Good afternoon, everyone. We will start our first time ever investor call at Financière de Tubize. We are very glad that you were so many to answer positively to our invite, so we expect approximately 50 people today. We hope that it will be an interesting meeting for all of us. Just starting with a few housekeeping matters. As you have seen, some of the participants were actually letting their microphone open. I have closed all the mics of everyone. When we will do the Q&A, we will actually ask you to raise your hands electronically, and we will open your mic at that time so that we can do that without the disturbance of noise from other participants. This being said, the meeting is also recorded. This is standard in our profession.
Now let's start. I am actually Eric Nys . I am the Director of Financière de Tubize. You will soon see also my colleague, Anne Keup , and we are basically the two people running the operations of Financière de Tubize. Entering our presentation and before actually going to some figures, it is useful to go back to our mission. What is exactly Financière de Tubize doing? You know that our company, Financière de Tubize, is the reference shareholder of UCB. We own 36% of the shares of UCB. Ourselves, we are actually controlled by 53% of family shareholders. That means that we have on our board and in our shareholders the descendants of Emmanuel Janssen, who actually created UCB way back in 1928. Okay? We have four family branches that are controlling our company.
With the 36% that we own in UCB, you also understand that we do not control UCB, because you would need 50% of the shares of UCB, but we have what we call a significant influence. It means that we have a significant say at the board of UCB. In practice, we have, at Financière de Tubize, 11 board members, eight of which are actually coming from the four family branches, two directors by family branch. Okay? We have four representatives of Financière de Tubize sitting on the board of UCB. In practice, it means that we have a significant say in the discussions that are held at UCB board.
What is also very important to understand what we do is that when you think about our family shareholders, you have to look at them as they have received shares from the previous generation with a duty, which is actually to transmit the same shares to the next generation in even better shape than they received. Okay. Everything that we do is basically in that philosophy. We are there to support UCB in the long term so that that company can create value and grow further in the future. That's really important because our obsession, if you wish, is to make sure that our representative at the board of UCB will be very instrumental in taking the right decision at the board of UCB for the future of UCB.
That's why also, so the mission of the Financière de Tubize is making our representative as relevant as possible. That's why, you have maybe seen that in our annual reports, if you had already the time to read a bit, the annual report, we have actually strengthened the expertise of our board with two very heavy profile in biopharma, being Carinne Brouillon. She has very extensive experience and expertise in all the commercial side of medicines. That was at Johnson & Johnson. Iris Löw-Friedrich, who actually is more skilled in the development of pharmaceuticals. She was actually head of the development of UCB for a while, but now she has left UCB and is board member of our company.
In a nutshell, we want to make our representatives as skilled as possible, and for that, we have that debate very enriched by those biopharma profiles to make sure that we stimulate the discussions around the key challenges that UCB faces. That's why also we have kind of reshuffled the time allocation that we have at our board, for actually making sure that we discuss all the strategic topics during our board that can fuel then the reflection at UCB board via our representatives. Okay? This is very important to understand that we are not only a financial holding company, we have also the role of making sure that our representatives have an influence on the discussions that are held at the board of UCB.
Now, a very important pillar of our mission is together with what we just covered, the fact that as the reference shareholders of UCB, we want to offer the stability needed for UCB to actually fuel its future growth. That means that if at one point in time in the future, UCB needs to make an acquisition to enrich the pipeline to replace Bimzelx in 10 years' time, well, basically, we want to make sure that we will be able to participate in potential capital increase. Because the way it works is that UCB first would like to finance that on their own funds, but they have also access to capital via their bankers, but that might not be enough depending on the size. If there is a capital increase, our role will be to support that capital increase and to participate.
Now, depending on the size of that capital increase, maybe if we don't have the time to quickly enough get the money needed to participate, we also see the stocks, the shares, UCB shares that we have on our balance sheet as actually a dilution potential. Meaning that if we don't participate fully to the capital increase, we can get diluted. Meaning we can let other participant dilute our participation, but what we want to make sure is that we don't go below the 30% threshold. That gives you a bit the limit that we want to accept or not. We will not go underneath the 30% stake in UCB. Everything that we have above that, and as I said earlier, we are now at 36.28%.
