Amrize H1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Quartr
Provided by Quartr
August 7, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Stable Q2 results with $3.2 B in revenue and a 30.7% adjusted EBITDA margin, underscoring resilience in a challenging environment.
  • Neutral Sentiment: Market activity was mixed—data center and infrastructure projects remained strong while residential construction softened amid high interest rates and uncertainty.
  • Positive Sentiment: Completed strategic investments including the Langley Concrete acquisition, a greenfield Oklahoma quarry and a Virginia fly ash facility, alongside organic capacity builds at SenGen, Malarkey and Saint Constant.
  • Positive Sentiment: Launched the Aspire program aiming for $250 M in cost savings by 2028 to drive over 50 bps of annual margin expansion, with initial savings in H2 2025.
  • Positive Sentiment: Closed a $3.4 B note offering and $1.9 B bond exchange to secure an investment-grade balance sheet, ending Q2 at 1.2x net leverage and targeting below 1.5x by year-end.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Amrize H1 2025
00:00 / 00:00

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Hello, and welcome to the Amory's q two twenty twenty five earnings conference call. We ask that you please hold all questions until the completion of the formal remarks, at which time you'll be given instructions for the question and answer session. Also, as a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. I will now turn the call over to Scott Einberger, Investor Relations Officer for

Speaker 1

Amrise. Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to

Speaker 2

Amrys' second quarter twenty twenty five earnings call. Amrys spun off from Wholesome and listed on the New York Stock Exchange on June 23, and we are very excited to be with you today for our first earnings call. Released our second quarter twenty twenty five financial results yesterday after the market closed. You can find both our earnings release and presentation for today's call in the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.amrise.com.

Speaker 2

On the call with me today are Jan Yenisch, our Chairman and CEO and Ian Johnston, our CFO. Jan will open today's call with highlights of our second quarter results and how Amiris is uniquely positioned to capture growth in a more than $200,000,000,000 addressable market. Ian will then review our financial performance before turning the call back to Jan for our outlook. We will then be ready to take your questions. Before we begin, during the call and in our slide presentation, we reference certain non GAAP financial measures, which we believe provide useful information for investors.

Speaker 2

We include reconciliations of non GAAP financial measures to GAAP in our earnings release and slide presentation. As a reminder, today's call is being webcast live and recorded. A transcript and recording of this conference call will be posted to our website. Any statements made about future results and performance, plans, expectations and objectives are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those presented during the call due to various factors, including, but not limited to those discussed in our Form 10 and other reports filed with the SEC.

Speaker 2

The company disclaims any undertaking to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements. With that, I will now turn the call over to Jan.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Scott, and thank you everyone for joining us today for our first earnings call at Amrites. Just about six weeks ago, we had excellent start with our spin off and our listing on the New York Stock Exchange and the Swiss Exchange. With the execution of our spin off, we are ready to begin our next chapter as the partner of choice for the professional builders of North America. In the second quarter, we successfully navigated a challenging environment, generating stable returns and strong margins. This shows the resilience and the strength of our business and our market positions.

Speaker 1

With a growing order book, we deliver for our customers to advance projects across infrastructure, commercial and residential sectors and from new builds to repair and refurbishing. While supporting our customers, we launched our Aspire program to drive synergies across our business, improve efficiency and expand our margins. And we continued to invest in our growth through both CapEx and value accretive M and A. We successfully established an investment grade balance sheet with substantial firepower to fuel our next chapter of growth. The steps we are taking from investing to driving synergies across the business provide the foundation for us to capitalize on the strong long term demand across our $200,000,000,000 addressable market.

Speaker 1

Let's look at Slide five for Q2 financial results. We generated stable revenue and strong margins. Our two business segments delivered strong performance, and our consolidated view now includes standalone corporate costs, as Amrice. These resilient results in a challenging market demonstrate the strength of our market positions, our disciplined pricing and our focus on execution. Let's move to Slide six, the market trends.

Speaker 1

Turning to the markets, uncertainty and weather impacted construction activity in the second quarter. In commercial, data center expansion was a bright spot and commercial spending on mega projects like energy plants continued to be strong. However, market uncertainty and high interest rates impacted the timing of capital spending and new project starts. In the infrastructure end market, the market has proven resilient as federal, state and local governments continue to prioritize these projects. In the residential sector, high interest rates and affordability concerns are limiting new construction.

