Good morning. On behalf of Montega, welcome to the earnings call of the AlzChem Group AG regarding the Q1 figures of 2023. The CEO, Andreas Niedermaier, and the CSO, Dr. Georg Weichselbaumer, will give you a presentation on the results in a moment. Afterwards, there will be enough time for our Q&A session. Questions can then be asked via audio line or chat. We are looking forward to the results. I hand over to Mr. Niedermaier.
Yes, thank you for the handover and good morning together. Thank you for joining us today and welcome to our quarter one analyst call and the presentation of our successful start into the year. At the end of the presentation, we will be available for questions, let's skip the disclaimer and go directly to the page five. I will turn the slides here. Hopefully, the machine is taking my actions. Yes. Everything we promised was implemented positively here. We started the first quarter with a significant jump in sales, and once again, our specialties were the main growth drivers. Following the very good sales, we were also able to lift EBITDA significantly above the prior year, although we still have to work on the margin.
Nevertheless, thanks to further optimization measures and the very good business performance, we were also able to generate a positive operating and also a very positive free cash flow here. Our freshly commissioned Creapure plant is running very well. Apart from a few teething problems, it is already producing at full capacity and the plant is running at such high utilization rate that we will continue to push ahead with a further incremental expansion this year. We will probably be able to report more on this in quarter four. When good things come to those who wait, our climate report for CO2 reduction has taken shape to such an extent that we will be submitting it to the Say on Climate vote at next week's annual general meeting here.
Today, we can already give you a short teaser about that, therefore, I turn the page to the next slide. It's page six. With the slogan, with optimized energy and material cycles to sustainable production, this is how we describe our climate roadmap here. Climate change is one of the greatest global challenges, and therefore also a major factor influencing our business activities. Everyone in society must therefore contribute to shaping a sustainable future in which the available resources are used in the best possible way. As a globally active specialty chemicals company, we have always been aware of our special responsibility for the environment. Our company has been around since 1908, already more than 115 years, and we believe this is only possible through sustainable action integrated into our DNA.
We understand sustainable management as an elementary premise to maintain and further developing our economic, our social, and our ecological performance. Only in harmony with the environment and through responsible, sustainable action is economic success achievable for us in the long term. The targets, you see that, on the next page here, we have set ourselves are really challenging, but will achievable. What do we want to achieve until 2030? EUR 30 million CapEx for sustainable topics, resulting in EUR 6 million annual financial savings, and therefore in total calculable projects. Approximately 90,000 tons of CO2 savings per year. That is approximately 75% less CO2 emission than as of today. This is not enough.
We believe that almost 100% savings are possible, and that would be approximately 1 10,000 tons of CO2 than in the year of 2033. Facing the future, our path to climate neutrality, how we measure and fuel this can be derived from the Scope Model. On the next page, here you can see our Scope 1 projects plotted on the green timeline compared to the federal government target with the red line. This means we can be 10 to 12 years faster than the federal government is currently telling us to be. By 2030, specific projects have already been defined that will lead to a 75% reduction in CO2, as already talked about that.
Between 2030 and 2033, we use the chart to interpolate the graph and assume that if we continue our efforts at the same rate as up to 2030, Net Zero consumption is really possible in 2033. Now, of course, it's interesting to know that these projects are. That would probably go beyond the scope of today, but only so much about it. We work with the following principles or with the following four principles. We want to close our production cycles more efficiently. What we are talking about here is that we use our own CO2 emission for our products. Second, we reduce the amount of energy required. Here we have some processes. We produce hydrogen, we try to use that in the processes.
The third point, we make more intensive use of the waste heat generated in our production process. The fourth, we try to avoid any form of waste of resources. You are welcome to find out more about this on our website, at the NL general meeting or in personal meetings. Let me show you some more information about the dimension by itself. This is plotted on page nine here. With the climate roadmap, we have developed a powerful set of instruments that will have a powerful record in the end. The packages of measures described are expected to lead to a CO2 reduction of around 90,000 tons, and that is more than 75% we have already heard. By way of comparison, a beech tree has to grow for a full 80 years to absorb one single ton of CO2.
