Biesse S.p.A. (BSS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the Biesse's Third Quarter 2025 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Pierre La Tour, Group CFO and IR. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to Biesse's Q3 Financial Results Presentation. I believe you've all received our press release and you've all received our [ synthetic ] presentation. So I will proceed commenting the document that has been made available on our website. So we can start from the first page where we represent our geographical distribution, the distribution of our main assets, production assets. So as you know, we have 3 production sites in Italy, in India and in Thailand. Besides these, we have a commercial presence which is situated around the globe. This is represented by 19 showrooms. And of course, these support our sales force. As of the 30th of September 2025, our group employs 3,700 persons. In terms of our net sales geographical distribution, approximately 25% is represented by the Americas, so North and South America. Approximately 60% is coming from EMEA and approximately 15% is coming from APAC. If we move to Page 3 with the key financial highlights and we start from our net revenues. You can see that basically, we have experienced a 14% reduction in our net sales versus Q3 2024. And this is mainly attributable to our machines and lines that represent approximately EUR 67 million reduction in terms of net sales out of the total of EUR 78 million. Now of these EUR 67 million, we have EUR 33 million that belong to the wood segment, EUR 23 million to stone, EUR 8 million, glass and EUR 3 million reduction deriving from the other materials segment. In terms of geographies, EMEA, has witnessed a reduction of EUR 61 million, APAC, minus EUR 6 million and the Americas minus EUR 11 million. Looking at our adjusted EBITDA, so we closed September with an EBITDA at EUR 25.2 million. This is 5.2% in terms of revenues. And it is in reduction versus 2024. In terms of net results, our net result is negative for EUR 8.9 million. And this is in reduction of EUR 11.5 million versus last year. In terms of order intake versus Q3 2024, order intake is lower by EUR 53 million. Of these EUR 32 million are represented by the wood segment, EUR 10 million by the stone segment, EUR 8 million glass and EUR 3 million other materials. In terms of geographical distribution, the more significant reduction is coming from the Americas, minus EUR 37 million, followed by APAC, minus EUR 19 million and EMEA minus EUR 8 million. Backlog. Our backlog as of September 30 was EUR 211 million. So this is a reduction versus 2024 Q3. And in terms of headcount, so total headcount was 3,723 employees. Now this is a -- this represents a reduction of 249 units versus December 2024 and 408 units versus Q3 2024. Our inventories show a slight increase plus EUR 3.9 million versus December 2024. And in terms of net financial position, our net financial position including our IFRS 16 is negative. So debt for EUR 48.2 million. Excluding IFRS 16, it is negative for EUR 21 million. Now moving on to Page 3, our P&L highlights. So we've had net sales amount to EUR 482 million. So this is a reduction of 14% versus last year Q3. We've had significant reductions in terms of labor cost. So minus EUR 12.7 million. And we've also -- we're also witnessing a significant reduction in terms of G&A, so minus EUR 7.8 million. And this is, of course, part of an effort to contain costs and to basically optimize our structures. So EBITDA is at EUR 25 million -- EUR 25.2 million, 5.2%. EBIT is at minus EUR 1.9 million. So EBIT is at minus 0.4% in terms of incidence on net revenues. Our nonrecurring items amount to EUR 4.7 million negative and these are mainly linked to our restructuring in -- mainly of our Italian operations. So our EBIT after restructuring, after nonrecurring items is negative for EUR 6.7 million and our net result is negative by EUR 8.9 million. And this compares to a positive of EUR 2.6 million in September 2024. Moving ahead. Now in the following page, we have a bridge versus Q3 2024 in terms of net result. So, of course, we've had a significant -- we've just commented it, volume decrease, so EUR 78 million volume decrease. And this translates in a negative impact on margin of approximately EUR 44 million. Although in terms of product mix, we have a positive impact. Why? Because, of course, our revenue mix is more balanced towards mechatronics and parts, which are characterized by a higher margin. OpEx are lower by EUR 12 million. And of course, here, we've had cost containment actions throughout the line. So we have lower consultancies, lower travel expenses, lower selection costs for HR, lower leasing and rental costs and lower maintenance costs. In terms of personnel costs, again, we have a significant reduction. And in fact the EUR 13 million reduction that you are reading is in fact, the net of 2 distinct effects. First, we have a significant reduction in terms of personnel cost, which is -- which amounts to EUR 19 million. And this reduction is partly compensated by an inflation, so a cost of labor inflation effect and a lower capitalization of our labor cost that amounts to EUR 6 million positive. So the net of these 2 effects results in the EUR 13.2 million reduction that we are reading. Moving ahead, we have lower D&A for EUR 2.4 million. We have lower financial costs for another EUR 2.5 million and we've had lower taxes for EUR 3.6 million. So altogether, this leads us to a net result before nonrecurring events, which is negative by EUR 7.7 million. And then we add the negative impact of our nonrecurring for which amounts to EUR 1.2 million. And so we end up at the negative net result of EUR 8.9 million. In terms of headcount, so the following page, Page 8. So here, we have the trend of our headcount. So a total of 3,723 personnel employed. This is in reduction versus December 2024 and versus September 2024. And you can see the also geographical distribution between Italy and the rest of the world. So basically, overall, versus September '25, minus 408 headcount. Finally, our balance sheet. Now in terms of balance sheet, we can comment our operating net working capital. So in this case, we have an increase versus December 2024, an increase of EUR 13 million. Now you can see straightaway that most of this increase, in fact, the overall impact is driven by one line, which are our contract liabilities. So these are the advances from -- that we receive from our customers and you can see straightaway that there is a decrease in this item, in this line that amounts to EUR 15.9 million. Now this reflects the slowdown that we witnessed in order intake in the first 9 months. Now on top of this, we have a slight -- very slight increase in terms of inventories. So we have an increase by EUR 3.9 million. Our trade receivables also increased by EUR 1.4 million. And then we have a partial offset that is represented by the increase in trade payables. So our trade payables increased by EUR 8.2 million. And so they partially offset the impact deriving from the other lines. Now in terms of net financial position. Now our net financial position without IFRS 16 has moved from a cash position. So if we start from December 2024, in December 2024, we had a positive cash position of just under EUR 5 million, EUR 4.7 million. In Q3 2025, we are at a negative EUR 20.9 million. So -- and this is excluding the IFRS 16 impact. IFRS 16 for us is worth EUR 27 million. So if we look at our net financial position with IFRS 16, this is negative by EUR 48.2 million, which compares to a negative EUR 25 million at the end of December 2024. Now this is all from my side. I welcome your questions. So please feel free to book your question and I am very glad to answer whatever questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Alberto Francese of Intesa Sanpaolo.

