Palfinger AG (PAL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everybody, and thanks for joining the call. I'm very happy to present here our Q1 results, and you will see later on why we are really quite proud of it. Where do we come from? I think just from memory here EUR 2.34 billion revenue in 2025, the third best year in the history of Palfinger, and again, we will see later on, we are aiming for that. Why is this happening? Through our strong global presence, this means in terms of engineering and technology, in terms of our solid and strong sales and service network, 30 production sites worldwide and very well motivated 12,000 employees. We go to the next slide. I think here, it's clear to us and very well understood about our equity story. We presented this already several times, but I just wanted to remind you where we are coming from and what does Palfinger mean? We are a true global technology company, again, year-over-year growth in revenue and EBIT, and this has proven that not only the equity story is right as well, the business model fits very well for our customers and for our dealers. The equity story means that we are a technology leader. We are aiming for growth. Here, I think the areas are clearly identified, we are very resilient. I think also something especially in these days, usually, it's forgotten. But considering results we are seeing here, this is proven and great results and great earnings potential. And I think this is well something, especially for our investor side can be quite interesting. If you move to the next slide, yes, we are resilient, and this is based on our strong and solid industry diversity. Here, you see the impact by the different industry sticking to our business. So still 18% infrastructure, but as everybody knows here, this is still something which is further growing. The governments, not only in Europe, are really supporting and subsidizing infrastructure, it's not only about road, it's about railway, it's about infrastructure, everything. So this is still a quite solid base. On the other hand, our marine business. Here, we're talking about shipbuilding but as well the services which are coming along. They're not to forget about the transport and logistics. And then on the fourth level, building construction, here, you see that we are not that much depending as well on private housing, which is still somehow in a trend which is not fully recovering. If we go to the next slide, yes, we are having the proper solutions for all our customer needs. The classical land side, 8 different solutions we are providing, 6 here on the marine side as well here, no further consolidation. We stick to our plan, and this is very much appreciated both by our customers and our dealers that we are having solid solution provider in terms of products and solutions. If we go to the next slide, quite important here. You have seen already -- or some of you have seen already when we presented Reach Higher, our Strategy 2030+ which we redid last year, which was very well perceived by the marketplace by investors, but as well by our customers and dealers which has more or less 3 pillars, is lifting customer value. This means really staying close to our customer, customer requirements, customer satisfaction not only in terms of products and solutions, but as well in terms of services. Then very quite important to balance profitable growth here to make sure not just shooting for profitability, not just shooting for volume to have the proper balance and to make sure that as well, businesses like service and spare parts, but as well the area working platform is kicking in, and this is the focus. Then as well execution excellence. This means making sure that we walk the talk. This means focusing on supply chain optimization and as well process system and data optimization. In total, we are identifying or we identified 18 programs. And if anybody is interested, still to learn more about it just watch our website and you can see more about it. Yes, what does this mean? If you move to the next slide, in terms of where are the main drivers coming from. So before, we have shown and seen the different industries. Here, we are seeing the main drivers, the main drivers for our growth, as we said and as I mentioned already before, a big portion is service and spare parts. Then as well, the expected recovery in EMEA, which we are partially seeing despite, maybe Germany, but still, I would say, Iberia, Spain, Portugal is recovering, Italy is holding up quite strong and as well Portugal. And as you see here as well, an important part is AWP, Aerial Working Platform and all the other businesses as well as mentioned here. If we move to the next slide and here, I'm talking about our Q1 2026 highlights. And I think this already shows and proves already that we walk the talk as well in terms of profitable growth and volume. Here, we managed to increase our revenue to EUR 561.5 million. The EBIT as well further increased to EUR 41.3 million, and our net results, even more important, EUR 24.6 million. This means more than 11% in terms of growth year-over-year. And if you consider this maybe with some other fellows in the industry in terms of benchmark in machinery industry or whatever, I think we can be very proud of it, and Felix will further explain what does this mean and where these numbers are coming from. That is well coming back into the ATX here in Austria. Then important show in the United States, the CONEXPO, which is similar to the bauma in Europe where we were quite successful in terms of leads, in terms of presenting ourselves. And not to forget about our collaboration with ICON. Here, we are talking about 3D printing with [ porting ] and lifting solutions which is as well a major milestone moving forward. Talking about the CONEXPO in 2026. Yes, this is the largest construction trade show in the world, not only in the U.S., in the world in 2026. Last year, we had to cover the bauma in Munich, takes place in U.S. in Las Vegas. We had more than 140,000 registered visitors overall and 33,500 people on our booth. And this is quite significant, yet as well in terms of leads, we got a very strong leads which is very strong requirements in terms of customers joining us, seeing us and asking for quotations and even closing some deals here. On the next slide, a little bit of... [Technical Difficulty]

