technotrans SE ($TTR1)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining our webcast on the results of the first quarter 2026 of technotrans. My name is Frank Dernesch, and I'm Head of Investor Relations and Treasury. I'm pleased to welcome you today together with our CEO, Michael Finger; and our CFO, Natascha Sander. This morning, we will take you through 4 topics. First, the highlights of the first quarter 2026. Second, the development in our focus markets. Third, the financial performance in detail. And fourth, our strategic road map and the outlook for 2026. After the presentation, Michael and Natascha will be available for your questions in a Q&A session. Before we start, please note that today's presentation contains statements on the future development of technotrans Group. These statements reflect the current views of the Board of Management that are based on corresponding plans, estimates, and expectations. They are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. With that, I'm pleased to hand over to our CEO. Michael, the floor is yours. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Frank, and a warm welcome from me as well. The first quarter developed pretty much according to plan. We anticipated lower revenue in the first quarter, and it was good to see that we could improve our earnings even with lower revenues. And this despite the escalated situation in the Middle East and an ongoing weak economy in Germany. So the environment remains tough. Some of our end markets are still under pressure. And at this point, we could show that our restructuring activities are paying off. This is reflected in the figures of the first quarter. In the first 3 months, consolidated revenue reached around EUR 55 million. This was EUR 5 million below previous year, and it reflects the anticipated and expected weakness in Print and Plastics due to the challenging environment. But again, look at the result. The EBIT margin increased up to 7% compared with 6.7%, 1 year ago. And as already said at the beginning, higher margins with EUR 5 million less revenues in an even more challenging environment. This shows a very important development of technotrans. We could show now 6 quarters in a row stable EBIT margin on a level of 7% plus/minus. So we are stable, we are resilient. We are no longer only talking about transformation. We are seeing the effects in our numbers. Our product mix is improving with our new ramp-ups. Our Technology business is supporting our profitability. Our Service business remains stable and profitable. Our cost management is disciplined and our focus on attractive growth markets is paying off. Free cash flow improved significantly by EUR 4.4 million, and this is good progress despite the normal seasonal working capital buildup in the first quarter. Although we had lower revenues in the first quarter, we saw a very positive dynamic in order intake. We could win important orders in rail and data centers. And in Plastics, we saw a positive trend in orders. Consequently, order backlog increased by 6% to EUR 84 million, and the book-to-bill ratio reached 1.1. All are good indicators for relaxing situation in the second half of this year. Having said that, let's move to the development of our markets. As already announced last year, we have adjusted the reporting of our focus markets at the beginning of this year. Laser is no longer reported as a separate focus market. The related activities have been allocated to the remaining markets. In combination with the positive development of our focus markets, we have a more balanced portfolio. This is reflected in our share of revenue. Energy Management stands for 28%. Healthcare & Analytics contributes 15%. Print represents 31%, and Plastics account for 23%. Let's take a look to the markets in more detail. Energy Management continued its great momentum right from the beginning. In the first quarter, revenue increased to EUR 15.4 million. At first glance, this is 4% growth overall compared to last year. But if we exclude laser, the underlying growth is 12%. This highlights again another quarter of outstanding growth in Energy Management. Energy Management already represents, as I said before, 28% of our revenue. It's no longer a niche. It's already the second biggest division of technotrans. And it is a question of time when Energy Management will become the biggest division. As you know, this market is supported by electrification, decarbonization, digitalization, and AI. The momentum is still positive, and we keep winning new business. As announced in our latest press release, we have won additional large orders for CDUs in the high single million digits. The dynamics in the data center business are picking up. In the first half of this year, we could already beat the volume from last year and more to come. The future demand for CDUs is encouraging. AI-driven data center expansion requires efficient, reliable, and scaling cooling concepts. We have this competence. We have the products in place, and we are gaining customer traction. Another strategic highlight we saw in rail business. As announced as well, we have won a big contract for battery thermal management systems in the double-digit million euro range. This is another major win and supports our strategy Ready for Growth as well. In addition, this long-term contract will bring high visibility. Healthcare & Analytics remains a technological demanding and attractive business. Revenue increased by 3% to EUR 8.2 million. This market benefits from medical progress and digitalization. From increasing precision and the high demand for semiconductor production, it demands as well. This is exactly where technotrans can play to its strengths. Engineering know-how, process understanding, and thermal precision. Print had a softer start into the year. Revenue came in at EUR 17.1 million. This is 16% below last year. Print is currently mainly under pressure because of the weak economy, investment restraints, uncertainties around the U.S. tariffs, and currency effects from a weaker U.S. dollar. But we know this market. We have a strong position, and we expect demand to pick up over the course of this year. Plastics also remained affected by the weak economy. Revenue was EUR 12.5 million, and this is 18% less than last year. However, we are working on the future. We are addressing this market with increased innovation and sales efforts. Our new energy-efficient Variotherm systems and our compact chillers using the natural refrigerant propane. This is very well received by our customers. We see first signs of an improvement with a positive order intake already in the first quarter. So to sum it up, Print and Plastics are still affected by the economy. Energy Management and Healthcare & Analytics are both continue to grow. As shown with Laser, we are actively shifting our portfolio towards the areas where long-term demand is growing. At the same time, we are keeping costs under control, and we are improving the efficiency of our production. And this is exactly what we said we would do. Having said this, Natascha will walk you through the financials in more detail. Natascha, please.

