Welcome to Schouw & Co. S econd Q uarter Presentation 2025. I will take you through, as usual, all our companies. First, give a little update on the group at LAS, and then take you through each of the companies. We will open up for questions when, as usual, has been through the presentation. Looking at Schouw & Co. in general, we had yet another satisfactory quarter in a very turbulent and difficult market situation. Really, it has been that uncertainty still persists. Intense competition has been all over the markets, and we see this as the new normal for the time being. All our companies, they have really taken strong measures to mitigate and secure our long-term expectations. Schouw & Co.'s top line was 2% down to DKK 8.5 billion in the quarter. EBITDA was, as expected, also down 4% to DKK 706 million.
The quarter was impacted by several one-off costs. Our cash flow was again very strong and came out at DKK 442 million. Our net interest-bearing debt year on year is now down DKK 1.3 billion. Schouw & Co. continues the evaluation of a potential IPO of BioMar. We have now set a banking syndicate together. They have been established. They are supposed to run the IPO if we are going to do it. If we do it, it's decided that it could happen in the second half of 2026. Of course, we have volatile markets and a lot of things going on. The intention is still to float and we are investigating how the value will be of that. From Schouw & Co. and then on to BioMar, let me just correct and say I think I said the second half of 2026 with the intended IPO.
It's of course the first half of 2026. On that note, let me just continue into BioMar. BioMar continued to perform very well and deliver on the decided volume strategy. Top line was down 1% to DKK 3.97 billion. However, volume increased 14% to 382,000 tons over the quarter. Especially salmon and shrimp segments were building the volume for the quarter. EBITDA also, as expected, down 3% to DKK 349 million. EBITDA was driven by the sale of more standard products and of course also of taking new contracts. We also had a one-off gain from the acquisition of the LetSea operation in Norway of DKK 17.17 million. The working capital in BioMar really was reduced significantly and is now down to DKK 1.7 billion.
Also, very nice to see that our new tech segment really delivers strong growth, especially as the one company, [AG1], delivers strong growth and solid profitability over the quarter and really looking also into exciting opportunities in the future. BioMar expects a very strong second half with continued volume growth. Customer and contracts, they are in place for driving a strong second half of 2025. The guidance for BioMar is narrow. Turnover now expected to be DKK 16.3 billion-DKK 17 billion. EBITDA now in the range of DKK 1.49 billion-DKK 1.57 billion. Of course, we have full focus on driving volume, getting the margins in place, and also utilizing the very innovative platform and products that BioMar is having. We expect a solid EBITDA maybe in the upper end of the range. From BioMar moving on to GPV, GPV's markets continue to be volatile.
However, I think also we have seen the first signals of increased demand. Top line, as expected, a little bit down 2% to DKK 2.2 billion. However, EBITDA was up 8% to DKK 155 million. Here we really saw a general effect from efficiency uplift and also a good customer mix. GPV, they have been doing a lot of work on their footprint, global footprint and supply chain, and we are now in the phase of finalizing a lot of these footprint decisions. We are relocating, we are right-sizing activities to improve efficiency, and we have also adjusted structure and staff accordingly. GPV, they are building on a very strong and promising sales pipeline. Guidance is narrow. Top line now expected to be DKK 8.7 billion-DKK 9.2 billion. Here also we will see and expect further one-off costs to the right-sizing and footprint decisions of around DKK 30 million.
Including that, our EBITDA expects to be DKK 600 million-DKK 650 million for the year. Moving on to HydraSpecma. HydraSpecma really continues their very positive development and delivers very solid profitability. Top line was up 5% in the quarter to DKK 826 million. A really strong and good development that was driven by our global OEM segment and also the Nordic IAM segment. We have especially experienced very good activity within two segments, defense and marine. EBITDA also came up 9% to DKK 96 million for the quarter. Here we really benefited from strong commercial excellence and all the supply chain optimizations that we have been doing or HydraSpecma have been doing over some time. Also here we had one-off costs to facilitate relocations. HydraSpecma really plans for future growth. They are finalizing relocation to what we call best cost countries.
