We are confident we can deliver value for all our stakeholders by executing on our strategy, creating sustainable solutionsto address the key challenges of our time. What some of our challenges have been in recent quarters have been movements of orders from one quarter into the next quarter. And then on your question with regard to restructuring, yes, there will be a cash impact of the restructuring. I will say though that Q3, Q4 you may even see a pickup from the second quarter because on the demand side, we did see an impact on China. How much did we realize? Please go ahead. First of all, can you give us an indication of where you see free cash flow evolving towards the end of this year so, i.e., for fiscal '22? And also here we had actually a good strong revenue growth. We have a new leadership team, a new operating model that really sets up this company for I think tremendous growth both in terms of top line and bottom-line going forward. Analyst coverage. Our EBITDA was actually very strong in the first half of this year. And in reality, we were -- yes, reselling chemicals from other companies and only for a small percentage, it actually concerns our own chemicals. So when we say a mid double-digit million range, that is sort of the total parts, not all of it is going to be Q4. As a global specialty chemicals company with products and solutions we provide have a positive impact on many aspects of everyday life. As we go into Q4, we are actually expecting the raw material prices to stabilize. Maybe now back to you Bill on some comments on cash flow. Please note that all information provided today reference to the reported Q2 H1 2022 results and the restated Q2 H1 2021. So we will see some catch up for formula based pricing. I would suspect that the usual pattern at Clariant that the significant chunk of free cash flow is generated in H2. 1Defined as (cash generated from operating activities capex)/EBITDA. First can you please give us some guidance on how you see operating cash flow and CapEx evolving for the remainder of this year. Mr. Conrad Keijzer has been Chief Executive Officer at Clariant AG since January 01, 2021. Sales in Functional Minerals grew in a double-digit percentage range with positive developments in Purification and Cargo & Device Protection. That's the first question. This divestment is a further step to structurally improve Clariant's portfolio and sustainability profile, while focusing our operations on specialty chemicals and value-adding solutions. Let's now move on to cover the first half year financials on slide 12. Thank you, Conrad. Hi, Conrad, hi, Bill. And then finally, the new operating model, which you talked about with the restructuring charges, it sounds like that's going to involve headcount reductions from the sound of your comments they're going to be towards the upper end of the average salary range for the company. So what are the savings that are associated with those efforts? As a final housekeeping comment, please note that all figures discussed today refer to continuing operations unless specifically noted otherwise. It dates back to two acquisitions that the company made back in 2016. What limits the yield? 15. . From a sequential perspective, we expect to see a modest decline in the fourth quarter. And how much would you have -- you believe you have achieved on the CHF220 million in relation to market growth? If I make a couple comments if I might on the Q2 cash flow because I think that sets up a bit of the discussion for where we expect things to go through the end of the year. And I would say, we would expect to make improvement year-over-year to reach that target by 2025. So to your question on this divestment of the North America Land business, well, first of all, the multiples for this divestment were not low. and innovation at the forefront of everything we do. Yeah. Group sales rise to EUR 4.7 billion (+18.9%) EBITDA of EUR 547 million (-33.0%) above own guidance Net income totals EUR 199 million (-55.7%) Free operating cash flow (FOCF) falls to EUR -462 million Full-year guidance 2022 adjusted Continued f TRENDING. Continuing with Catalysis on Slide 12. And now we actually have our biofuels business in there. As you can see on slide number five in the second quarter the reported EBITDA increased by 33% to CHF216 million. These efforts will deliver meaningful savings in 2022 and beyond. We also will actively manage this through our own destocking, our own reduction in inventory levels as we see our customers basically do the same. In the third quarter of 2022, the absolute EBITDA increased by 38% and the margin rose to 20% from 17.6%, reflecting a 240 basis point improvement. Clariant, a focused, sustainable, and innovative specialty chemical company, today announces that it has completed the acquisition of BASF's U.S. based Attapulgite business assets for USD 60 million in cash. Our new team remains committed to taking the next steps