Half Year 2026 Platform Group AG Earnings Call
Speaker #1: Q26 earnings call of the platform group. We are delighted to welcome the CEO, Dr. Dominik Benner, and Ms. Nathalie Richert—excuse me—from Investor Relations. We'll guide us through the presentation, followed by a Q&A session.
Speaker #1: We're looking forward to this presentation and, with that, I hand over to you, Dr. Benner.
Speaker #2: Thank you, Ingmar, and warm welcome from my side. so we just directly start into our H1 results, for this year. So, to give you a brief update and a brief summary of the highlights of this H1 result: first of all, we saw a positive development regarding the GMV and also regarding the revenue, both increased by more than 20%.
Speaker #2: And so, overall, we can be quite happy on this result. And also, beside the revenue and GMV growth, we saw that we have a good development, regarding our EBITDA, so EBITDA was increasing to 40.8 million, which is a growth of 23%.
Speaker #2: The net profit is almost unchanged, so we had a net profit of 33.5 million euro. And the EPS is lower compared to last year; it is 1.34 for this first half-year.
Speaker #2: What is, of course, relevant, in our case is that we have definitely less PPA effects. So last year, 2025, we had in the first half-year, 9.4 million, and due to our less acquisition activity in this half-year, we only had 3.3 million.
Speaker #2: That means our net profit, of course, is lower, because of these PPA effects, but in total it increased. So we think that this is a good sign, and this is a pretty good development of our group.
Speaker #2: What else do we see? So, we had a further decrease of our operational cost ratios, which is quite important for us because if we have increasing revenues but on the same level increasing costs for HR and logistics, it would not be good.
Speaker #2: In our case, we can be happy with this development. the only negative thing was the lower gross margin, so we had a lower gross margin of 34.1%, which is more than 2% less compared to the previous half-year.
Speaker #2: Also, our M&A activity, was less in 2026 so far, so we had, 2 signings and 1 additional recent acquisition, in this month. And we also plan to, or want, divestments in 2026.
Speaker #2: when we look on our segments, we saw a good development. So 4 of our 5 segments were increasing with revenue. There was one segment which we were not happy about, and that was a freight goods segment.
Speaker #2: So we had a decline here of 5% in the revenue, and also the EBITDA is the profit margin was decreasing. And so we were not happy on this development on this one segment, and we also have chosen and taken actions and measures already.
Speaker #2: regarding the finance perspective, we presented you by end of June. Our new strategy of deleveraging, and we started it already. So our current leverage is 1.8, which is the lowest number in the last 3 years.
Speaker #2: And we expect a further decrease. Additionally, we also signed a 80 million finance facility, last month, and, we made this finance facility for new acquisitions.
Speaker #2: So this is a pure M&A focus, and so we have enough financial firepower to make further acquisitions in the next 2 years. All right.
Speaker #2: So I hand over to Nathalie.
Speaker #3: Good morning, everybody. To our earnings call, before we start with an update, let's get a short overview of GPG. We are now, 7C level executives, each responsible for a different area, and, together with, CEO Dominik Benner, we jointly lead the company.
Speaker #3: When we look at the next page, we started, our platform business in 2012, and, today we are very happy to serve more than 80 million customers across our platforms and our vision is to become Europe's leading platform group.
Speaker #1: In our case, we can be happy with this development. The only negative thing was the lower gross margin, so we had a lower gross margin of 34.1%, which is more than 2% less compared to the previous half-year.
Speaker #1: Also, our M&A activity was less in 2026 so far, so we had two signings and one additional recent acquisition this month. And we also plan to, or want, divestments in 2026.
Speaker #3: We see at the next page that we have a unique effort light ecosystem, and we have now more than 17,000 700 partners and, diversified presence in 26 industries, and we serve both B2B and B2C customers.
Speaker #1: when we look on our segments, we saw a good development, so 4 of our 5 segments were increasing with revenue. There was one segment which we were not happy about, and that was a freight goods segment, so we had a decline here of 5% in the revenue, and also the EBITDA is the profit margin was decreasing.
Speaker #3: Our growth engine is our operational holding, which supports our portfolio companies drives growth, reduces costs, and leverage synergies across the different areas. Our software platform, TPG One, is unique.
Speaker #1: And so we were not happy with this development in this one segment, and we have also already chosen and taken actions and measures. Regarding the finance perspective, we presented to you by the end of June our new strategy of deleveraging, and we have started it already.
Speaker #3: It connects more than 50 marketplaces across across Europe. We are now active in 26 industries that you see in the next page, and we aim to expand our presence further.
