Akzo Nobel N.V. (AKZOF) Q1 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning and welcome to Axel Nobel's Investor Update for the first quarter of 2025. I'm Kenny Che, Head of Investor Relations. Today, our CEO, Greg Puglione, and CFO, Martin De Vries, will take you through our results. We'll refer to the presentation, which you can follow by webcast or download from our website at axelnobel.com. A replay of the webcast will also be made available following the event. There will be a Q&A session after the presentation. For additional information, please contact our Investor Relations team. Before we start, a reminder of our forward-looking statements, disclaimer on slide two. Please note this also applies to the conference call and answers to your questions. I will now hand over to Greg, who will start on slide three of the presentation. Thanks, Kenny. Good morning to everyone on the call. In Q1, we delivered better than expected results despite softer markets with adjusted EBITDA, flat year-on-year at constant currencies. This performance was underpinned by positive pricing and strong cost reduction, demonstrating that our self-help measures are starting to deliver with more benefits to come. Organic sales were flat with 2% positive price mix offset by volumes down 2%, of which half was from the timing of an in-year commercial rebalancing in Turkey. We mitigated the impact of softer markets and cost inflation through our efficiency measures. OPEX was flat year-on-year despite wage and general cost inflation. Over 70% of the targeted 2,200 SG&A reductions we have planned are already effective, and not everyone who has left is off the payroll yet, so the full effect is still to come. Execution of the SG&A program is ahead of schedule, and recent collective labor agreement negotiations have been completed on target. Our industrial t...