Thank you, Michael, and a warm welcome also from my side. I'm pleased to explain the financial performance of the technotrans Group in the first quarter of the financial year '26. Let me start with the key financial message. Despite lower revenue, we improved our profitability. This clearly demonstrates the sustainably, stronger quality of our earnings. It also highlights the operational discipline and financial strength we have consistently delivered over the past 6 quarters. Let me begin with the top line. Group revenue reached EUR 54.9 million compared to EUR 60.1 million in the previous year. The decline of 8.7% was expected. It mainly resulted from the weaker development in Print and Plastics due to the challenging environment. At the same time, Energy Management and Healthcare & Analytics confirmed their strategic importance and sustained their positive momentum. Turning to profitability. EBIT amounted to EUR 3.8 million compared to EUR 4 million 1 year ago. EBIT margin improved from 6.7% to 7.0%. This positive margin development was driven by 3 main factors. First, a higher service share. Second, a value-accretive product mix in the Technology segment, reflecting the expansion of business in growth markets. And third, proactive and consequent cost management across the group. All in all, a very encouraging development in profitability despite lower revenue. Let's turn to the segments. Technology revenue reached EUR 40.2 million compared with EUR 45 million in the previous year. This development reflects the market environment and the expected lower revenue contribution from Print and Plastics. However, the segment EBIT increased to EUR 1.7 million. Consequently, the EBIT margin improved from 3.7% to 4.2%. This is a very important improvement compared to Q1 of the previous year. It shows that the Technology segment is becoming more robust. The improved product mix and disciplined cost measures compensated for the lower volume. In other words, we generated more margin quality from less revenue volume. Let's move to Services. The Services segment once again made a stabilizing contribution to our business. Revenue amounted to EUR 14.7 million compared to EUR 15.2 million in the prior year quarter. Segment EBIT reached EUR 2.1 million with an EBIT margin of 14.5%. Overall, the margin remained at a strong level. The slight decline compared to previous year is mainly attributable to lower scaling effects due to the reduced revenue base. Our Services segment remains a key pillar of our business model. It reinforces customer relationships. It supports profitability, and it increases the resilience of the group. Coming to free cash flow now. Free cash flow improved significantly from minus EUR 5.8 million in the prior year quarter to minus EUR 1.4 million. The cash flow development in Q1 '26 was still affected by seasonal working capital buildup. Inventories increased to support the order backlog and to continue growth. Trade receivables increased due to a strong revenue level in March and timing effects. At the same time, higher contract liabilities and trade payables had a compensating effect. The development of free cash flow is, therefore, a positive signal. It shows better cash discipline, and it is fully aligned with our strategic focus on stronger cash generation. We expect a normalization of free cash flow over the course of the year. Gross profit reached EUR 16.7 million, reflecting the lower revenue volume. Nevertheless, gross margin improved from 29.9% to 30.5% on the back of a more favorable product mix in technology and a higher service share. EBITDA reached EUR 5.4 million compared to EUR 5.8 million in the previous year. The EBITDA margin improved from 9.6% to 9.8%. Net profit reached EUR 2.4 million, being EUR 0.2 million lower compared to the previous year. Earnings per share is nearly stable with EUR 0.35 per share. Our financial position remains very solid. The equity ratio further increased to 65.5%. Net debt was EUR 10.2 million. Compared to last year, net debt increased especially due to the already mentioned buildup of working capital for expected growth. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 0.43 remains on investment-grade level. Even in a challenging market environment, technotrans maintains a very solid financial position and a strong credit profile. This provides us the flexibility to support our growth strategy. Let me briefly summarize my part. In the first quarter, technotrans once again proved strong operational discipline and further improved earnings quality. We increased our EBIT margin despite lower revenue. The Technology segment improved its margin, while Services again confirmed to be a stabilizing pillar of our business. Free cash flow improved substantially, and our balance sheet remains very robust. Overall, we are satisfied with our profitability and see a solid foundation to build on. We will use this positive momentum to consistently execute our Ready for Growth strategy. We are ready for profitable growth. With that, I hand back to Michael for the strategy update and outlook now.

