Message from the EBD

2025 was characterized by significant geopolitical shifts, including heightened tensions between major global powers and the emergence of new alliances. Military conflicts persisted in several regions, notably Eastern Europe and parts of the Middle East, where ongoing disputes and territorial claims led to intermittent escalations. Trade restrictions were increasingly deployed as instruments of policy, with countries imposing tariffs and export limitations to protect domestic industries and respond to security concerns. These measures contributed to disruptions in global supply chains and added complexity to international business relations, as governments navigated the challenges posed by economic competition and security imperatives.

While not all of these events directly affect SHV and the Groups, the volatile operating environment required close attention to ensure appropriate actions and responses to the challenges that arose. The resilience and change management skills demonstrated by the Groups were reflected in better full year results.

The agenda, which encompasses both initiatives approved for execution (Delivery) and strategic topics requiring further discussion and alignment (Development), is structured around key strategic pillars: deepening strategic dialogues, tightening performance management, placing people at the heart, and embedding ESG. All aimed at creating a strategically sound, value-creating and resilient composition of Groups, sustained by transparent and explicit communication and behavior governed by the SHV values. Each Group maintains its own D&D agenda in line with that of SHV.

Furthermore, the EBD holds regular knowledge sessions with leading geopolitical and economic think tanks to discuss global developments and shifting roles of major world powers. The insights gathered strengthen SHV's strategic foresight and improve decision making across the organization.

In 2025, the EU postponed the mandatory reporting deadline from 2025 to 2027 for the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for private companies, which requires reporting on ESG-related topics relevant to SHV. The extension will allow us to move beyond compliance and focus on value creation and capability building. This involves developing a non-financial reporting platform for both external reporting and internal management information, establishing robust data capture and reporting processes, and designing an appropriate organizational structure.

Throughout 2025, we reported on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), Health & Safety, and Greenhouse Gas emissions (Scope 1 and 2), all key areas of focus in recent years. These subjects will now be integrated into the CSRD framework.

Caring for generations to come also means valuing the people of today – a principle that influences our approach to business both as individuals and as an organization.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is essential for creating a safe, inspiring, and successful workplace where people feel included. A diverse workforce brings different perspectives to support better decision-making. We are embedding DEI into our governance frameworks and working practices to foster a genuinely open and inclusive working environment.

Caring for people also includes prioritizing health and safety throughout the organization. Our commitment to ensuring everyone returns home safely every day is reflected in active leadership, regular training, and the Life Saving Rules – our core safety improvement program.

Incident rates continued their downward trend thanks to the initiatives we have put in place. However, despite these efforts, we experienced six work-related fatalities involving three employees and three contractors. We extend our deepest sympathies to the families, friends, and loved ones of those we lost while at work as we recognize the immeasurable impact it has on those close to them.

The sale of Makro Argentina aligns with our strategic decision to focus on SHV Energy, Nutreco, Kiwa, and NPM to accelerate performance and growth.

This strategy will enable the four Groups to achieve their full potential and improve overall performance in the years ahead. To balance value creation and short-term performance, we enhanced performance management and further refined individual Group strategies. This will drive the conversations needed to ensure delivery of the desired results. Margin improvement, cost and productivity optimization, tailored operating models, and procurement and supply chain initiatives will all support the delivery of these goals.

The Groups also made progress on several initiatives designed to accelerate growth, enhance portfolio optimization, inorganic growth options such as M&A, cost control, and improve long-term performance.

Amid continued volatility in the global LPG market, SHV Energy delivered strong performance, balancing volume pressure in Europe with stronger results in Brazil and India. The Horizons ’23–25 program, aimed at maximizing the potential of the LPG portfolio, was concluded after delivering over 900 initiatives and a significant step‑up in cash generation. Building on these results, the Horizons ’26–29 cycle was launched with new country clusters and an expanded scope, further strengthening the Group’s ability to drive performance. In Sustainable Fuels, SHV Energy continued to advance commercial partnerships and industry collaboration to accelerate the development of renewable molecules. The renewable strategy was further refined by bringing Renewable Solutions closer to the core LPG business and focusing only on the Energy Transition Services model.

