technotrans Stock

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 the 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 demand.

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 printing, we secured a follow-up order for packaging printing. 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 improved the 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. 3 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, support 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 alternative 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 on 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 conditions -- 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. 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 in 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 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. [indiscernible]. Please, Mr. [indiscernible].

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 -- 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?

No, it's -- as I said, it's the hard work, which is paying off now. Such a long-term high-volume order is not coming out of sudden. It is a long process in developing first samples, adjusting customer solutions, et cetera and going through all those processes and validation tests until you can really secure such an order. And we have started to work on that, let's say, 9 to 12 months ago. And last week, it became reality that we could win this serial business. We first delivered some prototypes, but at the end, for us, the big goal was also to get the high-volume business for the future. And as I said, this is hard work, 9 to 12 months in the past as we have started the process and happy to show these great results today in the call.

Yes. Congratulations, definitely. In terms of the order volume, I didn't see this in the initial press release. I may have overlooked it. But what you said is, if I get it correctly, you're saying a double-digit million revenue contribution per year on a recurring basis. Do you -- can you already give an indication in terms of the Q3 order impact from this major order?

So as I said, we will start industrializing this now. We start setting up our production according to the plan for next year and beyond. And we expect first volumes to deliver in Q4, but the -- for the ramp-up for 2027. But the full impact, you'll see next year.

And the order number basically will then only show up basically in conjunction with the revenue as well? Or how is that from...

Sure. So the order number, as I said before, in the EUR 96 million, nothing is reflected yet. So once we have the first call-offs for the remaining year, then you will see it probably in the next call in the call-offs in the order intake for Q4. But at the moment, no of the numbers is in the books.

Got it. Very clear. And then my last complex set of complex questions would be in terms of the CDUs and the cooling for your data center business. You -- did I hear correctly, you are currently ramping the fourth line while introducing the third line in May? What's the outlook for here -- from here basically? Is it -- are you already thinking about a fifth or potentially even a sixth line into the second half?

Yes, that's exactly true. So indeed, we have started launching this line #3 after our AGM. Now it's line #4, which is already running. And indeed, we are planning to increase our capacities even further by adding line by line according to the positive momentum we see in the market and Q3 looks already quite positive, and we hope more to come. So if the positive momentum is continuing like this, we will add more and more lines to our factory. And as we said before, this is exactly the reason why we are adding a complete new factory to fulfill future demands.

That's very clear. And in the current setup, how many lines could you add to a maximum?

We have not a complete hard cut here as we can shift volumes across other locations. So for us, we are not limited in space. We will shift business around to other locations if necessary. And if we need more space in the meantime, as the new factory is not online, we can still use our facility in Steinhagen, which gives us flexibility.

Thank you very much, Mr. [indiscernible] from my side as well. And as I do not see any raised hands currently, please let me turn to some written questions we received. We received them from Stefan. And the first one is, despite a 6% decline in revenue, you managed to stabilize its EBIT margin in the first half of the year. To what extent did efficiency measures and product mix effects contribute to this? What savings do you expect from efficiency measures in the second half of the year?

Yes. So we are continuously working on improving our efficiency, of course. And for the future, we also expect additional savings from efficiency.

Okay. Thank you. And the next question refers to the Plastics business. In the Plastics business, you were able to secure a long-term production contract. What contribution to revenue do you expect this to make in the current fiscal year? I think you answered this already. Do you see a broad-based recovery in customer demand in the Plastics business?

Yes. So first question is already answered. That's true. Second one, yes, we see a positive momentum kicking into the market. That reflects also the other cooling plant order business we could show. This is a number of large cooling plants we could win, which will be materialized indeed in this year. Even if they are also not in the numbers, we will see those orders in 2026. And we are also bidding for new business, and we hope to have -- we can keep this positive momentum ongoing also for the future. But at the moment, it looks quite okay.

Okay. The next one refers to data centers. Can you give us a rough estimate of revenue for the data center business expected in 2026? Is profitability at the group level or already higher?

Yes. So as I said before, we are having indeed a positive momentum. We have exceeded our revenue already by mid of 2026 compared to the entire business 2025, and it will keep going like that. And regarding margins, we don't disclose any margins on product level, but we are fine with it.

Thank you. The next question refers to the order backlog. What percentage of the order backlog will be converted into revenue in the second half of the year?

100%.

Okay. Thank you. And then this brings me to the last question of Mr. Maichl. You've confirmed the revenue target range of EUR 240 million to EUR 260 million for 2026. However, the upper end and the midpoint of the range imply revenue growth of 19% and 11%, respectively, for the second half of the year. Given the economic situation, this seems rather ambitious. Wouldn't you, therefore, expect annual revenue to fall more towards the lower half of the target range?

I think I've answered that as well. Given the market conditions, we indeed would assume that if we are not playing in an idle world, we see the revenue in the lower half of the range. That's already stated.

Thank you very much, Michael. So are there any additional questions from the audience? As this is not the case, please let me hand back to Michael for the closing remarks.

And thank you also from our side for the questions and for the good dialogue today. Our next reporting date is on November 10, where we show our Q3 results. And in addition, we will participate on a lot of conferences like the conference in Hamburg in August 27, Berenberg Conference in Munich, September 22 and the German Equity Forum as usual in November 23 and 24th of November, and we would be happy to meet you there.

