TAKKT AG ($TTK)

Welcome to the Q1 earnings call of TAKKT AG. I would like to welcome the company's CEO, Andreas Weishaar; and CFO, Timo Krutoff, who will guide us through the presentation in a moment, followed by a Q&A session via audio line. And with that, I hand over to you, Mr. Weishaar.

Thank you, and welcome to our earnings call for quarter 1. I'm hosting the call together with our CFO, Timo Krutoff, who will present our financials in detail in a few minutes. To start the call, let me briefly talk about the current macro picture and key financials as well as give you a short strategy update. As we entered 2026, we already assumed a continuation of a highly volatile and uncertain economic environment, and this has broadly materialized. What we did not anticipate was the outbreak of the Iran conflict and its broader implications. At the same time, it is important to emphasize that our performance is not only driven by the external environment. Over the past quarters, we have been consistently addressing internal challenges and improving our operational setup, and we're seeing early signs of progress in several areas. Looking at Europe, the macro backdrop remains weak, particularly in Germany with modest GDP growth and continued cautious investment behavior across industrial customer groups. Manufacturing PMIs have shown some recent improvement, but given the usual lag of 3 to 6 months, this is not yet reflected in our demand. At the same time, sentiment indicators such as the ZEW indicator for the German speakers among us, it's Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung. The economic sentiment in Germany overall has weakened significantly, highlighting the fragile environment. With the conflict, the trajectory of a manufacturing recovery has become more uncertain again given the geopolitical escalation and its potential impact on energy prices, inflation and export-oriented industries. In the U.S., GDP growth remains higher than in Europe, but the environment is also far from stable. For Foodservices, the Restaurant Performance Index is slightly above the expansion threshold, indicating some stabilization, but without a strong momentum so far. In office furnitures, demand continues to recover selectively by segment. But overall, investment decisions remain cautious and volatile. To summarize, the key takeaway for quarter 1 is that the economic environment evolved largely in line with our expectations, except for the geopolitical escalation. The Iran conflict did not materially affect quarter 1 performance, but it clearly increases uncertainty for the macroeconomic framework going forward. Let me now walk you through our financial performance in the first quarter. As we outlined with our guidance at the end of March, Q1 was expected to be a weak quarter, and that is what the numbers reflect. Starting with sales. Group sales came in at EUR 225.7 million, with organic growth at minus 6.7%, which is consistent with the run rate we have seen in quarter 4 and throughout last year. What we see for the first time in quarter 1 is the impact from the discontinuation of the Foodservices bid contract business. This structurally reduces organic growth by slightly more than 1 percentage point. On a like-for-like basis, excluding this effect, we therefore see a slight stabilization of the underlying development compared to quarter 4 last year. Turning to profitability. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to EUR 5.5 million, translating into an adjusted EBITDA margin of 2.4%, mainly reflecting the lower sales level. Importantly, we were able to hold the gross profit margin stable at Industrial Packaging and at Office Furniture and Displays. At group level, the gross margin of 39.5% is slightly below prior year, primarily due to Foodservices. At the same time, lower marketing and personnel costs helped to partially offset the top line impact, even though they cannot fully compensate for volume effects in a weak market environment. In parallel, we're continuing to invest into the business and our turnaround activities, particularly in areas such as commercial initiatives, system and process improvements and the continued implementation of our new operating model and leaner cost structures. This will help strengthen our operational foundation and support the return to profitable growth. Finally, on cash generation. Free cash flow was minus EUR 9.8 million, in line with our expectations and following the EBITDA development. Net working capital development was a headwind in quarter 1, mainly due to a buildup in trade receivables compared to the low year-end position. Let's now continue with a quick look at our TAKKT Forward strategy and our progress against the priorities we've set ourselves. I will keep this deliberately short as we -- the content is largely consistent with what we discussed in more detail at our analyst conference. Let me, therefore, give you a brief update on the progress we're making across the 3 pillars of TAKKT Forward with a clear focus on execution. Starting with Focus, our strategy here is to further sharpen the portfolio around our core businesses, strengthen the independence and accountability of the divisions and consistently focus on activities that contribute to profitable growth. This also means that we are actively reviewing and exiting smaller or structurally less profitable business areas. This included measures such as the sale of Mydisplays as well as the integration of Post-Up Stand into Displays2Go and the discontinuation of the Foodservices bid contract business. We will continue this process in 2026, further streamlining the portfolio and focusing our resources on those areas where we see the strongest long-term potential. In parallel, we have strengthened divisional leadership in two important areas. At Foodservices, Keri Llewellyn has taken over as Division President. Given the challenging situation in Foodservice, this is a very important step. With Keri's deep industry experience and strong commercial track record, we clearly expect a noticeable improvement in commercial execution and performance over time, even though the environment will continue to be demanding. At Industrial & Packaging, Helmar Hipp has assumed the role of Division President on an interim basis. Helmar brings extensive commercial, omnichannel and e-commerce experience with a strong track record in driving profitable growth, simplifying assortments and strengthening brand positioning. In previous leadership roles, he successfully combined customer focus with disciplined execution, exactly the capabilities we need to further accelerate in I&P. Over the past months, I had been managing I&P directly alongside my group responsibilities. During that time, I had the opportunity to work very closely with the team, gain a deep understanding of the business and jointly define key strategic priorities and actions. With Helmar now in charge of the division, this provides strong continuity and execution while allowing me to focus on the overall portfolio development and strategic steering of the group, while Helmar and the I&P team drive the next phase of commercial progress in our core business. On growth, our priorities remain very consistent with what we have outlined over the past quarters. We're focusing very clearly on driving new customer wins and expanding business with existing accounts through targeted commercial initiatives across all divisions. In Industrial Packaging, for example, we have recently won a new large enterprise customer by offering integrated service solutions, ensuring compliance with mandatory safety inspections across office and production environments, combined with full digital integration into customer procurement systems. These solutions address critical customer needs, generate initial order intake and create recurring sales potential. In Foodservices, we are marking tangible progress in building our business with emerging restaurant chains. We have developed a solid pipeline and recently onboarded another customer with an expected contract volume of around $3 million annually. In addition, we continue to strengthen the positioning of our core brands in key markets. Overall, these measures are helping us to gradually rebuild commercial momentum even in a cautious demand environment. And finally, Performance. Here, we continue to systematically advance our operating model. Our priorities are the further elevation of customer experience across the entire omnichannel while increasing efficiency through standardization, automation and relocation of transactional processes. As part of this, we progress the ongoing rollout of the TAKKT competence center and selective outsourcings where scale and efficiency benefits are clear. In addition, we are deepening initiatives in procurement, freight and warehousing, building on the progress already made in 2025. This includes supplier consolidation, best cost country sourcing and footprint optimizations. We're focused on quality and sustainability and sustainable structural improvements, ensuring that the measures we implement translate into lasting benefits. We expect the positive impact to build step by step and become increasingly visible over the course of the second half of the year. In parallel, we continue to make progress on our IT and systems road map, which is a key enabler for automation, efficiency and future growth. With that, over to Timo.