Everything that we have above those 30%, we see either as a dilution potential to actually participate to a capital increase but get partially diluted. This is very important because you know that we don't pay all the dividend that we receive from UCB. This is because we need to keep that firepower to be able to help, to assist, and to participate in a capital increase in case UCB would have the need to get in an acquisition mode. That's, I think, very important to understand that the 6% above the 3% is kind of that firepower that we want to keep, and that justifies the fact that we keep acquiring UCB shares.
Because this, every time we acquire some UCB shares, that actually increases that firepower that we have available to support UCB in the future. I think now is the time to get into some figures, and I will then give the word to Anne Keup . Anne, can you show us a bit the slides about the figures, please?
Yes, of course. This first slide about the stock price shows the evolution of both stock prices, UCB and Financière de Tubize. 2025 confirmed the potential of UCB key growth drivers, Bimzelx, Fintepla, Rystiggo, and Zilbrysq, and fueled its stock price and ours by the same token. We can go to the next slide where we have added two indices, the BEL 20 and the STOXX Europe 600, for comparison, and all converted to a base 100 scale at the start of January 2016. You can see the performance of Tubize's stock price. Yes.
This chart shows for each year presented the total shareholder return on the one hand for Financière de Tubize, and on the other hand, for UCB in the dark blue line. The TSR takes into account not only the return related to the dividend received from holding Tubize shares, but also the stock price appreciation over the year in question. We can observe on the one hand that the TSR of the two companies is highly correlated. Sometimes, TB is performing better than UCB, and sometimes the opposite happens. The spike we see in 2024 reflects the growth of the stock price that was EUR 72 at the beginning of the year, and to EUR 142 on December 31st, 2024.
Really, the EUR 77.2-EUR 142, twice as much. The increase in 2025 was also very sharp, but relatively less spectacular. Even from EUR 142 to EUR 209. Now we can go, yes, to the evolution of our dividend and the dividend yield. Of course, our yield has mechanically decreased with the sharp increase in our stock price. We can go to the last slide about the discount. You have noticed that our discount had surged in 2024 and in the first three quarters of 2025, and has now come back to a more reasonable ground. Now we can move on to the next topic, our societal impact.
Since 2024, we started a program with the Pulse Foundation to select projects focused on improving access to healthcare. We were impressed by the number and quality of the applications we received. More than 25, of which six candidates were invited to present their project to the jury in December last year. Finally, given the high quality of these projects, the jury decided to select two winners who will receive EUR 50,000 each and a specific coaching as well. It's a great adventure to look forward to. This concludes our presentation. Thank you for your attention. Of course, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.
If you have a question, please raise your hand electronically, and we'll unmute your mic so that you can speak. It would be, of course, better if you could switch on your camera so that everyone can see you. Any question? Okay. You can actually switch your mic on yourself. I have activated your mic.
Okay. Good evening.
Good evening.
I have a question on the capital increase or the possible capital increase that you mentioned-
Yes
for UCB. UCB itself has a good balance with little net cash position. They have certain power to finance takeovers themselves. What is the need for the moment for Tubize to build also some power? Because when you look at the dividends and the dividend amount that you receive from UCB every year, and the amount that you give to the shareholders of Tubize, you get every year EUR 50 million or something more than that in the pockets of Tubize. Why the needs for the moment to have that firepower? Because you have also a credit facility and so on.
Yes. We have a credit facility of EUR 350 million. The answer to your question is basically that we believe we need that firepower because a transaction could go quicker than expected, and then we would need the money. In other words, we invest in UCB shares because we consider that it's creating value in itself. We don't keep cash on our balance sheet, which would be totally inefficient.
Mm-hmm.
Because basically what you can get out of cash is not very high as a return, I would say. Buying UCB shares, since we believe that UCB shares is a good investment, that's why we put it in on our balance sheet this way. Of course, you understand as well that to increase that firepower, it takes quite some time. That build-up, we don't have a target ownership percentage, but we still want to increase it because, as you have seen with the stock price of UCB, of course, it's not like from one day to the other that we increase the ownership by 1%. We do it progressively.
Because when you look at UCB, they have a lot of late clinical trials, so that's okay. If they want to invest, it will be in first place for clinical trials that are in phase II, so they need not that big amount for that. They need not that big amount for that. I was wondering why the needs or is it something that you expect a capital increase? Because, you know, they have a lot of firepower for the moment.