If we implement our climate plan consistently, we will have already offset the remaining 25% of our emissions by 2033 and achieved the targets climate neutrality. We can make this bold statement because we already know very precisely our remaining emissions in 2030. Here, we will be using the latest technologies, particularly in our plants. We are already working on initial ideas and solutions, for example, replacing the steam drying process we currently use with a modern induction process, promises considerable saving potentials. It's also clear that a chemical company like ours is unlikely to be able to completely avoid its CO2 emissions, given the current state of knowledge. We will therefore reduce the unavoidable residual emissions to net zero by taking appropriate compensatory measures. The most important statement can be seen in the graph.
Together with all the countermeasures and Scope 4 reductions, we will have already crossed the zero line in 2030. Taking into account only two end products, namely Creamino and Eminex, we will have a clearly positive CO2 footprint. In other words, we can save more CO2 than is released in all production processes, and that's, from our point of view, is a serious statement. So much for the first introduction to our climate roadmap. Let's now get into the figure mining in more detail on the next page, and there we are talking about page 10, and you should already see that. We were able to significantly increase sales compared to the first quarter of 2022. Overall sales amounted to around EUR 150 million, an increase of around EUR 21 million or 16% compared to the same period of the previous year.
The main drivers of this development were the products from the Specialty Chemicals segment, which contributed EUR 20.5 million to the increase in sales. Looking at the group as a whole, the increase in sales was mainly generated by 21% price increases, which overall had to and were able to compensate for around 6% volume decline. EBITDA increased by EUR 1.8 million to EUR 18.9 million. This corresponds to an increase of 11% compared with the same period of the previous year. However, the EBITDA margin fell from 13.2% in the previous year to 12.6% in Q1. Despite the significant sales increases, it was not possible to fully compensate for the cost increases on the raw material side, in personal costs and in other expenses, especially in the Basic and Intermediate segment.
We are trying to focus more and more on our higher margin and therefore the specialty product areas. The earnings per share follow the result of the period and are unchanged at EUR 0.76, and here we are, where influences from the balance sheet in the previous year, which we can analyze later on if you want. So much for the big picture and the overview. Let us see some more market developments that Georg Weichselbaumer will present to us on the next few pages. I turn to page 13, beginning with basic and intermediates here.
Yeah. Thank you, Andreas. The Basic and Intermediate segment continues to feel the effects of high raw material and energy costs. Sales and EBITDA in this segment matched the previous year's level. This was only possible by trading volumes for price increases. The picture across the segment was mixed. The agricultural product area with the main product, Perlka, is struggling most with the high prices. Farmers simply refuse to buy nitrogen fertilizer in the face of high prices. They wait for price reductions or switch to lower-cost import fertilizers. The production of a nitrogen-based fertilizer, such as Perlka, consumes a large amount of electricity and therefore requires us to set prices accordingly. Business to the pharmaceutical industry for the building block, Dicyandiamide, stayed at pre-previous year's level.
Prices were ex-increased at the extent of volumes. Here too, production is very electricity intensive and other raw materials remain at elevated price levels. We have no choice but to raise prices to an economically sustainable level. Some customers have turned to competing products from China and have reduced orders from us in return. Other product areas in the segment were able to compensate for the decline in sales. For example, the nitrous product area and metallurgical products recorded a slight increase in sales. EBITDA matched the previous year's level with stable sales. Efficiency measures at the related production facilities mitigated the additional cost incurred here as a result of reduced production at other facilities. Earnings in this segment continue to react immediately to developments on the electricity market. Fluctuations in the electricity price can be seen here very quickly and directly in the segment's margin development.
Much for Basic and Intermediate segment. Let us now move on to the Specialty Chemicals segment. The Specialty Chemicals segment remained our sales and earnings driver in the first quarter of 2023. With an increase in sales of approximately EUR 20.5 million, our record was once again achieved in this segment. It is pleasing to note that the increase in sales resulted not only from price increases, but also from volume growth. Thus, around 8% of the sales growth was attributable to increased volumes, while around 21% came from the necessary price increases. Almost all product areas in the segment contributed to the sales growth. As expected, the largest share came from the dietary supplements business with Creapure, agriculture with Dormex, multipurpose plant products in custom manufacturing, and with Creamino in animal nutrition.