Should you have any questions, as usual, please get back to us or send any questions back to Frank. And also on behalf of Natascha and on Frank, I would like to thank you for contributing to this call, for your trust and for your interest in technotrans. Thank you very much. Goodbye, and talk to you soon.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

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.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and a very warm welcome to our webcast on the results of the 2025 financial year of technotrans. My name is Frank Dernesch, and I'm Head of Investor Relations and Treasury. Today, I am pleased to introduce our CEO, Michael Finger; and our CFO, Natascha Sander, who will guide you through the group's performance during the period under review and provide an outlook for the current financial year.

Over the course of this webcast, we will cover 4 main topics. First, the highlights of the 2025 financial year; second, the development in our focus markets; third, the financial performance of the group in detail; and fourth, our strategic road map and the outlook for 2026. After the presentation, the Board members are looking forward to answering your questions in a Q&A session.

Before we begin, please note that the following presentation contains 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, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.

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. 2025 was a great year for technotrans, and it was a landmark year. We have successfully completed our strategy, which we have established in 2020. Now 5 years later, we are Future Ready. We've made our homework. We have developed into a specialist in thermal management, and we are well positioned in growing markets, and we have a strong, lean and market-driven organization in place. And we have delivered strong financial results. I want to thank everyone and give credit to the team who worked very hard to achieve this.

Despite a still challenging macroeconomic environment, we improved our operational performance significantly. Group revenue increased to EUR 244 million. Key revenue drivers were again Energy Management, Healthcare & Analytics and Print. At the same time, the quality of our earnings improved substantially. EBIT increased by almost 40% to EUR 17.3 million, and the EBIT margin rose significantly to 7.1%. And important to highlight, we have generated now 5 quarters in a row, a stable EBIT margin on a level of plus/minus 7%, which underpins the positive development of our company. Another highlight is the strong development of our capital efficiency. ROCE, the return on capital employed increased to 16.8% and absolutely worth to highlight our all-time high in free cash flow.

With EUR 16.6 million, we have nearly doubled this important parameter compared to last year. All this clearly demonstrates that technotrans is able to transform revenue growth into profitability and cash generation. Our business model creates operational leverage. This will further enhance profitability as revenue continue to grow. If we now look back to 2025, we saw different dynamics in the development of our markets. While some industries continue to face cyclical challenges, others benefit from a strong demand from the market. We saw another year of outperformance in Energy Management and in Healthcare Analytics as well. Energy Management could show 10% growth in 2025 and step up to the third largest focus market. And please keep in mind, we have developed this market almost from scratch in the last 5 years.

Another outperformance we saw in Healthcare Analytics last year, 40% growth showing the huge potential in this market. Also Print developed well last year. With 4% growth rate, we could beat the market trend. At the same time, plastics and lasers remained under pressure due to challenging economic environment. Facing these developments, it once again demonstrates the importance of our diversified market portfolio. Let me briefly go through the highlights of 2025. Energy Management is clearly benefiting from megatrends. AI electrification, digitalization, they are the main drivers for future growth in this area.

We have continued to expand our market position. We are in a market-leading position in Europe for battery thermal management systems for railway and for electric buses. In 2025, we saw a great order development. We announced major orders over the course of last year. And we have been successful in applications such as Space communication, where we have won a first big order.

Another important growth driver is our data center business. With the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, the demand for efficient thermal management solutions in data center continues to rise. Based on current discussions in the market, we estimate that only around 10% to 15% of data centers are equipped with liquid cooling technologies. However, this share is expected to increase significantly. The demand for liquid cooling is growing approximately 3x faster than for traditional air cooling. We currently assume an annual market growth rate of around 35% for liquid cooling in data centers in the coming years. We have established a strong position in this field, and we have a promising collaboration with a large customer in place.

Our series production is running very well. We have doubled our capacity last year and more to come. And we are winning. We are getting constantly new orders. Last year, we could grow our data center business to a high single-digit million euro range. Considering the strong market growth, we see cooling for data center as an outstanding attractive opportunity for technotrans in the coming years. We believe that the phase of high growth is still ahead of us, but it is still not possible to predict the exact timing of the inflation point. Nevertheless, the positive trend, the number and the size of opportunities are growing. As a logical next step, we are preparing for future growth by adding a new factory in Sassenberg.

This is important to be ready for production when volume kicks in. Healthcare Analytics is another promising focus market. The increasing demand for precise and reliable cooling solutions in laboratory, analytical and semiconductor applications create attractive growth opportunities. A growth rate of 40% in 2025 is underpinning this, as already mentioned. We are constantly working on new products such as the latest Peltier Chiller. This new product for laboratories works very silent without any refrigerants and vibrations.

Our Cleanroom at our Baden-Baden factory is operating at full capacity. This high-tech area is making the difference when it comes to high precision in tolerances. And for this year, we expect another good year for Healthcare Analytics in a stable market environment. In Print, we were able to further strengthen our position in 2025. Main drivers are still Packaging, Flexo and Digital Printing. We have won new business with a Japanese customer for digital printing, just to mention one highlight here. With the new program, we increased revenue and our market presence in Japan. In addition, we could close a framework contract with our long-term customer, Windmöller & Hölscher, for an ink supply system.

