Hello and welcome to this webcast. I'm Kostas Sarmadakis, Kri-Kri CFO. During today's presentation, I will walk you through our financial performance for the first six months of the year, the key developments across our main business segments, the evolution of our input costs, and our expectations for the full- year. The first half of 2026 was characterized by strong sales growth, significant profitability improvement, and continuing momentum in our international yogurt business. At the same time, the geopolitical environment has created additional uncertainty, particularly in relation to energy, packaging, and transportation costs. Following the presentation, we will be happy to address your questions. You can submit your questions using the chat tool. Let us begin with the financial results for the first half of 2026. Sales reached EUR 204 million compared to EUR 162 million in the corresponding period of 2025, representing an increase of about 26%.
Importantly, this growth was predominantly volume driven, reflecting the continued expansion of our international yogurt business. Gross profit increased by 48.5% to EUR 66 million. As a result, the gross profit margin improved substantially, reaching 32.4%, compared with 27.5% in the first half of 2025. This improvement reflects the combined benefit of higher production volumes, improved operating leverage, and a more favorable relationship between selling prices and key input costs. EBIT increased by 70.6% to EUR 39.4 million, with EBIT margin rising by 5 percentage points from 14.3% to 19.3%. EBITDA followed a similar pattern, increasing by 65% to EUR 43 million, corresponding to a margin of 21.2%. Finally, profit after tax reached EUR 36.5 million, up by 87.6% year-on-year. It would be noted that profit after tax included a benefit of EUR 5.7 million related to tax relief granted under state incentive scheme for completed capital expediture projects.
The corresponding benefit in the previous period was significantly lower at EUR 1.4 million. Overall, the first half results demonstrate strong growth, significant margin expansion, and substantial operating leverage. I will now turn to segments review. Let us start with yogurt exports, our largest and more dynamic business segment. It now accounts of about 63% of total sales. Yogurt exports remain our main growth engine during the first half of 2026. Sales increased by 46.6%, reaching approximately EUR 129 million. EBIT more than doubled to EUR 28 million. This demonstrates both the strength of demand and the substantial operating leverage of the export yogurt business. Growth was particularly strong in our two major international markets. Sales in the U.K. increased by 67%, while sales in Italy increased by 31%. The underlying market environment remains supportive. Demand remains very strong, and we expect the Greek yogurt category to continue expanding at an attractive pace.
Turning to the domestic yogurt market, we have also seen a positive development in both market demand and our financial performance. The overall market increased by 11% in value and 8.6% in volume. Against this backdrop, our domestic yogurt sales increased by 10% to EUR 43.3 million. Private label yogurt continues to gain market relevance as consumers seek more affordable alternatives in an inflationary environment. As a leading private label supplier, Kri-Kri benefits from this shift. At the same time, however, the increased consumer preference for private label creates pressure on the market share of branded yogurt products. Our objective is therefore twofold: to maintain our leading position in private label while also strengthening the competitiveness and differentiation of our branded portfolio. Performance in the ice cream segment was weaker during the first half of the year, although the two parts of the business were affected by different factors.
In the Greek market, our sales declined by 1.8% to EUR 22.8 million. It generally followed the market trend, which recorded a decline of 4.3% in volume and 1.5% in value. Some say that the overall market shows signs of saturation stemming from the high price level that ice creams have reached. Whatever is the case, we are implementing some initiatives to improve our performance. The most important is the further expansion of our sales network, especially in touristic areas. We are also placing great emphasis on product categories with stronger growth potential, including Greek frozen yogurt. In ice cream export sales decreased by 23.6% to EUR 7.2 million. This is mostly attributed to a loss of a contract for a private label with a U.K. retailer. Our bet was that the performance of Greek frozen yogurt in U.S. will offset much of this.
However, our sales development there is slower than initially expected, and although we continue to see attractive development opportunities in the U.S. market, with our current business model, it seems that it will take some time, and it needs more patience for the distribution to expand. Therefore, we have already started examining some options to accelerate the expansion of distribution and reach wider presence more quickly. Apart from U.S., other countries like China seem to present an opportunity. Moving on, this sales bridge explains the progression from approximately EUR 162 million in the first half of 2025 to EUR 204 million in the first half of 2026. The central message is that the increase was overwhelmingly volume driven. Yogurt volumes contributed approximately EUR 37 million of incremental sales, confirming that the expansion is primarily based on higher quantity sold.
