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

Dear shareholders. Welcome to the Novonesis' Annual General Meeting where we will report on our first full year as a combined company. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I'm delighted to welcome you to our innovation campus here in Hørsholm in Denmark, a place where pioneering advancement and ideas have been shaping the future for decades. There could be no more fitting venue to share last year's achievements and our vision for the future. To everyone joining via the webcast, welcome to you as well. And today, we will share how we have consistently delivered on our promises in this transformative year. We will demonstrate how the combination of 2 leading companies in industrial biotechnology has created something special, company uniquely positioned to lead the area of biosolutions and address some of the world's most pressing challenges. My name is Cees de Jong. I'm the Chair of the Board of Novonesis. And on the screen, you can see the other directors, including the observer of the Board. And now may I present the executive leadership team with Ester Baiget as our CEO; Rainer Lehmann, our CFO; Amy Byrick, Executive Vice President of Human Health Biosolutions; Tina Sejersgård Fanø, Executive Vice President of Planetary Health BioSolutions; Claus Crone Fuglsang, Chief Scientific Officer; Anders Lund, Chief Operating Officer; Henrik Nielsen, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Integration; and Morten Enggaard Rasmussen, Executive Vice President of People and Stakeholder Relations. The company's auditors are Ernst & Young, and they audit both our financial and sustainability reporting. Now pursuant to Article 8.1 of the company's Articles of Association, the Board of Directors has again this year, appointed Anders Orjan Jensen, attorney-in-law, to chair the Annual General Meeting. And I will now hand over to him.

Thank you very much, Cees. First a few formalities. prior to coming here, I have been through the convening notice and all the material for the general meeting, and I can confirm that the meeting today has been lawfully convened. Both the requirements as to the time of the meeting, the venue and also the content of the notice complies with all the requirements under the articles and applicable law. So turning to the agenda. We have all the customary items for an Annual General Meeting here at Novonesis and there are also 3 proposals from the Board of Directors. All of the proposals at the meeting here today can be adopted by simple majority. There's one proposal that is about an extension of the authorizations to issue shares, that is equal to a change of the articles and therefore, require a qualified majority. The articles also require for such a proposal to be adopted at this meeting that at least 2/3 of the votes are present, and that requirement is fulfilled. So the meeting here today can pass final resolution on all the items we have on the agenda. A little bit about attendance here today. A total of 325 admission cards have been requested. And I can tell you that we're a little bit less than that, the weather is part of the explanation. A little bit more than 100 people are here and a large portion of those are shareholders. In addition to those that are participating here physically, a lot of shareholders have also submitted voting instructions either by proxy or via postal votes or so-called postal votes and that means that today, 88% of the total votes are represented and 76% of the share capital is represented at the meeting. Out of these, almost 99% are cast in advance via these voting instructions. That means that already at this time, we can conclude that we know that the proposals that are proposed here on the agenda, they have sufficient support to be adopted in accordance with the Board's recommendations. But let's now turn to the agenda. As is customary here for Novonesis' general meeting. The first 4 items are presented in conjunction. And that means that the Chair, Cees de Jong will be the first to present the report of the companies activities for the past financial year, and he will also comment on remuneration and other matters. Then Ester will present the annual report, a few strategic highlights and also the outlook for 2025. As you'll notice the meeting here today will be conducted in English. We have a full panel up here with not native English speakers but primarily English speakers. But as you've seen, we have a live translation available. So you'll be able to hear everything in Danish. It is possible to ask questions in Danish here at the podium, and there will be live translation, so the people here on the stage can understand and they will respond then in English. If you want to speak, please come up here. My colleague, Anna will be available to register your name, and I'll pass the word to you when it's time to. Now please welcome Cees to the stage to present the report for the past year.