The largest volume increases were generated by the expansion of the Creapure capacity, which following commissioning in the final quarter of the previous year, is now on design capacity. As customer demand continues to significantly exceed capacity, an additional expansion has already been initiated, which should supply further additional volumes in the fourth quarter of 2023. Sales figures for Creamino are also up compared to the previous year, although not yet at the expected level. Only the Bioselect product area was unable to match the previous year's sales. Here, there's still very high inventory level of customers from the build-up during the Corona pandemic can be felt. Market expectations indicate rising demand in the second half of the fiscal year.
In absolute terms, the segment's EBITDA increased by EUR 1.8 million to EUR 16 million, but in relative terms, the margin decreased from 21.9% to 18.7%. Despite the enormous price increases, not all cost increases could be passed on to the market. Raw material prices are declining only slowly, and some have so far not declined at all. It will therefore be all more important in the current fiscal year to successfully pass on the resulting additional cost to our customers. Let us now move on to our third segment, Others and Holding. In a few words, the Other and Holding segment performed very well in the first quarter compared with the same quarter in 2022. In principle, the increase in sales was price-driven. Earnings were supported by a reversal of a provision.
Let us now take a look at the balance sheet and back to Andreas.
Yes, thank you, Georg. We will go to the balance sheet, and this is the page 18. I think you see that already on the screen. The increase in our total assets, by EUR 12.5 million to EUR 435 million resulted mainly from an increase in trade receivables as a result of significantly higher sales contributions. Furthermore, there were no extensions to payment terms or bad debt losses on the customer side. Compared to the previous year, further active measures enabled us to reduce inventories back to EUR 120 million, as promised already last year. Our equity also increased by EUR 5.3 million to EUR 151 as a function of the good results, and this also led to an increase in the equity ratio of 34.7%.
In the first quarter, EUR 30 million in non-current liabilities were raised. The short-term line was therefore reduced by this amount, but the original volume of short-term commitments was also maintained. We have thus re-established a reliable and sustainable financing structure. That's it for the balance sheet. Let us now have some words about the cash flow, and we will see that on page 19 here. In the first quarter, we generated a positive cash flow from operating activities of around EUR 10 million, and this represents an improvement of around EUR 16 million compared with the previous year. This is due to the effects of the successful reduction of inventories and a very good operating performance. In investing activities or CapEx, we started the year somewhat more cautiously, which also supported the free cash flow. Much for the cash flow.
A few words about the ongoing targets, which I brought with me on page 20 here. This year we are focusing mainly on three target areas: A, improvement, B, growth, and C, sustainability. Start with improvement. Our top priority this year remains to pass on all raw material price increases to our customers. Conversely, if raw material price were to fall significantly, this could also mean that we would give some of this back to our customers. We have decided to further increase flexibility in production. To this end, we will run one of our furnaces along the electricity price curve. This means that when electricity is cheap, we increase output, and when electricity is expensive, we reduce output or even shut down the carbide kiln yet. The third point is our zero-waste strategy.
This could also be classified as a sustainability goal, but for us, it has always been an important economic issue, and we are in the middle of implementing all the improvements, measures and are well on our way here from our point. Talking about growth. In the target area of growth, we are primarily focusing on filling the remaining spare capacities in Creapure, Creamino, nitriles and silicon nitride activities. We are already well on the way there, which we will then also see in the forecast on the next page. In addition to filling capacities, the focus is on establishing Eminex as a methane avoidance product. With Eminex, it would be possible to save about 5 million tons of CO2, as we have already seen today per year. So far, the final political will to support the implementation is missing.
We are working, I tell you every day, on that issue. As always, growth is also about plant expansion. We are planning the next steps for our multipurpose business, and the first expansion stage is already under construction here. Sustainability. In the sustainability target group, we are persistently pursuing the goal of zero accidents and zero waste. Another key point here is the implementation of our climate roadmap. Last but not least, we are working on the EU taxonomy regulation and the CSRD, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive or directive, so that we will be able to meet all requirements by 2024 at the latest. Here, too, we are in full implementation mode, and we have already reported a great deal on the climate roadmap today.
