RATIONAL Aktiengesellschaft ($RAA)

Good afternoon, and a warm welcome to everybody. Welcome to RATIONAL's earnings call for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2026. The results will be presented by the CEO, Dr. Peter Stadelmann; and the CFO, Jorg Walter. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions to RATIONAL AG ahead of this event. We will post them in the chat box in a few moments for your convenience and to avoid potential duplications. [Operator Instructions] This will be recorded, and you will be able to access the call later on our Research Hub and on the RATIONAL IR page. With all this in mind, I will now hand it over to you, Peter, and thanks, everybody, for joining.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to start our Q1 call with a short video on a customer in the U.S.A. As you know, there, we have our biggest potential probably for the next decades and a lot of work to do. COASTAL Orange Beach is an expansive outdoor dining venue designed to accommodate up to 1,200 guests at a time. So during peak season, they handle between 4,000 to 7,000 a la carte covers daily, which is, of course, a huge challenge and requires careful planning. The kitchen of COASTAL is nearly 100% RATIONAL with 21 iCombi Pro and two iVario Pro units. Let's listen to the corporate chef himself. [Presentation]

Yes. What I like most is we haven't found anything that RATIONAL don't do well. So you heard Christopher himself talking about the efficiency gains and the high benefits they got from our equipment. That is why we call our cooking solutions multifunctional. They manage almost all kind of food. So customers do no longer need additional specialized equipment. And with that comes big savings, of course, in investment, in operating costs, in space, energy and of course, also in complexity in operating that kitchen. Our great multifunctional and smart cooking systems, of course, deliver the benefit to our customers. And given that huge potential we have, not only in the U.S.A., but also on a global level, the question simply is how do we turn that into sales. And Christopher also mentioned education. This is very important to understand our way to market. We employ more than 630 former chefs in our sales force. They did more than 335,000 visits in 2025. That is more than 1,500 visits every weekday where our regional sales managers inform and educate potential end customers about the benefits they would enjoy with our equipment. None of our competitor is doing that nor has won the resources and skills to do that. Even though being 10x bigger than us to build up that capacity would take years. Our business model and our way to market is unique. For us, this is how we create the pull effect from the market, from the end customer for our products and services. And as you see in the chart here, we are back on track of constantly increasing the number of salespeople, as you can see here. And with more people on the street, we will get more visits and then finally, more leads for more sales. That's it. This is why we are less impacted by external turbulences because we take charge of our own sales force to the end customers and not only rely on dealers. Some of those external turbulences emerged in recent weeks. We would like to briefly comment on them. I start with U.S. tariffs. We did reclaim the tariffs that were not lawfully levied. Those amounts to more than USD 16 million. Our products are now facing a 25% tariff with regards to Section 232. This leads to slightly higher costs expected for 2026. That impact will be softened by the extra income from tariff refunds in Q2 '26. How the customer situation -- situation will develop remains to be seen and is difficult to predict. We all noticed the new announcement from President Trump over the weekend with higher tariffs for European cars, for example. So again, we will wait and see. The second turbulence is the Iran war. To date, we have not had any significant negative impact on our business. The teams in the affected countries are safe. They are working remotely. Customer activities have been reduced or canceled until further notice. We all hope for a soon termination of this conflict. The influence on the cost situation is also difficult to estimate at the given time. So let's have a look at our good results and more details I would like to start with sales revenues. In the first 3 months into 2026, we achieved EUR 318 million in sales. That is plus 11% organically and 8% after FX effects against Q1 2025. The U.S. dollar was the main reason for that with an unfavorable year-on-year comparison effect versus Q1 2025 when the U.S. dollar was unusually strong. We expect negative currency impact to soften out during the year. We, for the first time, exceeded the EUR 300 million in sales in the first quarter -- as we slightly increased prices in the U.S.A. on February 1, early in the quarter, we do not expect reordering to have had a relevant impact on growth. That means that Q1 as normal was a new all-time high. So far, we expect normal seasonality also for 2026. That means we will have slightly higher Qs and then a very strong Q4 at the end of the year. So sales and of course, EBIT will increase now from quarter-to-quarter. All in all, we are very happy with the start into 2026. And with that, I hand over to Jorg for more insights.

