Draegerwerk AG & Co. KGaA (Xetra:DRW8) Q4 2025 Earnings Call

0:00 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Dragerwerk Full Year twenty twenty five Earnings Call. I am Moritz, your conference call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in a listen only mode and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Stefan Drager, CEO. Please go ahead, sir. Well, good afternoon and thank you for joining our conference call on our financial results for the fiscal year 2025. I have with me today, Gertape Jasco, CFO, as well as Tom Fishlein and Nicolas Samerschmidt, both Investor Relations.

0:50 We would like to take you through the results with the presentation that we made available on our webpage this morning. Following the presentation, we will open the floor to your questions. Let's get started on page five with the business highlights. In 2025, we continued our successful course and generated the highest net sales in our company's history. Both divisions in all regions contributed to this. At around €3,500,000,000 net sales were slightly above our last forecast and around €25,000,000 above the level of the exceptionally strong coronavirus year 2020.

1:39 Unlike during the pandemic, this is a new record that we achieved entirely without a special economic situation. Thanks to the operating momentum, our earnings before interest and taxes also developed very well. EBIT rose by more than 20% to around $233,000,000 despite difficult conditions. The EBIT margin increased by roughly one percentage point to 6.7%, also exceeding our last forecast. This shows that we are making progress in improving our profitability. Order intake also developed very well.

2:24 As with net sales, both divisions contributed to GRIPs. This underlines the continuing demand for our technology for life and gives us a positive outlook for the future. Positive is also the keyword with regard to our cash flow development, which Gerhard Bichletko will explain later. We have also performed well on the stock market. Last year, our common shares rose by more than one third, while our preferred shares even increased by almost half and were included in the tech stats. This means that we are once again one of the 30 largest listed technology companies in Germany.

3:11 This listing increases our visibility on the capital market and could make us even more attractive to investors. In mid January, we published our preliminary business figures for 2025 and our forecast for 2026. Our shares then rose significantly again and reached their highest level since July 2017. This shows that investor confidence in Driga is higher than it has been for a long time. Our first goal remains to increase profitability such that our EBIT margin is the same as the last digit of the calendar year as we have more goals that are strategic to steer the company.

4:04 We are strengthening our innovative power and expanding our competence in the systems business and further expanding our services and recurring business. In our medical division, we are particularly driving forward the marketing of network solutions. To this end, we launched a large marketing campaign in 2025. Our goal is to strengthen Strygia's position as the leading provider of connected solutions in the hospital sector. That said, we are also launching a big wave of SDC based solutions. That is service oriented device connectivity, the new standard for interoperability of medical devices according to IEEE 11,076.

4:55 It creates new functionalities and therefore added value. With our new silent care package, for example, we contribute to solving one of the biggest problems on the ICU by reducing the alarm noise with fatigue. In the safety division, productivity is becoming more important too. Our fire ground monitoring system, for example, helped us to win the Paris fire department as a new customer in 2025. Speaking of firefighting, we also received the important approval for our BFS Airbus CBA in North America, reaching a milestone for strengthening our position in the key market.

5:41 In addition to our core business, we are consistently investing in new business opportunities in areas such as TV tech and defense. Last year, our defense business grew significantly. We are well on track to triple our defense sales to more than €300,000,000 2028. I will talk about the other highlights on the past fiscal year, the dividend and the outlook, at the end of our presentation. I would first like to explain in more detail on page six what challenges we had to overcome last year. So page six, headwind compensated. Ladies and gentlemen, 2025 was a very successful year, particularly in light of the difficult conditions.

6:34 In 2024, we have benefited from positive one off effects from the sale of non strategic business activity that was the smoke and fire alarm systems in The Netherlands and some real estate in The United States. This had boosted our EBIT by around $22,000,000 In the past year, we missed these effects and also faced strong headwinds from tariffs and currencies. The tariffs imposed by the U. S. Government had a negative impact of roughly $26,000,000 on our EBIT. Around $21,000,000 out of this was attributable to the medical division and around €5,000,000 to the safety division.

