Good afternoon and thank you for joining us today for Borouge's fourth quarter and full year 2025 results call. My name is Chris Bucknall, Vice President of Investor Relations at Borouge. I'm pleased to be joined today by our senior management team , Chief Executive Officer Hazeem Sultan Al Suwaidi, Chief Operating Officer Dr. Hasan Karam, Chief Marketing Officer Roland Janssen, and Chief Financial Officer Jan-Martin Nufer. Today's call will begin with a presentation from the Management Team covering our fourth quarter performance and the Borouge investment case. Following the presentation, we'll open the floor for your questions. A copy of today's presentation is available on the Investor Relations section of our website. With that, I'd like to hand over to our CEO.
Thank you all for joining us today. In Q4, Borouge delivered an exceptional performance across all key metrics, demonstrating the strength and the resilience of our business in a dynamic market environment. For the second consecutive quarter, we achieved the highest production volumes in our history, supported by record utilization rates at Ruwais, a truly outstanding operation achievement. This was matched by a very strong commercial performance. We delivered our highest-ever sales volumes and continued to generate robust pricing premia above commodity benchmarks, reflecting the value of our differentiated product portfolio. This price premium is underpinned by our continued investment in innovation, with a total of 10 successful new product launches in 2025. We remain the most profitable polyolefin company globally, delivering an EBITDA margin of 36%. This demonstrates our ability to generate resilient, sustainable earnings even in challenging market conditions.
Finally, we delivered our strongest quarterly performance of 2025, with a net profit of $330 million. Turning to our Q4 and full year financials, net profit was $330 million for Q4, up 12% quarter-over-quarter, driven by a 12% increase in sales volumes to a new record high. Net profit margin remained strong at 20%. Adjusted EBITDA in Q4 was $601 million, representing a 36% margin, three times higher than the global petrochemical peer group average, underscoring the structural strength of our business. Operating free cash flow reached $502 million, demonstrating strong cash conversion. For the full year, net profit totaled $1.1 billion, ahead of market expectations. Despite a challenging pricing environment, we delivered a very strong operational and commercial performance, with record annual sales volumes of 5.4 million tons.
We have also continued to execute strongly under our Accelerate for Growth program, launched at the end of 2022, to proactively respond to evolving market conditions. The program combines revenue enhancement with cost improvement initiatives and delivered meaningful contributions again in 2025. These results confirm Borouge's strength, agility, and ability to deliver value across cycles. We remain well-positioned to capture new opportunities and drive long-term growth through our superior customer offering. With that, I'll hand over to Dr. Hasan to take you through more details on the operational performance.
Good afternoon, everyone. In Q4, we delivered an exceptional utilization rate of 119% for polyethylene and 114% for polypropylene, the highest in the company history. This enabled record quarterly production of 1.46 million tons, reflecting the strength and reliability of our asset base. For the full year, Borouge achieved a strong utilization level of 102% for polyethylene and 100% for polypropylene, while successfully completing the Borouge turnaround in Q2. We expect this strong operating momentum to continue into 2026, supported by high utilization rates and no major planned turnarounds. For the full year, we expect to achieve an average utilization of around 105%. The high production volume in Q3 and Q4 2025 shows what the plants are capable of, but in 2026, we need to factor in scheduled maintenance and restarts for changing between specialized product grades. AI and digital technology are central to how we run Borouge.
Our AIDT program was a major contributor to our 2025 outperformance, driving margin gains, efficiency improvements, and cost reductions. We are continuing to build on this momentum. In 2025, we completed a proof of concept with Honeywell for AI-powered autonomous operation at Ruwais, positioning us to deliver the petrochemical industry's first fully AI-driven autonomous control room. This will further strengthen our long-term competitiveness. 2025 is the third year of our Accelerate for Growth program, with a significant contribution for the operations in maximizing production and reducing conversion costs. Our strategic growth project continues to progress well. XLPE 2, the first Borouge 4 plant, commenced commissioning in late 2025, with startup preparations underway. The remaining Borouge 4 units are scheduled for commissioning through 2026 as a part of the Phase 1 and 2 rollout. Borouge 4 is expected to be contributory at a cost after ramp-up, with flexibility retained on timing.