Thank you, Anders. 2024 has been a remarkable year. We successfully combined 2 strong companies to create Novonesis, a leading biosolutions partner that is at the forefront of biological innovation. And with over a century of expertise, global reach and a passionate team of more than 10,000 employees, we are now uniquely positioned to transform how we produce and consume while creating value for all our stakeholders. Our first year performance demonstrates that we are delivering on our promises. We achieved 8% organic sales growth and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 36.1%. These results highlight the strength and adaptability of our diversified portfolio during a period of significant change. At the same time, we've successfully unified 2 legacy companies and have begun to build our new culture while strengthening our customer partnerships and maintaining business continuity throughout the integration process. These achievements have laid a solid foundation for our future as we continue to enable a healthier planet and healthier lives through the power of biology. As we look to the future, we see many opportunities ahead. Our strategic focus balances, on the one hand, expanding our core business, while at the same time, planting the seeds for future accelerated growth and all of this aimed at delivering long-term profitable growth with a positive global impact. With our diverse portfolio, spanning 30 industries and our operational footprint across 45 countries, we are in a strong position to navigate volatile market conditions while continuing to grow. Our global presence allows us to tap into the expanding biosolutions market, which according to the latest estimates currently stands at EUR 20 billion and is projected to significantly accelerate towards 2040. Market opportunities are significant and biosolutions not only deliver growth and solutions for the future, research shows that for every job in biotech, 4 jobs are created in the wider economy. Our solutions enable sustainable farming practices, support resilient food systems, advanced human health and contract to cleaner energy production; all areas where biology offers more sustainable alternatives to conventional approaches. With our expanded capability and stronger innovation platform, following the combination, we are well equipped to contribute to the solutions of the future. Our commercial success and sustainability journey are deeply interconnected. We are committed to delivering bio solutions that enable a healthier planet with healthier people while continuously reducing our own environmental footprint. And in 2024, 83% of our sales contributed to 6 UN sustainable development goals. For example, our FRESHQ, our bioprotection culture for yogurt contributes directly to SDG #12, sustainable consumption and production by helping to reduce food waste. Innova Eclipse, the latest generation of yeast solutions, is enabling our customers to produce more bio-fuels with a lower house gas footprint, contributing to SDG #7, affordable and clean energy and SDG #13, climate action. At the same time, we've also reduced our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 63% compared to our 2018 baseline. And we did so while increasing our revenue by more than 20%, proving that environmental stewardship and financial performance can go hand in hand. Looking ahead, we will continue to challenge ourselves to do more, to innovate further and to set ambitious targets that align with our purpose to better the world with biology. Our purpose is not just aspirational, it is the foundation in which we build our growth journey, and we create lasting value for our shareholders, our customers and the planet. And now let me share how we've created shareholder value with key figures that highlight the strong returns we delivered this year. Our market capitalization reached close to EUR 26 billion by the end of 2024 with our share price increasing by 11% during the year, which we consider particularly strong performance, considering that the Danish C25 cap index decreased by approximately 3% in the same period. Including dividend payments of EUR 255 million, we delivered a total shareholder return of 12% for the year. In September of last year, we paid an interim dividend of DKK 2 or EUR 0.27 per share. And today, we're seeking shareholder approval for a dividend of DKK 4.2 per share or EUR 0.56 per share. And that brings the total dividend for the year to DKK 6.2 or EUR 0.83 per share. And that is the same absolute level as we paid for the 2023 results. At 65.1% payout ratio for 2024, this is a bit higher than our dividend policy of between 40% to 60% of adjusted net profit. However, the dividend proposal reflects our commitment to delivering attractive shareholder returns while maintaining strong financial positions to support future growth opportunities. I'm pleased to note that Novonesis had approximately 100,000 shareholders at the end of 2024. Around 70% of our B shares were held by international investors, primarily institutional and reflecting strong global ownership and confidence in our strategy and in our company. Looking ahead, we remain committed to creating long-term value for our shareholders through our focused strategy, strong execution and balanced approach to capital allocation. The Board of Directors believe that Novonesis' capital A and B share structure remains optimal for safeguarding the company's long-term sustainable development and hence, benefiting all stakeholders. Next, I will address the remuneration of the Board of Directors and of executive management for 2024 as well as the Board evaluation that we conducted in 2024. The Board of Directors' remuneration is based on a fixed fee structure, and that ensures that we will safeguard the company's long-term interests independently of incentive-based considerations. In 2024, the Board of Directors received a total compensation of EUR 1.8 million compared to EUR 1.3 million in 2023. That increase reflects the expanded board size following the combination of the 2 legacy companies, the establishment of an interim integration committee and the introduction of supplementary fees for the Chair and Vice Chair's participation in the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. The individual Board members fees and their shareholdings can be found in the Novonesis' remuneration report 2024 and this will be presented for an advisory vote later in today's meeting. Total remuneration for executive management in 2024 amounted to EUR 9.7 million compared to EUR 6.4 million in 2023. Following the strong 2024 results, the short-term incentive program offered maximum payout for sales performance, adjusted EBITDA margin and net working capital ratio targets. Our employee engagement score of 8.2 out of 10 met the target level, demonstrating strong organizational health during a year of very significant change. For the long-term incentive program covering 2022 to 2024, performance exceeded targets, resulting in an 83% of the maximum allocation being awarded. And in addition, during 2024, a onetime payment as a recognition bonus in relation to the creation of Novonesis has been awarded. The new LTA program -- the new LTI program for 2024, 2026 has been structured to align with our strategic priorities, including an enhanced focus on sustainability targets. And the Board is of the opinion that this remuneration framework continues to ensure that we can retain and attract the right talent while maintaining a strong link between pay and performance. The Danish recommendations on corporate governance stipulate to have external assistance for an evaluation of the Board's performance every 3 years. And in line with that advice, we conducted an externally facilitated Board evaluation during the fourth quarter of 2024. The comprehensive evaluation included questionnaires and in-depth interviews with all Board members and the executive leadership team. And in addition as chair, I subsequently held individual meetings with each board member to provide specific performance feedback and to seek further input on our Board's performance. Once again, the evaluation showed an overall good performance by the Board and a generally good collaborate board in the executive leadership team. The evaluation identified a few key focus areas for 2025, including board composition and size, the Innovation Committee charter and management succession planning. Before I will be handing over to Ester, I would like to express my deepest gratitude on behalf of the Board of Directors, to the 10,000 employees around the world that have been the true champions of this transformative year. Their dedication, resilience and unwavering commitment have not only ensured a seamless transition, but have maintained uninterrupted reliable service to our customers throughout a period of significant change. That achievement deserves the highest recognition. To our customers and business partners, we have continued to place their trust in us during this transition. I say together, we drive our innovation and fuel our purpose. And more specifically to you, as our shareholders, your confidence in our journey has been instrumental in this combination of success. The combination of Novonesis and Chr. Hansen has created something truly unique in the marketplace, and we indeed are better together. Now I'm pleased to welcome Ester, our CEO, who will provide more insights into our journey this year but also in the opportunities before us. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Cees. And thank you everyone for joining us. It's truly a pleasure to be here today with you and share Novonesis' exceptional journey during our first year as a combined company. 2024 has proven that the era of bio solutions, it's well underway and that it's here to stay. 2024 has proven that Novonesis is uniquely positioned to lead this area. Our performance shows this. Our performance illustrates this. We have demonstrated our potential not only through the financial results, we have also demonstrated through our expanded ability to meet customer needs through our ability to address the global challenges. We've combined our deep customer and application understanding, we've combined a world-class biosolutions toolbox. We have combined in a unique ability to scale up and produce robust and competitive biosolutions. This past year, we achieved precisely what we set out to. We delivered strong organic sales growth. We delivered solid profitability. We made significant progress on our integration plans, all while maintaining high employee engagement, all while maintaining high customer satisfaction. The foundation we built together, it's very strong. And I look forward to sharing with you more details about the performance and our strategic progress. But first, let me turn a little bit on our 2024 results. We delivered strong results across all regions, business areas, which is 8% organic sales growth. This was driven by 6% volume growth, both established markets showing steady progress also emerging markets delivering double-digit expansion. Pricing contributed to 2% to the overall growth. The robust sales growth coupled with the cost synergies, coupled with the operational performance, all that led to a 36.1% pro forma adjusted EBITDA margin for the year, an increase of 2.3 points -- 2.3 percentage points versus 2023. Our cash flow performance was solid, with operating cash flow amounting to EUR 1 billion. Free cash flow, excluding acquisitions and divestments was at a solid of EUR 667 million. This improvement stems from operational performance, lower net investments and improved working capital. Looking at our business areas. Food and Health Biosolutions delivered 7% organic sales growth. Food and Beverages delivered 8% organic sales growth, primarily volume-driven, but also with pricing that contributed also positively. The robust performance in dairy came from both fresh dairy and cheese segments. And it was supported by successful upselling and a strong customer adoption of our innovations. Human Health delivered 5% organic sales growth with an acceleration of double digits in the second half as we originally anticipated. Again, growth here was mainly volume-driven, but also pricing contributed positively. Planetary Health Biosolutions delivered 9% organic sales growth. Household Care delivered 13% organic sales growth, through increased penetration through innovation across both emerging and developed markets. Agricultural, Energy & Tech delivered organic sales growth of 6%, driven by double-digit growth in energy and supported by both agricultural and tech. Growth was also driven by volume with pricing contributed positively. Growth was particularly strong in Latin America and in India, complemented by successful innovation penetration in North America. These results, they show the strength of our diversified business model. They show our ability to create value across multiple segments across all geographies. And now let's move on to our integration journey that we have very, very, very proud of our progress. We are very proud of where we are. We have achieved an 80% cost synergy run rate in 2024, well ahead of our original initial targets. Already in 2024, we are seeing the first growth synergies to materialize, which gives us confidence. It gives us trust that we will deliver on the planned revenue synergies, targeting EUR 200 million in run rate contributions by 2027. Let me share with you a few examples of the successful growth synergies that we already see with our customers and already bringing to the world, showing the beauty of the combination of both companies. High-protein yogurt with improved texture, increasing yield in dairy through our expanded enzyme portfolio. Gummy supplements with probiotics for better health, for healthier consumer experiences, enhance silage quality for better animal nutrition. All these successes, they demonstrate how our combined strengths create both opportunities and value-added solutions for our customers. And what makes me particularly proud. It's not only the what, it's not the results only. It's not only the growth synergies, it's the how. It's how we have become together as one team. We have established a robust organizational structure. We have begun to create a new unified culture, centered around our shared purpose. And we have done all that while maintaining sharp focus where it's most precious, customer needs and operational excellence. The promising development of our culture is reflected on our employee engagement index of 8.2, well above industry benchmarks and especially high for a company who's going through an integration. Our international network of change agents has been invaluable in fostering continuous dialogue and taking the pulse of our organization during the transition. The integration represents much more than the combination of 2 extraordinary companies. It marks the beginning of the era of biosolutions with our expanded capabilities deliver even a greater impact to the world. Our state-of-the-art biosolutions toolbox is built on a foundation of nearly 10,000 patents. We have evolved this toolbox over decades, creating a world-leading library of 100,000 documented microbial stains and enzymes. And all that supported by cutting-edge stain engineering capabilities. The biological foundation is enhanced by us by the use of strategic of artificial intelligence, which help us to predict new outcomes. It helps us to forecast success rates and accelerate innovation in ways that before we thought it was impossible. Our commitment to innovation, it's clear. In 2024, we dedicated around 10% of sales to research and development. And our investments in R&D, they are delivering, they have been delivering. Close to 30% of our revenue today comes from solutions that they are less than 5 years old. And in 2024, alone, we launched 45 new solutions across industries and geographies. These innovations, they result in real impact to the world and real impact for our customers. Luminous is just one beautiful example. It offers biological alternative to petroleum-based microplastics and it prevents fabric whiteness and brightness, extending the life of clothes. We have also launched 3 distinct probiotics addressing gut health, immune health, immune support, all of them made possible through our combined scientific expertise. And looking forward, our innovation pipeline compromise approximately 200 projects across all industries. We continue to prioritize. We continue to prioritize our core business with significant value creation potential remains intact. And we have advanced in novel areas like bioprotective cultures in food or fiber conversion in energy, both solutions that offer customers meaningful productivity, meaningful efficiency gains and at the same time, reducing the environmental impact, at the same time protecting our planet. For longer-term growth, we are investing in explorative opportunities in emerging fields such enzymatic plastic recycling or carbon capture. With our R&D capabilities today being stronger than ever, the depth and the breadth of our innovation pipeline fuels our confidence, fuels our confidence for a future where biosolutions will play an increasing vital role in addressing the global challenges. Our purpose is clear - to better our world with biology. And our sustainability ambition is very simple, to leave a positive impact on people and planet on everything we do. It's very simple. We call it people, planet, positive. It's beautiful. With the power of biology, we can transform the way we produce and consume. We can build resilience. We can unlock growth and employment and enable at the same time, a healthier planet for future generations. This is who we are. This is what we do. And we will continue our journey towards net zero by 2050. And as Cees mentioned before, in 2024, 83% of Novonesis' sales were aligned to 6 United Nations Sustainable Development goals. We also reduced the Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 63% compared to 2018, while at the same time, growing the business more than 25%. We increased our renewable electricity use to 93% of our total consumption and 36% of our senior management team are women, and our safety record remains strong, with our lost time injury frequency of 1.5, fully in line with our target. These results, they prove, they show that growth and sustainability can be 2 sides -- actually are 2 sides of the same coin. We engage with all stakeholders, including customers, partners and policymakers on how we can work together to address some of the world's most pressing needs and turn those challenges into competitive advantages and, at the same time, innovation opportunities. We actively support regulations that drive innovation. We advocate for less complexity. We advocate for faster adoption of biosolutions. They help improve food systems, promote healthy living and drive decarbonization, all that while creating jobs, while creating economic growth. Looking ahead, we have confidence in our performance for 2025. We expect organic sales growth of 5% to 8%. This will be driven by volume growth across all divisions, with approximately 1% from pricing. We anticipate an adjusted EBITDA margin of around 37% to 38%, including significant growth reinvestments. Our growth will come from continued innovation. It will come by expanding our reach in both the domestic and emerging markets. Sales synergies will start contributing materially driving 1% of the 2024 -- 2025 organic sales growth. Our strengths are very, very clear. A deep customer and application understanding, a world-class innovation toolbox, a unique ability to scale up competitive biosolutions and most importantly, 10,000 bright and dedicated minds. We are set for a bright future, a future as a leading global biosolution partner and our journey has just begun. The time for biosolutions is now. We are committed to unlocking the limitless possibilities ahead. My thanks to you for your continued trust and for your support. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Ester and Cees for the presentations in relation to the first 4 items on the agenda. It will now be possible to ask questions or comment on these presentations. And I already have a few speakers that have lined up.

