territory or is the improvement simply the result of better volumes?

Thank you, Sebastian. I'll let Pierre comment on the expectation of '26 financial charges compared to '25.

Sebastian, so as you rightly pointed out, and as you know, we refinanced in last November, a EUR 600 million bond. Basically, the coupon for the new bond is 4%. Where the coupon for the bond we refinanced was around 1.5%. So it's easy to do the math, as you can see, just mechanically you can expect in 2026, a finance charge increasing by roughly EUR 15 million, all other things being the same.

And on the Quartz company, your comment is correct, the business is stabilizing and returning to a more regular path of progressive -- slow progressive recovery growth. Inventories are stabilizing in the value chain. Of course, the competitive pressure is there when volumes are lower. So there is more competition that has caused a reduction in pricing in the market. We don't comment specifically on volumes nor on future prices because it's a very small market and therefore, we should be extremely careful. But I would say, overall, a positive -- gradual positive trend to be noticed going forward.

Helpful. Just to clarify on the finance costs. There are no one-off items or anything else in the interest charges for '25, that would mean that the actual level is different to what was reported.

That's correct. Nothing worth mentioning here.

Next question is from Ebrahim Homani, CIC.

Pierre, congrats for you new position. I have 2 questions, if I may. The first one is on the Q1. The comparison basis will be a bit more challenging. Do you expect the continuing improvement of the organic growth sequentially in the Q1 2026?

And my second question is on the impairment. Could you give us more details behind this impairment? And on the EUR 1.3 billion of goodwill in the balance sheet, are there still elements at risk?

Ebrahim, sequential for me is Q1 on Q4. Typically, Q1 is stronger than Q4. So sequentially, yes, there will be an improvement. If you compare to last year, too early to say because we only saw January. As I said, markets are not rebounding rapidly, as I stated in my outlook. So difficult today to guess. What is for sure still there in Q1 is an FX impact. So the dollar was in Q1 last year, 104. So a very strong dollar a year ago. Then from Q4 -- sorry, from Q2 onwards, similar to where we are today. So we will still have an FX impact in Q1 of 2026 compared to last year, and then it will basically fade away because we will be more closer to current levels with last year levels. Other than that, too early to say. I said, some market share recovery, Construction Europe, paint, others are still in the middle. Automotive, for sure, we will see growth in EVs and battery materials in general. U.S. for me remains still a question mark, so to be seen.

On the impairments, it's very simple. The business RAC carries a goodwill, which derives from old acquisition. And the assessment of today's market conditions, and we can discuss basically is an acknowledgment that there is a new normal, especially in Europe after the energy crisis and increased competition from Asia. The value in the books did not -- the goodwill did not represent the real value. So we took this accounting entry. As I said, it's noncash. It has no impact on the company itself. It's a correction. It's an exercise you do every year at the end of the year, which automatically means for all other businesses, we see no need for this. Otherwise, we would have done it.

And I think what is important to note is that the business, which suffered in '24 and in '25, as you have seen, if you look back at our previous communication, finally stabilized and even is starting to recover. We had organic growth in Q3 and in Q4. The antidumping measures are in place. They were temporary before. They are in place. Yes, they are less than we expected because there are free quotas for some volumes, but they will bring some relief to this industry in Europe in the future. So I think this business remains solid and should probably post some positive news going forward. I think we addressed...

Let me add as well, the RAC business area in addition, as our other business area will benefit from the horizon plan, which you need as well to factor in Europe.

Absolutely. Competitiveness of the group will be improved, thanks to our cost and performance improvement program, so that will give us an extra competitive lever going forward.

Next question is a follow up from Sven Edelfelt, ODDO.

Yes. It's me again. Sorry to come back. I want to better understand this question for Ebrahim on the goodwill. So this EUR 467 million is coming from Kerneos. But I don't think actually Kerneos profit is lower than 10 years ago. I know you bought it in 2017, but I'm not sure Kerneos profit is lower than 10 years ago because of the current EU-ETS on the clinker price surge across Europe. So is it because the Kerneos goodwill has been spread across the RAC business unit? Or is it because Kerneos exposure to China? Just to clarify.

And then I would have a follow-up on the lithium project. I'm a bit surprised by the valuation of the project, EUR 150 million or EUR 160 million, if you take into account how much the French state has invested. So is there a commitment from the state to fund more of the project in the coming year? Can you perhaps elaborate on this optionality?

Sven, I'll let Pierre comment on the concept of goodwill on the business.

Yes. Indeed, as you rightly pointed out, goodwill are tested only at business area level, so at RAC level. So the fact that we are now booking an impairment for RAC, you are correct when stating that this goodwill originated from Kerneos acquisition in 2017. But still, we are testing globally the goodwill for RAC. And it does not mean whatsoever that this goodwill impairment is related to a weak Kerneos business. As you understood and as previously mentioned, we are far more suffering from Chinese competition in our Fused Minerals business than in our cement business.

Correct. Thank you, Pierre. And the -- let's say, the acknowledgment of this change in market condition is really after the spike in energy in Europe, which did not happen in Asia. So the market has changed in competitive terms between Europe and Asia, and that's mostly the high energy intensity products like Fused Minerals. On EMILI, we did not disclose any value, and so I do not comment on the value. And I can confirm that there is no commitment in any form of any of the partners to continue, just a will to work together to develop this project, and we will take decisions when they come.

Maybe, Sven, what you correctly noticed is I believe the state today enters or entered at a time where lithium prices were very low and therefore, probably did a good deal joining the project in early stages. Today, I think our project has a higher value. So we will try to find new partners because we want to rapidly ramp it up and do it. So we will need new partners, as we always said. But I am convinced that the cost of joining the project will change given the much better expectations that the market has developed. And you see also in the value of companies producing and selling lithium that have really increased significantly over the last few months. So -- but we will, with our partner, go step by step as we have decided.

Okay. So -- but can you confirm that the EUR 150 million price roughly is based on the lithium price of $20, not $10?

No, no, because I don't confirm neither the value nor -- betting on future prices is complicated. So everybody can do his own guess. So there is -- but a deal closed now started for sure, several months ago. And therefore, the starting point was a lower lithium price for sure. That's why I'm saying going forward from now on, I believe the EMILI project has a much higher value because people believe in $20 today. When you are at $10, it's difficult to -- I always believed in $20 per kilo because I think that's the price that the world needs to allow projects to start, to be profitable. Not too expensive, it cannot be $50, $100 or $80 as it was because then cars, batteries will become too expensive, but you need a minimum price to allow projects to exist, to be profitable and therefore investors to invest. And for me, it's anything between $20 and $30. So that's where we are now. It's good for the future. And based on this, we will value the projects going forward.

[Operator Instructions] Gentlemen, we have no more questions registered at this time.

Thank you. I see on the screen, we have a question on cash generation for '26. I'll answer it quickly. I would like to compare rather to '25. I believe '25, we had an alignment of events that were fundamentally negative or impacted negatively our cash generation. We spent more than EUR 50 million on the lithium projects on strategic -- what we call strategic CapEx. It will not recur in '26. As we just said, one project is paused. The other one is financed to move forward.

We had an increase in working capital, EUR 26 million, as Pierre showed in the previous -- in one of the previous slides, mostly because we expected a strong sales development in RAC when the duties were introduced, the antidumping duties. It didn't come. So we will reduce this inventory. So first, there will be no growth of inventories. On the contrary, this effect should even reverse because we will adjust to the new market, and therefore, it will help significantly '26 cash generations.

