Half Year 2026 Basler AG Earnings Call
Speaker #1: we are both happy to present today a very good number and also a sound outlook besides all noises around us. And before we start with the presentation today, I also would like you— I would like to remind you with regard to the disclaimer that all statements that we are making today are views and assumptions made based on available information at this point in time, or forward-looking statements that we are making by nature subject to significant known and unknown risks, and uncertainties.
Hardy Mehl: We are both happy to present today very good numbers and also a sound outlook besides all noises around us. Before we start with the presentation today, I also would like to remind you with regard to the disclaimer, that all statements that we are making today are views and assumptions based on available information at this point in time. All forward-looking statements that we are making are by nature subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. We have prepared a presentation for you today. We start with an executive summary. I will then hand over to Ines, digging deeper into our financials. Also, the share development will be presented by Ines, and then I take back or take over again for the outlook. We have today, as always, time for Q&A session at the end of the call.
Hardy Mehl: We are both happy to present today very good numbers and also a sound outlook besides all noises around us. Before we start with the presentation today, I also would like to remind you with regard to the disclaimer, that all statements that we are making today are views and assumptions based on available information at this point in time.
Hardy Mehl: All forward-looking statements that we are making are by nature subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. We have prepared a presentation for you today. We start with an executive summary. I will then hand over to Ines, digging deeper into our financials. Also, the share development will be presented by Ines, and then I take back or take over again for the outlook. We have today, as always, time for Q&A session at the end of the call.
Speaker #1: Yeah, we have prepared a presentation for you today. We start with an executive summary, I will then hand over to Ines digging deeper into our financials, also the share development will be presented by Ines and then I take back or take over again for the outlook.
Speaker #1: And we have today as always time for Q&A session at the end of the call. Yeah, let's start with the numbers and let's start with the executive summary and the market view that we are in, or that we were in, in the first half of 2026.
Hardy Mehl: Let's start with the numbers, and let's start with the executive summary and the market view that we are in, or that we were in H1 2026. First of all, to say that the market is better or ran better than expected. If we look at the numbers from the German machine vision industry, bookings are up 25% and billings are up, or were up 9%. There is a great momentum. We also see PMIs around the world in the, let's say, important economies that we are acting in are above 50 and trending positively. We see especially a strong development in semicon and consumer electronics and logistics and in data center hardware production, which is driven by AI-related CapEx investments. We also see ongoing high competition intensity, especially in the Asian region. You know that the US tariff situation is somewhat uncertain still.
Hardy Mehl: Let's start with the numbers, and let's start with the executive summary and the market view that we are in, or that we were in H1 2026. First of all, to say that the market is better or ran better than expected. If we look at the numbers from the German machine vision industry, bookings are up 25% and billings are up, or were up 9%.
Speaker #1: So, first of all, to say that the market is better or ran better than expected if we look at the numbers from the German vision industry.
Speaker #1: Bookings are up 25% and billings are up, or were up, 9%. So there is a great momentum. We also see PMIs around the world in the, let's say, important economies that we are acting in are above 50 and trending positively.
Hardy Mehl: There is a great momentum. We also see PMIs around the world in the, let's say, important economies that we are acting in are above 50 and trending positively. We see especially a strong development in semicon and consumer electronics and logistics and in data center hardware production, which is driven by AI-related CapEx investments. We also see ongoing high competition intensity, especially in the Asian region. You know that the US tariff situation is somewhat uncertain still.
Speaker #1: And we see especially a strong development in semicon, in consumer electronics, in logistics, and in data center hardware production, which is driven by AI-related CapEx investments.
Speaker #1: We also see ongoing high competition intensity, especially in the Asian region. You know that the U.S. tariff situation is somewhat uncertain still. The geopolitical frictions, unfortunately, are rising, but we have not seen any significant impact on our business so far.
Hardy Mehl: The geopolitical frictions, unfortunately, are rising, but we have not seen any significant impact on our business so far. What is, let's say, coming on top now, besides the geopolitical environment situation, are more and more constraints on the supply side. We see in general, lead times are rising. We also see some bottlenecks on certain materials. We recently, just shortly before the earnings call here, we also experienced last week the earthquake in Japan that had a disruption on the supply chain of one of our important sensor suppliers, Sony. On the FX side, also in Q2, we saw a development where US dollar and Chinese yuan were, let's say, not in favor, but let's say neutral to us, but we saw a headwind from Korean won and yen continuing. They are devaluating against the euro. What does it mean for us?