Alberto Francese, Intesa Sanpaolo. I have a question on the order intake, which seems still very weak. If you can give us a little bit more color about it. Are you seeing maybe some signal of recovery, in particular in the U.S., which we hope that in some way that after having the settlement for the duties that could have been a little bit better than it was in your -- so a little bit better than it was in your general order intake in the U.S. in particular.

Alberto, nice to speak to you again. Okay. Thank you for your question. Now yes, order intake, of course, over the past 9 months has been disappointing. Now we are starting to see some encouraging signs. And so basically, if we look back at the first 9 months, of course, order intake has been very much affected by, on the one hand, geopolitical factors. On the other hand, it has been impacted by, if we refer specifically to the North American market, of course, it has been impacted by import duties. Now looking at -- looking ahead, we are starting to see some timid signs of recovery. And these are both due to external as well as internal factors. Let me be a little bit more specific. Now internally, as you may know, the company has undergone significant organizational changes and these have taken place right in the middle of summer in the month of June or starting from the month of June, should I say. We have changed our CEO, as you -- I'm sure, as you know. And following this disruption, there has been a new course in terms of direction and in terms of focus and emphasis on the business itself. Now one of the top priorities at company level is reinforcing and in some cases, rebuilding our commercial area. And of course, this is and will take time. So it's taking and will be taking time. Nonetheless, we are quite optimistic regarding order intake, regarding an inversion of the trend in order intake. And we should be able to see the first signs of an inversion of the trend starting from Q4. I hope this answers your question, Alberto.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is from Niccolò Beretta Zanoni of Banca Akros.

Could you give us some sort of guidance for full year 2025 or some more color on this slight sign of recovery in Q4?