We did not receive dividends from our main joint venture. I remind you that TQC invested in capacity expansion in '24 and '25 in the U.S. first and in Norway afterwards. As said, therefore, we decided with our partner in 2025 to pause dividends. But the capacity is concluded. The capacity expansion is concluded. Ahead of us, we have a business that will continue to deliver solid net income, solid EBITDA above 30% as we have seen in '26 -- in '25, sorry. So there will be solid cash generation and therefore, pending, of course, agreement with our joint venture partners, but I do believe there will be room to restart paying dividends from this fantastic business.

We will pay a lower dividend in '26 compared to '25, which again will generate cash generation for the group. And as you have seen and somebody of you asked, CapEx -- running CapEx day-to-day are under control, and I do not expect a significant increase next year. Therefore, in terms of paid, we will see this level coming down to a more what we book you pay, whereas we are still coming from higher booking and therefore, higher paying than booking. So in general, I think we will see a significant positive improvement in 2026. And I hope I have addressed the question.

If there are no further questions, we will close. Let's allow our room to confirm, please.

We have no further questions registered at this time.

Thank you very much. Then thank you again for dedicating this hour to Imerys, and we wish you all a good day. Thank you.

Have a good day.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Imerys 2025 First 9 Months and Third Quarter Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speakers today, Alessandro Dazza, Chief Executive Officer; and Sebastien Rouge, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good afternoon or good evening to all of you, and thank you for joining us today to review Imerys first 9 months and Q3 2025 results. Next to me this evening, as usual, Sebastien Rouge, our CFO. And as usual, please let me start by giving you some highlights for the 9 months we just closed.

Imerys' performance for the 9 months is the result of a positive start to the year and a softer second part. Q3 reflected an honestly unexpected slowdown in the U.S. economy as a result of uncertainty caused by the U.S. tariff policy. Europe, even if overall activity remains low, seems to be turning the corner positively. Revenue for the first 9 months was EUR 2.583 billion, slightly down 0.7% like-for-like versus last year.

Even in this context, which remains challenging, Imerys posted an EBITDA of EUR 421 million, in line with last year like-for-like and excluding the contribution of joint ventures. This demonstrates the resilience of our company also in difficult times. The adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter '25 was $140 million, representing a 17% margin and again, reflecting disciplined pricing policy, ongoing continuous cost management and positive business dynamic in the polymer and additive businesses.

For the full year 2025, the group confirms its adjusted EBITDA target in the range of EUR 540 million to EUR 580 million. Last important as we do not see a significant market recovery or at least is being delayed on top of the ongoing actions on costs, and I will come back to this, the group is launching a comprehensive cost reduction and performance improvement program aimed at simplifying its organization and adjusting its industrial footprint to restore profitability.

Finally, some key updates of the quarter. First on EMILI. Imerys has received an indication of interest from a potential investor to acquire a minority stake in the EMILI Lithium Project. Classic, subject to customary due diligence and approvals, this investment should be formalized by the end of January '26 and would allow the completion of the definitive feasibility study of the commercial plant sometimes around the end of next year.

Consequently, any decision concerning future phases such as the construction of the industrial pilot plant are on hold and will be made in due course based on market conditions and capital allocation considerations. Second, important good news, Imerys signed today an agreement to purchase SB Mineração in Brazil. SB Mineração is a Brazilian company specialized in the production of ground calcium carbonate or GCC, based in Cachoeiro in the state of Espírito Santo. The company is a leading producer of GCC for various applications, in particular, polymers, thermosets, paints and coatings. In '24, the business generated approximately USD 30 million in revenue with a solid profitability.

With this acquisition, Imerys would strengthen its footprint in Brazil, where it is already one of the main producers of carbonates. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

A word on our decarbonization road map. We signed an important partnership in October with LNG to supply green energy to approximately 25% of our European operations via a 10-year corporate purchase agreement for the annual generation of 200 gigawatt hour of renewable electricity in Spain. This agreement will enable the reduction of 70,000 tons of CO2 equivalent per year or 14% of our Scope 2 emissions, so a significant step.

Finally, our Imerys Graphite & Carbon business signed 2 strategic partnerships aiming at enlarging its innovative product portfolio for batteries. One is with Cnano, the global leader in carbon nanotubes, the second one with Shanghai ShanShan, who is the global leader in synthetic graphite for lithium-ion batteries. I will not enter the details and more details are available on our website on the 2 specific projects.

What is important, both partnerships directly address Europe's crucial need for a regional, resilient and competitive battery supply chain based on state-of-the-art technologies. If we move on now to the next slide. Here, you see Imerys sales performance by geography for the first 9 months, which gives a good picture of the a bit contrasted economic activity by area.

Europe represents about 50% of our sales or slightly less, enjoyed finally a light recovery in Q3, thanks to improving construction and industrial activity. And you see this if you compare to what we published in July with the Q2 results. Nevertheless, on a full year basis, year-to-date, business is still lagging behind last year, and we know due to soft activity in industrial sector and a poor construction market until recently.

North America, the big surprise of the quarter really subdued in Q3, confirming a trend that we have seen at the end of Q2, mostly affected by tariffs, a weak industrial or weak, sorry, residential markets and a bad quarter in filtration, partly, frankly, relating to our own production issues relating to CapEx and some industrial topics.

For the 9 months, sales are basically flat compared to last year or in line with previous year. We should not forget the significant impact of the devaluation of the U.S. dollar, negatively impacting sales at the level of 4% compared to last year, so becoming significant.

In Asia, sales are growing nicely, not only in India, but also in China, which remains quite dynamic, especially around new technologies, electric vehicles and strong exports in general. South America, very strong first half, a bit weaker Q3, but I remain confident it will be a good year in South America.

On the next slide, as usual, a deep dive on what really shows the robustness of Imerys' business model. On the left side, you can see the evolution of our adjusted EBITDA year-on-year. We do have a significant impact of perimeter, as we saw before, coming from the divestiture of the assets serving the paper market last year in July and of joint ventures, as we have been discussing since the beginning of this year.

FX playing a role, as I mentioned before, but fundamentally, the core of Imerys' activity remains solid and adjusted EBITDA was resilient, almost flat compared to last year. On the right side, the balance price costs, which highlights the good continuous work done on cost reductions, first of all, but also on Imerys' agility to react to market changes in terms of pricing when needed. We know this balance remains a key factor for future success.

Let's now look at our main underlying markets and their trends, and I'll be quick as we have partly already addressed the main trajectories and trends by geography. So overall, I would say what we saw in Q2 was confirmed in Q3 with overall markets, say, below expectation, especially construction and automotive, while growth in electric vehicles continues strongly, and while tariffs have a limited direct impact on Imerys, the uncertainty created by these tariffs is impacting more in general business activity and unfortunately, specifically some of our customers.

To rapidly conclude on this side, construction finally, and potentially restarting in Europe, remains below expectation in the U.S. Consumer goods, resilient, certainly in the U.S., maybe slowing a bit in America for the reasons we have mentioned. Automotive, continued low production levels in Europe and in North America. China, good, benefiting from strong exports, but also these internal stimulus packages or policies launched by the government and of course, very strong EV growth in the area. General industrial activity, soft in Q2 in Western economies, strong or solid in China. so far for market trends. Sebastien, I hand over to you for more details on our accounts.

Thank you, Alessandro. Good evening, everyone. Let me recap some of the key aspects of our financial performance, and we'll start with revenue. The group reports sales at EUR 2.6 billion for the first 9 months of 2025. It represents 0.7% decrease at constant exchange rate and perimeter as compared to last year, with volumes slightly down and prices holding well. You keep in mind the large perimeter effect, EUR 126 million, mainly due to the disposal of the assets serving paper in July '24.

