Half Year 2026 Gurit Holding AG Earnings Call
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Speaker #2: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Gurit Holding 2026 results live webcast. I am Maira DiCarusco, your operator. Kindly be aware that all participants will be set to listen-only mode, and that the conference will be recorded.
Operator 1: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Gurit H1 2026 Results Live Webcast. I am Moira, the conference call operator. Kindly be aware that all participants will be set to listen-only mode and that the conference will be recorded. Right after the presentation, there will be a Q&A session where questions can be asked. To take part in the Q&A session, please use your telephone and press star and one. The dial-in numbers are available in the invitation. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. Note that the conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. Today, the audience will hear from Mr. Philippe Royer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gurit, and Mr. Viktor Bernhardt, CEO of the Gurit Group.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Gurit half year 2026 Results Live Webcast. I am Moira, the conference call operator. Kindly be aware that all participants will be set to listen-only mode and that the conference will be recorded. Right after the presentation, there will be a Q&A session where questions can be asked. To take part in the Q&A session, please use your telephone and press star and one. The dial-in numbers are available in the invitation. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. Note that the conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. Today, the audience will hear from Mr. Philippe Royer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gurit, and Mr. Viktor Bernhardt, CEO of the Gurit Group.
Speaker #2: Right after the presentation, there will be a Q&A session where questions can be asked. To take part in the Q&A session, please use your telephone and press star and 1.
Speaker #2: The dial-in numbers are available in the invitation. For operator assistance, please press 0. Note that the conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast.
Speaker #2: Today, the audience will hear from Mr. Philippe Royer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gurit, and Mr. Victor Bernhardt, CEO of the Gurit Group.
Speaker #2: Mr. Royer will open today's webcast with an update on organizational developments, before handing over to Victor, who will lead the presentation on the Haldg 2026 results and business update.
Operator 1: Mr. Royer will open today's webcast with an update on organizational developments before handing over to Viktor, who will lead the presentation on the H1 2026 Results and Business Update. Both speakers will be then available to answer questions during the Q&A session. At this time, I am pleased to hand over to Mr. Philippe Royer.
Operator: Mr. Royer will open today's webcast with an update on organizational developments before handing over to Viktor, who will lead the presentation on the half year 2026 Results and Business Update. Both speakers will be then available to answer questions during the Q&A session. At this time, I am pleased to hand over to Mr. Philippe Royer.
Speaker #2: Both speakers will then be available to answer questions during the Q&A session. At this time, I am pleased to hand over to Mr. Philippe Royer.
Speaker #3: Yes, good morning, everyone. Thanks for being on the call. As you have probably read already, this morning we have plenty of good news, which we are happy to share with you.
Philippe Royer: Yes. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being in the call. As you have probably read already this morning, we have plenty of good news, which we are happy to share with you. Yes, I am going to explain the reorganization, then Viktor will cover the results presentation, and then we will go for the Q&A. First, let me be loud and clear about the reorganization. Our former CEO, Tobias Lührig, has left on his own. There was by no mean an issue with Gurit results or any kind of strategic disalignment. Nothing like that. The board of directors decided immediately on two things. First, we declined Tobias Lührig's offer to stay for some time as we knew we had a ready internal solution. Then we immediately nominated Viktor Bernhardt as CEO ad interim.
Philippe Royer: Yes. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being in the call. As you have probably read already this morning, we have plenty of good news, which we are happy to share with you. Yes, I am going to explain the reorganization, then Viktor will cover the results presentation, and then we will go for the Q&A. First, let me be loud and clear about the reorganization. Our former CEO, Tobias Lührig, has left on his own. There was by no mean an issue with Gurit results or any kind of strategic disalignment. Nothing like that. The board of directors decided immediately on two things. First, we declined Tobias Lührig's offer to stay for some time as we knew we had a ready internal solution. Then we immediately nominated Viktor Bernhardt as CEO ad interim.
Speaker #3: Yes, I'm going to explain the reorganization, and Victor will cover the results presentation. Then we'll go to the Q&A. First, let me be loud and clear about the reorganization.
Speaker #3: So, former CEO Tobias Lörisch has left on his own. That was by no means an issue with Gurit results or any kind of strategic disalignment.
Speaker #3: Nothing like that. The Board of Directors decided immediately on two things. First, we declined Tobias Lörisch's offer to stay for some time. As we knew, we had a ready internal solution.
Speaker #3: Then, we immediately nominated Victor Bernhardt as CEO ad interim. In the following weeks, the Board of Directors discussed what was the best long-term solution for the company, and the considerations were as follows.
Philippe Royer: In the following weeks, the board of director discussed what was the best long-term solution for the company and the considerations were as follows. First, business units have distinct business models and operating requirements. Hence, it is difficult for a CEO coming from outside to add business value on top of what our BU heads bring. Then we have defined at the end of 2024, a detailed strategy for the company. You have seen with the 2025 results, the first outcome of this strategy with well-executed realignment and restructurings. You see now with the H1 2026 results, another outcome of this strategy, which is profitable growth in our traditional markets and in new markets for us. This for us is only an intermediate step, and we need to continue to execute according to the strategic directions.
Philippe Royer: In the following weeks, the board of director discussed what was the best long-term solution for the company and the considerations were as follows. First, business units have distinct business models and operating requirements. Hence, it is difficult for a CEO coming from outside to add business value on top of what our BU heads bring. Then we have defined at the end of 2024, a detailed strategy for the company. You have seen with the 2025 results, the first outcome of this strategy with well-executed realignment and restructurings. You see now with the H1 2026 results, another outcome of this strategy, which is profitable growth in our traditional markets and in new markets for us. This for us is only an intermediate step, and we need to continue to execute according to the strategic directions.
Speaker #3: First, a business unit has distinct business models and operating requirements. Hence, it is difficult for a CEO coming from outside to add business value on top of what BU heads bring.
Speaker #3: Then, we have defined at the end of 2024 a detailed strategy for the company. You have seen with the 2025 results the first outcome of this strategy, with well-executed realignment and restructurings.
Speaker #3: You see now, with the first half 2026 results, another outcome of this strategy, which is profitable growth in a traditional market and in new markets for us.
Speaker #3: This for us is only an intermediate step, and we need to continue to execute according to the strategic directions. So, an organization led by an expert in finance with proven leadership and execution capabilities is adequate.
Philippe Royer: An organization led by an expert in finance with proven leadership and execution capabilities is then adequate. Talking about Viktor, the board first had been careful in the recruitment process of Viktor to hire someone with an experience much wider than the traditional CFO role. At Gurit also, Viktor fulfilled a lot of the CEO typical functions, participating in all business unit monthly performance reviews, being involved in all large customer contracts negotiations or renegotiations, checking performance of procurement, overseeing development of IT, producing the remuneration report, and regularly participating in meetings or calls with me. He also played a pivotal role in the strategic review we did during Q2, as we do every year. Viktor has obviously also developed clear financial goals for the company and strong directions for the finance organization.
Philippe Royer: An organization led by an expert in finance with proven leadership and execution capabilities is then adequate. Talking about Viktor, the board first had been careful in the recruitment process of Viktor to hire someone with an experience much wider than the traditional CFO role. At Gurit also, Viktor fulfilled a lot of the CEO typical functions, participating in all business unit monthly performance reviews, being involved in all large customer contracts negotiations or renegotiations, checking performance of procurement, overseeing development of IT, producing the remuneration report, and regularly participating in meetings or calls with me. He also played a pivotal role in the strategic review we did during Q2, as we do every year. Viktor has obviously also developed clear financial goals for the company and strong directions for the finance organization.
Speaker #3: Talking about Victor, the Board first had been careful in the recruitment process of Victor to hire someone with experience much wider than the traditional CFO role.
Speaker #3: At Gurit, Victor also fulfilled many typical CEO functions: participating in all business unit monthly performance reviews, being involved in all large customer contract negotiations or renegotiations, checking the performance of procurement, overseeing the development of IT, producing the remuneration report, and regularly participating in meetings or calls with me.
Speaker #3: He also played a pivotal role in the strategic review we did during the second quarter, as we do every year. Victor has obviously also developed clear financial goals for the company and strong directions for the finance organization.
Speaker #3: So, I'm pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has decided unanimously to nominate Victor Bernhardt as CEO, and I can share with you that this decision was very much welcomed in the organization, for example, by all business unit heads.
Philippe Royer: I am pleased to announce that the board of directors has decided unanimously to nominate Viktor Bernhardt as the CEO, and I can share with you that this decision was very much welcome in the organization, for example, by all business unit heads. The search for a new CFO is underway. For the time being, it remains with Viktor and the finance team. We in the board are convinced that Viktor's nomination will allow us to continue to progress on this profitable growth path that was elaborated two years back. It goes without saying that with this nomination, Gurit will avoid losing another, let's say, between 24 months, which is the time needed to recruit a new CEO with a notice period and train a new CEO.