7:23 In addition, EBIT was impacted by currency effects initiated from the White House and propagated over the world, totaling to around €45,000,000 Thereof, €38,000,000 attributable to the medical division and around €16,000,000 the safety division. So, overall, we have to compensate opposing effects of more than €90,000,000 The fact that we even overcompensated these effects is a clear proof of our resilience. We were therefore able to improve our profitability even under difficult conditions. Let's take a look at the margin development of recent years on page seven.

8:10 Following the significant loss in 2022, we have shifted our focus from net sales growth to earnings growth. We have thus set ourselves the goal of increasing our EBIT margin by an average of one percentage point per year from 2024. Focus on profitability in accordance with our corporate objective number one has worked well so far. After the strong turnaround in 'twenty three, we were able to improve our EBIT margin by roughly one percentage point in both '24 and '25. While positive one off effects in particular contributed to the improvement in '24, the improvement in '25 came mainly from the operating business. This is a development that we very much welcome.

9:04 And we have our strategic goals. Our corporate objectives two is innovation, and our corporate objective three is systems business and recurring business. Now I would like to hand over to Gerhard Rich to explain our business development further. I will then turn back the dividend and the outlook. Gerhard? Thank you, Stefan. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to everyone joining this conference call for our results for the fiscal year 2025. Please turn to Page six for a view on the Drager Group. As usual, I will be stating currency adjusted figures, and I will relate it referring to both rates. As Stefan mentioned, demand for our technology for life remained strong. Overall, orders increased by 7.7% to around $3,600,000,000 In Q4, orders rose by 5.6%.

10:03 Both divisions contributed to growth in both reporting periods. Net sales climbed by 5.3% in the full year and by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. This was due to good development in both divisions and all regions. Like for orders, the Americas region and the EMEA region were the biggest growth drivers. At around $3,500,000,000 net sales reached 2025, the highest level in the company's history. In addition to the high order intake, this was mainly due to the strong year end results. Benefiting from the record net sales in December and the margin improved within the medical position, our group's gross margin rose slightly by 0.3 percentage points to 45.2% in the full year.

10:59 Functional expenses rose by 4.6% in 2025, after they had been positively impacted by one off effects of around €32,000,000 in the prior year. These effects included the net sale of a nonstrategic business agreement in The Netherlands and the sale of real estate in Spain and The U. S. Excluding these one off effects, the increase in partial expenses in 2025 was only 2.5%. This increase is attributable to higher personnel expenses, which went up due to collective wage increases in Germany and higher number of employees, among other things. Despite the missing positive one off effects in '24 and the negative currency and tariff effects in '25, our EBIT increased by more than 20% to around €233,000,000.

11:58 Consequently, our EBIT margin rose from 5.8% to 6.7%. The mentioned headwinds were overcompensated by the high order intake, the strong net sales momentum, and the improved gross margin. In addition, the strong year end business contributed to the resilient development. Our EBIT improved by around 37% in the fourth quarter, while the EBIT margin climbed to 13.7% from 10.6% in that period. The full year EBIT development is in line with our medium term goal to increase the EBIT margin by one percentage point above average. Guided 2026 EBIT margin includes an additional margin improvement on the higher end of the guidance range.

12:52 As result of the strong increase in earnings, our PVA at 2025 improved by roughly $36,000,000 to around $9,000,000 Let us now take a closer look at the development of the two divisions, starting with the medical division on page 10. Following a slight increase in the prior year, our order intake in the medical division rose by roughly 9% in 2025. This was primarily due to the high demand for our anesthesia machines, ventilators services, and consumables. In addition, we received a major multiyear order for hospital infrastructure systems from Mexico, which significantly supported the above average growth in the Americas region.

13:42 Demand also developed positively in the other regions, particularly EMEA. In the fourth quarter, order intake rose by 2.2% as the decline in APAC and EMEA was overcompensated by significant growth in Americas and Ahheidemaz in Germany. And by growth in all regions, net sales in the medical division increased by 7.4% in 2025 after a decline in the prior year. In Q4, net sales rose by 13%, thanks to considerable growth in EMEA, Americas, and Germany. Net sales in the APAC region were around 3% below the prior year level. Our gross margin in the division rose by 0.6 percentage points to 43.6%.