We have now an FX impact of minus EUR 47 million coming from a drop mostly of the USD versus euro from Q2 onwards. You can see in the chart, Imerys performance for the third quarter alone, quite similar trend for sales volume and prices and also a high FX impact. Perimeter effect is now positive, thanks to the good performance of Chemviron, the business acquired at the end of last year.

If we look now into more details at our 3 business segments, beginning with Performance Minerals, the business generated EUR 1.547 billion since the beginning of '25, representing 60% of Imerys Group. Overall, the business shows a slightly negative organic growth as compared to last year due to a weak Q3, notably in America. Revenue in Q3 for Americas was down 5.7% at constant scope and exchange rate, reaching EUR 199 million.

Sales were impacted by a weak residential market in the U.S. suffering from high interest rates, unsold housing inventory and also a soft filtration market. The prices held well. Revenue in Q3 for EMEA and APAC decreased by 3% like-for-like in the third quarter of '25 as compared to last year. Weak volumes, minus 4.1% were driven by low demand across main markets, where our sales to paints and automotive polymer slightly improved.

I already mentioned the good performance of Chemviron's diatomite and perlite businesses integrated since January '25. Here as well, price grew in line with H1. Now looking at our solutions for Refractory, Abrasives and Construction business. We note a relative improvement of the business in Q3, posting organic growth in the quarter after a difficult H1. Business revenue reached EUR 278 million in Q3, an increase of 1.9% as compared to last year at constant scope and exchange rate. The recovery is primarily driven by stronger refractory activity, benefiting from positive momentum in the U.S. and China and some volume gains in Europe.

In contrast, the construction business experienced a more mixed performance, impacted by soft end markets. In this business, prices as well held well. Now let's complete the segment review with the solutions for energy transition. Q3 revenues for graphite and carbon amounted to EUR 59 million, a 3.6% increase compared to last year at constant scope and exchange rate.

Sales growth is still driven by robust end markets, primarily electric vehicles. The business also benefited from successful new product launches, in particular in polymer applications. A small note on the Quartz Corporation, our high-purity Quartz JV, 50% owned by Imerys and not consolidated, as you remember. The activity is showing some signs of normalization. However, these have yet to be confirmed as the solar value chain remains affected by persistent high inventories and the lack of significant reduction in production capacity.

Now let's look at the group profitability. For the first 9 months, adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 421 million. It decreased by 21% as compared to last year, reflecting the impact of lower contribution of JVs, perimeter impact and an unfavorable exchange rate effect of minus EUR 11 million. Imerys achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.3% at the end of Q3 '25. This was supported by improved performance in graphite and carbon, resilient activity in Performance Minerals and a continuous cost management approach.

Adjusted EBITDA Q3 '25 decreased by 6%, impacted by volume decrease and a EUR 10 million FX impact, which were partly offset by a positive price cost balance in this quarter again. Ongoing cost-saving initiatives allowed the group to keep fixed cost and overhead slightly lower than last year in absolute value, fully offsetting inflation.

If we look now at the other elements of our income statement for the first 9 months of this year. Driven by the decrease of EBITDA in absolute value, current operating income reached EUR 216 million. With slightly higher interest expenses and lower income tax, current net income from continuing operation ended up at EUR 126 million at the end of September.

You remember that last year, the group booked EUR 326 million in noncash expenses, mostly originating from the translation reserves associated with the assets serving the paper market that we divested in July '24. This year, in the first 9 months of '25, other operating expenses were limited to EUR 16 million. Year-to-date, net profit is, therefore, positive, reaching EUR 110 million at the end of September. I now hand over back to Alessandro for the outlook.

Thank you, Sebastien. So let me conclude with some good news. First, we remain confident of achieving our guidance, which is not a given under current market circumstances. Second, I'd like to inform you that the date has been set by the relevant court to resume the confirmation hearing on our Chapter 11 case in the U.S. This is now planned to start on February 2 next year. Yes, we all wish it could be earlier, but this was the first available date provided by the court. What is important is having a date for this crucial hearing is a very important step towards the end of this process.

Third, as you have seen at the beginning, we have signed, not done yet, but we have signed a new acquisition. It's a classic bolt-on. And as you can see with the recent one, Chemviron, it can be integrated rapidly, well, profitably with a lot of synergies. As you can see when you look specifically at Q3 performance, where the perimeter effect becomes only this acquisition.

Then next, we indicated in the past that we were looking for a partner for the EMILI project. Well, I believe we are close to have found the first one. This will secure the financing of the next steps, giving precedence in our plans to the completion of the engineering studies for the DFS. Consequently, we will pause the investments in an industrial pilot plant and review this decision in due time and based on market conditions and capital allocation consideration.

Last, you know that we relentlessly work on costs through careful management through our operational excellence program called I-Cube that you heard before. And I believe the EBITDA bridge Sebastien just showed you a few minutes ago confirms the good work done on costs. Nevertheless, we have to acknowledge that today, we do not see a significant rebound in or a market recovery in the nearby future. Therefore, we have to make a step up and the group is launching a comprehensive cost reduction and performance improvement program, aiming at achieving significant cost reduction via leaner, simplified organization and an adjusted industrial footprint with a clear target to improve profitability from 2026 onwards. More details on the program will be available at a later stage for obvious reasons. Thank you. And now I hand over to you for the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions]

We will take our first question and the first question comes from the line of Ebrahim Homani from CIC.

I have 3, if I may. The first one is about the Europe. You said that it is going better and better. Are the volumes already positive in the region? If not, do you expect that the volume will be positive in Q4? My second question is about your EMILI. Could you give us more flavor on the investor interest? Is it an industrial from the automotive industry and maybe more information on the term of this partnership? And my last question is on graphite and carbon. How do you explain the slowdown of the growth? I noticed that it is not a comparison basis effect as in Q3 2024, the branch was already declining. So the low growth, what's the explanation behind this lower growth compared to the H1?

Thank you, Ebrahim. Well, volume in Europe, I remain prudent because we shall be prudent when I look at communications on Q3 coming in the market. I confirm that we believe the worst is behind. Construction in some areas is picking up. And I believe automotive will continue to decline in Q4, but most forecasts believe, again, that the bottom is reached and we should see a positive return of activity or at least a stabilization. Is it Q4? Is it the beginning of next year? We will see.

What will definitely have a positive impact on our business in Europe in Q4 is, if you remember, there is an antidumping imposed temporarily, but valid on certain Chinese imports of minerals. And this will trigger a volume increase in Q4 for some businesses. If you look specifically at the RAC business, it was the -- except for graphite and carbon, the one posting organic growth because finally, volumes are starting to return with some gain of shares in Europe. So all in all, I am rather positive on Q4 volume development certainly into next year.

On EMILI, as you can imagine, we are in the middle of discussions, by definition, confidential. So we'll be back to you when we can. And I believe it will be relatively short as we indicated in our press release and in our presentation. But bear with me at the moment, everything is covered by confidentiality. Graphite & Carbon, whilst the summer period is always a bit to be taken -- you have a small month normally in August. So you might see less deviation. Market remains solid.

Growth remains solid. We have had some -- we have had 2 issues that have a little impact. For sure, we installed SAP in the two operations. And as always, there is some learning of the new system that you have to pay when you do these changes. By the way, we did the same in the U.S. this year. So for sure, this is causing a bit of disruptions.

And secondly, when you ramp up at that speed, you need to run your plants. I cannot say flat out because we have capacity to follow growth for the next 3 years, but you don't turn the machine on and it goes along. We are recruiting people. We need to train the people, and frankly, we do have a bit of backlog of orders that we could not supply because we were not able to get all the material out of the door.