Speaker 1

Our second quarter activity was soft, a substantial pent up demand ahead of us. We are not seeing projects being canceled. The current environment is simply affecting time. As uncertainty subsides and the interest rate environment improves, we see significant upside potential for MRES. Infrastructure modernization, onshoring of manufacturing and the need to bridge the housing gap will drive strong long term growth across our markets.

Speaker 1

Data center expansion, in particular, continues to be an area of growth for us with new projects kicking off across North America to support AI. It is estimated that The U. S. Alone will build about 600 new data centers through 2027. For MRIs, that brings opportunity not just in the foundation of the data center, but in the rooftop, the wall systems and to support all of the infrastructure surrounding the data center to make it work.

Speaker 1

Looking forward, we are well positioned for long term growth. Let's look at Slide seven and our key investments in the second quarter. We continue to invest through CapEx and value accretive M and A. In June, we acquired the operations of Langley Concrete, expanding our precast concrete footprint with two state of the art facilities in British Columbia and strengthening our market position in Canada's rapidly growing infrastructure sector. In Oklahoma, we opened a greenfield quarry with 200,000,000 tonnes of reserves, expanding our aggregates business in the fast growing Dallas Fort Worth market.

Speaker 1

In Virginia, we broke ground on a new fly ash facility to enable the use of recycled landfill ash as a high quality supplementary material. We expect to produce 8,000,000 tonnes of fly ash from this facility in the coming years. We are also on track with organic growth projects on Slide 8. We are making progress with those projects, which are key for our growth in the future. We will add significant capacity and further improve manufacturing efficiency at our flagship SenGen plant, North America's largest market leading cement plant.

Speaker 1

For our Malarkey shingles, we will open a new state of the art factory in Indiana to increase production capacity by over 50% and expand our market share in the attractive Midwest and Eastern markets. At Saint Constant in Quebec, we are expanding to increase capacity, improve manufacturing efficiency and to strengthen MRI's market position in Canada. Overall, now as a stand alone company, we are fully focused on the attractive North American market, and we will accelerate our growth investments into the future. Let's talk about our customers on Slide nine. We are delivering for our customers on their most important projects in every U.

Speaker 1

S. State and Canadian province. In the quarter two, we announced partnership with Meta to deliver AI optimized concrete for their new data center in Minnesota, and we are working on data centers built across The U. S. For several hyperscales.

Speaker 1

In Canada, we are supporting the upgrade of the Vancouver International Airport. And with infrastructure modernization continuing, we have important work supporting airport upgrades from Vancouver and Calgary to New Orleans, Charlotte and New York. We also play a role in extending the life of critical national assets like the USS Gerald Ford, where our advanced vehicle coatings were used to repair its career deck. Our Elevate team completed a new stadium in North Dakota with our high performance EPDM roofing system. Across our markets, we have a strong pipeline of such projects.

Speaker 1

From bridges and tunnels to data centers, schools, offices and homes, our solutions are inside all of the essential buildings and infrastructure that connect people and advance how we live. On Slide 10, we inform you about the launch of our new Aspire program. To accelerate synergies and profitable growth, we have launched this Aspire program where we leverage our scale across 1,000 sites and our two business segments to optimize third party spending and drive efficiencies in our operational footprint and logistics network. We have formally launched the program and have already started making progress across raw materials, services, logistics and equipment. We target to achieve $250,000,000 in cost savings by 2028, delivering over 50 basis points of margin improvement per year.

Speaker 1

We expect to begin achieving incremental savings in the second half of this year with the full annual savings run rate starting in 2026 as we build momentum. Taking a step back and looking across the enterprise and the markets we serve, we are confident in our future as MRES. With our spin off and listing on June 23, we are starting our journey from a position of strength with market leading operation, advanced solutions, a strong balance sheet and growing markets. With that, I will turn it over to Iain to review our financials.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Jan. It's great to be with all of you for our first earnings call. Amrise's journey as an independent company is just beginning, and I'm excited for the opportunities we have to grow our business and drive shareholder value in the years to come. On Slide 13, you'll see a consolidated view of our September financial results. Our Q2 financial results were stable in light of market uncertainty and inclement weather, which is impacting the timing of new construction projects.