Once fully operational, Borouge 4 will add 1.4 million tons of new capacity, positioning the company for the next phase of earnings growth and value creation. With that, I will now hand over to Roland to walk you through the commercial performance.
Thank you, Dr. Hasan, and good afternoon, everyone. From a pricing perspective, the fourth quarter saw a further softening of the market, with benchmark prices falling, a trend which has continued during the second half of 2025. Average selling price declined 6% quarter-on-quarter, reflecting broader market pricing trends. We continue to deliver strong pricing performance, though, demonstrating the value of our differentiated products and disciplined commercial execution. Despite the decline in benchmark prices, Borouge demonstrated strong commercial resilience, achieving price premia of $224 per ton for polyethylene and $134 per ton for polypropylene in the full year of 2025. Turning to sales volumes, in Q4, we delivered record sales of 1.64 million tons, up 21% quarter-on-quarter, supported by record production. This contributed to full-year sales of 5.4 million tons, a new record.
We maintained our strategic focus on high-value add segments, including infrastructure solutions, which accounted for 39% of total sales volumes in Q4 2025, an increase of 3 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. As part of our optimization strategy, we continue to channel sales into markets offering the most attractive netbacks, with Asia-Pacific representing 59% of sales volumes and the Middle East and Africa accounting for 32%, where our cost advantages underpin our margins. Across the portfolio, customer retention remains strong, with sustained preference for Borouge differentiated solutions reinforcing our competitive position. Innovation remains central to our commercial strategy and is a key driver of our competitiveness and sustained pricing premium. In Q4, we launched four new product grades, bringing the total new product launches for 2025 to 10. These recent additions enabled our innovation portfolio to generate a record $94 million of value in 2025.
We also saw a strong momentum in our circular solutions, with sales increasing 20% in 2025, a growing and strategically important part of our portfolio. We expect dynamic market conditions to persist in the near term. Further industry consolidation and rationalizations are needed and are also evident, with additional capacity closures expected globally, particularly in Northeast Asia and Europe, where shutdown plans have already accelerated. China's upcoming five-year plan, expected by the end of Q1 2026, will be an important milestone, providing clarity on the post-2027 capacity expansion trajectory. In our view, the long-term outlook for polyolefins remains positive.
Demand across our core markets is expected to grow at about 4% per year through the end of the decade, outpacing growth in developed regions. Borouge is well-positioned to capture this growth, with more than 70% of global demand growth expected to come from the markets we serve. With that, I will hand over to Jan-Martin for the financial update.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to report that we delivered exceptional top-line performance in the fourth quarter. Revenue reached $1.7 billion, up 16% quarter-on-quarter and 3% higher year-on-year, driven by the record production and sales volumes achieved during the period. This strong volume performance helped offset the softer pricing environment. For the full year, we maintained revenues close to $6 billion, despite a 5% lower average pricing. Turning to EBITDA and net profit, Borouge remains the most profitable polyolefins player globally on a margin basis. For the full year, we delivered an outstanding EBITDA margin of 37% and a net profit margin of 19%, both significantly above the global peer set. Adjusted EBITDA increased 6% quarter-on-quarter to $601 million, although there was an 8% decline year-on-year, reflecting softer pricing.
Net profit for the quarter was $330 million, our highest quarterly profit of 2025 and, once again, ahead of market expectations. For the full year, adjusted EBITDA totaled $2.2 billion. Net profit reached an excellent level of $1.1 billion, demonstrating exceptional resilience in a challenging pricing environment and, again, exceeding expectations. A key driver of this performance is our industry-leading cost position and the continuous OpEx improvement Borouge has been working on, and on which I will elaborate more later. Borouge maintains an excellent cost position within the first quartile for our industry. This advantage is driven by our feedstock supply, economies of scale, and the use of modern technology as well as AI to enhance production efficiency. We have also continued to execute strongly under our Accelerate for Growth program, launched at the end of 2022 to proactively respond to evolving market conditions.
