JOST Werke SE ($JST)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the JOST Werke SE Earnings Call Full Year 2025. I am George, the Chorus Call operator. [Operator Instructions] The conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Joachim Durr, CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Good morning from our headquarters in Neu-Isenburg, and a warm welcome to our earnings conference for the financial year 2025. So let's look at the highlights of last year. We had a year of growth in JOST with the consolidation of our Hyva business. We successfully integrated that business into the group starting February 1, and we were able to capture the first synergies already in the year 2025. Another part of that integration was that we successfully sold and carved out the noncore cranes business that we've acquired with this transaction, and we're able to swiftly close that also in December of 2025. We also had support for market share gains through new customer projects as we successfully combined our local-for-local approach in regions with our global OEM contact and our global strength. The market environment was not supportive last year. U.S. markets were shrinking by 25% to 30%. But despite this, we were able to manage and achieve an organic growth in the JOST organic business. So we've achieved our outlook for 2025 with earnings at the upper end of the corridor, supported by the fast implementation of the synergies of the Hyva transaction. So let's look at the financial highlights. Sales growth of 44% to about EUR 1.5 billion in 2025, supported by the M&A effect, but also supported by an organic growth of about 2% in our continuous business. Our adjusted EBIT from continuous operations grew 29% to EUR 145 million, and the adjusted EBIT margin reached 9.5%, at constant currency 9.6%. The free cash flow grew by 6% to EUR 126 million, reaching a new record, and that was driven by the Hyva contribution and the improvements in working capital. Our leverage came in at 2.27x at the end of 2025, reaching the target of 2.5 -- below 2.5 based on the debt financed Hyva acquisition. The growth accelerated significantly in the fourth quarter. All regions were supporting and all business lines were supporting. So in Q4, we had a sales growth of 71% to EUR 387 million, and that was organically supported by a 15% growth in our organic business. So adjusted net income from continuous operations went up 12% to EUR 84 million and adjusted EPS from continued organizations grew 11% to EUR 5.52. Let's look at the market environment from last year. I already mentioned that the markets were not supportive. You can see, in transport, we had slightly positive markets in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Americas was low based on the uncertainties due to the tariff situation and also due to the emission regulations for 2027. Asia Pacific was slightly supportive in trailers and supportive in trucks based on a strong Indian market and also export from the Chinese manufacturers to other regions. Tractors environment was still low, but for us, the business developed quite well based on the market share gains that we achieved, especially in the agricultural segment. But you can see, in Europe and North America, markets were contracting. Only in APAC, we had slightly positive market environment. Hydraulics, we saw a stable market, and our Hydraulics business was integrated last year, and we could benefit from that stable market and get some of the synergies already on the sales side implemented. So if you look at the entire picture, the weak market environment, the strong growth in JOST, that is basis -- that is based on a resilient business model and that has various elements, one of them being that we are selling in all regions of the world with EMEA accounting for 47% of our sales; Americas, 27% of our sales; and APAC, 26% of our sales. We generate our EBIT also in all regions. So all regions contribute, Europe, 25%, 30% in Americas and 42% in APAC. And we also serve different industries, the transport industry with 51%, the agriculture industry with 18% and growing and the hydraulics and infrastructure industry with 31%. So based on this resilient model, we were able to have a very successful year, and we could complete our outlook and fully achieve our outlook. Next slide, please. Yes. Here you see the final results compared to the outlook.

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So just in case I summarize the achievements. We had a very strong year 2025 with the Hyva integration, obviously, being the biggest highlight of the year. And with that and in a fairly weak market environment and not supportive market environment, especially in North America, we're able to achieve our outlook for 2025. Our sales was confirming at EUR 1.534 million. That's up 43% versus the outlook where we said we would be up between 40% and 50%. Also on adjusted EBIT and adjusted EBITDA, our growth is 28.6% on EBIT, 29% on EBITDA, and that is at the upper end of the range that we had in the outlook where we said 23% to 28% versus prior year. Our CapEx ended up being 2.8% of sales, which meets the outlook of approximately 2.9% of sales, and our working capital ended up at 14.8%, which is below the target of 18.5% that we had given in the outlook. So overall, for us, a year with exceptional growth, mainly based on the acquisition of Hyva, but also with our organic performance and meeting the outlook of 2025. And Oliver will lead you through some more details.