Speaker 3

Second quarter consolidated revenue of $3,200,000,000 was in line with prior year, with acquisitions contributing 1.3% to revenue growth. Volumes improved as the quarter progressed and weather conditions became more favorable. Our customers continue to report a healthy backlog of projects, particularly in the infrastructure and commercial end markets. We expect this backlog of projects to be a tailwind to volumes later this year and into 2026. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $947,000,000 including $42,000,000 of stand alone corporate costs.

Speaker 3

Excluding the impact of these additional corporate costs, our second quarter adjusted EBITDA margin was 30.7% compared to 30.9% in the prior year. Our scale and local P and L ownership model are a competitive advantage and allow us to effectively manage costs during periods of time when the industry is experiencing lower demand. As we build the corporate structure needed to operate Amrise as an independent company, we expect to incur additional costs that are not reflected in our 2024 financial results. Full year 2025, we expect approximately $115,000,000 of additional costs compared to full year 2024. To apply these additional corporate costs, our financial results would have been approximately $3,070,000,000 in 2024.

Speaker 3

For comparison purposes, we have provided a quarterly view of 2024 adjusted EBITDA in the appendix of our tax. Turning to Slide 14. Moving to our results by segment. Building Materials reported second quarter revenue of approximately $2,300,000,000 in line with the prior year. We are seeing a healthy level of activity in the public infrastructure sector supported by both federal and state spending packages.

Speaker 3

We estimate that approximately 50% of IIJ funds have been allocated to date and only roughly 40% of these funds have been deployed, providing a runway for growth well into the future. In the commercial market, we are seeing strong demand for data centers and other markets, while capital spending on warehouse and manufacturing facilities has been slower to deploy. Fundamentals in the commercial market are positive, and we continue to see long term demand from onshore trends and an increase in domestic manufacturing. In the residential market, new construction activity remains below historical levels. Housing gap in The U.

Speaker 3

S. Is close to 5,000,000 homes and will need to be addressed in the coming years. We believe this will act as a catalyst for new construction activity as the interest rate environment becomes more accommodative. Adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 33.7% versus 33.9% in the prior year. Disciplined pricing and our highly cost efficient distribution and logistics network resulted in strong margins in a softer volume environment.

Speaker 3

Pricing gains helped to offset the impact of lower volumes in the quarter, with positive year over year pricing for both cement and aggregates, speaking to the strong pricing fundamentals in these markets. In our Building Envelope segment, second quarter revenue was $970,000,000 in line with prior year. The OX Engineered Products acquisition contributed $33,000,000 to revenue in the quarter. Solid demand in the commercial repair and refurbishment market and the revenue contribution from Aux is offsetting the impact of market uncertainty and higher interest rate impacts on new structural services. Weather events and the increasing age of many roofs have been key drivers of repair and refurbishment demand, and we expect these will continue to be key drivers of growth in the coming years.

Speaker 3

Adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was 26.9% compared to 27.1% in the prior year. Our disciplined pricing strategy and effective management of our cost base in a challenging market environment resulted in price over cost being stable for the quarter. As Jan mentioned, we have launched our Respire program and expect the synergies we generate from this program will have a benefit to margins in the future. I'm pleased to report that during the quarter, we successfully closed a $3,400,000,000 note offering and a $1,900,000,000 bond exchange. Our capital structure also includes a $2,000,000,000 commercial paper program and a $2,000,000,000 revolving credit facility.

Speaker 3

At the end of the second quarter, we have not drawn on the revolving credit facility and had $930,000,000 drawn on the commercial paper. We finished the second quarter with a net leverage ratio of 1.2x. We are beginning our journey as Ameren is in a position of strength with a healthy balance sheet and investment grade credit ratings from both Moody's and S and P. As a reminder, we typically generate the majority of our cash flow in the second half of the year. We expect to finish the year with a net leverage ratio below 1.5x, leaving us well positioned to invest in both organic growth opportunities and pursue value accretive M and A.