Hardy Mehl: The geopolitical frictions, unfortunately, are rising, but we have not seen any significant impact on our business so far. What is, let's say, coming on top now, besides the geopolitical environment situation, are more and more constraints on the supply side. We see in general, lead times are rising. We also see some bottlenecks on certain materials.
Speaker #1: What is, let's say, coming on top now besides the geopolitical environmental situation are more and more constraints on the supply side. We see in January lead times are rising, we also see some bottlenecks on certain materials, and we recently just, shortly before the earnings call here, we also experienced last week the earthquake in Japan that has a disruption on the supply chain of one of our important sensor suppliers, Sony.
Hardy Mehl: We recently, just shortly before the earnings call here, we also experienced last week the earthquake in Japan that had a disruption on the supply chain of one of our important sensor suppliers, Sony. On the FX side, also in Q2, we saw a development where US dollar and Chinese yuan were, let's say, not in favor, but let's say neutral to us, but we saw a headwind from Korean won and yen continuing. They are devaluating against the euro. What does it mean for us?
Speaker #1: On the FX side, we also in the second quarter we saw a development where the U.S. dollar and Chinese yen were not in favor but, let's say, neutral to us, but we saw headwind from Korean wong and yen continuing.
Speaker #1: They are devaluating against the euro. So what does it mean for us? And again, strong statements here, bookings are up 60%, billings are up 36% compared to first half year last year.
Hardy Mehl: Again, strong statements here. Bookings are up 60%, billings are up 36% compared to H1 last year, which means we are clearly outperforming the industry. We have a strong order momentum, and it even accelerated in Q2, which gives us a good momentum and fuels the start in Q3 or into Q3. We also see very good business momentum in all regions, so it's widely spread. However, by far the strongest momentum is in China related to the semiconductor and electronics industries. With regard to the gross profit margin, we were continuing our high level in Q2, and in total, we achieved to 51.6%. So we are clearly up compared to last year. EBIT almost quadrupled. This is a strong indication also of the scalability of our business model. Ines will dig deeper into the numbers itself.
Hardy Mehl: Again, strong statements here. Bookings are up 60%, billings are up 36% compared to H1 last year, which means we are clearly outperforming the industry. We have a strong order momentum, and it even accelerated in Q2, which gives us a good momentum and fuels the start in Q3 or into Q3. We also see very good business momentum in all regions, so it's widely spread. However, by far the strongest momentum is in China related to the semiconductor and electronics industries. With regard to the gross profit margin, we were continuing our high level in Q2, and in total, we achieved to 51.6%. So we are clearly up compared to last year. EBIT almost quadrupled. This is a strong indication also of the scalability of our business model. Ines will dig deeper into the numbers itself.
Speaker #1: Which means we are clearly outperforming the industry, we have a strong order momentum, and it even accelerated in the second quarter which gives us a good momentum and fuels the start in the third quarter or into the third quarter.
Speaker #1: We also see very good business momentum in all regions, so it's widely spread. However, by far the strongest momentum is in China, related to the semiconductor and electronics industries.
Speaker #1: With regard to the gross profit margin, we were continuing our high level in the second quarter and in total we achieved 51.6%, so we are clearly up compared to last year.
Speaker #1: EBIT almost quadrupled, so this is a strong indication also of the scalability of our business model. Ines will dig deeper into the numbers itself, also the free cash flow was strong even though we had also an increase on receivables and so far the geopolitical situation especially on the iron war side had no impact on our business.
Hardy Mehl: Also, the free cash flow was strong, even though we had an increase on receivables. So far, the geopolitical situation, especially on the Iran war side, had no impact on our business. However, we have seen with the earthquake happening last week in Kumamoto that a disruption in our supply chain occurred. This is currently under investigation and under recovery measures. We believe that this will have an impact on our supply, so our production and supply in September and October. However, we are working hard to mitigate the risk. With regard to the team development or organizational development, we just progressed with the mode that we also reported in the Q1 earnings call.