Speaker #1: So our current leverage is 1.8, which is the lowest number in the last 3 years, and we expect a further decrease. Additionally, we also signed a 80 million finance facility, last month, and, we made a this finance facility for new acquisitions, so this is a pure M&A focus, and so we have enough financial firepower to make further acquisitions in the next 2 years.
Speaker #3: We grow both organically and through acquisitions.
Speaker #2: All right. So let's take a look on the financials, and, the current M&A update. Nathalie, you also want to continue here?
Speaker #3: Yeah, sure. during the reporting period, we, successfully completed 2 add-on acquisitions; that means we strengthened our existing, segments. In August, we acquired Cocoli, to strengthen our freight goods segment, and reach new customer groups for the existing furniture platforms.
Speaker #1: All right, so I hand over to Nathalie.
Speaker #2: Good morning, everybody, to our earnings call. Before the update, let’s get a short overview of GPG. We are now seven C-level executives, each responsible for a different area, and together with CEO Dominik Benner, we jointly lead the company.
Speaker #3: We also launched the B2B platform, BauRaum 24. We have more than 100,000 products there, and it complements our offering, platform we connect work, which, provides B2B services.
Speaker #2: When we look at the next page, we started our platform business in 2012, and today we are very happy to serve more than 80 million customers across our platforms. Our vision is to become Europe's leading platform group.
Speaker #3: When we look at AP, we announced that at the beginning of the year, we are now in the proceeding as planned with the fulfillment of the closing conditions.
Speaker #2: We see on the next page that we have a unique, asset-light ecosystem, and we now have more than 17,700 partners with a diversified presence in 26 industries. We serve both B2B and B2C customers.
Speaker #3: And last but not least, when we look at our, partner development, 2 years ago, we have 52% of organic growth. We expect this year 90 91% of our growth driven organically through our existing business.
Speaker #2: Our growth engine is our operational holding, which supports our portfolio companies, drives growth, reduces costs, and leverages synergies across the different areas. Our software platform, TPG One, is unique.
Speaker #3: And now I hand over to Dominik for the financials.
Speaker #2: Yeah, thank you, Nathalie. And, when we look on the financials for the first half-year, we saw this already mentioned development of a positive G-GMV growth and revenue growth.
Speaker #2: It connects more than 50 marketplaces across Europe. We are now active in 26 industries, which you will see on the next page, and we aim to expand our presence further.
Speaker #2: So the GMV was increased to 788 million euro, compared to 642 52 million euro last half-year. And also on the same side, we saw the positive development on the revenue.
Speaker #2: So we achieved a revenue of 421 million euro. The other revenue declined, because we had less, PPA effects. We made less M&A activity, so this was a direct effect of that.
Speaker #2: We grow both organically and through acquisitions.
Speaker #1: All right, so let's take a look at the financials and the current M&A update. Nathalie, do you also want to continue here?
Speaker #2: The cross margin decreased, we already mentioned that in the summary. So, this has 2 reasons. So first of all, we saw that, we had more discount activities in this first half-year.
Speaker #2: Yeah, sure. During the reporting period, we successfully completed two add-on acquisitions; that means we strengthened our existing segments. In August, we acquired Cocoli to strengthen our freight goods segment and reach new customer groups for the existing furniture platforms.
Speaker #2: And we also had in one segment a lower partner take rate. That means in the segment of freight goods, we had lower partner take rates, due to the, situation there.
Speaker #2: for example, in the bike industry, and so we decided to lower the partner take rate and to support the retail partners. And therefore, we had a decrease in the gross margin of our group.
Speaker #2: We also launched the B2B platform, BauRaum24. We have more than 100,000 products there, and it complements our offering. The platform, WeConnect Work, provides B2B services.
Speaker #2: this is not a long-term effect. We think that this effect is only affecting us for, let's say, around 6 to 9 months. But overall, we see at least a stable gross margin now on increasing gross margin in the future.
Speaker #2: The marketing cost ratio was 5.8%, which is lower compared to last year, and the distribution cost ratio, it was very successfully with 7.2%. Actually, this was better than our internal forecast, because we saw higher AOVs, so we had higher prices.
Speaker #2: When we look at AP, we announced that at the beginning of the year. We are now proceeding as planned with the fulfillment of the closing conditions.
Speaker #2: And last but not least, when we look at our partner development, two years ago, we had 52% organic growth. We expect that this year, 90–91% of our growth will be driven organically through our existing business.
Speaker #2: we saw that our central logistic hub has cost effect already for our subsidiaries. And we also see that we have much more verticals, where logistic cost ratio is much better.