Philippe Royer: I am pleased to announce that the board of directors has decided unanimously to nominate Viktor Bernhardt as the CEO, and I can share with you that this decision was very much welcome in the organization, for example, by all business unit heads. The search for a new CFO is underway. For the time being, it remains with Viktor and the finance team. We in the board are convinced that Viktor's nomination will allow us to continue to progress on this profitable growth path that was elaborated two years back. It goes without saying that with this nomination, Gurit will avoid losing another, let's say, between 24 months, which is the time needed to recruit a new CEO with a notice period and train a new CEO.
Speaker #3: The search for a new CFO is underway. For the time being, it remains with Victor and the finance team. We on the board are convinced that Victor's nomination will allow us to continue to progress on this profitable growth path that was developed two years back, and it goes without saying that, with this nomination, Gurit will avoid losing another, let's say, 18 to 24 months, which is the time needed to recruit a new CEO with a notice period and to train a new CEO.
Speaker #3: We want to continue to deploy the strategy we elaborated two years ago, and we believe Victor is the perfect person to do so.
Philippe Royer: We want to continue to deploy on the strategy we have elaborated two years back, and we believe Viktor is the perfect guy to do so. Now I leave the word to you, Viktor, for the results presentation.
Philippe Royer: We want to continue to deploy on the strategy we have elaborated two years back, and we believe Viktor is the perfect guy to do so. Now I leave the word to you, Viktor, for the results presentation.
Speaker #3: And I hand over to you, Victor, for the results presentation.
Speaker #1: Thank you very much, Philippe. Thank you for the kind words, and thank you for the trust placed in me. Good morning from my side, and welcome to our media and analyst webcast.
Viktor Bernhardt: Thank you very much, Philippe. Thank you for the words, and thank you for the trust placed in me. Good morning from my side, and welcome to our media and analyst webcast. Today, Philippe already announced, I literally have the pleasure to present our H1 2026 results. Going into it, we have delivered strong H1 2026 performance with a significant profitability improvement versus previous year period. Looking at our continuing operations, we grew by 16% at constant FX. We have significantly improved our adjusted operating profit margin from 5.7% to 11%. We improved our free cash flow versus previous year, and we significantly reduced our net debt in the past 12 months. This all being said, the portfolio transformation and multi-market strategy is delivering results, and we will see it on the next pages. The strategic realignment benefits are visible, and we keep confirming them.
Viktor Bernhardt: Thank you very much, Philippe. Thank you for the words, and thank you for the trust placed in me. Good morning from my side, and welcome to our media and analyst webcast. Today, Philippe already announced, I literally have the pleasure to present our H1 2026 results. Going into it, we have delivered strong H1 2026 performance with a significant profitability improvement versus previous year period. Looking at our continuing operations, we grew by 16% at constant FX. We have significantly improved our adjusted operating profit margin from 5.7% to 11%. We improved our free cash flow versus previous year, and we significantly reduced our net debt in the past 12 months. This all being said, the portfolio transformation and multi-market strategy is delivering results, and we will see it on the next pages. The strategic realignment benefits are visible, and we keep confirming them.
Speaker #1: And today, as Philippe already announced, I have the pleasure—literally, the pleasure—to present our first half-year results 2026. Going into it, we have delivered strong first half 2026 performance with a significant profitability improvement versus the previous year period.
Speaker #1: Looking at our continuing operations, we grew by 16% at constant FX. We have significantly improved our adjusted operating profit margin from 5.7% to 11%.
Speaker #1: We improved our free cash flow versus the previous year, and we significantly reduced our net debt in the past 12 months. That all being said, the portfolio transformation and multi-market strategy are delivering results, and we will see this on the next pages.
Speaker #1: The strategic realignment benefits are visible, and we keep confirming them. Encouraged by these strong H1 results, and with more visibility for the rest of the year, we raised our full-year guidance.
Viktor Bernhardt: Encouraged by these strong H1 results, and with more visibility for the rest of the year, we raised our full year guidance. I mentioned the full year market strategy showing results. If we look into our business units, starting with Wind Materials. Here on a continuing business at constant FX, we grew 9.6%, exceeding our own expectations. The main driver for the growth was obviously the leading OEMs who increased their onshore production and ramped up their offshore facilities. We, as Gurit, we benefit from our long-term agreements with our partners and of course, we benefit from our global footprint. Moving to Manufacturing Solutions, they delivered a very nice first semester 2026 with a growth year on year constant FX of 69%, admittedly versus a relatively soft first semester 2025. The driver here was increased customer activity, particularly in India.
Viktor Bernhardt: Encouraged by these strong H1 results, and with more visibility for the rest of the year, we raised our full year guidance. I mentioned the full year market strategy showing results. If we look into our business units, starting with Wind Materials. Here on a continuing business at constant FX, we grew 9.6%, exceeding our own expectations. The main driver for the growth was obviously the leading OEMs who increased their onshore production and ramped up their offshore facilities. We, as Gurit, we benefit from our long-term agreements with our partners and of course, we benefit from our global footprint. Moving to Manufacturing Solutions, they delivered a very nice first semester 2026 with a growth year on year constant FX of 69%, admittedly versus a relatively soft first semester 2025. The driver here was increased customer activity, particularly in India.
Speaker #1: I mentioned the full-year market strategy showing results. If we look into our business units, starting with Wind Materials, here on a continuing business at constant FX, we grew 9.6%, exceeding our own expectations.
Speaker #1: The main driver for the growth was obviously the leading OEMs. We increased their onshore production and ramped up their offshore facilities. We, as Gurit, benefit from our long-term agreements with our partners and, of course, we benefit from our global footprint.
Speaker #1: Moving to Manufacturing Solutions, they delivered a very nice first semester 2026, with year-on-year growth at constant FX of 69%, admittedly versus a relatively soft first semester 2025.
Speaker #1: The driver here was increased customer activity, particularly in India. Here, we strongly benefit from our successful manufacturing site establishment in India and from strong project execution across all business units.
Viktor Bernhardt: Here we strongly benefit from our successful manufacturing site establishment in India and from strong project execution across all business units. The order backlog and the current customer demand confirms our full year momentum for 2026. Marine and Industrial. Here we grew in line with our expectation by 9% at constant FX versus previous year. This despite marine markets being still soft. The subsea expansion and the diversification strategy drove the real growth as well as market share gains in smaller marine segments. The increasing adoption of recycled PET foam solutions, broad industrial application and a growing opportunity pipeline helped to bolster the growth. Now of course, as probably everybody in our industry, we had to face headwinds. The geopolitical tensions in Iran drove the raw material cost up, drove the freight cost up, and drove the energy cost up.
Viktor Bernhardt: Here we strongly benefit from our successful manufacturing site establishment in India and from strong project execution across all business units. The order backlog and the current customer demand confirms our full year momentum for 2026. Marine and Industrial. Here we grew in line with our expectation by 9% at constant FX versus previous year. This despite marine markets being still soft. The subsea expansion and the diversification strategy drove the real growth as well as market share gains in smaller marine segments. The increasing adoption of recycled PET foam solutions, broad industrial application and a growing opportunity pipeline helped to bolster the growth. Now of course, as probably everybody in our industry, we had to face headwinds. The geopolitical tensions in Iran drove the raw material cost up, drove the freight cost up, and drove the energy cost up.
Speaker #1: The order backlog and the current customer demand confirm our full-year momentum for 2026. In Marine and Industrial, we grew in line with our expectation by 9% at constant FX versus the previous year.
Speaker #1: And this despite marine markets still being soft. The subsidy expansion and diversification strategy drove the real growth as well as market share gains in smaller marine segments.
Speaker #1: The increasing adoption of recycled PET foam solutions, broader industrial application, and a growing opportunity pipeline helped to boost the growth. Now, of course, as probably everybody in our industry, we had to face headwinds as well.
Speaker #1: The geopolitical tensions in Iran drove the raw material costs up, drove the freight costs up, and drove the energy costs up. The US tariff environment still remains uncertain, and you have also heard the recent discussions of a 50% tariff increase in Canada.
Viktor Bernhardt: The US tariff environment still remains uncertain and you have also heard the recent discussions, 50% tariff increase in Canada. This all doesn't help, but we as Gurit, we could mitigate it. We mitigate it with new and different procurement initiatives, with continuous supply chain optimization, changing in local sourcing and routing, playing our global footprint game, and very important through our commercial cost pass-through. The achievements, which we are really proud and you will see it in our financials is, first of all, we have delivered a reliable supply chain. Much more important, we have delivered reliable deliveries to our customers. So all in all, so far we have not seen any significant impacts from the geopolitical tensions and the supply chain headwinds which we are seeing in the market. Diving a bit deeper into the financial performance. Key facts.