Looking into this year, our customers in Print are faced with consequences of a weak U.S. dollar and U.S. tariffs. We also saw insolvencies like Manroland or Multi-Color in the U.S. This will have an impact on our business in the first half. In the second half, we expect a stabilized situation in Print. For plastics, 2025 was another tough year. This market was still under pressure because of the challenging economic environment, particularly for larger cooling systems. Nevertheless, we have used the time and we have worked hard to improve our competitive position. We have developed new products and features such as intelligent process stabilizations in injection molding with new Fuzzy controllers. We are very well positioned in temperature control units as we have big cooling plants in place where energy efficiency and natural refrigerants are making the difference. We have got a great response from the K Show last year, where we have presented our newest products and also our systems.

And once the investment activities are picking up, we expect plastics to contribute positively to future growth. First signs of a moderate recovery are already visible in the first 2 months of this year. And finally, Laser in Laser market, the market conditions remained challenging. The standard Laser market is facing competitive pressure from Chinese suppliers. In parallel, precise cooling is no longer the critical impact for these applications. Therefore, we are focusing on technological demanding applications such as cooling solutions for semiconductor products or other high-tech precision laser systems where cooling is the critical difference.

These applications offer entry barriers and attractive long-term opportunities for the future. As presented on our Capital Market Day in October last year, Laser will no longer be a focus market for the financial year 2026 onwards. Sales will be allocated to the remaining focus markets on the basis of technological and on market criteria. The detailed reconciliation is presented in our annual report. Another highlight of the last year was definitively our Capital Market Day in October last year. We were honored to host more than 40 external guests. Main focus was a summary of our strategy, Future Ready 2025 and the presentation of our new strategy Ready For Growth. The new strategy builds on the process achieved and describes how strong we can grow until 2030.

However, before I go into more detail about our future growth, I'd like to hand over to Natascha. She will guide you through our financial performance of last year in more detail. Natascha, please.

Thank you, Michael. Good morning, and a warm welcome also from my side. Before diving into the details of our financial performance in the year '25, I would like to highlight the following. '25 was a successful year for technotrans. All main financial KPIs improved significantly. We achieved great results, a strong increase in profitability and a record level of free cash flow generation. Let's have a look at the details now. In the financial year '25, technotrans generated group revenue of EUR 244 million. This corresponds to a moderate increase by 2.5% compared to the previous year's revenues of EUR 238.1 million.

This development reflects the differentiated demand situation across our markets and the importance of diversification. As Michael outlined, our focus markets, Energy Management, Healthcare Analytics and Print developed strongly and overcompensated the weaknesses of plastics and laser. Turning to profitability. EBIT increased by 40% to EUR 17.3 million compared to EUR 12.3 million in the previous year. Accordingly, the EBIT margin rose significantly from 5.2% to 7.1%. Looking at the quarterly development, we closed the year with a strong EBIT margin of 7.4% in Q4.

The substantial improvement in profitability reflects the increasing efficiency of our operational setup, our focus on attractive product portfolio and the improved scalability of our business. Restructuring costs that burdened last year were not relevant in '25. Let's take a look at the performance of our segments. The Technology segment generated an increase in revenue by 3.9% to EUR 184.6 million. Main growth drivers were Energy Management, Healthcare Analytics and Print. EBIT of Technology more than doubled to EUR 8.2 million. The EBIT margin of Technology rose strongly to 4.4% from 2% in the previous year as a result of scaling effects and optimized product mix and efficiency improvements. The Services segment generated revenue of EUR 59.4 million.

Compared to last year, the top line declined slightly by 1.7% due to the weak service business in our focus markets, Plastics. EBIT in Services segment increased to EUR 9.3 million. Accordingly, the EBIT margin went up from 14.7% to 15.6% and once again demonstrated the strong profitability and resilience of our service business. Let's turn to capital efficiency and cash flow now. ROCE improved strongly by 5 percentage points to 16.8%, clearly above previous year and above our guided corridor, which was in a range between 13% and 16%. At the same time, free cash flow almost doubled from EUR 8.5 million to EUR 16.6 million in '25.

With this result, free cash flow reached a new all-time high. This outstanding performance is driven by a substantial increase in our profitability as well as consequent and efficient working capital management. These results confirm the increasing efficiency and capital discipline of our business model. Let me add some further details regarding the development of profitability. On the back of efficiency improvement and an optimized product mix, gross profit increased by 10.5% to EUR 70.3 million (sic) [ EUR 71.3 million ] compared to EUR 64.5 million in previous year. Consequently, the gross margin improved sharply to 29.2% coming from 27.1%. EBITDA rose strongly by 26% to EUR 24.2 million, resulting in a remarkable EBITDA margin of 9.9%. Net profit also increased by 57%, reaching EUR 11.5 million versus EUR 7.3 million in the previous year. As a result, earnings per share improved significantly and amounted EUR 1.66 compared to EUR 1.06 in the previous year.

Based on our strong financial performance and in accordance with our long-standing dividend policy, the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting a dividend of EUR 0.83 per share for the financial year '25. This corresponds to an increase of around 57% compared to the previous year's dividend of EUR 0.53. In addition, the proposed dividend is the highest since 2020 and reflects an increase of 130% over time. This is a clear result of the successful implementation of our Future Ready 2025 strategy. With this proposal, we continue our reliable and shareholder-oriented dividend policy while maintaining sufficient financial flexibility for further growth investments.

Finally, let's move to our balance sheet and capital structure. Technotrans continues to maintain a very solid financial position. Our equity ratio further improved from 60.5% to 65.1%, underlining the strong financial stability and the resilience of the group. Due to strong cash generation, combined with high debt repayments, we continued to reduce our net debt significantly to EUR 8.3 million at the end of the financial year coming from EUR 18.5 million.

