February 3, 2026

Newsletter Q4 2025

Every quarter we share a newsletter with everyone in the WelMac circle, to keep everyone up to date on the most recent developments within the company and the macadamia industry.

Dear WelMac Circle,

First of all, we would like to wish everyone involved with WelMac in any way a prosperous and, above all, healthy 2026. We look back on 2025 as a special year with great successes and the occasional setback, and we are especially grateful to the team at Welgevonden, which succeeds in delivering excellent results year after year.

But let's not forget that just as much important work is being done behind the scenes, not always visible to everyone, but crucial for the further expansion of the company. We would particularly like to highlight Laura and Adelé here. They, each within their own disciplines of Legal Affairs and Finance & Accounting respectively, are keeping the ship on the right course, down to the last detail. This is especially true now that CEO Nicolas Grooss is taking a step back for health reasons and will be working part-time starting in January.

The legal and administrative aspects of transferring all depository receipts for shares from Nxchange to NPEX, in particular, were a very complex project that required many months of attention, but are now almost complete. At the same time, the procedure for splitting the certificates from 1 to 20 has been completed.

The value of your investment has not changed. Where your depository receipt for share was previously worth €490 at its current valuation, you now have 20 depository receipts for shares, each worth €24.50. As a result, your depository receipts are less sensitive to large price fluctuations and are easier to trade on NPEX.

Furthermore, we are, of course, very pleased with the significant price recovery for macadamia nuts. At the end of 2025, we saw prices for Nut in Shell quickly return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. After the upcoming Chinese New Year period at the end of January – macadamia nuts are a highly sought-after gift during this season for prosperity and good luck – the markets in the Far East will become active again, and prices for the coming harvest season will be announced. The market expects a modest increase.

To map the consequences of the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, we have analyzed price movements from 2018 to 2025, the period when prices stabilized at pre-pandemic levels. This analysis reveals the following:

Over the period 2021 to 2024, WelMac suffered a loss of revenue of €1,507,834 (R27,141,000). The price per kilo fell due to the inventory that built up in 2020 and 2021 due to global lockdowns and transport problems. This decline was significant, reaching 63% in 2024.

At the same time, we experienced a sharp price increase for fertilizer, a significant portion of which comes from Russia and Ukraine. These two factors have clearly impacted WelMac and led to inevitable negative results for those years.

For now, we are awaiting the harvest, which will begin in a few weeks, so these will be exciting months for everyone.

Nicolas & Nick

‍

Listing on NPEX

The first depository receipts for shares are visible in the NPEX accounts of WelMac investors since mid-January 2026. Transferring the certificates already listed on Nxchange is unfortunately taking a little longer than expected, but is expected to be completed by mid-February 2026 for those who have given their consent.

Once the Nxchange depository receipts have been transferred to NPEX, trading of the WelMac depository receipts will be possible shortly thereafter. The announcement is expected to be made on the NPEX website in the coming weeks with a so-called “gong moment.”

The details of this are still being discussed between NPEX and WelMac, as is the follow-up to this listing with a campaign targeting existing NPEX investors to raise further growth capital. All of this can be followed on the NPEX website.

If you haven't yet opened an NPEX account, you can still do so here: https://www.npex.nl/openen-rekening/
and deposit your WelMac depository receipts for shares into your NPEX account using this form: https://www.npex.nl/beleggen/effecten-overboeken

Invest International

Since the middle of last year, we have been in discussions with Invest International, which manages the subsidy loan granted to WelMac in 2019 on behalf of DGGF.

The initial loan terms, particularly the term, have become outdated due to the circumstances surrounding the Covid pandemic and need to be realigned to the current situation.

Due to the pandemic, nut prices fell by 60% in 2023 as a result of a large inventory buildup. This, in itself, caused WelMac to lose approximately €1,507,000 in income. Prices will not return to approximately pre-Covid levels until the end of 2025.

Invest International has already indicated its positive view of a restructuring and has proposed several options, which are currently being discussed.

Invest International also commissioned analyses by two independent experts on both the financial feasibility and WelMac's agricultural practices. Both experts concluded positively and even provided advice on certain aspects to further improve business operations.

We expect to complete this restructuring in the first quarter of 2026.

Dividend policy

The dividend policy has been updated and adjusted. Dividends are expected to be paid starting from 2028. You can find the dividend policy here.

Update South Africa

General overview

September is the start of the spring season during which time the flowers which formed late winter need to set into nuts.

Spring is therefore one of the most critical periods as too much heat can damage the flowers and too much rain can result in fungal damage on the flowers.

The 2025 spring period had a very good climate transition from the winter months. Flower volumes were very good and healthy with an even nut set that followed.

The season had moderate summer days and frequent rain spells which supported the dry land trees to retain their nuts.

Macadamias experience a nut drop period in November which is the time when the trees decide which nuts they can retain and grow and which nuts need to drop.

The 2025 November had very little nut drop which we believe is a direct result of the following:

nutrients being accessible for the trees
healthy nutrient balance in the soil
good climate transition between the seasons
soil moisture
pest and disease control being well executed

Soil health

The Spring/Summer period is also when new soil samples are taken to indicate the nutrient requirements for the coming season.

We are happy to report an improvement in our pH levels which we will now maintain with the acquisition of the lime spreader.

The microbial fungal life in the soil is increasing year on year, which is a direct result of the regenerative farming practices which WelMac has successfully implemented on a large scale.

This enables us to only replace the nutrient shortfalls in the soil due to extraction from the previous harvest, which reduces external fertilizer usage.

Replanting block 2 & 4

As previously reported, we removed a large area of mature trees in blocks 2 and 4 due to the cultivar not performing.

We are happy to report that all the replacement trees have been planted and irrigation restored.

The grass between the trees has returned, which protected the area during the recent rains. We are looking forward to the production of these new trees.

General / staff

We are very excited to announce that Adele du Toit has joined our operation as group finance manager. Adele is a qualified accountant.

She has been doing the accounting for the South African side since 2018 and plays a crucial part in our annual audits. She has extensive knowledge of agricultural business finance and accounting and will make a positive impact on our team. We wish her all the best.

Our workshop manager, Gerhard Oosthuizen, attended a four-week mechanical training course which will benefit the company by enabling us to improve our repairs and be less dependent on third-party repair services.

WelMac had a visit from two shareholders and board members of STAK WelMac (Edwin Huybers and Wim van der Eijk), who brought small gifts of appreciation from Holland for all the staff.

We supply the staff with new uniforms on an annual basis. We handed out the new uniforms in December.

Albasini nursery

The nursery is experimenting with guava tree production and we are very excited to report that the trees are successful and of high quality.

We have already started to receive small orders and our initial trial batch, which was meant for internal use, was bought by a commercial farmer with possible additional orders to come.

Macadamia tree sales are doing well, with orders ranging from people buying only a few trees to commercial farmers planting larger areas.

We started to diversify the nursery with vegetable production as well to optimize the use of the infrastructure. We have planted maize, which is sold per cob and generated a consistent income stream.

The aim is to expand this section into a full year rotation cycle, as we are well placed in the area for maize cob sales.

Rainfall & flooding

From 11 January until 21 January, the lowveld region received substantial rain. Areas reported rainfall of 300–450mm over a period of five days, which resulted in extensive flooding and damage to farms and infrastructure.

WelMac is fortunate that we have no damaged buildings or orchards.

Below are photos of various areas, roads and dams in the surrounding district.