Viktor Bernhardt: The US tariff environment still remains uncertain and you have also heard the recent discussions, 50% tariff increase in Canada. This all doesn't help, but we as Gurit, we could mitigate it. We mitigate it with new and different procurement initiatives, with continuous supply chain optimization, changing in local sourcing and routing, playing our global footprint game, and very important through our commercial cost pass-through. The achievements, which we are really proud and you will see it in our financials is, first of all, we have delivered a reliable supply chain. Much more important, we have delivered reliable deliveries to our customers. So all in all, so far we have not seen any significant impacts from the geopolitical tensions and the supply chain headwinds which we are seeing in the market. Diving a bit deeper into the financial performance. Key facts.
Speaker #1: This all doesn't help, but we as Gurit, we could mitigate it. We mitigated with new and different procurement initiatives, with continuous supply chain optimization, changes in local sourcing and routing, playing our global footprint game, and very importantly, through our commercial cost pass-through.
Speaker #1: The achievements which we're really proud of—and you will see it in our financials—are, well, first of all, we have delivered a reliable supply chain.
Speaker #1: And, much more importantly, we have delivered reliable delivery to our customers. So, all in all, so far we have not seen any significant impacts from the geopolitical tensions or the supply chain headwinds that we are seeing in the markets.
Speaker #1: Diving a bit deeper into the financial performance and key facts: We reported net sales in Swiss francs of 154 million, including discontinued business. This represents a slight decrease versus the previous year period of 0.7%.
Viktor Bernhardt: We reported net sales in CHF 154 million, including discontinuing business. This represents a slight decrease versus previous year period of 0.7%. Our operating profit is 17.8% for the first half year. We significantly increased our adjusted operating profit from CHF 9.3 million to CHF 16.9 million, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 11% coming from 5.7% in previous year period. Net debt increased in this year. I will come to it later in detail, but comparing to previous year, we were able to decrease our net debt by CHF 20 million. We improved our free cash flow versus previous year. So all in all, just a summary, 16% growth in continuing business with constant FX. Growth across all three business units supporting our multi-market strategy. We keep confirming the success of our strategic realignment. We have a leaner cost base. We have enhanced operating efficiency.
Viktor Bernhardt: We reported net sales in CHF 154 million, including discontinuing business. This represents a slight decrease versus previous year period of 0.7%. Our operating profit is 17.8% for the first half year. We significantly increased our adjusted operating profit from CHF 9.3 million to CHF 16.9 million, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 11% coming from 5.7% in previous year period. Net debt increased in this year. I will come to it later in detail, but comparing to previous year, we were able to decrease our net debt by CHF 20 million. We improved our free cash flow versus previous year. So all in all, just a summary, 16% growth in continuing business with constant FX. Growth across all three business units supporting our multi-market strategy. We keep confirming the success of our strategic realignment. We have a leaner cost base. We have enhanced operating efficiency.
Speaker #1: Our operating profit is 17.8% for the first half-year. We significantly increased our adjusted operating profit from 9.3 million to 16.9 million, with an adjusted operating profit margin of 11%, up from 5.7% in the previous year period.
Speaker #1: Net debt increased this year—I will come to it later in detail—but, compared to the previous year, we were able to decrease our net debt by 20 million.
Speaker #1: And we improved our free cash flow versus the previous year. So, all in all, just as a summary: 16% growth in continuing business at constant FX, growth across all three business units supporting our multi-market strategy, and we continue to confirm the success of our strategic realignment.
Speaker #1: We have a leaner cost base, we have enhanced operating efficiency, and ultimately, we have an improved profitability profile. This lets us believe that we have built a strong foundation for our future.
Viktor Bernhardt: Ultimately we have an improved profitability profile, which lets us believe that we built a strong foundation for our future and for our future growth. Diving even a bit deeper, as mentioned before in the net sales, on the reported net sales we see a decline, 7% and 1% at constant FX. This includes discontinued business which we still had quite significantly in H1 2025. We move on to the continued operations and just compare the net sales. As mentioned before, we see an increase of 16% at constant FX and this across all business units. The gross profit grew by 23%, reaching a gross margin of 24% coming from 18% one year ago. Our adjusted operating profit grew from CHF 9.3 million to CHF 16.9 million, generating adjusted operating profit margin of 11%.
Viktor Bernhardt: Ultimately we have an improved profitability profile, which lets us believe that we built a strong foundation for our future and for our future growth. Diving even a bit deeper, as mentioned before in the net sales, on the reported net sales we see a decline, 7% and 1% at constant FX. This includes discontinued business which we still had quite significantly in H1 2025. We move on to the continued operations and just compare the net sales. As mentioned before, we see an increase of 16% at constant FX and this across all business units. The gross profit grew by 23%, reaching a gross margin of 24% coming from 18% one year ago. Our adjusted operating profit grew from CHF 9.3 million to CHF 16.9 million, generating adjusted operating profit margin of 11%.
Speaker #1: And for our future growth. Now, diving even a bit deeper, as mentioned before in the net sales: on the reported net sales, we see a decline of 7% and 1% at constant FX.
Speaker #1: This includes discontinued business, which we still had quite significantly in the first semester 2025. We move on to the continued operations, and just comparing the net sales, as mentioned before, we see an increase of 16% at constant FX, and this is across all business units.
Speaker #1: The gross profit grew by 23%, reaching a gross margin of 24%, up from 18% one year ago. Our adjusted operating profit grew from CHF 9.3 million to CHF 16.9 million, generating an adjusted operating profit margin of 11%.
Speaker #1: Now here, we compare, obviously, the first semester of 2026, which is completely post-restructuring, with the first semester of 2025, which is pre- or in the middle of restructuring.
Viktor Bernhardt: Now here we compare obviously, H1 2026, which is completely post-restructuring with H1 2025, which is pre or in the middle of restructuring. The question is, I would like to come to next slide, which we think we should be proud, is how did we do versus a very strong H2 2025. Remember, H2 2025 was a bit backloaded, especially in Manufacturing Solutions. Here on continuing operations at constant FX, we managed to grow by 2.3% and we managed to increase our adjusted operating result and our adjusted operating margin. Remember H2 2025, we are still at a different raw material and cost basis than we see now in the market. This just supports that we achieve a sustainable structure and we keep mitigating the headwinds which we are facing in the market. Diving into our cash positions.
Viktor Bernhardt: Now here we compare obviously, H1 2026, which is completely post-restructuring with H1 2025, which is pre or in the middle of restructuring. The question is, I would like to come to next slide, which we think we should be proud, is how did we do versus a very strong H2 2025. Remember, H2 2025 was a bit backloaded, especially in Manufacturing Solutions. Here on continuing operations at constant FX, we managed to grow by 2.3% and we managed to increase our adjusted operating result and our adjusted operating margin. Remember H2 2025, we are still at a different raw material and cost basis than we see now in the market. This just supports that we achieve a sustainable structure and we keep mitigating the headwinds which we are facing in the market. Diving into our cash positions.
Speaker #1: And the question is, and I'd like to come to the next slide—which I think we really should address—is: How did we do versus a very strong second semester 2025?
Speaker #1: Remember, the second semester of 2025 was a bit backloaded, especially in Manufacturing Solutions. And here, on continuing operations at constant FX, we managed to grow by 2.3%.
Speaker #1: And we managed to increase our adjusted operating result and our adjusted operating margin. Remember, in the second semester of 2025, we were still at a different raw material and cost basis than we see now in the market.
Speaker #1: This just supports that we have achieved a sustainable structure and we keep mitigating the headwinds which we are facing in the market. Diving into our cash positions, our trade net working capital here, comparing year on year, we decreased it by CHF 6.5 million—CHF 6.6 million to be precise.
Viktor Bernhardt: Our trade networking capital here, comparing year on year, we decreased it by CHF 6.5 million, CHF 6.6 million to be precise. However, we had an increase of CHF 5.2 million in 2026. This is mostly driven by seasonal related inventory buildups, as well as project related inventory buildup and Manufacturing Solutions preparing for deliveries in Q3. Here we expect a reduction towards year-end. CapEx, we spent CHF 4.8 million in H1 2026, primary containing targeted projects to support our capacity and efficiency enhancements. Here we were fully in line with our planning. Our free cash flow, as mentioned before, significantly improved versus previous year, driven by profitability improvement, but of course driven as well by absence of restructuring cash outs, which we had in H1 2025.
Viktor Bernhardt: Our trade networking capital here, comparing year on year, we decreased it by CHF 6.5 million, CHF 6.6 million to be precise. However, we had an increase of CHF 5.2 million in 2026. This is mostly driven by seasonal related inventory buildups, as well as project related inventory buildup and Manufacturing Solutions preparing for deliveries in Q3. Here we expect a reduction towards year-end. CapEx, we spent CHF 4.8 million in H1 2026, primary containing targeted projects to support our capacity and efficiency enhancements. Here we were fully in line with our planning. Our free cash flow, as mentioned before, significantly improved versus previous year, driven by profitability improvement, but of course driven as well by absence of restructuring cash outs, which we had in H1 2025.
