Orkla Aktie

Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Orkla's second quarter results. My name is Annie Bersagel, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations and Communications. Our President and CEO, Nils Selte, will be unable to join us today due to previously planned travel. So our CFO, Arve Regland, will be holding both the presentation and the Q&A. Now before I turn it over to Arve, I just want to remind everyone that we're going to begin with the video Q&A with our analysts. And after that, we will turn over to questions from the web. [Operator Instructions] So with that out of the way, I will hand the floor over to you, Arve.

Thank you, Annie, and good morning, everyone. So Orkla's consolidated portfolio companies had a flat organic top line development quarter and a 2.5% EBIT growth. Overall, we are not satisfied with these results. However, Jotun delivered another strong quarter, contributing to a 3% improvement in adjusted earnings per share. We continue to execute on our capital allocation priorities. And in July, we completed the NOK 4 billion share buyback program that was announced in last November.

During and following the quarter, portfolio companies announced several acquisitions in prioritized categories. The largest of these was Orkla Snacks acquisition of the European Candy Group. Orkla Foods also announced the acquisition of a 40% stake in Go-Tan Group, strengthening its position in sauces. And this transaction was closed Tuesday this week. And both of these transactions strengthen existing category positions and support long-term growth.

For the consolidated portfolio, volume mix declined 1.3%. Overall, price increases were offset by lower volumes across several portfolio companies. The reversal of supported Easter phasing effects from the first quarter contributed negatively alongside weaker volume development in parts of the portfolio. Underlying adjusted EBIT grew 2.5% for the consolidated portfolio, inclusive Orkla ASA. And as shown on this slide, the development varied across the portfolio companies, and I will come back to this in more detail. The EBIT margin was 10.5% with a mixed development across the portfolio companies.

Last quarter, we said that we expected increased costs for energy, transportation and packaging due to the conflict in the Middle East, and that remains our expectation. While the risk of a more severe near-term disruption appears lower than it did 3 months ago, uncertainty remains high. The longer-term indirect effects on supply chains and input costs are less clear and both the timing and the magnitude remain difficult to quantify.

Turning to Orkla's consolidated financial targets. Underlying EBIT growth was 2.7% year-to-date, and growth was slower in the first half of this year, but aggregated across the strategy period remains within the target range. The EBIT margin was unchanged from the first quarter, remaining within our target range of 10.5% to 11% and return on capital employed declined slightly compared to the first quarter, reflecting slower EBIT growth. And this is the most challenging of the 3 targets, and we still have work to do.

So I will now provide some more details on the financials. Reported revenues declined by 5% and adjusted for currency translation effects, underlying revenues were flat. Reported EBIT adjusted also declined by 5%, again, with the difference compared to underlying numbers, mainly explained by currency consolidation effects. We had other income of NOK 97 million in the quarter. The largest contributor was the completion of the divestment of Noi-Sirius on Iceland during the quarter. Adjusted earnings per share increased with 3% to NOK 1.60 and profit increase from Jotun of 17% and lower tax and financing costs more than offset the decline in adjusted EBIT. Cash flow is fairly stable compared to last year with cash flow from operations in the first half of the year was NOK 2.1 billion and cash flow before capital allocation was NOK 1.6 billion, a decline of approximately NOK 200 million year-over-year.

Moving on to the capital allocation and leverage bridge. Year-to-date, we have paid NOK 6 billion in dividends and repurchased shares for NOK 2.3 billion. Expansion investments increased by approximately NOK 300 million during the quarter, bringing the year-to-date total up to about NOK 400 million. Acquisitions of companies consists of 3 bolt-on acquisitions in Orkla Food Ingredients. And the sale of companies relates mainly to Orkla Snacks divestments for its Icelandic business, which closed at the end of the second quarter. Net interest-bearing debt was NOK 20.7 billion at the end of the quarter, corresponding to a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2x.

So some more details on the portfolio companies. And as mentioned, Jotun had another strong quarter. On an underlying basis, revenue grew by 11%, driven primarily by higher volumes. And all segments and regions contributed positively to sales growth with the strongest performance in Protective Coatings. Negative currency translation effects continue to weigh on the reported figures. And Jotun has navigated the Middle East conflict well, implementing mitigating actions faster than we expected. Reported operating profit increased by 13%, while underlying profit grew by 21%.

And despite challenging conditions, business units within the war affected markets had a flat underlying sales development and a 2% increase in underlying operating profit. Raw material prices increased significantly during the quarter, although less than anticipated at the time of the first quarter outlook. Gross margins improved as increased premium sales, pricing measures and continued cost control more than offset higher raw material costs. It is worth noting that margins do not yet fully reflect the increase in raw material prices. Orkla's share of profit from Jotun increased by 17% to NOK 494 million.

And Jotun's outlook remains uncertain due to the conflict in the Middle East. The company expects some margin pressure in the coming quarters as the impact from higher raw material costs materializes. If the conflict persists, its effect on business conditions, supply chains and raw material markets are likely to extend beyond the region. In Orkla Foods, organic revenues declined by 1.3% in the quarter with volume mix of minus 2.3%. This partly reflects the reversal of the Easter timing benefits seen in Norway and Sweden in the first quarter. Volume mix growth was 1.4% in categories classified as growth priorities.

Sweden continues to develop well with positive market share trends. The development remains more challenging in Norway and Finland. And underlying EBIT increased by 4%. EBIT growth was supported by improved product and category mix, lower marketing spend and temporarily lower fixed costs. Organic revenue declined by 1.1% in Orkla Snacks. Volume growth of 0.5% was driven primarily by Confectionery. Biscuits also contributed positively, while snacks volumes declined. Volume growth was also dampened by the Easter phasing effects. Lower prices were mainly related to chocolate products. Underlying EBIT increased by 10%. The improvement was primarily driven by the chocolate recovery.

In July, the company announced the acquisition of the European Candy Group to support further expansion of BUBS and Orkla Snacks continues to invest in growth capacity. The new Smash! production line at Nidar is operational. The third BUBS line in Jonkoping is now coming live. And through its partnership with Mount Franklin Foods, Bubs is now available in approximately 60,000 stores across the United States.

In Orkla Home & Personal Care, organic revenues declined by 2.5% on the back of promotional phasing and some negative Easter timing effects. Market shares continue to increase in Norway and remained stable in Sweden and Finland. Underlying EBIT growth was 8.2% and was driven by systematic cost-out initiative across the value chain. In Orkla Food Ingredients, organic revenue declined by 1.5% with volume mix down 2.1%. Sweet Ingredients delivered positive volume mix growth, while plant-based was negatively affected by an unfavorable product mix.

In bakery, market demand was weak in Central and Eastern Europe. Easter timing also had a negative impact on volumes in the quarter. The decline in underlying EBIT was broad-based, driven by lower volumes and a cost base that was too high relative to activity levels. Orkla Food Ingredients has launched mitigating actions aimed at improving efficiency and reducing costs. In Orkla Health, organic growth was 2.7%, driven primarily by pricing. Oral Health and Wound Care delivered positive volume mix growth and volume and margin pressure from the Omega-3 category continued, and the raw material outlook for the category remains challenging.

Underlying EBIT declined by 5.8% higher operational costs, lower profitability in Omega-3, together with increased advertising costs in food supplements more than offset growth in other parts of the business. The closure of 3 factories as communicated last quarter will continue to weigh on results through the end of 2027. And Orkla India reported its results on the 4th of August. Organic growth was 9.7% or 11% when excluding the effect of government grant of NOK 6 million recognized in the prior year quarter. Growth was driven mainly by pricing, reflecting higher raw material prices, particularly for chili and coriander. And volume growth was 1.7%. And both the domestic and the international business contributed positively. Underlying EBIT declined by 4.1%. Excluding the prior year grant, underlying EBIT growth was slightly positive.

Turning to the European Pizza Company. Consumer sales increased by 8.4%, supported by same-store sales growth. Consumer sales growth was driven by menu innovation and increased distribution. Organic growth was flat as lower third-party sales in Kotipizza's wholesale business offset consumer sales growth. Underlying EBIT growth was 4.7%, driven by consumer sales growth and mix effects. And lastly, in Orkla Healthcare, organic revenues declined by 2.7%, but favorable product and customer mix effects drove a 12% increase in underlying EBIT. The Health and Sports Nutrition Group delivered broad-based organic revenue growth and underlying EBIT growth.

To summarize, we continue to execute on our 3 strategic priorities. We have more work to do on organic growth and volume development. Several portfolio companies continue to make progress on costs, while others have recently launched measures aimed at improving profitability. We have also continued to strengthen the portfolio and deploy capital in line with our priorities. We remain committed to our financial targets and look forward to presenting our long-term ambitions at the Capital Markets Day on the 1st of December.

With that, we will open for a Q&A after a short break.

Welcome back. We're now ready to begin the Q&A, and we're going to start with the video questions. [Operator Instructions] I see the first question is from Petter Nystrom in ABG.

So you said the Middle East impact was still limited in Q2, but you still flag a little bit higher costs ahead. Is it possible to quantify some of the headwinds going into the second half? And how much do you think you can offset through pricing?

Yes. It's a bit twofolded, Petter, regarding, obviously, Jotun is the most affected company. And as we said on the presentation, the impact in the short term was lower than we anticipated at the first quarter outlook for Jotun, but there are still -- they see significant price increases. So that will weigh on margins going forward without -- it's very hard to be very precise and quantify because the picture changes from day-to-day actually.

And for the other companies, it's really sort of the same as you saw in the first quarter, in particular for energy, for transportation packaging. We still see elevated input costs that will weigh, but we -- it's a bit more positive picture than we saw in the Q1, at least for the short term, meaning the last part of this year. And then going into 2027, again, uncertainty remains because it's all about how this conflict will develop. So it's very hard to be more precise and quantify.

Understood. If I can take one more question. So you talked a little bit about the Food Ingredients development when you went through the segments here. When should we expect these mitigating actions to start to, let's say, improve the EBIT here?

So these mitigating actions is mostly SG&A related. And they are about to launch several actions in OFI, but I wouldn't expect them to have a significant impact in the very short term, but more on the -- a bit longer term, meaning from next year and onwards. And we're not ready to quantify any magnitude of this, but it's something that's very high on the agenda in OFI and obviously, with the ambition to have an effect on profitability, at least in the mid and longer term.

It looks like the next question we have is from Andrei Condrea from UBS.

Two, if I may. Firstly, obviously, the Easter phasing much like in Q1, you had a benefit in your Foods businesses. Obviously, you've had a headwind now. Would it be possible at least on an aggregate basis to help us quantify the headwind and get down to what the underlying growth was for either consolidated portfolio companies or foods and snacks and OFI?

And the second question I had really was on the outlook for 2026 is mostly how do you see organic sales growth progressing from here? Should -- do you expect to see an acceleration in the back half of the year versus where we are today?

Yes. To start with the Easter effects. And as we said, I think we just repeat what we said in the first quarter that in the first quarter, the Easter effects had an impact. It was not a major part of the sort of positive effects in the Q1 and then it's the opposite situation in the Q2. So to look at sort of the underlying performance, it's really better to look at the first half numbers because then you eliminate the Easter effects and it gives you a better picture of the sort of the underlying speed in each of the portfolio companies.

And when it comes to outlook, we don't give any outlook when it comes to top line development rather than say that we -- as we said on the call, we're not happy with the overall growth on top line and volumes for the companies consolidated in the quarter and for the first half, meaning that we -- our ambition is at least to increase performance going forward without -- we're not able to be more precise than that.

I'm not seeing any more questions on video here. And we haven't received any questions on the web. So with that, I think that was the last question. So before we conclude, I just want to remind you that we're going to be reporting third quarter results on the 6th of November. And then again, as I mentioned, we have our Capital Markets Day on the 1st of December. So please, we look forward to joining -- to having you join us for that. So with that, please enjoy the rest of your day.

I would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone and hereby declare the Extraordinary General Meeting of Orkla ASA opened. We will conduct the general meeting as a digital meeting, and we thank all shareholders who participate today. The general meeting is scheduled by the Board of Directors and in accordance with Paragraph 8 of the Articles of Association. The notice of June 19, 2026, has been sent to all shareholders with a known place of residence. It was also announced as a stock exchange announcement and on the website on the same day.

The documents to be considered at this general meeting have been made available to shareholders on the company's website. Shareholders who wish to receive the documents physically have been able to have them sent to them free of charge by contacting the company.

