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Earnings Call: Q3 2020

Nov 4, 2020

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining today's virtual event for our Q3 results, 2020. I am Christian Kohlpaintner, and I am here together with our CFO, Georg Müller. We decided to host this earnings call in a slightly different format, because later today at 3:00 P.M., we will start our capital markets update presentation on this very same platform. At our capital markets update, we will provide a comprehensive update and details on Project Brenntag, the transformation program set up to drive our sustainable organic earnings growth in the coming years. Let us now start with our business development in the third quarter, 2020. I will talk about the highlights of the quarter, and Georg will provide further details on the financials for the past three months. As always, Georg and I are both happy to answer any questions you might have after our presentation.

Let me provide an overview of our earnings development in the third quarter. The COVID-19 crisis impacted the overall business conditions also in this quarter of 2020. In this continuously challenging market environment, Brenntag managed to report strong results for the third quarter, and we were able to once again report organic earnings growth for the third consecutive quarter this year. We are very satisfied with this development, and it again demonstrates the resilient nature of our business model. On group level, we generated a gross profit of EUR 690.6 million, which is on previous year's level on an FX adjusted basis. Volumes are sequentially slightly better than earlier this year, but they are still below previous year's levels. While unit gross profits, on the other hand, sequentially softened, they do remain above previous year's levels. In combination, the delivered gross profit is on previous year's level.

Operating EBITDA grew by 4.9% on constant currency, amounting to around EUR 264.4 million. The free cash flow of EUR 421 million was exceptionally high and clearly above the previous year's level. Finally, our earnings per share amounted to EUR 0.76 in the third quarter. In September, we reinstated our guidance for the full year 2020. Brenntag expects operating EBITDA for the full year to be in range of EUR 1.0 billion to EUR 1.04 billion . We also continued to work on the long-term positioning of our company. In September, we announced the first milestone of Project Brenntag, our future operating model. Starting January 2021, we operate our business with two global divisions, Brenntag Essentials and Brenntag Specialties. We also published a change to the structure of our management board, which will also come into effect from next year on.

Last week, we announced additional measures of Project Brenntag, including a financial framework. We will talk about this in detail later during our capital markets update. We know that you have a lot of questions on Project Brenntag and the financial framework in particular. Me and my colleagues on the management board will be happy to answer all of them later today. Unfortunately, COVID-19 is still affecting our personal lives and our business environment alike. However, at Brenntag, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business activities and on our financial performance was limited so far. Despite the difficult conditions in all parts of the world, the company continued to stay fully operational with only a few exceptions in countries with very strict lockdown policies.

We continued our global crisis managements also into Q3, and the health and the safety of our employees and of our business partners continue to have the highest priority for us. Overall, Brenntag has handled the crisis well so far, and we are confident to handle any future volatility that COVID for sure will bring. Our sound financial profile and the strong cash position put us in a solid position for the rest of the year. With this, I would like to hand over to Georg, who will lead you through our results in more detail.

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Thank you, Christian, and good afternoon we deliver the quarter this organic growth and very strong cash flow . Operating EBITDA amounted to EUR 264.4 million in the third quarter. I will walk you from the third quarter 2019 to the third quarter 2020 for operating EBITDA. The unfavorable effect of foreign exchange translation amounted to a negative EUR 11 million and resulted mainly from the weakening of the U.S. dollar. Our acquisitions contributed EUR 3 million to the EBITDA growth in the quarter. All regions grew organically, with the exception of North America. EMEA, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific showed very positive organic earnings development. All three regions reported double-digit operating EBITDA growth of 10%, 33%, and 36%, respectively.

North America declined by 12% organically, mainly driven by the ongoing weakness in the oil and gas industry, as well as the ongoing implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on the North American economy. Let me provide some more details on the business development in our regions. I would again like to emphasize that we managed to keep our global site network fully operational with only very few exceptions. I start with EMEA. In EMEA, our Q3 performance was again very positive. The trends we have seen the last couple of months broadly continued into Q3, and the performance was supported by customer industries like personal care, home and industrial cleaning, and also pharma. We were able to grow gross profit by 4.8% on a constant currency basis.

The growth in gross profit was primarily driven by higher gross profit per unit, which more than offset the softness volumes that we have seen compared to the previous year. Operating EBITDA increased by 11.3% year-over-year. It is the third strong quarter in a row. These results once again underline the strength of our business and our strong market position in the region. I'm coming to North America. We are still facing several headwinds in this region that again led to overall weak and unsatisfying results. Gross profit declined by approximately 9% on a constant currency basis. The strongest headwind in North America is still related to the very weak demand from customers in the oil and gas industry. On the level of gross profit, oil and gas accounted for approximately six percentage points out of the 9% decline.