Speaker 3

Strong cash flow generation of our business allows us to pursue a growth focused capital allocation strategy. As Jan highlighted, we are investing in several projects that we expect will drive future organic growth, and we have a number of additional projects in our pipeline. We also expect to deploy available cash towards M and A opportunities, similar to the recent closed acquisition of Langley Concrete Products. An excellent example of our bolt on acquisition strategy at work. Our M and A pipeline remains healthy, and our management team has a track record of executing a disciplined value accretive M and A strategy.

Speaker 3

We expect to begin returning capital to shareholders in 2026. We'll be working with our Board of Directors in the coming months on a dividend and share repurchase program.

Speaker 1

I'll now turn this over to Jan Buffos. Thank you, Ian. On Slide 18, we are providing our 2025 financial targets. For the full year, we expect revenues to be in the range of $11,400,000,000 to $11,800,000,000 adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of 2,900,000,000 to $3,100,000,000 and a net leverage ratio below 1.5x. While the first half of the year has been soft and we are forecasting a modestly better second half, we are beginning to see early positive indicators, and July was a good month with improved volumes.

Speaker 1

We see a significant pent up demand. And once interest rates are lowered and the environment stabilizes, this will serve as a big trigger point to unleash growth. However, today, it's difficult to predict the exact timing of the inflection point. But in our view, it is a question of when and not if. During this period of softer demand, we are taking all of the right steps and focusing on what we can control to outperform and position for the future.

Speaker 1

Our portfolio is well positioned. Our footprint is unparalleled. We have a strong pipeline of CapEx projects and M and A, and the markets we serve have strong underlying growth fundamentals. We are well positioned for long term growth, and we are confident in our midterm targets. With that, I will pass it back to Scott to begin the Q and A.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Jan. Sophie, we are now ready

Speaker 2

to begin Q and A. Can you please explain the process for asking a question?

Operator

Thank you. At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please click on the raise hand button, which can be found on the black bar at the bottom of your screen. When it's your turn, you'll receive a message on your screen from the host allowing you to talk, and then you'll hear your name called. Please accept, unmute your audio, and ask your question. As a reminder, we are allowing analysts one question today.

Operator

We will wait one moment to allow the queue to form. We'll take our first question from Adrian Hoerter from JPMorgan. Please unmute your line and go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me?

Speaker 2

Yes. We can.

Speaker 1

Excellent. You for taking my call, Jan. My question has to be is related to the guidance. Jason, do you're expecting a better second half marginally on revenues with revenues somewhat flat for the second half, but with a much better improvement on the EBITDA side, with EBITDA just down a little bit. How much of that improvement in the second half is basically coming from the ASPIRE program that you have?

Speaker 1

What is the size of savings that we could already see in the second half from this program that you have? Yes, we are very happy how we started with the Aspire program in June, and we see already quite some improvements there. And this will be a contributor already for H2. We don't disclose how much it will be for the second half of this year, but it will be on the way then to achieve full run rates for 2026. Overall, I think as I explained a bit in the outlook, we expect that the volume trends have been encouraging already in July.

Speaker 1

And while there is still a fair amount of uncertainty in the market, the backlog of projects gives us confidence that the second half of the year will be stronger and better than the first half of the years. Thank you, James.

Operator

Our next question comes from Cesar Ekblom from Morgan Stanley. Please unmute your line and go ahead.

Speaker 4

Thanks very much. Good afternoon, gentlemen, or good morning, gentlemen. I just wanted to come back on your cash generation and the net debt at the end of the first half. The cash generation seems to have been quite disappointing in the first half. I see you've had quite a big build in receivables.

Speaker 4

Can you talk about why that is? I know that there is seasonality in the business, but it seems that the build is even in excess of that. And then if I look at the change in cash during the first half, I'm struggling to get back to what the pro form a balance sheet was in the Form 10 at the 2024. And I know that the Form 10 was never a hard and fast starting capital structure for Amrise, but there seems to be quite a big deviation, like over a billion dollars relative to that pro form a structure at the 2024. So maybe you can just help me understand why the net debt at the '4 for Amrise seems to be so much different to what we were sort of looking at in the Form 10 and sort of talk to cash generation for the rest of the year?

Speaker 4

You.

Speaker 3

Tidar. Thanks for your questions. Maybe a couple of comments as we go through. I'll start with the free cash flow. You're correct, free cash flow is down versus same period at this time last year on a year to date basis.