The first is an [indiscernible] from Danish Shareholders Association, and you will come here on the podium. After that, it will be [indiscernible]. And if others wish to speak, please speak to Anna up here, and she'll register your name.

[Interpreted] I'm [indiscernible] I represent the Danish Shareholders Association. I am going to try and do this in a language that is not used very often in general meetings, Danish. Okay. The Danish Shareholders Association, we have 16,000 members and they handle the interest of small- and medium-sized shareholders. We are working obviously for a healthy share and investment culture in Denmark. I am not a shareholder in Novozymes. I don't know if it's Novozymes or Novonesis, but I've followed the company with great interest for many years. Today, your company has a central role at world level in biosolutions. And you are going to play an important, but also very difficult role in the green transition going forward. However, there are major structural challenges ahead. We are here today because we think that Novonesis' development plans are very relevant, very interesting from shareholders perspective. The report of the annual report of risk elements. That's a very detailed report. That's very good. The annual report also states how you relate into these listed risks. So that's a good thing. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you -- to ask Board and management. One of them has to do with international competition. I know it's very difficult for you to reply to. But I'm going to put it anywhere. Novonesis, you bought a partner in Feed Enzyme Alliance, you bought them out. Can you elaborate a bit more on the reason? As we understand it, you have an unfinished merger process with Chr. Hansen. I know you said 80%. But still, can you handle one more at the moment? That's my first question. After the acquisition of Feed Enzyme Alliance and former Chr. Hansen, what is then Novonesis' international market position? Which companies are the biggest competitors? Is there sort of a general consolidation going on in the industry? Meaning are you going to buy more, you're going to acquire more? My third question is that the development of the business looked positive. I don't think it's fully reflected in the share price. But how will recent economic and political developments and announcements affect Novonesis because you're focused on the green development, don't you? Finally, a sort of different question. As a small shareholder. Well, you don't like changes in management. Is it possible for you to say a little more about the latest changes in management. Finally, I'd like to wish Board of management and shareholders a good 2025. Thank you.