So for me, is maybe the increase is less than Q2, but there is no negative news from the market that does not confirm the direction. Then of course, the more we grow, the more -- the higher the comparison basis will be coming from the past, but really no bad news in any form Ebrahim on G&C.

Your next question comes from the line of Auguste Deryckx from KEC.

My questions are on the Quartz JV. Given the weakness of the sector, do you see customers turning to a lower quality product, so a product with a lower purity? So in other words, are you losing market share? And the second question still on Quartz is still given the situation, do you think that you will be able to receive a dividend from the JV? And if so, what can be the level? And if not, how do you plan to crystallize the value of your stake in this JV?

Thank you, Auguste, for the question. Specifically, listen, when you have free capacity in your operations, like it is the case in the value chain of especially solar in China today, of course, you try to save money and you try everything you can. Do we believe that we are or we will lose significant market shares in high purity? No. My view is no.

At the moment, I think our customers have been trying to replace this product because of its high price and dependency really on two suppliers for many, many years, is nothing new. So I believe when the market will need to run production at strong level, a normal level to follow market growth.

So once inventories are depleted, and last time we said it might be around mid next year, I think it will become again unavoidable to have the best quality because you will have the best productivity. So I remain of the opinion market share in normal conditions will remain for a high-purity top product.

And on the same topic, clearly, the year is not as good as last year. Therefore, we have been more careful with the distribution of dividends. We will decide with our partners if and when is the right time. The company is making profit, good profits. You see only half of the net income in our numbers. But if you look really at what is the full potential of this business at EBITDA level, which you see in June and you will see in December, you see that it remains an incredible high-performing profitable business. And therefore, we will discuss openly with our partners what is the best for the business and for its shareholders. And based on that, we'll take the decision, which is not taken as of today, but it is part of the discussion we have as shareholders regularly.

Your next question comes from the line of Sebastian Bray from Berenberg.

Can I start with one on the financing costs of the group, please. What is the underlying run rate that is a reasonable assumption for '26? And by when does the company expect to have refinancing in place for the bond that comes due roughly EUR 600 million? Is it towards the end of the year? Or would it expect to have something in the middle? Can I also ask about the review that the group is doing of its cost structure. The -- is this extending to a portfolio review as well? And are there any further assets that the group feels it could potentially divest as part of these considerations?

I'll let Sebastien answer your -- first, Sebastian, welcome to this call. I think it's your first time. I'll let Sebastien answer on the financing side.

Yes. I will probably not answer extremely precisely. This being said, I think you are -- you're asking the good question. We have a next big repayment very early in '27. So we pursue a very careful approach. So we will probably refinance that either late this year or in the first half of 2026 so that we are away from any timing risk, and we will not preannounce that, but I think we'll follow your advice, which is not to do that at the last minute, knowing that on top of that, bond markets are pretty good for corporates these days.

Also, I think I think our careful approach on lithium is actually a good sign that will facilitate refinancing. As far as run rate is concerned, I would say it's a little bit mechanical. We have a very detailed of our financing in our annual report, obviously, and unfortunately, when we replace a new -- an old bond by a new bond, there is a little bit of extra interest rate, mechanical, but that, I would say, is true for us like the rest of the market.

Thank you, Sebastien. And coming to your second question, Sebastien. At the moment, there is no plan to significantly review our portfolio. We have done it in the year '23 and '24. Yes, we might sell opportunistically one or the other site, especially if nonperforming or not up to our standards, but it will be very punctual and not really a big topic.

On the contrary, as you have seen, we believe we are rather on the acquisition mode, bolt-on, easy, synergetic, profitable if opportunities arise. So cost is really an organizational matter. It's a matter of lean organization, simplification. We will review, as I said, our industrial footprint if it still fits the new markets.

These tariffs are causing shifts in ore production with countries that are favored by more positive depositories, other that are paying a higher bill. So within our customer base, and that's what I referred to when I said limited direct impact for Imerys, but for our customer, yes.

So there might be movements in where we supply our customers that could trigger, as you say, maybe a closure of a site or a divestiture of a site in a country maybe that has been penalized by lower activity. But we really want to work on costs. We are going to use AI to simplify our administrative processes, lean organization and probably give up some nice to haves that are not affordable when you have challenging market conditions.

But the portfolio is a good one. And even the more -- let's say, the business is under more pressure like some businesses in Europe, especially after the energy crisis, if these antidumping measures will be confirmed, I do believe there will be market share gains and a return to a very reasonable profitability as expected.

Your next question comes from the line of Sven Edelfelt from ODDO BHF.

I would have two follow-up questions. Alessandro, you mentioned a first investor with regards to lithium. Does this suggest the participation will be limited to a 10-ish percentage point participation? And therefore, you expect maybe some other investor or maybe I misunderstood. And the second question, on the restructuring cost that you're announcing I don't understand why you are announcing a potential restructuring cost without giving us any number.

On the second question related to this one is, does that mean that given what you have from your team on the ground, you don't expect a recovery before 2027 or 2028. What's the sense of doing it right now? That's my question.

Thank you, Sven, for your questions. The first one is, again, I cannot enter more details as we are in the middle of the discussions. But I can definitely say that your interpretation is not the right one. A partner is a partner and every partner is important, and we expect the partner to play a significant role.

What I'm saying is that if you look potentially to the end of this project is a very large project one day, if we go to the end. And typically, in mining -- large mining projects, you might have several players joining forces to sustain the CapEx to bring know-how and to develop jointly. So it's nothing to be interpreted other than this, partner important, every partner important. And going forward, we will consider interested party in this project if they bring value any time.

On your second one, again, don't interpret that we do not expect any rebound. I expect a rebound in Europe next year. The magnitude to be seen. And when I say high is because all the studies -- economic studies we buy by big experts do foresee a recovery in Europe. They're a bit less optimistic on the recovery in the U.S. They believe the first months of next year, the U.S. might be under pressure because of all the turmoil, inflation uncertainty and uncertainty is the right word and then a recovery in the second half of next year.

What I believe is that a significant strong rebound is not for the next 2, 3 quarters. Therefore, better be ready with a stronger company, leaner, more efficient. And when volumes come, that's with a 53%, 54%, 55% contribution margin, when volume comes, then we really see a significant improvement in profitability. So we are just doing an extra mile to be stronger, to be more efficient, to be leaner, waiting for a slow or a rapid recovery in the future. So not pushing back anywhere.

I do believe '26 or at least forecast say '26 should be good again, but it's not there and waiting is not an option. We did not communicate more figures Sven because there are legal processes and constraints that are being discussed and no decision is taken. There are consultations ongoing, preparation. But latest by the next communication, we will give for sure all the details in due time when everything has been set, discussed, reviewed, negotiated, approved. So it give us the time just to be there.

There are no further questions. I would like to hand back for closing remarks.

Thank you very much, and thank you for all participants to listening to this evening's press release and presentation on Imerys. Thank you very much. Good evening.

Good evening.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Imerys's Half Year 2025 Results Webcast and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Alessandro Dazza, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon to all of you, and thank you for joining us today to review Imerys H1 '25 results. With me this afternoon, as usual, Sébastien Rouge, our CFO. And as usual, please let me start by giving you a few highlights of the semester we just closed and in particular, on the second quarter of the year.

I think Imerys delivered a very resilient H1 results. On a comparable basis, our sales were flat, and our EBITDA for the underlying business was even up. And I think this is a great achievement considering the environment around us.