Ladies and gentlemen, please hold the line. The connection with the speaker has been lost. The conference will continue shortly. The speaker line is back.

Okay. Sorry, guys, for this interruption. I think these were maybe too many good news here from Bergheim, Salzburg that the line couldn't digest it, I apologize. Yes, talking about ICON, a strong technology partner here based in Austin, Texas, which employs more than 400 people and is focusing here on robot-assisted 3D printing, which is quite unique in the industry and where Palfinger is here, the major contributor in terms of technology. Saying this, now we are coming to the part where, Felix Strohbichler, our CFO, will further explain and talk about the numbers before then I am coming to the outlook. Please Felix, go ahead.

Thank you, Andreas. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As you know, probably, we are steering the company in 3 segments. First of all, the segment Sales and Service, which includes, as the name says, all service and sales activities for our products and solutions except manufacturing for third parties. So if you look at the next slide, you can see the market developments in the several regions, and these were obviously not in one direction only. On the one hand, we saw improved market environment in EMEA, except for Germany, Austria and France, but Southern Europe, as Andreas Klauser already mentioned, in Northern Europe performed quite well. Also in the Middle East, the situation despite of the war was actually quite okay. So in total, we saw a significantly higher revenue and even more importantly, significantly higher earnings from EMEA in the first quarter. In North America, we still see, of course, that the geopolitical tensions, the war in Iran, the tariff policies slowed down customers' decisions. This resulted again in lower demand and also in a lower profitability for the region North America. Going to Latin America, we could show some slight growth despite of the fact that we see now a decline in demand in Brazil. Moving on to APAC. India is still a growth driver in the region even if there is a certain impact now from the war in the Middle East. The Chinese market remains soft, a little movement, but not really a recovery. Coming to Marine. Marine was the second very strong pillar in the first quarter next to EMEA. So outstanding performance driven by major orders from wind, offshore cranes and the cruise ship sectors and the outlook for the rest of the year in marine is again also positive. Last but not least, CIS another drop in revenue and earnings due to the fact that the overall economic situation in Russia as a consequence of the sanctions is really difficult. So what does this mean in terms of numbers? An increase of 2.2% in external revenue to EUR 506 million. EBIT went down by [ 12% ] to EUR 46.6 million to an EBIT margin of 9.2%. But please keep in mind that the EBIT lines in all 3 segments are impacted by intercompany transfer pricing and also in the company service charges. So it's always a little bit difficult to compare periods against the latest period simply due to ongoing changes in intercompany invoicing and service charges. If you go to the order book level, this is a very positive line because despite of a slight decrease of 3% compared to the end of Q1 2025, we actually had an increase of EUR 65 million compared to the end of the year. 2025 despite of high output. The service revenue share is 2% lower than in the first quarter 2024. We have a clear plan to catch up here in the coming quarters. Moving on to the segment operations, which includes all manufacturing and assembly activities of Palfinger. On the one hand, in Europe, we have seen a strong demand, as already mentioned before, due to the better market environment and this also led to a high utilization, especially for Loader Cranes and Hookloaders. In the U.S., on the other hand, the subdued demand also led to a lower capacity utilization. And the same is true in CIS due to the difficult economic situation, there is also a persistently low utilization of our plants. If you go to the numbers of the segment operations, let's focus on the external revenue, as I said already, EBIT is impacted always by transfer pricing. You see here a slight improvement of 6% in production for third parties, but compared to levels we have seen in '22, 2023, this is still far below what we have already experienced in the past. So this reflects still a relatively difficult market environment for many players in related industries who our customers in this activity. Coming to the third and last segment, other nonreported segments, which includes, on the one hand, strategic projects on group level, but also the Tail Lift division, which has been carved out a few years ago. And if you look at the external revenue, this obviously reflects the development of the Tail Lift business. And as we are mainly active in the core markets, Germany and the U.S. which are still difficult and not recovering, the revenue has declined by 18.3% to 18.8%. Again, if you look at the EBIT line, you see a slight improvement. But again, this is also due to the fact that we have invoiced more services to the other sectors. Coming now to the Palfinger Group. As Andreas Klauser already mentioned, revenue increased by 1.6% to EUR 561.5 million, which means that the EBIT margin has improved slightly to 7.4%. So overproportionately by plus 3%. And what is, of course, the most important KPI is the consolidated net result which has improved by almost 12% to EUR 24.6 million. So the further down we go the P&L, the better it gets overproportionately growth in profitability. On the right side of the chart, you see the revenue distribution by region in the first quarter due to the fact that North America and CIS have been difficult to see an increasing market or increasing revenue share of EMEA, which has gone up to 64%. North America is at 22%. APAC and Lat Am 5%, respectively, 6% in CIS, in the meantime, is only accounting for 3% of the group revenue. Coming to our free cash flow. In the first quarter, we still recorded a negative free cash flow of EUR 19.2 million. This is mainly 2 reasons. On the one hand, the investing activities have been relatively high, at least significantly higher than the first quarter of last year. But more importantly, we had an impact from changing working capital. So there was a certain buildup of inventory, mainly in the first quarter, which will be reversed in the coming quarters. So we, of course, maintain our free cash flow target of more than EUR 100 million for the full year 2026. Coming now to our balance sheet. You have already seen at the year-end a massive improvement in our balance sheet ratios. And this is, of course, the same now if we compare Q1 2025 to Q1 2026. Equity ratio has come up by 7.2% to 43.8%. Gearing is at almost 52% and ROC is at 9.5%. So the balance sheet is extremely solid, EUR 950 million of equity, net debt-to-EBITDA at the extremely healthy level of 1.8. And this also, of course, is reflected in our net financial debt, which has come down by around EUR 150 million compared to the first quarter of 2025. So now we have a net debt level of EUR 491.5 million. Our financing is very solid, long-term, 3.24 years, remaining EUR 200 million average debt has gone up slightly also due to the fact that we had to pay back last year some attractive variable financing due to the fact that we had excess cash also following the sale of treasury shares. With this, I would like to hand back to Andreas Klauser for the outlook.

