Polytec Holding (Vienna:PYT) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Ladies and gentlemen, we warmly welcome you to the earnings call regarding the Q1 figures of 2026 of the Polytec Holding AG. I'm pleased to welcome Polytec's CFO, Markus Muilberg and ER manager, Paul Rettenbacher, who will guide us through the presentation shortly. After the presentation, we will move on to a q and a session. And with having said this, I'm handing over to you, Markus.

0:29 Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us for today's investor and analyst conference call on Polytec Quarter one Results twenty twenty six. Today, I will give you an update and present the figures for the first quarter of the twenty twenty six financials. Since we presented the figures and the development of the past financial year only two weeks ago, my presentation will now rather be short, and I will concentrate on the figures of quarter one. For all those who want to familiarize themselves with the earning figures and the development of the Polytec Group for the past fiscal year, we have retained the slides for 2025 fiscal year in the back of this presentation. To remind you briefly, in 2025, Polytec Group has clearly achieved the operational turnaround and was able to improve almost every financial KPI.

1:26 We've achieved our outlook and even exceeded and could report positive earnings after taxes. This means that we are once again in a position to propose to the Annual General Meeting that a dividend of $2.00 shall be paid for the 2025 fiscal year. The Annual General Meeting will be held on the June 2 at the company's headquarters in Hersching, Austria. Maybe one or the other of you will also take part. After reporting the positive earnings development of the 2025 fiscal year end of April, the figures for the first quarter twenty twenty six have confirmed the progress of the improvement. The level of sales volume will be lower in fiscal year twenty twenty six due to the divestment of the operating business in The UK, the sale of a plant in Belgium and the closure of the Weirbach plant in Germany.

2:20 We have repeatedly pointed this out. Let's have a look on the financial figures. Again, we were able to improve our KPIs compared to the first three months in 2025. Our consolidated sales revenues in the first quarter twenty twenty six amounted to €143,700,000 It was down by 20% or €38,000,000 on the previous year's first three months. The group's significantly lower total sales compared to the same quarter of the previous year are due to the divestment of the operating business in The United Kingdom as of end of December twenty twenty five and lower sales in the smart plastic and industrial application market area.

3:07 While sales of commercial vehicles market area gained 5%, in contrast, sales in the passenger cars and light commercial vehicles are declined by 20%. Revenues in the smart plastic industrial applications market area fell by around 0.5 or €11,000,000 to almost €10,000,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty six compared to the previous year. Declines in sales were recorded at one major customer. A much better development showed the earnings figures. The EBITDA margin increased significantly by two percentage points from 6% to 8% compared to the first three months of the previous year. The EBITDA improved by approximately 6% to 11,500,000 The material expenses decreased by 29% compared to the previous year's period.

4:00 The material ratio was five percentage points lower and reached 49%. Personnel expenses dropped by around 12%, and the personnel ratio reached 36%. As of 03/31/2026, the Polytec groups employed 3,076 people. The number of employees was reduced by 17% or six thirty three people. In Germany, two zero eight FTEs were reduced. The significant reduction is mainly due to the divestment of the operational business in The UK in December 2025, which led to a reduction of three sixty three FTEs compared to end of March twenty twenty five.

4:48 The EBIT margin increased by 1.2 percentage points to 3% compared to first quarter of previous year. As a result, the EBIT amounted to €4,300,000 in the first quarter of twenty twenty six, up by 35%, coming from €2,300,000 in the year before. A positive trend as well within the financial result, which amounted to minus €1,300,000 coming from minus €2,100,000 year on year. Following these improvements, earnings after tax increased by €1,500,000 and finally amounted to €2,500,000 which is more than doubled than the year before. Headline is clear: strong balance sheet KPIs also in Q1 of the current year.

5:39 To further strengthen our balance sheet, major focus on the last two years was our net debt, where we achieved a rapid reduction. As of end of March twenty twenty six, net debt amounted to EUR 29,900,000. It decreased by 60 percent or EUR 44,000,000 compared to last year. The notional debt repayment period amounted to zero point five eight years, and the gearing ratio showed 0.13. Both KPIs are very good and laid a foundation for further investments. At a solid level for many years, the equity ratio was 46.2% at the end of December twenty twenty five. Three months later, equity ratio further increased and reached 48.6%, 2.4 percentage points higher than in the end of twenty twenty five.

6:33 Average capital employed fell significantly by almost 11% or around €30,000,000 to €249,500,000 compared to the first quarter twenty twenty five. As a result, combined with the higher EBIT, return on capital employed improved substantially by 6.4 percentage points to 8.4 versus quarter one twenty twenty five. As of end of March, the Polytec Group had cash balance of EUR 44,000,000, 29% more than one year ago. After looking back at the figures for the first quarter, let's keep an eye on the future. Of course, the outlook for fiscal year twenty twenty six has not changed within the last two weeks, repeated again for the sake of completeness.

7:22 From today's perspective, the management of Polytec Holding AG expects planned consolidated sales revenues in the range of EUR $560,000,000 to $590,000,000 for the 2026 financial year. The Polytec Group's lower total sales compared to previous years are due to the divestment of the operational business in UK as of end of December twenty twenty five and the closure of the Weibach plant end of this April. With regard to the margin development, the company expects a stable or slightly improved earnings situation despite the lower total sales and is aiming for an EBIT margin of around 3% for the 2026 financial year. And the company intends to pay an annual dividend again in the future.

8:11 In terms of sales revenues in the automotive sector, the Polytec Group expects only low organic growth for 2026 against the backdrop of geopolitical risks, production overcapacities in the European automotive market and intensified cutthroat competition. Although the group sales will be lower into 2026 financial years as result of the above mentioned effects. We are convinced that this temporary lower sales level will be offset by new projects in the nonautomotive sector in the medium term, and sales revenue will grow again. Our corporate goals are supported by a solid balance sheet with and solid equity ratio, low net debt and a high level of confidence from financing partners.

8:59 Finally, we would like to thank all shareholders for their trust and for investing in Polytec Holding AG. This was our statement on the results of quarter one twenty twenty six financial year. Thank you very much for your attention. Yes. I'll you very much. And we move on to the q and a session. And, therefore, we stop the recording.