Thank you very much, Joachim. Welcome from my side. And as usually, let's go a little bit deeper into the numbers. First, starting with our EMEA region. You can see here in sales that driven obviously by the Hyva acquisition, we had a strong reported sales growth of 28%. Hyva was contributing there on a full year basis by EUR 126 million. But important is for us, even on an organic basis, we achieved a growth in EMEA by 5%. That is predominantly driven by our agriculture business line, which achieved for the full year a 7% organic growth. And even transport, despite the challenging market, was more or less a black 0 on [indiscernible] basis. And what we see on the fourth quarter development is that, that organic increase even accelerated in the second half of the year and especially also in the fourth quarter by an organic increase of sales by 15% to EUR 178 million in the fourth quarter, again, here also driven predominantly by the agriculture segment, but also transport kicked up. However, we assess also in Europe this recovery, so to speak, as fragile at the moment. The Iran conflict might have influence here as well, but I believe Joachim will come to that point once we are discussing the outlook. If we go down into the adjusted EBIT for the EMEA region, we see an expected dilution by consolidating of the Hyva business. So we achieved a roughly EUR 36 million adjusted EBIT in the EMEA region, which is close to 5% adjusted EBIT margin. And yes, the big effect is here that the Hyva business, hydraulics business in the EMEA region is dilutive on the one hand, and on the other hand is, although Hyva has a strong presence in Americas and in APAC and generating the operating results, a lot of central costs for R&D, as an example, or other headquarters are allocated into the EMEA region, and that, together with certain adjustments in the fourth quarter between regions in terms of cost sharing, led to a relatively weak EMEA adjusted EBIT in the fourth quarter. But all in all, fully as expected. Going forward, we see an improvement step-by-step now with the synergies also in the EMEA region ramping up, especially in the SG&A segment in 2026. If we then go to the Americas region on the next slide, we also here see, first of all, a very strong reported growth by 24%. But also here, I think it's important to highlight that despite the strong market decline in transport in U.S., we achieved an organic decline of only minus 4% in the whole Americas region. And basically here, the same development then compared to EMEA, that growth, momentum growth recovery, so to speak, accelerated in the fourth quarter. We were strongly supported here by 2 effects. One is in South America. We have a strong business in South America consolidated in that region where we gained new business with customers like Caterpillar and CNH and that business has been started to ramp up by, let's say, the second quarter of last year and it's going to continue also in 2026. So that supported organic growth in the region. And also, to a certain extent, in the trailer segment in the North America market, we gained the one or the other customer, partially driven by the tariff effects that in that sense here supported our market shares. So that helped that the overall organic decline, again, in the Americas region is only minus 4% for the full year. And if we go down to the adjusted EBIT, we have also seen that, from our point of view, it was a very successful year despite the challenging markets. We achieved for the full year the same adjusted EBIT margin, it was 10.9% compared to the previous year despite the integration of the Hyva business, which indeed has a certain dilution. However, that dilution in the Americas region already disappeared fully in the second half of the year by a very strong business of Hyva in the second half of the year, resulting in an adjusted EBIT of EUR 44 million for the full year. And also here, we see an adjusted EBIT that the fourth quarter was quite successful, driven by all business lines, driven by the recovery of transport to a certain extent and also driven by the hydraulics contribution into that fourth quarter. If we then go to the APAC region, definitely the region with the biggest change in 2025 in basically all numbers, for sure, driven by, again, the Hyva acquisition. We more than doubled our sales volume for the full year up to a little bit shy of EUR 400 million, starting from EUR 167 million in 2024. So that's plus 136% growth, driven by EUR 235 million incorporated from the Hyva acquisition. And also what we see here is the markets in APAC, as Joachim described, were a little bit up and down. We were benefiting despite FX headwinds here from a strong export business out of China basically across all business lines. So we are working closely together with Chinese customers that are successful at the moment by exporting their products into Far East, into Africa and other emerging markets with JOST products. And you also can see here, in the fourth quarter that, that growth even accelerated again in the fourth quarter like within the other regions. Also here, a little bit like with India, we need to be a little bit, let's say, monitoring the whole situation. The APAC region might also be impacted by the Iran conflict. Nevertheless, what we see at the moment is still a strong order book in the region that supports us both for our China business and our India business, which gained a little bit momentum beginning from September last year when tax adjustments were done in India, supporting the economy overall there. So that from a sales perspective, a very successful year for the APAC region. If you go down into adjusted EBIT, for sure, driven by the strong growth, adjusted EBIT went up to almost EUR 62 million. And also from a dilution point of view, we achieved a margin of almost 16% for the whole year in the region, which is better than we anticipated originally. We knew that we will have a little bit of a dilution through the acquisition of Hyva in the APAC region as well because of product and product mixes and also set up of the supply chains within Hyva a little bit different than in JOST. Nevertheless, with almost 16%, again, we are very proud and for sure, that helped massively the overall adjusted EBIT for the total group. And also here, you see in the fourth quarter now with ramping up of the synergies, the huge potential of that region in the new combined group by having leverage effects from higher capacity utilization and so on and so forth. So that's the summary for the 3 regions. If we now combine everything together into the group, as Joachim said, we have seen a strong reported growth of 44% organically, that means for the total group, still a positive organic growth by 2% despite all the challenges that we have and that underpins definitely our resilience models being present all over the world across all regions and being diverse via our customer base and our industries. And that organic growth has been in the fourth quarter, even 15%, up from EUR 226 million down to EUR 387 million reported-wise and organically, as I said, 15%. If you go down to adjusted EBIT, also here, Joachim already mentioned, EBIT has grown from 113% million to 145.2%, representing a reported margin of 9.5%, also here better than we anticipated at the beginning of 2025. Several success factors were important here, as you