ACOMO N.V. (ACOMO) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to ECOMO's Half-Year 2026 Results Investor Call. Today, our CEO, Alar Goldsmedding, and CFO, Miriam Fantil, will take you through ECOMO's financial performance and key developments during the first six months of the year. Following the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Participants who would like to submit a question can do this via the web link posted on our website or using the number to dial in. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that today's discussion may include forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ. Please refer to the disclaimer included in our press release for further details. I will now hand over to Allard, our CEO, to begin the presentation. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. In our previous call on March 5, we discussed the full year 2025 results and we commended on the outlook for 2026. We said that the broader outlook for the global economy, sea freight rates and product availability in 2026 remained uncertain. We are now in July, and this is still very much the case. But as you know, uncertainty is part of Acomo's daily life, and against this backdrop, I am very pleased with our performance to date. As last year's first half-year posted record results, we compare against a very strong base. Our current robust year-to-date results showed the resilience of our business model and the progress we made. In this call, I will start with the key highlights that characterised this first half-year. I will also discuss how these results compare to the previous years and share a number of strategic initiatives that we took the last few months and that are focused on future growth. Mirjam will then cover the financial performance of the group and of the individual segments. At the end of the presentation, I will finish with a look ahead at the remainder of 2026. Let's start with the business update. The results in the first six months were strong and important strategic progress was made in the last few months. It is good to note that H1 2026 was the second best in the history of the company despite foreign currency headwinds which caused negative translation effects. On a constant currency basis, sales and profit show a more positive picture than appears on a reported basis. The sales of 711 million euros and the adjusted EBITDA of 61 million euros were achieved in a challenging geopolitical environment, affecting market behavior and requiring constant adaption to new realities. In the spices and nuts segment, all our companies continued to show very solid performances. The record performance of the first six months of last year was difficult to repeat given in the market price developments, but also this segment reported the second best first half year ever. It underlines our belief in this segment and why it is one of our areas of focus. In a March call, we discussed in detail the performance of our edible seeds business in North America during 2025. The business had to deal with a number of challenges, including operational issues, which resulted in disappointing results. To address this, we have made the necessary strategic and organizational changes in North America, and I'm happy that the business is trending back towards normal performance levels. The new leadership team made substantial progress, and the fundamentals of the business are solid. What became a standard practice in these calls in recent years is that we cover the organic COCO results. Therefore, I'm very pleased we can report strong results for this business. After the difficult years of 2023 and 2024, the team managed the still volatile market prices well. The current market price for cocoa is still twice the historic average price, but half the peak prices of 2024 and 2025. It is positive that demand for our products has remained strong, and our plant in Midemir is operating at high capacity utilization. The business that is most impacted by the current geopolitical circumstances is our tea business. It's our most global business with important markets and supply chains in affected countries. Despite these challenges, T-sales increased, although margins were impacted by increased costs and FX headwinds. The physical implementation of the new commercial hub model is experiencing some delay due to the situation in the Middle East, but in a virtual way we started working in the new setting. Food Solutions was able to increase margins through product mix improvements and the new wetland facility that became operational last year provides a great platform for further expansion. Important components of our strategic plan presented during our Capital Markets Day last year include investments in value-added activities as well as M&A. These initiatives are crucial building blocks for our mid-term goals and we were able to announce the opening of the new office in China of Cuts International that we made an investment in a citrus plant in the U.S. to insource production and that we welcomed two new companies to the group, Citromil in Spain and KubeLand in the Netherlands. As you know, one of the core elements of Ocomo is that we value a healthy financial position of the group and therefore we need a strong balance sheet. It is important to us that despite relatively high prices for a number of our products and the investments we made, we have maintained a strong balance sheet. To reflect the strong performance and to align with our consistent dividend policy, we have set the interim dividend at €0.45 per share. The results for this first half-year compare positively against previous years. To put the results into perspective, the graph on this slide shows all half-year adjusted EBTAs, so both H1 and H2, since 2021, which was the first full year after the acquisition of Trilin Organic. The graph shows that the adjusted EBTA of the first six months of this year is above most other half years, including H2 of last year. The graph also shows that the years 2021 and 2022 had a rather equal split of the EBTA between the first half year and the second half. In 2023, 2024 and 2025, the picture is distorted mainly due to the cocoa price development that had a material impact on our results. As said in previous calls, we expect a more balanced split between H1 and H2 than we experienced in previous years due to more normalized price developments. It should be noted, however, that current geopolitical circumstances and other developments can impact the results for the second half of this year. China is economically increasingly important for a number of our products. To strengthen the business and service offerings to customers, Cuts International opened an office in China. By having local presence with local people, Cuts is perfectly positioned to further develop the business in China. Access to suppliers, managing supply chains, and product portfolio expansion is better served locally and will provide in-depth market knowledge, which is one of the key strengths of Cuts. The opening of this office fits perfectly with our strategic building block of expanding our value-adding capabilities. The acquisition of Citromel is an example of a vertical integration that not only expands our value-added capabilities, but also adds skill and a platform for further growth. Citromel is based in Murcia in Spain. This region is an important agricultural area and is referred to as the Orchard of Europe. The company produces citrus products including juices, purees and oils and is well known to Trident Organic as it has been a supplier for many years. This bolt-on acquisition will be integrated into the Trident organization. There are a number of reasons why this vertical integration is important. The organic market for citrus products is a growth area and by By integrating this business, Trilin expands its product offering. The insourcing of the production capacity enables the supply of an increased volume of organic products to be offered to customers in both Europe and North America.

