Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Heidelberg Materials third quarter results conference call. I am Sandra, the Chorus Call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants have been listen-only mode and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and one on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it is my pleasure to hand over to Christoph Beumelburg. Please go ahead, sir.
Thanks, Sandra, and good morning, good afternoon, everyone listening in our Q3 results call. As always, we're here together with Dominik von Achten, our CEO, René Aldach, our CFO, and the IR team. We look forward to your questions later, but first we have prepared some remarks that Dominik and René will go through now.
Yeah, Chris, thanks a lot. Hello, everybody. Thanks for joining. I think exciting times. Thanks for joining despite the fact that the midterms are just being done. We've good news to share. I think we have another strong quarter for Heidelberg Materials, driven mainly by very disciplined execution across the business. Let's take a closer look. If we go to page two, basically on the presentation, I would say the profitable growth clearly accelerated in Q3, supported by both price and some volume contributions. Revenue up 10%, RCO up 9%, mainly driven by a strong performance in Europe and also continued growth in North America. I think what's key is that the operational excellence initiatives continue to offset the cost inflation. I think that's a key point.
On the back of that, we are also extending our Transformation Accelerator Initiative with a new savings target and a new savings wave, creating additional potential for 2027 and 2028. The project is going to run until end of 2028. In times where the organic growth is sometimes not easy, we have also accelerated our acquisitive growth and announced the acquisition of NCC Industry in Northern Europe, which complements well our existing market footprint in Northern Europe. We've also, in the quarter, completed three acquisitions, Maas, Peru, and Akçansa, that will then, going forward, also contribute to the result of Heidelberg Materials. Based on that performance, we also confirm our guidance for 2026 and remain confident that the mid- and long-term perspective is intact.
Okay, then if you then turn to the next page, which I think is your page three, and talk about the third quarter results, I think they demonstrate the resilience of our business model and, again, a very disciplined execution. The 10% growth on the top line is the first double-digit growth since the first quarter of 2023. I think that's a good indicator that there is some energy coming back in that respect. Our earnings grew by 9%, supported by positive pricing, here and there improved volumes, and ongoing efficiency gains also contributing from our programs that I mentioned before on the TAI Wave 1 and TAI Wave 2. We continue to stay very focused on commercial excellence, operational performance anyway, and obviously that also includes very strict cost management. At the same time, we continue to find the right balance between organic growth and acquired growth.
I mentioned a couple of examples above. If you go to the next page four, and talk about the first nine months, I think they confirm the good momentum that's coming out of the business. You know that we had a slow start into the year, but since then, I think delivered consistent earning growth for the first nine-month period, basically driven by good pricing in most markets, disciplined execution, especially also around the cost side of things. Price over cost, you know that's a very important indicator for us, is moving in the right direction, staying positive for the first nine months. Efficiency gains contributed to that as well as portfolio moves that I described above. So overall, I think this nine months should be a solid foundation for the remainder of the year, but also going into 2027.
If you then go to the Q3 bridge in page five, you see that the positive pricing and better volumes are coming together for a long time. This is now, I think, a nice picture where both volumes increase, but also price over cost is positive at the same time, and that obviously is a good combination. The overall markets, I think, are intact on infrastructure and industrials, not so much yet on residential and commercial. I think in that respect, there is upside potential. Pricing remained disciplined in most markets and helped to offset cost inflation. In that respect, we are moving in the right direction, and the TAI program, as I said, continues to enhance efficiency. If you go to the nine-month bridge, the picture doesn't look much different.
You see price over cost with consistent execution stays positive, and the efficiency gains come in, as well as the scope effect that you see also to the right side of the picture, that is almost EUR 50 million in the first nine months of the year. If you then go to the specific areas, I think excellent quarter for Europe, showing really also now the effects of the master plan Europe and the portfolio optimization, including the operation excellence focus that we put on Europe. I think clearly strong pricing discipline. Price over cost is clearly positive in Europe, and slightly improved volumes in some key markets. So it's not like Europe is flying high on volumes, but slightly improved volumes in some key markets supported the profit growth.