Additionally, we saw continuous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the North American economy. To counteract, we applied a very stringent cost management and decreased operating expenses in North America by around 8%. However, those measures could not fully compensate the decrease in gross profit. EBITDA declined about 12% on a constant currency basis. Latin America again reported very good results, even though the general economic environment remains volatile. The past quarter, we managed to grow gross profit by about 16%, which is related to volume recovery compared to Q2, as well as good margin management. Operating EBITDA increased significantly by around 40%. Asia-Pacific saw a significant acceleration in trend. China again reported good results, and India, which was severely affected by the impacts of the pandemic, largely recovered in the third quarter of 2020. Gross profit increased by 12% on a constant currency basis. Operating EBITDA increased by 36%.

In summary, we were again able to report strong results. This is a very satisfying performance in a continued challenging environment. Overall, we have handled this crisis very well, and we are prepared for the rest of this year. On slide eight, we show the full set of figures for our segments for your reference. In our income statement on page nine, I particularly focus on the lines below operating EBITDA. We report special items amounting to an expense of about EUR 15 million, which are mainly related to Project Brenntag and smaller efficiency measures. Depreciation amounted to EUR 62 million. The financial result amounted to a net expense of EUR 16 million. Earnings per share stood at EUR 0.76 compared to EUR 0.83 in the third quarter 2019. Free cash flow has been very strong.

Free cash flow amounted to EUR 421 million and was the highest free cash flow we ever reported for a single quarter. This exceptionally high free cash flow once again underlines the cash generative nature and the resilience of our business. Our net financial liabilities amount to EUR 1.6 billion. The leverage stood at 1.5 x at the end of September. I would once again like to mention Brenntag's strong funding profile. We have a very balanced and long-term-oriented maturity profile. The first main maturities come up only at the end of 2022. This financial profile provides us comfort in this unique business environment. Working capital amounted to EUR 1.5 billion at the end of the third quarter. In the past quarter, annualized working capital turnover reached its second-highest level this year and was above the previous year's figure. We turned the working capital 7.1 x.

Despite supply chain challenges in course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the measures to improve our working capital management are yielding results. In summary, we are very satisfied with the financial results of the quarter, especially considering the difficult economic environment. We delivered earnings growth and, once again, a high cash flow. Thank you very much. I hand it back to Christian.

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

Well, thank you, Georg. Let's come to the outlook for 2020. In early April, we, as many other companies, suspended the forecast for the financial year 2020 due to the considerable uncertainty over the future effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout Q3, we saw a development that was in line with our expectations and that gave us the confidence to reinstate our guidance for 2020. We expect operating EBITDA for the full year 2020 to be between EUR 1 billion and EUR 1.04 billion compared to roughly EUR 1 billion, which we had in the year 2019. The new forecast assumes that there will be no further significant government measures to contain the pandemic and also related negative effects on the economy.

Furthermore, the forecast does not envisage any special items or significant changes in current exchange rates in the further course of the year, and it also includes the contributions to earnings from acquisitions. The COVID-19 pandemic will accompany us for the rest of this year and most probably also into 2021. Particularly against the background of rising COVID-19 cases around the globe, we expect business conditions to remain challenging. Of course, the health and the safety of our employees and our business partners continue to have the highest priority for us. So far, we are very satisfied with our performance over the course of this year, and we also feel well-positioned for the rest of 2020. Having said this, we of course also look beyond 2020. As you know, we have been working on our long-term positioning of Brenntag over the last months.

We recently published our future operating model, including our two global divisions, Brenntag Essentials and Brenntag Specialties. Additionally, we are going to have a new management board structure. Steven Terwindt will take over responsibilities as the Chief Operating Officer for the Essentials business, and Henri Nejade will take on the role as Chief Operating Officer for the Specialties business. All those changes will be effective from January 1, 2021. Furthermore, we just announced additional measures and further details on Project Brenntag, in particular, the expected EBITDA uplift of EUR 220 million, which we aim to reach in full scope from the beginning of 2023. We are fully aware that you are keen on getting more details on Project Brenntag and that you have a lot of questions in that respect, so please just bear with us a few more moments. Our capital markets update will start at 3:00 P.M. today.