Our latest M&A edition, Cubeland, also ticks a number of boxes.

With this acquisition, we expand our geographical reach, diversify our product offering and consequently add scale. Cubeland is based in the Netherlands and will be part of our food solutions segment. The company is agile, strongly customized dry plants, customer-centric and is active in a number of attractive export markets. The DNA of the company fits very well with our culture and the management team will work closely with our company SNK Euringianz in Belgium. Both companies will add each other's product portfolio to their respective offerings to customers. And further synergies will be looked at in close cooperation. It's important to mention that this acquisition strengthens our food solution segment, which has an above average margin profile within our group. Our value creation tree is rooted in ESG, and I'm happy to report that early 2026, Acomo published its second CSRD-aligned sustainability statement and continued rolling out its strategy. I'd like to share some of the initiatives we took that show our efforts in the respective areas. In the area of climate change, DailyNets completed a scope 3 hotspot analysis and started engaging selected suppliers to identify emission reduction opportunities and support science-based target setting. Regarding nature and biodiversity, Trident Organic organized dynamic agroforestry workshops in Peru supporting ginger, cocoa, orange and coffee farmers in strength strengthening agricultural and economic resilience. With respect to the own to own workforce, ACOMO implemented a group-wide learning platform and launched further mandatory governance training programs, supporting a more consistent approach to employee training across the group. And finally, in the area of workers in the value chain, Royal Van Rees Group received an EcoVaris Gold Medal, placing it amongst the top 5% of assessed companies and recognising progress across management systems, focusing on environment, labour and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. We have covered the performance highlights of the first six months of 2026, provided a perspective on the performance and outlined the latest strategic initiatives in the areas of investments, M&A, and ESG.

I would now like to hand over to Mirjam, who will discuss the financials.