all know. We have sold the cranes business that we have acquired together with the Hyva acquisition that has a little bit of an EBIT kick, but on the other side and going forward, then even more important is that we see that the synergies are ramping up, that the combined business is more successful than the single ones, right, and that resulted then in an adjusted EBIT growth of almost 29%. And also, likewise, with the regions, we see a very strong fourth quarter with an adjusted EBIT that almost doubled from EUR 18 million up to EUR 35 million, again, driven by a very successful APAC region and a certain recovery in EMEA and in APAC. So that's for sales and adjusted EBIT. Now let's have a look into adjusted net earnings or our adjusted net earnings bridge. We start with a net income of EUR 9 million, depressed as we have already announced with the [indiscernible], a little bit by extraordinary effects. A big one here is the purchase price allocation effect that comes with the Hyva acquisition that has, in the initial year of the acquisition, an additional effect of almost EUR 20 million of inventory step-up, depreciation and order book depreciation. So that's why we see a total PPA in our P&L of EUR 55 million. The run rate going forward might be roughly EUR 20 million less, so just to let you know. And on the other side, we had roughly EUR 15 million of exceptional items as we announced before. We will have with the with the integration costs and restructuring costs related to the Hyva acquisition, roughly EUR 20 million to EUR 24 million exceptional expenses from the start of the acquisition, which was beginning of last year, we have consumed now EUR 15 million, and this is predominantly by layoff costs, restructuring costs, consolidation costs of footprint, et cetera. So -- and that, together with the reported tax result and with the reported finance results, sums then up to an adjusted EBIT of EUR 145 million. We then have to deduct again an adjusted finance results. There are 2 special effects in the finance result to report, which are combined account for EUR 6 million extraordinary expenses. So that's EUR 30 million finance result and actual tax expenditure of EUR 32 million, we are then ending up with an adjusted net income of EUR 84 million, and that's an increase versus prior year of roughly 11%, resulting into an adjusted net earnings per share of EUR 5.52, which will be then also the basis for our dividend for [indiscernible] going forward. If we then go to the next page, some capital and cash flow efficiency numbers that we regularly report. First here is the ROCE. We had a ROCE of 16.9% last year in 2024. We ended up now with almost 16% also this in the first year of such a big acquisition, which dilutes a little bit the ROCE in the first year as you have a strong balance sheet expansion as you had -- as we have a higher debt load to finance the acquisition, I think it is a very decent result we are proud of. When we look into the equity ratio, that has been now, as expected, decreased from end of 2024 to end of 2025, down to 21.2%. There are 2, 3 main effects that we did have to disclose here. The biggest one why of that decrease is simply the balance sheet extension. So we financed the acquisition of Hyva that expenses the balance sheet, and that's a dilution of the equity ratio. But on the other side, as you probably all realized with other companies, we have net assets in regions all over the world, big as net assets, especially in the USD regime. And with the weakening USD versus the euro, we had a strong negative FX translation effect in equity accounting for almost 2 percent points of equity decrease or almost EUR 40 million. Going forward and especially with the capital increase that we did end of February, that's going to significantly jump up already in the first quarter now. When we look into net debt leverage, as Joachim mentioned, that has, as expected, grown, driven by the financial debt load to finance the Hyva acquisition. We show a leverage of 2.27x EBITDA, and that's indeed lower than our initial target that we have set for 2025. We wanted to make sure that we are, at the end of 2025, below 2.5, which is a little bit of a threshold for us in terms of credit ratings and so on and forth. So kind of an important threshold, proud to achieve that, and that also helps our finance expenses for this year. If we then go to the next page, we see a very strong free cash flow. Again, like with the last year, cash conversion rate of 1.5% and absolute free cash flow of EUR 126.4 million. There is strong contribution from Hyva in the operating cash flow on the other side. And on the other side, for sure, we try to optimize our working capital in 2025. Also, you never know what happens in the next year, and we all see this at the moment to be robust, to be ready for whatever is needed in terms of the future of the company. But yes, I think we can be proud again for another very good free cash flow performance. CapEx spendings have been well under control, EUR 43 million we have spent, reflecting 2.8% of sales. And that includes already here and there certain investments into our future. So by the way, we have just opened last week in Brazil, a new off-highway cylinder production facility. And we have also moved into a new modern facility in Melbourne in Australia. Both facilities will achieve further growth in the future. And that investment here, I think, is well spent, but still fully in range of our corridor and a little bit below the guidance that we initially pointed out for 2025. And working capital, I already mentioned, very successful working capital year. The ratio in percent of sales is 14.8%. I think that's the all-time low. However, as I pointed out already in the one or the other meeting, this is partially driven by factoring line that we used and year-end working capital optimization. So that's probably not a through the year run rate, but nevertheless, a big achievement and supporting our deleveraging at [indiscernible]. Next page, please. Yes, last quick snapshot on our ESG/sustainability performance. As you all know, our most important KPI that we are tracking here is energy consumption and CO2 emission in production hours, so to speak. For sure, the energy consumption driven by the M&A effect has grown, however, less than the turnover, so to speak. So there is efficiency in both in energy and gas supply incorporated in the numbers. We are pushing in most pretty much all over the world, our photovoltaic usage to get our own energy production ramping up, and that supports not only the P&L, that also supports our CO2 footprint, very proud to present those numbers here. And when we look into the CO2 intensity, also here, we can see, and probably focusing on the right part of the lower chart, a minus 2% organic decline in the CO2 intensity. And this despite the fact that the number has already been grown -- has already been decreased more than 50% compared to our initial targets that have been set in 2020. And that 2.76 CO2 intensity number will be now the new basis going forward. We have just discussed a couple of weeks ago with the Supervisory Board new targets for that number until 2035, and the goal is to reduce that number on top by another 50% showcasing that JOST is willing to play its own part in CO2 emission in the world, so to speak. I think then it's up back for Joachim.