We continue with the efficiency initiatives and the footprint optimization to continuously improve our competitiveness. We also continue to do the investments into decarbonization and modernization of our plant network in Europe in order to drive future growth. If you then turn the page to North America, I think good results out of North America, supported by favorable infrastructure and also industrial non-residential demand. Main growth driver was aggregates, continued to be strong across the regions. I think the very good focus of the team on the commercial side of things turned also in some good performances on the pricing side, in aggregates especially, but also in cement we stayed positive. So almost 2% price increase in North America in the quarter in local currency.
Pricing, I would say, was below our expectation in cement, but as I indicated, mildly constructive, if you want to paint it that way, in terms of being at least positive. It's clearly not enough to cover the cost inflation, and that's why we aim to turn this around in 2027 to fight the margin erosion in cement that seems to be also pronounced in the industry at this point. Turn the page to Asia. I think strong quarter from Australia, moving clearly in the right direction despite headwinds. There was the latest interest rate hike again. I think it's the fifth hike in a very short period, but the team is really doing an excellent job to push ahead with the results in Australia. So it's strong quarter from Australia. Across Asia, we see a mixed picture. Very strong operational execution, very disciplined cost management.
Volumes start to grow in some key markets. Pricing, I think, has still upside potential. So that's the picture a little bit for Asia. If you then go to AMWA, I think it's fair to say that AMWA again delivered a strong growth quarter, obviously also supported by the acquisition of Akçansa, but clearly also showing the strength of a diversified portfolio. Pricing discipline remained good in AMWA, although there is obviously now a little bit of an impact quarter-over-quarter in the accounting with the impact of the Akçansa acquisition. I'm sure we'll come back on that during the Q&A. I think the team has weathered the varying market conditions very well across the region, and the perspective of growth in AMWA is clearly intact based on growth in urbanization and also infrastructure development.
Next page, I think it's clear, the markets remain volatile, as I indicated before. We are very focused to do our homework. I think we've done a good job in our homework with the EUR 500 million savings program to call it early on. I think we are paid for proactive measures, and in that respect, we also build on the success of TAI. Now with the second wave, with a EUR 300 million additional savings program going through 2028, that will focus clearly on operational excellence initiatives around the world. So it's a global focus on this operational excellence, but with a specific focus on overhead restructuring in Europe, because it's a homegrown structure. That's also where our headquarters sits, so we are focused to also optimize that effect. We have clearly taken out FTEs on the operational side, and we will also take FTEs out on the overhead side.
Clear focus to further optimize our network and to be super competitive in our core home markets in Europe. Last but not least, just to also indicate what has happened in Europe, we talked about the master plan Europe before. We've talked about TAI. We thought it would be a good idea on the next page, 12, to show you a little bit what has happened over the past years. Significant impacts in Europe, both in terms of optimized clinker footprint. We've talked about this before, but all of these here are done. I think that's important for you to understand. Also on the left side, obviously, with the EU ETS scheme being in place, we are very focused on modernizing, upgrading, and especially also decarbonizing our footprint in Europe. We've given you many of the examples that we have already done.
There are many more to come. I think it's also fair to say that a major part of the large investment projects in Europe have been largely completed. They're not fully completed, but largely completed. Also most of the closure costs of the things that you see here on the map have also been digested. With that, I would say I hand over to René on the financial side.
Thank you, Dominik. Hello, everyone. We are now on page 13. I give you the financial highlights. We delivered another strong quarter, leading to adjusted earnings per share, which is up 10% to EUR 9.50 per share for the first nine months, reflecting continued solid operational performance and focused financial execution. Our cash generation remains a key strength with EUR 1.9 billion of free cash flow over the last 12 months, which supports both growth investments and shareholder returns. Here you see our capital allocation strategy, what we have announced is fully in place, where we said we increase our shareholder return, which we have done by 22% by finishing the EUR 1.2 billion share buyback program. At the same time, we strengthened our portfolio by further M&A in attractive markets.