Right at the top of the list is, of course, our revenue and EBITDA target, which we will look at on the next page. This is page 21. You should see that already on the screen. From today's perspective, we continue to expect up to EUR 590 million in sales and around EUR 70 million in EBITDA. The planned sales growth will remain organic, and the fundamental growth drivers are volume effects, as already described earlier in the target list via Creapure, Creamino, et cetera. Specialty chemicals will remain the growth engine. For almost all products in the segment, we also expect stable price developments due to the necessary cost pass-through at the level of the previous year. In the Basic and Intermediate segment, we mainly expect price increases fluctuating with the raw material prices.
Volume declines in agriculture will be offset by higher average prices, and demand for the metallurgical products is likely to decline slightly with the economy, and the pricing formulas will allow cost changes to be passed on. Please remember in both directions. It could be at the end of the day that we will see a little lower sales here. From the profitability, we will stay to our EUR 70 million. On the earnings side, we expect higher raw material prices, more or less similar to 2022 average, but with slight relief trends in the second half of the year. That's it from my side with the information for the first quarter. I think it was very positive.
We have shown positive sales, positive EBITDA, positive free cash flow, a positive development of net working capital. From our point of view, it has been really positive. There is only one point to say. The second quarter could be a little lower than the first quarter. The first signs show lower sales, but at the end of the year we stick to our EUR 519 million target. At this point, we would like to thank you for your appreciated attention and are now at your disposal for possible questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Niedermaier and Dr. Weichselbaumer for the detailed presentation. We will now move over to the Q&A session. If you would like to ask your question directly to the management, please raise your virtual hand. If you have dialed in by phone, please press the star key, followed by nine to enter the Q&A queue. You'll be then asked to unmute yourself by pressing the star key followed by six. We already received the first question. Please go ahead, Mr. Marcus Meyer.
Oh, hello, Marcus.
Good morning. Sorry, I had a problem with my phone.
Good morning.
Good morning. Congratulations on this very strong result. I have a question regarding Q2. You already flagged that this might be somewhat weaker. Has it to do with the demand you currently see? Here also another question, how does your order book currently look like? How far can you see? How volatile is it? Also, has it improved or worsened? Also on the demand development over the first quarter, can you also shed some light how this has developed? Was it equal over the quarter, or has it improved or worsened over the quarter? That would be my questions. Thank you.
Yes. I will try to get the answer to you for the first step, and the second step, Georg can advise me. The first quarter was, I tell you, the best quarter ever for us, and the last month was the best month ever. We had, in the single month, a turnover of about, I think EUR 55 million-EUR 56 million. This was the best month ever. From this point of view, it could be that some turnover or revenue went from the April to the March turnover because the April turnover will come somewhat lower. But the overall forecast is still healthy. We see the EUR 590 million as achievable from today's point of view.
The forecast and the outlook shows that quite stable. The next months from this point of view, because we had quite a good first quarter, could be and could come somewhat lower. Georg, additional to add?
Yeah. For April, we have known already when we made the forecast, that sales will be a little lower that actually realized. But the forecast also shows that that was a single month, and then May and subsequent months, will be at the levels which we had predicted it originally.
The growth is stable from our point of view because our growth engine actually Creapure works quite well. The plant is operating on a quite high level. From this point of view, we see additional quantities.
This demand trend you've just elaborated, are there difference? You said Creapure is ongoingly strong. Are the difference on the other specialties or basic materials, basic products? In the past also this demand from the steel industry was strong. Out of your elaborations, I got the feeling that here we saw some more weakness over the first quarter. In specialties also, I would be interested how Creamino is also developing. Thank you.
I mean, as we reported in this statement already, in particular products like Perlka and DCD, are fairly weak products because they're energy intensive. Our target is here to set prices so that we can make margins. We will not sell below our cost. We will look at our cost situation, and we have started already measures to reduce the cost at those plants. The target is at least to stay at the same level in sales, however, with higher prices and lower volumes.