Let's now start with the Q&A session on the Q3 results in particular. Thank you very much.

Operator

The question- and- answer session for the Q3 results presentation of Brenntag AG. You can follow the Q&A via the webcast in a listen-only mode, similar to the presentation you have just seen. If you would like to raise a question, please dial the numbers mentioned in the subtitle and enter the pin code 92827056#. You will receive further information. Once your name has been announced, you can ask a question. When asking your question, please mute your PC device to avoid background noises. Please be patient, one moment until the questions are registered. The first question received is from Tom Burlton of Berenberg. Your line is now open, sir. Please go ahead.

Tom Burlton
Analyst, Berenberg

Hi, yes. Good afternoon, guys. Thanks for taking questions. I've got a few if that's okay. I'll go all at once if that's easier. The first one is just on, you talked about the unit margin impact you've seen in the quarter, and the sequentially lower impact from that. I just wonder whether you could give any more detail in terms of quantifying the breakdown between volumes and unit margin when we're thinking about the gross profit development in the quarter. Another one on the quarter and cadence of growth through the quarter, perhaps.

I know you historically used to give the monthly growth rates, which I know you've moved away from doing, but I just guess in terms of seeing renewed lockdowns and so forth across Europe, I think people would be particularly curious to see how growth has trended through the quarter and how you were exiting maybe in September. That would be helpful. Then just specifically on North America, if I could, on the unit margin piece you called out EMEA and LatAm in particular, I think in the statement where you've seen a unit margin benefit. Just curious, that sort of seems even ex oil and gas, North America was down around 3% or so.

Just wondering sort of why you thought you weren't seeing that unit margin benefit in North America, sort of what's going on in that market, what's going on differently there, sort of relative to the EMEA and LatAm, where you are getting that benefit? That would be helpful, please.

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Yeah. Tom, thanks. Thanks for joining us this afternoon. You asked for unit margin impact, relative to volume. You've seen that on an FX-adjusted basis, our gross profit in the quarter is around flattish. Volumes are down mid-single digit for the group, so you can imply that the per unit margin is mid-single digit up for the group. When it comes to the cadence, throughout the quarter, as you rightly say, we don't want to give monthly gross data any longer. We stopped that at the beginning of the year already. Our business is typically seasonally low in July and to a degree in August, maybe even more in August. The business did come back after the summer holidays. It seasonally came back, as you would expect. It still is a good message that in times of a pandemic, the business does return after the summer holidays.

When it comes to growth rates relative to previous years, I really don't want to give a differentiation on a month-by-month basis. When it comes to margin effects, gross profit per unit effects in EMEA and in North America, both regions benefited. We do see a helpful gross profit per unit benefit on both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, the effect was somewhat stronger in Europe, but that should not diminish the success that our North American organization had in managing the gross profit per ton. What is different? I would point to the oil and gas business in North America, which is a particularly difficult business, foremost volume-wise, but it's also more difficult to achieve appropriate gross profit per unit margins in the pandemic on that end of the business.

I would point to the fact that our business in Europe typically distributes smaller orders than the North American business, which also gives us better opportunities to manage margins. Hope that answers the questions.

Tom Burlton
Analyst, Berenberg

Great. That's very helpful. Thank you very much.

Operator

The next question received is from Rory McKenzie of UBS. Your line is now open, sir. Please go ahead.

Rory McKenzie
Analyst, UBS

Good afternoon. It's Rory here. Thanks for taking my questions. I like your snazzy studio. Firstly, just on the volume trends. Across the economy, activity has clearly improved significantly, Q3 versus Q2, whereas I guess your sheer volume declines didn't improve by quite as much. Why is that? Is it that you saw lots of new customers come in, maybe through the disruption, and they haven't been that sticky? Just interested in how you see your volume trends. Secondly, following up on Tom's question. The GP per unit, of course, as you said, is now softening sequentially. What's the safest assumption for next year? Should we assume that you can hold on to these higher levels, or would you expect all that GP per unit to revert to a pre-pandemic level, say, as we eventually get out of this disruptive period?

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Yeah. Rory, thank you very much. Maybe I take the second question first. It is a long-standing experience in our business that margin opportunities and volumes, to a degree, breathe against each other. Might well be, if and when volumes return to the market, to the business, particularly in terms of higher volume orders, that this has a little bit of dampening effect on gross profit per unit. In all experience, that should balance out to a fair degree. When it comes to the state of our expectations for the state of the market into next year with respect to margins. For sure, the pandemic is not over, and even though I don't have the crystal ball, in all likelihood, it won't be over end of December. It will be with us for a good part of next year.