The key takeaways for that slide are very strong earnings, robust cash generation, and very disciplined capital allocation. These are, in a snapshot, the financial highlights. Back to you, Dominik.
Thanks a lot, René. Then I am just going to conclude with the final slide of the presentation of slide 14, which basically tells you we are on track to deliver our targets for 2026. I think the strong performance of the first nine months, especially also the good performance now in Q3, gives us the confidence as we enter the final quarter. We remain very focused on execution, operational excellence, and very disciplined, as René was saying, capital allocation. The market conditions remain volatile and mixed. I think the portfolio is well-balanced. One thing is clear, the dedication of the team is very high to deliver the guidance. Of course, in the end, it is always a weather report in Q4, but we are very confident to deliver the guidance for 2026.
Thank you, Dominik. Thank you, René. Now we move to the Q&A. Operator, you want to start the Q&A session, please?
Yes, thank you. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Questioners on the phone are requested to disable the loudspeaker mode while asking a question. In the interest of time, please limit yourself to two questions. Anyone with a question may press star and one at this time.
Yeah, there are many people on the queue already. We start with Luis Prieto from Kepler Cheuvreux.
Hey, Luis.
Luis, hi.
Hello, everyone. Thanks, Dominik, René, and rest of the team for taking my questions. Two from my side. The first one is, what is the situation of cement and aggregates prices in the U.S. at the moment and into 2027? I am asking in the context of cost inflation, diesel, for example, the cement input pressures that we saw earlier this year. Will the offsetting price increases only come in early 2027? The second one is, what savings are truly incremental? In other words, not neutralized by inflation in the next wave of Transformation Accelerator. Is there any cost associated to this new phase, by the way? Thank you.
Luis, thank you. Let me take the first one, and then René will cover the second. Cement and aggregates pricing in the U.S., as I indicated, in aggregates, we are moving in the right direction, close to inflation compensation, if not better. So aggregates pricing in the U.S. is intact. Cement pricing has been a little bit under pressure over the last two to three years. We performed well in Q3 with a positive increase in cement pricing, and we are confident for 2027 as imports will come under pressure with much higher costs going into the U.S. So, we are confident for cement pricing in 2027. You know that typically in the last quarter, we already start announcing price increases in our markets, and that has also happened in North America.
Luis, I take the second question regarding the savings of the TAI program, which we, let's say, continue. The clear target is to offset a big part of the higher inflation we currently see. The inflation is probably around 3%-4%, and the EUR 300 million are there to a large extent to offset inflation, to drive price over cost further positive. That is what we aim to do with the EUR 300 million.
Thanks, Luis.
Thank you. The next question comes from Elodie Rall from JP Morgan.
Elodie, hi.
Elodie, hi.
Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. First, a bit of a technical one on the group services, like the central line contribution, which was a lot higher, I think, than consensus expected or anyone expected. What drove the contribution to be so positive in Q3? Did you expect that to continue in Q4, and what should we expect for 2027? Second, which second question will I ask? I'm sure we'll come back on price and cost, so I'll ask on buyback. You finished that buyback plan that you had currently. Why didn't you announce a new one, or when should we expect a new one? I'll stop there, given this two-question limit. Thanks.
Okay, Elodie. Thanks a lot. René will take the first, and I'll give you this answer for the second one, then he can chip also in if he wants. René, you want to take the first one?
Hi, Elodie. Regarding group services, there we have also our trading business in there, which has, you know, this volatility is always good for traders. Our trading result is better than last year. Then, we have smaller bits and pieces there on all that level. I think the data is, what is it, EUR 8 million, EUR 9 million or EUR 10 million up versus last quarter. Do not project this EUR 10 million now to continue every quarter going up like this. But you know, our Peru business will be reported in the future also there, so you will see contributions from Peru there. Then maybe you can calculate that this will go further up, but due to the Peru change. Trading is going well, and a few million smaller bits and pieces on all that level are included in that improvement.