Thank you [indiscernible] and also representing the Danish Shareholders Association. And thank you for your candid feedback on the annual report. We put a lot of effort on -- thank you very much. I really appreciate your feedback. Very good questions, and let me try to answer one of them. Starting with the acquisition we have recently made of the DSM alliance. Our portion of the alliance that we had with DSM, we still have today until we close with DSM-Firmenich and the region and the rationale behind. The driver behind, it's purely strategic. And actually, it was created by the combination of the 2 companies. It was maximized. It was always there, but by the combination, by the creation of Novonesis, the value creation for shareholders was maximized and even enhanced. Legacy Chr. Hansen goes to -- well, used to go to Animal Health with probiotics. Legacy Novozymes used to go to Animal Health with enzymes through the alliance. Now with the combination, we have one market, which is Animal Health, a growing market. We know that the protein demand is going to grow. We know we like high-quality protein. We know we want protein with less antibiotics. We know we want to increase the yield of those feedstocks, corn or soy translated into protein. All that is what our solutions do. But as a company, we had 2 beautiful solutions with 2 different hands. One that we could play, the other one, it was somebody else. So it is like you're playing the piano with 2 different hands. It doesn't make a nice music. It can make a little bit of Klunk Klunk. When we're putting it together, that's the value creation. We go with our customers with full control of the value chain. We go with our customers with both enzymes and microbes, and we are a better enabler for value growth creation for our customers, we are better enable for value creation for the shareholders. This acquisition is going to be accretive in 1 year. It's going to accelerate the growth in Animal by 1 -- by low single digit across the average of the market growth. And it also opens the door for new innovation and opportunity to co-create enzyme and microbes together for going into this very relevant market for all of us. So highly strategic and then even more magnified by the combination and the creation of Novonesis and accretive for shareholders in year 1. Your other question regarding what are your biggest competitors? I could answer with many typical names that they would be there in the industry. I would invite you to look at our competitors as the solutions of the past as the chemicals. That's what we'll replace. We bring clean label solutions in food. We enable food preservation without the use of chemical agents. We enable biofluence replacing fossil-based solutions. We enable detergents without the use of micro plastics. That's the world that we are in. This is how we grow by not this typical competitors, by expanding the pie and by making the pie bigger and winning in that space. That's at least the way that we like to see it ourselves. You touch another point, which is core to my heart on the green development and the value enablers. And what does it mean today? I would say the conversations we have with our customers are strong as today as they've ever been. Because the value that we drive for our customers, it is translated down to the bottom line in the P&L. We, our solutions enable higher yield, high efficiency, cost reduction, lower energy, lower waste, lower water, clean label, lower sugar, food preservation, food waste enabling and on top, they're good for the planet. So in the world that we live today, the value and the drive and the pull from our customers is as strong, the value that we drive and that we enable for our customers. It is -- we have extremely conversation, constructive conversations with our customers, and you have seen us coming with the guidance for the year for 5% to 8% also with quite some good profitability expectations showing the trust that we are in a good place. You also make another comment on something which is also dear to my heart, which is people and our organization. Yes, we have had some -- one change in our leadership team. We have said that Jacob left, we're happy for him. This was a good opportunity for him. It was his dream. He wanted to move into a CEO role. He wanted to be in the market. He wanted to move in private equity, and that's an opportunity that happened, and that's the one that he took. We have to also be proud of the caliber of the people that we have and how they can grow and shine and spread the voice of Novonesis beyond us. I feel in a really good place of the strength and the quality of the organization behind. The extraordinary good team that we have, continuing to stay close to our customers, continuing to stay focused and continue to innovate. And then also coupled with a very strong employee engagement index, we told about 8.2 employee engagement index, which is a pretty high number and definitely above benchmark on the competition on the place that we stay. I think I answered your questions. Thank you. I hope I answer your questions. Thank you so much.

And the next speaker is [ Bjorn Hansen]. And again, if anybody else has questions or comments, please speak to Anna up here.