Speaker #1: However, we had an increase of $5.2 million in 2026. This is mostly driven by seasonal-related inventory build-ups, as well as project-related inventory build-up and manufacturing solutions, preparing for deliveries in the third quarter.
Speaker #1: Here we expect a reduction towards year-end. Capex: we spent $4.8 million in the first semester 2026, primarily containing targeted projects to support our capacity and efficiency enhancements.
Speaker #1: And here we were fully in line with our planning. Our free cash flow, as mentioned before, significantly improved versus the previous year, driven by profitability improvement, but of course also driven by the absence of restructuring cash outs, which we had in the first semester of 2025.
Speaker #1: We had an adverse impact on our free cash flow from increased trade net working capital, as mentioned before. But as it goes for the trade net working capital, which we will reduce towards year-end, we will improve our free cash flow in 2026 in the second semester.
Viktor Bernhardt: We had an adverse impact on our free cash flow from increased trade networking capital, as mentioned before. As it goes for trade networking capital, which we will reduce towards year-end, we will improve our free cash flow in 2026 in H2. If we look at our priorities, which is next to profitable growth, financial flexibility, strengthened balance sheet and improved leverage profile, we see very well that we made nice progress here. Comparing our net debt year on year, we managed to reduce this by CHF 20 million, coming from CHF 79 million. Within the year, we increased our net debt by CHF 4.2 million, mostly driven to a deferred cash payment related to an early acquisition of Fiberline Composites.
Viktor Bernhardt: We had an adverse impact on our free cash flow from increased trade networking capital, as mentioned before. As it goes for trade networking capital, which we will reduce towards year-end, we will improve our free cash flow in 2026 in H2. If we look at our priorities, which is next to profitable growth, financial flexibility, strengthened balance sheet and improved leverage profile, we see very well that we made nice progress here. Comparing our net debt year on year, we managed to reduce this by CHF 20 million, coming from CHF 79 million. Within the year, we increased our net debt by CHF 4.2 million, mostly driven to a deferred cash payment related to an early acquisition of Fiberline Composites.
Speaker #1: If you look at our priorities—which are next to profitable growth, financial flexibility, strengthened balance sheet, and improved leverage profile—we see very, very well that we made nice progress here.
Speaker #1: Comparing our net debt year on year, we managed to reduce this by 20 million, coming from 79 million. Within the year, we increased our net debt by 4.2 million, mostly driven by our deferred cash payment related to the early acquisition of Fiberline Composites.
Speaker #1: The equity increased half year by half year, going from 46 million up to 65 million, so an increase of nearly 19 million in the past 12 months, and 12 million increase in the past 6 months.
Viktor Bernhardt: The equity increased H1 by H1, coming from CHF 46 million up to CHF 65 million, so an increase of nearly CHF 19 million in the past 12 months and CHF 12 million increase in the past six months. Consequently, our net debt to EBITDA ratio decreased from 1.9 by mid-2025 to 1.4 by mid-2026. Coming to the outlook 2026, as mentioned before, we are really encouraged by the first year results. We have much better visibility and consequently we raised our guidance. We raised our guidance for net sales growth for continuing operations, constant exchange rates in a range of 9% to 11%. Previously we were guiding with single-digit growth. The full year adjusted operating profit margin we raised to around 10%. Previously we said we want to be better than 2025, which was 8.1%.
Viktor Bernhardt: The equity increased H1 by H1, coming from CHF 46 million up to CHF 65 million, so an increase of nearly CHF 19 million in the past 12 months and CHF 12 million increase in the past six months. Consequently, our net debt to EBITDA ratio decreased from 1.9 by mid-2025 to 1.4 by mid-2026. Coming to the outlook 2026, as mentioned before, we are really encouraged by the first year results. We have much better visibility and consequently we raised our guidance. We raised our guidance for net sales growth for continuing operations, constant exchange rates in a range of 9% to 11%. Previously we were guiding with single-digit growth. The full year adjusted operating profit margin we raised to around 10%. Previously we said we want to be better than 2025, which was 8.1%.
Speaker #1: Consequently, our net debt to ABTR ratio decreased from 1.9 by the end of, by mid-2025, to 1.4 by mid-2026. Coming to the outlook for 2026, and as mentioned before, we are really encouraged by the first-year results.
Speaker #1: We have much better visibility, and consequently, we raised our guidance. We raised our guidance for net sales growth for continuing operations at constant exchange rates, in a range of 9 to 11%.
Speaker #1: Previously, we were guiding mid-single-digit growth. The full-year adjusted operating profit margin we raised to around 10%. Previously, we said we want to be better than 2025, which was 8.1%.
Speaker #1: What we did not raise, because we continuously focused on it, is our disciplined execution, operational excellence, and cash generation. And of course, we keep monitoring the geopolitical developments, such as tariffs and supply chain risks.
Viktor Bernhardt: What we did not raise, because we continuously focus on it, is our disciplined execution, operational excellence and cash generation. Of course, we keep monitoring the geopolitical developments such as tariffs and supply chain risks, as this has biggest implication on this year's performance. So what are the key takeaways which we wanted to give you with this presentation? Well, first of all, strong H1 2026 and we confirm success of our strategic realignment. We not only confirm it in the first semester 2026, we repeated it. We repeated it after the strong second semester 2025. Our multi-market strategy is delivering results, tangible results. We see it across all three business units which shows organic growth. With the decision of the board to appoint me to the CEO, we ensure stability in the organization and following all this, we raised our full year guidance.
Viktor Bernhardt: What we did not raise, because we continuously focus on it, is our disciplined execution, operational excellence and cash generation. Of course, we keep monitoring the geopolitical developments such as tariffs and supply chain risks, as this has biggest implication on this year's performance. So what are the key takeaways which we wanted to give you with this presentation? Well, first of all, strong H1 2026 and we confirm success of our strategic realignment. We not only confirm it in the first semester 2026, we repeated it. We repeated it after the strong second semester 2025. Our multi-market strategy is delivering results, tangible results. We see it across all three business units which shows organic growth. With the decision of the board to appoint me to the CEO, we ensure stability in the organization and following all this, we raised our full year guidance.
Speaker #1: As this has the biggest implication on our performance this year, what are the key takeaways that we want to give you with this presentation?
Speaker #1: Well, first of all, strong H1 2026, and we confirm the success of our strategic realignment. And we not only confirm it in the first semester 2026, we repeated it.
Speaker #1: We repeated it after the strong second semester of 2025. Our multi-market strategy is delivering results—tangible results. We see it across all three business units, which shows organic growth.
Speaker #1: With the decision of the Board to appoint me as CEO, we ensure stability in the organization. And following all this, we raised our full-year guidance.
Speaker #1: Of course, we keep focusing on profitable growth. So, in a nutshell: strong H1 and raised guidance. And before we move on to the Q&A, just one word from my side: I would like to thank our teams around the world for having delivered this, for having delivered these results over the past not only 6 months, but over the past 12 months.
Viktor Bernhardt: Of course, we keep focusing on profitable growth. So in a nutshell, strong H1 and raised guidance. Before we move on to the Q&A, just one word from my side. I would like to thank our teams around the world for having delivered this, for having delivered these results over the past not only six months, but over the past 12 months, and to manage the strategic transition realignment and restructuring in the past years. Thanks a lot to our teams. With this, thank you for your interest and I will hand over to you for Q&A.
Viktor Bernhardt: Of course, we keep focusing on profitable growth. So in a nutshell, strong H1 and raised guidance. Before we move on to the Q&A, just one word from my side. I would like to thank our teams around the world for having delivered this, for having delivered these results over the past not only six months, but over the past 12 months, and to manage the strategic transition realignment and restructuring in the past years. Thanks a lot to our teams. With this, thank you for your interest and I will hand over to you for Q&A.
Speaker #1: And to manage the strategic transition, realignment, and restructuring in the past years. Thanks a lot to our teams, and with this, thank you for your interest. I will hand over to you for Q&A.
Speaker #2: We will now begin the question and answer session. Participants can now ask questions by pressing star and one on their touchtone telephone. Questioners are requested to use handsets and turn down the volume on the webcast.
Operator 2: We will now begin the question and answer session. Participants can now ask questions by pressing star and one on their touch-tone telephone. Questioners are requested to use only handsets and turn down the volume on the webcast. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. The first question comes from the line of Laura Bucher from Octavian. Please go ahead.
Operator: We will now begin the question and answer session. Participants can now ask questions by pressing star and one on their touch-tone telephone. Questioners are requested to use only handsets and turn down the volume on the webcast. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. The first question comes from the line of Laura Bucher from Octavian. Please go ahead.
Speaker #2: If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time.
