MHP Q3 & 9M 2025 Earnings Call - Resilient Growth Amid War and Strategic European Expansion

Conference Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and I’d like to welcome you to MHP’s Third Quarter and Nine Months 2025 Results Conference call on the 15th of December 2025. At this time, all participant lines are in listen-only mode. The format of the call today will be a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. Without further ado, I’d like to pass the line to Anastasiya Sobotyuk, Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, madam.

Anastasiya Sobotyuk, Director of Investor Relations, MHP: Thank you very much. Good day to you. Thank you for joining us for MHP’s conference call dedicated to our Third Quarter and Nine Months results. I’m Anastasiya, and I’m joined today by Viktoria Kapelyushnaya, Chief Financial Officer of MHP. Together, we will present and discuss the company’s financial and operational performance for the reporting period. Please note that today’s discussion is based on the press release, investor presentation, and financial statements released earlier today. In addition, during our discussion, we will share our outlook and strategic plans, which reflect current assumptions as well as domestic and international market trends. We kindly ask you to take this context into account during the call. We move on to slide number three of the presentation. Just a second. My slides do not move. Yeah, I can move the slides now. Perfect.

So, a few words about the macro environment in the reporting period. Despite challenging environment, including ongoing missile attacks on critical infrastructure, Ukraine’s economy continued to demonstrate resilience in the third quarter of the year. Ukraine’s GDP expanded by 2% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2025, according to preliminary national statistics, reflecting continued economic resilience despite ongoing challenges. The economy continues to contend with substantial headwinds related to the conflict, including damage to critical infrastructure, particularly energy systems, labor shortages due to mobilization and displacement, and broader disruptions to trade and investment, which have constrained growth and increased uncertainty in Ukraine. Looking ahead, the National Bank of Ukraine projects GDP to grow by 2% in 2025. Inflation trends have also shown some moderation, as you can see on the diagram.

The National Bank’s current forecast anticipates inflation for the full year to reach 9%, approximately three points lower than in 2024, with a projected further decline to around 7% in 2026. Since October 3, 2023, the National Bank has adopted a managed exchange rate regime, which is actually in place today. The exchange rate remains highly sensitive to global geopolitical developments, including shifts in international trade and tariff policies. In 2025 harvest season, Ukraine’s agricultural sector delivered a substantial output despite ongoing war-related operational challenges and adverse weather conditions during summertime. Early official data and industry estimates indicate that farmers are on track to collect significant volumes across major commodity groups, including grains, corn, and oilseeds. Deputy officials have projected that Ukraine could harvest around 52 million tons of early grains and approximately 21 million tons of oilseeds, broadly in line with 2024 results.

Overall, the total harvest of grain and oilseed crops for 2025 is expected to be in the range of about 70-75 million tons. Despite logistic and security constraints linked to the war, Ukraine farmers continued operations across major agricultural regions, underscoring the resilience of the country’s agri-food sector and its critical contribution to both domestic food security and international markets. In summary, all these macro indicators collectively highlight both the resilience and the potential of Ukraine’s economy as it continues to navigate a complex and evolving environment. We move on to slide number four of the presentation. Just give me a second. Yep, we’re here. Let’s look at the financial performance for the reporting period, and the main points are following. First of all, it’s revenue growth.

In Q3 2025, revenue increased by 29% year-on-year to approximately $1 billion, while in nine months 2025, it increased by 16% year-on-year to over $2.6 billion, and it increased by 17% quarter on quarter. This strong performance in Q3 2025, both in revenue and EBITDA, is driven by strong results in poultry, agricultural, and the European operating segments, reflecting especially an integration of Uvesa, the Spanish company, which MHP acquired this summer into consolidated results of the group. Second point is the adjusted EBITDA, net of IFRS 16 gross. In Q3 2025, EBITDA increased by 27% to over $200 million, while in nine months 2025, it increased by 4%. I would say it remained relatively stable year-on-year and reached $455 million, and actually, EBITDA also increased by 75% quarter on quarter. Strong results in nine months 2025 are driven by factors reflecting Q3 2025 trends.

