Half Year 2026 Umicore SA Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Umicore SA (UMICF) delivered a broad-based earnings uplift in H1 2026, with adjusted EBITDA up 33% year-on-year to EUR577 million, driven by strong business execution and efficiency gains.
- The company upgraded its full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance to slightly more than EUR1 billion, reflecting confidence in continued strong performance.
- Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded significantly by about 600 basis points to 30.2%, with strong margin accretion across all business segments, including a remarkable 52% margin in Recycling.
- Free operating cash flow turned sharply positive to EUR295 million in H1 2026, compared to an outflow in H1 2025, demonstrating improved cash generation and capital discipline.
- The company is well-positioned in high-growth areas such as stationary catalysts for data centers, germanium for space and data communications, and metal deposition solutions for semiconductors, with plans to more than double EBITDA in stationary catalysts.
- Umicore SA (UMICF) continues to benefit from favorable metal price environments, including precious metals and cobalt, and has secured long-term contracts and take-or-pay mechanisms to protect future earnings.
- The balance sheet remains robust with a leverage ratio of 1.52x, well within target, and strong liquidity of EUR1.8 billion in cash and undrawn credit facilities.
- Battery materials segment remains weak, with volumes flat year-on-year and adjusted EBITDA of only EUR19 million, relying heavily on take-or-pay compensations rather than underlying demand.
- The company expects H2 2026 to be lower than H1, as exceptional metal price conditions and cobalt momentum are not expected to continue, potentially impacting full-year results.
- Fuel cell catalysts saw lower adjusted EBITDA due to delayed hydrogen technology adoption in China, and the new PEM catalyst plant in Shangshu incurred start-up costs.
- Battery recycling solutions (Ernie) contributed negatively as anticipated, with the lithium-ion recycling opportunity not expected to materialize until the middle of the next decade.
- The global ICE production declined by 1.5 million units in H1 2026, with light-duty vehicle production down 4%, posing a structural headwind for the catalysis business.
- The company faces ongoing volatility in metal prices and geopolitical tensions, which could impact future earnings and require continuous hedging and cost management.
- Net debt increased by EUR151 million to EUR1.5 billion, partly due to equity injections into associates like Ironway, and the cost of debt rose to 3.5%.
Hello and welcome. Hello and welcome. My name is Bill and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the UNICOR 2026 happy year results call.
Please note that this call is being recorded. After the introduction by management, there will be a question-and-answer session.
Thank you.
Would now like to hand over the call to Bart Stapp, Unicore's CEO, N1 Sacerut, Unicore's CFO. You may now go ahead, please.
Okay, now it's my turn.
Good morning to all, and welcome to our H1 2026 earnings call.
Let's open this presentation with a personal note for our CFO, WannaSpie, for whom this is the last set of numbers.
On behalf of Umicore, I'd like to express my sincerest thanks for all your investment and dedication over many years at Umicore.
We've worked together in different moments throughout our career. I've always valued our collaboration.
I wish you the very best in
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