Speaker 3

Combination of a couple of factors. First off, on the working capital, obviously, a little bit of an increase in later part of Q2 revenue that drove some of our increase in AR build, which will become due and collectible at the early part of Q3. That has a slight impact. We also have an increased amount of inventory somewhat due to the lower volumes in the quarter. So we would expect that our big sales season is ahead of us and production buildup on inventory.

Speaker 3

The other issues to note, cash taxes are somewhat out of step with Q4 of last year. We had a timing delay terms of cash taxes. So that slipped over into 2025. And then lastly, we have increased CapEx that Jan mentioned in the earlier comments at the beginning. We continue to have investments in our St.

Speaker 3

Genevieve expansion in our Malarkey plant, and our CapEx is up in the quarter and on a year to date basis. Regarding the pro form a financials, our net debt we reported at the end of Q2. This is now a fully independent balance sheet. We have the restructuring and the issue of our corporate bonds at the April and then our net debt on our bond exchange in the latter part of Q2. Financial statements today are reflective of a fully independent position.

Speaker 3

And obviously, there's a seasonality to our business in terms of our net cash. End of the year 2024, with the same view as we would have at the end of this year, actual cash balances would be much higher than they are at the midpoint of the year. So that's possibly the difference.

Speaker 4

Would it be possible, and I don't know if you can give these numbers, but would it be possible to tell us what the 2024 net debt number was for Amrise as a stand alone entity rather than the numbers we had in the pro form a, just so we have a clean base? Because we still don't have the sort of 2024 net debt number, I don't think.

Speaker 3

The pro form a was what we presented Yes, that's your best figure. 2025, we're guiding towards a net debt figure below 1.5x on our guidance.

Speaker 4

Okay. So the 2024 number is going to be materially different than that $3,000,000,000 that was in the Form 10. So I think the number pro form a was about $3,000,000,000 at the '4. That could be wrong. So that's what I remember seeing.

Speaker 3

I think we'll the net debt position that we have right now is around $5,300,000,000 and we're guiding towards the $1.5 by the end of this year.

Operator

Our next question comes from Pujirini Ghosh from Bernstein. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

Speaker 5

Hi. Can you hear me?

Speaker 2

Yes, we can, Pooshirini. Please go ahead.

Speaker 5

Thanks a lot. Yes. So I wanted to talk about the Envelope business. So as you mentioned, the results are largely flat on the top line versus last year, but a lot of that has been driven by the OXX acquisition. So if we were to exclude the scope impact, could you give an indication of the underlying pricing volumes in the envelope business?

Speaker 5

And also one quick question on the Malarkey expansion. So you were saying that it's a 50% expansion for the site, but could you also specify how much it would mean for your overall residential roofing capacity?

Speaker 1

Ian, do you want to maybe address the organic versus the total sales number, and I can talk about the market a bit?

Speaker 3

Sure. So in the quarter, our organic growth on revenue was down about 3% on our Building Envelope segment, and we were basically flat on organic growth on absolute growth.

Speaker 1

We are now and overall, Q2 started a little slower due to adverse weather conditions. And then as weather condition improved, later in Q2, we saw a meaningful rebound in volumes in late May and in June, especially at the commercial booking applications where we finished in volumes ahead of last year. And we are very excited now to start with the new fourth plant next year that gives us enormous momentum here to really improve and expand market shares in very attractive markets. We are only present today by deliveries and not by local manufacturing.

Operator

Our next question comes from Will Jones with Redburn Atlantic. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Morning. Could I ask please about the stand alone costs relative to your prior expectation and just understanding the different numbers? I think for last year, there's a 115 figure for the carve out. I think in Q2, the run rate was about $40,000,000 Should we take that 40 times four? Is that the new stand alone, I guess, as we think on an annualized basis going forward or not?

Speaker 6

And just if it was if it's more than you thought before, why? And is there anything you can do in time to drive that or the central costs lower?

Speaker 3

Sure. I'll take that question. I think maybe I start at the tail end of your question. Absolutely, we will be continuing to refine those forecasts as we go forward. We think this is at the high end of the guidance that we would be issuing in terms of corporate costs.

