Aquafil S.p.A. ($ECNL)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Aquafil Group 2026 Q1 Results Presentation Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Now I will hand the conference over to Giulia Rossi, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to Aquafil Investor conference call. Today, we will update you on the company's first quarter 2026 results. Before going ahead, let me remind you that this presentation may contain certain statements that are neither reported financial results nor other historical information. Any forward-looking statements are based on Aquafil's current expectations about future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ from those expressed by the statements. For a discussion of these risks and uncertainties, you should review the disclaimer in the presentation we issued today. I will now leave the floor to Mr. Giulio Bonazzi for his remarks.

Thank you, Giulia. The results of the first quarter of 2026 demonstrate with great satisfaction, the group's ability to translate commitments into tangible results. Margins showed an excellent performance despite market uncertainty. A strong benefit derived from the cost rationalization projects launched in 2025. The plan of approximately EUR 17 million is generating the expected structural savings and cost containment actions will continue in the coming periods. We also continue our debt reduction path with discipline. The net financial position decreased sharply compared to the first quarter of the previous year. Supported by a robust operating cash generation. This result is a significant achievement even when compared to that of the previous financial year. Especially when contextualized with the typical seasonal fluctuations of the period. Sales volumes are in line with expectations, showing extremely positive dynamics in the North American region. In Europe, the fiber for textile market is showing order intake above previous periods. In parallel, the growth of the Engineering Plastics segment also continues. Our ECONYL brand maintains a significant share of total fiber revenues. The current macroeconomic framework presents element of instability with further strong upward pressure on raw materials and other costs. Within this context, we reiterate our historical ability to pass through the increase in operating costs to selling prices, even in the most challenging market phases. The results of the quarter make us confident in achieving the target set for 2026. We are now ready to welcome your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And the first question comes from the line of Filippo Lippi from Kepler Cheuvreux.

First one, you indicated first that EUR 17 million cost rationalization plan is generating the expected structural savings. How much of this benefit was already visible in Q1 EBITDA? How much remains to be delivered over the rest of 2026 and 2027? Second one, the competitive environment and how it has evolved since the beginning of the year, given the volatility of raw materials, have competitors changed their behavior? Are you seeing pressure or gaining market share?

The EUR 17 million cost saving is a number which is comparison 2024 with full year savings. So they are practically almost all equally divided by quarter. In fact, there are still a portion of this EUR 17 million that are going to be realized during 2026, and that will show their effect even during 2027. About the competitive environment, as I have said, particularly raw materials, but not only transport energy and all other consumables have, of course, let's say, reacted with a big increase because of the war of the Middle East, which started at the end of February. This has forced everybody in the industry to act through a price increase. So it is not just Aquafil, but it's the behavior of all the sector that must recover through price increases, the really big cost increase that we have suffered, particularly starting from April. Aquafil is gaining market share, particularly in Europe, and this is happening because not of the present situation, but because of the hard work that we have realized that during 2024 and 2025, in launching new products and in servicing the market in the best possible manner.

The next question comes from the line of Carlo Maritano of Intermonte.

I just have three questions. The first one is if you can provide more color on the volumes performance in Europe so just to understand what is behind the weakness? And the second one is on the NTF in the U.S. in the first quarter, and that's quite a surprising rebound in the volumes. So also in this case, if you could provide more color as well? And the third question is about the current trading. I was wondering if you are seeing the same trends starting in the second quarter in April May or if there's anything else that we have to keep in mind.

If I have to comment the sales of BCF in Europe in comparison with the first quarter of 2025, I have to remember that in 2025, we enjoyed a strong result deriving from the shutdown of our competitors, [indiscernible], which took place in September of 2024. And particularly one customer had placed A lot of orders during the first quarter of last year. If we deduct this effect from the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, I must say that there are no big differences or 2026 is even slightly better than 2025. Nylon textile filament in United States first quarter of last year had suffered a very weak demand, which has not happened during January and February and the first part of March. During the second quarter of this year, we are noticing, particularly for these kind of products, a very slow demand and this is because Aquafil is targeting customers that are more connected with consumer market in the medium or low end of the market. And of course, they are the ones that are mostly hit by all the inflation costs that are deriving from the war in the Middle East and the rise of petroleum and gasoline in United States. The current trading is showing, of course, a lot of uncertainties. The demand, particularly in Europe is weak is not strong. Not with big differences, at least during April and May in comparison with our budget for 2026, while the demand for North American and Asian markets is pretty stable for the time being. Engineering Plastic is continuously giving us good feelings and good numbers. So overall, of course, we are not enthusiastic of the current situation, but we are still, let's say, confident that we will be able to deliver the expected results for the first semester.

