Novozymes A/S (NSISB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the Novonesis conference call regarding pro forma financials and outlook. [Operator Instructions]. Today, I'm pleased to leave the word to Tobias Cornelius Bjorklund, Head of Investor Relations. Please begin your meeting.

Outlook and pro forma financials for Novonesis. My name is Tobias Bjorklund and I'm Head of Investor Relations here at Novonesis. During the call, our CEO, Ester Baiget and our CFO, Rainer Lehmann, will provide commentary on the announced outlook for '24 and go through the highlights of the pro forma financials for 2023. Attending today's call, we also have Jacob Paulsen, EVP of Food & Beverage Biosolutions; Amy Byrick, EVP of Human Health Biosolutions; and Tina Fano, EVP of Planetary Health Biosolutions. The conference call is set to take 45 minutes, including Q&A, and the presentation by management will take around 10, 15 minutes, leaving ample room for questions. I would like to remind you that the information presented in the call is unaudited and that management may make forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and beliefs and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statement. With that introduction, I will now hand you over to our CEO, Ester Baiget. Ester, please?

Thank you. Thank you, Tobias, and welcome, everyone. Please turn to Slide #2. Before moving on the 2024 outlook and the 2023 pro forma figures, let me say a few words on the very exciting journey we are here at Novonesis. On January 29, we announced the successful combination of Novozymes and Chr. Hansen and came together as 1 leading global biosolutions partner. Novonesis combines the [indiscernible] strengths of 2 fantastic companies, and we are set to lead a new era of biosolutions. Together with our 10,000 colleagues, we will unlock the unlimited potential of biosolutions with significant value generation for shareholders, customers and society at large. Today, it is the first conference call for Novonesis and we provide our new company first outlook as well as the key pro forma numbers. On a pro forma basis, 2023 was a solid year for Novonesis including Chr. Hansen that is on a stand-alone basis, delivered well within its latest outlook range. We expect a solid 2024 performance with overall organic sales growth of 5% to 7%, including growth across all sales areas and a strong margin development to around 35% adjusted EBITDA. The integration is progressing very well and cost synergies are expected to contribute with close to 0.5 percentage point to the 2024 adjusted EBITDA margin. The 3-year cost synergy target of EUR 80 million to EUR 90 million is already close to a 50% run rate. The EUR 200 million sale synergy target is assumed to increasingly ramp up over the announced full year period and is currently not expected to contribute materially to the organic sales growth outlook for 2024. We'll keep you updated on the key numbers, as we move along, and we already feel very comfortable building the foundation for a new era in biosolutions. Now let me hand over to Rainer for comments on the historical pro forma figures for Novonesis. Rainer?

Thank you, Ester. Good morning to you all also from my side. Please turn to Slide 3. These historical pro forma financials for Novonesis are reported as a combination of the historical financials provided by stand-alone Novozymes and Chr. Hansen, holding for the period January 1, 2023 till December 31, 2023. Please note that the pro forma financials have been prepared as if the merger had been completed on January 1, 2023. Purchase price allocation adjustments are only included from January 29, 2024 onwards. Also, these pro forma financials are unaudited, and they include estimates given the different reporting currencies. As explained in the company announcement, we have made a few adjustments to the historical pro forma reported net sales to harmonize the reporting between the 2 companies. We have eliminated in the company sales and the amount is disclosed in the company announcement. We have reclassified freight costs, which were previously shown as sales reductions from net sales, mainly to sales and distribution costs. Again, you can find the amount of the adjustment in the company announcement. We have defined organic sales growth as growth from existing business, excluding divestments in constant currencies and for IAS 29 defined hyperinflation countries with a cap of 26% sales growth. We will do this for future organic sales growth, and we have done this also for the pro forma 2023 numbers presented today. For acquisitions, pro forma sales for the comparative ownership period are included in the calculation. Therefore, the previously announced lactase enzyme business that will be divested is included in the pro forma reported numbers. However, the amount is not part of the organic sales growth. We expect the divestment to be completed during the second quarter of 2024. Looking at the full year 2023, Novonesis reported 7% organic sales growth on a pro forma basis. This was driven by approximately 5% price and 2% volume growth. Food & Health Biosolutions delivered 6% organic sales growth and Planetary Health Biosolutions delivered 7% for the full year 2023 on a pro forma basis. Providing a bit more detail to Food & Health, both Food & Beverages and Human Health, grew by 6% for the year. In Planetary Health, growth was led by agriculture, energy and tech at 8% and Household Care delivered 5% organic sales growth. You can find the details on the reported pro forma numbers by the different sales areas in the company announcement. Moving on to gross margin. It is indicated at 55%, following the sales and cost allocation adjustments that I mentioned earlier. Looking at profitability, adjusted EBITDA margin reached 33.8% adjusted EBIT margin 25.7% for the full year 2023 on a pro forma basis. These numbers are, of course, slightly affected by the harmonization of numbers. We will provide free cash flow in addition to the full P&L statement and balance sheet in connection with the first year -- first half year financial statements. Now I will hand back to Ester for a view on the sales growth outlook. Ester?

