technotrans SE (TTR1) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining our webcast on the results of the first half of 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 half of the financial year 2026; second, the development of our focus markets; third, our financial performance in detail; and fourth, the progress of our Ready for Growth strategy and the outlook for 2026. After the presentation, Michael and Natascha will be available for your questions in the Q&A session. Please note that today's presentation contains forward-looking statements on the future development of technotrans Group. These statements reflect the current views of the Board of management and are based on the corresponding plans, estimates and expectations. They are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. With that, I am pleased to hand over to our CEO. Michael, the floor is yours. Thank you.

Thank you, Frank, and a warm welcome from me as well. At the end of the first quarter, we said 3 things: First, the environment remains demanding; second, technotrans is more resilient than in the past; and third, we expect a stronger momentum as the year progresses. After 6 months, the evidence is clear. The environment is still challenging, but we improved our performance in the second quarter. We maintained a stable EBIT margin despite lower revenue. We have won strategic important orders, and we increased our order backlog significantly. This is the foundation for a better second half and even more for the next years and beyond. But before talking to you about the future presentations, let's speak first about the highlights of the first half. In the first 6 months, revenue reached EUR 113 million. This was 6% below previous year, and this is mainly reflecting the continued weakness in Print and Plastics. And please remember, we are coming from minus 9% in the first quarter. The second quarter was already stronger. Even more important is the earnings performance. EBIT margin increased up to 7.1% compared to 7% 1 year ago. Lower revenue was a higher margin and that in a difficult geopolitical and economic environment. And you know this is not a one-off. We could show already 7 quarters in a row stable EBIT margins on a level of around 7%. We are stable, we are resilient, and we are becoming more and more efficient. Our product mix is improving. Our cost base is under control. Our service business remains strong, and we are executing our strategy. The most encouraging signals come from our order development. At the end of June, our order backlog was at EUR 96 million. That is almost EUR 12 million more than end of March this year. Book-to-bill ratio reached 1.2x. In other words, the order intake exceeded revenue by 20%. And the positive momentum continues also after the reporting date. We are winning orders with high strategic relevance in all focus markets. The highlights are: the battery thermal management systems for rail, CDUs for liquid cooling for data centers, temperature control units for the high-tech industry, liquid cooling systems for CT scanners and cooling systems for digital and flexo printing. All of this gives us greater visibility. It supports the expected acceleration in the second half and even more our midterm perspective. Having said that, let's take a look at our markets. Energy Management & Laser generated revenues of almost EUR 32 million. This represents a growth of around 8% compared to last year. But if we exclude Laser, the growth rate of Energy Management was 17%, another quarter of outstanding growth. With a share of 28% of our group revenue, Energy Management is already the second biggest division of technotrans. Healthcare & Analytics is also showing another quarter of growth. In this market, we saw an increased revenue by 6% to around EUR 17 million. Print generated EUR 36 million, mainly down by the tax and tariffs. This is around 10% below last year. Plastics suffered most with a decline of 19%. Revenue reached around EUR 26 million. As already mentioned in the last call, this downturn was mainly driven by the weak economy. But since last week, we can see a significant step change in this market. And that leads me directly to the highlights of the second quarter, starting with Plastics. All the efforts