Thank you, Andreas. Let me now take you through the financials for the first quarter. Starting with sales for the group in quarter 1. Group sales came in at EUR 225.7 million, down 10.3% year-on-year. The development was driven by an organic decline of 6.7% and a substantial negative currency effect, mainly from the weaker U.S. dollar. The organic development is fully consistent with the run rate we have seen in recent quarters. And as mentioned earlier, we now see for the first time the impact from the discontinuation of the Foodservice bid contract business, which alone weighs on organic growth by slightly more than 1 percentage point. So as Andreas mentioned, we achieved a slight stabilization in quarter 1 sales if we look at it like-for-like. Looking at earnings development, the largest negative driver is the lower sales level, which reduced gross profit by around EUR 10 million year-on-year. In addition, we saw slightly negative effects from gross profit margin driven by Foodservices, while margins at Industrial & Packaging and Office Furniture & Displays remained stable. This was partially offset on the cost side. Personnel costs were lower, reflecting rightsizing and structural measures. Contrary to the rightsizing impact, we incurred higher bonus costs compared to the prior year. Marketing and other costs were also reduced, supported by FX, more disciplined spend and efficiency gains. At the same time, we continue to see increased OpEx in line with our activities to improve processes and systems. Onetime effects came in at a very similar level to prior year at just over EUR 1 million and therefore, did not materially change the year-on-year comparison. As a result, EBITDA for Q1 2026 came in at EUR 4.4 million, corresponding to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 2.4%. Let me now turn to Industrial & Packaging. Sales in the division declined by 5.6% year-on-year with organic growth at minus 5.8%. This means the run rate remains very similar to 2025 in an environment where customer behavior in Europe continues to be hesitant driven by economic uncertainty. The gross profit margin remained stable compared to the prior year, reflecting disciplined pricing. On costs, expenses were largely in line with last year. This reflects two opposing effects. On the one hand, efficiency gains and a leaner cost base and on the other hand, continued investment into commercial initiatives as well as systems and process upgrades. Onetime costs were very similar to the prior year at around EUR 0.5 million. EBITDA was at EUR 10 million for the division. Adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 7.8% compared to 9.7% in the prior year, with the decline driven by the lower top line. Let me now move on to Office Furniture & Displays. Sales in the division declined by 12% year-on-year. This headline number is significantly impacted by currency effects with the weaker U.S. dollar weighting heavily on reported sales. To provide a clear picture of the underlying development, we are, therefore, also showing the top line development in U.S. dollars. On this basis, sales were nearly stable in quarter 1 with 2.1% decrease, representing a clear improvement compared to Q4. Growth with business clients at National Business Furniture helped to compensate for weaker demand in other customer segments. Displays2Go came in slightly below prior year after recording positive growth in Q4. On profitability, gross profit margin was slightly improved year-on-year. Cost positions were very similar to prior year when adjusted for currency effects. Onetime costs were significantly lower than EUR 1 million, well below the prior year level. As a result, adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 2.1% compared to 2.6% last year. The decline is mainly explained by the lower reported sales level, while the underlying profitability of the business remains stable. Sales in Foodservices declined by 21.5% year-on-year. This top line development was also significantly impacted by currency effects, but also by the discontinuation of our bid contract business as well as challenges in some of our sales channels. Organic sales were down by 13.9%. Around 6 percentage points of this decline are attributable to the discontinuation of the bid contract business. This is fully intentional and in line with our strategic focus on margin quality and volatility reduction. Beyond that, performance continues to be impacted by weak call center with demand remaining subdued in the current environment. Looking at profitability, the gross profit margin came in significantly below prior year. Despite substantial cost savings, particularly in personnel expenses, the lower gross profit could not be fully compensated. As a result, adjusted EBITDA margin declined to minus 4.9% compared to the positive 1% in the prior year. To summarize, Foodservices remains the most challenging part of the portfolio. The deliberate exit from low-quality project business weighs on the top line in the short term, while market conditions continue to be difficult. That said, the cost base has been adjusted. The strategic setup is now clearly focused on improving underlying performance going forward. Let me now briefly cover cash flow generation in the first quarter. Free cash flow came in at minus EUR 9.8 million compared to minus EUR 5 million in quarter 1 last year. This development was expected and broadly follows the EBITDA trend. Starting with cash flow before changes in net working capital, this line was lower year-on-year, mainly reflecting the weaker EBITDA performance. Net working capital was a cash out in Q1, driven primarily by an increase in trade receivables. This is partially a seasonal effect and reflects the comparison with a very low year-end level. On capital expenditure, we saw slightly lower investments compared to prior year. At the same time, we benefited from proceeds from the disposal of noncurrent assets related to a real estate sale in the Netherlands, which provided a positive cash contribution. Lease repayments were broadly in line with prior year. The slight increase you see here is due to a one-off where prematurely we terminated the lease of an office building here in Germany. Looking at our balance sheet, not much has changed here compared to the end of 2025. We can keep it short. Net financial liabilities increased slightly to EUR 138 million compared to year-end. This was mainly driven by the negative free cash flow in quarter 1, which, as discussed, is expected and seasonal in nature. Our equity ratio remained virtually unchanged at around 50%, underlying the continued solid capital structure of the group. And with that, back to Andreas.