Speaker #2: The first question comes from the line of Laura Bucher from Octavian. Please go ahead.
Speaker #3: Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. First of all, congratulations on the results. I have a couple of questions. So first, it's on the midterm margin potential.
Laura Bucher: Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. First of all, congratulations on the results. I have a couple of questions. First, it is on the midterm margin potential. At the full year 2025, you said a post 2026 adjusted, or actually reported EBIT margin of around 10%. You have now effectively, hopefully, reached that level a year earlier today. In the press release, you refer to midterm now 10% or above. I just wanted to understand what this above means in practice. Looking historically, Gurit had margins of above 11%, but the portfolio was rather different back then, and Manufacturing Solutions were at peak levels. Given that you have stated multiple times that you do not expect Manufacturing Solutions to get at that level again, what do you see realistically in terms of margin potential with the current portfolio that you have for the midterm?
Laura Bucher: Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. First of all, congratulations on the results. I have a couple of questions. First, it is on the midterm margin potential. At the full year 2025, you said a post 2026 adjusted, or actually reported EBIT margin of around 10%. You have now effectively, hopefully, reached that level a year earlier today. In the press release, you refer to midterm now 10% or above. I just wanted to understand what this above means in practice. Looking historically, Gurit had margins of above 11%, but the portfolio was rather different back then, and Manufacturing Solutions were at peak levels. Given that you have stated multiple times that you do not expect Manufacturing Solutions to get at that level again, what do you see realistically in terms of margin potential with the current portfolio that you have for the midterm?
Speaker #3: I mean, at the full year 2025, you said a post-2026 adjusted or actually reported EBIT margin of around 10%. You have now effectively, hopefully, reached that level a year earlier.
Speaker #3: Today, and in the press release, you refer to midterm now as 10% or above. So, I just wanted to understand what this "above" means in practice.
Speaker #3: I mean, looking historically, Gurit had margins above 11%, but the portfolio was rather different back then, and Manufacturing Solutions were at peak levels.
Speaker #3: So I mean, given that you've stated multiple times that you do not expect manufacturing solutions to get at that level again, I mean, what do you see realistically in terms of margin potential for the current with the current portfolio that you have for the midterm?
Speaker #1: Thank you very much, Laura. First of all, nice try, but we will not provide guidance for 2027. It's just too early for that. Some macro trends will definitely continue.
Viktor Bernhardt: Thank you very much, Laura. First of all, nice try, but we will not guide on 2027. It is just too early for that. Definitely some macro trends will continue in the wind industry, that we confirm, like the offshore ramp-up increasing, ramp-up in the subsea. On the project business, on the Manufacturing Solutions, as you referred specifically to it, the visibility is not that far out. Right now for this year, we see the momentum. We continue on the momentum, but we will not be able to raise it. Maybe just to manage expectations. On our strategy deployment, basically we had two steps, right? It was restructuring the first step and profitable growth in the second. Restructuring, I think we can now certainly say completed and move on. The second one, profitable growth, that is a longer one.
Viktor Bernhardt: Thank you very much, Laura. First of all, nice try, but we will not guide on 2027. It is just too early for that. Definitely some macro trends will continue in the wind industry, that we confirm, like the offshore ramp-up increasing, ramp-up in the subsea. On the project business, on the Manufacturing Solutions, as you referred specifically to it, the visibility is not that far out. Right now for this year, we see the momentum. We continue on the momentum, but we will not be able to raise it. Maybe just to manage expectations. On our strategy deployment, basically we had two steps, right? It was restructuring the first step and profitable growth in the second. Restructuring, I think we can now certainly say completed and move on. The second one, profitable growth, that is a longer one.
Speaker #1: In the wind industry, we can confirm the offshore ramp-up, with increasing ramp-up in the submarine. On the project business, on the manufacturing solutions as you referred specifically to it, the visibility is not that far out.
Speaker #1: So right now, for this year, we see the momentum. We continue on the momentum, but we will not be able to raise it.
Speaker #1: Maybe just to manage expectations on our strategy deployment—basically, we had two steps, right? It was restructuring in the first step, and profitable growth in the second.
Speaker #1: So, restructuring I think we can now certainly say is completed, and we can move on. The second one, profitable growth, that's a longer one. We see first results, and we are very happy with the first results of the first semester 2026.
Viktor Bernhardt: We see first results, and we are very happy with the first results of H1 2026. However, there are still quite a few risks out there. We mentioned the tariffs. When you see the development there, it is quite dynamic. The raw material and supply chain situation is still volatile, so we are careful to guide further, and to increase. Nevertheless, we strongly believe that we are only in the beginning of the second phase for our strategy. We do not intend to stop there, but at this point in time, we cannot and we will not raise and change our guidance and ambition.
Viktor Bernhardt: We see first results, and we are very happy with the first results of H1 2026. However, there are still quite a few risks out there. We mentioned the tariffs. When you see the development there, it is quite dynamic. The raw material and supply chain situation is still volatile, so we are careful to guide further, and to increase. Nevertheless, we strongly believe that we are only in the beginning of the second phase for our strategy. We do not intend to stop there, but at this point in time, we cannot and we will not raise and change our guidance and ambition.
Speaker #1: However, there are still quite a few risks out there. We mentioned tariffs. When you see the development there, it's quite dynamic. The raw material and supply chain situation is still volatile.
Speaker #1: So we are careful to guide further. Nevertheless, we strongly believe that we are only at the beginning of the second phase of our strategy.
Speaker #1: We do not intend to stop there, but at this point in time, we cannot and we will not raise or change our guidance and ambition.
Speaker #3: Okay, that's fair. Thank you. And then, the second one on the US-Canada tariffs: can you quantify the impact you would expect in Swiss francs?
Laura Bucher: Okay. That is fair. Thank you. The second one on the US-Canada tariffs. Can you quantify the impact you would expect in CHF? You said that you have embedded that already in the full year 2026 guidance. Can you give us some more detail there?
Laura Bucher: Okay. That is fair. Thank you. The second one on the US-Canada tariffs. Can you quantify the impact you would expect in CHF? You said that you have embedded that already in the full year 2026 guidance. Can you give us some more detail there?
Speaker #3: You said that you've already embedded that in the full-year 2026 guidance. Could you give us some more details there?
Speaker #1: Well, it's a bit early to say, right? It's because it's really fresh. But in a worst-case scenario, it's, let's say, mid-single million Swiss francs of top line.
Viktor Bernhardt: Well, it's a bit early to say, right? Because it's really fresh, but in a worst-case scenario, it's, let's say, mid-single million CHF of top line.
Viktor Bernhardt: Well, it's a bit early to say, right? Because it's really fresh, but in a worst-case scenario, it's, let's say, mid-single million CHF of top line.
Speaker #3: Okay. And have you, just out of curiosity, have you received any reimbursement so far from the tariffs earlier this year?
Laura Bucher: Okay. Just out of curiosity, have you received any reimbursements so far from the tariffs earlier this year?
Laura Bucher: Okay. Just out of curiosity, have you received any reimbursements so far from the tariffs earlier this year?
Speaker #1: Yes, we did.
Viktor Bernhardt: Yes, we did.
Viktor Bernhardt: Yes, we did.
Speaker #3: And did you report that in this year's—well, in the half year already? And if so, how?
Laura Bucher: Did you report that in this year's, well, in the H1 already, and if so, how?
Laura Bucher: Did you report that in this year's, well, in the H1 already, and if so, how?
Speaker #1: No, we have not reported this in a half year. It's not in there. And the question is, of course, what our customers will ask.
Viktor Bernhardt: No, we have not reported this in the H1. It is not in there. The question is, of course, what our customers will ask. So that is something we cannot comment on at this stage. We will be very careful to put this in our financial guidance.
Viktor Bernhardt: No, we have not reported this in the H1. It is not in there. The question is, of course, what our customers will ask. So that is something we cannot comment on at this stage. We will be very careful to put this in our financial guidance.
Speaker #1: And so that's something we cannot comment on at this stage, and I would be very careful to put this in our financial guidance.
Speaker #3: Okay, and then just the third and final one. In the marine market, I mean, for quite a few quarters now, you've reported that underlying marine demand is still rather muted.
Laura Bucher: Okay. Just the third and final one. In the Marine and Industrial market, for quite a few quarters now, you have reported that underlying marine demand is still rather muted. Once was mentioned the tariffs was one of the potential factors. So what are you currently seeing in terms of demand there, specifically in the marine market and ex subsea business? Is there any indication of a recovery or improving order momentum or anything in that sense?
Laura Bucher: Okay. Just the third and final one. In the Marine and Industrial market, for quite a few quarters now, you have reported that underlying marine demand is still rather muted. Once was mentioned the tariffs was one of the potential factors. So what are you currently seeing in terms of demand there, specifically in the marine market and ex subsea business? Is there any indication of a recovery or improving order momentum or anything in that sense?