to meet our 2025 targets, which we introduced last November. We saw again an unfavorable product mix with a lower share of petrochemical sales. Learn about Clariant (CLZN.F) stock's management team. And then second, can you share with us how you prepare for a slowdown? You remember, our presentation at the Capital Markets Day last year, you remember, the new growth strategy that we put together earlier in the year last year for Care Chemicals and that we have been executing on already. I'm very pleased, that we were able during the quarter to announce our supply delivery contracts with Shell. So it should indeed definitely set us up for the future, not only from a growth perspective but also from a profitability point of view. I would like to recognize that we also achieved a further sequential pricing increase of 3% in the third quarter versus the second quarter of 2022. We are seeing a decent ramp-up right now in volumes. Yeah. And with that, indeed, there are also savings. Sales in Functional Minerals grew in a mid-teen range, with positive developments in all business lines, especially in purification and cargo and device protection. The Catalysis EBITDA margin decreased to 5.6% in the second quarter. Tesco introduces new 28p car charge at supermarkets across UK. We expect to improve our year-on-year underlying EBITDA margin despite a continued negative contribution from the ramp-up of our new bioethanol plant. Clariant established a Green Financing Framework and successfully issued its first green bond. It lifts our profitability profile, it lifts our sustainability profile. Conrad will then conclude with a few comments on Clariant's full year 2022 outlook. Our overall 20% price increase has fully offset the impact of 36% higher raw material cost, an energy cost increase of approximately 34% and an approximate 20% logistic cost increase. Our team remains committed to taking the next steps to meet our 2025 targets, which we introduced last November. And my second question would be then on the risk of inventory devaluation, if you see any in the fourth quarter or -- then also going into next year? Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon, and welcome. Conrad, sorry, can I just steal a tiny third question? Thank you. Thank you, Markus. Thank you, Georgina. Just for your information, we are literally sold out in CATOFIN. The first is on CATOFIN, where you said your order book is strong and you said also that, it will contribute in the second half. Could you shed more light on what was the logic of this divestment and also why the multiples have been low? Download now: Print. Thank you very much. So actually, we are pleased that we were able to close this transaction and that we basically have found the right owner for a business, which was not strategic within our portfolio. In the fourth quarter of 2022, we expect Clariant's continuing operations to generate solid local currency sales growth in a year-on-year comparison, primarily driven by pricing in all business areas despite an expected sequential nominal -- normalization in Care Chemicals and Natural Resources and an increasingly tough comparable base. Is it six to eight weeks or shorter? First question is really on Care Chemicals. So we do need to obviously see the ramp-up in biofuels, resulting not just in profitable sales, but also in profitable business with our licensees. So if you do 50 million of restructuring charges, that implies you're getting annualized cost savings of say CHF30 million to CHF50, is that fair? The Business Area Care Chemicals serves customers in the personal care, home care, paints and coatings, and crop solutions markets. We are proud to have further improved our selling prices with a 20% year-on-year increase versus the second quarter of 2021. But then as you try to scale it up on commercial level, there have always been some of the other issues like how different is the situation today with sunliquid with what we've seen with the other projects on second generation biofuel in the past? The reported EBITDA margin level will be impacted by restructuring charges in the fourth quarter for the implementation of our new operating model. So that actually provided some degree of uplift. Hi. With that, I turn the call back over to you, Andreas. In Consumer Care, sales increased in a double-digit range in all three businesses: Personal Care, Home Care and Crop Solutions, in particular. Clariant, a focused, sustainable, and innovative specialty chemical company, today announces that it has completed the acquisition of BASF's U.S. based Attapulgite business assets for USD 60 million in cash. Please go ahead. Thank you. . When you were doing the due diligence on Clariant as your future employer, how important was it for you that this company remains public actually it is not public in the future given that we have a very strong shareholder, which may strategically want to take over Clariant. Please go