Yes. Thank you, Oliver. Very important year 2025, very important for JOST in the growth trend in our Ambition 2030. So how do we look into 2026? So let me guide you through the current assumptions for the markets. If you look at the transport markets, a slight increase in Europe, Middle East and Africa for trucks and trailer expected from the analysts and prognosis institutes. In Americas for truck, also a slight increase for trailer, around 0 -- slight decrease to around 0. And for APAC, also a slight decrease expected for this year. On the agricultural markets, it is a slight increase in Europe, a slight decrease in North America and also in APAC. And hydraulics, more or less a stable market environment around 0. That's the expectation that we see from the institutes and from the analysts. There is a few upsides and a few risks, obviously, that we can discuss. Upside is on the one hand that in Americas, we do have the tariff situation. And if that calms down and gives more stability or even a reduction in tariffs then that will lead to a market because I assume there is already some pent-up demand due to the low volumes that we've seen in the last year. So that's an upside potential if we see some stability there. The other one would on the truck side be a potential prebuy effect for the 2027 EPA regulations that there is still some uncertainty around that. And if the White House and the administration clarifies that, then that is another upside potential. Downside potential, obviously, is the high energy cost and the high transport cost that could come with the current Iran conflict, and we will have to monitor that. So based on this market assumptions, our outlook for the year 2026 is that we will continue to grow despite the more or less stable market environment in a single-digit level. Our adjusted EBIT margin and our adjusted EBIT will grow higher than that. The adjusted EBIT grow higher, and therefore, the margin will increase. So single-digit growth in sales, mid- to high single-digit growth in adjusted EBIT and an increase in the adjusted EBIT margin comes out of that. For CapEx, same as last year, we assume that we will be around 2.8% of sales and the working capital between 17.5% to 18.5% of sales, which is our normal range throughout the year. So those are the outlook numbers. Summing it up, we are closing a very important year for 2025 with an exceptional growth for JOST based on the Hyva acquisition, but also with a positive organic growth in a difficult market environment. So we're on a good way to reach our Ambition 2030 goals. Sales being up 43%, EBIT being up 28%, record cash flow, so we consider that a very successful year 2025. And based on that, we're also well positioned to achieve further growth potential in 2026 and to continue to generate value for our shareholders. Based on that, we propose a dividend of EUR 1.5 per share, which is 30% of our adjusted net income. So that's the upper range like last year of our dividend corridor. We expect the Hyva PMI to conclude in 2026, so that we can confirm our synergies by Q4 of 2026 that we will all synergies implemented by the last quarter of this year. And we continue to actively work our M&A pipeline to see what other opportunities there will be this year, and we believe that this year will be a year where there are opportunities that will come on the market at reasonable leverage and at reasonable prices. So our diversification across the end industries and across customers and our regional strength that provides the resilience and the profitability in what could be another difficult market environment this year based on the slide that we've just seen and the upside and the downside potential, which requires the flexibility that we have been able to prove in the last years. We are seeing a very robust order intake in Q1 2026. So we see a visible recovery across all business lines and also across all regions. So the year has started quite well, and we will see if we can continue that way, but we're also closely monitoring the potential impact of the Iran conflict. There is energy prices going up, there is freight costs going up, and we will have to see how long that will be and how that will impact the overall global economy. We are prepared to swiftly and flexibly adjust to that. So that's the summary, and we're open for your Q&A. Thank you very much.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Yasmin Steilen with Berenberg.