They are consolidating our two Chinese factories into one, and they are pushing very hard to develop attractive segments. Guidance uplift based on Q1 and Q2 solid performance. Top line now expected to be DKK 3 billion-DKK 3.2 billion and EBITDA around DKK 362 million-DKK 390 million. This guidance includes one-off costs of expected level of DKK 30 million-DKK 35 million. Moving on from HydraSpecma into Borg Automotive, where we see a totally different picture for that company. Borg continues to face very fierce competition and combined with a soft demand. Top line was down 11% to DKK 484 million and especially the brake caliper segment drove volumes down. EBITDA of course also down 66% to DKK 20 million. Here we experienced general pressure on margins but also increased salary costs, increasing quite a lot in Poland.
Also we have to say we have taken over the quarter one-off cost of DKK 11 million compared to quarter two 2024 where we had a positive one-off impact of DKK 10 million. Borg, they have really planned strong mitigations to change the development. We have defined a new operating and strategic plan for the company. We call it Refine for Future and expect this plan to drive DKK 100 million profit uplift over the coming two years. A lot of things are going on: relocation, streamlining of footprint. We announced that we have acquired a company in Tunisia, a best cost country, etc. We have a new management team in front to really front that plan and drive it over the coming year. Borg is downgrading EBITDA also because of the plans and the costs combined with the Refine for Future plan.
We downgrade top line now expected to be DKK 2 billion-DKK 2.2 billion, EBITDA around DKK 100 million-DKK 130 million. In this guidance, we expect the one-off costs to accommodate the Refine for Future plan of DKK 40 million. Moving on to Fibertex Personal Care, they delivered better than expected. Top line decreased 13% to DKK 426 million. Good to see that our European segment, our European market really continues to be very stable. Our U.S. print business is doing very well. EBITDA in spite of top line down was up 7% to DKK 48 million. Here we saw rather positive raw material development but also had gains from efficiency and good operational activities. Fibertex Personal Care setting up for future. Our Asian market, as we have elaborated on several occasions, it's still challenged but slowly recovering. Maybe we are seeing some opportunities there.
We are driving very hard on innovation and focusing in these markets in the Asian area. We are building a platform for capacity utilization in Malaysia, especially because we are doing a lot of innovation and new product development. Guidance uplift for Fibertex Personal Care, top line expected to be DKK 1.5 billion-DKK 1.7 billion and EBITDA now DKK 160 million-DKK 180 million. In general, Fibertex Personal Care developed more positively than we expected when we went into the year. Finalizing the walkthrough of the companies with Fibertex Nonwovens. Fibertex Nonwovens finally see tailwind on the U.S. markets. It really had a positive impact on Fibertex Nonwovens. Top line, however, down 3% to DKK 581 million, more or less driven entirely by exchange rates. We see soft demand from large segments such as auto and construction in Europe. We have this good development in the U.S.
EBITDA down 2% to DKK 57 million. Positive here is that the U.S. still is in a build-up phase, but with a very solid profitability improvement and also looking good for the future. Margin mix is a little bit different due to lower activity in some of the larger European segments. Fi N is building on their capacity platform and also on their added value products. They are doing a lot of innovation and R&D. Large investments in production facilities are now set to deliver. We have a very attractive innovation pipeline and we see increasing demand from our global customers. Full year guidance largely unchanged. Top line adjusted slightly to DKK 2.2 billion-DKK 2.4 billion and EBITDA maintained in the range of DKK 200 million-DKK 230 million. Concluding on this company walkthrough, looking at the guidance at large, full year guidance narrowed despite volatility and uncertainties.
A lot of things are going on out there in the markets, but I think we have from our management teams done a lot to mitigate this uncertainty. EBITDA now expected to be DKK 2.83 billion-DKK 3.09 billion and in this guidance we have included one-off costs of around DKK 100 million to accommodate all the mitigation plans. Some key drivers for our positive outlook, we expect strong second half. We have a solid order backlog that supports our guidance and we have contingency plans at hand in all our operating companies. On that note, let me open up for questions. Emil, welcome.