And then, Elodie, on the share buyback, we stick to our capital allocation policy that René has already indicated. It has worked well so far. We are going to be very focused on shareholder return in a combination of dividends and share buybacks. But bear with us, we have just finished the current program. So, as we have done in the past, we go into the next couple of months, and then we will decide how we proceed into 2027 with share buybacks going forward. But as I said, we are very focused on progressive shareholder return. There is no change to that policy.
Thank you, Elodie.
Okay, thanks.
Thank you.
Next one comes from Ben Rada Martin from Goldman Sachs.
Hey, Ben.
Hi, Ben.
Hi, Dominik, René, and Chris. Thanks for the questions this morning. My first question was just on the 2026 guidance. I note in the last few years, you've used the third quarter results to kind of narrow the range. I'd be interested from your perspective why you decided to keep the wider range, and I guess the working assumptions between getting to the top end or the bottom end of that for 2026. Then the second question would just be on the cost-out program. Very helpful to talk through, I guess, the mix of both operational and corporate overhead savings. What would broadly be the split between those two buckets? I guess on the operational savings, you also made a comment that the clinker closures are largely done now.
Could you, I guess, give us an update on what's remaining to get to, I think, some of your 2030 targets on clinker closures in Europe, I think which were 12%-17%? Thank you.
Yeah. Okay, Ben. Maybe let me start with the answers for both questions, and then René chips in. I think for the 2026 guidance, in the last Q2, we have adjusted slightly the corridor, and we didn't feel any pressure to now change things again. Let's stick with the corridor that we've indicated. As I said, we are confident to deliver that guidance. On the cost program, I think, just to be clear, we still reserve the right or possibility to further adjust our clinker footprint. This calculation on the numbers is based on the clinker lines, and I think we are fully on track in order to deliver that. When you ask about the additional contributions on the cost program, again, a large amount of this is not only Europe, it's globally.
Cost efficiency, productivity, René has indicated, we have taken out more than 2,000 FTEs on this first part of the TAI program, and we'll continue to optimize that footprint globally. There is a part in there on the overhead part that is focused on Europe, and that is in the mid-double-digit million magnitude.
Very helpful. Thank you.
Thanks, Ben.
Did you address? Sorry.
No, no, all good. No, you covered it. It was amazing. Next question comes from Morgan Stanley, Cedar Ekblom .
Cedar, hi.
Cedar.
Thanks very much. Two questions from me. First question's quite simple. Can you just help us understand the scope contribution in the fourth quarter and also in 2027 from the four deals, NCC, Peru, Turkey, and Maas? The second question relates to the quality of the beat in Europe. If we look at your EBITDA in the third quarter, it was up EUR 65 million year-over-year. The cement division increased by EUR 33 million, but then you had a EUR -10 million offset from aggregates. What I'm trying to understand is, where does the roughly EUR 40 million or so year-on-year growth in EBITDA in Europe come from? I'd be surprised if the ready-mix business was able to deliver that much year-on-year growth. A bit more color on what drove that year-on-year improvement in Europe would be helpful. Thank you.
Fair enough, Cedar. Thank you very much. Let René take the first one, and I will cover the second one, okay?
Hi, Cedar. Scope contribution for Q4 2026, and I'm talking here RCO, yeah? That would cover the building material segment of Maas, Peru, and the Akçansa part. That should roughly be, I would have said, EUR 30 million contribution from these in Q4. When you then turn to the year 2027, I would have said it's roughly, on RCO level, it's roughly EUR 130 million-EUR 140 million, what we know right now. That does not include the NCC number because we don't know when this is closed.
Okay, so that's that one, Cedar. The second one on Europe, I think you're right with your analysis. The contribution in the quarter comes also from the JV and associates side, and that's where our joint venture in Hungary is reported. You know that there was a government change in Hungary. That has obviously, we had very big headwinds that we also reported to you in the past, and now we have some tailwinds coming from that joint venture. So that's basically a large chunk of that, if not everything, but a large chunk of that explanation.
Thanks, Cedar.
Thank you.
The next question comes from CIC, Ebrahim Homani.
Hello, Ebrahim.
Hello?
Hello?
Are we still on? Then moving on to the next, that's Arnaud Lehmann from Bank of America.