[Interpreted] My name is [ Bjorn Hansen]. I represent small and medium-sized shareholders and one or 2 large shareholders, but mostly private shareholders. Today, we have an excellent integration and it has taken a couple of years to combine Chr. Hansen and Novozymes. So the integration takes time and costs a lot of money. And so I have a question. [indiscernible] As the Vice President, but Ester, you understand Danish, don't you? Oh, yes, that's very good. Now the merger of companies take times and costs, a lot of Kroner, or a lot of euro, EUR 308.8 million in 2024 and in 2023, it was EUR 407.09 million that was in 2023. According to the figures in your English or American or whatever it is, report, and I've tried to look the back of the room, if I could find anything in Danish. [ DFDS ] had a very good solution. They had something called overview with about 40 to 50 pages in Danish. I'd like to pass that idea on to you because what about -- we have about 40% or more than 40% Danish shareholders. If there are only 20% Danish shareholders, then, of course, we have to adapt and say, okay, are we an American company, a German company. But if we have more Danish shareholders, we need text in Danish. I know that a lot of companies cheated, especially during the pandemic because that way they could get around all these annoying rules, for instance, concealing the number of shares, who owns how many shares and who owns no shares. And I like management and Board members to own shares in our company. I don't like the idea that after general assembly, half the participants leave saying, now what's going on here? I mean, in one case, we had a member selling for about DKK 340 million, and the share hasn't bounce back again, but they have the billion, so they can -- they have a certain robustness. And so you too, you have the Novo Foundation, which is very good. They are good helper, so I believe in more growth than what we have seen, we have just had the Annual General Meeting of Big Brother Novo Nordisk. They had excellent growth figures, and they had a larger share price. And well, I like the conservative approach. They have 14 new products coming up, and it was said in the shareholders' meeting in Danish. After the general assembly, after the American and Norwegian general assembly, there was a shareholders meeting in Danish. Now Novo Nordisk and you are closely linked through the foundation, and that foundation has made it possible. And I'd like to know whether the foundation gave its support to the merger by paying up a certain number of millions of euro or Danish Kroner. I remember that it was proposed that if there would be a need for it, the foundation would pay up. And the principle was always first the company and second the shareholders. That's a very sound principle. We know that from Maersk as well. We sleep well at night thinking of that. Now climate changes. Ester, you are a very beautiful women. And I like the country you come from. I love that country. I think I've been there for about 60 times. I know quite -- I think you are from around Castellon. Now there were some very large companies, which produced tiles for flooring and so forth, and they produced their tiles and they polluted a lot, but [ Franco ] took that very lightly. And he received partial help from United States and they built and all over the place, and they produced a wonderful ceramic floor tiles and they were delivered on time. And if the Americans said now we need a motorway to the harbor and they said that together with Ford, the strange planning, but we understood then who was in charge and they delivered. Now Spain has received all that machinery as a cost of 0 euro after a certain number of years. It's a good way of working. Now I'd like all these climate changes -- I'd like to hear about what does it cost. In some companies, you get the feeling that you're not attending a shareholders meeting, you're attending a climate conference. But the climate is something that develops over millions of years. So I contacted the Danish environmental agency, i.e. US. Now this is in Danish, but you can read here that we had a tropical climate millions of years ago, and there weren't that many chimneys smoking back then. But then slowly, we see a climate change developing. And some people say, especially former U.S. vice president will say that heaven and hell are going to be just one. But I think we need a more reasonable approach. I prefer an advanced -- a preferred growth of 10% to 11% as it used to be, but you are very, very energetic and active person. You are doing a great piece of work. But it's just important to keep our shareholders on board so they don't all go and buy defense shares instead. At the World Fair in Dubai, some years ago, a lot of Danish country -- companies were present. And there was a possible growth rate of 12% to 20% in agriculture. And one of the Danish business people said to me that Chr. Hansen has been here for many years, many as well, 15 years. I don't know how many years they had been there. I hope that the -- that you have expanded your presence at that fair after the merger because as I said, there are growth rates of 12% to 20% in the agriculture. I've seen glass houses, I've never seen anything like it in the desert, but they learned from Israel, even though they will not admit it, but they have learned to cultivate the dessert and I can -- I visited supermarkets, and I've seen detergent, and I've asked where does that enzyme come from and I go and look at French and English supermarket chains, but asked about it previously, but I'd like to have your brand on the package. So I don't buy something that's 80% Chinese. It doesn't have to say Made in Denmark and it doesn't have to be a Danish flag, but I would like to see the company name. That's what I believe in. The stock should only be recommended to a limited extent and annual report must be available in Danish as Danish and American visitors are more or less equal or what is the situation in Novonesis. Now I hope that you will introduce more information in Danish and you might do like your big product Novo send out business news, 2 or 3 times a day from Novo Nordisk, but you send out information 5 or 6 times a year. But you do so many good things. So I think that business news would be useful. But as now we've entered the business market, we have to see this or that order. We follow you and the shareholders would follow you. So thank you very much for giving me the floor.

Thank you to [ Garen Hansen]. There's quite a few questions, and I think Cees will start off.

Mr. Hansen. It's always good to see such a committed shareholder. There's lots of questions. I'll take the easy ones and then Ester does the difficult ones. But first and foremost, you commented on the shareholder meeting and whether you were at a shareholder meeting or a climate session. And I would argue that with an 11% increase in share price last year where the Danish index declined 3% or at a company that's growing 8% per annum and provides a healthy dividend, you are at the shareholders' meeting. And the interesting thing is that with Novonesis, doing good things for the planet and doing good things for people go hand-in-hand with creating a quite profitable company and a company that takes the shareholders' interest at heart. That unique combination that we have, the ability to do good for the planet, to do good for people, and grow the business ahead of many other companies is something that shareholders should acknowledge. Of course, there is the sensitive point on language, that we're using the English language at these meetings. And some people have seen me here in Denmark several years ago where the joke was made, we gave [indiscernible] 40 lessons in Danish and then at the end, his teacher was fluent in Dutch. I hope you will forgive us for that. But we also understand the importance of our Danish, but as a global company, and an international -- highly international shareholder base, we have chosen English language to ensure effective communication for all. It's also helping us to attract top talent. And as English is widely spoken, that is our company language. But to support the Danish shareholders, the Danish translation is available. And then I heard you talk about trading by management and insiders in other companies. In Novonesis, we're fully transparent when there is trading by employees, or by Board members. And you may have seen that recently certain board members have bought shares and immediately after that's being announced. Last but not least, when you talked about Foundation to support the merger. It's more than a year ago. But let me remind what holding, what Foundation true holding has done. We created a statutory merger of the 2 companies and in Chr. Hansen, Novo Holdings was a shareholder. Novo Holdings at that point in time, accepted to take a lower premium on their shareholding so that a higher premium could be paid to what is called the free float to the other shareholders. So yes, they were very supportive, as also explained in the press release. But by them taking a lower premium on their shareholding in Chr. Hansen, a higher premium was awarded to the other shareholders. And I think that's a very elegant way of being supportive as well as being transparent. Now the more difficult question, I'll leave to Ester.