from the last quarters are paying off now. As we have announced last week, we have won a major order for Plastics division. We secured a long-term large-scale production order for compact thermal control temperature units for high-tech industry. We will directly start to industrialize production to start delivering first units by the end of this year. This major order is expected to generate recurring revenue of more than EUR 10 million each year. And of course, this is a significant step change for Plastics and will improve the outlook for the upcoming years. In addition, we have won several orders for large cooling plants. These orders represent a revenue volume in the mid-single-digit million euro range. This business will stabilize our project business and will contribute to the positive development of Plastics in the future. The next highlight comes again from data centers. The positive momentum continues, and we could win additional orders. The order volume we have won in the first half year already exceeded the volume achieved in the entire year 2025. In July, shortly after the reporting date, we secured further follow-up orders for CDUs in the double-digit million euro range. The demand for liquid cooling for data centers continues to increase. To support this growth, we have launched our fourth production line. And please remember, the third line was just opened in May this year. So we are prepared for further growth as we can adjust our production capacity to rising demands. Good progress also in battery cooling. As already mentioned last time, we have won a major order for battery thermal management systems for rails. The potential [ call-off ] volume is in the low double-digit million euro range. The long-term series perspective strengthen planning visibility and the quality of future revenues. This is another very important scalable business and part of our Ready for Growth strategy. Healthcare & Analytics keeps growing as well. The market is driven by applications in analytics, medical scanners and high-tech applications coming from our clean room production. A strong example is our new liquid cooling system for high-tech performance CT scanners. This system was developed through a strong cross-border collaboration within the technotrans Group. Engineering took place in Germany and series production is located in China. And shortly after series production has started, the order already exceeded the expected volume. This strengthens our position in the fast-growing healthcare market in Asia. The final highlight for today comes from Print. A positive order intake in the second quarter is supporting the stabilization in the second half of this year. In digital print, we acquired new orders from another print OEM in Japan. The ramp-up is scheduled for the second half of this year. In flexo print, we secured a follow-up order for packaging print. In addition, we are expanding our local production in China for the Asian market. Series production is set to start in August this year. These orders provide a more solid base for the development in the second half. So to sum it up, Energy Management and Healthcare & Analytics delivered growth in the first half. Major orders for data centers and battery cooling for rail are driving the next stage of scale in Energy Management. The CT scanner project strengthens Healthcare & Analytics in Asia. New orders in digital and flexo print support the stabilization in the print market in the second half. And major orders for temperature control units and cooling plants significantly improves perspective for Plastics. So the first half of the year 2026 is done now. Revenue came in on a lower level, but as expected at the beginning of the year. More important than the short-term revenue is the mid- and long-term perspective. The order development across all 4 divisions confirms the strategic progress of our strategy. Our balanced portfolio is a central part of technotrans' investment case. We combine established market positions with a fast-growing future application. We combine technology revenue with a highly profitable service business, and we combine growth opportunities with disciplined execution. Having said that, Natascha will take you now through the financials in more detail.