Also, pricing actions implemented during the second half of 2025 contributed about EUR 8.5 million to first half sales growth. These actions also supported the improvement in gross profit, as illustrated on the following slide. Moving on, this slide shows the gross profit increased from approximately EUR 45 million in the first half of 2025 to EUR 66 million in the first half of 2026. Higher sales quantities were an important contributor, adding approximately EUR 8 million to gross profit. Selling price and mix effects provided an additional contribution of about EUR 8 million and positive input price contribution of about EUR 5 million. These last two factors explain the large part of the gross margin expansion. In the second half, we expect a different picture. Firstly, we anticipate much lower price contribution in the second half of the year.
Since most of the pricing action took place in the second half of 2025, the comparable period now includes these increases, effectively reducing the year-on-year pricing tailwind. At the same time as the conflict in the Middle East continues, we see an increased risk of cost pressure on several cost components. In response, we are actively preparing targeted pricing actions. If the current pressures persist, these actions will be implemented selectively with the objective of mitigating the impact on margins while preserving our competitive position. Compared with previous inflationary cycles, we are better prepared to respond effectively and with a shorter time lag between input cost increases and the corresponding pricing actions.
Let me conclude the operational review with our revised estimates for the full- year 2026. Based on our strong first half performance and the information currently available, we now expect full- year sales to reach approximately EUR 400 million, compared with our previous guidance of more than EUR 390 million. At the same time, the disruption in international markets resulting from geopolitical developments in the Middle East appears to be more prolonged and more intense than initially anticipated. This is creating increased pressure across many cost components. Under the current circumstances, and provided that these pressures do not materially ease during the final quarter of the year, we expect full- year EBIT to be slightly below our initial target of approximately EUR 60 million, in the range of EUR 57 million -EUR 58 million.
Despite these near-term pressures, we continue to expect strong growth and high profitability in 2026, maintaining the positive performance of recent years. Let me now turn to our medium-term investment plan, which is a key component of Kri-Kri's future growth strategy. Demand for Greek yogurt remains very strong, particularly in core European markets, and we expect the category to continue expanding. At the same time, we see further growth opportunities in other countries with large and well-developed yogurt markets. Our main constraint today is not demand, but available production capacity. The strong increase in volumes means that our existing yogurt facilities are operating at high utilization rates, leaving us with limited spare capacity to accommodate further growth. To address this constraint, we have developed a significant medium-term investment program.
Total planned CapEx for the period from 2026 to 2030 amounts approximately EUR 127 million, with annual investments raising between EUR 23 million to EUR 28 million. The objective is to expand our yogurt production capacity progressively and in line with anticipated demand. Compared with the 2025 capacity base, we expect capacity to double by 2028, and by 2030, yogurt production capacity is expected to be almost three times the 2025 level. This investment program will enable us to ease the current capacity constraint, improve production flexibility, and capture the opportunities arising from the continued growth of the Greek yogurt category. Most of these investments are state subsidized and expected to generate material tax relief benefits. The table shows the estimated tax relief amounts for the future years. Before concluding, let me summarize the four key messages from today's presentation.
First, demand for Greek yogurt remains strong across developed European markets.
The rapid expansion of the category, combined with our established presence in key markets such as U.K. and Italy, provides a solid foundation for continued export growth. Second, we are implementing a substantial medium-term investment product to remove the current capacity constraint. The planned expansion will enable us to serve growing demand, improve production flexibility, and pursue additional opportunities in both existing and new markets. Third, while yogurt remains our primary growth engine, we also see opportunities to generate complementary income streams from our other business segments. In particular, our domestic yogurt operations, private label activities, and the international development of Greek frozen yogurt can provide additional sources of growth and diversification. Finally, we are closely monitoring the inflationary pressures arising from the current geopolitical environment. Compared with previous inflationary cycles, we are now better prepared to respond more rapidly and effectively.
If the current cost pressures persist, we are ready to implement targeted pricing actions in order to mitigate their impact and protect profitability while maintaining our competitive position. In summary, Kri-Kri combines strong underlying demand, a clear capacity expansion plan, and improvement ability to deliver profitable growth. Although the external cost environment creates some near-term uncertainty, the fundamentals of the business remain strong and our medium-term outlook remains positive. Thank you all for attending this webcast. I will leave you five minutes to submit your questions with the chat tool, and then I will come back answering them. Thank you.
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Hello. We are now ready to begin the Q&A session, and thank you for submitting your questions. We have received several interesting questions covering a range of topics, and we will do our best to address most of them. Let's start with the first question. The first question is about pricing, and could you provide some guidance on your pricing initiatives for the second half of 2026 and 2027 to offset rising inflation?
