Good morning, everyone. I am Lee Eun-Ho from the IR Team, Corporate Finance Office, CJ CheilJedang. Thank you all for joining our Q1 2026 earnings conference call. Today's call will be interpreted simultaneously into English for our foreign investors. Please note that today's presentation materials include forward-looking statements which may change depending on future business conditions. These materials are subject to adjustments during the external auditor's audit process. Let me first introduce the management team attending today. Mr. Jeon Gi-Sung, Head of Corporate Finance. Mr. Kwan Gyeong-Min, Head of Finance. Mr. Chung Keun-Hwang, Head of Food Business Planning. Mr. Jeon Sun-Ho, Head of Food Korea Business Planning, and Mr. Choi Jun-ho, Head of BIO Business Planning. Today's agenda is as follows. Mr. Jeon Gi-Sung will first present the Q1 results and business review. Following that, each business unit will share updates on key strategic initiatives.
The IR Team will provide guidance on the outlook for Q2. After all presentations, we will conclude with the Q&A session.
Good morning, everyone. I am Jeon Gi-Sung, Head of Corporate Finance at CJ CheilJedang. Today, I will first walk you through the highlights of our Q1 2026 results and then share performance analysis by business unit. Please turn to page five. Let me begin with the Q1 2026 results, excluding CJ Logistics. In Q1, our sales increased 4.3% year-on-year to KRW 4.0271 trillion, driven by extended global GSP sales, the launch effect of new products in the Food Korea Business, and increased sales of health and nutrition products in the BIO business.
Operating profit came in at KRW 148.5 billion, down KRW 52.2 billion year-on-year, with an OP margin of 3.7%. Despite improved profitability in the Korea Food business, the decline was mainly attributable to lower selling prices for major products in the BIO business. Net income totaled KRW 89.7 billion, up KRW 71.1 billion year-on-year, driven by improved non-operating income, including gains related to raw material derivatives and foreign exchange. Including CJ Logistics, our Q1 2026 results were as follows: Sales increased 6% year-on-year to KRW 7.1111 trillion, while operating profit decreased 17.2% to KRW 238.1 billion. Next, I'll move on to the performance analysis by business unit on page seven. First, let me begin with the Food business.
Sales increased 3.9% year-on-year to KRW 3.0384 trillion. In global markets, mandu continued leading GSP sales growth across all regions, while geographic expansion into new markets such as Europe and Oceania also continued. In Korea, sales increased, driven by strong new product performance and continued growth in online and CVS channels. Operating profit increased by KRW 14.4 billion year-on-year to KRW 143 billion. Despite profitability improvement in the U.S., overall profit in the global food business slightly declined year-on-year due to higher advertising and promotional expenses for growth acceleration in new regions. Meanwhile, Korea Food posted higher profit year-on-year, driven by strong new product sales and lower fixed costs through cost optimization. On the next page, I will provide more details on food business sales.
Global food business sales increased 4.5% year-over-year to KRW 1.5555 trillion. In the U.S., sales grew 3% year-over-year, supported by solid frozen pizza share, market share, as well as expanded sales of key GSP products, including mandu and shelf-stable rice. In Europe, sales also accelerated, driven by GSP products such as mandu, chicken, and noodles, recording 17% year-over-year growth. In Japan, mandu sales expanded following the startup of the Chiba plant. Revenue declined 2% year-over-year as volumes of Micho decreased under the strategy to improve profitability. In the APAC region, sales grew 17% year-over-year, driven by the solid growth of GSP products and expanded shelf-stable product portfolios, including seaweed snacks. Korea food sales increased 3.2% year-over-year to KRW 1.4829 trillion.
Processed food sales rose 9% year-on-year, driven by Lunar New Year gifts set sales results and strong sales of new products launched in collaboration with IP content. Meanwhile, FI sales declined 7% year-on-year due to lower selling prices and weaker soybean meal market conditions. Next, I'll move on to the BIO business on page nine.
BIO sales increased 5.7% year-on-year to KRW 988.7 billion. Sales increased on higher volumes of specialty products such as arginine as well as nucleotides. Operating profit decreased by KRW 66.6 billion year-on-year, but increased by KRW 5.2 billion quarter-on-quarter to KRW 5.5 billion. Amid intensified competition in major products, profit from high-margin products continued to decline due to lower selling prices, leading to a year-on-year decrease in profit. On the next page, I'll provide more details on key products within the BIO business. First, in feed amino acids, lysine sales declined as selling prices fell year-on-year despite higher sales volumes. tryptophan sales also declined as competition remained intense and selling prices continued to fall. Specialty amino acids achieved record high sales volumes by successfully securing new demand based on our technological competitiveness.
Next, let me move on to taste and nutrition sales. Nucleotides posted sales growth supported by expanded long-term contracts within global customers. TasteNrich, our next-generation plant-based fermentive seasoning, continued its sales growth through higher volumes driven by customer-tailored solutions. On the next page, I will share CJ Logistics' performance. CJ Logistics sales increased 7.4% year-on-year to KRW 3.2145 trillion. The own business continued its top-line growth, driven by market share gains and increased volumes from key fulfillment customers. CL sales also increased, supported by new W&D contract wins and higher port volumes. Operating profit increased by KRW 6.7 billion year-on-year to KRW 92.1 billion.