However, EBITDA increased slightly, experiencing pressure on profitability from higher payroll costs, SG&A costs, and increased war-related expenses. Let us move on to slide number five, and we will look at the financial results by segments. In the nine months of 2025, poultry-related operation segments remained the largest, contributing to the company’s performance, accounting for 53% of total revenue and 53% of EBITDA. This was primarily driven by an increase in poultry prices, however partially offset by poultry production costs and slightly lower poultry sales volumes. Agricultural operations were the second biggest contributor to the group’s EBITDA, driven by good harvest, especially for winter crops. I’m talking about wheat in this case especially, and growing prices for crops, both in Ukraine and internationally.

Main triggers for adjusted EBITDA growth in nine months 2025 were an increase in poultry prices, however partially offset by poultry production costs and slightly lower poultry sales volumes. Good harvest and strong crop prices, as I mentioned earlier, and integration of Uvesa’s financial results, as well as slightly higher sales volumes of poultry and processed meat products at Piryatyn Apetyt with a stable pricing environment. Let us now take a closer look at the performance of each business segment, and here I pass my word to Viktoria. Thank you, Anastasiya. Good afternoon, everyone. Let’s have a look at poultry and related operation segment performance, slide number six. Despite ongoing challenges of the war in Ukraine, MHP delivered solid performance in Q3 and nine months, with results exceeding those of the same period last year.

This was driven by stronger poultry and processed meat prices, together with effective cost management, demonstrating the company’s resilience and efficiency in operations. Poultry costs both in nine months and Q3 increased year-to-year, primarily due to the higher grain prices, fodder, and utilities prices. Poultry prices both in nine months and Q3 increased year-on-year, while remained stable quarter on quarter, mainly compensating for increased production costs during the last period. Commodity price volatility remains a key challenge for MHP. To mitigate this, we strategically shifted to higher-margin value-added products. This transition required ongoing investment innovation, product development, and market expansion. Our team remains fully committed to the transformation. We support both margin resilience and long-term growth. We can also see an increase in sales volume of processed meat products in Q3, with further prioritizing sales of processed products, focusing on those delivering the strongest returns.

If you want about our vegetable oil segment, slide number seven, performance in the segment remained weak, with EBITDA for both nine months and Q3 declining year-on-year. However, results stabilized quarter on quarter, supported by slightly better margins. The pressure mainly reflected high sunflower and soybean seed prices, which were not fully offset by oil price changes. The increase in seed prices was driven by a lower harvest yield in 2024 and increased crushing capacity in Ukraine. During the nine months, Ukrainian vegetable oil producers continued processing seeds carried over from the 2024 seasons. To mitigate the negative effect on group results in 2025, we have adjusted our feed recipe, shifting from sunflower cake to soymeal. This resulted in higher soybean oil output, while sunflower oil production decreased correspondingly.

We expect profits to increase slightly in next year, driven by high production volume of sunflower oil and rising prices for both sunflower and soybean oil. Let’s move to slide number eight, agricultural operations. As of the early December, MHP harvested more than 330,000 hectares, representing over 90% of the land under cultivation for the 2025 season, and collected in excess of 2 million tons of crops. Wheat yield reached a record high of 7.7 tons per hectare, compared to the 7.2 tons per hectare last year, while rapeseed yield was slightly below the prior year at 3.3 tons per hectare, compared to the 3.7 tons last year. As of today, forecast corn yield, I estimate at 8.7 tons per hectare, which sunflower yield projected at approximately 3 tons per hectare. As of today, we anticipate spring crops yield to be broadly comparable to the last year.