Yes. Thank you very much, Peter. And also a warm welcome to this call from my side. Let me now turn to our sales revenues by region in this first quarter. And overall, you see it clearly that the revenue was driven by Americas and Europe, while the development in Asia and in the rest of world were more mixed. This is a quite normal situation for Q1 numbers since the numbers are really based only on 3 months and the fluctuations are a bit higher than what we usually expect for the full year numbers. Let's start with Germany. Here, we delivered a very positive growth of 11%, confirming a solid demand in our home market. On top of this solid demand, we had a special effect from one stockholding dealer that did not order in Q4 and now placed a quite high order in Q1. So this is influencing this 11% and we are expecting that in the coming months, this will level out a bit and the total growth rate for Germany will be on a lower level. In Europe, except Germany, revenues increased by 8% over the year and growth was really across all the markets and regions. We saw a very strong momentum in several Southern and Northern European countries, including in Iberia, in Scandinavia, in Switzerland, and Austria. And those markets, they all could compensate for weaker trends in a few isolated markets such as Turkey or in Benelux. So overall, Europe remains our biggest region, very stable and reliable growth contributor like we saw for the full year last year. North America once again showed a very strong performance. Revenue grew by 11%, mainly driven by the United States. We saw there a growth of 30%. And that was just a very, very solid customer demand. We saw the reference story just -- I think that is a very good example of what we really can do in the U.S. for our customers. We had a very substantial currency effect here. As you remember, the dollar devaluated last year starting in April. So year-over-year for the first quarter, we have a quite high currency effect. And just to mention, so before currency, we had a growth at 23% -- so very, very momentum -- strong momentum in the region. And Peter just already mentioned, we do not think that there is a high impact from the price increases because it was really done in February, and there shouldn't be a special spillover to the second quarter or to the last quarter last year. Okay. Now turning to Asia. Here, we have a revenue decline by 3%. That was mainly driven by a decline in China. We saw a certain, I would say, reluctance to buy in the light of the launch event that we just had for the new iCombi1, just after the Chinese New Year, and that was just happening in March. So I think the total uses to understand our customer, what we are doing with the iCombi1 hasn't been, let's say, communicated in a broad manner. That's why the Chinese ordering in the first one was still on a lower level. And however, that was partially offset by a solid growth rate in Japan, in India and in Korea. And the smaller regions here LatAm and Rest of World, I don't want to comment too much on it. As I said in the beginning, just 3 months are not enough and that will level out throughout the full year. Looking at the development of the product groups, you know that we usually expect the iVario to grow at the double growth rate compared to the iCombi. Here in Q1, we already have a triple growth rate. But also here, it's the same true. It's only the 3 months. And as I said, I mentioned this one dealer in Germany that placed a high order. So in the end, we are also expecting here that the iVario growth rate will level out during the coming year. Let me turn to the development of our EBIT. In the first quarter, 2026 EBIT increased by 5% year-over-year. at EUR 76 million. At the same time, the EBIT margin came in at 23.9%, which is a slight decrease compared to previous year. Two comments here. First of all, the Q1 last year had a strong -- a strong comparison. As you remember, the FX effect were not part of the Q1 last year. The tariffs were not part of Q1 last year. So in that light, I think the EBIT margin in Q1 this year is quite strong. And secondly, also, as you know, that we already have a slightly decline of the margin in our outlook for the full year, and that corresponds also here to the right numbers in Q1. Now let me walk you through our profitability development in the first quarter. We already talked about sales, plus a solid plus 8% Cost of goods sold increased by 12%, which is above the sales growth and resulted in a gross margin decline of 155 basis points to 57.6%. This development was expected by us. So it's not a surprise, and it's mainly driven by these two factors that is FX again and certainly also the U.S. tariffs that has a quite big impact. So as a result, gross profit increased only by 5%. But as I said, this is around the level that also we expected. So we are fully in our plan. Looking at our operating expenses, we saw that targeted increase of 5% year-on-year also in Q1. The growth was clearly focused on our strategic priorities. So R&D expenses increased by 8% reflecting our continued investment into the future innovation and future product platforms. Also sales and service costs increased by 5%, mainly to support our customer-facing activities. Peter also mentioned how important that is. And at the same time, we were able again to reduce our administrative expenses by 2% to level off the total OpEx effect to a 5% that perfectly fits to the gross profit development. And as a result, also the EBIT is on a higher 5%. And I think maintaining the EBIT margin as a strong 24% is a good result of the [ month ]. A very quick look into the balance sheet. I don't want to comment too much on it as you all know it, how solid it is. Just maybe one short view on the equity. You see that also now in equity for the first time in history, we surpassed or we exactly hit the EUR 1 billion. I remember, I think 2 years or 3 years ago, total assets were surpassing EUR 1 billion. Now we'll be even able to surpass or to reach the EUR 1 billion level in equity. But as you know, that is only a temporary effect. We will pay out the dividend in May that will lower the equity again. So it is just a snapshot in history. But with our growth story, I think we will come back to a EUR 1 billion equity level soon again. Yes. And with that, I would like to conclude with our revenue and earnings outlook for the full financial year. The economic outlook of the commercial kitchen industry remains unchanged, unchanged means positive. The out-of-home market is growing. The food service market is growing and the challenges of shortage of skilled labors or the challenges with rising costs. So the need for our solutions, automated and efficient solutions such as the iCombis and iVarios, they are high. And therefore, we expect in 2026 to be another year of growth for us, and we expect to continue our long-term revenue growth trend in the mid- to high single-digit percentage range. And regarding the gross margin, we saw -- already saw we stabilized the gross margin in recent years. Currently, raw materials and logistic costs, they are started to go upwards. In addition, we have this currency effect, the tariffs. So that's why we expect the gross profit to be on a slightly lower level below last year. Operating costs, we will increase all activities resulting in direct sales, and we will be very conservative with all other functions. And overall, we are expecting earnings to be -- to grow and to be in an EBIT margin range between 25% and 26%. Now this concludes our presentation, and we are now happy to take your questions.