Going forward, you also alluded at Creamino. Creamino is progressing. We're getting new customers throughout the world, but our ambitions are fairly high and there's still room, some room to go. What is always disturbing the growth is an additional bird flu here and there. That's really a challenge from our point of view. The growth to summarize that, in specialty chemicals is quite stable and healthy.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Meyer. We received another question by the person that has dialed in with the phone ended by 553. Please go ahead and tell us your name. You can unmute yourself by pressing the star key six. Well, as it's right now not working, we kindly ask you to try it later on or place your question in the chat. We will move forward with the questions of Mr. Oliver Schwarz. Please go ahead, Mr. Schwarz.
Yeah, please unmute your micro, because you seem to be muted.
It should work now. Is it?
Yeah. It's working right now. Thank you.
Wonderful. Wonderful.
Very clear. Very clear.
Technology and the analyst, two worlds collide. Okay. Just a quick one on the sales of fertilizers, basically. I saw that the volume dropped by almost a quarter, obviously more than offset by the price increase. However, as you went through the different customer groups, it seemed to me that mostly fertilizers were affected by the, let's say, by the drop in volumes. Would that be a correct assessment?
Yes.
In that regard, I like to press you a bit on the reasons. Obviously, fertilizers in general, peaked regarding prices in 2020, 2022 for the reasons we are all aware of. However, prices came down quite substantially towards the advent of the new season in the northern hemisphere. Your, let's say, prices, I guess, that were raised last year dropped only to the extent you were able to pass on electricity increase electricity costs onto customers. However, it seems like, especially in fertilizers, you're not yet there where you wanna be in regards to margin creation, because the swing production here mostly affects fertilizers.
Is that only attributable to the, let's say, to the absolute price level that you have to offer to your customers, or are there other reasons that could explain the significant drop in volumes here?
No, that's only a price issue. We lost competitiveness with energy intensive products, to be honest. We work already on the double or the triple price level with energy actually, but in the future, this will come down from our point of view to a competitive situation, and then we will gain market share back. But actually, you talked about lower prices for fertilizer in Europe. Yes, there are lower prices, but not lower costs. If you look at the producers in Europe, they have all problems, and they are all struggling with the cost situation. The lower prices of fertilizer in Europe come only from distribution from Russia, Eastern, or Eastern Europe or, Far East or Near East.
This is only due to a very cheap imports that the prices go down. Because the energy level is quite high, and not at least for electricity prices, already for the gas prices as well. If you are talking about the producers here in Europe, they struggle quite high with the high cost situation.
I agree on that the prices are still at elevated levels, but looking, for example, at nitrogen fertilizers, I would argue that the current prices are still a far cry from the, let's say, peak prices we saw in, say, summer 2022, when natural gas prices spiked as we were heading towards the winter and everybody scrambled to get enough gas in the reservoirs filled up. There was a lot of natural gas buying that drove the prices up at least temporarily. This, let's say, spike is now behind the industry, and hence nitrogen prices have come down, arguably, as you said, also due to, let's say, increased imports from elsewhere, but also due to, let's say, manufacturing costs in Europe having come down somewhat, obviously not to the extent we had before the Russian invasion in Ukraine, but still prices are down from peak levels of 2022.
Yeah. Oliver, from peak levels, yes. To be honest, the electricity price, actually, if you look at the spot price, is triple as high than before the crisis.
Yeah.
With the gas prices more or less the same. If you look at the gas prices, we see approximately triple that gas prices before the crisis. If you look at the competitors outside of Europe, they work on still on the low level prices. That's the big problem for the fertilizer business. There is, yeah, the spikes are beyond us, and no doubt about that, but we have still a triple of the raw material prices.
Right. I think we can both easily agree on that one. Basically, if we can agree on that high prices for natural gas are likely structural as Russia isn't easily coming back as a European supplier, no matter what how the war in Ukraine, let's say, continues, would you from your point of view, with the newfound price levels at which we are currently seeing, how realistic is it that demand for your product is coming back in the short or mid-term?