14:33 The negative currency and tariff effects were overcompensated by the favorable product and country mix. In Q4, one, on the other hand, the gross margin decreased by 0.6 percentage points due to higher inventory write offs. Functional expenses climbed by 5.7% in 2025, having been positively impacted in the prior year by one off effects of around €15,000,000 from the sale of real estate and the adjustment of the put out. Without these effects, the increase in 2025 amounted to only 3.7%, with higher personnel expenses being the main cause.

15:21 The EBIT of the medical division doubled to €57,000,000 after the decline in the prior year. Consequently, the EBIT margin rose from 1.5% to 2.9%. In Q4, the EBIT increased significantly to around 40% to roughly €80,000,000 thanks to the strong year end business. As a result of the strong increase in earnings, our DBA in the medical division improved considerably in 2025 from around minus €50,000,000 minus €23,000,000 I will now turn to our safety division, which delivered another good performance. We are now on page 11.

16:08 Our safety business continues to grow. Volatile intake rose by more than 6% in 2025. This was primarily due to the high demand for engineered solutions and gas detection devices. In addition, respiratory and personal protection products as well as alcohol and drug testing devices contributed. The EMEA and Americas regions recorded a significant increase in orders while the APAC region also developed positively. In Germany, demand declined after we had received a major order for MVC protection filters in the prior year. However, industrial demand in Germany is also generally restrained at present.

16:55 Net sales increased by 2.6% in the fiscal year, driven by positive development in the EMEA and APAC regions. In Germany, net sales were roughly on par with the prior year, while The Americas recorded a decline. In Q4, net sales rose by just under 3% as the decline in The Americas, Germany was overcompensated by the growth in EMEA and APAC. Our gross margin in the division remained stable at 47.3% in 2025 with a negative currency tariff effects being offset by the more favorable product mix and price adjustments. In Q4, the gross margin slightly decreased by 0.2 percentage points.

17:44 Functional expenses went up by roughly 3%, having been positively impacted in the prior year by one off effects of around €17,000,000 from the sale of a nonstrategic business area and from the sale of real estate. Excluding these effects, functional expenses fell by 0.4%. The capitalization of development costs led to a reduction in functional expenses in the reporting year. The EBIT of the Safety Division increased in 2025 by 6.4% to around €176,000,000 while the EBIT margin rose from 11.3% to 11.9. In Q4, the EBIT climbed by around 33% to roughly €77,000,000 as a result of the strong year end business.

18:37 The EBIT margin also improved significantly by four percentage points to 16.5%. Our DBA and Safety division increased by around €9,000,000 to around €113,000,000 coming from around €112,000,000 in the prior year. All in all, a very positive development in our safety business. Let's move on to some key ratios on Page 12. Thanks to the strong growth in earnings, our cash flow from operating activities improved significantly by around €71,000,000 to around €238,000,000 in 2025. At the same time, outflow from investing activities rose from just under €55,000,000 to around €98,000,000 Among other things, this was due to a supplier loan granted at the purchase of further shares in an investment.

19:37 Moreover, the sale of our fire alarm systems business in The Netherlands and the sale of the property in The U. S. Had led to a considerable inflow in 2024. All in all, our free cash flow amounted to around €120,000,000 which is a considerable improvement of around €60,000,000 compared to the prior year. Since free cash flow was on par with net profit, the cash conversion rate amounted to 100, a level we also expect for the current year. As a result of the decrease in free cash flow, cash and cash equivalents rose significantly by about €22,000,000 to €282,000,000 This led to a considerable decline in net financial debt by around 25% to €123,000,000 That said, the ratio of net financial debt to EBITDA declined from 0.5 to 0.3, keeping our leverage at a very healthy level.

20:42 With regard to net financial debt, we expect the figure to increase over the current year. A large distribution center is currently being built in Munich, where we intend to consolidate various logistics warehouses in the future. Driliger will rent the property on a long term basis, with which, under IFRS, results in a higher lease liability. This, together with higher investments, is in turn a key driver for the higher expected net debt in 2026. With an increase of around 4% to €1,700,000 capital employed capital €1,700,000,000 capital employed rose much lower than our EBIT. Therefore, our twelve months return on capital employed went up from 12.1% to 14.2%.