Thank you, Michael, and a warm welcome from my side as well. I'm pleased to explain the financial performance of the technotrans Group in the first half year of '26. Before turning to the details, I would like to highlight the key financial developments. While revenue remained below prior year level, we successfully improved the quality of our earnings. EBIT margin increased. Gross margin rose. Free cash flow was positive in the second quarter, and our balance sheet remains strong. These results underline the resilience and strength of our business model. Let's start with our top line performance in detail. Group revenue reached EUR 113.3 million compared to EUR 120.6 million in the previous year. The decline of 6% mainly resulted from the weaker development in Print and Plastics. At the same time, Energy Management and Healthcare & Analytics continued to grow strongly, underlining their -- Frank, could you please help me? We have a technical issue, excuse me. Sorry. At the same time, Energy Management and Healthcare & Analytics continued to grow strongly, underlining their importance to our growth strategy. Regarding our quarterly development, revenue increased from EUR 54.9 million in the first quarter to EUR 58.4 million in the second quarter. This sequential improvement is in line with our expectation of a stronger momentum as the year progresses. And we are winning orders, as Michael outlined. So the growth perspective is fundamentally intact. Turning to profitability. In the first 6 months, EBIT amounted to EUR 8 million compared to EUR 8.4 million 1 year ago. The EBIT margin increased from 7% to 7.1% despite lower revenues. Three factors were decisive in supporting this positive margin development. First, an improved product mix in the Technology segment, reflecting the business expansion in attractive growth markets. Second, the stable and profitable contribution from Services. And third, efficiency gains and disciplined cost management. This performance confirms that our focus on attractive growth markets, efficiency and operational execution is paying off. The combination of lower revenue and higher profitability underscores the resilience of our earnings performance. Let's move to the segments. Technology revenue amounted to EUR 84 million compared to EUR 90.8 million in the previous year. The reduction mainly reflected the lower revenue contribution from Print and Plastics, whereas Energy Management and Healthcare & Analytics rose significantly. Segment EBIT reached EUR 3.7 million compared to EUR 3.9 million 1 year ago. Despite the revenue decline, the EBIT margin increased from 4.3% to 4.4%. This improvement is driven by the optimized product portfolio and cost-saving measures. It shows that our Technology segment becomes more robust, and it strongly indicates that our initiatives are effectively supporting profitability. The Services segment again provided stability. Revenue reached EUR 29.4 million and was, therefore, close to the previous year level of EUR 29.8 million. Segment EBIT amounted to EUR 4.3 million. The EBIT margin remained high at 14.7% compared to 15% in the previous year. Services once again demonstrated its high earnings quality, representing 26% of group revenue while generating more than half of group EBIT. This confirms the strategic value of the segment. Services reinforces customer relationships. It provides recurring and resilient revenue. It supports cash generation, and it stabilizes group profitability across economic cycles. Let's now turn to free cash flow. Free cash flow improved to minus EUR 0.5 million compared to minus EUR 1.1 million in the first half year of the previous year. More importantly, free cash flow was positive at EUR 0.9 million in the second quarter. The first half year development was affected by buildup of working capital. Inventories increased to EUR 45.6 million in order to support the significantly higher order backlog. Trade receivables increased to EUR 36.6 million, mainly due to the strong revenue level in June and timing effects. Higher trade payables and contract liabilities partly offset these effects. The message is clear. The working capital buildup supports future business. It is linked to the higher order backlog and the anticipated growth. At the same time, the return to positive free cash flow in the second quarter demonstrate that cash conversion is improving. For the full year, we continue to expect free cash flow slightly above EUR 10 million. This requires strong cash contribution in the second half, and we are focused on delivering it through targeted working capital management, disciplined investment and the conversion of our backlog into revenue and cash. Let's turn to the development of earnings in more detail. Gross profit reached EUR 34.2 million. The gross margin improved from 29.8% to 30.2% due to the increased share of Services revenue and the optimized product mix in Technology. EBITDA reached EUR 11.2 million compared to EUR 11.9 million in the previous year. The EBITDA margin increased from 9.8% to 9.9%. Net profit amounted to EUR 4.9 million compared to EUR 5.2 million. Earnings per share reached EUR 0.71 compared to EUR 0.75 in the previous year. Our balance sheet remains strong. The equity ratio is still on a solid level of 63.6%. Net debt increased to EUR 14.5 million compared to EUR 8.3 million at the end of '25. This development mainly reflects the working capital buildup and the dividend payment of EUR 5.7 million. Respectively, the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio increased to 0.62x, remaining on investment-grade level. Our strong balance sheet gives us the capacity to finance growth, supports the ramp-up of major orders and pursue our strategy from a position of strength. Let me wrap up. We improved revenue, EBIT and free cash flow in the second quarter. We increased the gross margin and the EBIT margin in the first half year despite lower revenue. Technology became more robust. Services remained a highly profitable stabilizing pillar. And our balance sheet continues to provide a strong foundation for growth. Overall, the financial performance demonstrates that technotrans is structurally stronger than in the past. We are well positioned to deliver profitable growth, and we are financially equipped to deliver it. We are ready for growth. With that, I hand back to Michael for the strategy update and the outlook.