Thank you, Mr. [indiscernible] . Not every day I've been told I'm a beautiful woman. So you have my full attention here, and I'll do my very best on trying to give answers to your questions. Very, very, very good questions, all in very relevant items. Profit, something secret for us. And I would invite you, and I understand it's been a -- it's a process of combining 2 companies, and I understand the level of tediousness on the report. I invite you to look at the pro forma figures. Pro forma figures. The pro forma figures in our report that show comparison like-to-like and when you look at the pro forma figures, the net profit on a pro forma basis, it increased 14% from 2023 to 2024, from EUR 703 million to EUR 803 million. So it's a 14%, which is higher than 11%, and it is -- and it's true, it is on the pro forma space. Regarding the future growth. And yes, your ambitions of 11%, which we hear, and thank you for your trust that you think we can do more. We have put a very highly amount of work, reading from our customers, reading from the market, getting the pulse of the reality that we live and the world that we live today. And our best read of the market is translated on the guidance of 5 to 8 percentage growth for the year, including most of it driven by volume growth. Also with 1 percentage point from price and a growth that's going to be a continuity of what we have been doing till now. Volume growth, volume from -- growth from innovation, volume growth from penetration, volume growth from growing in emerging geographies. That's the momentum that we're seeing, and that's also the guidance that we are committed to. In August, we will share the financial targets for the next strategic period until 2030. I found it very, very inspiring your comments of sharing our brand on the final products. And that's not something we decide. That's something that our customers choose to do. Let me put a little bit of color on where we are. Today, Novonesis solutions, our enzymes, our microbes, our proteins, our cultures, they touch every day 2 billion people. You don't feel us, but we are there taking care of you. We are there on the yogurt that you eat in the morning, a very high probability that when you eat a yogurt, extraordinary high probability if it's a high-protein yogurt, extraordinary high, high probability if it has a bifidus in it, that it has our solutions in there. We are there when you put your clothes, that they are washed with detergents that allow you to wash them at lower temperatures and be respectful with the environment, but also save some energy. We are there when you fill up your car with biodiesel or bioenergy, we enable those solutions. We touch 2 billion lives every day. And the beauty of this company is that we're going to be touching you more, and we're going to be touching more people in the future. So thank you for your trust. Keep asking for more. Hopefully, we'll be here delivering for more at the same site. I think Cees' answer covered the area of the green and sustainability. I can only repeat and echo on what he said that it's embedded in our DNA, and that's not only what we do is the impact on how we contribute to the world, also in Middle East. Our sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa, last year, they represented 36% of our revenue. And in emerging geographies, we grew double-digit growth last year. I know you're asking for a little bit more fragmentation. That's the level of clarity and transparency on the way that we report. And we continue to grow. We continue to invest in emerging geographies. We continue to put capabilities to be closer to our customers. I was myself last week, I think it was 2 weeks ago in Egypt, in South Africa. I'm going next week to China, to Korea and to Japan. We are growing in emerging geographies, and we are growing rapidly, and we are continuing to investing in the areas that will be contributing of the materialization, not only of the growth synergies but capitalizing on the investments we made. So 5 to 8 this year, keep asking for more. We'll keep focus on making sure we deliver on -- keep the bar on your expectations, while we're continuing to generate value for our customers, and we continue to touch your life silently but we're there making everybody's life better and a healthier planet. Thank you.

Thank you, Ester and Cees. Next speaker is [ Niels Kilgo].

[Interpreted] I'll speak only very briefly. The old Novozymes, we always got an overview of the number of employees, so we could follow the numbers year-by-year. I couldn't find that figure in this report. I've heard it, 10,000. But my specific question is, when Novonesis began in January, how many people worked in Novozymes and Chr. Hansen, respectively, and by the end of 2025, so as to speak, how many people were there in the combined Novonesis company? Now if the number has been reduced, you have optimized operations, and we've made money or you could say that if the number has increased, the policy has been to invest employees in development. So a few of people have been made redundant. And so whatever figures, it can mean 2 different things. Now EUR 20 million on the market and EUR 4 million to Novonesis, that's 25%. So in the old days, we used to say that if you are #1 in your segment, then you might as well leave the segment. So my question is quite simply, in which specific segments are Novonesis is #1 in the world? And in that context, you can ask how many customers does Novonesis have where we have 100% of the customers? That's something which interested to us very much in Novozymes because if you have top 5 in that respect, you have a large part of the market. So how many customers do we have where Novonesis covers 100% of the market? And now I know this is a bit marginal, and we can get an answer later. But you have all heard about Trump's tariffs, and I've tried to make some calculation. I know how much you sell in North America. I know that the rate has increased from, what, 12% to 20% thereabouts. So what's difficult to find out that how much is produced in America and how much is imported and there's a transfer price between Denmark and the U.S., if that's set at 0, well, then the tariff would be 0, which is not realistic as supposed, but we have the finance guys sitting over there. So it should be easy to calculate if nothing changes, and we move from 5% to 20%, then what's the price and if Novonesis is to absorb all of it, then how would that affect our bottom line, how many million? Now that was a short question, wasn't it?

Thank you, [ Niels ]. That was quite a few very specific questions. Not all answers might be available here at the meeting. But as you mentioned, you'll be okay to get some of the figures maybe afterwards. But Ester will be ready to answer.

Thank you, Mr. [ Niels ] for your questions. Let me go first with the cost synergies or the reorganization efforts. And before I'll tell you the number, but before giving the number, let me give you maybe a little bit of color of the journey of what we have done and then put perspective on the number, which, yes, it's lower at year-end than it was in January. Let me share with you also what is behind that. So you see the moving parts behind what is one number and another. When we combine the 2 companies, we committed to our shareholders to deliver EUR 80 million to EUR 90 million EBIT on cost synergies. during the period of 3 years, run rate EUR 80 million to EUR 90 million during the first 3 years. We also committed to deliver EUR 200 million revenue synergies, EUR 80 million, 90 million also EBITDA for the period of 4 years. So within this first year, we already are at 80% of the run rate of cost synergies that we committed for a period of 3 years. We are well ahead of the expectations that we set on translating and streaming line, the operational efficiencies of the combination of both companies. 60% of these cost synergies, they come from operational efficiency. This means, in many cases, duplication of roles that they could be streamlined. It's simply to create the platform of a stronger company by leading to elimination or streaming line of the roles that they would be duplicated. At the same time, we also have been hiring particularly at the year-end for setting the foundation of the future growth in emerging geographies as we -- as mainly in emerging geographies as we talk. Net-net, we started the combination of the 2 companies with 10,794 employees, and we finished with 10,582 employees. We are creating the foundation of a long-term growth company. We're very thankful for the people who contributed. We're very thankful for the ones that they enable these 2 companies together. And because of the optimization, because of the streamline and some job duplication, we're very thankful also for the contribution they made. So very thankful for the ones that are coming in, and we're going to be contributing also for the future growth. Your other question regarding which segments were present and where are we leading players. I'm going to be making sure that I'm not asked to go into a place that we don't like by talking specifically on share numbers. That's an area that CEOs, we get a strong advice that that's a figure that we don't put into a specific perspective. But let me tell you the spaces where we know we have a good contribution of the -- and supporting our customers from ensuring that their needs are met. We know that we have a good contribution in very, very relevant segments. We know that we generate value and that we are a relevant player in key segments like Bioenergy, like Household Care, like dairy, in animal. We are a strong player on many of those markets that they are relevant for the society. We do that in partnership and in good collaboration with our customers, and also we have a broad range of customers. We have big customers, we have small customers, we have medium customers, we have distribution challenge to markets. We like them all. And we value them all and we work with them. We have customers in domestic markets. We have customers in emerging geographies, and we pay exclusive attention to each of the customers. Regarding the tariffs and the world that we're living in, we're watching it very closely. We watch -- we read the news in the same probably level of intensity that we do. We have extraordinary footprint in North America. We're present in more than 20 different sites. We have 12 -- more than -- we have extraordinary teams sitting in North America. We have really good collaboration with our customers. And with that, we feel we are in a really good place to continue to support our customers and to continue to capitalize on the growth opportunities in North America. At the same time, we're watching not only the impact of tariffs that Rainer can also build. But we're watching the implications that this world of tariffs will create. That's even more important maybe than the implications of the tariff itself. How will it change consumer dynamic? How would be the impact on the pocket money for the consumers? How will be the impact on other raw materials that they used for the production of our customers' solutions. Those are all aspects that we're watching closely. We see really good momentum in North America. And at the same time, we're watching it carefully, and we're following the dynamics that overall that is very volatile. We have shown in the past that we know how to embrace volatility. We have done it many, many times. We did it during COVID. We did it during Canal stress. We did it during textile freeze . We've done it with blockades in Asia. We have a global asset footprint, which is versatile and can flex. We can produce local for local, we can be global. And that's a muscle that we will continue to utilize and continue to adapt in the volatile market that we're sitting in.