21:34 Net working capital was around 2% higher than in the prior year at around €755,000,000 Due to the good business development in particular, our equity ratio stood at around 52% as of December 31, coming from roughly 50% at the end of the prior year. Let's take a closer look at our EPS on page 13. With the increase in earnings since 2022 that Stefan Reel mentioned at the beginning of his presentation, our EPS has also improved continuously over the past years, coming from around minus €3.50 per share in 2022. Earnings per common share climbed to more than €7.40 in 2025.

22:23 At the same time, our risk per prepared share rose from around minus 3.40 to roughly €7.50 per share. Again, this clearly underlines the progress we are making in improving our profitability. Now I hand back to Stefan Drager for the outlook, starting with our dividend proposal, Page 14. Thank you, Benhav, Nikhav. Well, in line with our dividend policy, we intend to distribute around 30% of our net profit to our shareholders. Since our net profit has increased significantly, we will also increase the dividend significantly again for the third time in a row since 2023. We intend to propose a dividend of 2.21 per common share and €2.27 per preferred share for our annual shareholders meeting in May.

23:21 Our equity ratio is clearly over 15%. Provided that the equity situation remains as positive as it is now, we will continue to distribute at least 30% of our net profit in the coming years. That said, let's move on to our outlook for 2026 on page 15. Ladies and gentlemen, with good demand, record sales, and significantly improved earnings, 2025 was a very successful year. This is even more apparent when you consider the headwind from a difficult economic environment. Our operating business is showing good momentum. Both order intake and order backlog are at a high level.

24:10 We therefore want to increase net sales again in the current fiscal year. In 2026, we expect an increase in net sales from two to 6% of net of currency effects and an EBIT margin between 57.5%. Both divisions are likely to contribute to net sales growth and a positive EBIT. We will continue to counter The U. S. Import tariffs by raising prices. In the past fiscal year, we developed a package of measures to compensate for some of the customs duties. We expect this compensation to be more effective due because of the 2026 fiscal year than before.

24:55 For 'twenty six, we expect the level of custom duties at group levels to be similar to the prior year overall. The burns in the medical division are likely to be significantly higher than in the safety division where we have more possibilities to consolidate and forward with the improved pricing. Corporate planning, therefore, the net sales and EBIT forecast for 'twenty six are based on the assumption that custom duties will remain at the level of the reporting date for the annual financial statement. However, when we recall the Greenland discussion over a certain weekend in this spring, this is not guaranteed, and it motivates us to further pursue increased profitability to be able to miss through the challenges and uncertainties.

25:51 When it comes to the war in Iran, we do not see any material impact on our business so far. We are present in The Middle East with our own Driga people in Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Our local employees are doing well so far. In general, the region remains a growth market for us. Risks on the wall depend heavily on its duration and the regional extent and its impact on the global economy. We are able to mitigate this through our high level of diversification. We are very broadly positioned in terms of markets, products, geographies, business mechanics, and customers.

26:36 This strengthens our resilience and gives us a positive outlook to the future. With this, I would like to end the presentation and hand over to the operator to open the floor for your questions. Please. Participants are requested to use only handsets while asking a question. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question please. And the first question comes from Oliver Reinberg from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.

27:28 Good afternoon. Thanks very much for taking my questions. Three, if I may. Firstly, just on the Middle East situation, I suggest to confirm that you don't expect any kind of larger impact. Can you just confirm that there's also not any kind of expected impact on the developments, basically in terms of supply chains and inflation? That will be question number one. Secondly, can you just provide an update on the ventilation market? We have seen quite some changes, basically with Mindray, I saw with Medtronic and Bayer actually exiting the market, and I think Mindray is now entering in The U. S. Market. I mean, it's also high base. Do you continue to expect actually significant growth in this market segment? Any update on the developments here would be helpful. And then thirdly, as you called out corporate, your objective number three to increase the kind of recurring business at DrRW, can you just provide some kind of flavor of where do you stand these days percentage wise and any kind of target that you can share in that regard? Thank you.

28:32 Well, on The Middle East, Yeah. I confirm that we do not see a material impact of the war on our business at the moment in the foreseeable future, including the supply chain, there is no, not to our knowledge, significant impact on any specific component of production that we can see so far. We have taken some measures in the past to work with our suppliers more carefully with whom we work and have some stocking levels for our inventory for components.