I have questions. I will start with a broader question on the overall business environment. Similar to last quarter, you highlighted uncertainty and volatility from the geopolitical situation. Maybe if you could start by providing some additional comments on how the customer demand, buying patterns have developed through Q2 in light of that. What are customers telling you? Are they taking a cautious stance in some areas, or has sentiment actually improved as certain areas have become more clear? Any comment on that would be useful.
Yeah, I think, Emil, that as a caution has softened up a little bit in several of our companies. We see customers pushing more for orders, demanding more. Of course, we are in a period where things are moved suddenly, all of a sudden, from one month to the other. In general, we see that companies get more used to the volatility and say, "Okay, of course we need to develop and continue and so on." I think, or not think, we see a little more positive outlook from some of our large global customers. Of course, they are concerned as usual, but I think also our backlog supports that we have a slightly more positive view on the world and on the future. Maybe, as I said, companies have been more accustomed to how the situation really is now, new normal.
Okay, have you experienced any difference between large customers, small customers? Any insight to that?
Yeah, I wouldn't say so. Of course, if you look at, let's just take HydraSpecma as an example. There we see our smaller segments, industrial aftermarket customers in the Nordics, a little bit more positive. We also see some segments more positive as defense, marine. Then in Fibertex Nonwovens, we have seen the automotive segment, especially in Europe, being a little bit soft, but still asking in for more volume, demanding more and so. In the broader picture, I more see that people start, or companies start to say, "Okay, we also need to develop for the future and get more used to the situation.
Okay, thank you. Moving on with a few questions on BioMar. You reported 14% volume growth year-on-year with double-digit growth across all three segments. This was offset by lower raw material prices and customer mix. Given the strong BioMar growth we have seen recently, both in Norway and Chile, it provides a solid base for continued volume growth. If you could elaborate on your expectations for pricing and customer mix for the last two quarters, will they continue to offset the potential to continue volume growth, or how should we view that part?
No, I think you should read it. As I also said, we have had, and we elaborated also on that last year, that we had a very, very strong 2024 with BioMar. Also, we had all the good things, all things going in the good direction for us and so on. We also said maybe we have been a little bit too low on volume, and we started up a volume strategy to utilize production efficiency more. We are pursuing that strategy. We got the volume as we wanted. I think also I said that over the last two quarters we have seen more moving into standard products and so on because biological situations, things like that, have been good. We expect a very strong second half.
You will also look at the figures and say, "Okay, we need to deliver a strong second half, and we have volume, we have contracts, we have raw material positions to deliver on that.
That's very clear. Thank you. The mentioned effect from a customer mix with higher volumes toward large customers, did that in isolation have any impact on margins in the quarter? Was that change in mix already anticipated? I ask because your narrowed full-year guidance still implies the same midpoint EBITDA margin as in your previous guidance. Is there any effect on margin from the changing customer mix in the quarter?
Of course we have seen a little effect on it. Also, there's a product mix effect that is difficult, of course, to put an exact figure on. There's been the raw materials. Of course, also we have negotiated new contracts. We have moved in some countries. Let's just take Ecuador as an example. Into larger customers, we have discussed that over some years that when we acquired our Ecuadorian business, we had a lot of small customers and we needed to move the business into having these larger customers. We, of course, see an effect of that we are into larger customers, but also then risks are much lower. It's a combination.
Okay. I'll move on with a few questions on major GPV before I jump back in the line. You've mentioned that demand remains soft but showing relative improvement versus Q1. Should we view this as the start of the turning point you expect materializing in the second half of the year? Maybe if you could provide a comment on current trading, has the improvement continued so far in Q3?
What we have seen so far, yes, it has improved. It's slowly, step by step, but I think we are also saying here that we see the first signals of increasing demand. We see customers more positive on future. Of course, a lot of things are still stop and go because what happens on the tariff side into the U.S. and so on. Yeah, we see a slight recovery and expect that to continue. We have a very attractive pipeline, both new customers but also with the projects from old customers that they really want to put into action.