Thank you so much, and good afternoon, gentlemen.
Hello.
Two questions on my side. Firstly, you talked a little bit about pricing in the U.S. Do you mind talking a little bit about pricing in Europe? There's obviously inflation there on the energy side, probably a little bit on CO2 as well. Can you confirm that you're heading towards mid-single digit on pricing for next year in Europe? Secondly, very interesting slide 12 on your clinker capacity. I notice that France and Germany basically appears more or less in all categories. You're adding clinker capacity, you're reducing clinker capacity, you're doing grinding station, brownfield projects. Can you help us a little bit of, give us a little bit of color on the big picture direction for clinker capacity in France and Germany? Thank you.
Yeah, Arnaud, let me take maybe both, and you chip in, René. Pricing in Europe is clearly intact. You see price over cost is positive. I mentioned that point, and there's no reason to believe that that is going to change going into 2027. I think we are confident that we will be able to keep price over cost positive, and with that, have a better price increase than inflation. We have also the programs that we have described. So Europe, I think, looks okay going into 2027. Clinker capacity in Germany and France, this has historically been untouched for decades. We have now taken the tough decisions to restructure the asset base in France and Germany on the clinker side, and I think most of that is done.
I think in France, it's closing quite a few smaller, older, very carbon-inefficient kilns and replacing it with a large replant in Airvault. That's basically the game. In Germany, a similar picture with the master plan Germany that was basically rebuilding our two plants in the south, also investing into our plants in the west of Germany, then at the same time taking out older and inefficient capacity in Germany. With that, our business becomes, both in France and Germany, significantly more competitive, also with a significantly lower carbon footprint. Airvault alone took down the carbon footprint of that plant by 30%.
Very good. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Arnaud.
Thank you, Arnaud. We stay with another Arnaud, Arnaud Pinatel from On Field.
Arnaud.
Hello. Yes. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Congratulations for the good print in Q3. I am coming back to the pricing, just to understand the sequence of the price increase you are going to announce in 2027. Are you going to announce the bulk of this price increase in Europe in January, or are you waiting the start of the construction season in March, April? Secondly, on pricing in the U.S., I understood your answer, but we heard from other players that they are going for a single-digit increase in aggregates and a mid-single- digits for cement along Europe especially. Could you confirm this magnitude? And my last question will be on your energy cost and hedging. We see currently the power price in Europe around EUR 200 per megawatt hour. They were around EUR 100 per megawatt hour historically.
Could you tell us a little bit more on the way you are hedged in Q4 2026 and also in 2027 for your European power? Thank you very much.
Arnaud, you are a very experienced analyst. You squeezed three questions in, but we are humble today, and we give you—
I am sorry.
—the three answers, okay? That's fine. Pricing in Europe and the U.S., we are always targeting to go beginning of the year, not let it go for too long. In the majority of the cases, it works. The clear target is to go from January 1. On the pricing in the U.S., we take our independent decisions, but I think on aggregates, it's higher single-digit percentages, and in cement, it is mid-single-digit percentage price increases. I think that's it on the pricing side. René, energy hedging?
Yeah. Arnaud, hi from my side as well. For Q4, we had our beginning of November, so you can imagine that we have not big spot positions now available for Q4. Q4 will not be our problem. For 2027, roughly 50%-60% of electricity exposure is hedged. The good news is, it's at lower cost than our hedged positions for 2026, which is a positive. You see, we have also other costs here, diesel and coal. For 2027, our view is that we have a mid- to high single-digit energy cost increase for 2027, which we will mitigate via additional pricing and efficiency measures.
Thank you, Arnaud.
Thanks, Arnaud.
Thank you very much. Next question come from Harry Dow, Rothschild & Redburn.
Harry.
Hello, Harry.
Hi there. Afternoon. Thank you. Just two questions from me. Just firstly, back on the EUR 300 million of savings by 2028. I wonder whether, is that a run rate by the end of 2028 that we should sort of be achieving, and therefore some of the savings fall into the 2029 P&L, or the hopes that we get all of those savings by the end of 2028 in the P&L? Then just secondly on Africa region, I think the like-for-like EBITDA was down in Q3. I appreciate the comps are quite tough now, it's a good year last year, but maybe just some color on the moving parts from that like-for-like profit decline, and should we see a similar picture in Q4? Thanks.