Consequently, our leverage expressed as net debt to EBITDA improved substantially from 0.97 to 0.34. The outstanding development of these figures demonstrates the strong balance sheet structure of technotrans and provides financial flexibility to continue investing in growth opportunities while maintaining a stable dividend policy. To sum it up from a financial perspective, in '25, technotrans significantly improved profitability, strengthened capital efficiency and achieved a record free cash flow despite the ongoing challenging geopolitical and economic environment.

Overall, the company is on a very solid financial foundation, which is also reflected in the strong equity ratio and a very low leverage. Supported by our solid financial position, we are well positioned to continue our profitable growth. The focused execution of our Ready for Growth 2030 strategy remains our key priority.

With that said, I would now like to hand back to Michael.

Thank you very much, Natascha. And that was the year 2025. We saw a strong financial performance. With the strategy, Future Ready, we've made our homework, and that was hard work. And just a final short recap. Future Ready was a complete transformation of our company. We went through a 4x post-merger integration process by integrating all the acquisitions from the past. We have set a focus on thermal management and growing markets following by implementing a strong and market-driven organization.

We have invested in new products and in new technologies, and we have established technotrans as a strong brand. This transformation strengthened our organization, simplified structures, increased efficiency and created a clear market focus. Now 5 years later, we are future-ready. The results are visible, as you could see in last year's numbers. We are ready for the next phase. We are now ready for growth. With our core technology, thermal management, we are well positioned in growth markets. Growth is the title of our strategy and it is the direction of the upcoming years.

And as Natascha said, now we need to execute on the new strategy. Our objective is to position technotrans as a leading global technology partner for intelligent thermal management systems in attractive growth markets. Our growth will be accelerated by global megatrends like AI, digitalization or electrification. In 2030, we are aiming for a revenue of more than EUR 350 million with an EBIT margin between 9% and 12%. This is our midterm goal. And we have a clear and detailed road map for every year until 2030. Let's start with the running year 2026.

Having said, we have a clear plan for every year, we still need to take the current development of the geopolitical and economical situation into account. The unexpected escalation in the Middle East, the challenging environment in Print and other developments, which we have outlined before, will still have a short-term impact on our business. However, we expect that the overall economic situation will stabilize in the second half of this year. And we have reflected these realities in our forecast. In parallel, the positive momentum, especially in Energy Management and Healthcare Analytics continues. The pipeline for new business is encouraging. That looks promising for the rest of the year and even beyond.

For 2026, we expect a revenue between EUR 240 million and EUR 260 million with an EBIT margin of between 6.5% and 8.5%. Beginning with this year, free cash flow replaces ROCE as a primary KPI. Free cash flow is expected to be slightly above EUR 10 million. It reflects upfront investments at the end of this year in material to support the strong ramp-up for series production in Energy Management, and it excludes investment for the new factory for energy management here in Sassenberg.

So to sum it up, we finished a great year 2025. Times are tough and unpredictable at the moment. This may have a short-term impact, but we are much more resilient than in the past. The general direction remains the same. We will grow driven by megatrends. Therefore, we are investing. We are investing in our people, in our products and our production footprint.

And with this said, I would like to hand over to Frank to open the Q&A. Thank you very much.

Yes. Thank you very much, Michael. And ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our presentation. We will now open the floor for your questions. [Operator Instructions] So the first one is Mr. Brach. You've raised your hand. Please go ahead.

So my question is on the outlook and especially the guided acceleration in growth in the second half, also in the focus markets, print and plastic. Is that also based on current customer orders or maybe statements from customers? Or is it like only based on an overall economic improvement in the second half?

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Brach for the question. The outlook is mainly based on the current situation and on the general trend we have highlighted, for example, in the print area. If we look to insolvencies like Manroland out of a sudden or Multi-Color in the U.S., another print company, this has, of course, an impact of our short-term print business and will be reflected in the first half.

In the second half, as we said, we see a relaxing situation. So that this was part of our guidance process. And for the other areas, as mentioned in the presentation, we still see a very stable market in Healthcare Analytics, and we still see strong growth in Energy Management, which will also grow in times of uncertainty. .

Okay. My second one is on the Service segment, which decreased slightly in the last year due to, I think plastic was the main segment you highlighted. Will this trend continue on the back of lower plastics revenue also in '26? Or was there any one-off we should be aware, which drove down revenue in the Services segment?

Well, service shows a positive momentum in the last months, and we hope to keep this positive momentum up and running also despite the situation we have outlined last year. So at the moment, we are fine with Service and the development in this area.

Okay. And my last one, you flagged an increasing inventory for Energy Management into late 2026. Does this imply that you already see a further acceleration of segment growth into 2027?

Yes. If we look to our order pipeline or on our quoting pipeline in that area, it looks like that we see an increase in volume in the upcoming year and beyond. And therefore, we need to invest in space and capacity. And that is back to the point with the inflation point I've mentioned in my speech. We can't predict it 100%, but this inflation point means the kick in of high volumes. And we know that it will come. We did not know exactly by when, but we see already that positive momentum has kicked into the market. And even if we don't see it directly at the beginning of next year, it will come over the last -- over the next couple of years. And therefore, we need space to be ready to deliver. If we would not invest, we are not able to support our customers with volume. And that is the reason why we are adding a new factory, and that is the reason why we're also planning for material to put into our logistics and activate the supply chain to be ready to production when it comes to reality.

Yes. Thank you, Mr Brach. I see another raised hand by Stefan Augustin. Mr. Augustin, please.

