Operator

Welcome to today's RHI Magnesita Q1 Trading Update. My name is Seb and I'll be the operator for your call today. [Operator Instructions]

I will now hand you over to Stefan Borgas, CEO, to begin. Please go ahead.

Stefan Borgas
CEO & Executive Director

Thank you very much. Good morning from Vienna. I'm Stefan, RHI Magnesita CEO. I'm joined here in the room by Ian Botha, our CFO; and our Investor Relations team around Alex Ordosch. Let me give you the highlights, the key messages for the last 3 months or the first 3 months of the year and then I give you a bit of more granularity around this and Ian will give you some headline numbers.

The 4 key messages. Unfortunately, demand for refractories across both of the big market segments, steel and industrial, was slightly weaker in the first quarter of 2026 than in the appropriate time period in 2025. Our own volumes into the steel market were more or less in line with prior year with some pricing coming through -- pricing benefits coming through. But our industrial project-related volumes remain subdued even compared to last year. First message, really still very soft demand.

Second message. Our adjusted EBITA increased meaningfully year-on-year, which was all related to the continued execution of our self-help initiatives that we have put in place and that we continue to accelerate. Some pricing actions to catch up with cost increases actually, a lot of cost discipline around our company, network optimization in our