Thank you, Timo. Let me now come to the market environment and our priorities for 2026. Compared to our last call at the end of March, our overall market expectations and strategic priorities remain largely unchanged. Since early March, the Iran conflict has added a new geopolitical risk factor. We will discuss the potential implications for our guidance and risk assessment on the next slide but it is already visible that this development has materially impacted macro expectations. As a result, GDP growth forecasts for our core markets have been revised downward notably, reflecting higher uncertainty, inflation concerns and pressure on investment sentiment. Looking at PMIs, the signals are mixed. Manufacturing PMIs have remained relatively stable, which is important for our Industrial & Packaging activities. In contrast, service PMIs in Germany and the Euro zone have dropped, indicating weakening momentum in more consumer and service-oriented parts of the economy and declining business confidence. Against this backdrop, our priorities remain clear and consistent. On the commercial side, we continue to push our omnichannel sales model, scaling initiatives that work well and roll out targeted go-to-market actions across divisions, regions and channels. The focus is on accelerating commercial recovery where we see traction while staying close to customer needs. Operationally, we continue to leverage our new operating model. This means simplifying, automating and relocating processes, accelerating system improvements and further strengthening efficiency across the group. In parallel, we are continuing to work on rightsizing, procurement improvements and freight and warehouse optimizations, all aimed at structurally improving profitability. Let me now walk you through our guidance for 2026. starting with the top line. As discussed before, we expect a gradual improvement in Organic sales development as 2026 progresses. If you look at quarter 1 and adjusted for the discontinuation of the Foodservices bid contract business, organic development in quarter 1 showed a slight improvement compared to quarter 4. That is the trend we want to build on as our commercial measures gain traction. At the same time, uncertainty remains elevated and visibility on demand across customer segments limited. Therefore, our top line guidance continues to reflect a broad range of outcomes with organic sales development expected to be between minus 7% and plus 3% for the full year. Turning to profitability. We will continue executing the structural improvements initiated last year. Onetime costs related to these measures are expected to be slightly below the prior year level. Based on our volume planning for the course of the year and with measures further contributing, we target an adjusted EBITDA margin in a range of 2% to 5% for 2026, depending on our top line performance. On cash, our focus remains on discipline and structural improvement. We will continue to release net working capital, while at the same time, evaluating additional options to further strengthen cash generation. CapEx will be higher than last year, driven by targeted investments into processes and systems that support our IT road map. Based on this, we expect positive free cash flow for the year as a whole. And with that, we're happy to take your questions. Over to the operator for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] I already see that we have [indiscernible] by Mr. Bruns. You may unmute yourself now. Mr. Bruns Can you hear us? Now we can hear you.