No objections have been received to the notice. I declare the general meeting legally convened. Those attending the Annual General Meeting today are Acting Chair of the Board, myself, Liselott Kilaas; proposed meeting Chair, Anders Ryssdal; President and CEO of Orkla, Nils Selte; General Counsel, Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad. We will start with some practical information before reading the list of attending shareholders, proxies and advanced votes, and I give the floor to General Counsel, Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad. Please, Camilla.

Thank you, Lisa. Lovely to see you. You have 4 buttons at the top of your screen that you can click on. By pressing home, you will find additional technical details about how this works, and I recommend that you read the text entered here.

Messages gives you the opportunity to see messages sent in from other shareholders as well as allowing you to enter written questions and comments for the general meeting yourselves if desired. The documents button gives you a copy of the notice and other associated documents.

The voting button takes you to the items to be adopted here today. Voting will also be pushed to your screen as we move from one item to the next. It is now closed for additional shareholders to log on, and DNB has been preparing the list of represented shares, which I will read.

So we have a list of share capital represented here today. 757,986,509 shares are represented by advanced votes. 615,340 shares are represented by a proxy to the Chair of the Board. 2,271 shares are represented by instructions to the Chair of the Board. Online, we have 8 shareholders voting for 115,706 own and proxy shares. In total, this is 758,206,986 shares represented, equivalent to 78.32% of the voting share capital. Then I give the floor back to Liselott Kilaas.

Then we move to agenda item #1, and that is election of the meeting Chair. In accordance with the rules of the Public Limited Liability Companies Act, the general meeting has been opened by the undersigned by virtue of being the acting Chair of the Board.

The opportunity to vote will now be opened, and we will move on to the first item on the agenda, which is the election of the meeting Chair. The Board proposes that Anders Ryssdal be elected as meeting Chair. Ryssdal is a lawyer and is independent of the company's Board of Directors and management. He is also chairing the Orkla Nomination Committee.

I ask that everyone who has not yet voted or would like to change the vote does so now. I would like to point out that you are also free to vote on the remaining agenda items already now if desired. We are now waiting a little bit so that everyone has the opportunity to vote.

[Voting]

We cannot see that there have been any comments on the matter to be considered, and the vote is now closed. The count shows that Anders Ryssdal has been elected as meeting Chair. A shareholder should also be appointed to sign the minutes together with the meeting Chair.

It's proposed that Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad, who is present here today, will sign the minutes. Unless objections are raised by logged-in shareholders during the general meeting, this will be deemed approved. Then I give the floor to the meeting Chair, Anders Ryssdal. Anders, please.

Thank you, Liselott. We will now move on to the issues of substance on the agenda today and deal with the Nomination Committee's recommendations. Before we move on to the items in due order, I would like to observe a brief moment of remembrance in honor of Mr. Stein Erik Hagen, who has served as the Chair of the Board of Orkla for more than 20 years. His death was sudden and unexpected.

Since we are in a virtual meeting, I will not observe the full customary 1 minute, but let us keep this in mind as we move on to the agenda. Thank you. Following the unexpected passing of the Chair on the 4th of May 2026, a new Chair of the Board will be elected as well as a new shareholder elected Board member of Orkla ASA.

The Nomination Committee's recommendation is dated the 19th of June and has been available to shareholders on the company's website since then. The Nomination Committee consists of Nils-Henrik Pettersson, Rebekka Glasser Herlofsen, Kjetil Houg and me. In addition, the committee is supplemented by employee representative Vidar Dahl when recommendation election of the Chair of the Board, and he has also consulted with determining remuneration issues.

The composition of the Nomination Committee safeguards the interest of the shareholders as a whole and fulfills the criteria set out in the Norwegian Code of Practice for Corporate Governance. The work of the Nomination Committee has also been carried out in accordance with separate instructions for the Nomination Committee issued by the general meeting. We'll then first move to complement the Board, and suggestion has been made for a new Board member.

The Nomination Committee wishes to maintain the number of shareholder-elected Board members after Mr. Hagen's passing, which means that we have to elect a new member today. The Nomination Committee proposes Jan Ole Stangeland as new Board member. He's currently CEO of Canica AS, where he holds overall responsibility for strategy, capital allocation and the development of a diversified investment portfolio.

The Nomination Committee conducts an annual assessment of the overall composition of the Board and Directors and proposes that the election period is set until the next Annual General Meeting, which will, under custom, be held next May -- next April.

So this is the first recommendation, how to complement the Board. We also have to elect a new Chair of the Board and the Nomination Committee recommends Mr. Christer Kjos as the new Chair. Christer Kjos is the CEO of Canica Holding AG and Canica International AG, which manage Canica's international investment activities, and he is responsible for Canica's significant investment in Orkla. Christer Kjos was elected to the Board on last -- on this year's Annual General Meeting in April, and his CV was circulated. The employee representative Vidar Dahl has given his approval to the committee's recommendation.

Furthermore, in view of the situation where we are somewhat in transitory phase, the Nomination Committee proposes that acting Chair of the Board, Liselott Kilaas, be elected as new Deputy Chair of the Board. This is to assure continuity as well as involvement by all Board members. The appointment of Deputy Chair is formally a matter for the Board itself and is therefore not put up for decision today. But since this is the Nomination Committee's view, we need to deal with the issue of remuneration. The remuneration for Board members is an item for the general meeting, and the Nomination Committee considers that the remuneration for the Deputy Chair should be in between the level of the Chair and the level of the ordinary Board members.

On this basis, the Nomination Committee proposes a fee of NOK 970,000 per year for the Deputy Chair of the Board. It is proposed that this rate shall apply until a new resolution is adopted. So these are the reasons given for the Nominations Committee's suggestions today, and these are the only items we are to deal with. I'd like to stress this, since we are now moving to the voting phase. Those who have not cast their votes on these issues must therefore do so now. There will be a brief pause so that we can register any incoming signals.

Thereafter, the voting will be closed. If there are alternative candidates or views, this must be reported now. As Ms. Robstad has told you, you are free to send any message to the meeting, which will be dealt with here. But if there are not, we are considering -- we will consider the vote closed pretty soon. However, now to get every -- let everyone has a chance to voice their opinion and to register the votes, we'll observe a pause, and I will tell you when the pause is over.

[Voting]

There has been no incoming questions or any amendments unexpected on the voting side. So the vote for items 2, 3 and 4 is now closed. The count shows that there is a sufficient majority for the Nomination Committee's recommendation of Mr. Stangeland as Board member, and Mr. Kjos as Chairman of the Board, and an enhanced fee for the Deputy Chair of the Board.

All the recommendations have been approved. We have a formal item 5 on the agenda today, the use of electronic communication. And it is proposed that the general meeting allows electronic communication between the share issuer and the shareholders. Today, the company sends physical letters to all shareholders unless the shareholder has explicitly agreed to electronic communication.

This has been a function of the press of the earlier state of the law, but this legal state has now been amended, allowing companies to use electronic communication unless the shareholders opt out, that is, the inverse solution as we had before, out of digital information and wants to receive physical letters. Detailed information on how shareholders eventually could opt out was attached to the notice of this Extraordinary General Meeting.

Use of electronic communication as described requires a decision by the general meeting and the Board of Directors, therefore, proposes that the general meeting adopt the following resolution: You can see it on your screens. I will still read it aloud. To the extent permitted by the legislation in force at any given time, the company may use electronic communication when messages, notifications, information, documents, announcements and the like are sent to a shareholder. However, this does not apply to shareholders who have opted out of such use of electronic communication.

As you see, the freedom to choose remains even if the main rule has been changed. We'll now vote on this agenda item 5 and wait a few seconds to see that everyone has had the opportunity to vote.

[Voting]

Thank you. We cannot see that there have been any comments on the matter to be considered, and the vote is now closed. The count shows that the proposed solution has been adopted with the necessary vote. And in the future, Orkla will conduct its communication with shareholders accordingly.

There are no more items on the agenda this year -- today that require the general meeting's decisions. All votes have been counted and results announced. The detailed voting figures will appear in the minutes, which will be published shortly after the general meeting.

Even though this has been a brief meeting, it has been an important meeting for the future direction of the company, and we are very fortunate that so many shareholders have agreed to participate. We wish you all a good summer break. Thanks.

Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Orkla's first quarter results. My name is Annie Bersagel, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations and Communications. So we're going to begin with a presentation from our President and CEO, Nils K. Selte, where he will give a summary of the latest developments for the quarter. After that, EVP and CFO, Arve Regland, will present some more detail on the financials as well as on the individual portfolio companies. After that, Nils will conclude with a few closing remarks before we move over to our Q&A.

So just to remind you the procedures for Q&A, we have a web Q&A form that you can send questions through at any time. But first, we're going to do a Q&A, a video Q&A with our analyst community. And after that, we'll move over to questions from the web.

So with that, I'd like to turn it over to you, Nils.

Thank you, Annie, and good morning, everyone. I would like to start this presentation on a personal note. Orkla's Chairman, Stein Erik Hagen, passed away suddenly on May 4. Stein Erik, left his mark on Orkla through over 25 years as an active owner. He brought an entrepreneurial drive into the boardroom and was instrumental in supporting Orkla in taking calculated risk with an investor mindset. He was also strong support of Orkla's recent transformation into an industrial investment company. He will be deeply missed.

In this period, I now turn over to our review of the quarter, mindful of the values and vision that Stein Erik, instilled in the company. Organic growth was 4.9% in the quarter with contribution from all portfolio companies. Growth was particularly high in Orkla Food Ingredients, Orkla Snacks and Orkla Food. Underlying EBIT adjusted growth was 3%, with volume mix growth partly offset by higher costs. Earnings per share adjusted increased by 4% to NOK 1.75. Alongside the quarterly result, there has also been a change in the Board of Orkla Foods. Gilles Morel will become the new Board Chair from June 1. He brings more than 30 years of executive experience from international branded consumer goods companies, including Mars. I want to thank the former Board Chair, Xavier Belison for his contribution to Orkla Foods over the last 2 years.

Volume mix growth in the first quarter was 2.2%, another quarter with high -- with volume growth. Performance improved on an underlying basis, supported by continued improvement in commercial capabilities with a modest uplift from Easter effects.

Looking to EBIT development across the portfolio. Operational performance in Jotun remained strong with underlying EBIT growth of 16% for the quarter. For the consolidated portfolio, including Orkla ASA, underlying EBIT adjusted growth was 3%. Orkla Snacks and Orkla Food Ingredients contributed especially positively this quarter, while the negative development in Orkla Health weighed on the consolidated results. Operational performance in Orkla India was also stronger than the underlying EBIT adjusted growth indicates due to incentives received from the government of India last year.

Let me give a brief comment on the war in the Middle East. The conflict did not materially affect first quarter results. Direct effects were limited, most notably in Jotun and Orkla India, while the broader portfolio was largely unaffected. Looking ahead, the indirect effects from more -- are more uncertain. For the consolidated portfolio, we are seeing upward pressure on energy, freight and packaging-related input costs. The picture is differentiated across the portfolio and mitigating actions are tailored accordingly. Arve will address Jotun specifically.

At this stage, we do not expect an inflationary impact comparable to the post-pandemic period, but we are monitoring development closely. Briefly, the EBIT adjusted margin was 10.5% on a rolling 12-month basis. I will conclude with an update on the consolidated portfolio's 3 years financial targets set at the 2023 Capital Markets Day. Underlying EBIT adjustment started more slowly in the first quarter, but remains on track relatively to our compounded growth target for the strategy period. The EBIT adjusted margin remained within our target range, while return on capital employed was stable at 12.4%.

I will now hand over to Arve for more details on the financials.

Thank you, Nils, and good morning. So before turning to the individual portfolio company, I will briefly comment on the overall financial results for the quarter. So beginning with the income statement, reported operating revenues increased by 1.3% to NOK 17.4 billion, while EBIT adjust decreased by 1.3%. And the difference between reported and underlying numbers that Nils mentioned is primarily due to negative currency effects as well as lower contribution from Orkla Real Estate. Other income and expenses were minus NOK 45 million and was mostly related to M&A expenses and ongoing restructuring projects in Orkla Foods and Orkla Health.