I have 3 again. So I will take them one by one, if I may. So the first on the guidance, could you provide more granularity what you have baked into your guidance? Or put it the other way around, did I get correctly that the upper end of the guidance implies some positive upside from the truck market, while the lower end reflects some impact from the Iran conflict? Or would this come on top?

Yes, I can take that directly. Thank you for your question. So currently, the guidance is based on the market environment that I have been showing. If we see the upside potential of -- especially on the U.S. market, that would come on top of that. So if indeed, we see the tariffs go down or if we see a pull-ahead effect for the purchases because the EPA 2027 regulations supports that pull-ahead effect, then that would increase the guidance range that we've currently given. And on the down end, it does not assume any major and long-term impact from the Iran crisis. We're currently already seeing some increases in fuel costs and also in transport costs. But if that does not continue a long time, then we don't think there will be a big impact. But of course, depending on how long that conflict will be and how much impact that will have on the global economy, then that would be -- that is not included in the lower end of the guidance. So it assumes the global economy more or less as we've described in that slide about the markets.

Okay. Perfect. And maybe just a follow up. Do you expect any impact on your agri business from a potential shortage of fertilizers? Is there anything you've heard already from your direct lines or from a dealer side? So looking at the SIMA business parameter, it moved slightly to a negative territory again in March. So anything you can share from this side?