Despite the preemptive recognition of certain cost of sales and lower volumes from existing W&D customers, operating profit increased, driven by new order wins in the global business and improved profitability of large-scale projects in the construction business. Let me walk you through the key strategic initiatives by business. I will begin with the global food business. Global food business is expected to sustain growth by expanding strategic GSP products across key regions. In the U.S., we will strengthen Bibigo brand awareness through social media and promotional campaigns to support continued strong growth in mandu. We will also use digital marketing to create new demand for products such as shelf-stable rice, accelerating growth in new categories. In Europe, we will expand listings in mainstream retail channels and continue launching new products in existing markets.
To meet demand in newly entered markets, we plan to complete the expansion of our New Hungary plant in the second half and drive GSP sales growth centered on mandu. Lastly, in Japan, following the startup of the Chiba plant in September 2025, our dumpling market share has continued to rise, reaching 11% in March 2026. We expect continued global growth of GSP led by mandu. Next, I'll follow up with the Korea food business.
In Korea, we will expand our portfolio of high protein and low sugar products in response to growing health awareness demand. We will also drive growth by launching new products aligned with evolving consumer trends through digital marketing, while focusing resources on growth channels such as online and CVS. In parallel, we plan to improve profitability through production efficiency enhancement and structural transformation. Next, let me move on to the strategy for the BIO business.
In the BIO business, demand for key products is gradually recovering. As we leverage our technology and production footprint advantages, and as our cost structure improves relative to peers, We expect a meaningful recovery in profitability from Q2. For feed amino acids, demand is expected to recover as soybean meal and corn spreads continue to improve. In addition, amid rising geopolitical risks in the Middle East, we will actively leverage our global production footprint. As a result, both sales and operating profit are expected to improve quarter-over-quarter in Q2. For L-arginine for feed, sales volume is expected to increase through demand diversification supported by technical marketing, including livestock stress reduction.
Supported by growing health and wellness demand and a broader food application base in sports nutrition, we expect solid sales growth to continue through Q2 for L-arginine for food. Let me discuss our outlook for Q2 2026. In global food business, sales growth of global strategic products is expected to continue. In Europe and APAC, top-line growth is expected to continue, driven by a stronger lineup of key products such as mandu, chicken, and noodles, as well as continued expansion into new channels. In Korea, we will continue our efforts to improve profitability through new product launches aligned with consumer trends, along with structural transformation and cost efficiency initiatives in online channels.
In the bio business, both sales and profitability are expected to improve in Q2 compared with Q1, supported by a recovery centered on specialty products. Taken together for Q2 2026, we expect consolidated sales to grow at a mid-single digit rate year-over-year and operating margin to be around 4%. This concludes our prepared remarks. We will now begin the Q&A session.
The first question is from Park Sangjun of Kiwoom Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for this opportunity. The Food Korea sales is increased 9% Y-o-Y. When it comes to channel or product, what are the key drivers? After Q2, do you believe the growth momentum is gonna sustain? My second question, in Japan, mandu is growing at higher rates, but Micho volumes declined. Right now, can you share the sales mix of each product? In Q2 and Q3, do you believe you can turn around the sales of Micho?
This is Jeon Sun-Ho, Head of Food Korea Business Planning. Let me answer your first question. In Korea, the sales increased 10% y-o-y, but excluding gift set sales, it's low single-digit growth. When we look at the products, we developed our new product in collaboration with IP, and also we launched some new mega products so that we can increase the sales. By channel, we have been focusing on online, so we were able to maintain double-digit growth in online channels. In Q2 and forward, we are going to maintain such growth momentum. Let me tell you about Japan.
In Japan, in Q1, we focused on high growth of mandu strategically, and for Micho, we focused on profitability. In Q2 and Q3 and forward, Micho's high season will come back, we will be able to generate more sales with Micho.
Next question. The next question is from Kim Hye-yoon from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Good morning. I have three questions. First, if you look at the products, the increased operating profit mostly came from Korea because there were more investments globally. In the Korean market, what kind of efforts are you making for operating profit? For the global business, due to the ongoing investment, the profitability slightly declined. Where are you investing?
Because of there is big growth in Europe and it is in the emerging market, is the OP margin makes naturally declining because of the growth in Europe? My second question is about the specialty products, their mix is rising, and I believe it affected positively on the margin. Traditionally, the high lucrative products like tryptophan and nucleotides, what are the trends like? In the Q2, you expect 4% margin at a corporate level, then how much BIO could contribute to that growth? That's my second question. My third question is about the impact from the Iranian war. Overall, the energy price is going up. Against this backdrop, the cost or sales, how do you expect them to be affected by the changes in the current environment?