Profit from Jotun decreased by 5.8% in the quarter, and I will come back to Jotun in more detail shortly. We also see that net interest costs decreased as a result of lower interest rates and lower debt levels, contributing to the 4% increase in adjusted earnings per share. Cash flow from operations amounted to NOK 1.1 billion and declined year-on-year due to higher working capital from strong late quarter sales and increased net replacement investments. We received the first installment of the 2025 Jotun dividend, which last year was received in the second quarter. So cash flow before capital allocation ended at NOK 1 billion, in line with last year.

So turning to the capital allocation bridge. We repurchased shares for NOK 1 billion during the quarter in accordance with the buyback program announced in November. Expansion investments of approximately NOK 100 million relate to increased production capacity across the portfolio. And purchase of companies consists of a bolt-on acquisition in Orkla Food Ingredients. Orkla ended the quarter with a net debt of NOK 13.6 billion, equal to 1x EBITDA and 0.8x, excluding Orkla Food Ingredients.

So let's continue with the portfolio companies. And as Nils mentioned, Jotun had another strong quarter, while reported numbers once again is influenced by currency effects. So the underlying revenue growth was 9.4% with growth across all segments and regions. Higher volumes and positive mix effects, including increased premium sales contributed positively. Reported operating profit was 5.3% and 16% when adjusted for negative currency effects. This was driven both by increased sales and improved gross margin.

Profit from Jotun to Orkla declined by 5.8% to NOK 617 million. The decline relates to financial items due to lower currency hedging gains and currency losses on intercompany loans. Jotun faces a high degree of uncertainty related to the Middle East conflict. And most importantly, all employees in the region are safe. Jotun experienced reduced revenues from business units within the region in March. At the same time, affected units amounted to only 8% of Jotun Group revenues for the quarter. The indirect effects impact the paints and coating industry globally. The ultimate scope depends on how the conflict develops, but there will be a negative impact regardless.

Jotun's sourcing base is partly linked to global oil price developments and the highest exposure is within Marine and Protective segments. Jotun forecast substantial input cost increases from the second quarter, which are expected to compress gross margins. They are taking mitigating steps to mitigate the impact through price increases, alternative sourcing initiatives, continued cost control and delayed Middle East investments. Nevertheless, mitigating actions will take time to materialize and demand-related effects remain uncertain. Jotun has significant experience in handling geopolitical instability and benefits from a globally diversified portfolio and a clear and consistent long-term strategy.

Moving on to Orkla Foods, which had organic growth of 3.5% in the quarter with 2.3% from volume mix. Organic growth was higher in the prioritized growth platforms than the rest of the portfolio. Volumes were somewhat supported by positive Easter phasing effects in Sweden and Norway as well as the comparison to a quarter with weaker volumes, in particular in Norway last year. Orkla Foods continued to roll out the commercial tools outlined at the Capital Markets update last year. The underlying EBIT growth of 5.1% was mainly driven by volume growth.

In Orkla Snacks, all 3 categories contributed to volume mix growth, led by cocoa-related recovery in the confectionery category, but also high BUBS demand and positive Easter phasing effects. EBIT improvement was driven by increased volumes as well as contribution improvement from cocoa. The BUBS U.S. rollout continued in the first quarter. It is now available in more than 40,000 stores across the U.S. and BUBS also recently launched a global limited edition collaboration with H&M Beauty. Also, Orkla Snacks continues to invest in building brand within the U.S. market and BUBS U.S. was, therefore, not a significant contributor to EBIT in the quarter.

Organic growth in Orkla Home & Personal Care was 3.3%, while underlying EBIT grew by 9.1%. Volume growth in Norway and Sweden reflected both a continued positive underlying development as well as Easter timing. Underlying EBIT growth was driven by volume growth and cost control. And the company had positive market share development in both Norway and Finland, while the development in Sweden was stable.

Organic growth in Orkla Food Ingredients was 5.4%, driven by volume growth across all clusters. The Bakery cluster was also aided by the timing of Easter. Underlying EBIT growth was 10%, led by Sweet Ingredients, where volume mix, price and efficiency improvements all contributed positively. Bakery also supported EBIT growth, while plant-based declined slightly due to product mix effects. The organic growth of 1.3% in Orkla Health was driven by price in most markets. Excluding the isolated phasing effects previously communicated from Q4 to Q1, volume development was weak in food supplements and functional Personal Care categories.

Cod liver oil prices remained a drag on both volume and margins. Underlying EBIT declined due to lower volumes, negative mix effects and higher costs. Orkla Health is taking measures to reduce the cost base and announced the planned closure of three factories, two of which are related to the food supplements business. While these measures will improve profitability over the long term, we anticipate negative impacts related to the wind down of the factories going forward. With this backdrop, we expect this to be a challenging year for Orkla Health.

Management is currently defining the long-term strategy within the new operating model and will present at the Capital Markets Day in December. Orkla India's organic growth was 2.8% in the quarter, mainly driven by price increases to offset higher costs for key raw materials. Adjusting for grants received from the Government of India in the first quarter last year of NOK 26 million, organic growth was 6.5%. Underlying EBIT declined by 7.8%, partly impacted by higher freight costs arising from the Middle East conflict. Adjusted for government grants, underlying growth was 16%.

In The European Pizza Company, all businesses delivered same-store sales growth with overall organic growth of 4.9% and consumer sales growth of 8.9%. The growth in consumer sales was led by Kotipizza in Finland with 14% growth from our renewed brand strategy and targeted growth initiatives. Underlying EBIT improved by 13%, supported by Kotipizza and New York Pizza. And we are happy to see that the two smallest portfolio companies showed continued positive momentum.

Orkla Healthcare reported growth of 4.4% in the quarter with an underlying EBIT growth of 10%. Health and Sports Nutrition Group delivered organic growth of 3.4% and underlying EBIT growth of 26%.

With that, I'll hand it back to you, Nils, for the closing remarks.

Thank you, Arve. Returning to our three strategic priorities. We continue to drive organic value within the existing portfolio with progress in line with consolidated targets. We are also reducing complexity across the portfolio, including targeted divestment at the portfolio company level. Recent examples include the divestments by Orkla Food Ingredients and Orkla Snacks of noncore operation in Iceland.

Lastly, in times like this, we benefit from our strong balance sheet and a diversified portfolio. This provides the flexibility to act on value accretive opportunities should they arise.

With that, Arve and I are happy to take your questions. Thank you.

Welcome back, and we're now ready to start the Q&A. We're going to begin with the video Q&A with the analysts and you're welcome to submit questions via the web as well, and we'll take those afterwards.

So it looks like our first question comes from Ole Martin Westgaard in DNB Carnegie.

So you highlighted in the quarter that there has been some Easter impact. Can you be a bit more specific on how we should think about this and the potential impacts on the second quarter of these timing effects?

Yes. We haven't quantified it, but let's say that it's not an important driver to the growth, but it's a support effect for the Q1. And typically, if it's a support effect on Q1, it has the opposite effect in Q2.

I've been saying that Q1 actually still reflect the underlying trend fairly is what we also want to highlight.

And then on Health, you highlight that this will be a challenging year for Health. You're closing down three factories. Can you give some more color on what will potential cost of this? How big are these factories? And when will that cost hit the P&L? And also that comment with this being a challenging year, is that more reflected to the demand side? Or is that reflecting the cost side of the closing of these factories?

To start with the last one, when I've said that it should be a challenging year, it's -- I would say it reflects that if you look back on the Orkla Health ambitions presented on the Capital Markets Day in 2023, they're obviously lagging the plans. And we see that they are still struggling on both volume growth in several categories a too high cost base and also an increased raw materials in certain of the categories. So that in combination will -- it's guiding that its overall profitability in Orkla Health, we don't expect that to be satisfactory for this year in total.

When we are like 30% back on Q1, I wouldn't say that that's representative for the full year, but still, it's guiding that it's still challenging times, both on top line and on the cost base for the coming quarters as well. And then we have these factory closures, which it will add on that. We'll say that these factories will be closed up until the end of next year. So it will be a gradual impact over the coming quarters. We don't know yet internally either how that will affect the cost base. It would obviously be some double cost in the wind-down period in the coming quarters that will have a negative impact on the quarters in the short end, but with the clear ambitions to increase profitability in the longer term.

And then a final question on BUBS and the U.S. launch, it looks quite significant. Can you give some indication of how much this contributed to the overall organic growth in snacks? And I understand that probably the impact on EBIT was not that significant, but how was the impact on the organic growth?

It's a part of the very positive development in snacks. Let's say that the cocoa recovery in the chocolate segment is the bigger contributor. But still the very high demand on BUBS is also a contributor to the volume growth in the confectionery category in snacks in this quarter as well.

Question is from Andrei Condrea in UBS.

Two from me, please. Now on the outlook for the remainder of 2026, a lot has changed since you last reported your full year earnings. How has your thinking changed as a result given obviously what we're seeing on the ground and impact on costs and potentially demand over the longer term? And perhaps tied to it, a few of your peers have come out with various oil price scenarios and potential dollar, in your case NOK impact. Anything you can share on that and whatever mitigation options you have at your disposal? And secondly, sorry, just on Jotun, obviously, it drives a big part of your profits, thanks to its outstanding growth. But how are they thinking or are you thinking about the outlook for 2026, particularly in terms of top line and profits? And contribution to your business?

So what we normally don't guide or we don't guide to say so. I think Jotun have been and we have stated that in the report as well that it will be a significant increase of input cost through this year. We are not specific on that increase. And when it comes to our consolidated portfolio companies, we have been guiding that this will affect energy prices, freight prices and packaging specifically. And also, we will also see some inflation impact other part of the portfolio as well.

But as we have said in the report that this is something that is handled through our portfolio companies and is discussed in the different Board room. So this time, we don't expect the same huge effect as we saw from the post-pandemic inflation. We will see much more specifically kind of initiatives to mitigate this through the portfolio of companies.

It looks like our next question is from Petter Nystrom in ABG Sundal Collier.

I think I have three. A follow-up on the health question from Ole Martin. Is it possible to say if the cost or call it, the restructuring costs here will be booked under the segment or under the other income and expenses?

This is too early, Petter, to give any clear guidance on this. It's decided in the Board of Orkla Health to close down these three factories. That will be -- it's a gradual wind down of the next quarters up until the end of next year. So any amount when it comes to costs, double costs, increased costs and possibility of any write-downs of balance sheet items, et cetera, it's not quantified internally either. So I can't answer that at this time.

Understood. And then on India, how should we think about these government grants for the remaining of 2026? Previously, we have seen the segment receiving these grants from time to time. So yes, what should we think about that for the remaining of the year?

Yes. We have no possibility to guide on if we are to receive any grants for the remaining of the year. It's linked to production. So -- and it's very hard to calculate going in the future how that will -- if we are able to receive anything. What we can say is that the current program is ending at the end of March 2027. But how it will -- if we receive anything, how it will impact the numbers, we are not able to guide, unfortunately.

And then final question for the Branded Consumer Goods portfolio companies. I think Nils and you've highlighted that you're seeing higher freight costs, packaging costs and energy costs. Is this an effect that we will start to see already in the second quarter? Or is this more like a second half effect?

Yes. I think, first of all, this picture is kind of changing every day, Petter. So it's very hard to guide on that. But we don't expect to see that huge effect in Q2. So this will come gradually through the year is the only guiding that we will give you.

It looks like our next question is from Hakon Fuglu [indiscernible] in SEB.

It's regarding Jotun. You talked about price increases already in the first quarter. Are you able to quantify that?

You mean price on the raw materials, Hakon?

No, price increases towards customers.

On closure of factories in the Middle East for a short period of time through the Middle East crisis, of course, that affected the numbers in Q1 slightly, but no huge effect at all. If you look at Jotun, 8% of their kind of business is kind of affected by the Middle East -- directly affected by the Middle East crisis.

I see. But did you comment that you already raised prices towards your end customers to mitigate for the input costs?

That -- I don't think we will guide you on that. I think that is -- as we are operating our consolidated portfolio companies, we give them freedom to act. That's the same way Jotun is operating their business. So different measures are taken in the different regions and countries throughout the world in Jotun.

And just a follow-up there on Jotun. Could you compare this sort of raw material crisis and compare that to what we saw in 2022?

No, in general, I don't expect to have the same huge effect as we saw both for the consolidated portfolio companies and Jotun, as I said, this is not like what we see back in the post-pandemic inflation period.