No, really, we don't expect a big impact on that based on the current situation as we see it, the SIMA has been moving around 0 for the last months. But we do see with the dealer stocks going down, we do see a bigger demand at the dealer channel and also at the OEM channel. The numbers that you're seeing on that market slide is for the entire tractor market. Our segment is the mid-range tractors. And they are actually a little more positive than what you see on the general slide because there, we have seen the volumes go down earlier and on the high horsepower tractors, it went down later. Now the midrange tractors are coming back quicker than the high-range tractors. So it's actually a bit more positive than what you see on that slide. And we have no indication that the fertilizer will impact that market at this point in time.

Perfect. And then maybe a final question, just following the capital increase. Could you provide or share more color on kind of your time line in terms of M&A, to what extent maybe the current macroeconomic uncertainties might impact this time line? On the one hand, you maybe becoming a little more -- a bit more cautious keeping your powder dry. And on the other hand, potential impact on the pricing, if there's any?

We don't look at it that opportunistic. We look at it more strategic. We have a number of targets that we're looking at. And if we have an opportunity to close a deal with a target that fits into our strategy, then we will do that. At this point in time, I would not say that we're trying to keep our powder dry. We're continuing the same way as we would have done 4 or 8 or 12 weeks ago. So no implication from that point. We have an industrial story that we've laid out in the Ambition 2030, and that is the main driver for our M&A ambition, not so much that if we have the capability or the power -- the firepower, it's more the strategic view. And I don't see a change to what we have communicated about 6 weeks ago. There is targets that are in the market, and it's mainly driven because of a change in the industry, a change in ownership. And I think we are well positioned, and we have the right financing structure to be able to act if we see the right targets and with the right industrial footprint and the right strategic fit to us. I don't know if you want to add anything to M&A?

No, I totally agree.

So we have some questions that were submitted by text from Jorge Gonzalez from Neways. I understand the cautious approach given the geopolitical events, but could you give us your view on the improvement momentum on truck and trailer ordering in the U.S. after a long recession, do you think there is more positive opportunity than further deterioration risk?

Yes. I think I've mentioned that a little bit. I believe that the replacement rates have been low the last year because of that uncertainty. So the vehicles have aged. There is some statistics that the aging in the last 2 years was 1 year of the vehicle age. And that means there is some pent-up demand. That's why I mentioned the upside potential really is if there is some more stability in the pricing and the pricing depends a lot on the tariff situation, and if there's some more clarity on the EPA 2027 regulations, I think we will see that pent-up demand convert into numbers. So I'm personally more positive than what you see in the official numbers for the North American market, all depending, as I said, a little bit on the environment that -- and the stability that is given by the administration.

Okay. Thank you. We have another question submitted via text from [indiscernible] Ivers from [indiscernible]. Regarding the organic growth in the second half of 2025, how should we think about that given the weak performance in the first half of 2025? Can you give us some color on the development during the year? And how should we think about organic growth going forward?

Yes. I think you -- we have to take into account also, if you look at it that way, the previous year to '25, so '24. In 2024, we had a strong first half year and the weak second half year. So if you do that year-to-year comparison, it appears like 2025 has been weaker in the first half and stronger in the second half. It's actually from the build rates, and that's not really the case. It's only if you compare it year-over-year that you see that picture. So our organic growth, we have been following the markets, but we have, in addition to that market, gained market share, especially in the agricultural sector and especially in the Americas region, as Oliver has pointed out in his details. And that has helped us to have the 2% growth in that market that was especially in North America, down 20% to 30% and also not very supportive in all the other regions. So I wouldn't say that we had a strong last half year and a weak first half year. I would say we had a strong overall year organically and of course, adding more potential with the Hyva integration. And as you probably have seen in previous presentations, in those synergies that we have with the Hyva integration, the EUR 20 million that we want to achieve overall, there is some sales synergies. So some of that will come with additional sales opportunities, and this is what we will capture in 2026.

Okay. One last question submitted by tax from Felix Odorfer, DMF Financial Services. Does the rising working capital requirement forecast in 2026 imply a weaker free cash flow conversion more towards the 1x target?