Okay. Now -- so we are moderately optimistic regarding Q4, as I said to Alberto, not just in terms of order intake but also in terms of overall performance. So I believe that Q3 has, in some ways, represented the bottom of our performance. And progressively and gradually starting from Q4, we should see an overall improvement in our financial indicators. Now, what am I referring to? I'm referring to, of course, on the one hand, the top line. Now you know because you've been following us for some time now that Q4 traditionally has been, historically been the strongest quarter, the most vibrant quarter. And so we expect it to continue to represent the best quarter in terms of net sales. But with a twist. Why? Because we have a cost base that is -- that has been streamlined. And so what we're expecting right now is basically to benefit from the sacrifices that we've made in the past quarters. So basically, we should have -- we should reap the benefits of our sacrifices -- of the sacrifices that the company has undergone in the past with a leaner, with a more streamlined cost structure. And so of course, this will have an impact on our bottom line. If we look at Q4 specifically, so Q4 per se, And this is for -- this is, of course, referred to our P&L. Now if we move on to our balance sheet, you've seen that basically we've been absorbing cash during the first 9 months. And we are putting in significant efforts to stop the bleeding. How? We are focusing on specific actions regarding our operating net working capital. To be more specific, we are focusing on our inventories, especially the component of our inventory that is represented by machines, so fully assembled machines. And so we have established working groups that are tackling this part of our inventory. And we should be reaping some of the benefits already in Q4 of these specific actions. So we will end up closing the year with lower inventories. We are also tackling our account receivables. And so in terms of DSOs, I'm expecting an improvement. And so of course, this should also contribute. We're not expecting a significant improvement in terms of our payment terms because these are already stretched. And so in terms of our DPOs, I'm not expecting any significant improvements there. And then last but not least, of course, as I said before, we're undertaking significant efforts in rebuilding our sales force. And this should translate in a better order closing ratios and better closing order ratios mean an improvement in our order intake and consequently, an improvement in our advanced payments from customers. So overall, I am expecting an improvement starting from Q4 coming from our operating working capital. Hence, an improvement in our net financial position. I hope this answers your question.

[Operator Instructions] The next question is a follow-up from Alberto Francese, Intesa Sanpaolo.

Alberto Francese again. There is a point on the labor headcount. You reduced by more than 400 people. You were talking about reinforcing the commercial area. So what can we expect for 2026 that number of headcount will be stable as we see in 9 months or there will be an increase? And the second question, you mentioned a decrease of around EUR 13 million in labor costs with the mix that you mentioned. And so how much can we project for the full year '25 and maybe for '26, if there is something more to come in terms of savings on labor cost?

Okay. Now as far as labor cost is concerned, so we can expect to close the year in the region between EUR 225 million and EUR 235 million or, I would say, slightly lower than that. So basically in the high [ 220s ] concerning labor cost. Now, in terms of 2026, we are going ahead with selective recruiting in specific areas where we deem we need to strengthen our competencies and where we believe that the strengthening of our competencies will generate additional business. So for 2026, we can expect a slight increase in terms of labor cost versus 2025, although not significant. Why am I saying not significant? Because we are not done and you can see this in our P&L, you are still seeing amounts in our P&L that referred to nonrecurring items. So let's say, our nonrecurring operations are still not over yet. And so you can expect these to continue although with less intensity versus the past, on the one hand. On the other hand, of course, we are planning to selectively hire where needed. And so in terms of overall headcount, you can expect a slight increase versus 2025. Although in terms of overall increase in terms of P&L, this is not going to generate a significant extra burden. And of course, this is a trend, of course. We are currently, as we speak, we are working on our 2026 budget. The budget will be finalized by December. And so of course, we will have a better picture then. But nonetheless, in terms of trend, this is where we expect we will be going. So slight increase in terms of headcount versus 2025, not a significant increase in terms of money, in terms of labor cost at the P&L level. And this is because, of course, we will have 2 distinct effects. We will have the continuation of our actions, of our restructuring actions on the one hand although with less amplitude versus the past. And on the other hand, we will have the insertion of new headcounts. This is going to be a selective approach, selective process, throughout the year, by the way. So you won't have the full impact in terms of P&L over the 12 months. I hope this answers your question.

The next question is from Gabriele Parenti of Algebris Investments.

Yes. But actually, Alberto asked the question for me, so I'll go back in the queue.

[Operator Instructions] Mr. La Tour, there are no more questions registered. Excuse me, there is one more question from Alberto Francese of Intesa Sanpaolo.

[indiscernible] Probably was a follow-up of the previous question. There are no longer inflationary trends in 2026 on labor cost, as you mentioned in 2025. And the second part of the question is the reorganization, the efficiency in the industrial footprint following the acquisition of GMM is now completed. There is a space also from an industrial point of view in terms of efficiency, production capacity that you can improve or evolve during 2026.

No. So the answer is, regarding GMM is, the GMM Group is no. So the -- let's say, the revision of industrial processes is not complete. And we can expect it to continue at least for the first part of 2026. So at least the first 6 months of 2026. And in terms of labor cost, of course, there are slight inflationary pressures. But as I said, these are not significant. And so these are negligible in terms of their impact on overall labor cost. But yes, so the integration, going back to your question on industrial integration, the industrial integration is not yet complete.

Mr. La Tour, there are no more questions registered at this time.

Okay. Well, so I wish to thank all of you for having taken part to this call. And I am available at any time. So if you wish to contact me directly, you can contact me at any time. And we can also arrange one-to-one meetings or further calls to go into further detail. And, of course, I hope to be able to answer all your questions. So feel free to reach out any time. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones. Thank you.