Thank you very much. As Natascha said, we are ready for profitable growth, and we are executing our strategy. 2026 is the first year of our new strategy, Ready for Growth. This name is not just a slogan. It describes our ambition. We want to grow. We are facing the right markets. We have the right products in place. We want to grow profitable, and we want to generate more cash from growth. Our mid-term targets are clear. By 2030, we want to increase revenue to more than EUR 350 million. The EBIT margin should reach 9% to 12%. In addition, a substantial improvement in free cash flow is a central element of our strategy. This is ambitious, but it is fundamentally based on the markets we serve and the technologies we provide. And look at the trends around us. Artificial intelligence, electrification, decarbonization, digitalization, and medical progress. These are no temporary trends. These are long-term megatrends, changing the industry. And they all need thermal management. That's why Ready for Growth is the right strategy at the right time. So where are we standing after 3 months? As mentioned at the beginning, the environment is getting tougher. Geopolitical conflicts, higher oil prices, and a weak economy are affecting global markets and technotrans as well. But we are more resilient than in the past. With our 4 divisions and our core competence, thermal management, we have a strong business model in place, and Print and Plastics were impacted by cyclical investment restraints, especially in Europe. At the same time, Energy Management and Healthcare & Analytics continue to grow, confirmed their strategic importance of technotrans. This balanced portfolio is an important element of the technotrans investment case. We combine established industrial positions with fast-growing applications. The demand for precise and efficient thermal management continues to rise. And technotrans has the competence, the customer access and a global footprint to benefit. This balance helped us navigate a weaker Q1 with acceptable margins. And we are winning strategic important business like CDUs for data centers, or battery thermal management systems for rail. So we are on track, and we are just at the beginning. We are in the first year of our strategy or to be more precise, just 3 months are done from a 60-month strategy period. We will implement our strategy consequently and calmly, even, and especially, in difficult times. Let's turn to the outlook. Again, the geopolitical economic environment remains challenging, but we are more resilient. For the remainder of the year, we expect demand to stabilize gradually with stronger momentum in the second half. Energy Management remains our strongest growth area. It is driven by an increased demand for battery thermal management systems and CDUs for data centers. Healthcare & Analytics should continue to contribute steadily. In Print and Plastics, we expect demand to improve during the year. Based on the positive development in the first quarter and the current order situation, we confirm our guidance for the financial year 2026. We expect group revenue in the range of EUR 240 million to EUR 260 million with an EBIT margin between 6.5% and 8.5%. Free cash flow should come in slightly above EUR 10 million. Ladies and gentlemen, let me close with 3 messages. The first, technotrans is resilient. With our balanced market portfolio, we improved our EBIT margin despite lower revenues. Second one, technotrans is positioned in attractive future markets. These markets are supported by megatrends such as AI or electrification. And the third one, technotrans has a clear value creation road map. We are ready for growth. And with that said, I would like to ask Frank to open the Q&A. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Michael. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our presentation. We will now open the floor for your questions. [Operator Instructions] Mr. Augustin has raised his hand. So Mr. Augustin, please.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Nicklas Frers from Montega. And in order of that, I have 3 questions right now. So maybe let me start with the first one. In April, you announced 2 bigger orders. Can you give us a little more detail about the time line on these orders or these projects? Will they be fully executed in 2026 or in 2027? My second question is on the focus market, Healthcare & Analytics. In 2025, there was a high demand on this focus market, for example, for baggage scanners. Do you see that continuing in 2026? Or with the growth of this focus market significantly decrease? And my last question -- I can repeat them later, no worries. My last question is on the focus market Print. Can you give us a little more outlook regarding this year? Do you already see a recovery in this focus market? Or should we expect a similar development for the rest of the year?

Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Nicklas. For just a second technical point, we need to switch the cameras and then I start answering your question. So first one was about the order time line regarding our latest press releases. The first press release was about our business in the railway sector. We have announced battery thermal management systems in the lower double-digit million euro digits. And we also said this is a long-term contract, and we expect first volume kicking in by end of this year, followed by further revenues in the following years. The second announcement was about data center business, our CDUs for data centers. They will completely capitalize within 2026. Second question was about Healthcare & Analytics if I remember, it was all about the baggage scanner. And for sure, we see a continuous trend in this area. This is also driven by legislation. And there is still a lot to substitute in several airports across the globe, and we see constantly orders kicking in, in this area, and it supports our revenue also this year and even beyond. And the last question was about Print and the outlook in this market. Yes, the Print market, as we said in the speech, is affected by the economy, by the U.S. tariffs, by also the weaker U.S. dollar. And for sure, this market is under pressure. But we see first signals that it may come back soon. So we hope to see a recovery in the second half of this year.