Hardy Mehl: Also, the free cash flow was strong, even though we had an increase on receivables. So far, the geopolitical situation, especially on the Iran war side, had no impact on our business. However, we have seen with the earthquake happening last week in Kumamoto that a disruption in our supply chain occurred. This is currently under investigation and under recovery measures. We believe that this will have an impact on our supply, so our production and supply in September and October. However, we are working hard to mitigate the risk. With regard to the team development or organizational development, we just progressed with the mode that we also reported in the Q1 earnings call.
Speaker #1: However, we have seen with the earthquake happening last week in Kumamoto that a disruption in our supply chain occurred. This is currently under investigation and under recovery measures, and we believe that this will have an impact on our supply.
Speaker #1: So our production and supply in September and October; however, we are working hard to mitigate the risk. With regard to the team development or organizational development, we just progressed with a mode that we also reported in the first quarter earnings call, so we tried to keep the organization in its size as it is.
Hardy Mehl: We try to keep the organization in its size as it is and scale up the revenue and also improve the gross margin, and by that, obviously also improve the bottom line results. You can see that we only increased compared to mid of last year, the organization by and large 20 people or FTEs. The split amongst the different function has not significantly changed. What we are scaling is our R&D investment, so we keep it in an absolute term, we keep it at the same level. This means at the moment, with a higher revenue level than our R&D gross quota is by and large 10%, so 9.5%, compared to 13.3% last year. These investments are made into multiple different product and technological directions.
Hardy Mehl: We try to keep the organization in its size as it is and scale up the revenue and also improve the gross margin, and by that, obviously also improve the bottom line results. You can see that we only increased compared to mid of last year, the organization by and large 20 people or FTEs. The split amongst the different function has not significantly changed. What we are scaling is our R&D investment, so we keep it in an absolute term, we keep it at the same level. This means at the moment, with a higher revenue level than our R&D gross quota is by and large 10%, so 9.5%, compared to 13.3% last year. These investments are made into multiple different product and technological directions.
Speaker #1: And scale up the revenue and also improve the gross margin and by that obviously also improve the bottom line results. So you can see that we only increased compared to mid of last year, the organization by a large 20 people, or FTEs.
Speaker #1: The split amongst the different function has not significantly changed. What we are scaling is our R&D investment, so we keep it from an absolute in an absolute term, we keep it at the same level.
Speaker #1: This means at the moment with a higher revenue level that we are our R&D quota, gross quota is by and large 10% to 9.5 compared to 13.3 last year.
Speaker #1: So these investments are made into multiple different product and technological directions. So we have invested and have launched products in the first half of this year in the direction of line scan systems, so-called TDI vision systems.
Hardy Mehl: We have invested and have launched products in the H1 of this year in the direction of line scan systems, so-called TDI vision systems, for high-end applications, especially focused on electronics and semiconductor applications. We also have launched products in this 3D realm, namely the Stereo mini. This is mainly logistics applications that can be solved with such a stereo camera, so 3D camera type or system. We also have entered into a new interface technology that is called GMSL. This is in the mainstream products that we are offering. This interface has high real-time capabilities and also high bandwidth to transmit data. Last but not least, we also announced to the public one of the key innovation programs we are working on. We also launched this on the GTC at NVIDIA.
Hardy Mehl: We have invested and have launched products in the H1 of this year in the direction of line scan systems, so-called TDI vision systems, for high-end applications, especially focused on electronics and semiconductor applications. We also have launched products in this 3D realm, namely the Stereo mini. This is mainly logistics applications that can be solved with such a stereo camera, so 3D camera type or system. We also have entered into a new interface technology that is called GMSL. This is in the mainstream products that we are offering. This interface has high real-time capabilities and also high bandwidth to transmit data. Last but not least, we also announced to the public one of the key innovation programs we are working on. We also launched this on the GTC at NVIDIA.
Speaker #1: For high-end applications, especially focused on electronics and semiconductor applications. We also have launched products in this 3D realm, namely the stereo mini, so this is mainly logistics applications that can be solved with such a stereo camera, so 3D camera type, or systems.
Speaker #1: We also have entered into a new interface technology, it is called GMSL. This is in kind of the mainstream products that we are offering this interface has high real-time capabilities and also high bandwidth to transmit data.