From my point of view, it will not come back within the short term. In the mid-term, we have a big advantage, I tell you, because if electricity becomes more and more green, electricity price will go down. With our flexibility, we will receive quite low electricity prices in the future and will be in a competitive situation. Not today, not tomorrow, but if you look at the development of the electricity market and the targets here in Germany, at least in 5-7 years, we will have more and more green energy available.
If we take that green energy and that cheap green energy to produce fertilizer, we don't have to invest anything because we can use that cheap electricity base in advance or immediately. From this point of view, we will come back, not this year, yeah, but in the years to come.
I fully agree with your assessment that the supply of green energy is advantageous in regard to, let's say, the mix and also on the price levels of electricity. However, as we are on the advent of not only more supply, but also more demand, for example, from electro-mobility and other sources. Talking not 2030 or 2035, but, let's say, closer to 2023. The current discussions in regarding to capping the industrial electricity price in Germany to a level of, I mean, there are different papers out there highlighting price points from EUR 0.04 to EUR 0.11 per kilowatt hour. How much, let's say, competitiveness would that reinstate in your business?
If you come back to the old level, which was between EUR 0.03 and EUR 0.04 , it will install the old competitiveness. If you are talking about EUR 0.11 , then we can move away and we shouldn't talk about that. But to be honest, I'm only half interested in that industrial price because we try to develop our company into a specialty company. We have proven that we can work on a higher profitability with lower fertilizer business. In the past, that haven't been or was not possible. But actually, we are at this stage that our specialty chemicals grow.
Therefore, we can afford that we work on lower fertilizer business, and that's how we want to develop the company further on. We want to concentrate not on the basic and intermediates, I tell you. We only drive that business to have the raw materials available for the specialties. The main focus goes to the specialties, and that's the main area we want to develop, and we want to set our strategy.
Understandably. I fully agree with your strategy there. Can you remind me, especially given the capacity expansions you did in the specialty chemicals part of the business, how much in regard of, well, I guess it's your pick. Either in regard to value or volume of the basic intermediate business is currently passed on to the specialty chemicals business as, let's say, semi-finished products, raw materials, and so on and so forth.
We could do that elaboration, but I think that goes beyond today's point of view from my point of view, because I don't have the details available. If you, if you are really interested, we can elaborate on that.
Yeah.
In the past, a thumb figure, two-thirds of the raw materials stayed within the basic and intermediates, and one-third went to the specialties. Actually it could be half by half. I, please don't nail me down.
Okay, no problem.
On that figure. Yeah.
Okay. Just last one in regard to Eminex and market penetration here. It seems like the EU is still not, let's say, on the trajectory that you were hoping for with, let's say, agricultural production still exempt from the, let's say, less lenient regulation that is currently discussed for industrial production. How realistic do you think it is that you can supply the product to significantly drive down CO2 production in the agricultural and, let's say, biogas production, let's say in the short and midterm? Or is that something that is, let's say, shelf for, let's say, a more long-term perspective?
Oliver, I assume you're talking about the Eminex.
Yeah.
With Eminex, we are making progress, and we do that in various ways. We have been accused of not having third-party information available. We also lacked on so large volume experiments, like in the usual stables. That data is currently generated. We are working within Germany and outside of Germany actually, to generate that information. Only with that third-party information and large volume information, we'll be able to get, for example, in climate calculators, to get carbon credits. We are on the way with that. In addition, we have started activities outside of Europe, because there seem to be quite some opportunity in the U.S. We are working in New Zealand, we're working in Australia to get Eminex there started also.
We are progressing. It is correct that, with the calcium cyanamide, the discussion were being held back also. As I said, we are making progress, and we are not, we are far away from shelving it. Quite the opposite. We are applying more resources in order to get as quickly to market as possible.
Very well. Thank you for that. A very quick last one. I heard you say in the Q4 call, I think it was, that there was less competition from Asian producers that basically have the advantage of lower raw material costs, whether it be, let's say, electricity or other raw materials, due to the fact that the logistics are kind of scuffed and hence there is less production or less product available from Asian sources that could, let's say, have an adverse impact on your business, which is basically based on European production. However, as, let's say, as these clocks in the logistic change seem to peter off and also transportation costs, overseas transportation costs between Asia and Europe and North America have dropped quite materially.