Thank you, Alars. Good afternoon, everyone. I will now go over the key group financials of the first half of 2026. Sales declined by 3% on a constant currency basis versus a record-high H1 2025 comparison. Gross profit margin improved by 0.2% points, driven by recovery of the margin for edible seeds after the actions taken at the end of last year, and a strong margin performance for organic ingredients and food solutions. Overall, the EBITDA margin is at 8.6%, which shows strong progress coming from a historical margin of around 8% towards the 9% EBITDA margin we set as a direction during the Capital Markets Day last year. On the right, for added context, you will see the contribution share for each of the segments in which we are active. I will now discuss each segment in more detail. We start with our biggest segment, spices and nuts. After our record performance in 2025, sales continued to grow with 4% on a constant currency basis. Market conditions remained broadly similar during the first half of the year to those reported at year-end, with key categories trading at relatively elevated, yet generally stable levels. The period was marked by ongoing supply chain disruptions and geopolitical uncertainty, creating challenges across several sourcing regions and trade routes. Despite these circumstances, the Spices and Nuts division continued to effectively support customers through its global sourcing capabilities, supply chain expertise, and strong market knowledge. This, together with the acquisition of Manuzzi in the second half of last year, resulted in a sales growth of 4%. As market prices were more stable compared with the exceptional environment of H1 2025, margins were closer to the historical average at the healthy level of 10.3%. This reflects the strength of the division's market position, customer relationships, and risk management capabilities. Then over to edible seeds. Coming from a challenging 2025, the actions we have taken are paying off. The segment saw a strong recovery with adjusted EBITDA up 22% versus last year on a constant currency basis. The U.S. business within Edible Seeds contributed significantly to the year-on-year improvement of the segment's margin performance. The production issues that affected sun butter in Q4 2025 were fully resolved by the end of January and sales of sun butter increased versus last year following successful full replenishment and a strong offtake. For wildlife, volume and sales performance exceeded the levels achieved in the first half of the previous year, supported by improved execution at key accounts and a return to strong seasonal demand. For example, we see improved promotional activities across big home improvement chains where wildlife is sold and at retailers. Looking at organic ingredients, the global trend for healthier and more sustainable foods continues to be positive. Within ACOMO's organic ingredient segment, the fruits business continues to demonstrate strong commercial momentum and consistent growth. To support future growth and improve operational efficiencies, investments have been made to further integrate and strengthen the end-to-end supply chain for organic ingredients and beverages. As Allard already mentioned, the acquisition of Citromail in Spain was finalized, which will strengthen the position in Europe and beyond, and further enhance control over quality, traceability, and supply reliability. And in the U.S., an investment has been made to insource processing of the juice business, bringing together ingredient sourcing, processing expertise, and consumer-focused innovation to deliver premium organic beverages at scale. This transition puts some pressure on sales in the short term, but will improve the business structurally from the first half of 2027 onwards. The cocoa business continues to demonstrate resilience and strong execution, successfully managing market volatility and increasing regulatory requirements. After the record high cocoa prices at the back end of 2024 and first half of 2025 cocoa prices have come down but remain above historic levels. For coffee we saw lower volumes but these were more than offset by improved margins. Adjusted EBITDA was 20.2 million in line year-on-year on a constant currency basis, with lower sales being offset by improved margins. Within the T-segment, the Van Ries group has been able to grow sales, underscoring its ability to deal effectively with evolving market conditions within a fragmented and complex customer landscape. Sales increased with 9% on a constant currency basis. At the same time, the conflict in the Middle East has impacted this segment more than others. A lot of countries in the Middle East have strong tea cultures and deliveries have been very limited to that area for some months now. We continue to work on the transition to a centralized business model that consolidates the commercial trading and strategic functions within a central hub. And as you can imagine, certain costs will already go before the benefits, which you see reflected in these numbers as well. The food solution segment delivered an improved margin performance in H1 2026 compared with the same period last year, primarily driven by the blends business. The entrepreneurial R&D mindset remains a key driver of customer focus. This combined with the new plant in Ostende supports future growth and drives operational efficiency. Very excited as well that we have added the Kubeland business to this segment. With the new facility opened last year in Belgium and the addition of Kubeland to the group we see great potential for this segment. Then lastly on the cash flow development. Overall we generated net cash from operations of 56 million euros which is 85 million more than last year as a reminder last year we saw an increase in our working capital mainly driven by higher prices for some of our key materials as we see some of the prices coming down like cocoa you will see as expected a decline in inventory then in line with what we laid out as our capital allocation model during During the Capital Markets Day, we have invested in assets to secure future growth, we paid out dividends and the remainder we used to lower our borrowings. Our solvency ratio remains healthy at 45% and the same for our leverage ratio of 2.9 Our sweet spot is around 2.5 times and we will move gradually to that as working capital will come down following the lower prices especially for cocoa with that i would like to hand it back to alert thank you miriam as we get to the end of our presentation i'd like to share our views on the environment we operate in and the effect on our business the long-term market trend towards plant-based diets is positive and is expected to continue providing a strong fundament for our business