Maybe just on the first question on the railway order. Can you give us maybe a little number of volume of what we can expect in 2026 executed?

Yes. For 2026, as is, you can make a simple math. Double-digit -- lower double-digit million euro range in orders. So we see a low single-digit million portion in Q4 this year.

Thank you very much, Mr. Nicklas. Now let's turn to Mr. Augustin.

I think, yes, many things are in the right place and you had quite a good profitability on the technology side. Here is one question. How exactly did you -- or have you been able to adapt the cost base for Plastics and Print quite quickly? Is this a possibility to shift capacities between the single end markets? Or did you refer to things like temp workers? Or actually did you introduce somewhere short-time work?

Good question. Thank you for asking, Mr. Augustin. So first of all, yes, we did -- we have shifted capacity from Print to Energy Management as both areas are located in one production area, production plant. So this was possible indeed. And of course, we have used short-time work, especially in Meinerzhagen, where our Plastics business is based and in particular areas also in Print.

All right. And then coming back to the, let's say, the road map of volume expansion going forward. Would it be correct if we say that we should already anticipate Q2 orders, as you have 2 larger orders already mentioned there? Q2 orders overall above Q1 orders and then also consequently Q2 revenues above Q1 revenues?

Yes, we hope so. So the business, as we projected, should pick up over the course of this year. And indeed, we had a good order intake in Q1, which will kick into our production immediately over the course of the next 2 quarters. And with that said, we should expect higher revenues in the second quarter and of course, in the second half.

Thank you, Mr. Augustin. So let's take a look. Currently, I do not see any more raised hands. Are there additional questions? There are also no questions in the chat. Just is there anything else? This seems not to be the case. So yes, please let me hand over to Michael for the closing remarks.

Yes. Thank you very much, Frank. And indeed, we have talked already...

One question. Yes. Who is it?

It's Stefan Maichl from LBBW.

Mr. Maichl.

I got link via phone, sorry for that.

Yes. Then let's go back.

Okay,, you can you hear me. Okay. Actually, I have 2 questions, if I may. The first one. I mean, I would like to come back to the sales development in Print, which was very weak in the first quarter. Could you describe probably the development in the new appliance in the Service business, meaning maybe probably the Service business more stable or also declining? And did the insolvency of Manroland Sheetfed have a negative impact on this development? That's the first one.

So I hope I understood your question quite right because the tone was very [ calm ]. I think I got it that it was all about the insolvency process of Manroland and the effect of technotrans. The answer is yes, we have been affected. Manroland is a long-term customer of technotrans. And the effect is in the low EUR 100,000 range -- lower EUR 100,000 range around that point. And it had not such a significant impact than we saw 11 years ago when they have been insolvency for the first time. But nevertheless, of course, this is a customer, a long-term customer, which is now gone.

Okay. Second part, and maybe I state it again, is the development in the new appliance in Service business, the Technology and Service business in the Print market, has there been any different development of both?

Service business in Print, was the question?

The Technology business in Print.

So no, there is no big deviation compared to the past. It is down to the cyclical development in the weak economy that we also saw less service activities. And as Natascha mentioned in her speech, due to lower absolute numbers in revenue in service, we also saw a short decline in the margins, if I got that right, Natascha?

Yes.

Okay. And the second question from my side is on -- you mentioned that you had short-time work at the first quarter. Could you quantify the savings from the short-time work? And will the short-time work continue in the second quarter of this year?

Yes, the effect of the savings was low. We continue for Print in April. And for Plastics, we continue the short work in Q2. But for the second half of the year, we do not plan any short work so far.

Thanks, Mr. Maichl. So let's take a look a second time. Are there any more questions? Let's check it again. So this seems not the case. So back to Michael, please.

Yes. Thank you very much. And as I said a couple of seconds ago, thanks for your questions. We have talked a lot during the last couple of weeks. Our next corporate event is the AGM in Munster, where we would like to welcome all of you again. It is on May 29. And our next reporting date is on August 4, where we present our half year figures. And in addition to that, we will participate on several conferences as usual. On behalf of Natascha and Frank, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for participating on the call. Thank you for your patience and your interest in technotrans, and hope to see you again soon. Thanks for joining today, and goodbye.