That seems to be the last question that we have on video, and it doesn't look like we have any questions from the web. So with that, just before we conclude, I want to remind you that we report Q2 results on August 20. And otherwise, thank you for joining, and please enjoy the rest of your day.

And I hereby declare this day to be open. My name is Liselott Kilaas, and I'm a member of the Orkla Board of Directors. Our Chair of the Board, Stein Erik Hagen, sends his apologies for not attending. He recently underwent minor surgery and is on a short sick leave. The Board has therefore appointed me to open the Annual General Meeting and represent the Board on relevant items. Furthermore, the Chair of the Board has authorized me to exercise all proxies issued to the Chair of the Board.

This year, we're holding a digital general meeting, and we wish to thank all shareholders who have joined the meeting today. We want to start by giving you some practical information. And I now give the floor to Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad from the AGM Secretariat. Thank you.

You have 4 buttons at the top of your screen that you may click on: Home, Messages, Voting and Documents. By clicking Home, you'll find further technical details about how the system works, and I recommend that you read the text there. The Messages icon enables you to see messages posted by other shareholders. You may also submit your own questions and comments in writing to the Annual General Meeting, if you so wish.

The Documents icon will give you a copy of the notice convening the Annual General Meeting and other relevant documents. The Voting button will take you to the items to be dealt with here today, and the Voting icon will appear on your screen when we move from one item to the next.

It is now closed for further shareholders to log in. DNB is preparing the list of shares represented at the AGM, which will be read out when ready. I now give the floor back to you. Thank you.

The Annual General Meeting has been scheduled by the Board pursuant to Article 8 of the Articles of Association. The notice dated 31st of March 2026 was sent to all shareholders with a known address. It was also announced in the stock exchange bulletin and on our website the same day.

The documents to be dealt with at this Annual General Meeting have been made available to the shareholders on the corporate website. Any shareholders who nevertheless preferred hard copies of the documents have been able to get them at no charge by requesting them from the company. We have not received any objections to the notice. The general meeting is hereby declared to have been legally convened.

Those who are present in person here today is a representative of the Board, me, Liselott Kilaas; the proposed Chair of this meeting, Karl Otto Tveter; CEO, Nils Kloumann Selte; and the General Meeting Secretary represented by Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad, General Counsel. The company's auditor, Kjetil Rimstad from EY and others, our CFO, Arve Regland; and a representative of the Nomination Committee, Nils-Henrik Pettersson.

I would also like to introduce the company's Board of Directors consists of Stein Erik Hagen, Liselott Kilaas, Peter Agnefjall, Christina Fagerberg, Rolv Erik Ryssdal, Caroline Hagen Kjos and Bengt Rem. Elected by and from among the employees are Terje Utstrand, Roger Vangen and Ingrid Sofie Nielsen.

Next, we move to the list of shares represented here today, and we have the following percentages of the share capital represented. 506,237,024 shares are represented by advanced votes. 1,557,484 shares are represented by proxy to the Chair of the Board of Directors or his designee, and 250,286,515 shares are represented by voting instructions to the Chair of the Board or his designee. Online, we have 11 shareholders participating who vote for 202,189 owned shares.

In sum, this 758,184,443 shares that are represented, accounting for 77.23% of the share capital with eligible voting rights. The general meeting and according to the rules laid down in the public limited liability companies, the general meeting is opened by the Chair of the Board. That is me. We will now open the voting function and move forward to deal with the first item on the agenda, which is the election of a meeting Chair.

The Board moves that Karl Otto Tveter be elected to chair the meeting. Tveter is a lawyer and independent of the company's Board and Group Executive Board. I now ask all those of you who have not yet cast your vote or who want to change your vote to do so now. Please note that you may also vote on remaining items now if you so wish. We will wait a moment to give everyone time to vote.

[Voting]

We can't see that any further comments to this item have been made and now close the vote. The votes cast have now been counted, and Karl Otto Tveter has been elected Chair of this meeting, as shareholders also to be appointed to cosign the minutes along with the Chair.

We propose Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad, who is in attendance. Unless logged in shareholders object in the course of the general meeting, we can see the nomination for having been approved.

I now give the floor to our Chair, Karl Otto Tveter.

Thank you. Let us now move forward to deal with the next item on the agenda, Item 2, approval of the financial statements for 2025 for Orkla ASA and the Orkla Group and the annual report of the Board, including approval of a share dividend for 2025 of NOK 6 per share, of which NOK 2 is in addition to the ordinary dividend from the company, except for shares owned by the group.

The directors' report and the proposed financial statements and balance sheet for 2025 for Orkla ASA and for the Orkla Group and the auditor's report have been made available on the company's website since Friday, 27th of March this year and have been sent to all shareholders who have requested them.

Under this item, the procedure will be as follows: First, the Chief Executive Officer of Orkla, Nils Kloumann Selte will be given the floor. He will then give the floor to CFO, Arve Regland, who will present the highlights from the financial statements for 2025 before the -- Liselott Kilaas will then present the proposal for share dividend. After that, we will be presented with the auditor's report. Any comments or questions will be collected and dealt with after we have been through all presentations.

I now give the floor to Nils Kloumann Selte.

Thank you, Karl, and good morning, and thank you for your attendance at this Annual General Meeting. 2025 was a productive and successful year for Orkla. I will go through the highlights of the year before handing over to Chief Financial Officer, Arve Regland, who will provide a more detailed analysis of the financial figures.

Financial performance was strong in 2025. Organic growth stood at 3.5%, including volume growth of 0.9%. The underlying EBIT growth rose by 7% for our consolidated portfolio companies. And overall, they delivered a cash conversion rate of 101%. Several of our companies achieved particularly strong results throughout 2025. I would particularly like to mention Jotun, Orkla Snacks and Orkla Home & Personal Care.

It seems to be a recurring theme for me to have to discuss how global unrest and macroeconomic factors affect us. In that respect, 2025 and the start of 2026 have been no exception. Of the companies in our portfolio, it is primarily Jotun that is directly affected by the current situation in the Middle East. Other companies are primarily affected indirectly through increased volatility in commodity prices, commodity supply and energy.

We are doing everything we can to stay ahead of the curve and navigate the situation as safely as possible to safeguard our companies as effectively as possible. We have robust procedures and systems in place, and our aim is to emerge from this situation stronger than before.

Orkla's Board of Directors proposed a dividend of NOK 6 per share, of which NOK 2 is in addition to the ordinary dividend. This will be voted on -- put to a vote later at this Annual General Meeting. It is important for me to emphasize that even after this dividend has been paid, Orkla will still have sufficient investment capacity to implement our stated strategy.

Since we held our Capital Markets Day in November 2023, I have been clear about our three priorities: driving organic growth within our existing portfolio, reducing complexity and finally, executing value-enhancing structural transactions. We are now in the final year of the current strategy period.

And as we enter the home stretch, it is important to ensure that everyone does their part to help us deliver on the targets set at the Capital Markets Day. In parallel with this, we are also well underway with developing our strategy for the coming period leading up to 2030. I will present the results of this at our next Annual General Meeting, but first at our planned Capital Markets Day towards the end of this year.

Let's see how our organic growth and value creation are progressing against the targets set at the Capital Markets Day. Underlying adjusted EBIT growth for 2025 or that is since 2023 was at 11.8% for the consolidated portfolio companies. We also see that the EBIT margin is moving in the right direction despite the fact that we significantly increased investment in our brands last year. Return on capital employed increased by 0.9 percentage points in 2025 and is well on the way to the target of 13%.

Let's move on to priority #2, which is to reduce the complexity of our portfolio. Since November 2023, we have sold 2 portfolio companies and the entire hydropower portfolio. In addition to this, there are several initiatives currently underway to reduce complexity within our portfolio companies.

Two recent and notable examples of this are the sale of Orkla Food Ingredients operations in Iceland and Orkla Snacks subsidiary, Nói-Síríus also in Iceland. The fact that both these companies are based in Iceland is purely coincidental. Both companies are sound and profitable, but offer little in the way of synergies with our other operations. Our priority is, therefore, to sell them so we can focus our resources on larger markets with clearer synergies and growth potential.

And finally, we carry out value-enhancing structural transactions. On the 6th of November of last year, we listed Orkla India. We are proud to be the first Norwegian company to list a subsidiary in India. As part of this transaction, we reduced our stake from 90% to 75%. The rationale behind the listing is that we wish to remain a long-term owner of Orkla India. We have great faith in the company and not least in India as a market with significant potential for growth. The listing puts us in a better position to grow and seize local opportunities in the future.

So finally, before I hand over the floor, I'm extremely pleased with the Orkla organization behind me, both in the portfolio companies and here at the head office. And I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to all employees for their hard work and for delivering an excellent 2025.

With that, I'll hand it over to Arve for further details on the financial situation.

Thank you, Nils, and good morning, everyone. I will briefly present the highlights of our financial statement for 2025. And this is the picture of the cover page of our annual report, which is a topic for this presentation. It was launched on the 27th of March. But I would also like to comment on the underlying development of profitability in 2025.

Orkla had a profit before tax of NOK 8.4 billion of operating revenues of close to NOK 72 billion in 2025. Earnings per share adjusted for other income and expenses was NOK 6.8, up 13% compared to the year before.

In the annual report, we also have the sustainability report is part of the Board of Directors' report, and you find it from Page 41 to [ 133 ] in the annual report. The highlights include reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from Scope 1 and 2 of 66% since 2016, and this is in line with Orkla's goals of a reduction of 70% by 2030.

We have also used the use of renewable energy sources in the portfolio to roughly 54%, while the share of recyclable content in products packaging declined somewhat over this last year, and this is due to smaller volume and mix changes in the portfolio companies.

Orkla has also set quality targets in Orkla ASA and the portfolio companies, Boards, management teams and employees towards 2030. We still have some way to go to achieve the targets, but we work systematically to ensure that we can recruit the best talent regardless of gender.

And now I want to go somewhat into detail about the underlying results trend. Nils mentioned it also. This graph shows organic growth in the portfolio to the left on an annual basis.

And to the right, you see quarter-by-quarter. And in 2025, the consolidated portfolio companies achieved an organic growth of 3.5%, including 0.9% volume growth, as Nils mentioned. And to the right, measured Orkla portfolio companies achieved an overall positive volume growth in 7 of the last 8 quarters, and we are well satisfied with this trend.

The EBIT margin is now returning to the pre-pandemic levels. And at year-end, it was 10.6% on a rolling 12-month basis. And as Nils said initially, we achieved a growth in the underlying operating profit or EBIT of 7% in 2025. All portfolio companies with the exception of Orkla Health, delivered underlying growth in EBIT. This year's performance developed positively impacted by volume growth and price increases implemented in 2024 and '25 as well as cost efficiency in the portfolio companies.

If we look at cash flow, cash flow from operations came to NOK 7.8 billion in 2025. The positive effect from EBITDA growth was somewhat offset by increased net replacement investments. This year's CapEx were linked to increasing production capacity, mainly in Orkla Snacks and Orkla Food Ingredients.

At the bottom, we also see that cash flow before capital allocation was stable compared with the year before and was NOK 6.9 billion. If we look at the capital allocation, namely how we allocated capital and cash flow, in April of 2025, NOK 10 billion were paid out in dividend, of which NOK 4 billion in ordinary dividend and NOK 6 billion on top of the ordinary dividend.

In November 2025, Orkla also launched a buyback program of treasury shares with a framework of NOK 4 billion. And by 1st of March, Orkla had acquired approximately 16 million own shares under the buyback program. And we propose that these be canceled, which is a separate item on this general meeting.

In 2025, we were also cautious when it comes to acquiring new companies, but we also realized high values from the hydropower portfolio. Nils mentioned this.

And as we saw on the previous page, Orkla as you can see, has a robust balance sheet with net interest-bearing liabilities to EBITDA, which was 1.4x at the end of 2025. And this level is well within Orkla's target on the net gearing of maximum 2.5x EBITDA. In addition to sound results in 2025, we have a strong financial position, which makes us well positioned for future growth.

And with these words, I would like to thank you for your attention and hand the floor over to Liselott Kilaas, who will present the proposed for dividends.

Thank you. Orkla's shareholders are to receive a competitive return on their investment through a combination of dividends and growing in the value of their shares over time. Orkla has, over a long period, pursued a consistent dividend policy. Dividend in Orkla shall be stable and increase over time and normally be within the 50% to 70% range of adjusted earnings per share.

