Umicore broadly confirmed our cautious view by providing a soft full guidance as H2 will be weaker than H1. Catalysis should see some volume progression, whereas Energy & Surface Technologies will be negatively impacted by the normalisation in cobalt prices. Lower pgm prices and less available scrap is likely to dampen Recycling’s performance. The outlook provided by management fits with ours. Profitability for the full year will depend on how pgm prices evolve for the rest of the year.