If we go a bit more in detail, the performance in the first half was the result of a good start in the year with a solid Q1 and for sure, a softer Q2 as let's say, the sudden and unpredictable U.S. tariff policy and especially the changes thereof triggered a global uncertainty and weakened demand a bit everywhere, but also in North America.

Despite softer volumes in Q2, organic growth for the first half of the year was flat, basically compared to last year. Given this, let's say, challenging context, we posted an increase in EBITDA versus last year, [ 1.7 ] , both for the second quarter and for the full first half excluding, of course, perimeter and the contribution of JV as well as change, which in Q2, turned significantly negative reporting in euro, and Sébastien will show you the impact of the dollar devaluation.

As said, this demonstrates the strength and the resilience of our company, but also the good work done on cost savings, cost saving initiatives and programs, pricing discipline. Innovation, and I will come back on this because it starts to be significant. And also, thanks to the investments we have launched in the last 2 years on growing businesses such as conductive additives that are finally starting to deliver significant sales and profits.

The adjusted EBITDA for the first semester was EUR 281 million, a 16% margin. For 2025, the group targets an adjusted EBITDA in the range of EUR 540 million, EUR 580 million, assuming no big deterioration or change in the overall economic environment. And during the call on this call, that will provide you a bit more details on our assumption as well as important progress update on our Emily, on our lithium project in France. So the new slides on the second slide, which gives you, I think, a good picture to illustrate the sales performance of the group for H1 by geography, contrasted, as you can see.

Top right, Europe is clearly the weak link in the chain with persistently low industrial activity notably a difficult automotive sector, maybe an improving construction industry, but still at historical low levels. And again, to give you an example of the, let's say, tough situation in Europe, I mentioned Germany. The country loan dropped in H1 of this year by almost 10% in sales compared to last year or a drop of EUR 18 million. So more than the entire drop of the group sales in H1. There are reasons to be optimistic, but I will come back to that for the future, and I'll come back to that later on.

Even with -- if we move on, even if with a softer Q2 compared to Q1, especially around the construction world, North America remains solid with organic growth also for the full H1. Asia, growing nicely, not only India, where we invested with our last greenfield around construction and steel, not only in China where we invested in automotive. And, of course, around the battery production world, so dynamic. And last but not least, on the contrary, in terms of growth, the fastest-growing South America, where we invested a lot in innovation. And as I mentioned before, we start seeing the fruits of the work.

On the next slide, I would say here, it underlines the robustness of the Imerys business model. On the left, you can see the evolution of adjusted EBITDA, as I already mentioned, excluding the perimeter, and I remind you, is the divestiture of the assets serving the paper market in July of last year. So the last quarter where we will see an impact and removing contribution of which was exceptional in H1 last year, significantly lower this year, and Sébastien will give you more details adjusted EBITDA increased for the underlying business by 1.5% year-on-year.

And on the right is one of the reasons I say one of them. The reason for this increase is the balance between pricing and costs, which remains strongly positive and constantly positive, which highlights the good work done on costs, on cost containment but also our agility to react to market changes in terms of pricing when it comes. As I always said, it is important to maintain this balance always positive, and I think we do it successfully. If you now look at our main underlying markets and their trends, I'll be quick because partly, we discussed it already or represented it already looking at geographies.

It should be noted that fluctuating U.S. tariffs has had a limited direct impact on the Image business. We said it before, but they did have a more important impact on some of our customers or our end markets, and I think of automotive in Europe and generated a global uncertainty with, for sure, slow down demand a bit everywhere. Maybe more optimism for the future, and we will look at it in our outlook. Looking at the markets, construction, in general, not good. We see a lot of -- or a very little growth. Europe historical low levels, but we do see signs of a rebound. North America was good in infrastructure, low in residential. Q2 was really low.

I hope the recent agreements with the different countries will bring more certainty and confidence to consumers to spend and hopefully, a limited inflation causing to interest rates to finally drop. Positive in Asia, and I would say even in China. Consumer goods, next slide, very little to say, resilient, solid all geographies. Now that tariffs seems to have a limited impact in the U.S. probably we do expect also in the U.S. to remain sustained. The next slide, automotive is definitely the most difficult. Europe with the third quarter of significant drop in a row. The U.S. also turning negative. One bright spot, which is China, the local market as well as exports.

Our last investments, if you recall, our polymers for lightweighting of -- sorry, our investment in lightweighting -- in minerals for lightweighting of polymers, addressing the car industry in China was definitely a good choice, and we do see, for us, a strong market in China at the moment. On the next one, energy depends a lot of industrial activity. So quite soft in Q2 and in H1. Electronics has been okay. It should remain also okay. And the very good news is the electric vehicle market that is showing a significant rebound in Europe, double -- high double digit in America, even and remains very, very solid in China, by far the biggest market in the world.

And this trading for new policy is definitely showing its effects. We do expect the market to continue on a very solid basis. Industry industrial activity, we mentioned before, soft in Europe, softer in the U.S. in Q1, but remaining okay, and we do see good momentum in China and in Asia in general. And the last slide on iron steel, which is typically a consequence of the construction and automotive industries, which are the main users by far of iron and steel. Again, it reflects what the markets are so slow in Europe. It should be good in the U.S. if this 50% tariffs are confirmed, which seems the case and slowing in China, on the back of our capacity and lower cost structure industry compared to past years.

Also, we do expect countries to limit Chinese export of steel through protectionism and therefore, going forward, Chinese steel production should remain sub. If we look now a bit more in details at our figures, I hand over to Sébastien.

Thank you, Alessandro. Good evening, everyone. Let's go through some of the key aspects of our financial performance, and we start with revenue. The group reported sales at EUR 1.76 billion for the first semester of '25. It represents a 0.4% decrease at constant exchange rate and perimeter as compared to last year. The perimeter effect, minus EUR 136 million is mainly due to the disposal of the paper activities made last July.

And we have also a deterioration of EUR 19 million of the FX effect. This comes in particular from a drop of the USD versus euro in Q2. To be noted, sequentially, sales continue in an upward trend. Q2 sales are higher than Q1 of this year. They are also higher than Q3 and Q4 of 2024, which were comparable quarters after the disposal of the paper serving of the assets serving the paper market. So if we look now into more detail at our 3 business segments, we start with Performance Minerals. This business generated EUR 1.056 billion, since the beginning of '25, and it represents 60% of Imerys Group.

Overall, the business shows a slightly positive organic growth as compared to last year. supported by price development across all regions. Revenue in the Americas were the most dynamic, up 1.3% at constant scope and exchange rates. Price increased mitigated the impact of software volumes as the construction sector was still penalized by high interest rates and business uncertainty.

Revenues in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific shows a slight decrease of 1% at constant scope and exchange rates in H1 this year as compared to last year. This was mostly due to a 1.9% decline in volumes, reflecting low activity in automotive, painting and coating industries and partially offset by positive Filtration business. Adjusted EBITDA of H1 stood at EUR 186 million in line with '24 at comparable exchange rate and perimeter, thanks to effort on costs and well-adjusted price-cost balance.

Now looking at our solutions for refractory abrasive and construction business. For the new generated by this business in the first semester reached EUR 580 million a 5% decrease as compared to the prior year at constant scope and [indiscernible]. Sales to the refractory market were particularly impacted by low industrial activity in Europe increased Chinese competition and, to a lesser extent, lower industrial activity in the U.S. Our construction solutions even in a difficult market held up very well. The second quarter saw a similar trend to the first one with further sustainabilities caused by the U.S. tariff policy.