Speaker #3: Tariffs were mentioned as one of the potential factors. So, what are you currently seeing in terms of demand specifically in the marine market and the X subsea business?
Speaker #3: Is there any indication of a recovery or improving order momentum, or anything in that sense?
Speaker #1: Well, it was flat in the beginning of the year, and we were carefully optimistic, but the Middle East crisis had an adverse effect on it.
Viktor Bernhardt: It was flat in the beginning of the year, and we were carefully optimistic, but then the Middle East crisis had an adverse effect on it. So it really reduced it. We do not see that this will go away as long as the Middle East tensions are there.
Viktor Bernhardt: It was flat in the beginning of the year, and we were carefully optimistic, but then the Middle East crisis had an adverse effect on it. So it really reduced it. We do not see that this will go away as long as the Middle East tensions are there.
Speaker #1: So it can't—I mean, it really reduced it. We don't see that this will go away as long as the Middle East tensions are there.
Speaker #3: Okay, thank you. The next question comes...
Laura Bucher: Okay. Thank you.
Laura Bucher: Okay. Thank you.
Operator 2: The next question comes from the line of Tobias Klopfer from ZKB. Please go ahead.
Operator: The next question comes from the line of Tobias Klopfer from ZKB. Please go ahead.
Speaker #2: From the line of Tobias Klöper from ZKB. Please go ahead.
Speaker #4: Yes, good morning. Two questions from my side; I will take them one by one. First, a follow-up on the previous question regarding the tariff situation.
Tobias Klopfer: Yes, good morning. Two questions from my side. I will take them one by one. First, follow up on the previous question regarding the tariff situation. If I remember correctly, you have a production facility in Canada. My question would be how important that is for supplying the US market, maybe in terms of share of sales, and would it be possible to shift production from there? Thank you.
Tobias Klöpper: Yes, good morning. Two questions from my side. I will take them one by one. First, follow up on the previous question regarding the tariff situation. If I remember correctly, you have a production facility in Canada. My question would be how important that is for supplying the US market, maybe in terms of share of sales, and would it be possible to shift production from there? Thank you.
Speaker #4: If I remember correctly, you have a production facility in Canada, and my question would be how important that is for supplying the US market.
Speaker #4: Maybe in terms of share of sales. And would it be possible to shift production from there? Thank you.
Speaker #1: Yeah, thank you for the question, Tobias. Indeed, we have a production facility in Canada, and indeed, it is important for our US market, especially in the subsea area.
Viktor Bernhardt: Yeah, thank you for the question, Tobias. Indeed, we have a production facility in Canada, and indeed, it is important for US markets, especially in the subsea area, as we deliver the product there. Will we shift production? No. This type of production, it is not an easy one to shift. So we have to see how this develops, but right now that is not an option.
Viktor Bernhardt: Yeah, thank you for the question, Tobias. Indeed, we have a production facility in Canada, and indeed, it is important for US markets, especially in the subsea area, as we deliver the product there. Will we shift production? No. This type of production, it is not an easy one to shift. So we have to see how this develops, but right now that is not an option.
Speaker #1: As we deliver the products there, will we shift production? No, this type of production is not an easy one to shift. So, we have to see how this develops.
Speaker #1: But right now, that's not—no.
Speaker #4: Maybe I can add a little bit to this answer. So, we deliver from Canada to the US—two completely different kinds of markets.
Philippe Royer: Maybe I can add a little bit to this answer. So we deliver from Canada to the US two completely different kind of markets with these Corecell products, so composite products that we are producing in Canada. The first one would be products for the typical Marine and Industrial markets mainly. Here, we cannot shift production. On the other end, our customers are most probably going to reroute part of their production if really this 50% tariff will stay for long-term. That is a part of it. As Viktor indicated earlier, we are talking altogether about, let us say, mid-single-digit sales in the second year foreseen. The second part of it is much more on the subsea.
Philippe Royer: Maybe I can add a little bit to this answer. So we deliver from Canada to the US two completely different kind of markets with these Corecell products, so composite products that we are producing in Canada. The first one would be products for the typical Marine and Industrial markets mainly. Here, we cannot shift production. On the other end, our customers are most probably going to reroute part of their production if really this 50% tariff will stay for long-term. That is a part of it. As Viktor indicated earlier, we are talking altogether about, let us say, mid-single-digit sales in the second year foreseen. The second part of it is much more on the subsea.
Speaker #4: With this core cell product, so composite products that we are producing in Canada, the first one would be products for the typical marine markets mainly.
Speaker #4: Here, we cannot shift production on the other end. Our customers are most probably going to reroute part of their production if really this 50% tariff will stay for the long term.
Speaker #4: That's a part of it. As Victor indicated earlier, we are talking altogether about, let's say, mid single-digit sales in the second year forecast.
Speaker #4: The second part of it is much more on the subsea, and here we would be giving the nature of this business, which I cannot explain in detail. But given the nature of this business, we would be extremely surprised that tariffs stay on this.
Philippe Royer: Here we would be, given the nature of this business, which I cannot explain in detail, but given the nature of this business, we would be extremely surprised that tariffs stay on this, because this is raw materials for very important applications to the US. So we believe that this is going to develop very fast. We, in our guidance, have taken full caution for the H2. We would be surprised that this full caution is necessary for the reasons I just explained.
Philippe Royer: Here we would be, given the nature of this business, which I cannot explain in detail, but given the nature of this business, we would be extremely surprised that tariffs stay on this, because this is raw materials for very important applications to the US. So we believe that this is going to develop very fast. We, in our guidance, have taken full caution for the H2. We would be surprised that this full caution is necessary for the reasons I just explained.
Speaker #4: Because this is raw material for very important applications to the US, we believe this is going to develop very fast. In our guidance, we have taken full caution for the second half. We would be surprised if this full caution is necessary, for the reasons I just explained.
Speaker #4: Thank you, that's very helpful. And regarding my second question, on Chinese competition in wind, Nordex mentioned in their call that they are increasingly using Chinese suppliers in Morocco and China for blade production.
Tobias Klopfer: Thank you. That is very helpful. Regarding my second question on Chinese competition wind, Nordex mentioned in their call that they are increasingly using Chinese suppliers in Morocco and China for blade production. Can you give us somewhat insight into how your acquisition with these blade manufacturers, are they maybe preferring Chinese material suppliers? Thank you.
Tobias Klöpper: Thank you. That is very helpful. Regarding my second question on Chinese competition wind, Nordex mentioned in their call that they are increasingly using Chinese suppliers in Morocco and China for blade production. Can you give us somewhat insight into how your acquisition with these blade manufacturers, are they maybe preferring Chinese material suppliers? Thank you.
Speaker #4: Can you give us some more insight into how they are positioned with these blade-preferring Chinese material suppliers? Thank you.
Speaker #1: Well, I cannot really comment on specific customers. We are happy with our partners. As we said, we have increasing demand this year, which we see from our customers.
Viktor Bernhardt: Well, cannot really comment on specific customers. We are happy with our partners. As we said, we have an increasing demand this year, which we see from our customers. But, yeah, the Chinese competitors are there. It is not a risk anymore, it is a fact. So far we managed this quite well, we believe.
Viktor Bernhardt: Well, cannot really comment on specific customers. We are happy with our partners. As we said, we have an increasing demand this year, which we see from our customers. But, yeah, the Chinese competitors are there. It is not a risk anymore, it is a fact. So far we managed this quite well, we believe.
Speaker #1: But yeah, the Chinese competitors are there. I mean, it's not a risk anymore; it's a fact. And so far, we've managed this quite well, we believe.
Speaker #4: I think we can add to this the following. In wind specifically, we are working with two different categories of customers, if you wish.
Philippe Royer: I think we can add to this the following. So we, in wind specifically, are working with two different categories of customers, if you wish. We have long-term partners, and you see that regularly when we publish those press releases talking about LTAs. Those LTAs are typically four, five years LTAs. Those LTAs are LTAs with a given share of wallet. Okay? Now we have LTAs up to 2031, 2032 maybe in one case. Here we consider we are absolutely fully protected. This is by far the main part of wind activity. Now, there are still on the market some transactional customers. Transactional mean no LTA, price is fixed either once a year or even once a quarter. For this one, you have always a risk that they switch one quarter to another supplier, come back depending on price, come back depending on quality.
Philippe Royer: I think we can add to this the following. So we, in wind specifically, are working with two different categories of customers, if you wish. We have long-term partners, and you see that regularly when we publish those press releases talking about LTAs. Those LTAs are typically four, five years LTAs. Those LTAs are LTAs with a given share of wallet. Okay? Now we have LTAs up to 2031, 2032 maybe in one case. Here we consider we are absolutely fully protected. This is by far the main part of wind activity. Now, there are still on the market some transactional customers. Transactional mean no LTA, price is fixed either once a year or even once a quarter. For this one, you have always a risk that they switch one quarter to another supplier, come back depending on price, come back depending on quality.