… for the insights, Peter and Jorg, and we do have a lot of questions that were handed in ahead of this event, and I will start out with the first question regarding pricing. And it reads, how is pricing acceptance evolving in the current environment, particularly in North America? And are there any plans for further price increases?

Yes. At this stage, we closely monitor market and tariff developments. Overall, we remain disciplined in our pricing approach, as you all know, the price increases implemented so far have been well accepted by the market, also in light of competitors having already raised prices earlier in 2025. We currently do not observe any material change in customers' willingness to absorb price increases, especially including North America. In general, there is a low price elasticity. So -- and if you were listening to Christopher in the movie just a few minutes ago, he said, there is a necessity for such equipment. You can't go without. So there is no other way than just if you need them, you have to buy them. We do not have any information on competitors' pricing decisions regarding the new tariffs situation in the U.S. So we will also monitor those.

Peter, what trends are you seeing in terms of prebuying demand development in the U.S. and potential impact from geopolitical tensions in your business?

In Q1, we observed some prebuying in the U.S. ahead of price increases as usual, which led to a temporary pull-forward effect and fewer orders in March. But for the whole quarter, we don't see those. However, it remains difficult to quantify the exact impact. Overall, the U.S. market continues to perform very well. Regarding geopolitical tensions, particularly in the Middle East, we currently do not see any significant impact on our business. Near Middle East is roughly 3% of total sales of RATIONAL Group. The region, therefore, does not have a material effect at group level. At this stage, we also do not see any meaningful changes in demand trends or customer hesitation heading into Q2.

How should we think about the current tariff environment in the U.S. and its impact on your margins in the 2026 outlook? I think Jorg, it's probably a good question for you.

Yes. Well, the units -- the current situation or second, with the introduction of the Section 232 on April 6, we are now subject to 25% tariffs on our import value of our units, which is a very high value. On the other hand, we have a slightly decrease on the tariffs for our stands and for other products. So overall, we expect the total tariff expenses for a full year this year to be around EUR 30 million in 2026. which is approximately EUR 5 million to EUR 6 million higher than in the previously anticipated number due to this change to the Section 232. And it is reflected in our guidance. We expected a lower gross margin. We commented on that and also the additional tariff costs together with the higher input costs for raw materials and energy and logistics. This will be partly offset by the benefits from the tariff refund that we will mention in the second quarter. And so however, when looking at this bundle effect overall, we do not expect a major net impact on the group level.