The next question comes from the line of Dave Storms of Stonegate.

My first one is maybe just around your consolidated margins that seem to be continuing to grow. I know you've called out the performance driven by the cost reduction strategy. Just curious if you think price mix or volume could be a contributor to growing margins going forward? And then my second one is around the debt reduction that you've taken the quarter. Maybe any thoughts around the outlook. Does debt reduction remain a priority? Or do your capital allocation priorities shift now that you've taken a lot of work out there.

I will start from the second question. Debt reduction remains a priority. And our capital expenditures for 2026 are still, of course, in line with our budget forecast. And I would say with the original plan, but also, they will continue to be under control in order to avoid any deviation. If, of course, sales and margins continue the current trajectory, we expect a strong reduction during 2026. Please remember that last year, we had to change the mix of purchasing of raw materials, and this has caused a temporary absorption in the net working capital, which is not continuing during 2026. I mean, we are, of course, continuing with the same supplier mix but we have absorbed this shorter terms of payment because of importation of raw material. Consolidated margins are good because we are selling good products with the right pricing and having cut fixed costs and other, let's say, cost factors, this has, of course, delivered a higher unit margin. Clearly, if we are able to hold volumes or even to increase them, the effect or better, the marginal effect will even be stronger than the current situation. Clearly, the current trading of the market because of the war in the Middle East is not making us very optimistic of increasing strongly our sales volumes during this financial year. But we are working hard to keep growing during 2026, 2027 and 2028.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Francesco Taddei of Banca Akros. Sorry, we've just lost Francesco Taddei. Francesco, [Operator Instructions].

Yes. I have two, if I may. Could you comment on the impact that the European incidental measures that I think on the nylon market, both maybe in terms of competitive dynamics and pricing? And linked to that, how are you currently seeing the spread between virgin nylon and ECONYL evolving? And what implications could that have for demand trends and margins over the medium term?

Yes. We didn't speak much about what happened at the end of March with, let's say, the imposition of a temporary antidumping against import of Chinese textile yarns -- so the European Commission at the end of March has imposed a temporary antidumping duty against the importation of nylon textile filaments from several Chinese companies and they average from a minimum of 56% to a maximum of 91% of the selling prices. So as you can understand, they are quite substantial. This, of course, should create a better possibility of local producers to sell in the local market. But I must also comment saying that our results originated before this antidumping duty imposition by the European Commission. So our performances have been strong already during February and March. And they are continuing to be strong also during April and May when we speak about non textile filament products in the European market. Of course, nobody knows what is going to happen in the second semester, given the current uncertainty. But if the market continues like today, we are confident to we have a strong performance for our NTF, which is very important for us because this has been the part which has suffered most during the last couple of years. Spread of ECONYL prices versus virgin are currently getting lower in comparison with the previous year and 2024. And this is naturally coming from the fact that when petrochemical prices are going up, ECONYL prices are going up normally about 50%. So this is making the spread a little less. It is not changing much in the short period, but normally, at least per our experience so far has delivered a stronger demand in the coming period because people are gaining confidence when the two prices are closer, then of course, when the two prices are much more different and ECONYL much more expensive as it happens when petrochemical prices or petrochemical nylon is very low as it happened during particularly 2025.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Again, thank you to everyone for taking part to our video conference for the first quarter financial results of April 2026. Hopefully, we will talk soon again, with good news at the end of this semester. And for every question, please feel free to contact Giulia Rossi. She is always available to answer to all your questions.

Thank you very much for attending the conference.