Yes. Thank you, Felix. I think no doubt, a very strong start, and we are aiming for the same for the half year. So we will be slightly above for prior year. This is what we expected for the first half of 2026. More we will then disclose later on in our half year call about the full year. As well quite important here that we are aiming as well to have in terms of revenue and EBIT above previous year. So in the second half of 2026, this should amount as well to another successful entire year. The goal is as well to have one of the most successful years in terms of Palfinger company's history. I think this is well quite important for you guys being the investors understanding that we are not just protecting our territory, that we are as well aiming to further grow. Yes, this is certainly subject to certain developments we see, especially for 2027 here, I think, further based on the recovery, which is expected from Germany. We are not really seeing this so far, but as well what we are getting here out of the marketplace, the tools and all the relevant environment is now provided that we can do so. And as well on the other hand, the upstream in U.S., where we, for example, truck-mounted forklift, we already see some positive trends and movements, which will materialize latest then in 2027. If you go to the next slide, our financial target did not change. The financial target for 2030, the EUR 3 billion in terms of revenue. 15% ROCE, 12% EBIT margin and as well quite important remaining and further building our #1 position for crane and lifting solutions in the entire industry. As well here looking into the marketplace, not only talking about CONEXPO U.S., we can clearly see that this is happening. And I think it's also important if you go to the next slide to see some real examples in terms of opportunities, which we are ahead of us, that's the overall investment in Germany, which is still announced and not fully kicking in infrastructure investment gap, we are talking here between EUR 500 billion to EUR 800 billion a year. Not to forget about the U.S. target project with EUR 500 billion and as well at a certain point in time, of reconstruction of Ukraine. And this is not yet built into our business plan. So you can clearly see here the potential is huge. And we are quite confident that we are getting a certain kind of portion of this business, which is upcoming in the next couple of years. At this point in time, I want to say thank you for your attention. And sorry for the short interruption here. But I think there was too many good news to digest, and I'm handing back to the operator. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions]. The first question comes from the line of Markus Remis from ODDO BHF.