Okay. By this time of the year, I assume you have very good visibility on the order book for the remainder of the year. How does the segment mix compare with a year ago? Are there any segments that are now weighting more in the overall mix? You can share some insights too.
To be honest, no, we don't see really that some segments are sticking out more than others. I have to say that our Chinese business is doing very, very well. We have a strong position in China into Chinese customers and into Chinese railway and other customers that have been doing super well. We still, over the across markets and customers, see these small first signals of positive sentiment, to say it like that.
Okay. The China effect, can that be related to the trade tensions or how do you...
Not at all. It's internally China. We have a strong market position also in China.
Perfect. Thank you very much. I will jump back in the line.
Thank you very much, Emil. Wei from SEB. Welcome.
Hi, Wei from SEB. Thank you for taking my question. I have two questions, do one at a time. Firstly, I just want to follow up on the BioMar EBITDA margin. I mean, the midpoint of the guidance range is indicating 9.1%, but you only delivered 7.5%. If my calculation is correct, then you probably need to do around 10% EBITDA margin in the second half, which would be the historic high level or historically record level. What would be the margin drivers? Could you please elaborate a bit more? You have mentioned a bit in the previously.
Yeah, the margin drivers, volume, running efficiency high. As I also said, we expect to and need to deliver a strong second half, and that's also what we guide on. Volume will be a strong driver, customer mix, of course, but also efficiency along the supply chain. You can move a lot more on into the logistics and things like that. It's a combination of internal efficiency, our supply chain efficiency, and then, of course, also utilizing the raw material basket and mix to optimize on our recipe, which is very important also for BioMar.
Is it fair to assume that you do expect an EBITDA margin for the second half could be more than 10%?
We don't comment on EBITDA margin so far. A lot of things will be going on, but of course we need to drive volume, etc., and the guidance is based on these things.
Okay, fair enough. Could you also comment a bit on the FX impacts in the second half, given the big change in the U.S. dollar? BioMar has quite a lot of U.S. dollar exposure. I know it's not 100% neutral on the EBITDA impact.
We have not taken any significant adjustments into our guidance on U.S. dollar.
Do you expect any impact from the currency change?
Not really, no. We can hedge and mix and so on. We don't really expect any real exchange. Of course, things can go totally down, etc., but we don't expect that as we see it yet.
Okay, thank you. I'll jump back to the queue.
Thank you very much.
Claus Almer, welcome.
Thank you. Yeah, also a few questions from my side. The first question is a congratulation with a very positive trend within BioMar's working capital. I know this has been a many years-long effort that is starting to pay off. Do you see additional potential from this point?
To be honest, we really keep focus on it, Claus. I think really in BioMar, it's a strong focus. Across the board in Schouw , it has really put a lot of focus on it. I think everyone really starts to see that, okay, if we continue to push and push and push, it will have effects. There will still be potential. Of course, all you know, if activity levels are increasing and so on, then things will happen. We push hard for it still. We're not at the end.
Sounds good. Secondly, BioMar's product mix, you mentioned this move from a more specialty feed to more commodity feed due to the situation, especially in Norway. I guess you're also pushing the other way back as the profitability is better. Could you put some more color to what you expect, especially in the second half? Is it the same mix as you had last year's second half? That will help understanding the guidance a bit better.
Of course, we always base our guidance on a normal year if we don't see anything exploding. Guidance now is based on a normal farming year. Of course, you know, up and downs and so on. We have not taken into account that a lot of biological things would happen. We're knocking wood on that also. It's based on a normal farming year. With good volume, we see BioMar is quite attractive. Of course, also running, as we have discussed many times, our commercial excellence, the way we go to market, the way we work with the customers to get them on more efficient diets and things like that. That's what we have been doing, Claus.
Okay. Moving to Borg Automotive, this core adjustment you did in Q2, have you seen additional adjustments here in Q3? What should we expect for the second half that might be embedded in the guidance?