29:35 So, we, of course, cannot compensate for all thinkable effects and will remain interdependent from the world and the supply chain. However, I confirm there is no impact that we can see from the current conflicts in The Middle East. What I do see though is that the energy prices will remain worldwide on the current level and not return to the level they were like six weeks ago, including the electricity gas and fuel at the gas station.

30:23 However, our sensitivity to energy in the area is quite limited, so that has no material effect on our outlook and prognosis. Your second question, Mr. Heinrich, on the ventilation. Yeah, there are two major players that exited the market. And, yeah, Mentray is there. Well, on the other hand, we do not see a significant effect or even, I would say, threat from Ventra having a more comprehensive offer in The U. S.

31:12 Where we see them more and they are more active is in Africa, in remote regions where they have also political, Chinese government has political influence in some the African governments or very obvious direct influence and control among the government in purchasing decisions, there we are out. On the more developed markets, I would not say it is a significant new development threat.

31:57 On a global scale, yes, it is a good copy of the data with a similar offerings and a similar portfolio on both the geographical and scale and the portfolio. So, it is a very viable market companion, but not only on ventilation, but in many modalities to watch geographically mostly in Africa. Your question on our corporate objective number three, which is the development of the business model further from transaction based device selling towards interoperability and systems, business competence and actually doing, including recurring businesses and services based on contracts instead of transactions.

33:07 Yes, we can say that last year we cost the €1,000,000,000 threshold in services and in some countries in Europe, our sales the majority already is in services more than in devices, including our own market in Germany, but some other European countries as well, services sales is greater than devices. Thanks so much. And and can you share any kind of targets, like, where you want to go with this kind of offering? Yeah.

33:52 I think the goal is to go this further as it is a good way to defend our business over a business that is purely on cost, like only some of the business mentioned from mid rise in Africa, when the decision is on cost alone, then we have the largest share of mind and entrenched with the customer in offering a service. Is, he has a better understanding of the customer needs and it's more challenging to replace than if it's on a pure device, the trend is that it may become a commodity.

34:58 Okay, super. Thanks so much. And the next question comes from Harald Ho from MWB Research. Please go ahead. Thank you for taking my question. As we talked about the iron conflict already, just two questions left from my side. The first one is talking about tariffs. The situation has changed significantly. So what does this mean for Drager? And will you apply for reimbursements? And the second question is how has the defense activities developed so far in 2026? Happy to. So firstly, there is a couple of developments.

35:45 Firstly, the court decided that the tariffs that the Trump administration has put in place are not legal. And we have, in fact, also filed for reimbursement. As of today, it is open how fast the courts will decide and when or if reimbursement will, in fact, be paid out. And secondly It's not part of the plan. It's not part of the plan at this point. So if there was a significant op payment that would be upside, so to speak, and the signals have been mixed how quickly that can happen. I think you've read the news.

36:35 Two courts, as far as I remember, have decided they are not allowed to delay it. But so far, nothing has happened. So there is a chance that we can recollect some of our tariffs. Having said that, given that the previous tariffs have been declared illegal, the Trump administration has put in place another set of tariffs which are a little bit lower by five percentage points, but they are intact for the full year instead of just twothree of the year. And if that if when those run out after one hundred and fifty days, there are other potential tariffs to be enacted, The one that may run the so called Section 122 tariffs may be replaced by Section three zero one and Section two zero And we would expect that that will actually take place in the second half of the year. So when it comes to effective tariff burden, we still assume that they will remain in place.

37:48 And as we have seen earlier this year, and as Stephan Drager pointed out, sometimes they leave in the discussion about additional greenland tariffs or not. But so far, we expect actual tariff burns to be of the same magnitude as last year. Okay. And your other question on the defense business, well, in general, we benefit in both divisions. The medical also benefits if they need, for instance, to additionally serve 1,500 wounded soldiers that come per day from the Eastern Front, what they're currently planning for, that needs capacity in the German hospital system or the field hospitals or hospitals aboard warships, but that is regular medical equipment, but we fairly would not directly classify that as defense business. What we do call such is part of the safety portfolio that can be specific products for personal protection,

39:18 like the classical gas mask for a soldier or gas detection equipment, special filters for military vehicles to protect those who protect us and our freedom to operate in our democracy. And last year, around the same time of the year, we predicted that that would actually more than triple until the year 2028 to approximately 300,000,000, while already last year we saw a good development and we crossed the €100,000,000 threshold with these elements of the portfolio and we confirm that we think in 2028 it can be 300 because there are quite some opportunities out there.