You've already answered a little bit of the next question, which is how is the tariff refund treated from an accounting perspective? And is it included in your current guidance?

Yes, for the full year is included in the current guidance. I mean it is unexpected in our original scenario. But as we also have higher prices for steel and other raw materials, we have the Iran war. But overall, it is now part of our guidance. And it will be handled. We already, yes, claim all our payments in this official portal. They were already, let's say, accounted as, let's say, valid claims. We don't have a result yet. But as we already have a positive, let's say, reception message from the authorities, now we are ready to book that in the second quarter as an extraordinary result.

Can you provide an update on your business development in China, including the recent slowdown in Q1 and the key factors affecting current performance? I guess, Peter, that would be a good one for you.

Yes. In Q1, our activities were impacted by a combination of factors. The sales team was heavily focused on preparing and launching the iCombi1. There was a lot of training involved for them also, and that temporarily reduced regular sales activities. We also significantly expanded the sales force requiring onboarding of new colleagues and ramp-up time. At the same time, the market environment remains challenging with continued weak consumer sentiment. The longer Chinese New Year period also had a dampening effect on business activity. Overall, we are seeing a mix of internal and external factors affecting performance. And we think it will take the next 6 months to closely monitor developments and derive potential actions. At the current stage, we won't be giving any concrete figures to sales or costs by the launch and associated costs are included in our forecast.

Great. Brings me to the next question also focusing on the iCombi. How has the iCombi1 launch been received in China? And how do you assess its contribution to future growth in the region?

Yes. We are very satisfied with the launch and initial performance of the iCombi1. We even had a key account ordering I think that was the first one last week. Customers feedback, including from the HOTELEX, which is the biggest trade show in Shanghai has been positive and interest levels are strong. Of course, they need now also some time to learn about the differences between the existing Combis coming from Germany and the new one coming from China. While we are not disclosing specific sales figures at this stage, we see significant long-term potential for the product. Following the launch, customers and dealers are currently evaluating the product fit, which is, as I said, normal and ties up also some capacity on our side. Overall, despite the current market headwinds, we remain confident that the new product, together with ongoing improvements to our sales organization will support future growth in China.

Switching from the iCombi to the iHexagon, can you give us an update in terms of sales development rollout progress and adoption across different customer segments on this product?

Yes, there are no major changes compared to our previous communication. Overall, we are satisfied with the iHexagon's performance so far and continue to roll out the product across additional markets. In 2026, we have already launched or are planning to launch in countries, including Benelux, France, Spain and Italy. From a commercial perspective, we have broadened our sales approach and are no longer relying solely on dedicated specialists, but instead involves now the entire sales organization in all the markets where Hexagon is available. This is supporting further market penetration. In terms of customer mix, we are increasingly seeing demand beyond large-scale applications, while initial use prices were often in major venues such as stadiums, you probably remember the movie on the stadium in the U.K. We are now also seeing growing interest from smaller restaurants and individual customers, which underlines the product's expanding addressable market. We even had a speaker at our AGM last week, who has a restaurant or have two restaurants and for his new restaurants, he has been advised by Stefan from IR, finally bought an iHexagon for his new kitchen. And he commented on stage last week that he is very happy with it. So there was no better marketing for our iHexagon in front of the shareholders. That was, of course, the wrong audience, but it was for us very great to hear that honest feedback from our customer.

Jorg, a question regarding the gross margin. How should we think about gross margin development in 2026, including the impact from tariffs, raw materials and logistics costs?

Yes. I think I explained that already earlier in the call. So it is reflected in our guidance that we have a slightly lower gross margin. We definitely have now key headwinds coming from higher tariffs. I just talked about that in the U.S. Section 232 as well, we have increasing raw material and logistic costs. So these factors, they will put our margin under pressure. And I have also to admit a little bit on a higher level than we originally foreseen for the full year. On the other hand, we talked about the unexpected tariff refunds that will balance that off. And so when we take all these effects together, we can confirm that we have gross margin, we will expect the gross margin on a lower level against previous year, but it will be softened by the tariffs refund.