In the short term, the trend may be impacted by, amongst other things, market prices and product availability, but the long-term direction remains. What is difficult to predict is how the geopolitical environment will develop in the next few months and how it will affect our business environment. The impact on the global economy, cost levels and supply chains cannot be predicted. However, our people and our business model have proven to be resilient. The same is applicable for the so-called Super El Nino, which is expected to start having impact towards the end of 2026. In recent history, we have faced more El Ninos, and the Yakoma business model is diversified, a geographical spread, and is focused on finding alternatives in case of disruptions or limited product availability. The cocoa market prices, as said, are expected to remain at elevated levels with some volatility similar to the level of H1 our edible seeds business in the US recovered well in the first half of this year and actions are in place to continue this trend in the second half our tea business will continue to be impacted by geopolitical tensions in the coming months and the team will do their utmost to mitigate the impact where possible when looking at our working capital levels we expect to decline as Maryam mentioned in the second half of the year which will have a positive effect on our cash generation finally disruptions and volatility do not only create challenges but also opportunities the strengths of the acoma group companies is that they find ways to respond to these changes in an effective way and we have expertise and skill we will continue to pursue our goals as laid out during the capital Markets Day, and we will look at opportunities to expand our value-add offerings, our expertise, and to create further skill. With that, I would like to hand it back to Jean-Marie.

Thank you, Alarte Miriam. To summarize, today we have discussed our performance for the period, the key drivers across our segments, and the broader developments impacting our business.

We will now start with the Q&A.

The first question we received is the leverage ratio of 2.9 has risen substantially. Do you intend to bring that ratio down? And if so, how can you realize that?

Yeah, thanks for the question. Let me take that question. Well, the first point I would like to make is that we have a strong balance sheet with a solvency of 45%. We talked about that 2.5 leverage ratio as a sweet spot for us to be able to cover higher working capital if required and if it will deliver attractive returns and to support acquisitions. And that is exactly what we are now doing, again, on the back of a strong balance sheet. Now, looking forward, we're still having relatively expensive inventory. And as I mentioned, given current market prices, we expect this to go down in the second half. So I hope that answered the question.

Thank you, Miriam. Another question that came through, it states, could you explain something more about the lowest sales of the organic segment and how the investment in organic orange juice in the U.S. relates to this?

Yes, sure. Thank you, Jeannie. First, I would like to mention that the reported sales of Trident Organic is impacted by a weaker U.S. dollar and that on a currency basis, it looks much, much better. Having said that, the sales did decline versus loss last year, as you can see, but part of the reason is that we experienced disruptions in the third party production of our juice business in the US. In order to address these disruptions, we made investments to insource the production capabilities and this investment will become operational early 2027. In the meantime, we will have to deal with the negative sales impact of the fact that we had these disruptions. But when the facility will become operational, we will start regaining sales. So the investment is primarily to protect the market position. But at the later stage, it will also provide opportunities to generate new business. And I see that we get questions in from Patrick Rocca, from Kepler, who normally dials in but has some connection issues. You will take the first one.

Yeah, so let me add a first question from Patrick is how do you see the recovery in edible seeds in the second half? Well, I think first, important to mention that we really see the actions that we've made at the end of last year that they're paying off. We see a strong performance for sun butter and wildlife. Margins went back to 8.8 percent. So towards the historical levels, there's still some further improvement to be expected going forward. but overall we're very pleased with the speed of recovery we strongly believe in the fundamentals of this business the potential and we will continue to focus on further growing this the second question of patrick is regarding coco so his question is can you comment on the demand in coco and how do you see the market developing into h2 well what i've said is that the demand for cocoa remains strong.

So we foresee that it actually will continue to be strong. The demand for organic cocoa, as you know, that's where we're active in, is still high. The capacity utilization of our plant in minimum areas is very good. And in the near future, we don't foresee major changes in demand.

And maybe for me, the last question is, what are your expectations for working capital aside from the lower prices in cocoa um yeah on working capital look i important that that working capital for us is a commercial instrument so lowering working capital in itself is not not our goal we will continue to invest where we believe it makes sense and where it will give us attractive returns and very much depends on the development of the market prices So, yes, we are expecting a decline because of COCOA. That will be the main movement. And for the rest, that really depends on market price movements.

Great. Thank you, Miriam. We also have a call on the line, Rach Watson from ING. Hello, Rach. Please go ahead and ask your question.

Hello. Yeah, I have a question about the working capital moves. I think at the start of the year, you said that you expected working capital to decline through the year and unless I'm much mistaken that hasn't really happened yet so what gives you the confidence that we're going to see that happen in the second half and why didn't we see that in the first?