The prices held up well across all regions. The adjusted EBITDA decrease was really due to the volume drop, a positive price/cost balance and cost-saving actions helped mitigate this impact in the first half year. Now we complete this segment review with the solutions for Energy Transition business. The graphite and carbon activity generated revenue of EUR 123 million in H1 this year, up 20% versus 2024, conforming in Q2 the good start of the year. Sales growth is driven by robust end markets, mainly electric vehicles and conductive polymers by market share gains and by new product launches.

Adjusted EBITDA improved, thanks to the significant sales volume increase. If we look now at the cost corporation as a whole, 100%, the business generated EUR 82 million revenue a large, almost 70% drop versus last year, exceptional first half. The performance remained affected by a very disturbed solar value chain with persistent high inventory even if activity improves progressively in Q2, net income fell sharply to EUR 12 million. If we now look at the group profitability as a whole. For the first semester of '25, adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 281 million. Compared to last year, the profitability was impacted by the deterioration of the contribution from our joint ventures. You remember, its contribution was exceptional in '24.

The adjusted EBITDA was also impacted by the perimeter effect of minus EUR 34 million, resulting from the disposal of the assets serving the paper market last July. We stated from this perimeter and JV impact, adjusted EBITDA from our fully owned business is growing by EUR 5 million, net of change impact which proves again the resilience of Imerys business model. The adjusted EBITDA margin reached 16%, benefiting from the strong performance of the graphite size and carbon and Performance Minerals businesses, it reached 17.3% if we look at Q2 alone.

Let's look now at the other elements of our income statement for the first semester of '25. Current operating income reached EUR 143 million following EBITDA decrease year-on-year and a slight increase of depreciation expenses with current financial expenses close to last year level. Same thing for -- with lower tax expenses, the current net income group share landed at EUR 83 million, suffering mainly from the lower contribution of our JV and the negative perimeter impact. Net income group share after nonrecurring expenses, which are limited to EUR 12 million, reached EUR 71 million as compared to EUR 142 million the previous year, reflecting the decrease in current net income.

Let's have a look now at our cash flow generation. We reported a net current free operating cash flow of EUR 60 million before strategic CapEx, EUR 40 million if we include the lithium CapEx. The decrease compared to prior year is primarily due to lower profitability and significantly reduced dividends from our joint venture and that was partially offset by a decreased efforts and efforts in our capital expenditure. For the full year, net current free operating cash flow should benefit from improved operating working capital, traditionally better in H2 and lower capital expenditures.

Excluding the strategic CapEx, these are expected to be below EUR 270 million as compared to EUR 290 million last year. How do these different elements translates into Imerys balance sheet. With the normal seasonality of our working cap and the limited impact of nonoperational cash, the net debt increased by EUR 135 million, mostly linked to the dividend distributed last May. Net financial debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio increased mechanically to [ 2.5 ] following the impact of scope and JV contribution. Rating agencies remain confident in the strength of Imerys financial structure and reiterated recently their investment-grade rating.

On these good notes, now I hand over to Alessandro for the outlook and [indiscernible].

Thank you, Sébastien. And before deep diving a bit on mini project, a word on the outlook. As mentioned in the beginning, we target for the year -- for the full year 2025 and adjusted EBITDA in the range of EUR 540 million to EUR 580 million, assuming no material deterioration in the overall environment. We do expect our volumes to turn positive in the second part of the year for several reasons. First, I think the recently announced agreement on tariffs with the U.S., Europe, U.S., 15% is high. Am I happy, not really. But I think it is a level which is first variable by the overall industry. And secondly, it does give a basis on which people can calculate, invest and take decisions. So the uncertainty, hopefully, is gone.

Secondly, I believe that our innovation efforts, as shown in South America and other smaller businesses are starting to deliver, so we should see some growth right there. the electric vehicle markets is -- will continue to grow. And Emily and the numbers I will show around Emily confirm all the forecasts are positive. We are very well positioned. We have invested, we have the capacity to follow the growth of this market and that will deliver growth. And last, I think the construction industry is turning its point and for sure in Europe. But if interest rates will be revised downwards as expected in the U.S., we should see also the same trend in the U.S. Lastly, there has been a measure announced 10 days ago from the European community on protection measures on certain imported minerals from China. In antidumping as is simply called that is valid since July '17. This should also bring some additional volumes and growth to our European activity in the second half.

All of this to say that we're confident in the success of this company. We will navigate these challenging worlds with discipline, with focus on cost and with a long-term view, and I remain optimistic as said for the second half.

Before I open to Q&A, and let me give you an update. It's been promised since a long time on Emily, on our lithium project where we stand, the fundamentals, the results of the pre-feasibility study.

So a quick summary, targets to produce 34,000 tons per year of battery-grade lithium hydroxide by the end of the decade. This volume would be sufficient to power 700,000 electrical vehicles per year. France produced around 1.1 million per year, so close to the entire need of this country. It's based on a hard rock, an important resource located in the middle of Europe, in the middle of France, in Allier department, so nicely located. And of course, it will feed into a value chain supply chain being built in Europe around EVs. The project has been classified a project of major national interest in France and also a strategic project from the European community under the Critical Raw Materials Act.

If we share some key elements of -- or key outcomes of the recently completed prefeasibility study. First, I would say everything confirms the strong fundamentals of the project and in detail world-class deposits, top 5 worldwide for hard rock. Higher or significantly higher resources than originally estimated. So 370 million tons lithium oxide that's 1% concentration, which implies minimum 50-year life of mine. Some areas even show -- in significant areas, a concentration as high as 1.22%, which will be really world class. Production process works has been validated in -- through testing in a dedicated lab now since a few months on a continuous basis, and we have more than 1 ton of lithium produced that is being tested by battery makers as we speak.

Lithium production will be environmentally and socially responsible. We estimate CO2 emission to be half of the average of other existing rock lithium operations and water consumption should be among the lowest in the world. The project will create at least 1,500 jobs direct and indirect in the area. The cost will be competitive. The cash costs we announced a EUR 7 to EUR 9 per kilo, well, it will be in the very low end of the range, which is good news. On the less good news, the CapEx, which we expected in excess of EUR 1 billion is in reality, higher-than-expected revised up to EUR 1.8 billion. Two main reasons, one is inflation over the last 3 years. And the second one is ESG compliance.

So we had to add some elements and machines and pieces of equipment to improve our ESG footprint or ESG compliance that has a cost. Still, good news ahead of us. Substantial reductions have been identified in the new engineering phase and are under finalization and a tax credit of EUR 200 million has been confirmed for the project that is eligible, and we do expect this to materialize as well as other subsidies, especially at European level.

The return of the project remains interesting and in line with our expectation, considering especially the long-term market forecast for lithium prices, and I have a slide dedicated to this later on. Commercial production is delayed, will be -- is now planned for 2030 for several reasons, including a long public debates and the permitting phase, which is ongoing right now, the decision, which is one of the questions often asked, for a go, no go on the commercial plant will be needed by the end of 2027. As already mentioned, so I don't enter into more details. The project is really exemplary in terms of responsible mining and our commitments to ESG in terms of footprint, CO2 emissions, water consumption, stakeholder management really I would say, difficult to do better.

Interesting on the next slide is expectation from the market. So top left, you see the expected growth and supply -- expected growth of lithium needs and supply up to 2035. CAGR of 13%, proven in the past, expected for the future. This growth will create a gap with demand gradually, of course, but supply will be outgrown by demand. It's only a question of when. And below, you see different studies showing the moment of inflection. As a consequence, typically of a market which will become unbalanced, there is an overall alignment on the different studies showing that lithium prices will and should gradually recover from the current very low levels.