Speaker #4: We have long-term partners and use this regularly when we publish those press releases. Talking about LTAs, those LTAs are typically four- to five-year LTAs.
Speaker #4: Those LTAs are LTAs with a given share of wallet. Okay. Now we have LTAs up to 2031, 2032, maybe in one case. And here we consider we are absolutely fully protected.
Speaker #4: This is by far the main part of our wind activity. Now, there are still on the market some transactional customers. Transactional means no LTA; price is fixed either once a year or even once a quarter.
Speaker #4: And for this one, you have always a risk that they switch one quarter to another supplier come back depending on price. Come back depending on quality.
Speaker #4: And here, this is a smaller part of the business, but there is always a risk. We can definitely share that we anticipate, for example, in wind, a very strong second half, because we are helping some OEMs that are having quality troubles with some of their suppliers, and we are helping them to get out of their issues.
Philippe Royer: Here this is a smaller part of our business, but here there is always a risk. We can share definitely that we anticipate, for example, in wind, a very strong H2 because we are helping some OEMs that are having quality troubles with some of their suppliers, and we are helping them to get out of their issues. But here again, strategic customers, no issue for us. Transactional customers, yes, it can be up, down. We have seen that year after year. There is always a risk, but we have seen also that it may also come back to us for a lot of different reasons, the year after or six months after or during the year. All of this obviously is included in our guidance.
Philippe Royer: Here this is a smaller part of our business, but here there is always a risk. We can share definitely that we anticipate, for example, in wind, a very strong H2 because we are helping some OEMs that are having quality troubles with some of their suppliers, and we are helping them to get out of their issues. But here again, strategic customers, no issue for us. Transactional customers, yes, it can be up, down. We have seen that year after year. There is always a risk, but we have seen also that it may also come back to us for a lot of different reasons, the year after or six months after or during the year. All of this obviously is included in our guidance.
Speaker #4: But here again, strategic customers are no issue for us. Transactional customers—yes, it can be up or down. We have seen that year after year. There is always a risk, but we have also seen that they may come back to us for a lot of different reasons.
Speaker #4: The year after, or six months after, or during the year. So, all of this, obviously, is included in our guidance. Great, thank you so much for this.
Tobias Klopfer: Great. Thank you so much for this. I will go back into the queue.
Tobias Klöpper: Great. Thank you so much for this. I will go back into the queue.
Speaker #4: I'll go back into the queue.
Speaker #2: The next question comes from the line of Marty Carroll from UBS. Please go ahead.
Operator 2: The next question comes from the line of Marty Querol from UBS. Please go ahead.
Operator: The next question comes from the line of Marty Querol from UBS. Please go ahead.
Speaker #5: Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I would have to please the first one would be also on the midterm guidance. I mean, today you are reiterating the midterm margin guidance of 10% or above.
Marti Queral Ferre: Good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. I would have two, please. The first one would be also on the midterm guidance. Today you are reiterating the midterm margin guidance of 10% or above, but I have not found any references to the organic growth guidance, which was, if I am not mistaken, mid to high single-digit growth in wind and high single-digit growth in non-wind business. Is there any change here?
Marti Queral: Good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. I would have two, please. The first one would be also on the midterm guidance. Today you are reiterating the midterm margin guidance of 10% or above, but I have not found any references to the organic growth guidance, which was, if I am not mistaken, mid to high single-digit growth in wind and high single-digit growth in non-wind business. Is there any change here?
Speaker #5: But I have not found any references to the organic growth guidance, which was, if I'm not mistaken, mid to high single-digit growth in wind.
Speaker #5: And high single-digit growth in the non-wind business. So, is there any change here?
Speaker #1: No, there is no change. And to be specific on 27, we cannot and we will not guide at this point in time.
Viktor Bernhardt: No, there is no change. To be specific on 2027, we cannot, and we will not guide at this point in time.
Viktor Bernhardt: No, there is no change. To be specific on 2027, we cannot, and we will not guide at this point in time.
Speaker #5: Okay, thanks. It was more of a midterm question rather than Q2–Q7, but thanks for the clarification. And the second question I have is on the free cash flow.
Marti Queral Ferre: Okay, thanks. It was more a midterm question rather than 2027, but thanks for the clarification.
Marti Queral: Okay, thanks. It was more a midterm question rather than 2027, but thanks for the clarification.
Viktor Bernhardt: Okay.
Viktor Bernhardt: Okay.
Marti Queral Ferre: The second question I would have is on the free cash flow. In the 2025 conference call a few months ago, I think we discussed that Gurit expected to generate free cash flow in 2026, at least in a similar magnitude that in 2025, which was around CHF 12 million. In H1 this year, free cash flow was basically zero for some reasons that you previously explained. I was basically wondering if you still have the same expectations as in the 2025 conference call, and what gives this confidence here in any case?
Marti Queral: The second question I would have is on the free cash flow. In the 2025 conference call a few months ago, I think we discussed that Gurit expected to generate free cash flow in 2026, at least in a similar magnitude that in 2025, which was around CHF 12 million. In H1 this year, free cash flow was basically zero for some reasons that you previously explained. I was basically wondering if you still have the same expectations as in the 2025 conference call, and what gives this confidence here in any case?
Speaker #5: In the 2025 conference call a few months ago, I think we discussed whether it could be expected to generate free cash flow in 2026, at least in a similar magnitude?
Speaker #5: That in 2025, which was around $12 million, in H1 this year, free cash flow was basically zero for some reasons that you previously explained.
Speaker #5: So I was basically wondering if you still have the same expectations as in the 2025 conference call, and what gives you this confidence here in any case.
Speaker #1: Yeah. Just to start this—the second part of the question—if you look at last year, where we had mid-year minus 13 and ended up plus 12, I'm not suggesting that we make 25 as well now in the second half of '26, but just that there is a seasonality in there.
Viktor Bernhardt: Yeah. Just to start with the second part of your question. If you look at last year, where we had mid-year -13 and ended up +12, I am not suggesting that we will make 25 as well now in the H2 of 2026, but there is a seasonality in there that gives us the confidence and of course, all the focus which we have on it. That is what give us the confidence that we will achieve our targets.
Viktor Bernhardt: Yeah. Just to start with the second part of your question. If you look at last year, where we had mid-year -13 and ended up +12, I am not suggesting that we will make 25 as well now in the H2 of 2026, but there is a seasonality in there that gives us the confidence and of course, all the focus which we have on it. That is what give us the confidence that we will achieve our targets.
Speaker #1: That gives us the confidence, and of course all the focus we have on it. That's what gives us the confidence that we will achieve our targets.
Speaker #5: Okay. Thank you.
Marti Queral Ferre: Okay. Thank you.
Marti Queral: Okay. Thank you.
Speaker #2: As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star then one on your telephone. The next question comes from the line of Laura Bucher from Octavian.
Operator 2: As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question comes from the line of Laura Bucher from Octavian. Please go ahead. Ms. Bucher, your line is open.
Operator: As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question comes from the line of Laura Bucher from Octavian. Please go ahead. Ms. Bucher, your line is open.
Speaker #2: Please go ahead. Ms. Bucher, your line is open.
Laura Bucher: Hi, it is me again. Just two more questions from my side. First on the utilization rates. Can you give us a sense of your current utilization rates across your manufacturing facilities and where you might still have some spare capacity or meaningful spare capacity?
Laura Bucher: Hi, it is me again. Just two more questions from my side. First on the utilization rates. Can you give us a sense of your current utilization rates across your manufacturing facilities and where you might still have some spare capacity or meaningful spare capacity?
Speaker #6: Hi, it's me again. Just two more questions from my side. First, on the utilization rates, can you give us a sense of your current utilization rates across your manufacturing facilities?
Speaker #6: And where you might still have some spare capacity, or meaningful spare capacity?
Speaker #4: Let me take that here for you. Obviously, this depends quite a lot on the business unit, so I have to go through each business unit.
Philippe Royer: Let me take that, Philippe. Obviously, this depends quite a lot about the business unit. I have to go through the business unit to give you an answer. If we are talking about Wind Materials, as you know Wind Materials, this is primarily PET foam extrusion and then kitting. I would say that at this stage, our capacities are 80% loaded, more in Asia than in North America, I would say, but this gives you an average rate. If we look at Marine and Industrial business, here we have a lot of different products. I am going to touch only on two products, which are key for us. The first one is the Corecell, which is a SAN composite. Here, we are at full capacity looking at our manning today, but we are not fully manned, and we are developing now the possibility to dramatically increase production.