Yeah thanks Raj. Look we do see inventory going down so that is really what we said that we would expect that really based on the lower cocoa prices that's still being offset now at some higher receivables mainly coming from the recovery of edible seeds and the tea business but that continuing decline in inventory that is really what we are yeah expecting based on current market prices to uh to happen in the second half as well good okay thank you please continue rich no no that that was the that was the question thank you okay perfect no other questions from your side then then we have another question that

came through it is in Dutch so I'm going to roughly translate it to English how do you see or are you still committed to your goals for 2029 yeah we are we communicated in the capital markets they are mid-term ambitions and targets we are on track to make those happen and we will be fully focused to make it also happen and we're looking at initiatives and opportunities to that we will take and undertake in the next few years so yes we feel we're well positioned towards the future we're in the right spots um the market developments are moving in the right direction so so yeah we're we're we're committed to uh to our long-term targets thank you a lot we have another caller

on the line is patrick um patrick please go ahead and ask your question yes good afternoon allard and miriam so i was disconnected for a couple of minutes so i might ask a question that has been asked before but here we go um first one is on edible seeds how do you see the recovery progressing into the second half should we kind of expect a similar level as in the first half is the first question then secondly you commented on cocoa prices in the first half and gave away some expectation for the second i think but how's the month uh doing um um so far how do you see

that into the second half and then also i think i heard a question on working capital um yeah okay can you repeat that answer because i just dialed in again and what's the kind of level you you're looking for at the year end perhaps yeah thanks patrick uh let me just take the question on uh on edible seeds we just saw the question online as well uh but let me anyhow um give you the context again yeah no no no no worries no worries um so first important that we really see the access that we've made uh in edible seeds paying off so we really see a strong performance for sun butter and wildlife we see the margins are developing to 8.8 percent so that's still

slightly below historical levels but um quite in the right direction already um yeah so as said that we are really pleased with the speed of recovery uh we believe in the fundamentals of this business the potential uh and we will continue in the second half to really um yeah drive uh drive the growth of this business so and the second was on cocoa uh patrick um yeah what we said is that we don't see any weakness in the demand so demand continues the capacity utilization as said of our plant in minimere is high um and we don't foresee a major change in the near near future so um so yeah no major change is expected uh and then your last question

yeah on working capital um yeah look on working capital we do see um uh already now the inventory coming down as expected it's still being offset by some higher receivables from the tea and edible seeds business while they're uh gaining gaining momentum again uh towards the second half we are really expecting inventory to further go down really based on the lower cocoa prices how the rest develops we have to see it really depends on market prices and for us it is important to see that we are not allowing working capital in itself is not a goal for us we really

will use it as a commercial instrument we will invest when it gives us attractive returns so yeah so besides let's say the lower inventory because of cocoa um yeah we we have to see how it how it will develop it's hard to put a number to it okay perhaps a final question on on your tea business um taken into account let's say what's going on in the world um but but the performance obviously for quite some time has been has been pretty disappointing you're taking the necessary actions um but but yeah aside from that say would the result have been as we've seen

today if if let's say disruptions in your supply chain would have been absent yeah it would have looked to look better especially from a margin perspective um to to your point we because of let's say the the the basically uh you know flat performance i would say of our t business we did change and we announced the change in our business model so we are changing more to a centralized commercial hub model um the unfortunate thing is that from a physical perspective this uh this hub will be in the middle east and and as you can imagine that due to the circumstances we delayed the implementation a bit although we did start and there's there are people on the ground and people will move there as well um but the middle east is the center of the t world um that's where the majority of the business contacts are and the business is done so to us it's quite important to be on the ground and yeah if if things normalize and and cost levels and especially trend so freight freight costs would normalize ocean freight costs would normalize um yeah you should be able to see an improved three result and it but not only from a cost basis right i mean that the whole reason why we do this to to offer multi-origin solutions to the individual customers we have across the globe um so not working from a single origin office but much more from a centralized um spot let's say to be able to offer tea from the different origins which should serve our customers better and offer some more opportunities so we believe in the model um but again it it's it has some delay in the implementation although in a virtual way we started working on it so we will face it face it then okay all clear thank you very much thank you patrick um we have no more callers online i see and also we don't have any further questions coming in so i think that concludes the como half year results invest the call and thank you to everyone who joined us today

and participated in the Q&A. We appreciate your continued interest in Okomo and wish you a pleasant day.