The program combines revenue enhancements with cost improvement initiatives and delivered very meaningful contributions again in 2025. It spans across three key levers: operational excellence, sales and marketing excellence, and cost excellence. As one example, I point out fixed costs, which remain with $648 million, largely flat from 2023 and 2024 levels. As a result, our operating cost base remained tightly managed throughout the quarter and the full year. Cost of sales increased 27% quarter-on-quarter and 11% year-on-year, in line with the increase in sales volumes. For the full year, cost of sales rose 5%, consistent with the higher volumes. Selling and distribution expenses were down 21% year-on-year and up 4% quarter-on-quarter, in the context of a 21% increase in volumes. Full-year selling and distribution costs declined 12%, supported by a one-off timing benefit from a key logistics contract.
General and administrative expenses were up 56% year-on-year due to a change in allocation methodology. On a sequential basis, G&A fell 9%, and full-year G&A increased 2%, mainly reflecting higher personnel costs. Overall, our cost base remains structurally lean and well-controlled. Fixed costs are on a positive trajectory, and we continue to unlock further efficiency opportunities through the Accelerate for Growth program. Turning to cash generation, for the full year, adjusted operating free cash flow reached $1.86 billion, with a free cash flow of approximately $1.46 billion, an exceptional outcome in a soft pricing environment. This represents a free cash flow yield of 7% based on our current share price, comfortably the highest amongst global polyolefins peers and a strong underpin for our unique dividend commitment. Net debt ended the year at $2.7 billion, broadly flat year-on-year, including $427 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Our $500 million revolving credit facility remains undrawn, and we closed the year with a solid net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.2 x. We successfully completed an up-to-$400 million trade receivables discounting program in the quarter, improving cash flow and reducing financing costs by an attractive funding avenue. In December, a first tranche of $100 million was executed under the program. Our strong financial position continues to support our dividend policy and continued significant dividend yield, share buyback, and future growth investments. Since IPO, we have returned $4.24 billion in total dividends, demonstrating our consistent focus on shareholder value. Since April 2025, we have been actively executing our share buyback program, reflecting our confidence in Borouge's long-term prospects. As of the 31st of December 2025, we had repurchased approximately 212 million shares. With that, I'll hand back to Hazeem to take you through the investment case.
Thank you, Jan-Martin. An investment in Borouge presents a compelling opportunity for both existing and future shareholders. We remain the most profitable polyolefins company globally, supported by a first-quartile cost position, an industry-leading full-year EBITDA margin of 37%. Our financial resilience is anchored in our differentiated product portfolio, technology leadership, and continuous innovation. In Q4, we delivered record production, exceptional utilization rates, and record sales volumes, demonstrating the strength of our operations and the quality of our asset base. Our commercial agility continues to support margins and drive growth across our core markets. We also offer a highly attractive dividend proposition. The full-year 2025 dividend of AED 0.162 per share equates to a yield of over 6%, among the highest on the ADX. The Borouge Group International transactions remain well on track to close in Q1 2026.
We thank you for your continued trust and support, and we look forward to continuing to deliver long-term value creation for our shareholders. We would now be very happy to take your questions.
Thank you. To ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad, or you can press star two to withdraw your question. You can also ask your question via the webcast. First question from the phone line is from Ricardo Rezende with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hello. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. The first one is on the premium. We've seen a small decline quarter-on-quarter. Would you say that's more due to just the overall market being a bit softer, or is that related as well to the very strong production that you had on the fourth quarter? And then on Borouge 4, as we look into 2026 and they start up with the other units, how should we think about just overall volumes for Borouge 4 this year? Thank you.