Speaker #2: For example, optics and services and hearing, though they are distribution costs not really relevant in the P&L. In general, we think that we want to, have less dependency on our logistic costs.
Speaker #2: And we want to really make several measures to improve that, that in future we will become or we will achieve a number below 7%, and we are quite optimistic to achieve that.
Speaker #2: And now I hand over to Dominik for the financials.
Speaker #1: Yeah, thank you, Nathalie, and, when we look on the financials for the first half-year, we saw this already mentioned development of a positive G-GMV growth and revenue growth, so the GMV was increased to 788 million euro, compared to 642 52 million euro last half-year, and also on the same side we saw the positive development on the revenue, so we achieved a revenue of 421 million euro.
Speaker #2: so when we also look on the EBDA, the adjusted EBDA reached 40.8 million euro, which is in margin. the EBDA margin of 9.7%. So the margin was on the same level as last year.
Speaker #2: And the reported EBDA increased slightly to 45.4 million, euro. When we look on the net profit, you see that it is almost unchanged. So we had a slight increase of, 1% here.
Speaker #1: The other revenue declined because we had fewer PPA effects; we did less M&A activity, so this was a direct effect of that. The gross margin decreased—we already mentioned that in the summary—so this has two reasons.
Speaker #2: And the minority is increased, on to 2.7 million euro, which is a result of the acquired portfolio companies in the last year. The earnings per share declined, so we achieved 1.34 euro per share, and this is due to the higher number of shares which are in the current year.
Speaker #1: So, first of all, we saw that we had more discount activities in this first half-year, and we also had, in one segment, a lower partner take rate.
Speaker #1: That means in the segment of freight goods, we had lower partner take rates due to the situation there. For example, in the bike industry, and so we decided to lower the partner take rate to support the retail partners, and therefore we had a decrease in the gross margin of our group.
Speaker #2: So you can also see that in some graphs here, the GMV growth in H1, the revenue growth in H1, the EBDA growth, and the net profit growth in H1.
Speaker #2: So when we have a 3-year perspective on that, you can see that we almost doubled our revenue, in the last 3 years. so we see this quite positive tendency also this year, and we also expect it for the future, that we have this growth rate, even with less M&A activity.
Speaker #1: This is not a long-term effect; we think that this effect is only impacting us for, let's say, around six to nine months. But overall, we now see at least a stable gross margin, or even an increasing gross margin, in the future.
Speaker #1: The marketing cost ratio was 5.8%, which is lower compared to last year, and the distribution cost ratio was very successful at 7.2%. Actually, this was better than our internal forecast because we saw higher AOVs, so we had higher prices. We saw that our central logistic hub has had a cost effect already for our subsidiaries.
Speaker #2: When we look on the split between organic and non-organic growth, this is also a figure which was always requested by a lot of investors.
Speaker #2: you can see that we achieved an organic growth, which was which was dominant in the first half-year. So from the total revenue growth, 73% was organic, and only 27% was non-organic.
Speaker #1: And we also see that we have many more verticals where the logistics cost ratio is much better. For example, optics and services and hearing. There are distribution costs, but they are not really relevant in the P&L.
Speaker #2: And we define organic and non-organic growth for the last 12 months. As the most other companies do it in the same way. The reason or the main reasons why we had a higher organic growth rate was that we have more partners selling on our platforms.
Speaker #1: In general, we think that we want to have less dependency on our logistics costs, and we want to really take several measures to improve that, so that in the future we will become, or we will achieve, a number below 7%. We are quite optimistic to achieve that.
Speaker #2: So we have around 17,700 partners on our platforms. And due to that, our number of products also increased. So we have more products, and with more products, you attract more customers.
Speaker #1: So, when we also look at the EBITDA, the adjusted EBITDA reached €40.8 million, which is an EBITDA margin of 9.7%. So the margin was at the same level as last year, and the reported EBITDA increased slightly to €45.4 million.
Speaker #2: And we also had a very positive retention on our core platforms regarding the customers. Well, these are the main reasons why we think that we can be quite happy on this development, even in 1, segment it was not a good development.
Speaker #2: when we look on the, leverage perspective, you can see the development, over time in this slide here. So currently, we have a leverage of 1.8.
Speaker #1: When we look at the net profit, you see that it is almost unchanged. We had a slight increase of 1% here, and the minority has increased to €2.7 million, which is a result of the acquired portfolio companies in the last year.
Speaker #2: So taking into account that we had a net debt of 130 million, and an EBDA LTM of more than 62 million, you can calculate the 1.8 resulting of these figures.
Speaker #1: The earnings per share declined; we achieved €1.34 per share, and this is due to the higher number of shares which are in the current year.