The ordinary dividend payout is in line with this and is NOK 4 per share. This year, the Board has proposed a dividend to our shareholder of NOK 2 additional payout on top of the ordinary dividend. So the Board of Orkla hereby proposes a total share dividend for 2025 of NOK 6 per share.

Thank you for the presentation. I now invite the state authorized public accountant, Kjetil Rimstad, to present the auditor's report submitted by the elected accountant, Ernst & Young. The audit report and the sustainability assurance have been included in the annual report on Pages 247 to 250.

Thank you, Karl Otto, and good morning. Our auditor's report is addressed to the general meeting and is signed and dated 18th of March 2026. Our auditor's report concluded that, in our opinion, the financial statements are in compliance with the legislation and regulations and the financial statements of company Orkla ASA and the group give an accurate account of the financial position of the company and the group as at 31st of December and of the comprehensive income and cash flows during the year under review.

In addition to this, we are of the opinion that the information disclosed in the directors' report are consistent with the financial statements and in compliance with legislation and regulations. In other words, we have given Orkla ASA a clean auditor's report.

We have also conducted an assurance engagement with moderate security for the consolidated sustainability report as at 31st of December and for the year ended as at this date. Through our assurance process, we have not found any circumstances that gives us any reason to believe that the report has not in all essentials been prepared in accordance with Section 23 of the Norwegian Accounting Act. So the assurance of Orkla ASA sustainability has thus also been given without reservation.

Thank you. We have received a question from [indiscernible] a question. And I read that, will Orkla going forward be looking for new members for the Board, the Control Committee or any other bodies, who will receive nominations for candidate?

I will ask the representative for the committees to comment that later. We have received no other comments regarding Item 2. So we will now close the vote soon. And if you haven't cast your vote yet, you need to do so now.

The Board puts forward with the following motion before the general meeting. Approval of the financial statements for 2025 for Orkla ASA and the Orkla Group as well as the annual report of the Board of Directors, including approval of a share dividend for 2025 of NOK 6 per share, of which NOK 2 is in addition to the company's ordinary dividend, except for treasury shares. We need to just wait a moment until we hear from DNB that the vote has been closed.

All right. We have been giving the clear ahead. No further comments have been received, and therefore, we have closed the vote. The result of the vote shows that the resolution was adopted with a sufficient majority. The detailed result will be stated in the minutes, which will be published shortly after today's general meeting.

We will move on to agenda Item 3, executive remuneration, salary and other remuneration of senior executives. We will now consider the executive remuneration report for 2025. It will be put to the general meeting for an advisory vote. This means that the vote -- it will not have a direct influence on the report or on the remuneration of the executives, but the Board will take onboard any signals from the AGM in its further work.

I will now give the floor to Liselott Kilaas, the Chair of the Board's Remuneration Committee.

Thank you, Karl Otto. The report is included in the annual report on Pages 139 to 154, and it's also attached as a separate appendix to the notice convening the general meeting. This report provides detailed information on salaries and other remuneration and confirms that the salaries and remuneration of senior executives are in line with the guidelines set by the general meeting.

The report states that the aim of the company's executive remuneration policy is to offer competitive remuneration, including incentive schemes that support Orkla's long-term performance in line with shareholders' interests and help to retain talented executives within the company.

The company maintains close dialogue with shareholders and other stakeholders to gather input on how senior executives should be remunerated. We do not intend to go into the report itself or its details in greater depth, but we're open to any questions or comments you may have.

Thank you. We will now close the voting on Item 3 shortly. Shareholders who have not yet voted on Item 3 must do so now. The remuneration report is being put forward for an advisory vote at the Annual General Meeting. The Board has submitted the following proposal to the Annual General Meeting. You see it here on the screen. The Annual General Meeting endorsed the Board's report for 2025 on salaries and other remuneration for senior executives.

[Voting]

Thank you. We are not aware of any further comments or questions on the matter under discussion, and voting is now closed. The count shows that the general meeting endorses the Board's report on directors' remuneration.

We'll now move on to agenda Item 4, presentation of the corporate governance report. It is to be considered by the Annual General Meeting as an information item. The statement is included in the annual report on Pages 135 to 138. The statement complies with the requirements of the Norwegian Code of Practice for Corporate Governance known as NUES. Rules and reporting requirements relating to corporate governance are also set out in the stock exchange rules and in the Norwegian Accounting Act.

NUES stipulates that the company's Board of Directors must ensure that the company has sound corporate governance, provide a comprehensive statement on this in the annual report and explain any deviations if the code has not been followed.

So this is the so-called complier explain principle. As stated in the report, Orkla acts in all material aspects in accordance with the code. There are two minor matters where the company has reported deviations from the code, and I refer to the description of these in the appendix to the notice of this AGM. No questions or comments have been received regarding this matter, and I therefore consider the report have been dealt with by the general meeting.

Let's move on to agenda Item 5, reduction of capital through cancellation of treasury shares. The Board of Directors as mentioned by Regland, proposed to reduce the company's share capital by canceling, amortizing 16,001,026 shares owned by Orkla ASA in accordance with the provisions of the Public Limited Liability Companies Act. The number is approximately equivalent to 1.6% of the company's outstanding shares. Board representative, Liselott Kilaas, will present the proposal.

Providing that the capital base is satisfactory, the company has two main means to transfer value to its shareholders. One method is to pay dividend. The second method is to buy back treasury shares for amortization, that is cancellation. In the latter case, the total number of company shares will be reduced and hence, the value of the remaining shares increase proportionally. The company uses both methods actively.

Under the authorization given by the Annual General Meeting, Orkla launched a buyback program in November of last year with a framework of NOK 4 billion until the end of 2026. As of the 1st of March of this year, the company has bought back 16,001,026 shares, which we now propose to amortize.

Orkla S.A. may amortize treasury shares tax-free. The amortization will not have any impact on the accounts since shares will be written off against equity upon acquisition. The auditor has confirmed that following the reduction, the company will have full coverage for its restricted equity. And we can see the auditor's confirmation here on the screen.

Thank you. Let's move to the vote. The Board proposes that the general meeting adopt the following resolution, as you can see on the screen. The general meeting of Orkla ASA resolved to reduce the share capital by NOK 20,001,282.50 from NOK 1,251,788,712.50 to NOK 1,231,787,430 by canceling, amortizing 16,001,026 shares owned by Orkla ASA. The number of shares in the company will be reduced from DKK 1,001,430,970 to 985,429,944 shares. The amount by which the share capital is reduced will be used to cancel treasury shares.

Reducing share capital by canceling shares will necessitate a corresponding amendment to Article 3 of the Articles of Association, which will read as follows as of the entry into force of the reduction of capital upon registration in the register of business enterprises of Norway. The company's share capital is NOK 1,231,787,430 divided between NOK 985,429,944 shares with a nominal value of NOK 1.25 each. The company's shares shall be registered in a securities register.

We are not aware of any further comments on the matter under discussion. And we are waiting now for the voting to be closed.

[Voting]

The voting has now been closed, and the count shows that the motion has been passed by a sufficient majority. We'll move to Item 6 of the agenda, authorization to acquire treasury shares. At the Annual General Meeting last year on 24th of April, the Board was authorized to acquire treasury shares until the general meeting in 2026. The aggregate holding of treasury shares as the date of the notice was 19,767,908, and just over [ 16 ] million has just been endorsed and approved to be canceled by the general meeting.

The Board has proposed that the authorization be renewed. An account of the justification for this agenda item has been appended to the notice. The proposal is that any shares acquired by the company under the terms of the authorization may only be used for 1 or 2 purposes. One is amortization that is canceled and any motion for amortization will then be put before the general meeting or they can be used to fulfill the company's obligations under incentive programs for employees within the framework decided by the general meeting.

The authorizations has different limits, depending on purpose. It is proposed that the authorizations related to fulfilling the incentive programs be limited to 9.85 million shares, which is a maximum of 1% of the share capital. The authorization related to amortization is proposed to be limited to 98.5 million shares and a maximum of 10% of the share capital.

The total number of treasury shares can never exceed 10% of the share capital. Both purposes shall be subject to a vote, and we ask that shareholders vote on both purposes jointly. The Board's proposed resolution is now shown on the screen. I won't read it out. We will soon close the vote on this item. Shareholders who have not yet cast their vote must do so now.

[Voting]

The vote has been closed and the result of the vote shows that the resolution was adopted with a sufficient majority. We now move to agenda Item 7, shareholders' proposal to recognize social responsibility for plastic waste landfill in Flisa. Shareholder Eivind G. Hoel has submitted the following motion for resolution to the general meeting.

Orkla recognizes its social responsibility in relation to the plastic waste landfill in Flisa and undertakes to contribute the necessary resources to ensure that the plastic waste from Jordan production is removed from nature and handled in a responsible manner in accordance with today's environmental standards.

The case concerns the waste landfill in [indiscernible] municipality where the company Jordan AS earlier delivered its industrial waste. Jordan AS was later acquired by Orkla and the business is now part of portfolio company, Orkla Health.

The rationale and background to the case and the Board's assessment of the matter has been described in more detail in an appendix to the notice. As stated, the Board's assessment is that Orkla Health is handling the matter in a responsible manner. And the Board, therefore, recommends voting against the proposal received at the general meeting. We will soon close the vote. And if you want to cast a vote, then you need to do so now.

[Voting]

Thank you. The vote has now been closed. We have not received any further comments and the result of the vote shows that the resolution did not receive a sufficient majority.

Item 8, election of a new external auditor. The current auditor, Ernst & Young, will reach its maximum engagement period under applicable regulations by 2027. And therefore, a new auditor must be elected effective for the audit of the financial year 2027. The company has conducted a thorough audit tender process, and the recommendation of the Board's Audit Committee has been posted as an appendix to the notice.

The Board of Directors proposes the election of PricewaterhouseCoopers as Orkla's new auditor. The Board of Directors, therefore, proposes that the general meeting adopt the following resolution. The general meeting of Orkla ASA elects PricewaterhouseCoopers AS as the new auditor for Orkla ASA effective as of the audit for the financial year 2027. We will soon close the vote. So if you haven't cast your vote yet, please do so now.

[Voting]

Thank you. The vote has now been closed and no comments have been received. The result of the vote shows that the resolution was adopted with a sufficient majority.

We now move on agenda items 9 to -- not 11, but 9 to 14. The agenda items 9 to 14 concern the elections of members of the Board, Chair of the Board, members of the Nomination Committee and Chair of the Nomination Committee and remuneration of the members of the Board and Nomination Committee.

The Nominations Committee -- the Nomination Committee's recommendations dated 27 March 2026 has been available to shareholders on the company's website since then. I will give the floor to Nils-Henrik Pettersson, who will present the recommendation on behalf of the Nomination Committee. He will also comment on the question that was raised by the shareholder. Following Mr. Pettersson's presentation, we will proceed to the votes.

Thank you. The Nomination Committee has consisted of Anders Ryssdal as Chair, Rebekka Glasser Herlofsen, Kjetil Houg and myself as members. In addition, the committee is supplemented by an employee representative, Vidar Dahl, upon nomination by the -- of the Chair of the Board, and he is consulted when determining remuneration.

The composition of the Nomination Committee safeguards the interest of the shareholder community and meets the criteria set out in the Norwegian Code for Practice -- Norwegian Code of Practice for Corporate Governance. The work of Nomination Committee is furthermore carried out in accordance with its own terms of reference, which were issued by the general meeting.

The Nomination Committee's recommendation, which was published on 27 March of this year, contains a detailed description of the Nomination Committee's work, and I shall not go into the further details on this now.

And I think this is a good point to reply to the answer received from a shareholder. Firstly, Orkla and the Nomination Committee want to emphasize that we do cherish dedicated shareholders, and we also welcome proposals for Board members.

That's a normal process. The normal process is for this to be received by the Nomination Committee can do this in several ways. You may contact the Nomination Committee directly normally through the chair, but you can contact any of the other members of the Nomination Committee as well or you may contact the Nomination Committee Secretary being Camilla Tellefsdal Robstad. Contact data are to be found on the website, so it shouldn't be difficult to find them.

I also would like to emphasize that the Nomination Committee's task is to present a recommendation to the general meeting. And what we focus on is that Orkla should have the best possible Board, both with regard to individual members, but also that it should have a composition that will cover relevant areas of experience and knowledge.

Well, I think that this is a satisfactory answer. If there's anything I've forgotten, probably somebody will remind me thereof. I will now move on to Nomination Committee's recommendation regarding the election of Board members.