Congrats to the numbers and a few questions from my side. Firstly, on the guidance in the full year results call, it was mentioned that in the first half, you expect EBIT growth to be actually under proportionate compared to the top line growth? And wondering if that is still the case. And also if you can put into perspective, the second half year guidance, what it means for the margin. So should the margins go up slightly or is there -- yes, possibility that it will be rather flattish or even slightly down if it's growing underproportionately. That would be the first one.

Perhaps, let me come to the guidance for the first half year. So our expectation in terms of EBIT margin has slightly improved. So last time I said it's probably the same or eventually a slightly lower EBIT margin at the higher level of revenue. From this perspective, we believe that the EBIT margin will be on the same or on a slightly higher level compared to the previous year. So this is a slight improvement in terms of EBIT margin expectation for the first half year. And for the second half year, we do expect this development to continue. So we expect also for the second half year revenue and EBIT above previous year's level. And of course, if revenue goes up, typically, this also helps with the EBIT margin. So I would not expect a huge increase in EBIT margin, but there should be a slight increase.

Okay. The kind of improvement in the first half margin profile, is that a mix effect? Or is it more coming on the cost side? Can you elaborate a bit on that?

Well, what we can see is that in the first quarter, we still have positive impact also in terms of material costs, steel costs, et cetera, we are still on a reasonable level in the first quarter, now the war in Iran, and not only this, also some improvements in certain areas lead to a higher cost from suppliers, raw material, which will kick in, in the remainder of the year. So this will put some pressure. Of course, we will also react with price increases to a certain extent, but all of this will kick in. But of course, there are several impacts in the first quarter, which helped. So it's material cost, but it's also mix. It was mentioned, for example, that especially crane in EMEA has been very strong. And of course, this is one of the best contributor, so to say, in terms of EBIT margin. And the same is true for Marine. So the 2 strong contributors, Marine and EMEA are actually in terms of profit margin, also very good contributors.

Okay. Very clear. And then on kind of the order or demand trends that you're currently seeing. Can you outline kind of the momentum in April and kind of the perception you currently have for the second quarter, as you point out, it will be also kind of a decisive part whether 2027 is going to the EUR 2.7 billion direction?

No, clearly, and I think in terms of business intake, order intake, we are getting some orders, further orders here on the defense side, it's an opportunity we can't really disclose here too much. We will understand for different obvious reasons. Defense side is kicking in very well, which is leading as well into some further shipments next year already. The same on the marine side, Germany, as I said, is still in a recovery phase, but we can see now that our customers, like the major construction companies, are getting deals awarded in terms of infrastructure. There, we see some movement, but very solid already, as I mentioned, Spain, Italy where the order intake is quite strong and as well as some major deals are coming back from North America. So I'm quite confident that we will see a further positive trend for the entire year of 2026, but as well 2027.

Would you expect the Q2 order intake to be above Q1?

Could be slightly above Q1, yes, but not only for the second half of the year. It might really start now in Q2 because we are working on some major deals which should kick in sooner than later.

Okay. And then 1 question regarding the U.S. Can you outline the impact that you've penciled in, into your guidance regarding the U.S. areas? And I think the narrative would be that there is some pent-up demand waiting on the sidelines, but for all these obvious reasons, political noise, et cetera, is not materializing. I mean, how long can this situation prevail and I mean this uncertainty is, therefore, for quite some quarters arguably. Do you think that there is a kind of an unwinding of this pent-up demand we expected anytime soon?