Thank you very much for taking the question. Actually, first, a little bit back to the big dinosaur in the room. So it is fair to state that you would consider yourself in the quotings in more advanced stages on the Energy Management and the data center cooling parts?

Yes.

Nice to hear. And also, is it fair to assume that if we look at the working capital ramp-up you imply in the second half in '26, I mean that this is more or less very much up to completely driven by your projected Energy Management ramp-ups as, I mean, print, laser, plastics probably don't grow that much and Healthcare is quite quick and not demanding that much working capital probably. Is that also a fair conclusion?

Yes. That's another fair conclusion as well as we have also outlined this in our presentation. It's mainly due to the growth in Energy Management.

Yes. And then maybe a housekeeping thing. How much CapEx have you -- or do you expect for the Sassenberg expansion in '26? Is that still a high single-digit million amount?

At the moment, we are still in the planning phase for the new facility, and we expect to start the construction at the beginning of next year. So the CapEx this year will be in a, yes, low 1-digit million amount. And we expect the main CapEx volume in '26 and in the year '27. So for this year, just a small volume.

Is this a delay versus the prior plans? And what caused that?

No, we are on track. We've kicked the process off on time. And we need some planning for logistics and for material flow and also to set up the right framework for the -- in German [Foreign Language]. And everything is on track. And we may start a little bit earlier, but guiding conservatively, we can't influence the local authorities who need to release it finally, but we are fully on track with our assumptions at the moment.

Okay. The next is then on the tax rate. tax rate has been below 30% this year. Is that fair to assume that we will stay below the 30% if we go forward?

So for '26, we expect a little increase, but for the years afterwards, we expect another decrease in the tax rate. So this year, we had some special impacts. Our deferred tax income reduced due to the German [indiscernible] reform, the update of the income tax. And yes, for next year, we expect a little increase.

Okay. And maybe finally...

The tax rate is also depending on the tax rates of the different countries where we generate our income. And this year, we had higher income in countries with lower tax rate compared to the average. Those are the main drivers.

And lastly, maybe with that higher free cash flow, you won't have a debt problem going forward. But if -- just to understand your thinking here, if you make the investments for Sassenberg going forward, could that ever have an impact on your dividend payout ratio? Or would you be willing to increase the leverage temporarily again if -- on the back of the expected CapEx and keep the payout ratio stable?

Yes. So looking at the payout ratio last year in the Capital Markets Day in October here in Sassenberg, we also announced our dividend policy, and we want to keep the dividend policy stable with a rate of 50% dividend payment to our shareholders.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Augustin. Currently, I do not see other raised hands. So let's turn to some written questions. The first one was submitted by Mr. [ Gebert ], and I would -- will read it now. Regarding your activities in the semiconductor market, how is technotrans positioning its cooling solutions to meet the increasing thermal management demands of the next generation of the high-NA EUV lithography and related wafer testing systems? Could you quantify the revenue potential you see in EUV and semiconductor testing segment over the next 2 to 3 years, please?

Thank you very much, Mr. Gebert. A very interesting and broad question. Let's start with what we are doing. We are producing since years the cooling, the critical cooling for the laser source in EUV applications itself. And on top of that, in our Cleanroom production in Baden-Baden, the cooling systems for the mirrors for the EUV business under vacuum conditions as well. So what are we doing for meeting the test specification? That is a really good question, and we have worked a lot on this.

We have won 2 new customers in this area across all the divisions to -- which are supplying critical systems for testing semiconductor business under various conditions. And it depends on the cooling capacity, on the tolerances and on the temperature in both directions. And this is, for us, a new area to grow, and we expect growth rates -- yes, we haven't disclosed that yet, but we expect decent growth rates in the next 2, 3 years. We may come up with a more precise number once we can see when the business is industrialized and is kicking into production. But of course, this is a growing area of business for us.

Yes. Thank you very much, Michael. We have received 2 additional questions by Stefan Maichl. The first question is, what possible direct implications does the war in Iran have for your sales expectations and the stability of your supply chain?

Yes. First of all, this is a crystal ball question for sure. The direct impact for sales is quite low as we have no business -- no significant business in the area of Middle East. The supply chain potentially directly is also quite low, the direct impact. But what we don't can forecast at the moment, same than taxes and tariffs in April last year is the indirect impact of our customers in that regard. What we see is that this war has created a high level of uncertainty. And even areas like energy demanding industries are struggling at the moment with their forecast. And with that, it may impact also technotrans. And that was the reason why we have highlighted that also in our presentation and baked it with some uncertainties also in our further and future projection.

Okay. Thank you very much, Michael. Then the second question from Mr. Maichl is, what position has technotrans adopted in relation to the defense business?

In one of our last calls, we stated that as long as we have no significant stake in defense, we are not disclosing anything. At the moment, we have no activities which are fair to disclose.

Okay. Thank you very much. So are there any further questions? I do not see any more raised hands. Are there any further questions? So this is not the case right now. And yes, so please let me hand back to our CEO, Michael Finger.

Yes. Thanks for your questions today. As you know, our next reporting date will be May 12, where we present the figures of the first quarter of this year. And on May 29, we have our AGM in Munster in the Halle Münsterland as usual, and we would be very happy to welcome you there again. And in case of any further questions, please come back to us as usual and also in the name of -- on behalf of my colleague, Natascha. I want to thank you for your continued support and interest in technotrans. And for today, we are closing the call. Thank you for joining us, and take care, and goodbye.