The members of the Board were elected by the Annual General Meeting on 24 April 2025 for a term of 1 year. This means that all shareholder-elected Board members are up for election. Over the past year, the Board has consisted of 7 shareholder-elected members, 2 of these, Peter Agnefjall and Caroline Hagen Kjos are not standing for reelection. The Nomination Committee recommends that Christer Kjos and Susanna Campbell be elected as new Board members and that the other 5 Board members be reelected.

Christer Kjos is the CEO of Canica Holding AG and of Canica International AG. He is married to Caroline Hagen Kjos, who is now stepping down from the Board and is thus the son-in-law of Stein Erik Hagen.

It is the Nomination Committee's assessment that Christer Kjos will continue Canica's and the Hagen family's long-term ownership and involvement in Orkla ASA. He has an international career within finance and also possesses experience and expertise in active ownership and portfolio management, which he will bring to his work on the Orkla Board.

Susanna Campbell has extensive experience in investments, transactions and active ownership. She has a background as both an Investment Director and CEO of Ratos, which is one of the Nordic region's largest investment companies. She also has broad Board experience from both listed companies and various consumer-oriented companies.

Campbell also has experience in impact investment and the green transition. Susanna Campbell will bring financial expertise and broad capital market and transaction experience to the Board, and she will also strengthen the Board's expertise in sustainability.

The other Board members are standing for reelection, and the Nomination Committee recommends the election of the following Board members: Stein Erik Hagen, Liselott Kilaas, Christina Fagerberg, Rolv Erik Ryssdal, Bengt A. Rem, Christer Kjos and Susanna Campbell.

Under Article [ 5.3 ] of the Articles of Association, the term of office may be set at up to 2 years. The Nomination Committee is of the view that an annual review of the Board's overall composition will provide greater flexibility and proposes that the term of office be set at 1 year that is in line with the practice that has been applied now for a number of years.

And then the Nomination Committee shall also recommend the Chair of the Board. We recommend the reelection of Stein Erik Hagen as Chair of the Board. When making its recommendation for the election of the Chair of the Board, the Nomination Committee shall be supplemented by representative appointed by the employee-elected members of the Board. And Vidar Dahl as a representative of the employee elected members of the Board has endorsed this recommendation.

The Nomination Committee shall also recommend members of the Nomination Committee. The members of the Nomination Committee serve a 2-year term and Anders Ryssdal, Rebekka Glasser Herlofsen and Kjetil Houg were elected in 2024 and are therefore up for election this year. The Nomination Committee unanimously recommends the reelection of all three, that is Anders Ryssdal, Rebekka Glasser Herlofsen and Kjetil Houg; as continued members of the Nomination Committee for a term of 2 years.

And the Nomination Committee shall also recommend the Chair of the Nomination Committee, and we recommend the reelection of Anders Ryssdal as Chair of the Nomination Committee. And the committee shall also present a recommendation regarding the remuneration of the Board members.

In the Nomination Committee's view, it is important that directors' fees reflect the Board's responsibilities and workload and are set at a level that is considered sufficiently attractive to potential candidates when competing with other Nordic and European companies.

Over the past 2 years, there has, therefore, been an increase in fees that has exceeded general wage growth to some extent. The fees are currently considered to be at a reasonable level and the Nomination Committee is recommending an adjustment this year in line with expected wage growth. The committee has submitted a proposal to amend the remuneration of Vidar Dahl, who represents the employee elected members of the Board and who supports the proposal.

And on the screen, you're now supposed to see the Nomination Committee's recommendation. And as you can see, there's both compensation to the Board and to the Board committees. And it is Nomination Committee's task to propose the fees to the members of the Nomination Committee, and we propose that the fees be adjusted in line with expected wage growth. This has -- the committee has also submitted this proposal to be the who supports it. And you are supposed to see the proposal on the screen now.

Thank you. We will now move on to discussion and voting on each of the agenda items 9 to 14. As you can see, there are a number of votes to be taken here as we are voting on individual candidates for both the Board and the Election Committee. Those who have not yet cast their votes on items 9 to 14 must therefore do so now as all of these items will soon be closed. If there are any alternative candidates, these must be nominated now.

[Voting]

Thank you. We have no further questions or comments. And the voting on items 9 to 14 has now been closed. The count shows that the sufficient majority in favor of the Nomination Committee's recommendation. This means that Stein Erik Hagen, Liselott Kilaas, Christina Fagerberg, Rolv Erik Ryssdal, Bengt A. Rem, Christer Kjos and Susanna Campbell have been elected to Orkla's Board of Directors and Stein Erik Hagen has been reelected as Chair of the Board.

Anders Ryssdal, Rebekka Glasser Herlofsen and Kjetil Houg have been reelected as members of the Nomination Committee. And Anders Ryssdal has been reelected as Chair. The Annual General Meeting has approved the remuneration for the Board and the Nomination Committee as proposed.

Next, we'll deal with Item 15 of the agenda, namely the approval of the auditor's fee. This is the last item on the agenda, and I ask shareholders who have not yet cast their votes to do so now as the vote on this item will soon be closed.

The cost of statutory auditing services for Orkla ASA for 2025 is subject to the approval of the general meeting and amounted to NOK 4,915,615. The aggregate fee to Ernst & Young for the group in 2025 totaled approximately NOK 71.6 million. These fees are mainly attributable to the audit of the group companies that is NOK 57.4 million, but also includes some consultancy services, NOK 14.2 million. The auditing fees to other auditors came to about NOK 8.2 million.

Reference is made to Note 2 in the financial statement of Orkla ASA for a more detailed description of the fees. I propose that the motion regarding the auditor's fee of NOK 4,915,615 be approved.

[Voting]

Thank you. We have not received any further comments or questions to this item. We will now close the vote. The result of the vote shows that the resolution was adopted with a sufficient majority.

At this time, there are no more items on the agenda that require decisions by the general meeting. All votes have been counted and the results announced. Details of votes cast will be included in the minutes, which will be posted shortly after the general meeting.

So by way of conclusion, I would like to give the floor to Liselott Kilaas to round off today's Annual General Meeting.

Thank you. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your participation this year. Thank you.

Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Orkla's fourth quarter results. My name is Annie Bersagel, and I'm the Head of Investor Relations and Communications. So we're going to begin our presentation with a summary of the quarter from our President and CEO, Nils Selte. After that, our CFO, Arve Regland, will present some more details on the financials for the quarter. Nils will come back with some concluding remarks before we go over to the Q&A.

Just to remind you on the Q&A, we're going to first have a video Q&A with our analyst community. And after that, we will turn to questions from the web. So you're welcome during the presentation at any time to submit your questions via the web, and we'll take those afterwards.

So with that, I will now leave the floor to you, Nils.

Thank you, Annie and good morning, everyone. I will begin with the Q4 results before reflecting on the full year in my closing remarks. Organic growth for the quarter was 4.5% with contribution from both price and volume mix. Underlying EBIT adjusted for the consolidated portfolio increased by about 17% with all portfolio companies contributing on the positive side. Adjusted earnings per share improved 25% year-over-year, reflecting increased profitability in the consolidated portfolio as well as in Jotun.

Organic growth in the fourth quarter of 2025 was the strongest since the fourth quarter of 2023 with an increased contribution from volume mix. Most portfolio companies delivered volume/mix growth during the quarter. This included all of the larger portfolio companies with the exception of Orkla Foods, they still have work to do in certain markets. This was the 12th consecutive quarter with underlying EBIT adjusted growth. The uplift in Q4 came from bottom line growth, cost reduction and some periodization effects and nonrecurring items in comparison to last year.

Most portfolio companies delivered double-digit EBIT adjusted growth during the period. We will go into more details, but I would like to highlight a few developments driving our results. Jotun delivered another strong quarter with underlying operating profit growth of 28%. In 2026, Jotun celebrates 100 years since the company's founding, and we are proud to have been part of the journey for the past half century. The Board of Jotun intend to propose an ordinary dividend of NOK [ 7 ] per share. This translates to Orkla receiving approximately NOK 1 billion.

Orkla Snacks ended a challenging year for the chocolate market with an impressive fourth quarter of 16% underlying EBIT adjusted growth. Orkla Food Ingredients delivered 14% underlying EBIT adjusted growth with contribution from all 3 clusters, capping a successful turnaround in Sweet Ingredients in 2026. On a rolling 12-month basis, the consolidated portfolio delivered an EBIT adjusted margin of 10.6%. The margin improved across the portfolio compared with 2024 with the exception of Orkla Health and Orkla Snacks.

I will close this overview with an update of the 3-year financial target for the consolidated portfolio that we set out at the Capital Markets Day in 2023. Underlying EBIT adjusted continued to compound above the target range, increasing 6.6% for the year, following 17.3% in growth in 2024. The EBIT adjusted margin was 10.6%, placing us in the lower end of the target range. And the return on capital employed improved to 12.4%, driven by higher EBIT across the consolidated portfolio.

I will now hand over to Arve for more details on the financials.

Thank you, Nils, and good morning. So operating revenues increased with 2% to NOK 18.8 billion in the quarter while reported EBITDA just came in at NOK 2 billion, up 12%. The group figures are influenced by lower sales in Orkla Real Estate compared to last year. Other income and expenses were minus NOK 151 million, and these include restructuring costs in 3 portfolio companies and IPO-related expenses in connection with the Orkla India listing. These were partially offset by the gain from the sale of Orkla Food Ingredients Icelandic operations. Profit from associates, which is mainly Jotun was NOK 505 million, up 36%. And the NOK 301 million estimated gain reported in discontinued operations relates to a positive outcome in a tax dispute for one of the sold hydropower assets.

And as Nils said, adjusted EPS was NOK 1.74 per share, an increase of 24%. We recorded cash flow from operations of NOK 7.8 billion in 2025, a NOK 0.3 billion reduction compared to last year. Increased EBIT growth was more than offset by higher net replacement investments in the portfolio companies. During the quarter, we received an additional dividend from Jotun of NOK 438 million, bringing the total dividend received in 2025 to NOK 1.4 billion. Cash flow before capital allocation ended at NOK 6.9 billion on par with 2024.

Turning to the capital allocation bridge, and I will comment on specific developments in the quarter. Expansion CapEx is around NOK 700 million year-to-date, of which NOK 250 million in the fourth quarter. This relates mainly to investments to expand production capacity in Orkla Food Ingredients. Cash flow from sale of companies was NOK 2 billion, primarily from the listing of Orkla India and the sale of the 2 Icelandic companies in Orkla Food Ingredients. And Orkla maintains a robust balance sheet with a net debt of NOK 14.2 billion, equal 1.4x EBITDA and 0.9x if excluding Orkla Food Ingredients.

And moving to some more details on the portfolio companies, starting with Jotun, which ended the year with another strong quarter, as Nils mentioned. Operating revenues grew by 8.4% in the quarter adjusted for negative currency translation effects. Top line was driven by volume growth and increased share of premium product sales in the decorative segment. Volumes increased in all segments, except powder. And in terms of geography, Northeast Asia was the largest contributor to sales growth due to high marine new build activity in China and Korea. Operating profit growth was 28%, excluding negative currency translation effects.

And the main contributors were higher sales volumes and higher gross margin from lower raw material costs. Orkla's share of net profit increased by 36% to NOK 505 million. And in addition to the EBIT growth, net financial items improved due to lower interest expenses, currency hedging gains and the sale of Jotun's share in an associate.

In terms of outlook, Jotun forecast a flat development in raw material prices in the first quarter. For the year as a whole, Jotun expects sales growth to continue to outpace market growth. At the same time, they expect that intensified competitive pressure on selling prices will weigh on margins. Currency translation effects are also expected to continue to negatively impact reported results.

Organic growth in Orkla Foods was 0.4%, divided equally between price and volume mix. Volume mix growth in Sweden continued and the ERP challenges in the Czech Republic from Q3 were resolved and volume mix growth was positive. The volume mix development was negative in Norway, and this was due partly to lower campaign activities. At the Capital Markets update, Orkla Foods presented their prioritized growth platforms, which amount to about 60% of the portfolio. Organic growth during the quarter was higher in these platforms. EBIT growth was 3%, positively influenced by periodization effects for SG&A versus last year. And market input costs continued to rise during the quarter and cost improvements only partially offset this impact. Inflation was most pronounced in meat, marine raw materials and berries, and we expect this development to continue into 2026.