The overall harvest is expected to total between 2.0-2.2 million tons. The harvesting of the winter crops has been completed. Segment revenue remained unchanged, as high prices across most crops and increased sales volume of soybean and wheat offset the decline in volumes of corn and rapeseed. EBITDA of agricultural operation segment improved significantly, driven by high prices of grain and oilseeds. Let’s proceed to slide number nine. Several words about the European operation segment. Following the acquisition completed on 31 July 2025, Uvesa results have been fully consolidated into European operation segment. In the first two months post-acquisition, Uvesa generated revenue of $126 million and EBITDA of $9 million. The results together, which increased sales volume and stronger prices at Prykarpattya poultry, contribute to an 18% year-on-year increase in the segment EBITDA for nine months. Slide number 10.

A few words about our cash flow and liquidity position. Cash from operations before changes in working capital amounts to $313 million this year and $132 million in Q3, both exceeding last year’s levels. Release of working capital of $46 million in Nine Months, in contrast to the investment recorded in Nine Months 2024. This release was mainly driven by, first of all, consumption of corn and soybean stock purchasing in 2024 and settlement of recoverable VAT. CapEx in both Nine Months this year and Q3 slightly decreased and was directed to several key areas, including extensive maintenance and modernization of existing facilities, the expansion of international poultry operations, the construction of new bioenergy production facilities, and also compliance standards and margin improvement initiatives.

As you already know, on 31 July, the group finalized the acquisition of 92% of the share capital of Uvesa Group, a leading Spanish producer of poultry and pork meat and animal feed. The total consideration for transaction amounted to $312 million. Approximately 80% of this amount was financed through debt facilities from private European banks, while the remainder was funded from the group’s own resources. Total identifiable net assets amounted to $283 million, with goodwill arising on acquisition $44 million. Regarding debt, as at the end of the period, the company’s total debt was nearly $1.1 billion and net debt about $1.5 billion. The liquidity position at the end of Q3 was $463 million in cash, only $185 million of which was held by the group’s subsidiaries outside in Ukraine. As of 30 September, the group’s leverage ratio was 2.6, below the defined limit of 3.0.

forma leverage ratio calculated as if the Uvesa acquisition had occurred on 1 October 2024 amounted to 2.4. With respect to the $550 million notes due in April 2026, this matter remains a top priority for the company, and we fully recognize its importance to investors. By the end of September, the notes have been reclassified from long-term to short-term debt. There have been no recent changes to Ukrainian capital controls and liquidity regulations, which require foreign currency proceeds from exports originated in Ukraine to be repatriated within 120-180 days. In practice, these requirements limit the company’s ability to utilize offshore cash for debt repayment. While MHP is able to service its existing loan portfolio and bond obligations from Ukraine, there are no restrictions on coupon payment. The repayment of principal from offshore entities remains restricted. We continue to operate under uncertainties and challenges due to the ongoing war.

With the notes’ maturity in approximately four months, we are actively evaluating all available options and remain confident in our ability to implement an effective repayment strategy. We sincerely appreciate the support from our investors since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and look forward to continuing our constructive cooperation, and now, I give the floor to Anastasiya.

Thank you very much, Viktoria. Let me conclude the presentation before we start our Q&A session. Despite the highly uncertain and volatile operating environment, which you also mentioned, marked by the ongoing war in Ukraine, fluctuating export market conditions, poultry instability in grain and vegetable oil prices, MHP continues to demonstrate operational resilience. And we can all see this resilience in our financial and operational results. The company not only sustains core business activities under persistent disruptions but also pursues strategic growth and is becoming an international company, as reflected in the acquisition of Uvesa in Spain. As the company approaches the bold 2026 refinancing milestone, it remains focused on prudent financial management, even as capital controls by the NBU remain unchanged, as Viktoria has just mentioned.

In a landscape lacking clarity on ceasefire or peace negotiations, MHP adapts, innovates, and positions itself to navigate near-term headwinds while building new long-term strengths. Dear stakeholders, let us take your questions now. Thank you very much, Operator.