No. First of all, I think there are no North Americans here in the call because they see it a little bit from a different angle. And North America is maybe not that fragile as we think on one hand side. On the other hand, yes, people are hesitating and seeing if tariffs are moving, going down whatever and in their business decisions. So we are currently working on a bigger deal, closing again on track-mounted forklift, a significant number. And here, these guys are investing. They have their investment plans, and they don't care too much about politics at the moment luckily. The smaller ones, yes, the smaller ones are still hesitating. There are still huge demand, and we have clearly seen it at the CONEXPO here in Las Vegas that the requirements, the interest, interest for growth is there. So this means business is sitting there. The decision-making process, and I fully agree with you, is a bit more complicated and delayed. So they are postponing because they might see a further recovery in terms of -- not in terms of business, but in terms of tariffs. Mostly of it, we can offset with our local footprint we have in North America, the 3 plants and as well the USMCA agreement, which is still helping in terms of Canadian production assembly. And yes, we don't see the critical, we still have, let's say, here, a task force in place always on a weekly base, identifying which kind of moves can be done but then I'm looking out of Felix. And I think now in the numbers looking forward, this is fully embedded. And I would even expect a further upswing and positive drive in terms of related to the current situation.

Yes, of course, the tariff situation in the U.S. based on the current tariff regime is fully embedded in our guidance. So this is clear. And of course, there is still a certain impact not so much from the country tariffs, what is the major impact is clearly Section 232.

Okay. And then kind of the earnings burden, would you be willing to share that -- in 2025.

Well, as in 2025, we saw a steadily increasing level of tariffs. You cannot just compare it year-over-year. So compared to the last year, probably the impact will be on a similar level despite of the fact that in total, it's substantially more. But of course, with price increases, it's somehow compensated to a certain extent and also with footprint measures. There are also some measures in place to mitigate the impact, but it will still be a double-digit million amount, a lower double-digit million amount, which will be the impact in 2026 in our P&L.

The next question comes from Daniel Lion from Erste Group.

I would like to continue a little bit on the outlook and order backlog. What would be a level that you need to reach now the half year or maybe by the end of the year in order to make sure that fiscal '27 guidance is -- or can be met -- talking about maybe -- yes.

What we would need is a level of EUR 220 million of order intake on average in every single month. So this is what is required. Obviously, if you multiply by 12, it's a level which comes close to the EUR 2.7 billion. But this is actually what we need in order to take the decision to really ramp up the capacities to a level that allows us in 2027 to produce at this output level.

EUR 220 million, but this doesn't sound that you're so far away from such a level?

EUR 220 million is still significantly more than we have seen. So in the end, we had some months where we were at the EUR 220 million, but we need it on an average basis. And this is not where we are at the moment.

But for the first half, we are nearly fully covered. So I think as well as we can disclose here. The first half is already relatively safe here as well in terms of just materializing the deals and making the proper shipments. But yes, it is for sure a challenge. But I think what we are seeing now in the offers which out in the marketplace, the hit rate we have, we are still confident that we get it.

We will communicate, as already announced when we talked about our financial year 2025, a few weeks ago that you would communicate at the latest end of July, when we talk about the half year result, if we can maintain or if we can confirm the 2027 targets and what will be required to get there is around EUR 650 million of order intake in the second quarter. I think this is what you were asking for.

Yes, exactly. Just have something to hold on. And regarding -- especially in Germany, why are -- hesitant when they see first infrastructure projects being awarded already, so what's the feedback you're receiving? Why demand is not picking up stronger yet?

I mean we have seen an anticipation already last year, to be honest, when the announcement was taken. So some of our customers decided to be prepared here for this upswing. But then the funds were not really released. So it was a little bit of a delay now that we're a little bit cautious for further orders. So one portion, I would say 1/3 was already covered with a good order intake last year, which we are still providing to the marketplace Germany this year. But for the -- to other 1/3, they are still a little bit hesitating and waiting, but this is coming. I mean, I think there's no question that these projects will take place whatever the amount will be, and this will be a further boost, and that's the reason as well why we are ready in terms of capacity in the plants in our operation that we can do so.

Okay, sounds good. And then maybe last one for the time being. Are you thinking to align CapEx? Or is it too early to think about it depending on the development of order intake in the course of the year or are you actually sure to invest some EUR 120 million, EUR 130 million this year... So our CapEx plans are actually based on a long-term strategy. So of course, if things would really turn bad, what we don't see for the time being, we always have the possibility to cut back and to reduce the CapEx level to a certain extent. However, for the time being, we clearly see that we will push the implementation of our 2030+ strategy which includes the investment in Sales and Service, which includes the buildup of the factory in India and which also includes the footprint optimization we have in mind for Europe. So if the situation is slightly better or stable, we'll not change dramatically our CapEx plan only if things would really go south, of course, we will adapt.