Organic growth in Orkla Snacks was 7%, primarily from price in the Chocolate segment. And I'm pleased to see that volume mix growth was 1.7%, rounding off what has been a challenging year. Both the Snacks and Confectionery categories drove the growth, while biscuits contributed negatively. The main driver for positive volume/mix growth within Confectionery was the BUBS U.S. rollout. Volumes continued to decline in the Chocolate segment.

All 3 categories experienced EBIT growth. The main drivers included volume mix growth in the snacks category and from the BUBS U.S. launch, operational efficiency improvements in the biscuit factory in Latvia and continued cost reductions. Orkla Snacks expects a favorable development in input costs in 2026. Organic growth in Orkla Home & Personal Care was minus 2.8%, reflecting a onetime destocking on a Norwegian customer. This was partly offset by volume growth in Sweden and contract manufacturing.

Market shares nevertheless increased across Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish grocery markets. Underlying EBIT grew 4%, driven by lower fixed costs. Organic growth in Orkla Food Ingredients was 8.3%, supported by solid price growth across all 3 clusters as well as positive volume and mix development in Sweet and plant-based. Underlying EBIT increased by 13.6%, reflecting continued volume mix growth, disciplined price management and improved operating leverage. All 3 clusters delivered positive underlying EBIT growth during the period.

And the Sweet cluster ended the year with cumulative cost reductions in the high double-digit million range, in line with our previous guidance. Organic growth in Orkla Health was 5.2%, and this was driven primarily by price in response to rising input costs in the food supplements category. Wound Care also contributed positively, while sales declined in the Functional Personal Care unit due to lower contract manufacturing related to a contract that will expire in Q1 2027. A decline in sales to B2B customers in the Oral Care segment also contributed negatively. EBIT adjusted growth reflects a comparison to a challenging quarter last year. And input prices for Orkla Health are expected to continue to be negatively affected by the price development for cod liver Oil, which is a key input for food supplements in the omega-3 category.

And please note that in Q1, Orkla Health will meet strong comparables. Orkla India's organic growth was 8.1% for the quarter, led by volume growth of 10%. Price development was negative due to continued reductions in key raw material costs. The Convenience Foods category recorded high sales growth. In the spices category, volume growth continued to outweigh the effect of price reductions following lower raw material costs. Underlying EBIT growth was 14.7%, led by volume growth, cost management and lower advertising expenses due to an earlier festive season.

In The European Pizza Company, all businesses delivered positive same-store revenue growth with overall organic growth of 8.1% and consumer sales growth of 9.7%. Marketing activities, menu innovation and increased distribution were the key drivers. Underlying EBIT improved by 37%, supported by higher consumer sales and receivables write-off at New York Pizza last year.

Lastly, Orkla House Care reported negative organic sales related to volume mix in the U.K. and Benelux. Underlying profitability was positively impacted by lower costs and increased share of sales from higher-margin products. In the Health and Sports Nutrition Group, organic growth from direct-to-consumer platforms was partly offset by lower B2B sales versus last year. Underlying EBIT growth and cash conversion remained high.

And with that, I'll hand it back to you, Nils, for the closing remarks.

Thank you, Arve. Reflecting back on 2025, we delivered organic value creation across the portfolio with 3.5% organic growth and positive volume mix development. This translates into 6.6% growth in underlying EBIT adjusted, and we maintain our focus on cash generation and ended the year with cash conversion of over 100% for the consolidated portfolio companies. During the year, we continue to actively shape the portfolio, completing the sale of the hydropower assets and Pierre Robert Group in Q1 and listing Orkla India in November.

The Board intends to propose a total dividend of NOK 6 per share, including NOK 2 in addition to the extra -- in addition to the ordinary dividend, reflecting the high cash generation and a solid balance sheet. In addition, the NOK 4 billion share buyback program announced at the third quarter presentation is ongoing. We have acquired shares for a total of about NOK 1.6 billion so far.

2026 is the final year of our current 3-year strategy period. Our priorities remain unchanged, drive value in the existing portfolio and reduce complexity. We have stepped up our evaluation of value-adding structural opportunities. But as I have said before, we are also committed to walk away from any transaction that is not in the best interest of Orkla's shareholders. Entering into 2026, we are preparing for the next strategy period. And I would like to invite you to save the date for our Capital Markets Day. We will hold the event here in Oslo on December 1 this year. Our objective is to set out Orkla's strategic direction through 2030 as an industrial investment company focused on brands and consumer-oriented businesses. With that, Arve and I are now happy to take your questions.

Welcome back. We are now ready to begin the Q&A. [Operator Instructions]. Looks like the first question is from Petter Nystrom in ABG Sundal Collier.

Yes. I jumped somewhat late into the call. So sorry if this has already been addressed. You mentioned some positive phasing effects, some lower SG&A costs across some of your portfolio companies. Is it possible to quantify these numbers?

Yes. So -- we had some specific one-offs in Orkla Health and The European Pizza company in Q4 '24, which was also mentioned in the pre-close information. In addition, we had phasing and periodization effects in some of the portfolio companies between quarters. So -- but still, I would say that the clear majority of the EBIT growth is represented by underlying profitability compared to the same quarter last year.

I'm not seeing any more video questions. We have a question from the web from Ole Martin Westgaard in DNB Carnegie. It appears to be the same, asking to quantify the periodization effects and nonrecurring items. Any other questions? It looks like there's a question from Hakon Fuglu in SEB.

Could you please quantify the sales effects from BUBS in the U.S. and how that progresses going forward?

I think, first of all, we are very happy with the launch. We are working very closely and good together with our partner, Mount Franklin Foods in the U.S. And we have got a broad nationwide listing of BUBS through the largest retailers in the U.S. So in Q4, we saw a bit better performance than we guided through Q3, but we will not quantify at this moment.

Having said that, we will continue to invest behind BUBS in the U.S. We think we see a great potential for that product in the U.S., and we will kind of invest behind it. So as we said in Q3, we will not -- we do not expect to see major impact on the EBIT performance for Orkla Snacks for the coming quarters.

Are there any other questions on video? That appears to be the last video question. And it looks like there are no more questions on the web. So before we conclude, let me just remind you that our Annual General Meeting will be held on April 23, and we report first quarter results on May 20. So with that, thank you for joining, and please enjoy the rest of your day.

Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of Orkla's third quarter results. My name is Annie Bersagel and I'm the Head of Investor Relations and Communications. Our President and CEO, Nils Selte, will begin with a summary of the highlights from the quarter. After that, our CFO, Arve Regland, will go into a deeper dive in the financials. Nils will come back with some concluding remarks before we go over to the Q&A. So just a reminder, we have a video Q&A with analysts first. And after that, we will take all of the questions that come through via the web. So you're welcome to submit your questions via the web at any time.

So with that, I think I will now leave the floor to you, Nils.

Thank you, Annie, and good morning, everyone. This quarter, we continued to execute on our active ownership model and capital allocation strategy. The focus is on improving our core business in the portfolio companies and investing in opportunities that drive long-term value.

To start with a highlight this quarter. In Q3, Orkla delivered 4.4% organic growth across our portfolio companies. Of this volume mix contributed positively with 1.3%.

Underlying EBIT adjusted growth grew by 1.1%. This quarter, we see a mixed development across the portfolio companies.

Adjusted earnings per share was NOK 1.85, a 9% increase year-on-year.

And the IPO, Orkla India. I said at the Capital Markets Day in November 2023 that we were initiating IPO readiness study. Last week, we reached a major milestone with the IPO of Orkla India. It is the result of a year of steady work, and I'm proud of the persistence shown by our team in India and at headquarters to reach this point.

Since we bought MTR Foods back in 2007, we have had an amazing journey starting with strong local brands and strong local management team. Orkla India acquired Eastern -- in Eastern in 2021, and have steadily grown the company to what it is today.

Let me be clear, this is not -- this IPO is not an exit for Orkla. Orkla will remain committed -- a committed major owner of the company. As a listed company, Orkla India now has its own currency and the flexibility that comes with it, a tool that will support growth over time.

The proceeds from the sale of Orkla India provides additional financial contribution alongside Orkla's robust cash flow from operation. To optimize the capital structure and return excess capital to shareholders in line with our capital allocation policy, we have decided to initiate a NOK 4 billion share buyback program. The program will begin on November 17, 2025, and conclude by the end of December 2026 at the latest.

Moving on to organic growth development for the consolidated Portfolio companies here shown over the past 2 years. Nearly all of the Portfolio companies contributed to growth in this quarter. Orkla Food Ingredients and Orkla India had the largest positive contribution to volume mix. Orkla Snack, also a larger positive contributor to price growth due to extraordinary cocoa price situations.

Turning to a breakdown of the Portfolio companies' performance. We see a more flattish development in the results this quarter compared to a strong quarter last year. With our continued focus on long-term value creation, we see positive underlying development in several of the companies. Profitability varied across our Portfolio companies, and Arve will present a more detailed picture of the individual companies, but a couple of developments deserve mentioned.

Jotun continued to deliver strong results during this quarter with double-digit underlying EBIT growth in local currencies, while maintaining the high margin levels. Orkla Food Ingredients delivered lower EBIT growth compared to past quarters. This led to a weaker development in the Bakery segment, in addition to volume growth, in lower-margin categories in plant-based. The positive growth in the Sweet segment continued. Excluding the impact from Cocoa, Orkla Snacks continued to have a positive underlying development.

Moving on the 12 month -- the trail rolling months, EBIT adjusted margin for the consolidated portfolio companies held at 10.3% in the third quarter, a 0.3% improvement year-on-year. This improvement was broad-based with corresponding margin improvement in 7 of the 9 consolidated Portfolio companies.

In terms of input cost, the development remains polarized. We continue to expect raw materials prices in sum to stabilize in 2025, excluding cocoa. Beyond 2025, we expect a continued polarized cost development across sourcing categories and for the Portfolio companies with an overall neutral cost outlook despite inflationary market sentiment.

At our Capital Markets Day, we laid out our 3-year financial targets for the consolidated Portfolio companies. At the same time, I said that improving the performance of our existing portfolio will create the most value in the short term. I'm impressed by the progress of our Portfolio companies so far delivering EBIT adjusted to compound annual growth rate of 11.8%, margin expansion of 1.3 percent points and an improvement in return on capital employed by 2 percentage points. All in line with our financial target for this strategy period.

At the same time, a lot of work remains. We will be fully focused on delivering on each of these goals in 2026, concentrating particularly on continued organic growth, cost management and capital discipline, achieving our 2024-2026 target is central to delivering top-tier long-term shareholder return, which is our overarching mission.

I'll now hand over to Arve to walk through the quarter in more details. Thank you so far.

Thank you, Nils, and good morning. Let's start with the income statement highlights for the third quarter.

Operating revenue was NOK 17.9 billion, up 4% year-over-year, and EBIT adjusted was NOK 2 million, up 2%. Lower cost in Orkla ASA and the business service companies contributed positively.

Other expenses was NOK 401 million in the quarter, and the main element was a write-down of NOK 240 million of trademarks in Orkla Health and a write-down of NOK 130 million in the European Pizza Company equal to the remaining goodwill in New York Pizza's German operations.

Profit from associates, which is mainly Jotun, was NOK 603 million, up 10% year-over-year and then landed at profit before tax at NOK 2 billion. And the improvement compared to last year is mainly due to the substantial impairment charges last year.

And as Nils mentioned, adjusted EPS at NOK 1.85 per share, up 9%.

Year-to-date cash flow from operations was NOK 4.8 billion. We are around NOK 400 million below record last year for 2 reasons. Some working capital buildup due to higher trade receivables and inventory, and increased net replacement investments primarily related to Orkla Foods, Orkla Food Ingredients and Orkla Snacks. These include replacement project at various factories, ERP projects and new long-term leases. Dividend from Jotun is unchanged versus last year at NOK 948 million, and we received the second installment in the third quarter.

Turning to capital allocation bridge, and I will comment on specific development in the quarter. Expansion CapEx is around NOK 400 million year-to-date, of which NOK 250 million in the third quarter. And the increase in the quarter is related to -- mainly to increased production capacity in Orkla Snacks and Orkla Food Ingredients. Purchase of companies increased with roughly NOK 100 million and is related mainly to bolt-on acquisition in Orkla Food Ingredients. We maintain a robust balance sheet with a net debt at NOK 17.7 billion, equal to 1.7x EBITDA and 1.3x excluding Orkla Food Ingredients.