Conference Operator: Thank you very much. We’ll now move to the Q&A part of the call. If you’d like to ask a question, please press Star 2. If you’re connected from the phone, that is Star 2, and if you’re connected from the web, you can type your question in the box provided or request to ask a voice question. We’ll give it a few moments for the questions to come in. Also, just a kind note that we will take the voice questions during the call, and after the call, the MHP IR team will get back to you on your written questions. Okay, so our first question is from Anton Nikst from Knighthead Capital Management. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, guys. Thanks so much for taking the questions. First one’s a clarification. Slide five shows a $13 million positive impact from Uvesa on year-over-year EBITDA performance, but slide nine shows $9 million. So which number is correct? And part of the reason I’m asking is I’m trying to understand what’s happening with Pyryknyna, because if Uvesa was $13, then it sounds like Pyryknyna is down year on year. But if Uvesa was $9 million, then Pyryknyna is up slightly over a year. So if you could clarify that, that’d be great.

Anastasiya Sobotyuk, Director of Investor Relations, MHP: I’m sorry.

Can you follow that?

Yeah, yeah, just give us a second. We will open two slides, right? And we’ll come back to you in a minute.

Okay. Yes. And then, my next question is just any early thoughts on ’26 guidance, or at least as you think about the refinancing of the 2026 bonds. Do you expect to be free cash flow positive between now and the maturity of the bonds?

Viktoria Kapelyushnaya, Chief Financial Officer, MHP: Anton, sorry, I will come back to the thank you for your question. I will come back to maybe I did not catch exactly your question, because if you look at in the slide nine, we see the better financial result in EBITDA from in European 2023. I see it is not Uvesa effect. Uvesa effect only $9 million. $4 million is effect from Pyryknyna. Total better financial result in European perimeter segment, $13 million. $9 million of them just Uvesa.

Got it. The other four is Pyryatyn. So Pyryatyn grew as well. That’s helpful.

Yes, Pyryknyna has grown as well. Yeah.

Perfect. Thanks for your clarity.

Please repeat. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And please repeat the second question about positive question.

Yeah. Any early thoughts on 2026 high-level production, maybe EBITDA, CapEx? And a related question, do you expect to be generating cash between now and maybe the bond expiry?

Yeah. Thank you, Anton. As you understand, unfortunately or fortunately, in Ukraine, during the last 10 years, we have been working at 100% capacity utilization. We cannot produce more in our current capacity. And the main driver for increasing is the European operations. And yes, we understand the biggest increase we expect from Uvesa, from our new company in our family. Yeah. And we understand how we can increase sales volume there and how we improve efficiency and cost optimization. Yeah. And if you ask me about, yes, our expectation about total EBITDA, because unfortunately, MHP remains not just a non-commodity company. We continue to produce 50% of total commodity, and that is why our business correlates with prices. But we expect that our total EBITDA for next year will be very similar to this year.

It will be around $580-$600 million. And regarding cash flow total, yes, we expect that we will have positive cash flow, not so high, around maybe $30-$50 million. But now we’re considering our company as two divisions. One of them is the Ukraine division, and the second is European operations. In European operations, because we understand that we need to invest money in Uvesa for increasing this business, we expect the negative cash flow. At the same time, in Ukraine, we expect positive cash flow. It is total our expectation for the next year.

Okay. Very helpful. Thank you, guys.

Positive cash flow. Okay.

Conference Operator: Okay. Thank you. Our next question is from Stella Cridge from Barclays. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Stella Cridge, Analyst, Barclays: Hi there. Afternoon, all. Many thanks for all of the updates. Yeah, I wanted to ask a couple of areas, so yeah, I wondered, in terms of the first four months that you’ve been consolidating Uvesa, I mean, you touched on it briefly already. I mean, in your first year in 2026 of kind of owning the asset, what are the main kind of targets or things you’re going to look at to try to improve performance there? That would be great, and also, just on the prior question, I’m sorry if I missed it there, what you expect CapEx to be for the whole group next year and kind of the main projects that you’re looking at, and then finally, I understand that you’ve been talking with investors recently about the bond.