It's just in case, basically.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Because really our mission is to be there for the long term.
Mm-hmm.
If that happens, we want to be there.
Mm-hmm.
Will UCB need us in the coming years, month? We don't know.
Mm-hmm.
That's just our strategy, to build up over time.
Because there is also another problem that the discount of de Tubize is very high, almost 50%. A dividend increase that's more than the increase in UCB would be a possibility to lower the discount.
On the discount, it's also a very good question. We have been debating that quite a lot last year and we are still in debate. We have various messages from our counsel.
Mm-hmm.
Some of them say, "Well, whatever you do, including, for example, share buybacks, whatever you do, you don't really have control over your discount." Of course, we're sensitive to shareholders proposing that we do share buybacks or other possible actions. We are not yet convinced that we can have a lever on the discount. Yes, it has been very significant. Now it has decreased a bit. We're sensitive to that. We're looking at our discount very regularly. We're not decided on doing share buybacks or excluding share buybacks. This is something that we could consider, but right now we have not taken the decision yet.
Mm-hmm.
In favor or against, so it's still in debate at our board.
Okay, thanks. I leave the floor to other persons.
Okay. Other questions?
You hear me?
Yes, I hear you.
Thank you. I think I heard from the chairman of UCB that now that they have a lot of income coming in from the medical products, that they are starting to look at expansion and buying another pharmaceutical firm. That's probably why you are keeping these reserves, these strategic financial reserves, in order to eventually help UCB. At what kind of speed would you guess that this would occur with UCB in targeting another pharmaceutical firm?
We have no idea, basically.
No idea.
That's the answer. It's a potentiality. Will that occur or not? It all depends on market circumstances. Will they find a right company or not? You know, that depends on really. Honestly, it's really more the job of UCB to actually scout for that type of opportunity than us. We just want to be ready for them when it comes.
That's it.
Yeah.
Another question. I noticed, and you said it, you've stopped buying shares of UCB for the moment in order to not to draw on the credit lines. When you cash in the next dividend of UCB, you will have a little bit of cash left, which means you could continue or start again, purchasing UCB shares, I imagine.
It is our intention.
Okay. Thank you. Another question still. A large number of Financière de Tubize were on the market four months ago. It's a Belgian bank who placed the shares individually, I think, in three blocks. Were you tempted to buy back some of these shares for creating more value for the shareholders?
Well, that's basically the answer I gave to the other participants asking about why what we do about the discount. Share buybacks is not really on our radar, but we're still discussing. Because we hear the fact that as you mentioned, of course, financially it would create financial value for the shareholders. But it's a bit against our mission because as I said earlier, every euro that goes straight to our shareholder, of course, that will make our shareholder happy. But at the same time, it's money that we don't keep as firepower to assist UCB. That kind of balance, we need to find it at every moment, and the discussions are still ongoing.
Thank you.
You're welcome. Other questions?
Sorry, I come back to the dividend, if I may. In the last years, you have increased the dividends with more than 10%. Now it's only 4%. For me, that's bizarre that you now lowered the increase of the dividends. That means that there is something going on or not? I have the impression that the capital increase will be something for the near future.
The reasoning behind the setting of the dividend has always been the same. Of course, since we have increased quite significantly in the last years, of course, the more you grow, if you want to keep the percentage, you have to, in absolute value, put a lot more on the dividend. That's not what we wanted to do. Again, the balance is, okay, we don't want to pass through everything to the shareholders, but we understand that we of course want to make our shareholders happy. We try to find a balance between keeping that firepower and actually making our shareholders happy. You're right that the increase is only 4% this year, but you know, we are really prudent shareholder.
We have seen what UCB dividend increase is. It's also about 4%. We don't want to actually go too much, you know, too much ahead. We look at what UCB, we want to keep that balance, and that's a bit how we decide actually. Of course, we're really aiming also at making our shareholders happy. As Anne disclosed, we see that the value for our shareholders is not only our dividend. Because of course, since our stock price as and that's totally correlated with the stock price of UCB, has increased so much, of course, that's also a significant return as shown on the TSR figures. And the yield, of course, is a small portion compared to the increase in the stock price.