Can you provide more detail on the key cost drivers such as steel surcharges, energy costs and potential geopolitical impacts?

Yes, sure. Well, the raw materials, when we come to the alloy surcharge, we see around -- we have a level of EUR 2.20 per kilogram, and that is roughly 10% higher than the average alloy surcharge that we saw last year. So from that side, we have some pressure. From an energy perspective, the direct impact is quite limited because our own operation, we have a relatively low energy necessity -- intensity. On the other hand, we know that our supplier, they are also hit by the energy, rising energy costs. And therefore, it needs to be seen in what speed they will come and ask for -- to turn that cost effect on us. And -- but I think there is a quite big time lag between those two effects. So for the full year, the energy potential is quite -- or the energy effect is quite limited. And geopolitical impact as our suppliers are really based all here in Germany or the direct suppliers, Germany, Hungary, Czech, Austria, it's very stable. The only topic we really do have is that we have to pay higher prices for electronic components due to this run for AI data centers. So that is something we are also facing, but we are able to secure -- we were able to secure our supply. So we were not hitting any shortages from the electronical side neither.

Peter, following up with a question regarding the development of your nonequipment business. Can you give us a feeling of how that is coming along and how pricing actions are contributing to margin protection in that space?

The nonequipment segment accounted for around 31% of total sales in Q1 2026, broadly in line with previous years and without any significant changes in mix. Regarding pricing, we implemented a price increase in the U.S. in February. However, due to some prebuying effects, as commented earlier, the impact of those increases is not yet fully visible in our reported figures. We expect pricing to become more noticeable from Q2 onwards and to support margin development going forward.

Can you give us a better understanding as to what the key drivers behind the weaker growth in Australia and Rest of the World were?

Yes. For Australia, as you might know, we have a long-standing partner there. The development is mainly driven by timing effects related to a large restocking inventory at the end of last year. That leads now to a lower order volume in Q1 over a long period. However, business development remained stable with no structural changes.

Jorg, this one is for you. How do you assess the outlook for your end markets and regional development? And what are the key drivers for growth in the coming quarters?

Yes. Also that I mentioned in the presentation, the outlook for the out-of-home market remains positive. Eating outside home is growing, the necessity for multifunctional units is growing. And for us, important that we continue our investment in our sales organization. That is what we did in Q1. We increased our sales force by 20 people just in one quarter. So overall, we think that with that investment, and we will continue in the coming quarters to do so, we are on a good way to secure our positive market development even in a, let's say, unstable and quite difficult market environment. I think just the result in North America, what we saw in Q1 was really showing that also here in Q1 -- in the U.S., we have now a very good footprint with our salespeople, 60, 70 people in the street, and that's why we can continue to have a positive development that we will also see in the other markets.

Looking at the EBIT margin, you reiterated the 25% to 26% EBIT margin guidance, even though Q1 was a little softer. Should we think about margin progression as largely second half weighted? And what are the key bridge items from the current 23.9% in Q1 to the full year range?

Yes. The most important topic is operational leverage. I mean, Peter showed the quarters. And the first quarter is always the weakest quarter for us, typically then second and third quarter on a level -- on a higher level, on a comparable level and then with a record in Q4. We expect the same seasonality for this year. And just to mention the fourth quarter EBIT margin last year Q4 was around 28% to 29%. So that shows what leverage potential we do have. And in that respect, the 23.9%, nearly 24% in the first quarter is a good first step in order to reach our guidance between 25% and 26% for the full year.

Great. Looking into balance sheet and cash flow, can you comment on the development of provisions, liabilities and free cash flow and how these would evolve over the remainder of the year?

Yes. Well, there is no trend or seasonality that is unusual for us. Typically, we increase our reserves, our accruals for the bonus to the dealers for the bonus to our employees. And then we have a payout in Q1. That is what we did, and then we start to build up the accruals again. That is what's happening. That's why the cash flow in Q1 was a little bit on a lower level. And typically, the cash flow then in Q2 and Q3 to Q4, they are on a higher level and Q2 certainly then lowered by the dividend payout.