Thank you very much, Natascha. So as you could see and as Natascha said, we are not waiting for better market conditions, we are executing on our strategy. We do it right now. 2026 is the first year of Ready for Growth. And after 6 months, we can see clear progress. The measures I stated in Q1 remains unchanged. The name of strategy describes our ambition. We want to grow. We want to grow profitable, and we want to convert that growth into sustainable higher free cash flow. Our midterm targets remain clear. By 2030, we aim to increase revenue to more than EUR 350 million. We target an EBIT margin of between 9% to 12%. And a sustainable improvement in free cash flow is another central element of our strategy. These are ambitious targets, but they are supported by the markets we serve and the technology we provide. Artificial intelligence, electrification, decarbonization, digitalization, medical progress, these are long-term structural trends, and they all require our core competence, thermal management. So where do we stand after 6 months? In the short term, we are still faced with geopolitical conflicts and its consequences like volatile raw material prices, supply chain restrictions and the weak economy. Nevertheless, we consequently execute on our strategy, and we already see a positive trend for the second half of the year. The demand in Energy Management continues to rise. We are scaling the business, and we are increasing our production capacity. Healthcare & Analytics keeps growing as well. Thermal management is a critical factor for the systems of our customers. Our order backlog has risen by 14% to EUR 96 million. Book-to-bill is at 1.2x. And most important, we are winning. We are winning important orders in all 4 markets, major orders like liquid cooling for data centers, battery cooling for rail and compact temperature control units for Plastics. All these orders are major drivers for mid- and long-term growth. They prove our strategic positioning. They create opportunities of scale, and they increase the visibility of future revenue. To materialize these orders, we are adding a new factory. We will more than double our production and logistics capacity in Sassenberg. The planning phase is proceeding as scheduled. In 2027, we will start with the construction phase. We are fully on track with all strategic elements and milestones. Having said that, let's turn to the guidance for this year. As already mentioned, the geopolitical and economic conditions are challenging, but we see positive signals as well. The business momentum is expected to pick up in the second half of this year. The order trend of the first half confirms our expectations. The order backlog increased, as I already said, up to EUR 96 million and book-to-bill to 1.2x. Even more important, for the future are our strategic wins in all our markets. This is great progress to meet our mid- and long-term goals. Supply chain restrictions may have an impact on the production in the second half. We take this risk very seriously. Our teams are working on alternate solutions to minimize the impact. So we have a diversified business, which makes us more and more resilient than in the past. Our cost and production structure are flexible. Our Services business provides stability. Based on the development in the first half and the significantly higher order backlog in the current market assessment, we confirm our guidance for this year. We expect group revenue of between EUR 240 million and EUR 260 million, and we expect an EBIT margin of between 6.5% and 8.5%. And we expect free cash flow significantly -- slightly above EUR 10 million. So ladies and gentlemen, let me close with 3 messages. The first one, technotrans is providing resilience. For 7 quarters in a row, the EBIT margin has remained around 7%, and that despite major fluctuations in revenue and major fluctuations in market conditions. Second one, technotrans is gaining momentum in attractive future markets. Energy Management is continuing to grow at double-digit rates. Order wins in data centers, battery cooling and Plastics provide the long-term potential. And third, technotrans has a clear value creation road map. Ready for Growth combines revenue growth, margin expansion and stronger free cash flow with a solid balance sheet and a high profitable service business. This is the core of the technotrans investment case, and our figures are showing this more and more clearly. We are ready to capitalize off these opportunities. And with that said, I would like to ask Frank to open the Q&A. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Michael. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our presentation, and we are now opening the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] And I see the first raised hand by Bastian Brach. So Bastian, please go ahead.