Thank you. Thank you, Rainer. Could you please turn to Slide #4 for the sales outlook for 2024? Novonesis expects organic sales growth for the full year 2024 to be in the range of 5% to 7%, and this excludes material sales synergies. We expect growth across all the sales areas, driven predominantly by volumes. The stocking in the food exposed areas has level of, and from a divisional point of view, we expect Food & Health Biosolutions to grow stronger than Planetary Health Biosolutions. Looking at the Food & Health Biosolutions division, we indicate mid- to high single-digit growth -- organic sales growth. Growth in Food & Beverages is expected to be driven by both dairy and food and beverages. Growth in Human Health is expected to be driven by the new sales of advanced protein solutions to our anchor customer as well as strong growth in dietary supplements. And growth in HMO is expected to be more modest after very strong 2023. Planetary Health Biosolutions is indicated to grow organically by mid-single digit, and we expect growth in both Household Care and Agricultural, Energy and Tech. Household Care is expected to be driven by increased penetration in both developed and emerging markets and in Agricultural, Energy and Tech, we expect Energy to be the strongest growth contributor. For the organic sales development in the first quarter of 2024, we expect to be somehow below the full year outlook range, driven by a demanding year-on-year comparable particular in Animal Nutrition that had a very strong Q1 2023 performance. And in Human Health, we expect negative performance mainly due to a difficult comparator and order timing in both HMO and dietary supplements. These developments are very well anchored in our overall full year outlook of 5% to 7% organic sales growth. Next, Rainer, will go through the financial outlook for 2024. Rainer, please.

In order to give you the right transparency regarding the operating performance of Novonesis, keep in mind that the previously communicated target for EBIT before special items, excluding the purchase price -- PPA amortization already has a substantial element of an adjusted EBITDA in it. We will, of course, continue to report an EBIT according to IFRS, and believe it is important to -- here to give you the relevant level of transparency. The 2025 target of an EBIT margin before special items, excluding PPA, of 29% that we have been communicating so far translates to an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 37%. How did we arrive at this number? Let's take the 2023 pro forma sales as a basis and add 2 years of the midpoint of the already communicated sales CAGR. If we then calculate 29% EBIT margin, before special items and exclude PPA and add the combined depreciation from both legacy companies, which is around EUR 325-plus million or equivalent to roughly 8 percentage points you arrive at a 2025 adjusted EBITDA margin of around 37%. From now on, this will be our profitability reference point going forward for 2025. Let's now have a look at the 2024 profitability outlook. The margin expansion will be supported by a solid development in the gross margin, driven by lower input and energy costs as well as productivity and efficiency improvements. We have included cost synergies contributing close to 0.5 percentage point to the adjusted EBITDA margin. And as Ester already highlighted, the run rate for cost synergies is already close to 50% of the communicated 3-year cost synergy target of EUR 80 million to EUR 90 million. We expect slightly higher OpEx, which net leads to the pro forma adjusted EBITDA margin expansion from 33.8% in 2023 to around 35% in 2024. I also would like to give some direction regarding some modeling assumptions, starting with the effective tax rate for 2024. We expect here an increase of the effective tax rate to around 30%. This is mainly driven by the fact that a large part of the combination expenses are not tax deductible. This is, of course, the onetime spike in the tax rate. And going forward, we expect a normalized effective tax rate to be around 24%. Integration cost is expected at EUR 90 million for the year, and transaction costs are expected at around EUR 70 million. Both numbers will be shown as special items. At the deal announcement back in December of '22, we communicated an expectation of around EUR 200 million of integration costs through 2026 and EUR 50 million of capital expenditures. Adding the integration cost from '23 and with the assumption of around EUR 90 million in '24, we would be at roughly EUR 130 million in total integration cost at year-end. Investments in percent of sales in 2024 are anticipated to be in the range of 9% to 11%, a reduction from the 2023 pro forma basis. Net financial cost is estimated at around EUR 65 million, and net debt to EBITDA is expected to be around [ 1.5 ] at the end of 2024. Finally, Novonesis will start to provide divisional operating performance EBIT and adjusted EBITDA latest by the end of the year. With this, I will hand back to you, Ester.