The point I want to make is the market situation that we currently face, also with respect to gross profit per unit, we would generally expect to continue this for a while. We would not expect a sharp change. When it comes to your first question, I'm not sure if I got the exact point of the question. If it implied something like you see in other industries, volumes coming back more strongly, I can't really comment on that. Our volume trajectory has been pretty stable to us throughout this year, and we are actually pretty positive that after the summer holidays, the usual seasonal return indeed occurred.

Rory McKenzie
Analyst, UBS

Okay, thank you. That's helpful. Just one last one. It's on the finance costs. Obviously, quite a big step down there. Should we assume this run rate continues from now? Obviously, you de-geared a bit. Is that the main impact?

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Yeah. What you see in the quarter, there is an underlying interest expense, and that's a good run rate what you see there. There can always be a little bit of volatility quarter by quarter from FX effects. This quarter, didn't have any. To cut a long story short, use this quarter's figure as a run rate or maybe put in a little bit of caution, a couple of EUR million.

Rory McKenzie
Analyst, UBS

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

The next question we'll receive is from Laurent Favre of Exane BNP Paribas. Your line is now open, sir. Please go ahead.

Laurent Favre
Analyst, Exane BNP Paribas

Oh, yes. Thank you. Good afternoon. Two questions, please. The first one on the implied Q4 EBITDA guidance. I think it's implying a drop compared to Q3 sequencing of 10%-25%. Much more, I guess, pronounced drop compared to the past five years. I was wondering, and I guess it could be understandable to be extremely cautious given the uncertainty, but I'm wondering, are you just being cautious or are you already seeing either in terms of level of activity or in terms of further normalization of gross profit per unit, seeing something that would justify this level of drop sequentially? The second question on free cash flow, as you said, exceptional cash flow in Q3. Some of that being working capital. Should we assume that working capital improvement is an area of focus for you also on Project Brenntag?

Are you there seeing some exceptional effect in Q3? In other words, if you are cautious on Q4 P&L, should we assume the normal seasonal boost in free cash flow in Q4?

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Laurent, thank you. Taking your first question, when it comes to the guidance, our guidance for operating EBITDA for the full year stands at EUR 1 billion-EUR 1.04 billion. I think it would probably not be too helpful to guide you to what the one or the other end of the range. There is still a quarter to go or almost a quarter to go in a world which is currently a little bit of volatile, unpredictable world. You were particularly referencing that the guidance implies a somewhat lower absolute EBITDA for Q4 than Q3. That's absolutely right, that is what you would expect from our business.

Our business typically seasonally in Q4 is a little lighter than the rest of the year, and it has to do with the fact that in many countries we operate in, Christmas and Christmas holidays play a significant role. In many countries, there is basically December only a three-week, sometimes even only a two-week month. There is nothing, no message included, on the implications that Q4 is forecast a little bit lower than the other quarters. Free cash flow. Let's speak a little later in the capital markets update about our specific initiatives also to focus and refocus working capital management, which indeed positively impacts free cash flow. You have heard us say on the Q1 call and the Q2 call that we were not fully satisfied with working capital management, and we did put a lot of focus and emphasis on the topic already.

From my perspective, we had a good catch up in Q3, which honestly we should have had in Q1 and Q2 already. We nevertheless expect also a good free cash flow in Q4 and going forward. Thank you.

Laurent Favre
Analyst, Exane BNP Paribas

Thank you.

Operator

The next question is from Chetan Udeshi of JPMorgan. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Chetan Udeshi
Analyst, JPMorgan

Yeah. Hi. Thanks. Apologies if I missed this point previously, did you talk about how much impact did you see in North America from oil and gas decline? In other words, what was the magnitude of oil and gas related gross profit decline and exact in North America? Second question was, just around, have we seen any benefit from Project Brenntag already in terms of how we are managing the business this year, in terms of cost management, et cetera? Is that something that will only kickstart once this is formally announced today, et cetera? Thank you.

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Right. You start.