ahead. So I think, if you look at our Care Chemical business it is structurally better positioned towards the more attractive markets segments. Natural Resources sales increased by 30% in local currency in the third quarter due to growth in all regions and in all three business units particularly strong growth in Additives. And then, I really would like to understand, what the Care Chemicals how we should understand the Care Chemicals business. Therefore, please note that the fundamentals of this business remain positive based on the present demand pattern, the high order backlog, portfolio strength and our proven innovation capability. INVESTOR RELATIONS Andreas Schwarzwlder Phone +41 61 469 63 73 andreas.schwarzwaelder@clariant.com Maria Ivek Phone +41 61 469 63 73 maria.ivek@clariant.com Alexander Kamb Phone +41 61 469 63 73 . We are pleased with the continued progress of our pricing actions. Also considering recent events, there is an even higher urgency right now for an energy transition in Europe. I will take the first question on the North America Oil Land business, and Bill can provide some color as far as inventory devaluation risk in the coming quarter. That's my first question. The total group net result was CHF 386 million versus CHF 157 million in the previous year. Yes, I got it. So yes, and maybe one thing to add, do the mathematics that you just present. This will be actually incremental for both sales as well as EBITDA margin. We further saw, again, the negative impact from the delay in passing on higher raw material costs as well as some higher costs from the start of our new bioethanol plant in Romania. Active price management and volume-related leverage underpins a significant increase, as raw material, energy and logistics cost increases were fully offset. No problem. On Slide #9, we see an example of Clariant's achievements to fight climate change. If you look more broadly, globally what we see is actually a mixed picture. But there also was the effect of the delayed order book that we basically had from Q2. And I think Bill mentioned that, we've also been able to build some inventory for the CATOFIN order book, which we see in China right now as strong. So we have anchor shareholders very supportive also with their public statements around our growth strategy. I see the opportunities in terms of how we organize ourselves globally, in terms of finance, in terms of the functions, in terms of the segmentation of our businesses. So my first question is on the Care Chemicals side where I'm just asking basically the margin level of 22%, the stage that we see, which has been elevated for not just Clariant, but for other companies as well. But yes, the vast majority will be. Thank you, Christian. our purpose: Greater chemistry - between people and planet, on our strategy, creating sustainable solutions, Reduction in scope 3, cat.1 emission by 2030. When I talk to payers, they have seen severe impacts in Q2 from the lockdowns, particularly in the Shanghai area. And the startup of the new plants in China will allow us to shift all of these orders that we have on our books. So we won't necessarily see that same uplift coming into Q4. And thanks Rob for the question. It is Europe, where we do see the slowdown most pronounced. Please go ahead. So as we look at EBITDA margin levels in Q4, we are expecting to be lower than what we saw in Q3 on a sequential basis before any restructuring charges. -. We are obviously committed to create value for all of our shareholders. And I'm very pleased and as Bill mentioned that, we actually are seeing this growth already coming through. The Investor Relations team is committed to continually strengthening our relationship with investors and analysts through clear and timely communication, so as to enable a transparent assessment of the company's value. Yes, a couple of questions, please. Thanks a lot. Our performance improvement programs remain on track and we are committed to the implementation of our new operating model. +49-211-798-2863. Are these issues process related? Certainly, Conrad. Hi. Hi, good afternoon. So ladies and gentlemen, this then, concludes today's conference call. Thank you for taking my question. It was last year primarily olefin-based raw material inflation. Investor Relations Clariant AG CLN Stock Quote Morningstar Rating | Rating as of Oct 26, 2022. Clariant saw continued good demand across all regions and across all of our businesses except Catalysts where we saw a more modest demand recovery. They're all in different phases. Can you please confirm this? The proceeds of CHF175 million will be used for eligible assets, which will drive sustainable innovation to support Clariant's purpose led growth strategy. So, yes, as you can imagine, we continue to be very committed to make this all work. The 29% growth included 5% organic volume growth and 4% contribution from the consolidation of our joint venture with India Glycols and from Baraka, our Natural Ingredients acquisition in Brazil. Turning to Slide 10. This transaction is expected to be closed in the first quarter of 2023. Needless to say that doesn't go -- come without challenges. Yeah. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. I think prior year was around 11% if I remember correctly, which is still quite a bit away from the annual averages or what this business can achieve. Ladies and gentlemen, before we begin the Q&A session, you would kindly ask that you please limit the number of questions to two thus providing more participants with the opportunity to ask questions. So that is a small single -- low single-digit million figure for the startup of the plant in Romania and sort of relatively higher cost for the plant in CATOFIN, as it's not running at the full run rate yet. Acquisitions and divestitures. And also, if you look at the acquisitions that we did last year, the joint venture that we set up with Indian Glycols, this is very much about bio-based surfactants. We expect to improve our year-on-year EBITDA margins through a targeted turnaround in our Catalyst business, continued margin management, continued cost discipline and successful delivery of our performance improvement programs. The net operating cash flow declined to negative CHF 17 million in the first half of 2022, as a result of the inventory buildup needed to meet higher demand levels, supply chain uncertainty and higher raw material prices. Or is it going to take longer than 12 months to go back to the 22% to 25% margin range? Additive sales rose most significantly among the three Natural Resources business units with robust growth in all key regions and in Automotive as well as electronic applications despite softening volumes in customer destocking. Last year, we defined our new purpose-led growth strategy, which we presented at our Capital Markets Day in November. Yes. It is a pleasure for me as well to welcome Bill Collins, our new CFO. This is obviously up to the yeah, to our customers in this area. In the second half of the year, we expect to report continued sales growth based on higher prices, but weaker volumes, in part due to the higher comparison base, but also because of the sequential weakening of demand that was already visible towards the end of the second quarter. I know that is impairment you mentioned, but I think that's not what you mean with restructuring charges. The mitigation measures in Germany include switching the fuel from oil to gas or switching from our own gas-generated electricity to external electricity from the grid. In our view, Clariant is well positioned to outpace the market and to continue to grow profitably. Significant shareholdings of 3% or more of total share capital. Examples are, foundry which basically is a product our bentonite product which is used basically for forecasting metals as a binder for foundry and this is a clear industrial application that is tied to automotive metal parts production, but also to sort of production of heavy industrial equipment. But certainly, before the end of the year, we do expect to announce additional licensees to be sold for this technology. We provide technology. What we noted at the time when we were looking in more detail at the overall [indiscernible] setup was that we had some instances where we had, literally as an example, 11 layers of management between myself and an operator in one of our plants. Source: Clariant AG via GlobeNewswire HUG#2214600. Good afternoon everyone. First, on Care Chemicals, yes, we are very pleased with our performance in Care Chemicals, the 22% EBITDA margin, which -- yes, which basically is a reflection of our ability to fully pass on raw material cost, freight cost as well as higher energy costs. Investor Relations Get further information; Search. So we would largely book the expense mostly this year, we think, but it will have an impact on Q4 as individuals start to leave the organization. Conrad, you mentioned that there was a delay. Okay, great. Please go ahead. No, no, thats clear. So of the CHF220 million EBITDA that we had in Q3 about CHF2 million of that was specific efficiency programs, sorry. Claudia Kamensky . The strong top line advance in tandem with pricing measures, mitigated the negative impact from higher raw material costs and rising energy prices. Investor Relations. Okay. Hi, gentlemen. So is it going to take 12 months? 2.2. Meanwhile, Christian, we are continuously getting very positive feedback from the market, there is a pool [ph] for this technology. It was the best case scenario, I think. I mean the headline numbers that we disclosed were a top line last year of US$113 million. Meanwhile, we continue to prioritize to deliver our full year 2022 operational performance. Perfect. This profitability improvement was the result of ongoing pricing measures, which enabled us to fully offset the higher raw material, energy and logistics costs.