I was wondering what kind of feedback you got from that experience, what kind of options might be possible, what do you think potential you could go up to see on coupons in a new bond, or any kind of cash component? It’d be great to get some feedback from those discussions with investors. Thanks a lot.

Viktoria Kapelyushnaya, Chief Financial Officer, MHP: Okay. Thank you for your question. We will then answer one by one. The first question, if you ask me about proforma for 2026, as I’ve mentioned just a few minutes ago, we see the big potential for growth in Uvesa, and we understand how to improve cost of production. We understand how we can increase sales volume there, and our estimation about increasing EBITDA in Uvesa is approximately by 25-30% year to year, total CapEx of the group, yeah, around $250, but what I would like to emphasize is our maintenance CapEx, because we are a big company with revenue for $1 billion plus, with EBITDA $500, $600, and that is why, yes, our total maintenance CapEx today is around $130-$150, take into account Ukrainian operations and European operations.

Plus additional $100 million CapEx, which correlates mostly with our European operations and our project, non-commodity project in Ukraine. Yes. Feedback from, yeah, as I told during the presentation, our priority number one, it is our issue with Eurobond 2026. I think, yeah, we understand that only in four months, and we try to find the best, how to say, the best solution for companies, for bondholders, for investors. And I think that because all our strategy, all our history, MHP always demonstrates very good, strong, not just strong performance and strong track records. And during the whole history, we were the most reliable partners for all our creditors, and we would like to be the same.

Stella Cridge, Analyst, Barclays: Super. Thank you very much for those comments. If I could also ask as well, I noticed in the short-term borrowings, there’s $318 million of other short-term borrowings. Could you just run through the breakdown there and how you also plan to address those?

Viktoria Kapelyushnaya, Chief Financial Officer, MHP: If you speak about the short-term borrowing, it is a part of the PXF financing because you know that we have the huge crush on businesses. Part is short, part for financing working capital, the same as in Ukraine and in Piryatyn.

Stella Cridge, Analyst, Barclays: Super. Thank you for that.

Viktoria Kapelyushnaya, Chief Financial Officer, MHP: Thank you.

Conference Operator: Thank you very much. We’d just like to give you a reminder that if you’re connected from the phone and you’d like to ask a question, it’s Star 2. And if you’re connected from the web, you can send your written question or request to ask a voice question. Our next question is from Dmitry Ivanov from Jefferies. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Hello, Dmitry. Your line is now open. We cannot hear you.

Okay.

Okay. Now I think I can hear you.

Okay. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Okay.

Thank you very much for the presentation. I just wanted to ask a few follow-up questions. You mentioned that you expect positive free cash flows next year. We just discussed CapEx expectations for you. Can you unpack the way you look at the poultry prices? Basically, we see material increase year over year in poultry prices. Basically, how do you see these poultry prices evolving into 2026, given all the demand-supply balance? And kind of sub-question, basically, when it comes to your expectations for 2026, how should we look at the working capital? Because working capital was a positive inflow this year. Also kind of curious, when you expect positive cash flows, how do you look at the working capital impact for the next year? So this is my first question.

Viktoria Kapelyushnaya, Chief Financial Officer, MHP: Hello. Can you hear me? Regarding the poultry price, yeah, yes, our expectation, you’re completely right, this year, the poultry price increased substantially, and we don’t expect further increasing in poultry price. Even in some region, if you’re to be honest, yeah, in some region, we put slightly lower than even current price. Because always at the beginning of the year, we try to be more conservative, and this was our budget. We always, for me personally, it’s more comfortable to be this very conservative budget. Yeah, it’s much better to see the higher figures by the middle of the year compared to the budget. Yeah. Because, yeah, we don’t expect any increasing further increasing of poultry price. Regarding the second question about working capital, yes, if you look at our nine-month result, we have some release in working capital.