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

Thank you very much, Chetan, for the question. I will take the second one about the benefits of Project Brenntag already in this year, and then Georg will say a few words about the oil and gas impacts in North America. Yes, indeed. I think we have talked previously about the so-called early wins or the quick wins we see out of Project Brenntag. The most visible one is indeed the working capital improvements and the very strong cash flow created. We have, of course, other measures we will talk later in the capital markets update about it, like indirect procurement. We see already also some savings materializing this year. You can imagine that there are already some impacts of Project Brenntag. Again, I would not overemphasize them as we are still in preparation for the full scope of the program.

Indeed, there are some benefits already visible in Q3 and how we are actually managing the company. Maybe, Georg, you then answer the oil and gas question.

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Yeah. Chetan, thank you for the oil and gas question. The perspective I gave when I gave my little speech was that North America in the third quarter had a gross profit decline of about 9%, and six percentage points actually relate to the oil and gas business. Two-thirds of the decline in gross profit in North America relate to oil and gas. I can add an additional perspective. The oil and gas business in North America accounts for order of magnitude 25% of our business in North America. Actually a little less given the trajectory oil and gas currently has. First quarter was still almost stable, but in the second and also in the third quarter, we see a decline in the gross profit of the oil and gas business in North America of about 1/3, so about 30%.

Chetan Udeshi
Analyst, JPMorgan

Understood. Is that now stabilizing at those low levels when you say sequentially you look at it from Q2 to Q3 or Q3 to Q4?

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Yeah.

Chetan Udeshi
Analyst, JPMorgan

Is it still trending down even sequentially at the moment?

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Yeah. Happy to answer that. It's stabilizing but not improving.

Chetan Udeshi
Analyst, JPMorgan

Understood. Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, before we take the next question, just a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please connect to the telephone conference using the numbers provided in the subtitle and press zero one after entering the call. The next question received is from Rajesh Kumar of HSBC. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Rajesh Kumar
Analyst, HSBC

Hi. Good afternoon. This is Rajesh Kumar from HSBC. Thanks for taking the question. Two, if I may. First is, nine months into 2020, the most bizarre year any of us would have seen. What is the nature of discussions you've had with your suppliers? Are they asking for more on different kind of outcome from a key marketing partner such as Brenntag? Second one is related to the suppliers again. On the supplier rebate side, if I understand correctly, most distributors accrue supplier rebate based on certain volume and value targets, and it varies to a great degree. Can you just run us through how have you accrued the supplier rebates in your business? Is there a potential that if you see a pickup in volume or a decline in volume, you might have to change those assumptions?

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

Yes, sir. Thank you for the question. I will answer those both in one topic. When you look on our suppliers and, of course, we have and continue to have intensive discussions with the suppliers navigating through this challenge jointly. I think what you can feel is that, of course, suppliers looking for a reliable partner in such difficult times. Brenntag, given its size, given its leading market position, and given its global presence, has been a very reliable and a very strong partner during those crisis times and continuing right now. Of course, you have seen that the chemical industry is adjusting. It's adjusting to the decline in the volumes, the suppressed market conditions, and the demand pattern they see. There is, of course, a lot of discussions going on. What does this mean in a supplier and distributor relationship as we move forward?

We talk about safety, security of supply, we talk about many dimensions. In previous calls, when I was asked about the outsourcing trend, I always emphasized that the outsourcing trend is not just a unidirectional trend. There's give and takes as typically we move forward in developing certain businesses, but there are also a certain cyclicality, where in times when chemical manufacturers are rethinking about their cost base or rethinking about adjusting their complexity, there are increasing talks about can distributors help them to reduce their complexity and also follow their volume and their value strategies. I think this is one of the unique strengths Brenntag has. We will talk about this specifically in the capital markets update in more detail, how we are addressing these needs.

I would say the trend is in general there, but it's even a little bit more pronounced than in normal times, I would say. I hope that answers that question to some extent.

Rajesh Kumar
Analyst, HSBC

Appreciate the answer. Just on the rebate side.

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

What was it?

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Can you give me the camera?

Rajesh Kumar
Analyst, HSBC

The rebate, supplier rebate, how have you accrued it so far in the year, given that the volumes have been unpredictable?

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

I'm not sure if I understood the question now very well. Can you maybe go a little bit closer to the microphone or something? It's hard to understand.

Rajesh Kumar
Analyst, HSBC

Supplier rebates. How have the supplier rebates progressed so far in the year? If you see a volume pickup or a volume decline, would you have to readjust your accruals of such rebates?

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

Okay.