Thank you, Rainer. Could you please turn to Slide #6? Thank you. To summarize, Novonesis is committed to delivering organic sales growth of 5% to 7% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 35% in 2024. I am confident that Novonesis is the combination of best-in-class capabilities to deliver superior long- and short-term performance, including the execution of synergies. We will enable more and better biosolutions with the capability to deliver higher sustainable and profitable growth to the benefit of customers, consumers, shareholders and the world we live in. I want to round off by mentioning our upcoming key events. On April 30, we will host our Annual Shareholders Meeting and where we will also approve the dividend for the last 4 months of 2023. On May 3, we will publish our Q1 sales trading update. Also, we look very much forward to seeing you at our Capital Markets Day in Central London on June 18. We expect the event to run from around lunch time until late afternoon. Our focus will be on integration, synergies, financials and the power of the combined technology platform. And with that, we're now ready to open the Q&A. Sasha, operator, please?

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from the line of Alexander Jones with Bank of America.

Two, if I may, please. First, just on Human Health. Could you provide a little bit more color on the guidance of that business specifically for the full year? And within that, the contribution from alternative protein solutions and then sort of what you're seeing in the underlying dietary supplements market, would be very helpful. And then the second question, just on the cost synergies, obviously, to get to 50% run rate or nearly there already is pretty impressive. Does that imply any upside to the synergy number in due course? Or was this where you're expecting to be a month, 2 months after deal's closed?

Thank you, Alexander, for the questions. I will let Amy build on your comments on Human Health. Regarding the cost synergies, yes, we very pleased overall on the progress of the integration and the strength of the company that we are creating. And the run rate of the growth -- of the cost synergies, it just shows the momentum and the diligent work from all of us, not only putting the organization in place, but also the benefits of being together stronger on how we buy, how we operate and how we produce. And we still -- we're very committed to both, the targets that we put on cost synergies and growth synergies for the full year period. Cost synergies for 3-year period, growth synergies for a 4-year period. And with that, Amy?

Thanks, Ester. Yes. So to answer your question on Human Health. I mean we see Human Health growing strongly in 2024, and it's part of the guidance that we've given of mid- to high single digits for the Food & Health combined division. As you alluded to, this is obviously supported by the exciting start-up of the plant in Blair, where we have started shipping and are supplying to our anchor customer according to the plans, and that's going really well so far. We also see strong growth across both regions and channels in the Dietary Supplements business from both of the legacy organizations, as we bring those 2 together. We do have some softness in the 2024 outlook for HMOs and that's just on the back of an extraordinarily strong performance in 2023, where there was also some stock build. And so there will be a softer performance -- softer growth in the HMO forecast for 2024. So we feel confident -- Ester alluded in her comments to a weak Q1, which is not a concern in terms of the market dynamics or the customer dynamics, but rather just some timing of individual orders, which pulls us down in Q1, but we feel confident in the mid- to high single-digit growth for the year.

The next question is from Lars Topholm with Carnegie.

Yes, I have 2 questions. One is on your organic growth outlook of 5% to 7%, which you primarily attribute to volume growth. And that triggers a question on how you see pricing because the stand-alone Novozymes ambition has been to no longer have a price erosion. You, of course, were very successful in getting through repricing last year. But as Chr. Hansen traditionally has passed to pricing, and as your growth target is now mainly driven by volume, does this imply that you no longer have passed to pricing in, what you call, the legacy Novozymes business? And then a question number two, the stand-alone growth ambitions for Chr. Hansen and Novozymes added to 6% to 8% organic growth. You highlighted that yourself back in December 2022 when you presented this merger. Now you guide 5% to 7% for 2024. Does this imply that we should assume an acceleration in growth close 2024 before sales synergies or does it rather reflect that you see something external that simply means all 6% to 8% are no longer achievable?