But if you speak about the whole year, we expect that we will have some investment in working capital, not very significant, around $20-$30 million. Because mostly, because we significantly increased price, and that is why trade receipt also increased. Regarding next year, we don’t expect any investment in working capital. Yeah. It is close to the zero. Thank you.

Understood. That’s helpful. I also wanted to ask you about cash outside of Ukraine, which is around $185 million as of now. Are there any kind of restrictions when it comes to this cash? So, for example, do you have just to hold a minimum amount of cash in Spain or in Pyryknyna up to in Slovenia as part of the covenants with the bank? So should we look at this cash as kind of available for any kind of debt management, liability management exercise? Or there are some restrictions when it comes to offshore cash of $185?

Yes, the question, yes, you’re completely right. Around $80 million of this amount is the amount on account to U.S. and Pyryknyna. Not the special restriction regarding pledge of this cash. Yes. You’re right. But the second question about what?

I mean, is it like can you use this cash without any kind of restrictions, any consent from lenders just to use this cash? So basically, it’s freely available cash that can be used for inter-group operations.

No, you’re completely right. Yeah, you’re completely right. The base of credit, base of loan agreement, the company cannot, yes, cannot pay, yes, cannot upstream as dividend to MHP. Yeah. Yeah. Just Uvesa because Uvesa is a subsidiary to Pyryknyna, and Pyryknyna took acquisition for Uvesa, just a possible inter-company share. Yeah.

That’s helpful, and probably one kind of clarification on current capital control rules and etc. Because you’re kind of about to come to a potential agreement or deal just to extend the bond or do something else with the bond. I’m just trying to understand, are there any restrictions on how much you can pay interest rates or any kind of limitations on the interest rate the company can offer to bondholders? So, for example, either 10%, not more than 11% is allowed.

No, no limitation.

No limitations.

No, no limitations.

No limitations.

No limitations.

So.

Yeah. It seems to me just 12, yeah. Accordingly, in Ukraine, it’s a maximum interest rate from Ukraine outside 12%. You’re right. 12%.

12% is a maximum that can be offered to new lenders.

Interest rate. Yes.

Interest rate.

Yes.

All in. Okay. That’s clear. Final clarification, apologies. You mentioned that you expect free cash flow negative at profile at Uvesa, given CapEx and expansion CapEx. How do you plan to fund this negative cash flows? Are there additional loans expected to be drawn down?

Yeah, additional loans, but it would not be a very big amount. It would be very, yes, yeah. Additional.

So it will be funded from loans, not from Ukrainian bonds perimeter, right, basically?

No, no, no. From Ukrainian bonds, you understand that we cannot do it. Yeah. We don’t have any possibility to do it.

Yeah. Just thank you for this clarification.

And for Ukraine, yes. From Ukraine, we have the priority number one is the issue with our Eurobond $550 million.

Thank you very much. That’s all for me.

Conference Operator: Thank you very much. Just a reminder, it’s Star 2 if you’re connected from the phone. And if you’re connected from the web, you can also ask a voice or send a written question. We’ll just give it a few more moments for any further questions to come in. Okay. It looks like we have no further voice questions. I will now hand it back to the MHP team for the closing remarks.

Anastasiya Sobotyuk, Director of Investor Relations, MHP: Thank you. Can you hear me now? Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for the meeting. Thank you for the questions. Of course, I understand that there are some questions which we didn’t cover during our meeting, and of course, you are more than welcome to get in touch with me, and we will cover those questions directly. Thank you, and we’ll stay in touch. Bye.

Viktoria Kapelyushnaya, Chief Financial Officer, MHP: Thank you. Thank you so much. Good day.

Conference Operator: Thank you for calling today.

Viktoria Kapelyushnaya, Chief Financial Officer, MHP: Bye.

Conference Operator: Bye-bye. Thank you. Have a nice day.