Yeah, we don't see any not huge core regulations, but what you see is also we expect DKK 40 million one-offs to a lot of things going on. We already took DKK 11 million of these in June. We will relocate, we will close down, we will do a lot of things and also both relocate factories, but also relocate product groups and things like that. That's what's in the guidance.
Because this will be my second question regarding Borg , that you have minus DKK 11 million from the core adjustment, which I guess was not embedded in your guidance. You are now talking DKK 30, 40 million from restructuring costs, where the impact will probably mostly be for next year. Yet you are only, you see, downgrading your EBITDA guidance by this DKK 40, 50 million. We also talk about an intensified pricing environment. It is quite impressive that it doesn't hit your profitability more fiercely.
Yeah, we will also, and I think that's a very relevant and good question. Of course, to be honest, it has been a concern we have been discussing a lot. We see efficiency when we do these relocations, when we move. I think you remember, Claus, that we acquired this company in Tunisia, where we are relocating a lot of products from other sites, coming in with a much lower cost base on that. Our cost base in Poland really exploded last year, not because of bad efficiency, but because minimum wages in Poland from a law point of view should be increased. It increased 30%. We are, that's what we are going to benefit from.
Okay. The last question goes to Personal Care. Yeah, you know, very surprisingly, I would say, at least for me, that you started to see improvement in Asia. What is actually driving that improvement?
Yeah, to be 100% clear, it's not that we see things exploding in a positive direction in Asia, but we see small signs, two things. One is that a lot of our key customers, they really are coming back, knocking the door and saying, "Okay, maybe we moved too much, too fast because you are a quality supplier, we can rely on you," and so on. We see a positive effect of having been in the market for so many years and work with the largest customers. That's one thing. The other thing is that we are really into innovation and we have a new product in the making. We are not disclosing it 100% yet, but a very interesting new product. We are running tests and trials on it. Hopefully that could really also change things in Asia. That's what we are on.
Are these key customers coming back? I guess you haven't lost the volumes for them, but they are realizing that they can't be too price aggressive and using lower quality alternatives as a way to push down prices.
I think.
Is it also a volume gain you're seeing?
Of course, that's also a volume gain, but it is also this that sometimes, you know, things just happen too fast, and then customers, they also have quality requirements, delivery security, and a lot of things. It is a combination of many things we are seeing, Claus. I think really because we have been in the market for so many years, we feel a small uptake on this. Yeah.
Okay, great. That was all from my side. Thanks so much.
Thank you, Claus. It seems that there are no more. Yes, we have Emil, I can see. Emil, you're welcome.
Yes, thank you. Just one last question from my side on BioMar. Just going back to the higher volumes, which is tilted towards large customers, I assume that's part of your effort to recover volumes and potentially regain some market shares after a few years with strong focus on profitability rather than growth. Can you confirm if you have regained some market share during the first half of the year?
We have, I think we have stabilized our market share, and we will see into the second half that we will grow our market share, especially in Chile. We will see a market share uplift. You're right, and it has been a clear strategy now also to get more volume, not to go crazy on volume, and then keep our commercial excellence focused when we get the volume. We have learned a lot over the last years on how to handle larger contracts.
Perfect. That's clear. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Emil. Okay. Now we see, yeah, we have Claus. Are you?
Yeah, I give you the last one.
Yeah, of course.
Mowi. Any thoughts, comments, thinking around that potential transaction?
Also just very open and very frank, of course, Mowi is a big animal in the Norwegian market and everyone in salmon business, feed, etc., of course, is looking into it. We're not disclosing anything. We are the thing and things have been not moving. Let's see what happens. We are looking at everyone else. That's where it is. There's nothing new on that to be very specific, Claus.
Do things move on or is it just totally quiet?
From my chair, it's rather quiet. Yeah.
Okay. All right. That was all from my side. Thanks.
Okay, Claus. Thanks a lot. I think we don't see any further questions. Thanks a lot to everyone for listening and asking questions, and good weekend from all of us.