Thanks, Harry, for your questions. On the EUR 300 million, to be precise, I think we are targeting to get it in by the end of 2028, but that doesn't mean that is for the full year of 2028. By the end of 2028, you're in a position that you then have the full run rate going into 2029, but all the measures and all the implementation has been done by end of 2028. The full effect you then get one full year around in 2029. That's the systematic, it works. And then on Africa, I think the numbers in Africa basically are a little bit tweaked by the situation around Akçansa. René, you want to add maybe to that?
You asked about, reported we are up, and that's what Dominik said—
Exactly.
—due to Akçansa. Like-for-like, it's slightly down. If I have it correctly in my mind, it's 5%, that's roughly EUR 10 million down, and this is coming mainly from, I think it's Egypt and Ghana. Last year we had some inflationary accounting there, and Egypt, this is in a super high level. These are the two reasons.
But nothing out of the ordinary, Harry, no? I think this is normal stuff.
It's low absolute numbers.
Exactly.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Thank you.
Hey, Ami Galla from UBS.
Hello, Ami.
Hey, guys. It is actually Julian. I am not sure why.
Hey, Julian. Hey, I was going to wonder. Who is this guy with the Hey, are you now coming up with another show?
Go ahead, Julian.
It is just boring me, I am sorry. So, two questions from me. The first one is kind of an easier one. U.S. volumes pretty strong in Q2 and also in Q3. You are bucking the industry trend there a little bit. Can you help us understand what exactly is driving that, and how long would you expect that to continue in the next few quarters into 2027? Then the second question is a bit of a bigger one. So, getting back to this cost program, I think what is in a lot of investors' minds is, if you look at the EUR 500 million program, it is kind of hard to really see that in the numbers clearly, arguably.
Specially in Europe and North America, 2025 and 2026, you are going to do something like low single 3%, 4% like-for-like EBIT growth, notwithstanding a very strong Q3 in Europe, and here now, but which you just explained with a benefit from Hungary specifically. This is my question, how far would you say with some degree of confidence that with this new program, we are going to see like-for-like EBIT growth in Europe and/or North America really accelerate from these kind of low single-digit levels in the next couple of years, or are you suggesting that that is not really what this is about? This is about dealing with all this sort of higher-than-historical cost inflation. Thank you.
Julian, let me make the first cut of it, and then René chips in. On the U.S. volumes, the business in the U.S. is, in general, somewhat sluggish when it comes to the volume development. Yes, there is a little bit of volume increase, but the market is not growing. You saw the latest American Cement Association numbers. They are quite negative on the volume development in the U.S. What is the magic in Heidelberg? We have built up and have a very significant focus on larger projects because the business is very project-driven and therefore pretty scattered. We have a couple of very large projects secured that drive the business in 2026, also going into 2027. So that is the point on the volume side. On the cost program side, as René was indicating, the main focus is for us to keep price over cost positive.
That is part of the answer also to your question. We should not speculate too much how much exactly goes into the P&L, because that is always tough to see. But I think in the end, the target is to at least mitigate the cost inflation. That is also the last part of the answer is, if the cost inflation comes down and we have done the structural changes, then it becomes very interesting. But we are paid for rather a worst-case scenario that if the cost inflation continues, that René was describing, we still want to keep price over cost positive. I think that is—
Julian, that is the answer.
That is a clear answer. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thanks, Julian.
We are approaching the end of the Q&A. There is one more analyst on the line. If you do have further questions, please dial star one. With that, we come to Ebrahim Homani from CIC.
Hey, Ebrahim.
Hello. Thank you for taking my question. I have two, if I may. The first one is about the German infrastructure fund. Do you see any impact in your order books yet? My second question is about your working cap dynamic in Q3, as you target zero working cap in the end of the year 2026. Thank you.