Thank you. Bye-bye.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our webcast on the first 9 months of the 2025 financial year. My name is Frank Dernesch, and I'm Head of Investor Relations and Treasury at technotrans. Today with me are our CEO, Michael Finger; and our CFO, Natascha Sander.

Today's agenda is as follows: Our CEO, Michael Finger, will begin with an overview and the highlights, followed by the performance in our focus markets. Then Natascha Sander will explain the financials in detail. After that, Michael will describe our new midterm strategy Ready for Growth 2030 and the forecast for 2025. After the prepared remarks, we will open the floor for your questions. Please note this presentation contains forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ due to risks and uncertainties. Now I'm pleased to hand over to our CEO, Michael Finger. Michael, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Frank, and a warm welcome from me as well. After a very strong first half, I'm pleased to present another strong quarter, and that despite a continued news flow of uncertainties, we continued our growth path, strengthened our position in key markets and significantly improved our profitability.

Revenue grew by 4.6% to EUR 183.5 million. EBIT increased by 68% to EUR 12.8 million. Accordingly, EBIT margin improved to 7%. ROCE rose significantly from 10.8% to 16.3%. So ROCE is already above our guidance. Another strong point for me is the free cash flow. Free cash flow increased from EUR 0.2 million last year up to EUR 8 million in this quarter. This was great teamwork.

Our positive momentum continued also in order -- to the order situation. The order backlog is at EUR 86 million, and we see a book-to-bill ratio of 1.1, another indicator for continued growth. In total, I'm pleased with the third quarter and with our performance in the first 9 months. We keep moving technotrans in a positive direction. We have improved all key financial parameters. Revenue is growing, EBIT margins improved, strong ROCE and a strong free cash flow. At this time, I want to give credit to our team to a job very well done. Before I will give you an overview of the revenue development in our markets, let me share 5 highlights.

The first one is from Print. We signed an exclusive framework agreement with our customer, Windmöller & Hölscher. Windmöller & Hölscher is the global leader in flexo printing. We have acquired orders in the low double-digit million euro range for our Turboclean ink system. This partnership strengthened our position in packaging print, deepens our relationship to Windmöller & Hölscher and enhances the visibility of our technology as an industrial benchmark.

Finally, it's worth to mention that this order creates a stable revenue corridor for our Print business for the upcoming years.

The second one is really new and strategically important. We won a big order in space communication for liquid cooling systems. The systems are used in satellite ground communication, and this success demonstrates our capability in extremely high thermal stability, long duration reliability and mission-critical cooling. It positions us in a fast-growing high-value niche market with strong technical barriers.

The third highlight comes from data centers. We received another follow-up order in the single-digit million euro range for CDUs, which stands for coolant distribution units. This order confirms our competitiveness in data center, [indiscernible] technology, our relevance in AI and cloud-driven infrastructure and our ability to build long-term customer relationships. Even more important, this provides access to a multiyear growth curve driven by AI and high-performance computing.

The fourth highlight is coming from e-buses. We won a double-digit million euro follow-up order for battery thermal management systems from a leading European electrobus company. This is strategically important because e-bus segments are electrifying rapidly. Our [ BTS ] platform is scalable, and it opens doors for further platforms and markets.

And finally, the fifth highlight comes from plastics. Our Plastics division delivered a highly successful presence at the K trade show taking place in October in Düsseldorf this year. At this worldwide leading trade fair for plastics, we showcased a live bioplastic production cell, energy-efficient cooling systems and natural refrigerant technology. The customer response was very positive and positions us well as a preferred partner for plastics industry.

So to sum it up, these 5 highlights clearly show innovations turning into business. We are winning scalable volume orders, and we position technotrans for sustained profitable growth.

Let's turn to the revenue performance of our markets in more detail, starting with Energy Management. This focus market remains the key growth engine for technotrans. Revenue increased to almost EUR 29 million, representing 11% growth year-over-year. This represents already 16% of our group revenue. The key drivers like BTMS for rail and road as well as CDUs for data centers and space communication, I've already mentioned.

In Healthcare & Analytics, revenue jumped to EUR 15.1 million, and this is a growth rate of 40% year-over-year, representing 8% of consolidated revenue. The demand from our customers remained exceptionally high for analytical systems, laboratory cooling solutions, baggage scanner cooling and semiconductor manufacturing applications. This performance confirms the structural growth in these areas for high-precision cooling. With our production in our cleanroom facility, we are able to make the difference in this segment.

Print continues its recovery and remains our largest market with 1/3 of our business. Revenue grew by 8% up to EUR 63.2 million. The Windmöller & Hölscher success story I've just mentioned was already one key driver for this. This success is based on our engineering expertise. We keep on working on innovations like this to hold our global market leader position in Print.

In Plastics, we saw another weak quarter due to macroeconomic conditions. Revenue declined by 2% to EUR 37.4 million, representing 20% of our revenue. But as I outlined, the K trade show demonstrated strong customer engagement, reinforced the future market potential and our role as an innovator in that area.

Laser is facing even stronger headwinds. We saw a 9% revenue decrease to EUR 29 million. This market conditions to be affected by macroeconomic pressure and increased global competition in standard applications coming especially from China. The EUV business remains strong on the other side. This demonstrates the potential for special Laser business.