Thank you, Lars, for very good questions. I'll make an attend and then please, Rainer, feel free to build in on answering them. On your first question on the organic growth, 5% to 7% and the contribution on volume and price, we feel extremely pleased that the main driver of the growth is volume that shows the strength of our portfolio, the value of the diversified market and the value that our solutions bring to the customers. At the same time, that value and that fair share of the value that we bring in, it's also recognized on price. And as we said, and that's true from the heritage of both companies, pricing will be a component of growth of the company that applies for the heritage of both companies that continue to price for the future and from we are in Novonesis. And I will let Rainer also bring a comment on the cap of the organic growth and how the organic growth is calculated as part of the future and as we're moving ahead. But the -- answering your question very simply, it's mainly volume and yes, contribution on pricing across the whole segments and across all the business areas. Then the second question on the 6% to 8%, we are committed as we were and the day that we combined the 2 companies on our -- on the 6% to 8% growth. And also the 29% EBIT margin that it translates into a 37% adjusted EBITDA margin. We feel very comfortable of the guidance that we put 5% to 7%. We're in a very good place and comfort on delivering on this guidance. As we always do, we'll aim from our very, very best. And then as you so nicely mentioned, Lars, we don't see yet the impact of the gross synergies. This year, we do see the impact of the cost synergies. We have a point expansion on the EBIT margin, but not the impact reflected on the growth synergies. We do feel the traction and the momentum. We have full confidence of the EUR 200 million, and we are in a very good place towards delivering on the 6% to 8% commitment that we put in place. Rainer?

But Ester the 6% to 8%, that was excluding sales synergies, wasn't it?

No, Lars. It was the organic growth of the combined company, including the sales synergies. But it's true that it was -- but not -- it's true that it's the sales synergies are for 4 years and the 6% to 8% was only for 3 years. So you have a point here, and it's not including the full EUR 200 million. It's only the part that will be within the first year. So that's a very good remark.

But Ester, if I revisit your slide show from December 2022, you stated the 6% to 8% was the combined stand-alone targets of Novozymes and Chr. Hansen. So I don't understand how the stand-alone targets could include sales synergies. I mean, it's not to be nasty, but doesn't this imply an underlying slowdown somewhere?

There is no -- the combined -- the 6% to 8% growth, Lars, it is the commitment that we put of the 2 companies, which brings the heritage of both plus a portion of the growth synergies because it was only for the first year -- first 3 years and the growth synergies were for 4 years. And we can very gladly revise with you, and Tobias will follow up to bring you the slides and older communication that we put reinforcing those statements.

And the other question was regarding the organic sales growth definition. Here, of course, as a lot of companies were quite surprised specifically by last quarter's strong devaluation of specifically the austral in Argentina. We basically looked at what makes sense in going forward as a -- defined as sales growth that is relevant and also comparable in the industry. And we decided here in capping actually the growth that we are attributing and counting towards our sales growth at 26%. According to the definition of hyperinflation countries and hyperinflation basis defined it if a country has 100% devaluation within 3 years. So therefore, the 26% actually comes from as a compounded percentage over 3 years, 26% adds up to 100%. And we feel this is a very transparent way of making sure that we, of course, also benefit from the very important euro pricing, where we are able to get our pricing through, even in high inflation countries, which is a very positive way, but also being mindful that, of course, in hyperinflation countries, not everything should be included as price growth. So therefore, we basically adjusted here the definition and are happy with it and also the pro forma reflected already and going forward, we'll report this way as well.

So just to be absolutely sure, the old Chr. Hansen principle of using your base pricing as part of organic growth, that will also be adapted in the legacy Novozymes business?

In the modified form. And I think we have to really separate here euro pricing versus how we define the organic sales growth rate. Euro pricing by itself is a very important component and shows that a company has strength in an inflation -- in a high inflationary environment to still get its prices. So this is, first of all, a very good and strong position at the company. The second question is, though, how do you account for sales growth, if, for example, in case of Argentina, there was a devaluation of almost 100%, if you include all of this as sales growth or not. And we made the decision and like a lot of other companies out there as well to cap the sales growth in hyperinflation countries, which is currently for us because it's the only material -- more material one Argentina to 26%. So I really want to be clear here. Euro pricing is a very important tool and very powerful. It shows that the company has strengths even in a hyperinflation environment. The second question is how do you account for that in -- when you communicate your growth rates.