Speaker #2: As you already communicated by June, this year, we started a leverage a deleverage strategy, and focus on higher profitability. And that means that we really want to decrease this number that we want to get better numbers in the leverage.
Speaker #1: So you can also see that in some graphs here: the GMV growth in H1, the revenue growth in H1, the EBITDA growth, and the net profit growth in H1.
Speaker #2: And that we want a further decline here, and we're quite optimistic to reduce it also until the end of this year. let's have a look on the financials regarding the cash flow.
Speaker #1: So, when we have a 3-year perspective on that, you can see that we almost doubled our revenue in the last 3 years. We see this quite positive tendency also this year, and we also expect it for the future, that we have this growth rate even with less M&A activity.
Speaker #2: The operational cash flow was 26.8 million, which was an increase compared to last year. And, it was an increase by 16%. we saw also from the investing activities that we have invested less because we made less M&A activity.
Speaker #1: When we look on the split between organic and non-organic growth, this is also a figure which was always requested by a lot of investors, you can see that we achieved an organic growth, which was which was dominant in the first half-year, so from the total revenue growth, 73% was organic, and only 27% was non-organic.
Speaker #2: And also, the AI project, which we started, by end of last year, this had directly an effect regarding the software investments. So we could reduce our software investments and made much more with AI.
Speaker #2: regarding the finance activities, we had minus 11 million. And that was because we, made repayments to the loans, to the bank loans. And also, we made repayments to lease liabilities.
Speaker #1: And we define organic and non-organic growth for the last 12 months, as most other companies do in the same way. The reason, or the main reasons, why we had a higher organic growth rate was that we have more partners selling on our platforms. So we have around 17,700 partners on our platforms, and due to that, our number of products also increased. So we have more products, and with more products, you attract more customers. And we also had a very positive retention on our core platforms regarding the customers.
Speaker #2: To give you an overview on the assets and equity and liabilities, you can see the overview here. So we have reached, total balance volume of more than 400 million euro.
Speaker #2: And if you have further questions, we would recommend, to have a look on the published, H1 report, which you can find on our corporate page.
Speaker #2: we also calculated the, return on equity and return on capital employed for you. And here you can see that we achieved quite positive numbers in the first half-year.
Speaker #1: Well, these are the main reasons why we think that we can be quite happy with this development, even if in one segment it was not a good development.
Speaker #2: So, the return on equity, for the first half-year was 28 20%, and we saw a return on capital employed of more than 70%. So both numbers are in guidance, of our internal forecast, and we are quite happy to also achieve these numbers.
Speaker #1: When we look at the leverage perspective, you can see the development over time in this slide here. Currently, we have a leverage of 1.8. Taking into account that we had a net debt of €130 million, and an EBITDA LTM of more than €62 million, you can calculate the 1.8 resulting from these figures.
Speaker #2: Let's have a look on the non-financial KPIs. so you saw that, we had a slight increase of the average order value to 129 euro, we saw that the active customers LTM, was achieving 8.4 million, and the number of employees also increased to more than 1,500.
Speaker #1: As we already communicated by June this year, we started a leverage and deleverage strategy and focused on higher profitability. That means that we really want to decrease this number, that we want to get better numbers in the leverage, and that we want a further decline here. We are quite optimistic to reduce it also until the end of this year.
Speaker #2: The number of partners, we mentioned it, was also increasing, and we saw more than 17,683 partners connected to our platforms. Nathalie, you take over.
Speaker #1: Let's have a look at the financials regarding the cash flow. The operational cash flow was €26.8 million, which was an increase compared to last year, and it was an increase of 16%.
Speaker #1: Yes. Let's take a look at our segment report. Our consumer goods segment grew significantly, you see it, in the revenue growth, and this was all in line with our internal forecast.
Speaker #1: We saw also from the investing activities that we have invested less because we made less M&A activity, and also the AI project, which we started by the end of last year, this had directly an effect regarding the software investments, so we could reduce our software investments and made much more with AI.
Speaker #1: And we have there, further cost efficiency programs there, and, we will close unprofitable units. as ne at next, as Dominik said, in the freight goods, segment, we were not happy but we planned digital detailed measures there, on the one side to increase the customer base and, marketing have been, and planned implemented and, we will expect the outcome, in the next 12 months.
Speaker #1: Regarding the finance activities, we had minus $11 billion, and that was because we made repayments to the bank loans, and also we made repayments to lease liabilities.
Speaker #1: To give you an overview of the assets and equity and liabilities, you can see the overview here. So, we have reached a total balance volume of more than €400 million, and if you have further questions, we would recommend having a look at the published H1 report, which you can find on our corporate page.