Nutreco maintains its focus on being the leading partner in nutritional and functional solutions for sustainable farming through a species aligned approach, with a value proposition designed to address unmet customer needs and capture growth opportunities. This is supported by close, customer‑focused collaboration and data‑driven innovation. In 2025 multiple Intellectual Property protected solutions from Nutreco Exploration (NutEx) were launched with success in both livestock and aquaculture. The company's transition toward becoming fully focused on animal nutrition, initiated in 2022, progressed further during the year. As the market evolves, Nutreco is also continuing to build on the overall vision to shift the portfolio from volume to value, strengthening its competitive position and remaining well positioned to meet growing demand, customers’ expectations and capture emerging opportunities.

Kiwa continued to advance its ambition to grow towards a top‑ten global player in the Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) market by focusing on defined strategic dimensions across geographies, end‑markets, and service types. The company aims to accelerate growth by strengthening existing service lines, prioritizing higher‑margin areas, and pursuing targeted acquisitions. Its strategic priorities in 2025 centred on driving organic growth as well as through M&A, enhancing operational performance across Business Units, and further integrating earlier acquisitions, including the ongoing integration of NQA, a leader in business assurance, acquired in 2024. In addition, increasing collaboration between business sectors and countries, including joint commercial initiatives and shared operational expertise, offers new opportunities to develop integrated solutions for customers. These efforts are supported by continued investment in Kiwa’s scalable IT foundation. To support future growth, several acquisitions were completed in 2025 across North America, Europe and Asia, adding meaningful scale and strengthening Kiwa’s international footprint.

Mammoet has continued to strengthen its performance through higher project selectivity, disciplined capital allocation, improved workforce planning, and a more rigorous data-driven and asset steering. The continued focus on commercial excellence, professionalized sales and account management, operational effectiveness, fleet optimization and the enhanced capital expenditure discipline which is supported by real-time digital tools, positions Mammoet well to sustain its promising outlook.

NPM continued to build on its unique and differentiating profile, leveraging its flexible, long‑term investment approach to strengthen its competitive position. Guided by the four defined investment themes, the company made solid progress on its strategic agenda. The ongoing international expansion across Belgium and Germany further enhanced NPM’s market proposition, supported by a growing local presence and sector‑specialized advisors. The portfolio was strengthened through several new and add-ons acquisitions in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the first investment in Germany, reinforcing NPM’s commitment to disciplined growth and long‑term value creation.

On a consolidated basis, including NPM’s controlled participations and discontinued operations, SHV recorded EBITDA of € 2 billion and a profit for the year of € 526 million, reflecting strong operational and financial delivery across the Groups.

SHV generated solid cash flows in 2025. This was supported by robust operational performance and controlled investments, despite the lack of substantial divestment inflows as recorded in 2024. Investment cash flows reflected the result of prudent capital expenditures and selective M&A, including Kiwa’s acquisitions of Square One and Sequoia and NPM’s investments in Elbfrost, NTS Group and add-ons for Jeco Energies and Tech Tribes. Divestments in 2025 included Makro Argentina, Nutreco’s Iberian swine business (Inga), and SunSource assets. SHV closed the year with a strong financial position characterized by high liquidity and conservative leverage.

SHV continued to actively manage its financial position throughout the year, demonstrating a disciplined approach to liquidity and the financing framework. During the year, SHV utilized available cash to partially repay the 2025 maturities. SHV also initiated amendments to its central financial covenant framework, aimed at aligning the covenants with prevailing market-standard leverage metrics and reflecting the transition to IFRS-based financial reporting. The amendment process introduces enhanced transparency and economic relevance by focusing on the relationship between net debt and the SHV's earnings capacity by way of a leverage covenant. As at year end, SHV complies comfortably with the amended covenant metrics, underscoring the strength of its financial position.

Our emphasis on aligning business and IT facilitated the development of integrated transformation roadmaps. These roadmaps guide the modernization of core systems and processes, enabling SHV and the Groups to build scalable digital capabilities, enhance customer and employee experiences, and ensure technology effectively supports our long‑term strategic goals.

Better Together, the cooperation program between the Groups, saw the onboarding of a new supplier for commodity IT services. This transition is aimed at cost savings and streamlined IT processes, increasing efficiency and effectiveness across the Groups.

Cybersecurity remains paramount and we are embedding resilience into our platforms and working practices. We are also reinforcing our defences against increasingly sophisticated, AI‑enabled threats through enhanced monitoring, modern security tools, and robust incident response processes. This balanced strategy enables SHV to innovate with confidence while safeguarding its operations.

To retain and attract people with the relevant capabilities, SHV continuously invests in people development and leadership skills. Our well-established approach to talent management and learning initiatives is testament to this ambition.

On behalf of the Executive Board of Directors,


F.F.J. de Ryck
CEO