FMC Corporation Jefferies Global Industrials Conference 2026

Yeah, I think we are in a period which I would qualify as continuing what we have been seeing and facing in 2025 and beginning of 2026. I do not see much change in demand. I think I can say that we are confirming that overall, whether it is growers or distributors, repeating what we said at the earnings call, a tendency to buy product as closely as possible to the time of utilization and managing very tightly inventory in the channel. No major change in supply or demand, but certainly very cautious behavior from the overall industry. I have also read quite a few things about price moving up. I think there is maybe a little bit of a stabilization, but there are going to be some distortion on the way the pricing is being calculated or looked at, especially for Latin America. It has not reached our market yet.

I think it could be for product as far as we can see, which are non-selective herbicide, which could be going up and maybe distorting the overall average number. We are not seeing a major shift in the way the pricing is and increase in pricing. Pretty much continuing on the same trend we have been, confirming very cautious behavior around purchasing of product and inventory management.

Yes. I think when we went through the strategic review, there were multiple options with very few of them which could have been beneficial to our shareholders, and quite a few offering for capital increase in the company as PIPEs. They were certainly bringing cash into the company, helping with their debt down payment, but they were expensive. I had discussion with Luc even before this process started, so he was not part of the process, but got accelerated through the process, and I had multiple discussion with him. The way Luc and Tessenderlo look at it is Tessenderlo is a solid company, generate cash, is in market which are not very fast-growing market, but is a very stable market. They do have a strategy to grow the company, which is to create what they call cornerstone investment, where they would own equity in a company.

They would not participate in the management of the company, but would own significant equity of the company and would benefit from the performance of this company. What happened is Luc and his team completely believed in where FMC is and where we are going. Consequently, when we discussed, their view was, and our view, we were willing to have them being a 20% owner of the company. They were willing to be capped at that number. They were willing to have a lockup to not sell within 3 years because we want to make sure our shareholders would understand that it was not a short-term profit. To demonstrate to our shareholders that it was a long-term commitment, they were prepared to pay a premium to the stock at the time of the transaction.

The reason for which Tessenderlo decided to invest into FMC is they believed in a strategy, first of all, in term of deleveraging the company and what we did for the revolver and the bond offering and bringing $1 billion of proceeds to pay down debts. Most importantly, they looked at the company today at having reached the bottom and things looking up from this point. They are not a company which has been investing with a 3 months or 6 month horizon. They're going to be a very long-term shareholder. Their view was everything you're putting in place fits what we believe has to be done for the company. Three key elements they are very strongly supporting. First of all, they believe in our Rynaxypyr strategy to stabilize earnings and hold the earnings from 2026 on flat.

Second point, they understood our limitation to grow our core business because of our manufacturing cost, and we're very supportive of the way we're approaching the change in our footprint. Third point, they studied in depth our new product and looked at the way they would participate in the growth of the company from this point. I think the discussion we had also was around timing, and they understand it's not a long-term strategy, what we are implementing. We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I think 2027 is going to be the beginning of the inflection point. 2027 should benefit from 3 things. Rynaxypyr being stabilized will benefit in the second half of the new manufacturing footprint. It should be finished by the end of the first quarter of 2027. Everything is on time. We should have all of the new products, new production, new registration, everything in place in the second half of 2027.

The three molecules are going to keep on growing, specially driven, I am talking about Dodhylex, Isoflex, and fluindapyr. Specially driven by fluindapyr. We are expecting another 11 registration, and we are expecting four label expansion for fluindapyr. That is going to be the driver in 2027 of the growth of those three molecules. Then you move into 2028, where really you have the full inflection point because the new manufacturing footprint benefits the full year. You get, in addition of the growth due to fluindapyr, you are going to start to have registration for Dodhylex in Asia, very important for the rice market. Isoflex, very critical, will get the registration for cereals. It is a very big market. It is going to be a jump.

Now you have the three molecule growing fast. You have your new manufacturing footprint. You have the Rynaxypyr strategy, and you have brought your debt down. When Tessenderlo looked at that, where the stock is, where the company is, completely buying into the strategy, being a long-term investor, they were prepared to take this investment in the company, and the only thing they asked for was for the 20% to have a board seat. That is it. There is no cooperation between the two companies. There is no operational interactions. There is nothing beyond the fact they will be a 20% owner and a member of the board, very much aligned with the short-term and long-term strategy of the company.

Both. Okay. The two companies could have stayed separated.

Yep. They are in the ag industry, but in a very different place.

Specialty fertilizer is not a place we intend to go, both.