Speaker #1: When we take a look at the industrial goods segment, there we see, an improved margin development. next page, please. and the freight goods segm the industrial goods segment is, also in line with our, forecast.
Speaker #1: We also calculated the return on equity and return on capital employed for you, and here you can see that we achieved quite positive numbers in the first half-year. So, the return on equity for the first half-year was 28.20%, and we saw a return on capital employed of more than 17%.
Speaker #1: And what we see in the industrial goods segment that we have a good, B2B customer, outcome. When we look at pharma and retail goods, that is also in line, with our expectations.
Speaker #1: So, both numbers are in guidance of our internal forecast, and we are quite happy to also achieve these numbers. Let's have a look at the non-financial KPIs. You saw that we had a slight increase of the average order value to €129. We saw that the active customers LTM was achieving 8.4 million, and the number of employees also increased to more than 1,500.
Speaker #1: And, we see their stagnating margins and we want to optimize it in the next two years, this year and, and next year. And, our last segment is the optics and hearing segment.
Speaker #1: We started it, end of last year in the second, half. And, that's also the development in line with our, forecast and we see a positive outcome here.
Speaker #1: The number of partners, we mentioned it, was also increasing, and we saw more than 17,683 partners connected to our platforms. Nathalie, you take over.
Speaker #2: Yeah. Thank you for that. And, we announced that we make less acquisitions in this year. so we presented you this forecast for this year, 2026.
Speaker #2: Yes, let's take a look at our segment report. Our consumer goods segment grew significantly—you see it in the revenue growth—and this was all in line with our internal forecast. We have further cost efficiency programs there, and we will close unprofitable units.
Speaker #2: We expect in total up to six signings this year. And I think we are, good on track with that. And we also expect one or two divestments.
Speaker #2: so far we did not communicate any divestment, but we expect to sell one or two companies this year. And we will give you further update when this is gonna happen.
Speaker #2: And very important is our AI-first pro program. Because you already have seen that we use a lot of AI techniques in our different divisions.
Speaker #2: as ne at next, as Dominik said, in the freight goods, segment, we were not happy but we planned digital detailed measures there, on the one side to increase the customer base and, marketing have been, and planned implemented, and, we will expect the outcome, in the next 12 months.
Speaker #2: And we also implement them. Into our different departments. And so currently we've already want to achieve our goal that 60% of all our company processes are AI changed and optimized.
Speaker #2: And we are also on a very good track with that. So you see the departments where we have the most and significant impact, is software development.
Speaker #2: When we take a look at the industrial goods segment, there we see improved margin development. Next page, please. And the freight goods segment—the industrial goods segment is also in line with our forecast.
Speaker #2: So we, we can save a lot of money. When we, invest into software development, but we use AI techniques, so we, we can reduce it.
Speaker #2: And the next point is also online marketing. So we use a lot of AI technique for optimizing online marketing. And make sure that we attract more customers with less cost structures.
Speaker #2: And what we see in the industrial goods segment is that we have a good B2B customer outcome. When we look at pharma and retail goods, that is also in line with our expectations, and we see there are stagnating margins, and we want to optimize that in the next two years—this year and next year.
Speaker #2: HR and finance, very important, that we loo make a lot of HR, HR work and payroll work already with, with AI. And on the right side, you see the content creation.
Speaker #2: which was two, two years ago a very manual process with models and photographers and so on. But this changed dramatically. So we really reduced a lot of workforce there.
Speaker #2: And can save a lot of costs with AI. Let's have a look on the Outlook. of our group. so first of all, you see our vision for 2030.
Speaker #2: And our last segment is the Optics and Hearing segment. We started it at the end of last year, in the second half, and that's also developing in line with our forecast. We see a positive outcome here.
Speaker #2: so currently we announced and communicated an expected revenue of more than 3.2 billion euro in this long-term perspective. We are optimistic that we can achieve double digit margins, regarding our EBITDA.
Speaker #2: And also we want to decrease our leverage, to around 1.0 to 1.4. Our total GMV is gonna be expected to achieve more than 4.8 billion.
Speaker #1: Yeah, thank you for that. And, we announced that we would make fewer acquisitions this year, so we presented you this forecast for this year, 2026.
Speaker #2: And also on our partner side, which is the backbone of our group, we expect more than 40,000 partners connected to our different platforms. Furthermore, we want to increase our footprint.
Speaker #1: We expect, in total, up to six signings this year, and I think we are good on track with that. We also expect one or two divestments.
Speaker #2: So right now we have 26 different industries. And we want to achieve more than 50 different industries. Up to 2030. also here you can see our strategic initiatives and goals.