But Rainer, the euro-based pricing is not only used in hyperinflationary countries. And isn't it fair to assume that if you now use, what you call it, a less conservative organic growth definition in the legacy Novozymes business, then everything else equal, that should have a positive impact on the growth targets you announced?

Basically, the main effect from it is a slight reduction basically on the legacy Chr. Hansen growth rates. And you're absolutely right, euro pricing use globally -- global prices.

Overall net reduction.

But net, overall, is also a reduction, of course, yes.

The next question is from a Sebastian Bray with Berenberg.

I primarily focus on the definition of adjusted EPS. I appreciate we are only going to get the full breakdown of the half year results. But for the purpose of pro forma modeling, is there anything wrong with the approach of taking the adjusted EBIT for 2024, deducting EUR 65 million of financing costs, then multiplying the resulting number by 70%, i.e., have 30% tax rate. Or are there any other adjusting items in the EPS? A question related to that is, could you give an indication of what the total PPA is of the group? And is this only PPA from the Chr. Hansen merger? Or does it include the daughter PPAs from past acquisitions of the 2 groups? And finally, Bioenergy. How has it been doing at the start of the year?

Thank you, Sebastian. I will let Tina build on the question of Bioenergy and then Rainer, on your question of EPS. Thank you. Rainer, please?

So your calculation is correct. So we only adjust really for an EPS also what we adjust on the EBIT. So therefore, I can agree with you there. The overall, basically, when it comes to the PPA, you can actually take -- you know the PPA still pro forma with 12 months' time. You can actually almost take the numbers out of the document at the beginning -- what do we call it -- the combination document. And we will, of course, for first half year, then you will actually see the absolute number. Also regarding the amortization, we'll, of course, completely disclose this because it's part of the EBITDA translation.

And on Bioenergy. So far, what we are saying is that Planetary Health will grow mid-single digit, and Bioenergy will grow -- you could say, will be contributing extra to that growth. So it's above the range.

The next question comes from the line of André Thormann with Danske Bank.

I just have 2, please. The first is in terms of free cash flow, I realize you don't now for some reason give a guide on it, but I wonder if you can give some comments, especially around working capital? As far as I recall, you still have some timing tailwind from 2023. Can you confirm -- can you give some more color on free cash flow? That's the first question. And the second 1 is in terms of Household Care, and I wonder whether you can give some comments around that as well. How the growth will be developed, as it was doing pretty well end of 2023?

Thank you, Andre. Again, Rainer, please build on the free cash flow and then Tina on Household Care.

You're right. We don't guide on the free cash flow. When it comes to net working capital, basically in nominal values, it will pretty much remain the same on a pro forma basis. Last year, that was around a little bit over 28%, to give you an indication. So we will not see a real positive impact this year of the -- to the free cash flow. But it gives you a clear indication where we're heading, is the deleveraging. We're basically giving here the outlook that net debt-to-EBITDA is going to be at 1.5 at year-end coming from a pro forma of 1.7. So you see that, of course, here, there is an increase on the free cash flow that we're using also to deleverage.

And on Household Care. So what we expect for the year is a good momentum and growth in both developed and emerging markets. Innovation will be a key contributor here as well, and we do see good demand. So that's as much as I can say now, and then we'll come back to it when we announce Q1.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from Søren Samsøe with SEB.

Yes. I had a question regarding your Q1. You said that you'll be now back-end loaded. It seems like a slightly weaker Q1. Is this in line how you saw it in the beginning of the year? Or is this an updated view after you have seen in the first 2 months of the year? And then maybe you can comment a bit on the R&D to sales in 2024, how do you see that one develop?

Thank you very much, Søren. I'll answer the first question, and then I'll let Rainer comment on R&D. We see and we started the year well in track as we were expected. We have a strong competitor in Q1. Also, we know that the end of the Q4 was stronger in -- particularly in HMO or in probiotics, where we see the level of the volatility or the dynamics of the market where we know it is a quarterly volatility change from [indiscernible] to the other. And also the very strong comparator that we had, particularly on Animal on Q1 last year. So very much on track on what we expected. We say soft Q1 or low Q1 relative to the performance of the year. We didn't say half year. We said first Q1, the one that's becoming softer and well in track on what we projected. And then we'll have to wait for the Q1 numbers to show you the results.

And to answer your R&D question? That basically is comparable how it was historical, around 10% of revenue. You can take that number as an indication.