40:27 Thanks. Just a quick follow-up. When talking about tariff reimbursement, do you communicate volume? How much is the figure that could be reimbursed? We communicated that we paid €26,000,000 That's actually the net effect. So to the degree that it will be the net effect, it will be in that order. The cost effect is a tad higher, runs around 30,000,000 And that would be the impact if we get full reimbursement without the need to pass on anything to customers in that context. And as I said, at this point, we view that as, well, perhaps not speculative, but we have not received clear indication that we should account for that in the near future, but we will keep you posted, obviously, when that situation changes.

41:30 Okay. Sure. Thanks a lot for these answers. And the next question comes from Pierre Yves Gauthier from Alfa Value. Please go ahead. Yes, good afternoon. Thank you. My question relates to your capital spending. You had quite a big surge in 2025. Is that likely to last? Or is it some sort of a bump that we will not see in 'twenty six, 'twenty seven? Thank you for your answer. Part of the higher investment are due to the loan, which actually has to be accounted for to one of our suppliers, which have to be accounted for under IFRS as an investment. I'm not sure whether that is that actually was one of the reasons for a bump.

42:24 And that will we do not expect a '26 or later. We do, however, as I pointed out in the presentation, have to account for an investment for a rental agreement. Again, that's due to the statement. So all in, we expect an increase in the investment net volume from around $103,000,000 to 110,000,000 to $130,000,000 And the substantial portion is, in fact, the long term rental agreement, which is, as these things are not cash effective for the full amount in the period of 'twenty six, but over the course of the rental agreement.

43:19 Okay. Thank you. And we do have a follow-up question from Oliver Reinberg from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead. Oh, yes. Thanks very much for taking my follow-up. Three, if I may. One on China, can you just provide an update what you see there on the grounds? I mean, it's not a huge market, but any kind of pickup would be helpful to just get the latest dynamics here. Secondly, I think Q1 nearly comes to an end. Any kind of light you can share how you start into the year? And then last question, just on currencies. I mean, if I think in the last call, we guided for quite a significant impact. If currencies stay where they currently are, can you just give us any kind of flavor what kind of isolated margin impact you have? Thank you. Well, I can Stefan Zurcher speaking. I can I pick the start in '26, where we started with a good order backlog after the order intake?

44:17 The fourth quarter was also very good. And so, with this, we had a good start in '26, and order intake and sales at this moment is according to our expectations and planning. So, it's on the way to deliver on our forecast and prognosis. And with regards to the FX development, in addition to the headwind that we had at '25, we overall see a further deterioration, but not by another similar amount.

45:07 Our currency headwind, when we look at net sales, is around one percentage point. And when it comes to the EBIT margin, it's between 30 to 60 basis points. I think, Mr. Hendrik, this is important to figure in when you compare our actual '25 result, in particular, the EBIT margin and the prognosis for '26 because the prognosis for '26 and the whole planning for '26 is based on less favorable exchange rates. So if these develop and they would be the same as last year's actual exchange rates, then the outcome, of course, would be better than the current forecast and prognosis. But it's, from our perspective, not safe to assume that it would be the same, and so we have our best guess included into the planning, and that is the major reason why our forecast does not show a stronger improvement because our goal is to improve our profitability by one percentage point per year

46:39 on average. That is unchanged. China? Yeah, China. We didn't touch China. There is no relevant news on that. That is relatively stable and continues to be on a much lower level than it used to. Okay, Subhan. Thanks very much indeed for the follow-up. So it looks like there are no further questions.

47:26 So I would like to turn the conference back over to Stefan Drager for any closing remarks. Well, thank you very much for all of you being with us today during the results conference for 'twenty five. Thank you for your questions and the interaction. We look forward to meeting you again either online or preferably some point in time in the not too distant future in person. Have a pleasant afternoon and evening. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now concluded and you may disconnect. Thank you for joining and have a pleasant day. Goodbye.