Speaker #1: So far, we have not communicated any divestment, but we expect to sell one or two companies this year, and we will give you a further update when this is going to happen.
Speaker #1: And very important is our AI-first pro program, because you have already seen that we use a lot of AI techniques in our different divisions, and we also implement them into our different departments.
Speaker #2: I don't want to repeat everything here because you have seen that in the last presentation. so if you're further question on that, just let us know.
Speaker #2: also we have a guidance for 2026. today we also confirmed it. that we want to achieve a revenue of at least 1 billion euro this year.
Speaker #1: And so currently, we already want to achieve our goal that 60% of all our company processes are AI-changed and optimized, and we are also on a very good track with that.
Speaker #2: We also communicated that we, want to achieve an EBITDA of 70 to 80 million euro. And the leverage between 1.5 and 2.3. The GMV will be around 1.7 billion.
Speaker #1: So you see, the departments where we have the most and significant impact is software development. So we can save a lot of money.
Speaker #1: When we invest in software development, we use AI techniques, so we can reduce it. And the next point is also online marketing, so we use a lot of AI techniques for optimizing online marketing and make sure that we attract more customers with less cost structure.
Speaker #2: And we expect to have more than 18,000 partners connected to our platform. So we confirm our guidance and do not change it. It is the same for our performer guidance.
Speaker #2: So in case of the AEP acquisition, we also confirm this guidance and have no change on that point. Nathalie, you are muted.
Speaker #1: HR and finance, very important, that we lo make a lot of HR, HR work and payroll work already with, with AI, and on the right side you see the content creation, which was two, two years ago a very manual process with models and photographers and so on, but this changed dramatically.
Speaker #1: We are working further on the visibility on the capital markets. And we will join several conferences like the AKF in Frankfurt or, events in Paris, and Vienna.
Speaker #1: So we really reduced a lot of workforce there, and can save a lot of costs with AI. Let's have a look at the outlook.
Speaker #1: And we will also have selected roadshows, in Europe. And Dominik and I look forward to meet many of you in person there. And if you have questions, please also always, reach out to me or Dominik for investor relations activities.
Speaker #1: Of our group, so first of all, you see our vision for 2030. Currently, we announced and communicated an expected revenue of more than €3.2 billion in this long-term perspective. We are optimistic that we can achieve double-digit margins regarding our EBITDA, and also we want to decrease our leverage to around 1.0 to 1.4.
Speaker #2: All right. Thank you. And now we can start with the Q&A. And, we received a lot of Q&A when we. Didn't start the presentation.
Speaker #1: Our total GMV is expected to reach more than $4.8 billion, and also on our partner side, which is the backbone of our group, we expect more than 40,000 partners connected to our different platforms.
Speaker #1: Furthermore, we want to increase our footprint. Right now, we have 26 different industries, and we want to achieve more than 50 different industries by 2030.
Speaker #1: Also, here you can see our strategic initiatives and goals. I don't want to be seen that in the last presentation, so if you have further questions on that, just let us know.
Speaker #1: Also, we have guidance for 2026. Today, we also confirmed it: that we want to achieve a revenue of at least €1 billion this year. We also communicated that we want to achieve an EBITDA of €70 to €80 million, and the leverage between 1.5 and 2.3.
Speaker #1: The GMV will be around $1.7 billion, and we expect to have more than 18,000 partners connected to our platform. So, we confirm our guidance and do not change it.
Speaker #1: It is the same for our performer guidance, so in the case of the AEP acquisition, we also confirm this guidance and have no change on that point.
Speaker #1: Nathalie, you are muted.
Speaker #2: We are working further on the visibility on the capital markets, and we will join several conferences, like the AKF in Frankfurt, or events in Paris and Vienna. We will also have selected roadshows in Europe, and Dominik and I look forward to meeting many of you in person there. If you have questions, please always reach out to me or Dominik for investor relations activities.
Speaker #1: All right, thank you. Now we can start with the Q&A. We received a lot of Q&A before we started the presentation, so I was wondering, why don't people wait until we present everything?
Speaker #1: But anyway, so let's start with the first question. Please highlight when the AEP will be closed, or will ever happen. So yes, the answer is: we are on track with that, and we already gave you an update on that. The CPs in the contract, in the SPA, have to be fulfilled by both sides, so seller and buyer are both working on the CPs. It is taking a longer time than we expected, and also takes a longer time than the seller expected, that's definitely true. But we are working on the CPs, and I think we are on a good track with that. When we have an update for you, we will directly communicate that.