It's important to mention, right, that R&D, it's left intact. We do -- we are a science company, and we continue to invest in R&D. We become bigger. And maybe that's the reference here on the ratio. And also, we are a growing company, but the R&D investments continue to remain intact and continue to invest in R&D.

And maybe you can just comment on, I think Novozymes -- the legacy Novozymes and the legacy Chr. Hansen has a little bit different ways of accounting for R&D. I think Novozymes expensed all of it and Chr. Hansen capitalize some of it. How will you do that going forward?

Going forward, we will, of course, overall still continue with the accounting policy that where it is adequate, we will capitalize it. So on the Chr. Hansen side, we'll do that. And we also had the same accounting policy actually under Novozymes. It Just happen to be that it didn't lead to certain capitalizations. But we will -- of course, the accounting policy self does not change. So we will continue to capitalize expenses where relevant and adequate. It's only a minor portion, though, right now of the overall R&D spend.

The next question is from Nicola Tang with BNP Paribas Exane.

Firstly, on gross margin, I think it was 55% last year, but could you help us in terms of what was -- or what do you see as a more normalized or long-term historic gross margin given you've made a few adjustments? And do you expect to make a full recovery to this in 2024? Or is there more to go beyond that? And the second question is a question for beyond 2025. I think in the release, you talked about new and derisked innovation and growth opportunities. I think I see you used a similar phrase back in on the December 2022 call, I guess, when the deal is announced. Can you explain a bit more what you mean by derisked? And in which areas of your business do you see the biggest growth opportunity beyond 2025?

Thank you, Nicola. Rainer will build on the comment on gross margin, but it's expanding. And we're very pleased to have evolved from a sequential expansion to year-on-year expansion, and we will continue moving on that direction. And that's going to be because of revenue growth, volume growth, the impact on price but also the relief on cost and the continued focus on productivity. So in it's one direction, which is expansion, and that's the aim that we're going to. Then, yes, we are consistent in the way that we have been seeing the cross-fertilization and the impact of innovation and also the very strength of the cross-fertilization of the solutions that we have from 1 segment to the other. We do feel very confident on the EUR 200 million synergies on innovation. They're not contributing this year, but we see the momentum and the pool. I'll let Tina and Jacob maybe to bring further examples, but we see the areas in dairy where there is now a stronger combination of enzymes and microbes that we can get more cheese, more yogurt, more value-added solutions by a stronger portfolio. We see the strength of combining even a broader solutions in health, but also different steps of the value chain. Same also in Planetary Health, where we see the cross-fertilization of solutions in silos, for example, where we can go to our customers with a stronger portfolio. We do have also a very strong momentum on the innovation pipeline. We'll have to wait a little bit for Capital Markets Day to come in more tangible examples on what this means. We -- but the troops are aligned, rallied and more importantly in what I feel the very comfort, also very strong pull from key customers that they want to sit at the table with us. They want to innovate with us on how we're bringing the future solutions of transforming food, bringing functionalization in food, bringing health in food, how we are bringing innovative solutions in agricultural, how we are also bringing innovated solutions in bioenergy or in areas to bring the feedstocks or the carbons of the feature. But again, we'll have to wait for Capital Markets Day to talk in more detail for that. And Jacob and Amy, if you could put a little bit more color maybe?

Yes. I'm excited to tell you that, for example, within the cheese industry, we have already for many years looked for productivity improvements with combo solutions of microbials and enzymes. Now with the greater portfolio being added from the legacy Novozymes, we can definitely see that we can combine and find new opportunities even here in the mid to short term. So that's 1 example. Also, I would say, for both of the legacy companies, we had an interest in expanding our presence in plant-based industry. And here clearly combo solutions where we can work on the raw material base more effectively with enzymes and then fermented in -- to create a food products is a great synergy opportunity. And there's plenty more and look forward to come back and tell the audience here about that at the Capital Markets Day. On to you, Tina, or Amy for...

Sure. Yes. And maybe I can just build. I think the story that we've been talking about the journey that the legacy Novozymes business has been on in terms of the cultural transformation, the increased customer centricity, the ability to target innovation towards customers with better proximity is being accelerated. And I think we feel that every day with the integration of the legacy Chr. Hansen organization and that customer-centric mindset will be a key differentiator as we derisk innovation going forward through that customer proximity. And we see that already. We see, as Ester referred, the strong traction with customers also in the health space, as we bring quite a differentiated portfolio and innovation pipeline and we're able to cross-fertilize across the different channels and customer relationships that we're bringing together. So I think as well more Capital Markets Day, but think about that increased customer proximity in order to really target and make the innovation investments that we may count will be a key driver going forward.