Is there, let's say, more pressure from Asian product coming to the European and North American market?
Yes. I can confirm that that is the case. Transportation is back to normal almost. The costs are still not back to where they used to be, but transportation routes are well established. We see increased competition from China, but to various degrees. I mean, for example, in the U.S., they don't want to buy China anymore. We're doing very well with DCD in particular. We have alluded to that already, and that is the main product where we face competition from China. They are back, and it's almost like we are going through the regular cycles that prices go up and down, and we're used to dealing with that.
Okay. Thank you for very much for that. Again, co-congratulations on your favorable start into the year 2023. Yeah, upwards and onwards, I'd say.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Schwarz. We will try it again with the person who had dialed in with the phone number ended by 553. Please pre-press the star key followed by six to unmute yourself.
Jetzt müsste es gehen, glaube ich, oder?
Yes, yeah, it's working.
Aha.
We can hear you.
Hi, everybody. Thanks for the... Sorry for the technical problems that I had, obviously, with my iPhone. First of all, what about the production capacity of the Creapure? You mentioned that you want to extend it again in the fourth quarter. In what extent is the plan occurred?
At the first step... Hello, I think, it's must you, Tilo, or?
Yes, yes. Yes, it's me. Sorry.
Okay. Okay. No, no problem about that. Then this is clear for the first step. We reported that we doubled last year more or less the capacity. On this new situation, we add approximately 10%, 15%, probably 20%, but not double of capacity. It's an incremental increase. We install an additional dryer and additional equipment in the production so that we can increase that incremental. Yeah.
Okay, thank you. The CapEx will be negligible.
Yeah.
What about the total CapEx of the year? What are you planning for 2023?
We plan usually with approximately EUR 30 million, it could be a little lower because we have been cautious in the start of the first quarter because we had no view about the business environment. We are back on the normal line from this point of view. For your calculation, you should take into consideration approximately EUR 30 million. This would be a good figure for the next years to come as well. As we have already presented this year or today, that with the climate roadmap, there could be an addition for the next year to come, between or approximately EUR 5 million. We are talking about EUR 30 million-EUR 35 million for the next year.
Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Another question would be on your current electricity status or forward status, or the hedge status. How would you describe that?
We are talking every day about electricity, I tell you. We look at the price every day. But I tell you, when the markets come down, it's better not to purchase in advance. From this point of view, we view the market, and we look at the market quite closely. And we try to purchase for the next quarter or for the next months to come, yes. But we don't purchase electricity for the next years.
Yeah. Excellent. That's what I thought. Another question would be on the Specialty Chemicals segment. I was surprised about s trong price increase that you achieved here. On the other hand, given the diversity of your clients in that segment, how price sensitive would you assess them anyway?
Every customer is price sensitive. No, I mean, for example, when we look at creatine and Creapure, we have quite some selling power with our brands. I mean, Yeah, how would you compare if you were asked to eat something which comes from China, compared with something which comes from a German plant? There you really see the difference. We have spent quite some time, effort, and money to develop that brand, and it's now paying off.
Yeah, that's one point. I think, we try to be fair with our customer and customer base. We had a quite fairly discussion last year and that was the reason for the more or less flat EBITDA for the last year. This year we have seen in the average higher raw material prices, and we discussed that with our customer base, and from this point of view, they went with us.
Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes. Thank you very much. That's it.
Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Hartner. It seems that there are no further questions. Thank you very much for your questions, and thank you to Mr. Niedermaier and Dr. Weichselbaumer for your presentation and your time answering all those questions. I'll hand over for some final remarks to Mr. Niedermaier.
That's up to me. Thank you very much for your questions. We can now offer you, as always, the opportunity to visit us again, virtually or in person, at the conferences as shown above, here in the next page. There we can meet again. We are pleased to invite you at least to the Annual General Meeting next week, on May 11th. I think it's not too late. You can take the chance to get in today, I think. We invite you to all the other events here. Otherwise, we will present the half year results on August 3rd. For all of us, we wish a speedy, peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict. Stay safe and stay sound. Stay in our good graces and goodbye then. Thank you.