Moving to some more details on the Portfolio of companies. And as usual, we'll start with Jotun. And please note that the figures and graphs relate to Jotun is the end of August year-to-date as Jotun do not publish Q3 results. However, I will discuss some highlights from the quarter.

Operating revenue declined 2% in the quarter, excluding negative currency translation effects, the sales growth was plus 4%. This follows a continuing trend, revenue growth driven by higher volumes as well as increased premium sales in the decorative segment. EBITA increased by 6% over the quarter and 12% excluding the currency effects related to a stronger Norwegian krona. Both higher sales volumes and gross margin from lower raw material cost contributed positively.

Jotun had financial gains related to currency hedging in the quarter, but the amount is still much smaller than the negative impact to EBITA related to the stronger NOK.

We guided that we expect to report 2025 results on par with last year. We continue to expect currency headwinds to negatively impact growth year-over-year in the fourth quarter. That said, given the strong underlying operational development year-to-date, Jotun's contribution to Orkla results for 2025 tracks ahead of our outlook.

Orkla Foods had organic growth of 0.8%. It was a temporary negative volume mix impact in Q3 due to ERP modernization in the Czech Republic. And the go-live process created challenges for our main warehouse resulting in lost sales. Adjusted for this, volume mix growth was slightly positive for Orkla Foods in total.

Orkla Foods Norway had a negative volume mix but with a significant improvement compared to the second quarter.

Market share in growth categories increased in line with the strategy communicated at the Capital Markets update.

Underlying EBIT growth was 2.4% and came primarily from increased sales. Input costs increased during the quarter and Orkla Foods expects higher prices for beef, dairy, marine and berries to continue into next year.

Orkla Snacks had organic growth of 7.5%, driven entirely by price. The Chocolate segment was the main driver of the price growth as well as a drag on volumes. Organic growth in the Snacks category was flat in the quarter, while biscuit contributed positively.

Underlying EBIT declined 8.4% year-over-year reflecting impact of higher cocoa prices.

BUBS launched in the U.S. in September through a production and distribution agreement with Mount Franklin Foods. The BUBS U.S. launch was promising, but was not material in Orkla Snacks P&L for the quarter. We expect limited EBIT effect from BUBS in the coming quarters as we continue to invest in A&P and SG&A to support the rollout.

Orkla Home & Personal Care had organic growth of 0.9%, driven by continued volume mix growth in Norway and Sweden. And this was partly offset by lower volume mix in contract manufacturing and Finland.

Underlying EBIT growth was 7.6% year-over-year, primarily cost-driven.

Organic growth in Orkla Food Ingredients was 8.3% with 3.9% from volume mix. The plant-based cluster drove the volume mix growth but on lower margin products with limited impact on EBIT growth. There was a volume mix decline in Bakery across business units impacted by softening consumer sentiment and intensified competition.

Underlying EBIT growth at 1.6% for the quarter was impacted by continued improvement from sweet ingredients, offset by a loss of volume in Bakery as well as lower margins in plant-based, as mentioned.

Organic growth in Orkla Health was 2.5%, with volume mix growth of 1.6%. The main positive contributors were Wound Care and Food Supplements in Europe. The growth was offset by continued weak development in both Oral Care and Functional Personal Care categories for B2B customers.

Underlying EBIT decline was driven by contribution margin pressure, increased SG&A costs and higher advertising spend in food supplements.

The new Orkla Health CEO, Mats Palmquist, joined in mid-August, and initiatives are launched to reduce complexity and improve growth. And we will find the right opportunity in 2026 to present an update on Orkla Health to the Capital Markets.

Orkla India reported quarterly results yesterday, so I will only name a few points here. And please note that Orkla India reports to the Indian Stock Exchanges in local currency according to Indian Accounting Standards with the financial year starting April 1. The quarterly numbers we report are according to IFRS, given in NOK and presented on a calendar year basis.

Organic operating revenue growth was 4.3%, with positive volume growth and a decline from price.

Underlying EBIT declined by 1.8% due to higher advertising costs related to early festive season. Transition expenses associated with recent sales tax reform in India and also Orkla India recorded financial incentives from the government of India in the same quarter last year.

Excluding the impact of government grants, underlying EBIT adjusted growth was 6.2%.

Organic growth in the European Pizza Company was 2.2% in the quarter with consumer sales growth in the Netherlands, Finland and Poland. Underlying EBIT increased with 7%, driven by consumer sales growth and cost control.

And lastly, Orkla House Care had a top line organic growth in the quarter, while the development was flat in the Health and Sports Nutrition Group. But there were substantially improved profitability in both companies compared to the same quarter last year.

With that, I'll hand it back to you, Nils, for the closing remarks.

Thank you, Arve. Having now entered the second half of our statutory period 2024 to 2026, I'm pleased with the progress we have made across the 3 strategic pillars presented at our Capital Markets Day. Driving organic value in our existing portfolio, simplifying the portfolio structure and executing value-adding structural transactions.

As we enter the last part of the strategy period, we remain committed to delivering on these 3. At the same time, we have initiated development for our next strategy plan, which will guide Orkla through 2030. This work is being carried out in close collaboration with our Board and grounded on the same principles of focus, discipline and long-term value creation. We look forward to presenting the next strategy plan to the market towards the end of 2026.

In closing, I want to thank our employees across Orkla and our Portfolio companies for their hard work and our owners for continued support. We entered Q4 with determination to finish the year strong and with confidence in the path ahead. We have more work to do, but we are pleased with the direction.

Thank you for your attention. Arve and I are now happy to take your questions.

Welcome back. We are now ready to begin our Q&A. [Operator Instructions] So our first question is from Hakon Nelson from Kepler Cheuvreux.

I have 2 from me. The first is about Jotun, they delivered a very solid quarter. Could you elaborate on the key drivers by the solid volume growth and margins? And whether do you see this level of performance as sustainable into 2026?

And the second is regarding the transformation and exit portfolio. How should we think about the remaining assets in terms of timing? And are there business outside the current transformer exit classification that you could consider opening for a strategic review or potential sale if the right conditions arise?

Let's start with the Jotun question. I think as we describe the result and the good performance of Jotun is very much due to the higher volume and also improved gross margin.

I think also we have said that we guide now ahead of what we guided for the total year 2024. So we are -- I think we will be a bit above what we guided early this year. We don't want, at this stage, guide for 2026, but I guess we will get back to that on the Q4 presentation.

So can you repeat -- so when it comes to transform or exit portfolio, we have 2 companies left we have never guided on structural deals. So I think we will stick to that policy and not guide on any structural deals. And that goes for the whole portfolio to say so.

Our next question is from Ole Martin Westgaard from DNB Carnegie.

I'll start with a quick 1 on Foods. You highlighted delivery issues in the Czech Republic in this quarter. Just to be clear, are these issues now resolved? Or is this -- will this also impact Q4?

They are resolved. So that's -- this is also a Q3 incident in relation to implementation of the ERP system, which had -- we had some problems in the main warehouse related to that, but that's resolved at the end of Q3. So it shouldn't be impacting Q4.

Yes. And on Snacks, can you be specific on how much snack or sort of chocolate demand was down in Q3? And when do you expect this to stabilize or has it stabilized now?

It has stabilized, but we don't give any clear guidance on exact numbers. But as we have said earlier, we have at least a 10% volume decline on -- due to chocolate price increases. But it's stabilizing, but it's still obviously affecting the numbers year-over-year, as you can see in the report.

Yes. And then on the write-downs. I understand this is -- majority of this is related to Nutrilett. What is the remaining book value of Nutrilett on your balance sheet as of now?

There's nothing left on Nutrilett, but it's also several trademarks in Orkla Health that was written down in the quarters. Nutrilett was 1 of them, but they are also consolidated a few other trademarks into Sana-Sol as a new main brand for some of the trademarks or it's a combination of several trademarks that's written down, which then in total was the number, as I presented.

Yes. And then last 1 on Foods and Snacks. Can you comment on how you see your market share development in this quarter and how the competition is from private label? And I'll join back in the queue.

I think, in general, we see that we are flattish, more flattish when -- if you look at the prioritized categories within Foods, we see that we are taking market shares. Otherwise, in the other categories in Foods, we are more or less flat. Also that goes for -- but it's a few variation between the different categories in Snack, but all in all, it's more a flattish development this quarter.

And it looks like the next question we have is from Petter Nyström in ABG Sundar Collier.

So just a very quick question for me. And that is, could you share some insight on how you see raw material prices developing into 2026 versus 2025?

As I talked about that briefly in my presentation earlier this morning, and I think this -- we are expecting flat development, including cocoa prices going into 2026. And that's the picture we see as of today. A bit fragmented, there are a big variation between the different categories, and it might see the different Portfolio companies differently. But in general.

I see Hakon Fuglu has a hand up, if you have another question.

This is the first. But yes, I have a couple of ones, and I'll take them 1 by 1. In the second quarter, you talked about inventory rebalancing within Food for a couple of your clients. Did we have any impact on that this quarter as well?

That was a very limited impact this quarter.

Okay. And looking at your headquarter costs, they continue to decline sequentially also in this quarter. Are we sort of reaching a sort of more normalized level in this quarter?

We don't want necessarily to guide on the headquarter cost. But I think this quarter, we see a reduction in FTEs in the IT part of the Orkla IT AS, and we also see a reduction in number of FTEs in the headquarter, as well as a reduction in bonus cost due to the share price development in this quarter. But we don't want to guide for going forward.

And final 1 from me. Talking about your hero brands. Elevating those brands, now you're going to sort of help and what sort of the expected impact for the other Portfolio companies there? And are you seeing any impact from the ambitions that you launched on the CMU?

Implementing new ways of actually running our portfolio of different brands takes a lot of time, and it takes also time before it gets effect into your performance as well. So I think all the companies are now implementing this new way of thinking. And we presented the Snack and Food, how they are working on the Capital Markets Update in May this year. So this is work going on. We see progress as we have said that in prioritized categories in Food over the last few quarters. And I think that's a good sign on that this will work and this is working, but it takes time before it hits into the P&L to say so.

And I see our next question is from Ole Martin Westgaard in DNB Carnegie.

Another question for me. When it comes to your marketing spend in this quarter, how is that year-on-year? And what was the underlying margin improvement adjusted marketing spend?

Yes. We haven't given a clear number of that, but it's fairly flattish compared to the last year.

Yes. And then just on BUBS. You -- can you say a bit more on how you see the performance of BUBS in Q3 relative to your expectations? How has it changed any perception of how you view the attractiveness of the U.S. market?

No. In U.S., it's still early days. So as we also stated in the report, it's a promising launch in the U.S. Limited, however, limited impact to the numbers in the third quarter given that we launched at the end of the quarter. And we are also now very keen to support that rollout, meaning that we're going to support the sales with SG&A resources and also A&P. So on the back of that, it's promising, but I wouldn't expect a huge impact to the P&L in the coming quarters due to the efforts that we put behind the rollout.

We will in that for the long term in the U.S. market when it comes to BUBS.

That seems to be the last video question. So we're going to turn it over to questions from the web. It looks like we've had a couple coming from Marcela Klang, Handelsbanken. The first question from Marcela is on the strategy. Can you give an indication of the continued strategy plan that you will present towards in 2026? What areas are you contemplating on targeting real estate, M&A?

I think that's way too early. I said this is a process that we just started with the Board. It's ongoing discussions, and we have made a plan on how to make a good strategy for the future heading towards 2030. We also, in this process, will dive into the Portfolio companies, and the Portfolio companies will make their own full potential plans and strategy plans, and we need to see the totality before we can give any guidance to the market. And we would wrap in the end of 2026 with a new Capital Markets Day to tell about our strategy for 2030.

And the last question from Marcela here is, do you expect the NOK 4 billion share buyback program to be spread across Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 2026 evenly or more in the first half?

The share back program will be run according to the MAR regulations meaning that we will buy a volume not affecting the share price, meaning up to 25% of the volume in the recent periods. So that it will take the time it will take. And we're not going to give a clear guidance on how many months it will take, but obviously, it will take some time to accumulate that volume in the market.

And that appears to be the final question on the web. So before we conclude, let me just remind you that we will report results for the fourth quarter on February 12.

So with that, thank you for joining, and please enjoy your day.