Speaker 3

We provided some feedback in pro form a statements in 2024 and Q1 twenty twenty five. The second quarter, 42,000,000 is a little bit high. We would expect that, that could phase out a little bit in the following quarters to come. The 115,000,000 that we guide is for the full year and included in our overall guidance.

Operator

Our next question comes from Marcus Cole with UBS. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Hi. Yeah. I've got one question as well. So on cement, your price was only marginally up in the quarter. Is there anything that you can tell us in terms of some mix impacts going on there, some regional trends that we need to be aware of?

Speaker 7

On an underlying basis, was it high? Because looking at the peer set, cement pricing was a little bit higher from some of your read across from some of your peers. So any color you can give on mix or regional trends or an underlying basis would be helpful. Yes.

Speaker 1

No, thank you. I think we believe in North America, we have the strongest pricing for cement, the highest pricing. And also, we made some gains this year. Even it was difficult in a challenging market. You see our volumes were down 6% in Q2, and the market is soft.

Speaker 1

So we were focusing very much on value for the customers. We didn't have any volume strategy. And we believe the pricing will come back or will improve further with the volumes coming back also in the quarter and years to come as we have expect a strong rebound in volumes. On this side, we have on the other side, we are very happy with our aggregates pricing, which was over 6% in North America on average, very strong year. The market conditions in our local markets were slightly better than for the cement markets as we were supplying a couple of infrastructure projects with higher demand, and we could also here continue our very positive pricing here in the aggregate side.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jonathan Bresenhausen with Truist. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. I want for Keith this morning. On the building envelope business, was reroofing activity, was that positive for both commercial and resi? And then also, how did your total shingle shipments compared to the ARMA numbers this quarter?

Speaker 1

Compared to what numbers? The shingle volumes? Yes. The shingle shipments, how did that compare to the industry shipment numbers?

Operator

Okay. All right.

Speaker 1

We see, first of all, in the building envelope, we are very excited. I mean, we have talked a bit about the factors now influencing the demand in quarter two with high interest rates, some weather effects, and so we saw a bit of softness. However, we are seeing positive momentum in commercial European markets. Our volumes were roughly flat through May, while our elevated volumes outpaced the market, and we were up low single digits in quarter two. For commercial new construction, it's mixed with pockets of strength.

Speaker 1

We talked about data centers and stabilizing trends in warehousing, while in repair and refurbishment, it continues to be a bright spot and driving growth within our commercial roofing market. The shingle production was in line with armor. Here, we have a continued residential repair and refurbishment market impacted by weather related events and a little bit lighter hail season so far this year, but we are very positive also here for the second half of the year. Awesome. That's helpful color.

Speaker 1

Thanks.

Operator

Our next question comes from Yassine Tuhari from Onfile Research. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Good morning, and thank you very much for taking my question. It will be a question on capital allocation. How do you think about the group midterm? Have you this when will you decide about the dividend payout policy and share buyback? I'm not sure maybe after a board meeting.

Speaker 8

And when you're talking about the €200,000,000,000 addressable market, what is it composed of? Does it include insulated panel, wall system, all the liquid applied roofing, adhesives? It would be great to get a little bit of color on what this addressable market is to get a sense of where the building of that division could go in the next decade.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Great question. Let me answer the question first on the markets. And then I think, Iain, you can give us more color on the capital allocation. So the addressable market, the $200,000,000,000 this is the available market for our products and technologies, which we own and where we can expand our footprint.

Speaker 1

We know our market shares. We are the leader in cement, while we are a strong, I would say, follower in aggregates, where we and then we have a strong position in commercial roofing, while in shingles, we are having a huge growth path ahead of us compared with our low single digit market share. So the market is the DKK 200,000,000,000 doesn't require new technologies and new products. This is really what we can deliver to our customers today. This will include opportunities for bolt on acquisitions, other acquisitions.

Speaker 1

But here, we are very, very confident that this market is available and addressable for us. And for the capital allocation, before Iain talks a bit more details for us, we are, first of all, driving what is within our control. So cash generation and profitable growth is our number one focus at MRIs, generate the cash to be allocated. And Iain, if you can talk

Speaker 3

a bit about how our priorities are and what the next Board decisions are or the next steps are. Thanks, Jan. Thanks, Christine, for your question. I think we just had our first Board meeting earlier this week. And of course, the focus remains very aligned with what we shared with investors at our Capital Markets Day back in March.