I think that also is a way to make our shareholders happy, if you wish. It's a package. We have provided stock appreciation plus a dividend, which is only, if you wish, 4% higher than last year, but still 4% is a, it's a nice figure.
Perhaps another question.
For-
When do you think that?
For your remark, you should not make any link between the setup of the dividend and any potential event at UCB. We look at UCB quite independently, and the way we have set up the dividend has nothing to do with specific events.
Mm
that would occur at UCB.
Perhaps a last question.
Sure.
When do you find UCB a good investment? At what stock price? Is it below EUR 200, or can you say something about that?
Well, the way we structure our investment in UCB, we have a regular policy. Actually, this year was kind of an exception, when I say this year, 2025 was a bit of an exception. We have a structural program to buy UCB shares. Actually, we don't try to beat the market. We're just buying a bit between the date we receive the dividend from UCB and the next dividend. We just follow the flow, if you wish. Still believing that the UCB underlying value is good.
Thank you.
You're welcome. Any other questions? If you don't mind, I will ask a new person. I will come back to you later, okay? Okay. The person who raised their hand, you can now activate your mic.
You hear me now?
Yes. Yes.
Yeah. Thank you very much for your explanations. I learned quite a bit. One of the questions I used to have is,
Gosh, why do they buy UCB shares and why don't they buy TB shares? Now I fully understand that. Thank you for your openness and for sharing this. Thank you.
You're very welcome. Thank you for your interest in our company. Okay, you can now go on. You can ask your question. Yes, you.
It's not a question. In fact.
Okay
Being a long term investor, one figure which I enjoy looking at is the total shareholder return over a long period.
Okay
The nice figure this year was, for the last 10 years, total shareholder return of more than 14%. I don't feel unhappy with that kind of figure.
It makes us happy to make you happy.
Thank you for the good management, including buying a lot of UCB shares over the last five years. I think it was a very good investment.
Indeed. Thank you for that. Any other questions? Okay. If we have actually got to the end of the questions, if you don't mind, I would like to ask you a few questions because actually you understand that this investor call is a bit a premiere for us. A lot of companies do that regularly. For us, it's a bit a first test and I think based on the numerous people participating, we'll do that again. We have a question regarding actually what you see in investing in Financière de Tubize. Maybe we'll do a little vote with the electronic hand. I just would like to understand, and perhaps there are three typical investment case. One is playing the discount. Actually simplistically said, you buy UCB for cheap, right?
The other one would be you totally follow our vision, which is, as was just mentioned in the last remark, we are here for the long term, and therefore we know that we have a joint interest with the people at Financière de Tubize to actually be rewarded over the long term. Okay? That's the long-term view. The discount view was the first one. The third is maybe the fact that you see a lot of potential in the underlying being UCB. Like, you would like to get a return. What is the view? What is the long-term view? Could you raise your hands, the people who actually believe that they are in Financière de Tubize who or consider investing in Financière de Tubize because they share the long-term view? Okay. Okay. Good.
I think we have, and if I count correctly, eight people. Yes, eight people with that view. What about the discount view? Getting UCB for cheap. I'll ask the other ones to actually remove their hands because otherwise we won't be able to count correctly, if you don't mind. Okay, very good. The last one being the return or the yield. Okay, thank you. Very interesting. I think there are still a lot of people who didn't express themselves, but that's okay. I get the message, basically. Thank you very much. Is there anyone that still wants to make a remark or a question? If that's not the case, we'll end up here. The hands that we have that are raised, is it for questions or is it still from the poll?
Okay, I'll give the word to the raised hands that remains. Jan, you have the word if you want. You can activate your mic.
I'm sorry. I should have lowered my hand. I'm sorry.
That's okay. Now I will go to another person then. Okay. Hubert, you have the word if you wish. You have to activate your mic if you want to speak. No. Okay, never mind. I think we are at the end of this investor call. I really wanted, in the name of Anne and myself and our board members, to thank you for the participation, which we found very promising. We'll do that again, we promise, and we hope that you will also join us at our general assembly that will take place on the twenty-fourth of April, live at UCB premises. With that, thank you again and see you next time, hopefully. Bye-bye.