Yes, we are now in the preparation phase of this price action. It haven't settled yet, but the idea is to try to pass additional cost in product prices.
Moving on to the next question about energy cost and how much has energy cost and in general production cost increased since February 2026.
With energy, we don't have any hedging tools. We are lucky because overall energy cost does not account a very high percentage in our cost structure. We use electricity and also natural gas, and the energy cost overall followed the market increase of the prices.
Next question is about our investment program and if the new capacity is on track for 2027, how much volume can add by 2028?
Yes, the CapEx plan is on track both for 2027. It is early yet to speak about 2028, so it is still as a plan. We haven't proceeded in purchase orders for machinery and equipment. In this table, you can see the capacity expansion that we expect. So by 2028, we expect to have double the capacity compared to 2025 volumes.
Next question relates to frozen yogurt and the sales in China, and if we think that China is a bigger market than the U.S. and in three to five years, given the slow development of the U.S.
With China, our initial view is that it is a promising market. However, it is very early to say more, and compared to the size, although the population is much more in China, U.S. consumption per capita is, I think, much higher. So U.S. is still a priority for us, but in markets like China, we see an alternative and possible other countries that can support income flows in the future.
I believe we have already answered the next question, so we are moving on. The next one relates to other markets. Are you still turning away business in other markets outside U.K., France, given capacity constraints?
It is not that we are turning away, it is that because we are short of spare capacity, we try to delay new business development.
Right. So, moving on to the next one, which relates to the lost contract in the ice cream segment. If we expect to replace that volume with a new retailer and when we could see ice cream exports to recover.
Just to know, the private label contracts for ice cream differ from yogurt because usually, every year, retailers reshuffle their private label portfolio and change flavors and ice creams. So this was the case that we lost the contract. Of course, in the future, it is still a chance to recover lost sales if we win in some tender that they will raise.
All right, so the next one relates to our expansion and how possible it is to make a new factory out of Greece.
I think currently this is something that we do not have in our plans. Currently, we are investing in Greece, and we are supporting the idea of Greek yogurt. That seems to have great demand all across Europe.
The next question relates to our customer structure and customer concentration. How could you assess the level of customer concentration in your international business, given that two foreign customers accounted for approximately EUR 53 million in sales in the first half? Are these mainly private label partnerships, and which markets are these customers in?
Yeah. According to also the relevant note in our financial statements, you will see that these two customers, one accounts for 14% and the other about 10% of our sales. One is our importer and distributor for the Italian market, so it is not so much an actual concentration, but it is a technical one. The other is a large retailer in U.K. So in our view, we don't have any particular risk of consumers concentration.
The next question is about frozen yogurt and the U.S. market. What exactly does accelerating the strategy involve? More marketing spend, new distributors, or retail listing?
Yeah. The most important is to expand the distribution. We need to find a way to tap into more sales points of sales, and more retail stores. After building at least material distribution, then marketing spending can also support expansion. But first, we need to find a way to accelerate the distribution building more quickly.
Moving on to the next question, which is about raw milk prices and the increase in Greece in recent months. Are you seeing this, and what explains the difference from wider EU milk prices?
Yeah. This is a case of some initial indications that, starting from July, there is a pressure on our important significant cost components. This we expect if this situation continues to be more intense of pressure. The divergence from wider EU milk prices, I think has to do with demand and supply. Overall, it seems that raw milk supply across EU has risen, and this pushes prices at lower levels. Whereas in Greece, the demand is much higher, and this drives prices up.
The next question relates to domestic competition, and we've got here the example of MEVGAL, that the increase in capacity as well. The question is, what is the risk of excess capacity in Greece, and is there enough milk to meet the increased capacity in the country?
The first of the risk of excess capacity, I think in our case, we don't have such risk because as we can see on our CapEx plan, capacity is increased gradually and according to demand. We will have time to adjust according to actual market conditions. The thing that other competitors and peers are trying to build up capacity, in our view, is positive because this means that demand is hot. As we develop the market of Greek yogurt at a larger scale, this makes it much more stable and mitigates the risk of being out of fashion, the Greek yogurt category. The second thing about milk production in the country, in general, Greece has a deficit of raw milk. So much of the local needs are covered with imported milk.
All right. The next three questions stands in the corporate finance area. The first one is about our strategy to expand and if we consider any acquisition in order to expand both domestically and internationally.
Currently, no. Our focus is on organic growth. As you can see that the growth is at very high pace. It's here.
The second one is if we have received any potentially interested from investors about equity stake.