Speaker 3

Priorities for the business remain investing in capital, first and foremost. That's going to continue to be an area where we have significant organic opportunities to invest and grow our business. Secondly, would be on M and A. We actually closed a deal this quarter and have once in the pipeline to pursue. That will continue to be an area of priority.

Speaker 3

With regards to return of capital to shareholders, we obviously have to engage with our Board and get aligned. The starting point will be a discussion on what the dividend could look like. We've indicated that, that would be most probably U. S. Market specific.

Speaker 3

And we will need to ensure that we have alignment with the Board and bring that to shareholders in the beginning part of twenty twenty six. And that's when we would be able to start issuing a dividend and possible return to shareholders in the form of share buyback would come at a later date as we align with our shareholders and our forward.

Speaker 8

And maybe just a follow-up. If there is an amazing opportunity, a large strategic acquisition, Would you consider issuing equity if it creates value for our shareholder?

Speaker 1

Well, I would say equity is the last resort. It's expensive. And we in the past, we have been always very mindful to rather reduce the share count with share buybacks to generate new equity is the last on my list.

Operator

Our next question comes from John Bell with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Yeah. Good morning, Jan, Ian and Scott. Question for me is on the QuickCreates Summit deal. Any changes to industry dynamics that you want to flag? Has this impacted you in any way?

Speaker 1

John, yes, that's an interesting question. I'm not sure if I'm confident to answer your question. But obviously, I think what I always see in the industry is you see consolidation. And this is another, if you want to say consolidation, where this, you know, one player took over Summit and then they make some equity or some some asset swaps and so on. Think in principle, it's it's probably good for the industry structure or something.

Speaker 1

And other than that, we have to wait and see how how this will play out in the market. Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Our next question comes from Walter Bamat from Deutsche Bank.

Speaker 9

Hello, everybody. Thank you for taking the question. You can hear me, don't you?

Speaker 2

Yes, we can hear you. Please go ahead.

Speaker 9

I think we've seen an adverse share price reaction because you probably didn't reiterate in the 2028 targets. Can you confirm that you are still sticking to those and confirming those?

Speaker 1

Yes. Look, I think I talked briefly about it in the outlook. While at the moment, we have softer demand than expected. However, we see demand coming up with those inflection points of potentially lower interest rates and also a stabilized environment. So difficult for us now to forecast when exactly this will happen.

Speaker 1

That's not in our control. However, we expect our markets will accelerate, and we are preparing for this. So I think we are well positioned for our long term growth targets, and we are confident to confirm our midterm targets or midterm guidance, which we gave in March at our Investor Day. So you would say 5%

Speaker 9

to 8% top line growth on average, but not using it as a guidance for the current year?

Speaker 1

No. I mean, look, I think everyone sees the current year, the market, the demand. It's just in a different ballpark. So we have to focus on what is under our control at MRIs. So we are focusing on the pricing.

Speaker 1

We are focusing on delivering all the CapEx project opportunities. We are working on our M and A pipeline. So we are preparing. We now will increase our efficiency with the Aspire program. So we are working very hard to make our company ready for growth, but at the same time, for expanding our margins.

Speaker 1

And when the markets will start to improve, this is what we expect. We are ready, and I think the midterm guidance is excellent midterm targets for us.

Speaker 9

And as I'm limited to one question, so the second half of the question is, can you quantify the cost of the Aspire program?

Speaker 1

Oh, that's a good question. We have I mean, our cost, we do that with our own people, right? So we have a strong program. We changed, we adapted the organization a bit. We have some great leader who actually came over from the building envelope side and now takes over the whole supply or has taken over the whole supply chain for MRIs.

Speaker 1

And this is the base move, and then he has a very, very strong program now to deliver, but with the people in in our operations. So we we don't have extra costs to do this.

Speaker 9

That's good to hear. Thank you very much.

Operator

We have no further questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to Scott Einberger, Investor Relations Officer, for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you all for joining us for our second quarter earnings call. We look forward to speaking with you all next quarter.

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