That's correct, Felix, right? And I mentioned that in the -- at one of the other investor event already. We were exceptionally good in 2025, also in 2024. A always, it's a little bit easier to manage working capital in phases where the market and the business is stable or slightly decreasing, right, to release working capital. And with the topics that Joachim was mentioning for 2026, we see ramping up organic pipeline, especially in ag/off-highway for us that will consume a certain portion of working capital affecting then the free cash flow. And the other point is also, and we have to mention that we are, at the moment, a little bit cautious when it comes to supply chains all over the world, right, to protect our market share, to be able to deliver, to protect our customers like we did in very successful, by the way, during the COVID crisis. And that's why we have incorporated a little bit of a cushion in that working capital number. However, nevertheless, we will try to achieve the best result that we can and stick to our overall long-term target of 1.0 adjusted net earnings free cash flow conversion. But yes, answer is yes.

Okay. That was the last question submitted by text.

[Operator Instructions]

Another one from Felix...

There's another one from Felix .Sorry, yes. this one. Yes, from Felix, a follow-up. Revenue growth forecast low single-digit to mid-single-digit growth, including 1 month of Hyva, which was consolidated as per February, which could add some 3%, perhaps a little less due to the cranes carve-out. So roughly speaking, it's an organically flat scenario, what you currently believe is...

I don't think that this is 100% true, Felix, because I mean, a little bit different to compare to other ones. We don't exclude any FX effect. We expect a certain FX -- negative FX effect in 2026, probably in the range of 2% to 4% as the average, let's say, euro rate versus main foreign exchange currencies that we have, Brazilian real, USD, also Chinese renminbi, that is still increasing, and that will hit just the reported sales top line. If you exclude that, we are coming back to that initial range that we said mid-single digit somehow is a realistic number up towards the upper end with more of an improvement in North America and probably even to the very upper end in case we have that pull effect from the EPA. So you need to take definitely for 2026 into account that there will be effects.

So we can say the guidance includes a negative effect?

We haven't excluded, right? So we stick to that guidance even in case we will see that FX effect.

That's it.

Ladies and gentlemen, this was our last question. I hand back over to Joachim Durr for any closing remarks.

Yes. Thank you very much for your interest. I think for us, as I mentioned, an important step in our Ambition 2030.

We have one question.

Please go ahead.

One from Fabio is still on the line. Sorry, just came in. If you can please, moderator, put him back in. I'm sorry for that. We did not see it.

Please go ahead.

Can you hear me?

Yes. Yes.

Okay. Perfect. One question left on minority interest going forward, as far as I can see what's left now is mostly -- and I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly, [indiscernible], the recycling business in Brazil, the 25%. You have earmarked EUR 15.4 million for the put option. Do you plan to exercise this in 2026? And if yes, would that translate to basically 0 minorities going forward?

Yes, yes and yes, Fabio. Let's hope that the minority shareholder is not listening this call at the moment. That's the provision/liability we booked based on the fair value assessment that we did in the annual report. The final price depends on final negotiations. And probably it's not so much on that we decide to -- we have a call, he has a put. There is a high likelihood, right, that he will do the put option -- call the put option, so to speak. And then you're right, the most likely outcome will be that this liability then goes away. And on the other side, we will then consolidate to 100% of that business. And the reason why that put option has increased in value, jeopardizing a little bit the finance result is that this business has improved a lot over the last 12 months. So a very successful business. And also going forward, the outlook for 2026 and 2027 for that business is a very good one. I hope that answers your question.

it does.

So still not over. One more question from Felix. Are you willing to share some quantifications on synergies at EBIT level currently anticipated for 2026?

I mean that doesn't change to what we have initially said. So when we did the acquisition beginning of 2025, we said, over the 3 years, it would be around EUR 5 million in the first year, so 2025, and an incremental EUR 7 million or EUR 8 million in 2026. So summing up then of a run rate of around EUR 13 million in 2026 and then for 2027, the full EUR 20 million synergies. So you should expect an increment -- or incorporated is an incremental EUR 7 million to EUR 8 million EBIT for 2026.

Okay. It looks like now there are no more questions. I will wait a bit. Yes. Okay. Thank you very much for your interest on this. And Joachim, please go ahead.

Okay. Yes. Thank you very much for your interest and for the questions you're posing. For us, a very important step in 2025 on our Ambition 2030 plan is to increase our sales and our margins and a successful integration of Hyva to this point in time. Good basis for 2026. We see slightly positive environment, and we will be able to adjust upwards or downwards to use the opportunities or to manage the risks that we see currently and that we have discussed. So thanks again, and see you at the next meeting.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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