Great. Peter, a quick question for you. Could you remind us broadly how much energy costs make up in a typical restaurant?

Share of energy cost in gastronomy is between 10% to 15%.

Great. And in your addressable market, do you have a sense of the share of addressable kitchens that work with gas versus electricity?

Yes. Share of gas units is at around 18% and almost half of that is the U.S.A.

Great. Let's stay with energy costs. Can you explain what impacts you expect from higher energy costs within your own business, looking at direct costs, costs passed on from suppliers, et cetera?

Yes. So I said it's rather limited. So if you look at our own P&L, we have energy costs in Landsberg around EUR 3 million to EUR 4 million. When we take everything together in our scenario, so we can expect the cost effect between EUR 5 million to EUR 10 million. But of course, it's quite difficult to predict as the negotiations with possible negotiations with suppliers, they haven't even started yet.

Great. Looking at volume growth, you have 6% volume growth disclosed, which is basically 2% price/mix given that your organic growth is around 8%. Is that a correct assumption and calculation?

Yes. Excluding the FX effect, our organic growth was 9% in first quarter. And so less the FX was around 6%. And the remainder of the 2%, that was basically a favorable mix effect, meaning a favorable market mix and product mix. So especially we saw that the sales to the U.S. was high. U.S. -- in the U.S., we have the highest prices and also the largest models. So these two effects together, they make up for the 2%. And the price increase, the 4.9%, that was not really a big factor in that calculation.

And going forward, what's the effect you would expect from U.S. price increases on growth in the fiscal year '26?

That will be around -- for the full year, around 1%, maybe a little bit less, maybe a little bit more.

Looking at '25, can you come back on the drivers for your higher working capital cash outflow in the fiscal year '25?

No, I think the overall working capital remains on a quite stable level. We were a little bit higher on the year-end number because we had exceptionally high sales in Q4 -- and that was the reason why especially our receivables were on a high level, but on a normal with a normal DSO number. So overall, I think we are quite stable. And certainly, as we grow, especially outside also overseas, so we have a necessity to increase our stock in the U.S. We have additional stock in Brazil and so forth. So that's why also our stock is growing, but I think it's all in line and we -- our operational KPIs, they are very much balanced and on the same level. So we don't see any lower level and we are monitoring that very closely. So we are on an even development.

Peter, a quick question for you. How do prices for cleaning products develop given the sharp rise in costs for some chemicals and will RATIONAL pass these increased costs on to customers?

Our latest change was a decrease for prices of cleaners, which we already reported last year. We are observing the input cost development closely and will decide on potential actions accordingly.

To what extent did your own inventory in the U.S., Canada increase between December and March?

The increase of around EUR 10 million we see in the balance sheet is reflecting the development in the U.S.A.

Okay. And given the strong start to the year organically and U.S. price increases, are you expecting a different pattern this year in terms of the sequence of revenues?

No, we expect normal seasonality.

Great. And the last question that was pre-submitted on iVario. Any specific factors driving the strong development in the quarter?

No, no specific reasons, strong development in North America and Asia and Other Markets also very strong.

Great. These were all the questions that we had pre-submitted. In case anybody in the audience should have additional questions that were not addressed yet, please feel free to put them in the chat box on the lower right-hand corner. Otherwise, I will wait for a few seconds to give you a chance to type it in, even though I do not see anybody typing, which means that the questions that have been submitted were already quite comprehensive and covered most topics that are of interest to you all. So the only thing that's left for me is to say, on the one hand, thank you very much for everybody who participated for the great questions that you did submit previously. Of course, to thank you, Peter and Jorg, for your insights that you provided. To also remind everybody who is in this call that the company is inviting you to participate in the IR follow-up talk, which will be held next week on the 13th of May at 2:00 p.m. Feel free to register on the IR page of RATIONAL. The recording of this video can be found also on the IR page at RATIONAL a little later today and also on Research Hub, where you will also find our research on the company. That's all I have. I wish you all a great afternoon. Thanks for your interest in RATIONAL. Goodbye.

Thank you. Goodbye.

Goodbye.