And Nicola, let me answer the question regarding the gross margin of pro forma 55%. Of course, we will see an expansion going forward as well, driven by the lower input costs, lower energy cost, but also, of course, our improvements in efficiency in this regard. So operationally, clearly an improvement. We'll also see that in 2024 already. I just have to watch out if you see our numbers in H1. Keep in mind that there you will see that the purchase price or the amortization out of the purchase price allocation, of course, will also hit cost of sales. So when you have the first glance at the margin that will lower, but clearly affected by the purchase price accounting. It's amortization and it's also the inventory step-up that we have to do when you -- that we have to reevaluate the stock that we acquired from Chr. Hansen purely accounting wise, no cash flow impact. But when you see at the first glance, you will see the drop in the margin. It's one of the reasons why we clearly are moving to an adjusted EBITDA and adjusted profitability so that you really have a good understanding about the operating performance of the company and are not distracted by these specifically in the first year, but also going forward, of course, purchase price accounting topics.

I wonder if I could just follow up on the first or the other question and whether you could specifically mention bioprotection because I think that was 1 of the examples that you were particularly excited about leveraging bioprotection from Hansen onto baking [ similar designs ]. When could we expect to see some progress there?

Jacob, please.

Yes. So bioprotection is great topic across the 2 legacy companies. Actually, we do bioprotection already in bakery. That's part of the extending shelf life, and I'm really excited to see what we already have there. In legacy Chr. Hansen, we did some great new launches in the dairy space, which we have good expectations from, can grow quite well over the next years. So I think we have something in the toolbox already to expand that journey and have quite strong growth even short term. And then, of course, as we find time shortly to combine the knowledge of our R&D community on this topic, it will be something that's going to be an important journey for us going forward in the long term to further expand our portfolio within that area. Also beyond the core businesses in bakery and dairy, we will look for opportunities.

Last question, operator, please, Sasha?

Yes. The last question is a follow-up from Lars Topholm with Carnegie.

Yes, just a brief 1 on the cost synergies, you have realized so far, which looks impressive. Can you put some words on what have you done and what are the cost synergies that are still lying ahead of you?

Rainer?

So the realized cost synergies, of course, are the immediate ones coming from the delayering of putting or deduplication of management, mainly by building the organization. That is also, of course, reflected in the around 0.5 percentage point EBITDA contribution because these are already then in place. And in addition, of course, the -- we are starting harvesting the synergies from being a larger company on the supply side on -- making sure we use those levers that are at our disposal at this point in time and of course, to also become more efficient in this regard. But of course, the majority at this point in time is really coming through the organization that are already realized as of now. Ester maybe you want to add?

No, more to come. We feel -- as you mentioned and implicitly hinted on the comment, we are in a place of comfort on both on the growth synergies and on the cost synergies. We see the impact already. We will see the impact on the bottom line of the cost synergies with the 0.5 point expansion on the adjusted EBITDA margin. The run rate, we are also, in a good place of comfort here. And it's going to come from all areas. It is, yes, optimization on the way that we operate. Let's not forget that we are a growth company. So we're going to continue investing on growth, also on the talent in the future, but we are optimizing the way that we operate. It's going to come from productivity on maximizing the output of the existing footprint in a better way. First, it's simply by cross-fertilizing existing ways of working and producing more of what we have. But in the future, it will also be a higher ROIC or higher return of the existing assets or even postponing future investments. And then we also have the space, as Rainer mentioned, so nicely of the productivity on the way that we purchase and we get the best and the most competitive feedstocks for running our facilities. So overall, in a good place -- maybe I'm going to use this as wrap up, Lars, good place from the guidance, comfort on the guidance that we're putting in place, 5% to 7%, expansion on EBITDA margin, adjusted EBITDA in a very good place towards the 6% to 8% commitment that we put on the stand, also the commitments on the expansion on EBIT margin. And with a healthy organization that continues to bring in the comfort on not only the how, but also the what and delivering on the growth synergies and the cost synergies and unleashing the power of biosolutions. So more to come but filling with a good start as we having about 5, 6 weeks of this amazing company together. And with that, operator, I'll say goodbye to everybody, and thank you for the call and your time today.