Philippe Royer: Let me take that, Philippe. Obviously, this depends quite a lot about the business unit. I have to go through the business unit to give you an answer. If we are talking about Wind Materials, as you know Wind Materials, this is primarily PET foam extrusion and then kitting. I would say that at this stage, our capacities are 80% loaded, more in Asia than in North America, I would say, but this gives you an average rate. If we look at Marine and Industrial business, here we have a lot of different products. I am going to touch only on two products, which are key for us. The first one is the Corecell, which is a SAN composite. Here, we are at full capacity looking at our manning today, but we are not fully manned, and we are developing now the possibility to dramatically increase production.
Speaker #4: So the business unit, to give you an answer—if you are talking, if we are talking about wind materials—and as you know, wind materials, this is primarily PET foam extrusion and then kitting.
Speaker #4: I would say that, at this stage, our capacity—our capacities—are 80% loaded, more in Asia than in North America. I would say about this to give you an average rate.
Speaker #4: If we look at the marine and industrial business here, we have a lot of different products. I'm going to touch only on two products.
Speaker #4: Which are key for us. The first one is the Corsair, which is a SAN composite. Here we are at full capacity looking at our manning today, but we are not fully manned, and we are developing now the possibility to dramatically increase production.
Speaker #4: For PET, which is the PET used in industrial applications, we in North America would be loaded more or less 60%. So, we have plenty of capacity available.
Philippe Royer: For PET, which is the PET used in industrial applications, we in North America would be loaded more or less 60%, so we have plenty of capacity available. The third business unit is Manufacturing Solutions tooling, where we have two main plants, one in China and one in India that we have developed in the last three years. As an average, those plants would be loaded not much more than 50%, so we have a lot of capacity available.
Philippe Royer: For PET, which is the PET used in industrial applications, we in North America would be loaded more or less 60%, so we have plenty of capacity available. The third business unit is Manufacturing Solutions tooling, where we have two main plants, one in China and one in India that we have developed in the last three years. As an average, those plants would be loaded not much more than 50%, so we have a lot of capacity available.
Speaker #4: The third business unit is Manufacturing Solutions. Tooling, where we have two main plants: one in China and one in India, that we have developed in the last three years.
Speaker #4: On average, those plants would be loaded at not much more than 50%. So, we have a lot of capacity available.
Speaker #6: Okay, then a follow-up on this one. You mentioned that you're planning to dramatically increase the production there—of course, cell. Is this already in your CAPEX guidance, or do you expect, or I don't know...
Laura Bucher: Okay, then a follow-up on this one. You mentioned that you are planning to dramatically increase the production there of Corecell. Is this already in your CapEx guidance, or do you expect, or I don't know. Is it or isn't in the CapEx guidance?
Laura Bucher: Okay, then a follow-up on this one. You mentioned that you are planning to dramatically increase the production there of Corecell. Is this already in your CapEx guidance, or do you expect, or I don't know. Is it or isn't in the CapEx guidance?
Speaker #6: Is it or isn't it in the CAPEX guidance?
Speaker #1: In our CAPEX planning in our business plan, of course we included those kinds of investments.
Viktor Bernhardt: In our CapEx planning and our business plan, of course, we included those kind of investments.
Viktor Bernhardt: In our CapEx planning and our business plan, of course, we included those kind of investments.
Laura Bucher: Okay. The last one from my side, on the profitability, I appreciate that on the growth margin in H2 last year, you already had a 25%. So in a sense, it's a continuation of what you achieved already last year. Could you rank, in terms of order of magnitude, what contributed more? Is it discontinuing Fiberline? Is it the restructuring on the cost base? Is it the higher volume? If you could give some color there.
Laura Bucher: Okay. The last one from my side, on the profitability, I appreciate that on the growth margin in H2 last year, you already had a 25%. So in a sense, it's a continuation of what you achieved already last year. Could you rank, in terms of order of magnitude, what contributed more? Is it discontinuing Fiberline? Is it the restructuring on the cost base? Is it the higher volume? If you could give some color there.
Speaker #6: On the profitability side, I appreciate that in '82 on the gross margin—in '82 last year—you already had a 25%. So in a sense, it's a continuation of what you achieved already last year.
Speaker #6: But could you, could you rank, you know, in terms of order of magnitude, what contributed more? Is it, you know, discontinuing fiber line? Is it the restructuring on the cost base?
Speaker #6: Is it the, you know, higher volume? If you could give some color there.
Viktor Bernhardt: Well, the kind of the answer is yes. It is all of it. It starts with leaner cost base. It starts with a diversified business. It starts, of course, with a higher loading. It is all of it.
Viktor Bernhardt: Well, the kind of the answer is yes. It is all of it. It starts with leaner cost base. It starts with a diversified business. It starts, of course, with a higher loading. It is all of it.
Speaker #1: Well, the answer is kind of yes. It's all of it. It starts with a leaner cost base. It starts with a diversified business.
Speaker #1: And it starts, of course, with higher loading. So, it's all of...
Speaker #4: If you think about the wind cost base today, we are producing in China, India, and Mexico mainly, with a finishing plant in Europe.
Philippe Royer: If you think about our wind cost base today, we are producing in China, India, and Mexico mainly with a finishing plant in Europe. You can understand that this revised cost base is the most competitive cost base structure you can find in the wind PET foam business. This had a huge impact. As Viktor has mentioned in his presentation, if you look now at the last publication, so result publication, so the OEMs, you will see some OEMs just produce sales, and sales of the OEMs can be far from our sales. But some produce production. This is production of turbines, not blades, but this is not too far in terms of timing from our production. You will see that these production numbers, if you compare it to the H1 of 2025, for some large OEMs increased more than 20%.
Philippe Royer: If you think about our wind cost base today, we are producing in China, India, and Mexico mainly with a finishing plant in Europe. You can understand that this revised cost base is the most competitive cost base structure you can find in the wind PET foam business. This had a huge impact. As Viktor has mentioned in his presentation, if you look now at the last publication, so result publication, so the OEMs, you will see some OEMs just produce sales, and sales of the OEMs can be far from our sales. But some produce production. This is production of turbines, not blades, but this is not too far in terms of timing from our production. You will see that these production numbers, if you compare it to the H1 of 2025, for some large OEMs increased more than 20%.
Speaker #4: So you can understand that this revised cost base is the most competitive cost base structure you can find in the wind PET foam business.
Speaker #4: So this had a huge impact. Now, as Victor has mentioned in his presentation, if you look now at the last publication—so, result publication—so the OEMs, you will see, some OEMs just produce sales, and sales of the OEMs can be far from a sale.
Speaker #4: But some produce production. This is production of turbines, not blades, but this is not too far in terms of timing from production, and you will see that these production numbers, if you compare them to the first half of '25, have for some large OEMs increased more than 20%.
Speaker #4: So, as Victor said, the load we have now is also certainly higher than the load we had one year back. So, restructuring's load in the wind business, and then the third pillar of that is definitely the new businesses we have in marine and industrial—so namely, the PET foam used in industrial applications and the Corecell used in subsea applications, which also is dramatically growing compared to last year.
Philippe Royer: As Viktor said, the load we have now is also certainly higher than the load we had one year back. So restructuring load in the wind business. The third pillar of that is definitely the new businesses we have in Marine and Industrial. Namely, the PET foam used in industrial applications and the Corecell used in subsea applications, which also is dramatically growing compared to last year. Negative was indeed the situation in Middle East. There are some shipyards that are basically stopped or working at very low activity in the Middle East and the tariff issue. But that explains why we are in such a positive situation today.
Philippe Royer: As Viktor said, the load we have now is also certainly higher than the load we had one year back. So restructuring load in the wind business. The third pillar of that is definitely the new businesses we have in Marine and Industrial. Namely, the PET foam used in industrial applications and the Corecell used in subsea applications, which also is dramatically growing compared to last year. Negative was indeed the situation in Middle East. There are some shipyards that are basically stopped or working at very low activity in the Middle East and the tariff issue. But that explains why we are in such a positive situation today.
Speaker #4: Negative was indeed the situation in the Middle East. We have some—so there are some shipyards that are basically stopped or working at very low activity in the Middle East—and the tariff issue.
Speaker #4: But that's explained why we are in such a positive situation today.
Speaker #6: Okay, thank you. That was very helpful.
Laura Bucher: Okay. Thank you. That was very helpful.
Laura Bucher: Okay. Thank you. That was very helpful.
Speaker #5: Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Victor Bernard for any closing remarks.
Operator 2: Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Viktor Bernhardt for any closing remarks.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Viktor Bernhardt for any closing remarks.
Speaker #1: Yeah, thank you very much for your interest and your questions. I look forward to meeting you at the next conference call.
Viktor Bernhardt: Yeah. Thank you very much for your interest and your questions, and look forward to meet you at the next conference call.
Viktor Bernhardt: Yeah. Thank you very much for your interest and your questions, and look forward to meet you at the next conference call.
Speaker #5: Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you very much for your participation and interest in Gurit. You may now disconnect your lines.
Operator 2: Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you very much for your participation and interest in Gurit. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you very much for your participation and interest in Gurit. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.