The consensus price around the end of the decade is significantly higher than today's probably between $20 and $30 per kilo. When I say lithium, I always mean lithium carbonate or lithium carbonate equivalent, which is the typically traded sold material in the industry. On the next slide, we focus specifically on Europe, which is the target market [Technical Difficulty] the Emily project. On the left, you can see the growing demand for EVs and hybrid cars should reach 83% penetration in 10 years. But not only bottom part, not only cars will drive lithium demand. There is a growing demand for energy storage as well as other mobility applications such as trucks or two-wheelers.

All of these will generate significant additional market growth in the future. On the right, Europe will, might, should potentially need around 550,000 to 600,000 tons of lithium per year, battery grade. At this stage, all known, all announced projects if fully implemented and operational will not be able to meet such demand, with the deficit estimated at least 160,000 tonnes per year, as said by the end of the decade.

This is why we do expect the lithium market to become increasingly interesting and the matter of European sovereignty. And to conclude an overview of what we have done in the past years where we stand today and what are the next steps. We have concluded the scoping study. We have concluded the public debate and the prefeasibility study. We have produced battery-grade lithium hydroxide on a continuous basis in a dedicated laboratory, and this is being tested by our customers.

Next steps are now, of course, completing which is ongoing, the definitive feasibility study, fundamentally engineering of the commercial plant, which is ongoing. The construction of an industrial pilots to confirm and test the process and the technology and to get homologation for the product once all permits, which is not the case yet, will be obtained. And last, given the size of the project, the search of an adequate partner.

Thank you for listening, and I now open the floor to questions.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. We will now go to our first question. And your first question today comes from the line of Ebrahim Homani from CIC.

I have 2. I may. The first one is about your guidance. So the assumption behind in terms of ForEx organic growth on TQC contribution given the level of EBITDA, what would be your net debt-to-EBITDA [indiscernible].

And my second question is about the [ tamproject ], you have discussions potential partners? And what are the profiles of this partner is [indiscernible]?

I'll start on the second one. As we mentioned in the past, our preferred partner would be an industrial partner that not only brings, let's say, financing to the project, join us in this project, but also expertise and know-how, especially on how to manage CapEx of this size, which is clearly beyond Imerys strength or typical CapEx size.

This being said, we are very open. We are investigating opportunities. And I think we will be -- after the summer going towards the year-end, we will be able to comment in more detail. It could be financial partners, could be private equities, could be funds. The project is considered of high interest in the industry, and we remain very confident that we will find the right partner for Emily. On TQC your questions, I would say the -- if I look at the first half of the year, our numbers are included in our press release.

I think over the first half of the year, the business has been improving, especially in terms of sales. We do see some activity resuming, especially in the photovoltaic market, which has been affected by the extremely high inventories throughout the chain, raw materials, semifinished modules, panels, throughout the chain. We do see productions in China restarting. It will be gradual will be customer by customer. We have lived that 2 years ago in our Graphite & Carbon business or batteries after the big hike, a big drop in demand once inventories are back to normal levels, activity will resume because the underlying market, installation of photovoltaics remains very solid with high single-digit or double-digit growth.

And I think the best confirmation is the way our conductive additive business is doing now very strongly. I believe 1 day TQC will come back. It will take time, we remain prudent on future developments because we have limited visibility. As you know, in photovoltaic, the main -- basically, the only market is China, and information from China needs to be taken weaker. The smaller part of the business, semiconductor remains solid. So no question on that. And I think you had a question on...

Sorry, the ForEx assumption behind your guidance and also the leverage.

On the ForEx, we have planned with something a little bit better than the spot. We'll see how it evolves. So there is a bit of risk and opportunity, but we don't see anything major at least if we believe what are the expectations of mostly USD and reals, which are big contributors so far.

So on the leverage, I will not give you a precise number because some of the elements are actually in the end of Alessandro with lithium at which speed do we resume the CapEx, how do we partner? It will obviously have an impact. What I can tell you is that basically, we've seen the most of the mechanical degradation of the leverage. We have -- you remember, it's built on a 12-month rolling average. We left the very high H1 of '24 replaced by something lower this year. Now we will have an H2 of '25 that will be way more -- way closer than the H2 of '24.

So you do the math mechanically, we'll be more or less in the same range as of today with a very dedicated focus then to regain progressively and reduce the leverage by a natural increase of the EBITDA in the following years exactly as we saw after the last crisis of 2020. So that's how we are playing that right now with, again, a little bit of a known with the way and the speed at which we finance the lithium.

From a working capital perspective, middle of the year is typically a peak because there is a lot of mining activities which happen only in summer.

And therefore, in terms of working capital, typically, we see a significant drop towards the end of the year, which, of course, helps generating a strong cash flow generation. [ Ebrahim ], did we answer all?

Yes.

Your next question comes from the line of Jason Fairclough from Bank of America.

Just had a couple of quick ones on the Emily project. So I was just taking a look at the price. I think the price of lithium is down by about 85% from when you first started talking about this project. And now the CapEx is up by 80%.

So I guess with this new set of inputs, how much do you think the lithium price needs to go up from here for this project to be NPV neutral. Like do we need to have lithium prices 20%, 30% higher from here?

Do you have a second question, Jason, or...

Yes. Well, the second one is, I guess -- and it's a bit more of a philosophical one. So apologies if I get a bit philosophical. If we've got -- we seem to have a lot of very low cost lithium brine projects. So I guess my philosophical question is, is there really still a place for hard rock lithium projects? Interested in your thoughts.

Okay. In your first part of the question are facts, the price in '22 and the price today offer outstrip demands. And therefore, we see the -- which is a bit typical in what is effectively a commodity.

At $10 per kilo, which is more or less the current price, this project will not fly and will not be done. I don't depends on certain assumption in costing, but I think a project like the Emily will probably be NPV $0 probably around $13, $14 per kilo. So 30%, 40% up compared to today I think the lithium price is what is key is lithium prices. Any known project today will not be enough to supply future demand. So I don't believe we will see any again for a very simple reason, if lithium costs $80 per kilo, we will not buy electric vehicles because they will become too expensive.

But the lithium price, which is more or less what's all institution and experts estimate the lithium price between $20 and $30 is realistic dollar per kilo of course, is realistic because of demand and supply balance and because projects will not be made if it is at $10. So that's our estimation. Fortunately, we don't have to take a decision on the CapEx today because it will be definitely a difficult one. But we are preparing, as I always said, an opportunity. When the time comes, as I said before, we will try to secure contracts. An offtake at prices which will make the project attractive. But all of this is ahead of us.

Emily today is in the first half of the quartile -- sorry, on the cost curve. Yes, the top quartile are only brines, which are typically cheaper than we can look at the environmental footprint of especially water consumption of these projects. when you start moving out of brine and you come to our rock, then Emily becomes a very competitive project. According -- again, not to Alessandro, but 2 studies. There is not enough brine to supply the world.

And therefore, hard rock today, as a matter of fact, more than 50% is hard rock already today. Both of them are being developed and people are investing in both, but still studies say brand will not be enough. And the best known reserves or brands have been capped. So again, as for ad rock, you go to the lower concentration, smaller pockets and so on. So I still remain convinced the world will need so much lithium that the deposit, like this one, given the size, the ESG, the compliance being European, I think there is a lot of room for this project going forward.

Your next question comes from the line of Aron Ceccarelli from Berenberg.

I have 2, please. The first one is on Carbon Black. I see that your compare for Orion has announced the decision to shut down several production lines in the U.S. and in Europe. What kind of impact do you expect from all your rationalization on your pricing, especially now that it looks like we are in a market that is rebounding.