Now and then, because we are a listed company, there are investors that are interested in buying some shares. But I think that this demand is covered by free float.
The last one is about really our growth trajectory and what is our biggest risk to our business.
This is a very good question, I think. In my view, I don't think any risk coming from outside environment. I think the most important risk, but it is the risk that we have early addressed, is internal and has to do with the organization and how to be able to cope with the future growth. I mean, all the organization structure, people need to adjust to this growth trajectory. This is not very easy if it takes for long. But it is a risk that we have early spotted, and we are running some initiatives so as to mitigate this.
We have a question about yogurt sales and if we got any new countries added the past few months.
No, we didn't add any new countries, because as I said, we try to delay any further business development.
We've got another question about the ice cream contract in the U.K., and they ask us what was the main reason behind losing it.
Yeah, I think I answered this. It was a reshuffling of their private label portfolio. So they stopped with this five.
The next question is about our U.K. sales. They say that now is our largest market, about a third of total sales. Do you expect this pace to continue, and are you looking at new markets to reduce the dependence on the U.K.?
We don't see that the situation in U.K. is unhealthy, so we need to reduce dependence there. It is a fast-growing market, and all the signs that are available is that it seems that such high growth pace will continue in the coming years as well.
The next question, can you tell us with the actual prices, how much maximum sales can you generate with 2026 production capacity program? Just a rough idea.
Yes, this is not very easy to calculate, but as a rough idea, I would say EUR 430 million or EUR 440 million.
Next question is about the U.S. market. How U.S. market is progressing and your view on 2027 sales outlook for both products.
Yes. As I said, U.S. sales there is low. Currently there are no material sales, and it is early here to speak about 2027. We have to wait a little before we set up clearly our budgeted figures for next year, and then we'll have better picture.
Moving on to the next question is about our CapEx investment program after 2030. Have you already identified specific CapEx projects? Would you be open to build a new greenfield site, or do you plan an expansion of Serres plant? Do you already have an amount in mind?
Yeah, there are some initial thoughts if we need further capacity expansion after 2030. I think it is very early to discuss and give you figures and numbers at that point.
The next question is about ROI. What is the return on investment that you estimate with this planned CapEx, and how much debt will you use to finance this CapEx?
Yes. In general, we set up a target of minimum return on investment before continue with the CapEx plan, and this is about 25%. All this project also had the green light to proceed with this estimate. About the financing of these CapEx plans, because we have very high operating cash flows, most of these are expected to be financed by operating cash flows and we expect to have a low, perhaps debt of about 20% to 30% of the total value.
The next question is about our net profit margin and they ask us about the given level of CapEx, if the margin should remain around 15% through 2030 and do you see any room for further improvement over the years?
Yes, we see a sustainable EBIT margin of about 14%-15%, at least in the coming two to three years. Personally, I think there is room for improvement coming from economies of scale, better cost control and other initiatives, but it is very hard to quantify this at this point.
The next question is about the U.K. market growth. It is 67% and it seems unsustainable. What do you think when the market will be mature?
If you see the U.K. market size have tripled in three years' time. Although these growth rates are very high and seem unsustainable, I believe that there is still room for market expansion. This is based on the still low penetration that Greek yogurt has against and compared to Greek-style yogurt. So in our view, there is substantial room for further growth and this will also be supported by retailers as well as it is a case of a very successful example.
The next question is about EBIT margins and they say that yogurt exports run at a 22% EBIT margin against 12.5% in Greece. They ask about what drives that gap and if we expect export margins to keep expanding as volumes grow.
Yes, this has to do with the structure of the markets. In Greece, the competition is much higher, so this exercise pressure on prices. Abroad because also of high demand, our pricing power is better. All these are reflected on our margins as well.
I believe we have already answered the next one. So, moving on. Are there price increase plans for second half this year?
Not yet. As I said, there are some preparation that we are running and the most probable scenario is such price actions to be effective perhaps in December or early in 2027.
The next question is about growth and the slowdown. Reaching EUR 400 million in 2026 means that in the second half growth of 18% versus 25% in the first half, why the growth would slow down.
This has to do with the ice cream, because ice cream performance is weak and ice cream contributes more in the third quarter. The second has to do with the pricing effect. With these two in mind, we expect this EUR 400 million.
The next question is about the additional capacity in the coming years. Where do you plan to divert your additional capacity? Should we assume new private label contracts in foreign markets? Any plans for Asia?