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Yeah. Thank you. First of all, let me make the point, you should not overestimate the relevance of supplier rebates in our business. In chemical distribution, most of the pricing between supplier and distributor actually runs on a net basis. To the degree rebates exist and to the degree rebates are subject to the certain volume triggers, we accrue in course of the year based on the expected volumes that we make throughout the year. Obviously, the softness in volumes is with us all year already, and whatever estimate we have taken takes that into account already. At this stage, I do not see a particular risk in having over-accrued supplier rebates.

Rajesh Kumar
Analyst, HSBC

Thank you very much.

Operator

The next question is from Isha Sharma of MainFirst Bank. Your line is now open, madam. Please go ahead.

Isha Sharma
Analyst, MainFirst Bank

Hi. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for taking my questions. Could you talk a bit about your performance in Asia, where we saw such a strong organic EBITDA growth and a jump in the conversion ratio? How we should think about this going forward, please. The second one would be, is it fair to assume that the majority of your net working capital inflow in Q3 might be attributable to low inventory levels in anticipation of weak demand? If that is the case, should we expect this to reverse somewhat in Q4 as volumes hopefully pick up and in the course of 2021? What would that mean then for the free cash flow? The last one, please. The leverage ratio is now at historically low level we have seen at Brenntag.

What is the leverage that you're comfortable with in the midterm, and what are your priorities in terms of use of cash?

Georg Müller
CFO, Brenntag

Isha, thank you. Let me answer the question on free cash flow, and then probably Christian is best suited to give more color on our Asian development. The working capital management, which influences free cash flow, we internally typically measure in terms of working capital turns. We not necessarily hold our general management teams responsible for an absolute level of working capital, but more for a turn. The amount of working capital deployed in the business relative to sales. Indeed, volumes are down this year. At one moment in time, we expect volumes and therefore sales to pick up, and then we will have to give a little back. That's notwithstanding that we primarily focus now on stronger working capital turns, and we do expect the positive turn trajectory to continue.

In that sense, I would not expect the full amount that we released from working capital in Q3 to go back into the business over time. If you permit me to park the question on leverage and our leverage target, because we have prepared a statement on that for the capital markets update.

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

Yeah, Isha. Answering the question about performance in Asia. Strong performance. Recovery in Asia, I must say, besides Latin America, the strongest we have seen this year. Particularly China, going back to very good and decent levels, I have to say. We also excellent performance in Vietnam. India coming back after the complete lockdown, which we have faced earlier this year. Overall, a very solid and stable recovery in Asia, where predominantly with the exception of China, we talk about our Specialties business. From that perspective, very pleased with the volume development, with the growth overall. I would say the conversion margins and conversion ratios you have seen, they are satisfactory and going in the right direction. I don't believe that they are really a one-time effect, but it shows again our presence and our position in Asia being quite strong.

Isha Sharma
Analyst, MainFirst Bank

Thank you both very much. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Operator

The last question for today is from [Ben Hopkim] of Credit Suisse. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Speaker 10

Oh, cool. Thank you. Just two from me, if I may. One, I was wondering if you could talk about the competitive dynamics. Given your size and scan and scope, if you had been taking market share, given the strength of your supply chains relative to maybe some of your smaller peers across these troubled times. My second question, EMEA, when you speak about the areas there that perform particularly well, it feels very Specialties driven. I was wondering if you could maybe give us a feel as to how Specialties grew through the period, maybe relative to what we're now calling Essentials. Thank you.

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

Well, Ben, thank you very much for the question. Competitive dynamics, I must say, overall, relatively stable. I think there was currently supply security, stability of supply, making sure that our customers are getting the product even when borders were closed and other things, actually effects which are start to happen again, is currently the most critical one. I believe we have fared quite well in that arena and performed according to our expectations, what we believe is the underlying market growth. We have seen, of course, different by industry segment, and that leads me to your question about specialties. Industry by industry segment, you see different growth patterns. You see more of the industrial space showing a lower growth rate. We talked about automotive in the past, that one has now recovered. We talk about construction chemicals and other things, that one has stabilized.

Still, good business when we talk about pharma, when we talk about nutrition, when we talk about personal care, as I have mentioned. I would say overall, a good trajectory also for our Specialties business. We will talk later on the capital markets update, give you a little bit more flavor on our Specialties business. Please hang out there. As we move forward, you certainly will get more transparency on the performance of those two segments relative to each other. Please bear with us for a couple of minutes, we talk about this.

Speaker 10

Perfect. Cheers.

Christian Kohlpaintner
CEO, Brenntag

Thank you.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance. We came to the end of the Q&A.