I have a question on price increases for packaging materials. On the one hand side, they might, of course, burden your gross margins somehow. On the other hand, you are also a player in packaging. So could it be also -- could it help you raising prices for packaging products?

I can take that, I think. In general, I think, yes, of course, we are now being hit by price increases on the packaging side. And I think it's fairly normal in the packaging business that a lot of to -- the supply agreements have an index associated with it. So whenever the raw material prices go up, unfortunately, we get higher prices. When they go down again, the price is lower. That's -- I wouldn't say it's a competitive advantage in either way because most of the big players have these kind of rules. Having said that, of course, there is a -- let's see how the whole topic develops. It's always a question how much do you still have on stock or not? Do you need to do it right away? We're in tight negotiations with some of our suppliers that looking at cost breakdowns wherever we don't have an index-based contract -- so I would say, yes, it is a topic. It's not huge so far. And yes, we'll have to look at what we do on the pricing side here. But it's the main part where we see a price increase hitting us in the whole of I&P.

And maybe can I add another question? I mean it was not -- of course, we knew that the start of the year would be difficult. And so it's -- I would say the quarter is as expected, I would say. But you expect an improvement for the year -- for the quarters to come. And therefore, it would be interesting how was the start in April and the start into Q2?

So thank you for the question, Christian. You're right. We saw quarter 1 broadly in line with expectations as we outlined in the prepared remarks, right? What we are seeing in April and as far as longer-term order books are looking, what we're seeing April turns out to be broadly equally in line with our expectations following the trend we've seen in quarter 1.

Maybe we should add -- let me add one additional comment to that. If I just look at quarter 1, I think we saw an improvement month-on-month. We had a very weak January. February was better. March was even better. So if we start -- so therefore, already within the quarter, I would say it's moving in the right direction.

Thank you so much for your question, Mr. Bruns. Do we have any more questions from you because I cannot see any more hands at this moment. [Operator Instructions] but I think there are no more questions so far. And I guess with no further questions, we come to the end of today's earnings call. Thank you very much for your interest in TAKKT AG. A big thank you also to you, Mr. Weishaar and Mr. Krutoff for your presentation and the time you took. Should any further questions appear at a later time, please feel free to contact Investor Relations. And I wish you all a good remaining day. And I'm handing over to you, Mr. Weishaar, once again for your closing remarks.

Thank you, everyone, for your participation today. We will keep you updated, and we're looking forward to talk to you on the road or at upcoming conferences. We will publish our quarter results on July 30. Have a great day. Thank you.