Speaker #1: Next question is about a crisis of confidence, so Josef Müller asked on that point. So I don't know exactly what you mean here, so maybe it is necessary that you give some more details—what exactly you want to get as information, and what exactly you want to hear from that.
Speaker #1: Harald Hove asked about the Q2 top-line growth, which was negative year-over-year. Could you please provide some more color on what drove the weakness, in particular in the Fragile segment? What measures have been taken or implemented to address that?
Speaker #1: Yes, so thank you very much, so overall we think that our, guidance for this year is on a pretty good track with that, so we have our increase in revenue and GMV, and we also think that we, will achieve our guidance, and you are definitely right, we are not happy, with the, fragile segment, so maybe you know that, in the fragile segment we have, industries like furniture or bicycles, and, these industries have a huge decline, and their revenues in the last years, usually it does not affect us so much because when we have more products we can also increase our customer base with that, but in this case we also decided to reduce a little bit the take rate, for the partners, and also we see a very, very low customer base here, currently, and we did not increase the marketing, maybe this was a mistake from our side that we really were too much focusing on costs and not on, on the revenue side here, and so we took several measures, to, reinstate and to make sure that we have better results in the next 12 months here.
Speaker #1: What exactly we did is, different things, so first of all, we initiated a program to attract more partners in the low price segment, but currently, for example, we have a lot of high cost, bicycles, above 4,000 euro, but people look more for cheap bicycles in this, current, economic situation, and we changed a little bit our strategy here, additionally we initiated a program for more marketing, and more, differentiated marketing, that we do not so much rely on Google anymore, and focus more on influencer marketing here, and third, in our, furniture, division, we make some changes here, you have seen that we made an acquisition with Cocoli, we made an asset deal from them, we bought the assets and also took over the employees, and we will have, an update here for you, which shows how we can reduce the cost here, and make sure that we have higher profitability, because we, we are on the same page like you, that we are not happy with the fragile segment here, and we have to change it with our system.
Speaker #1: The next question is: decline of share price from IPO. Well, actually, Mr. Autze, we never had an IPO. We took over a company—it was a reverse merger in 2023—and, yes, you are right, there is a decline of the share price, but I think your figures are from the former company, FashionNet, not from us.
Speaker #1: The next question is about the outstanding bonds and our repurchase program. We decided to give you an update when we achieved the €5 million, and we expect an achievement here in this half year, so we will directly communicate when we have achieved our goal here.
Speaker #1: The next question was again about the AEP acquisition—we already answered that. The next point was about the auditor, for Mr. Müller. The answer is that we will also hold another AGM to go through that process, and then at the AGM, we can decide with the shareholders on the auditor.
Speaker #1: How many corporate actions have increased the number of shares outstanding, and are there any lockups for these shares? So, it's a question about M&A activities, and if the seller receives shares—so, yes, we do M&A activities where shares are part of the compensation, and yes, they have lockup periods for these shares. Usually, the lockup periods are between one and three years, so it depends a little bit on each contract, but yes, we include a lockup period every time here.
Speaker #1: There's a next question regarding the new acquisition. Mrs. Fayer is asking why we don't see an impact in EBITDA from these new acquisitions.
Speaker #1: So basically, we communicated a range for the EBITDA guidance for this year. We expect €70 to €80 million, and when we make an acquisition, this range is not changing because of that one acquisition. We don't make an update of the forecast every time; we only make updates when we see a more than 10% change in our guidance, and then we will directly do that, not before.
Speaker #1: Next question was about the bond buyback; we already answered that. There's a next question regarding the legal action against Manager Magazine. Yes, so we have current court processes here in Germany. There's no decision because we have this Hauptverfahren, so I don't know exactly the current status, but it's still going on, and we have no update currently here.
Speaker #1: Next question is about the objective of net debt to EBITDA below 2.0 by the end of 2026, and yes, we also expect a number below 2.0, even with the acquisition of AEP, because AEP is itself a profitable company, and so we do not expect a change in this ratio here.
Speaker #1: Next question is about our KGV. If you have any comments on that—no, we don't have comments. We also see that our share is undervalued, but I cannot give you further comments on that. And yes.
Speaker #1: We are positive that we, in the future, will have better numbers, but we cannot influence that. Next question is again the AEP acquisition, so we already answered that, and there's a next question about whether there is any probability to perform a quarterly audit of TBG. No, we will not start quarterly audits. I don't know any company in Germany who's doing quarterly audits, so we will also not start that.