So there are, of course, difference between our focus markets. Some are very strong, like Energy Management, Print and Healthcare & Analytics and some are still challenging like Laser and Plastics. But it's good to see that our business model is working. We are much more resilient than in the past. We can more than compensate the challenges with stronger growth in other areas and all of that on a profitable base. And with that said, I will hand over to Natascha, and she will walk you through our financials.

Thank you, Michael. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and a warm welcome also from my side. Let me start my part with a clear message. Technotrans delivered an outstanding financial performance in the first 9 months of '25. We achieved profitable growth, reinforced our financial position and improved all financial KPIs significantly.

Let's start with the top line. After a very good first half year '25, we continued our positive development and accelerated revenue growth. Technotrans had a very strong third quarter. Consolidated revenue reached EUR 63 million, exceeding quarters 1 and 2. Respectively, revenue in the first 9 months increased by 4.6% compared to last year, reaching EUR 183.5 million. As Michael described, the excellent performance was driven by strong equipment sales in our focus markets, Energy Management, Healthcare & Analytics and Print. In Plastics and Laser, the market situation remained difficult.

On the bottom line, our group profitability remains strong and shows a sustainable improvement. In Q3, EBIT remained robust at EUR 4.4 million with a margin of 7%. Accordingly, in the 9-month period, EBIT rose significantly by 68% to EUR 12.8 million compared to last year. The EBIT margin went up strongly from 4.3% to 7.0%, an outstanding performance with a plus of 270 basis points. This great improvement was driven by higher revenue in our growth markets and optimized product mix in technology, our strong cost discipline, efficiency improvement measures implemented in '25 and of course, the continued positive effects of ttSprint. Restructuring effects that burdened last year are no longer relevant in '25.

Let's turn to our reporting segments. In Q3, revenue in Technology exceeded the last 2 quarters due to rising demand for our solutions. In the first 9 months, revenue in Technology increased strongly by 6.6% to EUR 138.6 million compared to last year. Main growth drivers were Energy Management, Healthcare & Analytics and Print. Segment EBIT in Technology reached a solid margin of 4% in Q3. Compared to Q2, the margin softened due to a temporary change in product mix.

In the 9-month period, EBIT rose sharply from EUR 0.6 million to EUR 5.8 million, representing a very good margin of 4.2%. This represents a strong margin increase of 380 basis points. Key drivers for this notable improvement in profitability were scaling effects and improved product portfolio, operating efficiencies and the absence of last year's restructuring charges.

Let's move on to the segment Services. Revenue in Services gained momentum in Q3. In the first 9 months, revenue of EUR 44.9 million was slightly below previous year due to an ongoing weaker service business in our focus market Plastics. This was partially offset by improving business in the other focus markets. Nevertheless, EBIT remained stable at EUR 7 million with a robust margin of 15.5%. The strong profitability fueled the return on capital employed. ROCE increased substantially from 10.8% to 16.3%. In the 9 months' period, ROCE has already exceeded our guided corridor for '25. This development is outstanding.

Looking at the cash flow, we delivered what we projected and promised. Free cash flow increased from EUR 0.2 million last year to a very high level of EUR 8 million in the 9-month period, supported by a substantially increased operating cash flow, a normalization in working capital and disciplined investments. A great performance. Technotrans is on the right cash generation track.

Let's turn to profitability in detail. Gross profit increased by 12.1% to EUR 53.6 million. Gross margin improved strongly from 27.3% to 29.2%, thanks to efficiency gains and an optimized product mix. EBITDA increased significantly to EUR 18 million with a notable margin of 9.8%. Net profit surged by 75% to EUR 8 million. Accordingly, earnings per share rose sharply to EUR 1.15 compared to EUR 0.66 in the previous year. Our strong performance has also a positive impact on the development of our financial position.

Equity ratio remains strong and stable at 59.9%. Net debt declined to EUR 16.9 million, improving the net debt-EBITDA ratio enormously to 0.69. With this development, technotrans further improved its investment-grade financial profile, a substantial improvement compared to year-end '24.

Let me close my chapter with a short summary. Across all main KPIs; revenue, EBIT margin, ROCE and free cash flow, technotrans is delivering profitable and sustainable growth. We are financially strong and robust. We are efficient. Our strong performance is a clear indicator of the success and resilience of our business model. Technotrans is ready for growth. With this said, please let me hand back to Michael for strategy and outlook.

Thank you very much, Natascha. As Natascha said, we are ready for growth. We have made our homework. We have developed technotrans from a pure print company into a diversified group with a strong focus on thermal management in growing markets. We are on track to complete our strategy, Future Ready '25 by end of this year.

This transformation strengthened our organization, simplified structures, increased efficiency and created a clear market focus. The results are visible in revenue, in margins, in ROCE and in resilience. Today, technotrans is more focused, more resilient and more diversified than ever before. We are very well positioned in growing markets. We are ready for the next phase. We are, as I said, ready for growth.

Ready for growth means scaling what already works exceptionally well, leveraging our thermal management expertise across new applications, entering global future markets with strong tailwinds with a strong focus on profitable growth. The market environment for our business has [ really ] been attractive. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market for thermal management systems is growing by around 6% year-on-year. This is already a solid growth rate. Our strategy is based and supported on 5 strong megatrends.

For all these megatrends, thermal management is essential, and we are already well positioned with our products. For example, artificial intelligence. There is a massive demand for liquid cooling in data centers. Electrification, we are already delivering battery thermal management systems and charging infrastructure. Digitalization, driven by increasing requirements in print and analytics. Decarbonization, plastics supports recycling lightweight materials and green cooling with temperature control units. Last but not least, medical progress, high-precision cooling for imaging and diagnostics.