[Operator Instructions]. The next question comes from the line of Lars Vom-Cleff from Deutsche Bank.

Lars Vom-Cleff, Deutsche Bank. Two quick follow-up questions, if I may. In order to get a better feeling for your operating leverage. I mean consensus currently expecting 4% sales growth, 11% EBIT growth. You indicated that a slight relative profitability improvement could be possible this year. Does the current consensus sound reasonable? Or do you still regard it as a bit too optimistic with regards to your operating leverage?

I don't want now to be more precise in our guidance than we have been on this slide. But I think in terms of revenue guidance, it's realistic in terms of EBIT guidance. It's also not that far away.

Okay. Perfect. And then a quick follow-up question on Section 232, which you also mentioned, excuse my ignorance. If I remember correctly, it's a 15% tax on material handling. And I assume that comes on top of the general tax so more or less double the burden? Or am I wrong in this regard?

Actually, it changes almost constantly. So we had, in the meantime, the third wave of changes. And please don't this now or take it with a grain of salt because this is actually highly complex. But the latest change is that it's not just a tariff on the steel components or aluminum components, it's a tariff level of 25% on the complete product independent of the steel aluminum content, which is, in fact, another increase. So this was the late change on the sixth or eighth of April came into force with immediate effect in April.

But what you need to consider as well that we see the same impact, especially on Loader Cranes on all the other competitors. This means our competitiveness does not suffer vis-a-vis the peers vis-a-vis the competition. But in terms of customers hesitating to close the deal is exactly what I mentioned before. They are always trying to wait for the best moment, okay? And this makes it a little bit unpredictable. But the business the requirement, the demand is still sitting there.

The next question is a follow-up from Markus Remis from ODDO BHF.

I would have 2 more cash flow-related question. Firstly, on the working capital swing that we saw in the first quarter. I mean, I would assume it's partially because of the low level at year-end. Any thoughts you can share with us on the kind of progression going forward and also looking at your free cash flow guidance, more than EUR 100 million. Just to remind us of the absolute level of CapEx that you target for this year?

Well, the seasonality is typically like you have seen it. You already mentioned that year-end was extremely strong. So actually, we emptied our inventory to a very large extent at the year-end. And the rebound, therefore, was slightly higher than it should have been. We also had some special impacts, for example, in the Middle East, we could not ship all products, minor amount. But in the end, it all sums up, So this is something which we hope to see trending in the other direction already in Q2. But typically, the strongest improvement is always in Q4, and you could see this also in the last year. So at the latest in Q4, we do expect a full reversal of this number and probably even a positive impact of working capital change. Sorry, just to add on, it also depends, of course, on the revenue we expect for 2027. So the better actually the outlook, the higher is the working capital. So this is, of course, actually always the opposite, the better, the higher is also the working capital.

Okay. But so working capital in 2026 would then entail no or very moderate growth for 2027 is kind of -- is that the message?

So if we see clearly now the order intake of EUR 650 million, EUR 660 million plus in the second quarter, if we maintain our 2027 target, probably there is no positive impact out of change of working capital to the free cash flow, perhaps even slightly negative impact if the level would be, let me say, a EUR 2.6 billion next year, I think we should get to a number of close to 0 or even slightly positive.

Okay. That's very clear. And the CapEx number that is baked in for the EUR 100 million?

CapEx impact will be around EUR 160 million. I would assume our plans are slightly higher, but I think realistically, this should be what you can expect.

EUR 160 million, okay. Thank you very much.

[Operator Instructions]. There are no more questions at this time. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Andreas Klauser for any closing remarks.

Yes. Thank you, everybody for attending, as well for your questions. I think we really further clarified and could provide a proper overview of what's happening so far, what's expected in the near future. No doubt, we are living in a very volatile environment, but still considering our product portfolio, our solutions we can provide to the marketplace, we are quite confident that we can hit the targets which we have announced. So wish you a great day. Stay safe and see you soon. Thank you very much.