Speaker #1: Okay, all the other questions have been answered. There's a next question about why does the company have a pattern of generating negative working capital in H1. In H1, trade debt terms increased while trade creditors reduced. So, I would recommend that you have a look at the half-year report, and we don't see any negative development, to be honest. So, the development regarding the debtors and creditors is absolutely in line with our internal forecast. And when you look a little bit more in detail at the accounts receivables, there's no real change—it is almost the same level. And when you look on our liability side, the trade payables decreased a lot, so we only had €20 million trade payables compared to €31 million by the end of last year.
Speaker #1: So, this is quite a positive development from our side, yeah. I don't think we should give more comments here on that because, well, it's positive.
Speaker #1: Next question about the stock price. We already answered that, and we cannot speculate here. So, we gave you our numbers and present our results here.
Speaker #1: The next question is about a bridge from EBITDA to operational cash flow. I think this goes too far for this discussion here, and so I would really recommend Mr. Hainer to have a one-on-one on that, and to also arrange a more detailed call regarding the financials.
Speaker #1: In our half-year report, would you share any guidance about the interest rate of the new €80 million financing? Yes, sure. So, the €80 million financing for M&A activity, it is a finance structure in line with our current finance rates. Our current finance rates are between 4% and 10%, and we also have these numbers in our new facility here.
Speaker #1: But it is in the upper end of this range. Could you talk about the revenue trends in the optics division? Is it lower than last year?
Speaker #1: No, it's not lower; it's just the seasonality. So the Optic division also has seasonalities in the yearly review, and so the first half-year results are absolutely in line.
Speaker #1: And we expect a further increase for the second half-year. There are some questions regarding specific subsidiaries, but we do not comment on any specific subsidiary here, so I hope that you understand that we do not start communicating here on each company by itself.
Speaker #1: The next question was about the recalibration in Q2 as a result of a strong Q1, or what do you attribute the 27% decline in revenue to?
Speaker #1: Well, actually, we saw that yes, Q2 was a little bit lower from a total perspective, but we always have in line what we want to achieve for the full year, and so overall we were quite happy with the development here, and also with the EBITDA development. So we don't see a weaker Q2 here, but yes, you are right, the Q1 was strong here, definitely.
Speaker #1: In both ways, in revenue and also in profit. There's a next question about why the customer orders are less than the total amount of active customers.
Speaker #1: So, the answer is very simple: active customers are measured over the last 12 months, so it means we have to consider 12 months regarding the active customers. And the number of orders is always only in the period, so in six months.
Speaker #1: So that is the reason why, of course, this number is different. There's a question about, again, the Manager Magazine and the auditor. We also answered that.
Speaker #1: About the finance facility, there's a question if I will buy shares again. Yes, I also will buy shares again. I always have to consider the timeline, so I was not allowed to buy shares before the publication of such a half-year report, for example. But after such an event, I am allowed to buy shares.
Speaker #1: Next question is about the gross margin decline. The question is, what is the reason for that? And yes, you are right, there is a relevant change regarding the commission pressure. The take rate was less in our segment, and so we saw this effect also in our total P&L. Additionally, we also saw that we have a pricing issue, and we had more discounts than we expected in some of our divisions. And so, this leads to the situation that we had a negative development in the gross margin.
Speaker #1: Overall we think that we are pretty good in line, with our margin development, so currently we have more than 34%, and on the full-year perspective we see a slight increase here, but not too much, because as you might know, in the Q4, the margin is not very good, there are a lot of discounts in the Q4, so the Q3 is very important to get a good number and the total year perspective.
Speaker #1: Which three things or subsidiaries have the highest profit? So, again, we do not comment on specific units or specific platforms, so please understand that we have our segment report and that we operate with a segment report.
Speaker #1: Okay, the next question is about the number of orders—same numbers. I don't understand this question, Russell, to be honest. Maybe you could give us feedback directly via email, so we can understand what you mean here.
Speaker #1: Okay, and the last question was for Mr. Hainer. With leveraging 22 words, lower than 2.0, and a positive free cash flow, how is the management rating debt paydown against opportunistic share buybacks to address the current equity valuation discount?
Speaker #1: So the problem is, we are not allowed to make share buybacks because, as long as we have the bond, the bond prospectus says that we are not allowed to make share buybacks.
Speaker #1: So, we cannot make share buybacks until 2028. And so, there is no other answer here. There's a next question about the AP deal; we already answered that, Mrs. Freia.
Speaker #1: And we expect a closing in this year, yes, we do. And yes, I think these are the main questions. And Mr. Miller, you are commenting here, some other comments, and so maybe you can directly send an email to Nathalie Richert and she can reply on that.
Speaker #1: So, there are no other open questions here. Thank you very much from our side, and I wish you all a good working day. See you at the next conference.
