Mutares SE & Co. KGaA (MUX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

A very warm welcome indeed to our H1 2026 earnings call. My name is Johannes Laumann, I'm the CIO of Mutares and back from holiday, batteries loaded, full of energy. And if you miss Mark Friedrich, he's still on holiday somewhere in Southeast Asia, enjoying family and life and will be next to me here on Q3 then again. I will take you, as always, a quick summary of what's happened in H1, the financials, the portfolio update and finally, the invitation to our Investor Day. So when we look at H1, we have conducted EUR 3.4 billion in total group sales and EBITDA of EUR 349 million. And the most important number here as well is the EBITDA, the adjusted EBITDA of EUR 67 million because that stands for the consolidated performance of our portfolio companies. In addition, and I will not read out all the highlights, we have reestablished a full compliance with the bond covenant by June 30 in '26. And we have completed a bunch of work with the closing of our largest acquisition of the SABIC business, which we call NexPoint since Q3. Further U.S. expansion is planned, and we expect significant actions on buy side, but especially on sell side on the closings in the H2, where I will give you an insight later on. And then last but not least, again, obviously, we confirm our guidance for fiscal year 2026 as we always do because we always deliver what we have promised and that quarter-over-quarter, year-over-year over the past couple of years. When we go a little bit into the financial and the details, conducted revenue of EUR 3.4 billion, slightly higher than previous year. We'll get a significant uplift in the second half of 2026 because the additions of Nord Gas Solutions and the addition of SABIC, former project name NexPoint, the new name of the business will significantly boost this number in the second half. EBITDA is below, but this has to do simply with a lot of goodwills and badwills, which differs from '25 to '26. So in '25, we had large acquisitions with large badwills of Buderus and -- of Buderus, which is not there in '26, but there will be also a significant uplift here in H2 because -- especially because of the SABIC transaction of NexPoint, which will boost that far and beyond the EUR 1 billion mark. And then very importantly, adjusted EBITDA, we improved the performance of our business of more than EUR 150 million compared to prior year. This is the pure operational performance, and we will see that later on in the segments where it's coming from and where we're still lagging behind. Adjusted net income of EUR 6 million, previous year, EUR 70 million. Previous year, there was still a big portion within the Steyr exit. The exit of NEM, which we have announced but not closed yet, will be closed in quarter 3 very soon and will have here an impact of north of EUR 100 million. That's why we are absolutely confident of the guidance '26 as well. And despite the fact we are a little bit behind with exits, you can't schedule. When we come to the segments, as I said, on adjusted EBITDA, first segment, Automotive, we slightly increased the revenues, more or less, the portfolio is the same. Adjusted EBITDA also increased. If we talk about automotive, obviously, you have the European part, you have the global part and the mix of this is the result of here. So I still believe if you are a good manager and if you can manage automotive, you can still make money, and this is what we have proven in H1. It's not everywhere a depressing barbecue. You just have to do your job and manage the things well. If you look at the Energy & Technology, there, you see a steep increase in profitability. The Energy segment, obviously, is the golden diamond. It's the rock star industry of the moment that we also see with our participation. Infrastructure defense, same situation here. So we have kind of stabilized the turnover, but we have done a significant improvement on the material side, for example, compared to last year, which pays off here. And defense infrastructure, obviously, is also a segment which is doing very well at the moment. Goods and Services, stable from revenue, stable from loss-making. And here, we have a very good business and stable business in the B2B service companies like, for example, Palmia in the Nordics, like Nervion, a very stable business there. But obviously, the retail is also going into that. And as we have announced previously, retail is not going well. We don't get the returns, and we really, really want to divest surely but slowly here. The biggest negative driver here is Lapeyre in France. When we now come to our portfolio update, we have a portfolio still of the 5 segments. It's automotive mobility with 4 companies. It's the Energy & Technologies segment with 6 company, which is a lot of fun, obviously, at the moment. Infrastructure and Defense, you also see the results there with 10 companies. Then we have goods and services with a really depressing barbecue here at the retail part. And then we have Chemicals and Materials with 4, but the 2 big ones which we are going to bring in there are signed but not closed yet. So -- but the total revenue here expected is far and beyond the EUR 2 billion mark. So the NexPoint business comes in and the chemical business we have acquired in Czech Republic will also pop in, in quarter 3. And then as you used over the past couple of quarterly updates, quarterly earnings calls, we give you -- we want to give you a snapshot and insight on one of the portfolio companies. And for H1, the portfolio companies we would like to introduce is Nord Gas Solutions. Nord Gas Solution is a company and acquisition, and we have also a lot of people listening to that call, Mutares employees. This is where everybody knows I fought for this business heavily. This we signed very close to Christmas, and we closed the transaction in H1. Nord Gas Solutions is a provider of supply services of liquefaction, offshore and onshore in the marine business, LNG, other gases, so everything which is currently asked, which is the segment at the moment, which is there. The business has in the range of EUR 400 million to EUR 500 million of turnover, and we are very happy with the development so far over the year. Business in the first 7 months has generated an EBITDA, which is north of EUR 30 million and holds a significant cash position as well. So Nord Gas Solutions, as we speak, is a company which is growing heavily. Nord Gas Solutions is a company in the liquefaction of gas, LNG, ammonia, hydrogen, biogas. So this is really a growth market here, a mega market here, a mega trend here, and we are very happy to own this business. And I would like to give you a little bit more insight in the movie clip, which follows now. [Presentation] Nord Gas Solutions, to me, one of the or the most valuable asset we have in our portfolio, very close to my heart, but certainly in the same league like Buderus, SFC, but also NEM where we have worked hard on the exit and we'll close it. So this is a business which we have acquired in order to grow and in order to provide maximum shareholder value in the months and years to come. I love it, and it's a growth business. And as you have seen in the clip, I think something also to build on for the next years. Last but not least, I would like to invite you to our Investor Day 2026 on Thursday, November 19, in London in the location C LA VI. We have replaced the location or moved the location from Frankfurt to London because we also want to attract a more global international base on this as the central financial hub here on the continent. And it should also set the scene for the future, global growth, global profitability and maximum shareholder creation. One last comment, c'est la vie, London. Life is also not easy. And if you open the newspapers, you can imagine that and you feel it on daily life. It's the same for me. It's the same for us here in Mutares. Buy-side deals are getting more expensive or taking longer than we think. Restructuring is getting slower than we think or getting more expensive than we think and exits maybe are postponed by 1 or 2 weeks or 1 or 2 months or deteriorating. But at the end of the day, I believe and we have proved that we will always win. And I believe also for the second half of the year, we will be successful. We will buy successfully, we will restructure successfully, and we will exit successfully our companies. I give you my word. Thanks for joining. Enjoy the rest of the summer, and we see us for the quarter 3 results. Thank you very much.