Thanks, [ Niels ], for the tariff question. Of course, we're living in volatile times. And the news are very new from basically last night. So we, of course, are running a lot of simulations across different scenarios. But I would like -- what I would like to build on what Ester also said is that the majority of actually the products we sell in the U.S. are manufactured in the U.S. Yes, there are certain components that come from Europe. And those have a slightly negative impact on our overall profitability, but it's very minor at this point in time. And let's be cautious also. This is one data point that we currently have. Let's see what the other tariff situations will be. We will hope that will not -- this will not be an escalating tariff war at the end of the day. But we will be able to handle that at this point in time. In addition, of course, you asked how will we be able to bring this to our customers. And there, we also have a careful view of course, where we have to first really understand the situation, understand which customer base might be impacted and also which markets, which were -- which allows for customer increase or not. But of course, generally, as a general statement, we can say that we would never fully absorb all of the tariffs that we will be faced with, but we will, of course, also pass them on into the market. At what levels, of course, needs to be seen -- but I think this is the normal way nowadays. So I hope that helps. It's still a little bit, of course, day by day, watching out on what is out there. And it's important is that we are able to react quickly. And most important is that actually the majority of our footprint that serves the U.S. actually is in the U.S., and it also gives a certain kind of natural hedging.

Thank you, Rainer and Ester. I have not received requests from any further speakers. So I think that concludes the debate around, Okay. We have one more speaker it seems. Okay. [ Kel Paya ]. Welcome to the stage.

[Interpreted] Yes. I am [ Kel Paya ]. The question about the tariffs. Well, I was going to ask that. But in order to better be able to understand what's happening in the U.S., you should look under rumble something called X22,3606b is the latest broadcast. It tells you a lot about what's happening in the world right now. We don't hear on a Danish television or radio. We have censorship in Denmark. And we are subject to the World Economic Forum, I think, and they're not friendly to the U.S. But they are very happy about the war in Ukraine, it seems. So you should follow that. I don't want to go so much into this because it's a very interesting topic, go home and find it out for yourselves. But do you have any cooperation with Bill Gates? Bill Gates seems to think that there are too many people in the world. And once again, you find out that some of the products that he is involved in, there are substances in these products that are very dangerous to people. They can generate cancer and all sorts the stuff. He has a patent for COVID, I think he says and it really tells you what's happening in the world. I hope that you will talk -- say you will say whether you cooperate with Bill Gates. Unlike Novo Nordisk, it seems that they cooperate with Bill Gates. I'm very worried about that. But finally, the last bit is Al Gore. He invented the thing about CO2 because he didn't know what to do when he wasn't the vice president anymore. So the CO2 is only 0.4% of the air and there are other substances, nitrogen, oxygen and argon; they are the bigger part of the air. Still everybody is engaged in the CO2 thing. The 0.4%, if you went down to 0.2%, plants would die and people would die. If you come 0.5%, plants will go even better. So maybe you should do some research into that, how you could actually add more CO2 to plants so that we don't have to sell it to Microsoft. So I want to hear your opinion about that. How do you feel about this particular problem about CO2? I think we are ruling our agriculture because the World Economic Forum seems to have decided that the production in the different countries is to be reduced. There are taxes and all sorts of things that people can't understand. So I hope you will give you a qualified input to our government as they stop that. Thank you for your attention.

[ Kel Paya ]. Thank you. And I think that was the last request we have for speakers. So after this, I will -- after the responses here, I'll round off the points here and go to the formal adoption. Ester?

Thank you very much, Mr. [ Kel Paya ]. We have, together with Novo Nordisk and Novo Holdings and Topsoe and several companies partnership with Bill Gates. It is a collaboration with Bill Gates Foundation, and it's a collaboration with the spirit and the purpose to fit the world more effectively and to bring different types of protein, also more sustainable protein, to translate CO2 from the air directly into protein. Typically today, the process is CO2 is captured by plants, plants are eaten by an animal. They make the protein, and that is the protein that we see. The effort with the collaboration with protein with Bill Gates and Topsoe it is and the foundation, it is to move directly from CO2 into protein and create a completely breakthrough process on how to enable another source of protein, sustainable protein to fit the world competitively and sustainably and in respect with the planet. It's a long-term journey. It's not in our sales plan. It's a long-term journey where we bring our deep science expertise and the development of those microbes that will absorb those different type of feedstocks and translate them into proteins. It's a fantastic project, long-term effort that we're very proud and very pleased to be part of. Also from future solutions, we also have enzymes that capture the CO2. And Saipan, one of our panels and customers, it has already a plant in Canada that with our enzymes and their technology, they capture the CO2 coming from a plant and then use this highly concentrated CO2 as a feedstock into a greenhouse, leading, as you so nicely pointed, to higher yield and higher plant and higher conversion. So yes, your direction of momentum, it is already happening in Canada. With the technology on Saipan and we're looking forward for the future where those ones will continue to materialize and they will move into much more fruits, not only in Canada in one pilot, but across the whole world. Thank you very much.

Thank you. So let's turn to the agenda now. We had first the report of the company's activities. And here, since we have no further questions, I'll conclude that this report has been noted by the meeting. Item 2 is approval of the annual report for the year. And here, we have an audited report regarding both the financial aspects of the report and sustainability from the company's auditor. And assuming there are no further questions here, I'll also conclude that the report is approved. It is approved. Under Item 3, we have a resolution of distribution of profits, and we've heard from Cees that the proposal is to distribute an ordinary dividend of DKK 4.2 per share. And I want to hear if there are any further questions or comments in that regard. Presumably no. So that's also approved. Under Item 4, we have approval of the remuneration report. Cees presented elements of that report, which has been available to shareholders since the notice was sent out. Any last questions or comments? If not, I'll conclude that the report has also been approved. Moving on to Item 5, we have a point regarding approval of remuneration to the Board of Directors. And on the slide here behind me, you can see the proposal, which is an increase of 3.5% of the base fee from the level last year, and that aligns with the salary increase in Denmark for Novonesis employees. So the base fee is DKK 564,800. The multiple for the chair is 3 and for the Vice-Chair 2, and that's unchanged from past years. For working committees, the Board proposes maintaining the existing multiples, meaning that chairs of committees get an additional supplementary fee of 1x the base fee for those roles. And for other committee members, there's an additional fee of 0.5% of the base fee. And the -- in remuneration policy, there is an explanation of certain other compensation elements and benefits that the Board will receive, for instance, for travel and so on. Any questions or comments to this proposal? If not, I'll conclude that it's approved. It's approved. Moving on to Item 6 through 8 of the agenda. That's election to the Board of Directors. In Novonesis, there is a direct election of the Chair and Vice Chair and also of other shareholder-elected board members. I'll give the word to Cees de Jong to present the Board's proposal.