So, Ricardo, thank you for your question. So I just would like to address your first question related to the premium. So we believe that the guidance that we give for the premium, so the $200 for the polyethylene and also the $140 for the polypropylene, that those are the right premium indicators for the value that, let's say, our portfolio represents to the market. The full-year performance for polyethylene, we were actually above. polypropylene, we were slightly below. And this weakness is reflected, as you also mentioned, a softer pricing environment in, let's say, the short term in the end markets. But let's say that our long-term strategic focus remains optimistic, and we continue to optimize, let's say, our portfolio and also the balance of portfolio, where we sell it, in which applications, and in which regions to optimize towards the guidance and also improve versus that guidance.
I also would like to remind that, let's say, the premium guidance is through the cycle. So when you compare on a quarter-over-quarter, you can have, of course, situations that you slightly drop below. But overall, we feel strong about the premium guidance that we've set out.
On Borouge 4 startup and revamp, I would say, or ramp up the activities of Borouge 4, we are well on track on our commissioning. As we communicated, our first plant has already been starting up the XLPE. This is for a specialty wiring cable. And gradually, in Q1 and moving forward, we're going to start up gradual for our remaining complex and activities in Ruwais. We have to remember this is a big complex 1.4 million tons, and we will do the maximum to ramp up the volume as soon as possible. And far more important is the safety of the organization, our people. Commissioning the plants are critical timing, and we will make sure this is starting up safely and reliable. So we will definitely give you more details as we progress on ground on Borouge 4.
It's great timing for all of us as we progress on starting up Borouge 4. But definitely, we will share more details on Borouge 4 as we progress. Thank you.
Thanks. If I may have a quick follow-up, until the asset is transferred to Borouge, we should see that being reflected on third-party volumes, correct?
Jan-Martin, hi Ricardo. Can you just repeat what was the last part of your sentence? Because we didn't get it completely.
Yeah. Until you get the Borouge 4 asset transferred to Borouge, we should see those volumes being reflected on your P&L on the third-party volumes. Is that correct?
Essentially, we're now in a phase where we're ramping up Borouge 4, right? The recontribution time and the exact timing will be a consideration then on the proposed Borouge Group International transaction, right? We will have, in the meantime, an agreement to market the product from Borouge 4. As we said, up until the point in time where we have a full recontribution of Borouge 4 into the books of Borouge PLC, you will see that this is then related on the marketing agreement. The positive aspect for the shareholders is obviously that the majority shareholders will ensure that the recontribution will happen at the time where it is value accretive. We stick to what was communicated as an additional positive message that we are having a recontribution at cost.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next question from the phone line is James Hooper with Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I've got two, please. The first is on the geopolitical dynamics. I've been reading that part of the improvement in price in 2026, year to date, in China in particular, is to do with geopolitical disruption and Iran. Have any of your customers struggled with taking sales volumes? And can you give us a view of how you see geopolitical disruption playing out and how it will affect you? And then the second question is, I think, continuing Borouge 4 themes. Can you give us a little bit of—you've obviously answered the volume question, but can you give us a little bit of an overview of how you see margins contributing? Is it still planned to be under the new feedstock agreement? Thank you very much.
So thank you for the question. I will try to address the geopolitical question. So what we saw in 2025 was a lot of, let's say, uncertainty in the markets because of the tariffs and all the, let's say, changes in communications related to the tariffs that was going on. And that, of course, had an impact on, let's say, the strength of the markets in general, which then, again, had an impact on overall pricing in the markets. So we saw a soft market in 2025. Our estimate gives an indication that we believe that the overall capacity utilization in the polyolefin market was down by another 2%. Now, looking forward, of course, it's difficult to predict how this uncertainty will prevail. But we do expect that the dynamic market conditions will persist in the near term. So we also expect that we will be in this turbulent water, so to speak, for the coming period.
