Claus Zemke
Head of Corporate Communications

[Interpreted] A very good morning, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues. My name is Claus Zemke. I would like to extend a cordial welcome to you on the occasion of the Q1 press conference call. So we have got Matthias Zachert, CEO; and Oliver Stratmann, CFO, on site. And they will update you on the first quarter of 2026 and give you an overview of guidance for the full year, but let me start by giving you some technical information.

So we will have the press conference in Germany. It is translated into English. And for legal reasons, I have to point out that this call is broadcast live on the Internet, including your questions.

So Mr. Zachert, the floor is yours.

Matthias Zachert
Chairman of the Board of Management

[Interpreted] Thank you very much, Mr. Zemke. A cordial welcome to you, ladies and gentlemen, on the occasion of the Q1 telephone press conference. Cordial welcome here in Cologne, LANXESS.

I would like to start with Slide 3. We distributed the presentation beforehand summary. We came off to a weak start. Particularly, January and February continued with sluggish market conditions, what we saw towards the end of 2025. But in the month of March, things changed, became more positive with a continuous increase in volumes, and this is also true of the second quarter.

Now, let me talk about the specifics of Q1. We have sales and earnings down, unfortunately. And the conflict in the Middle East for