Thank you again, Anders. Novonesis current vice chair, Jesper Brandgaard has decided not to seek reelection and he will just step down from the Board of Directors and from the Vice Chair position. Jesper joined Chr. Hansen Holdings Board of Directors back in 2017 and the Novonesis Board in March 2024 in connection with the combination. As leader of the interim integration committee, Jesper has been instrumental to integrating the Chr. Hansen and Novozymes businesses into Novonesis. He's been overseeing progress, ensuring synergy realization and adherence to our integration principles, thus helping to ensure a successful integration. And I would really like to thank Jesper for his strong leadership and significant contributions. As the integration of the 2 companies into Novonesis is now well underway, the interim integration committee will be resolved following this Annual General Meeting and the integration oversight will now sit with the full Board of Directors. As previously announced, Sharon James decided to step down from the Board of Directors on the 31st of December of last year to focus on personal priorities. Sharon joined the legacy Novozymes Board of Directors back in 2020. And I also would like to thank Sharon for her important contributions to Novozymes and Novonesis shaping the organization's direction. As the leader of the Innovation Committee, Sharon has been central to creating stronger links between the company's innovation and the commercial capabilities. On the screen, you can now see the proposed composition of the Board of Directors with the reelection of Lisa Kaae, Kasim Kutay, Kevin Lane, Morten Otto Alexander Sommer and Kim Stratton and the election of Monila Kothari, all for a 1-year term. The nomination of Monila to the Board is primarily due to her industry relevant innovation and business growth experience, both global and especially in the Asia Pacific region. In addition, Monila brings a relevant background in both sustainability and digital development. Heine Dalsgaard is proposed elected as Vice Chair for a 1-year term, and the nomination of Heine as Vice Chair is due to his deep understanding of Novonesis and his strong business and financial background. Then in March of this year, elections for employee representation on the Board of Directors for the next 4 years were held. On the screen, you can see the employee representatives to join the Board just after today's Annual General Meeting. Robert Nøddeskov Jensen, Lars Bo Køppler, Preben Nielsen, who was reelected and Frederikke Rose Spenner. Lena Bech Holskov, Anders Knudsen, [indiscernible] and Kim Ib Sorensen will be stepping down from the Board of Directors after today's Annual General Meeting. And I would again I'd like to thank them all for their great contribution to the Board. Overall, the Board considers that the proposed composition of the Board of Directors in terms of competencies, executive and international experience, nationalities and gender provides for the necessary and relevant competencies and diversity to ensure effective board work and to address the challenges of a large global company as Novonesis. Thank you.

Thank you, Cees, and I'll briefly run through the formal proposal here. We have 3 items. First one is 6 (1). Here, the proposal is the reelection of Cees de Jong as Chair of the Board. 6 (2) is proposal to elect Heine Dalsgaard as the new Vice Chair of the Board. And under 6 (3) is a proposal to elect Lisa Kaae, Kasim Kutay, Kevin Lane, Morten Sommer and Kim Stratton and as new member, Monila Kothari as a new Board member. Any questions or comments to this proposal? The convening notice includes a lot of details about the candidates, background and other management positions. If there are no questions, I hope the meeting here will join me in congratulating these candidates with their election. And as Cees mentioned, we have 4 new employee representatives that you see on the slide here. They will be joining the Board after this meeting and they are elected for a period of 4 years. Moving on to Item 9. We have election of auditor. And here, the proposal is to reelect EY, represented here today by [ Henrik Comber ] over here [indiscernible] and they will be -- they are proposed to be elected to cover both the financial and the sustainability reporting aspects of the financial report. Any questions or comments? If not, I think we can also congratulate EY with their election. Moving on to Item 10. And here, we have 3 proposals from the Board. Some of them are quite customary or they basically all are. The first one is a renewal of the authorization that the Board has to increase the share capital and issue new shares. So there is an existing authorization, which basically allows the company to issue new shares with and without preemptive for existing shareholders, and there was also an authorization to issue warrants. The proposal is to extend these existing authorization so that it expires 30 April 2026. All of the terms are unchanged. Any questions or comments here? If not, I'll conclude that this is approved. It's approved. Moving on then to Item 10B. That is the renewal of the existing authorization for the company to acquire own shares. And here, the proposal is to extend the authorization until also 30 April 2026. The authorization is subject to standard limitations, which is 10% holding limit and also a maximum 10% deviation from the share price when the NASDAQ -- when the shares are acquired. Any questions or comments here? If not, I'll conclude that, that is approved, is also approved. Moving on to Item 10C. It's a renewal of the authorization to distribute extraordinary dividends. And I, of course, like to hear if there are any questions or comments to that. If not, I think we can conclude that the Board is so authorized. That's approved, good. Leading on to Item 11, which is an authorization to me as the Chair of the meeting to register these various resolutions with the Danish Business Authority. Any questions or comments? No, thank you for that. Moving on to Item 12. Any other business? That's the last item on the agenda. It's possible here to ask questions, but we cannot adopt any resolutions. I don't think anybody is asking to speak. In that case, I'll leave the floor here to Cees to finish the meeting.

Thank you, Anders. Thank you, shareholders. For decades, first, there's Novozymes and Chr. Hansen and now there's Novonesis, we've made a positive mark on the world and doing so quite profitably. Our journey has been driven by a powerful purpose that remains as relevant as ever. And 2024 has been a truly remarkable year. We've not only successfully brought together 2 iconic companies but we have delivered strong results while doing so. All this, thanks to the dedication of our employees, the trust of our customers and partners and the confidence of our shareholders. The foundation that we have built since January 2024 gives me great confidence in our future. We have the right strategy, the right capabilities and the right people to capture those opportunities that are ahead of us. Let us carry this momentum forward and build an even brighter future for Novonesis. Thank you once again for your confidence and your support. And with that, we have now completed the Annual General Meeting. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank you all for joining and Anders for conducting an effective meeting. I hereby declare the 2025 Annual General Meeting concluded. Thank you.