This additional capacity, the aim is to cover the demand, to meet the demand of our existing markets, which is very strong and there are many cases that we cannot respond in full and we are losing opportunities. The second is to leave some spare capacity in order to tap in new markets, new countries, as well. For Asia, we don't have plans for yogurt. With yogurt, we have the constraint of short shelf life. Our focus is mostly on major European markets.
The next question is about the two customers we mentioned in the financial statements and the sale of EBIT for both of them, and when do the current supply agreements come up for renewal?
I think the EBIT are similar to all other customers in the segment, so there is no material difference. The agreements were come from, I don't remember this to answer.
Right. We move on. Another question about market expansion and if we plan to go to other EU countries and if there are any other EU countries with high growth like Italy and the U.K.
We are planning to go to other EU countries, when our capacity allows it. There are plans to tap in these countries as well. I don't know for any other EU country to present high growth for Greek yogurt because these two are the ones with the most developed markets for Greek yogurt.
The next question relates to the pricing actions you mentioned earlier and if the cost pressures persist. When could these price increases be implemented and if these price increases are mainly for Greece or for international and private label business as well?
I think we answered at least the first part of this. We expect the most probable scenarios to be effective early in 2027 or perhaps in December of 2026. These price increases will cover all the yogurt category. We will see to adjust it according to competition conditions in each market as well.
The next question relates to frozen yogurt and sales in the U.S. market. They say, frozen yogurt enjoys strong market appeal through non-Greek companies. How is the demand for Kri-Kri's products evolving?
Yes. As I said, in U.S. the major thing is that we don't have a wide distribution. Apart from this, we have indications that our product has good consumers appeal, so we are optimistic for further growth there. But with our current business model, we will have to wait and allow some time before it reaches material figures.
We've got another question about cost pressure in the second half of the year. How much of that cost pressure comes from milk, energy, packaging, and transport?
There is a note on our financial statements that it is a detailed split among these cost components. The most important cost component is raw materials and packaging. In total, these two accounts of about more than 80% of our production cost.
The next question is about revenue growth rate in 2027, and then if we expect this to be higher than 2026, given our production capacity in 2027.
Yes, it's early to discuss about next year guidance. But in general, we are optimistic that we will achieve also high growth rates, both in sales and also in profit.
We've got another question about costs and the cost drivers. Would you like to add something on that, Kostas?
We had a table in our previous presentation that was giving some details of our expected cost surcharge per cost component. That was in total of EUR 5.5 million. This is expected to increase by about EUR 2 million-EUR 3 million, according to our revised guidance.
The next question is about raw milk, and they ask us about how much is Kri-Kri raw milk compared to total raw milk quantities purchased in Greece.
I think it accounts about less than 20%, but I am not very sure about this.
There is another question about CapEx. They say you mentioned the CapEx goal is capacity constraints. Are you capacity constrained today? If so, roughly how much?
Yes. There are cases that we cannot respond and deliver in full. This most often happens in periods where there is higher seasonality for yogurt, like May or September. I think with our planned CapEx, we will build up some spare capacity in next year.
We've got a question about digital marketing, if there is a room for improvement, and if there is a room for improvement for marketing with the company as a whole.
This is not of my field, so I cannot answer this.
We've got a question about protein. Do you see that protein-related products of the company have good return and margins?
Yes, this is correct. This is the case that I think we were the first that we have introduced high protein yogurts in Greece, and they have good appeal and also good and higher price per kilo and better margins as well.
Another question for EBIT margins, and they compare EBIT margin in second half of 2026 versus second half of 2025. How do you explain that the 2026 is lower? Even if the input costs are increasing, the top- line is also increasing a lot.
Yes. It is a little difficult to explain this, but it has also to do with our accounting policy because our costs are cumulative year- to- date. So costs that may happen in Q4 will affect also costs that have happened in Q1 of each year. So this leads to perhaps higher impact on costs if sudden changes in raw material prices happen.
The next question is about our competitors and if we are seeing the new extra capacity they had to address booming authentic Greek yogurt market.
Yes. We have some information that also many of our Greek peers are trying to build up capacity.
The last question is about the yogurt and the frozen yogurt, and given made increase protection and health appeal, while frozen yogurt is a more competitive category. Does that make frozen yogurt a harder and lower margin business for you?
We expect that this made increase will have better appeal to customers, to consumers. So this is the idea. And yes, frozen yogurt has higher profit margin than other types of ice cream.
We've got a last-minute question as well, Kostas. Can you comment on the news that Rodoula 's company is thinking of entering the yogurt business?
I don't know this, so it's difficult to say anything.
[Got it].
All right. I think we finished. Thank you all for joining us. Have a nice day.