Klöckner & Co SE (KLKNF) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Klöckner & Co SE ( KLKNF ) Q2 2026 Earnings Call August 5, 2026 8:00 AM EDT Company Participants Fabian Joseph - Head of Investor Relations Guido Kerkhoff - Chairman of the Management Board & CEO Oliver Falk - CFO & Member of Management Board Conference Call Participants Lars Vom Cleff - Deutsche Bank AG, Research Division Presentation Fabian Joseph Head of Investor Relations Hello, everyone. This is Fabian Joseph from Investor Relations. Also on behalf of my entire team, I wish you a warm welcome to our Q2 '26 conference call. With me today are our CEO, Guido Kerkhoff; and our CFO, Oliver Falk. They will guide you through the presentation. And afterwards, we're happy to take your questions. [Operator Instructions] With that, I'd like to hand over to you, Guido. Guido Kerkhoff Chairman of the Management Board & CEO Yes. Thank you, and welcome to our Q2 '26 conference call. Let's begin with the financial highlights of the quarter. I'd like to remind you that at the end of the full year '25, we successfully sold U.S. distribution sites in order to focus more on higher value-added products and services. As in our previous analyst and investor presentations, we also included the deltas for a divestment-adjusted baseline to enable a true year-over-year comparison. At the group level, shipments in the second quarter decreased slightly year-over-year. Negative development is mainly driven by the aforementioned sale of 8 U.S. distribution sites at the end of fiscal '25. However, this was partly offset by positive momentum in our segment, Kloeckner Metals Europe. Excluding the divestment, shipments increased by 4.3% year-over-year. This is proof that our growth strategy remains intact and that the implemented strategic initiatives are gaining traction. Sales increased slightly by 3% on a year-over-year basis due to a higher average price level. On an