I will answer your first question. There was the timing effect from the Lunar New Year gift set. However, excluding that, we are seeing improving profit in general products. First of all, we're trying to reduce fixed cost, and we are also optimizing SKUs to reduce operational costs. In the second quarter, packaging material costs are likely to increase due to the Iranian war, but we're making internal efforts to offset the cost increase. For global food business, there was a slight decline in profit. Despite the profitability in the U.S., in new markets like Japan, APAC, and Europe, we are going for expansion strategy, so advertisement and promotion spending increased. We believe this will be temporary, and once we settle in those markets, we expect our profit to stabilize. Let me answer the question regarding the bio business.
Regarding specialty amino acids you mentioned, for tryptophan, soybean meal price is increasing, so we expect rising demand, and we believe the overall demand will rebound after bottoming out in Q1. For nucleotides, the domestic recovery in China is slow, but it continues, and we're going to secure large contracts from global customers to expand sales growth. We expect our profit to increase in the second half. For lucrative products like arginine, with our dominant market leadership and differentiated portfolio, we will expand new customer pool for better profitability.
We will take the next question. Next question is from Kim Jeong-wook of Meritz Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the question, opportunity. In the U.S., mandu and GSP sales were pretty solid, and the overall growth was pretty under expectations. I want to know about some details about SKUs categories and the dessert plant, stabilization impact will be expected in Q2, can you share the guidance on this? The second question is on bio. In the second half, you are expecting some great results in lysine and you focus on Q2 and specialty products in Q2. When we break it down into lysine and specialty products, what are the forecasts? Can you share some more detailed guidance on lysine competitive landscape and prices? In the U.S., there could be some tariff impact in the second half in the U.S. and Brazil, can you share them details?
Let me first answer the question about the U.S. GSP products grew in the U.S., but pizza was pretty stagnant. Pizza sales, we focus on profitability with pizza, we shifted our strategy to GSP products. In Q2, compared to Q1, we are going to focus more on GSP products growth. When we look at the channels, we are entering new channels with new products, we can expect some better results. Let me tell you about bio. Lysine, compared to Lysine and Tryptophan, we are now looking at improvements, more looking improvements in specialty amino acids. Chinese competitors, after Q4 last year, in line with the corn prices increases, the cost structure has worsened. With that, in Q2, compared to Q1, profitability is expected to improve. Let me take the next question. There's no waiting, pending question.
If you want to ask a question, please press star and one on your The next question is from Park Sangjun from Kiwoom Securities. Please go ahead.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity. My first question is about the borrowing. The net borrowing, except CJ Logistics, in Q1 increased. Is it because of seasonality or is this what you intended? This year, how are you planning to manage your net borrowing? My second question is about the operating profit. It has Non-operating profit. It has improved compared to last year, and because of the rising foreign currency, I believe there was some decline. Is there any one-off increase in terms of non-operating losses?
For bio, due to the Iranian war, competitors in the methionine markets are experiencing production disruptions, many expect that CJ might benefit from it. Do you expect such benefit from the current market environment?
Let me answer your question about methionine first. For methionine, Chinese competitors are experiencing production disruption, we do expect to benefit from that in Q2. Of course, we have increasing ingredient costs from petroleum-based raw materials, we are going to transfer that to the selling price to improve profitability in Q2. Let me answer the question about the net borrowing increase. Of course, as you mentioned, there was an impact from the seasonality in the overseas market. We need to take a lot of inventory asset in Q1, that resulted in an increase in borrowing. There was an increase in net borrowing in Q1.
For this year's overall net borrowing, as we mentioned from Q4 2025, we are accelerating our financial structural transformation, so our control will tighten regarding net borrowing. Next, regarding the non-operating income, as you mentioned, Forex of course affected. Inventory, some of them were recognized as the non-operating. Let me take the next question.
Next question is from Kim Jeong-wook of Meritz Securities. Please go ahead.
Thank you again. There is going to be a new plant in Hungary. Can you share some detailed timeline of operation of this plant? In this new plant, which countries will you cover? What is the expected sales from this plant? Secondly, you mentioned profitability in the global markets. There were some investments in new markets. You said that it is some one-off expenses. In Q2, in the U.S., you are going to focus on profitability. It seems like there are some investments. Do you believe there is going to be improvement in global markets from Q2, or is it going to be after Q2? Lastly, in bio, regarding lysine, there are some issues related to tariff in the U.S. and Brazil.
Is there any updates on this, and is there any expected impact on the bio business? Thank you.
Let me answer your question related to Hungary. The new plant is expected to be the end of December, and we're going to start commissioning from then. The timeline, the main production will start from next year. We're going to cover all regions in Europe together with our plant in Germany. As soon as we stabilize this Hungary plant, we are going to manage the logistics and handle some more categories. When we look at the profitability in global markets, until Q2, we are going to drive more growth. Profitability is not expected to improve as much, but we are going to make the best effort. The visible and tangible results will be generated in the second half.
Let me tell you about tariffs of lysine in the bio business. When we look at North America, in March this year, the anti-dumping duties were levied on Chinese competitors, and the final duties will be levied in the second half. In the U.S., based on our presence in the U.S., we are going to leverage our competitiveness and reflect those in our prices.
This concludes CJ CheilJedang's Q1 2026 earnings call. Thank you for joining us.