Okay, Ebrahim, let me do the first and then René does the second. German infrastructure fund, I know the hopes were high. To be honest, we finally now see some uptick in volumes in Germany. I think there are indications that the money now finally comes to the ground. Let's see how it plays out in 2027, but overall, the trend now finally goes in the right direction.
To your second question regarding working capital, as you know, we don't publish our cash flow and balance sheet data for Q3, but it's still valid that we want to try to get the working capital outflow to zero for year-end.
Very good, Ebrahim. Thank you very much.
Two more on the line. Next question comes from Glynis Johnson from Jefferies.
Glynis.
Glynis.
Hello. Yeah, I'll use my full two, if I may, but I'm going to be a bit pedantic. In terms of the contribution from the inclusion of the Turkish operation, the Akçansa operation, it looks quite a big number. Is there anything else that's going into that scope in the Q3 that we need to be aware about in that Africa, Mediterranean, Western Asia division? Then the second one is just, Dominik, you referred to slight volume growth in some key countries in Europe. Can you talk us through the key countries where you did see volume growth, and can you talk us through where volume growth didn't come through, just so we can understand a little bit about some of the dynamics within Europe?
Yeah. Thanks, Glynis. We do this here in a team approach. In AMWA, the main, if you wish to say so, distortion that you are talking about in terms of a very strong top-line growth, and also an increase on the reported result, is mainly coming from the Akçansa piece. That's now, keep in mind, that used to be a minority participation, it's now a major majority. So I think in that respect, that changes also on the IFRS, the accounting. So in that respect, that's the impact you see there. But René, maybe you can add in a moment to what you see in AMWA. Then on the volume growth in Europe, as I already answered to Ebrahim, I think Germany moves in the right direction. I think the countries that continue to be a little bit sluggish, especially the U.K.
The U.K. is clearly disappointing from a market perspective. Then in continental Europe, it's a little bit a spread picture with some markets being good in volume growth, some not so good. But I think that's a little bit the indication on Europe volumes.
Yeah. Glynis, as Dominik said, Akçansa is the main piece. They are also publicly listed, you get the numbers from them. In Q3, we had EUR 170 million revenue contribution for Akçansa and EUR 29 million EBITDA or EUR 18 million RCO. These are the numbers for Akçansa, which in the past were at equity accounted with net income, obviously in our numbers, and now it's fully consolidated.
And also AMWA is, they have already done, no?
Done, that's all.
Okay. Good. That's it, Glynis. Thank you.
And we close the Q&A with the last question from Arnaud Pinatel again from On Field .
Arnaud.
Arnaud, what have you got?
Yes, sorry, I have a last one, but it's a very small one. It's the first time since a long time I have not heard the word CCS during one of your conference call. I just wanted to understand where you are on the evoZero ramp-up in terms of volumes. If you could just give us an indication of what you have sold in 2026.
Yeah, Arnaud, thanks a lot. I think on evoZero, the product is being produced well. The plant in Brevik runs as planned. On the sales side, we said always we're not going to disclose anything specific, neither volumes nor pricing. But the discussions go well across Europe. We have a couple of very interesting discussions also about for longer-term contracts. If there is anything super magic, then we'll obviously inform the capital market. But for now, we are continuing with our commercial strategy to market this product as a very differentiating product to all our competition, and that remains also the strategy going into 2027 for now. But overall, as I said, production of evoZero works really well, and the commercialization is on track, and we continue to work with a special team to further advance the marketing on evoZero.
Okay.
Okay.
You will not give us a ton, huh? It is too precise of a question.
No, we have to be careful. This is a competitive information, so we also do not give you volumes on other specific products. So, yes, no.
Okay. No, no.
Thanks, Arnaud.
Thank you very much.
Okay, this concludes the call. Thanks for your questions. We are now going on our very intensive, let's say, post-Q3 investor tour. We go to the U.S. next week, New York, Boston, Chicago. We will be in London. We were in London today and tomorrow. Stay tuned. If you are interested, let us know. With that, thanks for tuning in.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing Chorus Call, and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.