If I may then follow up on the Borouge 4 question. As we said, we're now in a ramp-up phase, right? It's the normal commissioning of a plant. As Hazeem has been saying, we're well on the way to get this done. The guidance around the contribution that we're showing here is obviously at the point in time where we have done the full ramp-up. Now, what I can say in terms of the margin expectations, since the Borouge 4 plant will be based on Borstar 3G, we're expecting that we're going to have, as we communicated earlier, also a new product slate that we can deploy to the market. And that should help us to maintain and expand the premium. I think that's, in a nutshell, around the next steps for Borouge 4, whether you want to.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. Just to follow up on the first one, can we just confirm that none of your customers in East Asia, China, have had any difficulty with receiving product so far in 2026, please? Thanks.
Yeah. I can confirm that there was not any particular difficulties as a result.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. I will now go ahead with some questions we've received via the webcast. We have, first up, Alexandre Estefanos from UBS. Under the assumption that the merger closes by the end of 1Q 2026, when can we expect the recontribution of B4 to take place, and roughly how long will it take to ramp up the full utilization?
Well, I think we have answered the question already in terms of the recontribution flexibility and the ramp-up time. At the end of the day, let's just recap. It is a transaction which will be finally then under the proposed Borouge Group International transaction. We have to reconfirm the full flexibility to do the recontribution of Borouge 4 at the time where it is value accretive.
Thank you. Next up, we have Prateek Bhatnagar from Jefferies. Two questions. Your sales volumes have been much higher than production. What % of the additional sales is from your own produced inventory drawdown, and how much is from just sales and marketing of Borealis volumes? Second question is, the other variable and fixed production costs have increased sharply in Q4 versus Q3. What would be the reason for that?
I can answer the first question in terms of sales volume. It's roughly 50/50. The additional or surplus volume that we sold in comparison to the production volume was partially coming, so 50% roughly from the Borealis sales volume, and the other 50% was coming from sales out of inventory, reducing our working capital.
Yeah. On the question in respect to the variable cost development, this was mainly driven on one hand from the higher volumes and secondly, also from the product mix side.
Thank you. So we're moving on to the next question. We have Rahul Shah from Kepler Cheuvreux. You have achieved 114% capacity utilization in H2. What are the main challenges to maintaining this level, and why is your FY 2026 guidance just 105%? And secondly, you drew down inventory in Q4. Do you think current inventory level is sustainable, or will you likely build this balance over the coming quarters? And third question, do you intend to fully commission B4 by year-end, or could this move into 2027?
I can take the first part of the question.
No, go ahead, Dr.
Okay. From the utilization, I can assure you that with our great sort of the operational excellence that we embedded in part of our operational excellence, we are going to continue the same sort of the maximizing utilization, sweating the asset to the maximum possible. That we are assured because, as I said, that we have a concrete program. We were enhancing and efficientizing our asset. At the same time, with this turnaround that we've been made in 2025 with the sum of the clean shutdown, we were going to have a confidence that we will maximize toward the 2026 at maximum utilization.
Thank you, Dr. Hasan. Now, I will take the question on the inventory level. So it's our target to continue to look for ways to optimize the inventory level. So we closed the year with a, I would call it, strong performance, and we will continue to look for ways to further optimize it, reducing our working capital.
Yeah. To recap on the question in respect to the B4 recontribution time and specifically the question around end of 2026. As said, we have the flexibility. It's not yet decided exactly when the recontribution will be. It will be under the consideration what is the most appropriate time to make it most value accretive for the shareholders.
Thank you. And moving on to the next question on the webcast. This is from Sohaib with Arqaam Capital. Are we still expecting the BGI transaction to close in Q1 2026, or are there any delays expected?
Yes, 2026 Q1.
Thank you. At this time, we have no further questions on the call. So just a final reminder, any last questions, please press star one or submit your question via the webcast. We have no other questions on the call at this time. So I will hand back to Hazeem for any closing comments.
Always appreciate your engagement with us, and we look forward to see you in person or to get engaged in the near future. Thank you for being with us. Have a good day.