Driven and supported by these megatrends, we will grow faster than the market. Based on this great foundation, we have defined clear midterm ambitions for 2030, a revenue of over EUR 350 million and an EBIT margin between 9% and 12%. These targets are ambition, but realistic.

Let's take a look at the key elements of the strategy. We have already prepared a solid foundation for all of the key elements of our strategy. We already spoke about the support of megatrends. This is clearly one of our main drivers. Our unique range in thermal management is constantly opening up new areas of business like hydrogen, like mining and space communication. Another key element of our new strategy is our new divisional structure for all our 4 divisions have already a full operative responsibility and a clear focus on their markets. This will strengthen our resilience. And finally, and most important, our focus on profitability and on our core business. We will continue to optimize our portfolio. We will continue to reduce complexity. We will generate scale effects from volume business, and we will improve our operational excellence.

All of this and many more details we presented at our Capital Markets Day in October, which took place at our corporate headquarters in Sassenberg. And we did so with remarkably strong investor participation. The high resonance confirmed 2 things. First, the market clearly recognizes the progress technotrans has made during the future-ready transformation phase. And second, investors shared our view that the company is now entering a new growth phase, a phase that is driven by global megatrends and supported by our unique position in thermal management.

With that said, let's get back to 2025 and the outlook for this year. In the first 9 months, we have realized great results. Despite a challenging economic environment, we remain confident to confirm our guidance. Revenue should come in between EUR 245 million and EUR 265 million with an EBIT margin between 7% and 9% and a ROCE of between 13% and 16%. And with that said, I hand back to Frank to open the Q&A. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Michael. Ladies and gentlemen, we now open the floor for your questions. [Operator Instructions]

Are there any raised hands? Does anyone want to ask a question?

Yes, Mr. Brach.

Can you hear me?

Yes, pretty well.

Okay. Two questions for me. The first one is on the guidance. There's still quite a wide range between the top and the bottom end of the guidance with EUR 20 million. Could you provide us with your view what needs to happen to reach the upper end, which seems quite ambitious? And yes, when would you expect the lower end of the guidance?

Yes. Good question and even a good question in those uncertain times we are in, as I said. So we've confirmed our guidance indeed. And if you look a little bit different on our key parameters, revenue and EBIT will be in line with market expectations for sure. And I think in times like this, we could end up in the lower half of the guidance for sure, if we look also to our consensus, this seems to be realistic. But you never know. And ROCE, we will end up in the upper half of the guidance. As Natascha outlined, we are already above our guidance of 16%.

Okay. Then the second one is on your capacity increase at Sassenberg. What is the current time line regarding start of construction and also maybe your current estimate for the production start and which cash outflow do you expect for next year, so 2026?

Let me start with the planning. So at the moment, we are in setting up the details for our future production plant. We are sorting out the right partner for this building. We are in the final stage. So the plan is to start with the building next year. And based on that, you need a construction plan of approximately a good year from starting. And after that, we directly start sourcing in logistics and production for sure. Regarding financial cash out, Natascha?

Yes. So regarding the cash out impact from the building, we expect a low double-digit million amount, and we expect that a part will be cash out at the end of '26 and another part in '27.

Let's move on to Stefan Augustin.

Can you hear me?

Yes we can hear you.

First question is actually on the very strong cash flow in the third quarter. If I have done the calculations right, I have roughly EUR 3 million that have been contributed by net working capital between Q2 and Q3 because there's such a strong increase in Q3 versus Q2, and I have around EUR 2.8 million on the net income side. That gives me around EUR 6 million. And so I wonder, can you help me? Is there one special or a larger bigger part to conclude to get to the rest of the very strong EUR 10 million in operational cash flow you showed in Q3?

And how does that look if we -- if you would have to make a projection in the direction of Q4, is there a reversal? Or will we continue on a very strong cash flow path?

Yes. So if we take a look at the cash flow, you already mentioned that we had an improvement in the working capital. And the operating cash flow was very strong in Q3. If you take a look at the net profit, there are some positions included like tax expenses, which are -- which were not cash relevant in Q3.

But these will be cash relevant then a little later in the year, probably or not at all?

Later in the year or next year as well.

Okay. And then with respect to the product mix, so can we assume actually quite strong shipments from the EM segment in the fourth quarter?

Yes. As you see, Energy Management is our growth engine. As I said in my speech, they are constantly growing. The volume increase you saw also in technology is, of course, mainly driven by this performance, the strong growth performance. And of course, we will continue to see strong growth rates also in the upcoming quarter.

Is there anyone who would like to ask a question, an additional question?

I do not see any raised hands. No written questions/call.

It looks like that we have answered already all the open points [indiscernible] if there are indeed no further questions, let's wait another second. And there is a high chance to answer or to ask another couple of questions next week as Natascha and I will attend on the German Equity Forum in Frankfurt on Monday and Tuesday.

We have already scheduled a lot of meetings. And as again, as I said, if there are questions left, a high chance to meet there, and we would appreciate to meet you there in Frankfurt. And indeed, this is our last call for this year, unbelievable, but the year is almost done. And we would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your participation, for your interest in technotrans. We wish you all the best for the rest of this year and a good start for 2026.

And also on behalf of Natascha, thanks again for participating on this call, for your constant interest, for your continued trust. And have a good day. Take care, and goodbye.