Two questions for me. The first one is we are already in August. So the revenue guidance still seems quite wide, ranging from nearly stable top line development year-on-year in the second half to nearly 20% growth on the high end. Can you talk a little bit about what needs to happen to reach especially the high end of your guidance?

Yes. Good question. As we've mentioned, at the moment, the market conditions are still volatile, and we are faced also with supply chain restrictions. If we would have an ideal solution that we are getting rid of those restrictions rather sooner than later, then the door is open. But as we are living in a real world, we expect to -- or the probability to get out by the end of the year is -- we assume it's more in the lower half than in the upper half of the guidance.

Okay. And the second one, I know you probably won't give a guidance for next year already. But given your very strong order intake recently, is it fair to assume your 2027 growth rate will even exceed the growth rate for H2?

Yes. So 2027, as we have said, even based by the strategic wins and the big jump also in terms of revenue in Plastics, which will fully be in place next year, will make a difference. And as the market conditions stay stable and the other markets continue to perform as this year, we see a nice growth rate in 2027, for sure.

Thank you very much, Mr. Brach. And I see another raised hand by Stefan Augustin. So Mr. Augustin, please go ahead.

So the set of questions I have probably comes along the already stated questions a little bit. So you reported about a couple of larger orders and you have a very high order backlog, but can you shed a little bit light which of these single large orders are already reflected in the Q2 order backlog and which would come on top of it? And for that one as a follow-up a little bit, would you see for the third quarter also a positive book-to-bill if we look at the third quarter alone? So respectively, that Q3 order backlog will then increase above the second quarter order backlog. And coming from that part -- that's the first part. Let's do the first part.

Thank you for making a short break to answer the questions more precisely. So let's start with the first one, which was around order backlog and which orders are in the EUR 96 million and which not. So all the numbers you could see on the slides are numbers for the first half. So they are reflecting the first 6 months. And the last press release we sent out last week for Plastics, the big wins, they are, for sure, not in this order backlog as this was after the reporting date. So this comes on top for the future and also partly on top of the performance for this year. Will the Q3 book-to-bill also be above 1.2x was another question. So Q3 has just started. So 1 month is done for sure. And we see still a positive trend in order intake, but 2 months are to go. So at the moment, it looks like, as we stated, that we see that the second half will be stronger than the first half, no doubt about that. And we hope that this positive momentum will proceed. I think this was the first part of your question, right?

Yes. Yes, that is one. And the other one is actually on the supply chain issues you mentioned, which part do they actually impact?

Yes. So for the supply chain, we are facing issues for heat exchangers and pumps and compressors at the moment.

So this is from the verticals then for all end markets or just for a few?

Yes, it refers to all markets. Exactly, that's right.

Maybe to add a little bit more light to that, those are the products, the specific ones. And we are, of course, in some areas, also affected by global logistic problems coming from the geopolitical conflicts, et cetera. So this has also partly an effect on our daily production performance.

Thank you very much, Mr. Augustin. And the next one is [ Mr. Schupp ]. Please, [ Mr. Schupp ].

Most of them have already been answered, just maybe 2 or 3 left. On the margin guidance, what would need to happen for the full year to be at the lower end, is, I guess, a very simple question? In other words, you rightly mentioned that you have been at the 7% mark, give or take, for quite some time now. So given better revenue in H2 compared to H1, like what would be the puts and takes, maybe changes in product mix for the 6.5%, i.e., the low end to materialize? And I will have the follow-up questions after that.

I can start with an answer. So at the moment, as you have already said, and we said it a couple of times in the call, we are on a very stable margin level of 7% plus. And this is more or less in the middle of our EBIT margin guidance. With a higher or with a more positive outlook for the Q3 and Q4, we don't assume that the margin will decline. But maybe, Natascha, you can add something more.

Yes. So with a higher revenue, we expect positive impacts from scaling, but we are also facing price increases for some materials, which might offset those positive impacts. But we expect to continue our margin development trend for this year.

That's very clear. And then secondly, on the Plastics order from last week, could you maybe give a bit more meat to the bone in terms of what drove the sudden increase? Because I guess we all can remember that Plastics, in particular, had a particularly tough time over the last maybe even 2 or 3 years, right? So what drove the sudden increase? Is it really that -- do you see a broad-based recovery? Or is it simply project by project where your customers are winning incremental business and you are basically benefiting from that?