The second one is about your full year guidance and EBITDA. I noticed you expect volumes to turn positive in the second half of the year. would be great if you can provide perhaps some colors by different end markets? Thank you.

Thank you, Aron. Let's say, on pricing by definition, we never comment, especially in, let's say, in a small market as the one of Carbon Black were really a few players are present. I was not aware that Orion has announced shutdowns. We have announced investments in the last 3 years. We have put more than EUR 150 million CapEx in this business. We are very glad we did it because as you can see from the results, it is growing very rapidly and very strongly and very profitably.

And it's not only batteries. We have a good momentum in conductive polymers. I think we have an excellent product is the reference in the market. That's why now that we have capacity, we are even gaining market shares. We have the capacity to supply for the next 2, 3 years. So I expect this trend to continue and market will dictate the price as always. Customers and competition. But we believe we are really the best product in the market. On our guidance, as always, we tend to be prudent. The world has been complicated lately. So we have given a larger range, and we've put some question marks, let's say, on the positive side, I believe, as you say, our conductive [indiscernible] business will continue to grow solidly.

Look at EV sales, as an example, but also electronics where our conducted polymers go, it will continue to grow. We believe construction in Europe has turned the point. And in some parts, especially Eastern Europe is solid, Northern Europe. The central part is still behind France, especially in Germany. But there is more momentum and with interest rates at this level, we do expect to resume and grow. The same for the U.S., construction in the U.S. was very soft in Q2, housing starts, housing permits renovation uncertainty was uncertainty and the fear of costs.

I think an agreement on tariffs that give certainty to allow, also in the U.S., a restart of activity in general. Europe has been struggling on the back of tariffs as well. I believe the certainty and 15%, as I said before, not that I'm happy, but I think it is something that the industry can live with. And certainly, we can live with for our own minerals. We have a South American business growing strongly on the back of agriculture, a lot of new products in the agriculture, agricultural sector, again, positive. And I mentioned we -- there is a measure that the European Union has introduced mid of July on an antidumping against Chinese fuse minerals to protect the local industry.

The local industry is Imerys and other players. So I do expect a good rebound in this business as well. So there are a lot of positive factors that make me believe H2 to be a good one. Asia remains solid for us. Maybe question mark on the speed of return of TQC so we tend to be prudent because it has taken longer than expected. But once again, having little visibility. So question, we remain prudent on the ramp-up but we do believe the market will resume to growth and maybe still the automotive sector in Europe to really understand not only EVs, which are good, but the normal car sales, we had a drop in H1.

Are we at the end of the cycle and are we resuming growth. So a lot of more positive news rather than negative news going ahead for me.

[Operator Instructions]. And your next question comes from the line of Sven Edelfelt from ODDO.

Can I -- sorry, I was disconnected, so maybe you already had this question. But can you confirm that the guidance you're providing is excluding TQC. And as well TQC in Q2, can you give us the contribution? I think it's [ 0 ], but I'm not sure on the -- actually, I have had some questions from numerous investors. So I'm probably not the only one wondering.

So and then my question would be on the U.S. litigation, I think there is no hearing schedule for the time being. So can you help us having an agenda on this regard?

Second question is on the market share. When I look at your, let's say, first slide, on the market share. I think it's 10% to 13% or something like that. It seems to me that you're underperforming your underlying markets. So maybe can you tell us if it's true or not.

On the last question, how is your discussion with GBL going? I mean are they happy about the current situation? Is there some action that might be necessary to take to, let's say, turn around a little bit further of the company?

A lot of questions, Sven. So we'll try to go through. The first one is our guidance is the guidance for the group. So it does include given the performance of the first half, which is published in the press release, we've been prudent because we don't know exactly the -- at which speed the market will return. But it is included. As I said, I don't know if you were disconnected already, if I look at the first half, I believe there has been a progressive improvement of activity throughout the 6 months.

So probably the worst is behind us. and we look with more confidence to the future. We don't split the 2 quarters, but as I said, TQC was never negative on an average [ 0 ]. So it's -- it remains a good business. And don't forget that the result is net income and not EBITDA. EBITDA is higher. So the business remains a good business. Simply, we had such an incredible Q1 last year, that's everything in perspective. But if we come back, it's a solid business. It's a preferred product, there is no substitution and the underlying market, which is photovoltaic installation remains very solid.

On the U.S. litigation, you're right, the date has not been set. The hearing was suspended, pending resumption. There were some technical issues. They have been addressed. Amendments to the plan have been filed. We are waiting for the judge to set she's asked further briefing, so a form of report that we have to deliver by August 10, which we will do. And then she will set the new hearing. So the date is unknown. If you look at the court calendar, you know that it's going to be in mid autumn, because there are no available dates. So unfortunately, in frustrating, there will be some delay. I think not in the merits, and it is not bad news other than on timing, but we are at disposal of the judge, and she will decide when she is ready to resume.

Market share, I struggle a little bit to connect your question. Let's say, underlying markets give you a trend. So if steel is down, probably our refractory activities will be down. Then if it's down 5%, not necessarily the -- we will be down 5%. It depends on inventories and on the geography. But the underlying markets are for sure the driving force. And I believe we are largely aligned, at least in terms of direction. When I look at our market share and performance, and we do an exercise bottom up every quarter with all the businesses. And when you look at the businesses, there are statistics for instance, on paint production in Europe.

So you can track much more in detail, and that's why we built this bottom up. But the best example or the best reference you can take is to take the few minerals company that published numbers, which are purely minerals, let's say, so if you are aligned, it means you're doing okay, if you're better, probably you're gaining market share. And when you're worse, you're probably losing market share. So 2 peers have published already last week. Both of them have worse results than us, both in terms of sales, volumes and EBITDA especially if I look at underlying EBITDA, so the Imerys underlying business, excluding TQC because it's a subject on its own.

And the same was valid also for Q1. So I definitely believe that overall, the group is not losing market share. On the contrary, it's probably gaining here and there are some market share. And then, of course, we win and we lose on some areas. Probably we have lost a bit share in Europe in high energy minerals against Chinese competition, we have written that, and we have mentioned it before, and is one of the reasons why the European community has introduced an antidumping measure to protect the industry because there is dumping. And so the concept is there is dumping, and therefore, we shall protect the industry. It has been implemented last 10 days ago, we will see the impact, difficult to quantify today, but definitely, it puts competition back to normality.

And I think when competition is normal, we can win, and we will win back market share. Also in Europe, also specifically on this very limited niche, but it is the place where I can say, yes, we had lost.

Last on GBL, I believe our shareholders are happy with this company because of the performance we deliver even in difficult times because normally, we deliver better than our competitors, which is a key. You're not alone. And you're subject to your markets. But if you do better than others, I think the shareholders should be happy. Do we have pressure? Yes, always. And I would say today, our mission is really on costs. As long as volumes don't rebound significantly, our job is to work on costs. If you look at H1, overall, I think we have done an excellent job.

We have different initiatives on overheads, on fixed costs, on spending. We will do more H2 to be ready if the market doesn't rebound as I expect, but better to be ready then to be sorry later. So that's the -- and of course, when you work on cost, you work also on CapEx. Sébastien mentioned it, we will spend less in H2 than usual or much less than last year. First, because we are well invested, but also because you never know how the market develops, given all what has happened in the last 3 months. So that's, I think, the mission that we need to accomplish. And then continue growing and innovate.

There are currently no further questions. I will hand the call back to you, sir.

Thank you very much, and thank you all for the constructive discussion and for listening to us tonight. Thank you and for sure, to many of you a nice vacation. Thank you.

Good evening. Bye.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.