Speaker #1: And last but not least, we also announced to the public one of the key innovation programs we are working on. We also launched this on the GTC at NVIDIA, and this is all about simulating all our components in the omniverse world in order to enable our clients to test virtually all the products and only order hardware and build up a real system once they already know what they want to choose.
Hardy Mehl: This is all about simulating all our components in the Omniverse world in order to enable our clients to test virtually all the products and only order hardware and build up a real system once they already know what they want to choose. These innovations and products have been presented in multiple different occasions. Some of them are stated on the slide. This brings me to the financials, and, happy to hand this over to Ines.
Hardy Mehl: This is all about simulating all our components in the Omniverse world in order to enable our clients to test virtually all the products and only order hardware and build up a real system once they already know what they want to choose. These innovations and products have been presented in multiple different occasions. Some of them are stated on the slide. This brings me to the financials, and, happy to hand this over to Ines.
Speaker #1: These innovations and projects products have been presented in multiple different occasions. Some of them are stated in this on the slide. Yeah, this brings me to the financials and happy to hand this over to Ines.
Speaker #2: Thank you, Hardy. So welcome also on my end. Here you can see the development and also the distribution of our sales. As previously mentioned, we have a pretty good order momentum, so order entry was up 59%, revenue is lacking a little bit behind, but above 30%.
Ines Brückel: Thank you, Hardy. Welcome also, on my end. Here you can see the development and also the distribution of our sales. As previously mentioned, we have a pretty good order momentum. Order entry was up 59%. Revenue is lacking a little bit behind, but above 30%. As you also heard, there is a growth in all of the regions. For the order entry, we really have every region above 30%, but here, China is especially sticking out. Taking a look at the overall revenue, of course, the overall number is there with EUR 162.4 million. We also have a little bit of a distribution change, with China picking up a little bit of a share. Now being 29%. We see in general, that the order entry is above the revenues.
Ines Brückel: Thank you, Hardy. Welcome also, on my end. Here you can see the development and also the distribution of our sales. As previously mentioned, we have a pretty good order momentum. Order entry was up 59%. Revenue is lacking a little bit behind, but above 30%. As you also heard, there is a growth in all of the regions. For the order entry, we really have every region above 30%, but here, China is especially sticking out. Taking a look at the overall revenue, of course, the overall number is there with EUR 162.4 million. We also have a little bit of a distribution change, with China picking up a little bit of a share. Now being 29%. We see in general, that the order entry is above the revenues.
Speaker #2: And as you also heard, it's there is a growth in all of the regions. So for the order entry, we really have every region above 30%, but here China is especially sticking out.
Speaker #2: So taking a look at the overall revenue, of course the overall number is there with 152.4 million, but we also have a little bit of a distribution change with China picking up a little bit of a share.
Speaker #2: So now being 29%. So we see in general that the order entry is above the revenues, so it's still monitored, but our customers are also placing the orders a little bit into outer quarters.
Ines Brückel: It is still money toward, but our customers are also placing the orders a little bit into outer quarters, so that we can now have a starting with a good backlog into our next quarters. Here you can see the development again. We have, as I said, a positive book-to-bill and also a positive momentum in the order backlog. Jumping into Q3 now with not only a good backlog, but also beginning weeks of very good demand. This now has to be matched with the supply, as you heard, and as you will hear again when we go to our outlook session. So far, we need to catch up with our billings, but 36% above last year and very good development so far. Gross profit margin. This is really to my heart, because we made the second quarter above our plan.
Ines Brückel: It is still money toward, but our customers are also placing the orders a little bit into outer quarters, so that we can now have a starting with a good backlog into our next quarters. Here you can see the development again. We have, as I said, a positive book-to-bill and also a positive momentum in the order backlog. Jumping into Q3 now with not only a good backlog, but also beginning weeks of very good demand. This now has to be matched with the supply, as you heard, and as you will hear again when we go to our outlook session. So far, we need to catch up with our billings, but 36% above last year and very good development so far. Gross profit margin. This is really to my heart, because we made the second quarter above our plan.
Speaker #2: So that we can now, yeah, have a starting with a good backlog into our next quarters. Here you can see the development again, so we have as I said, like we have a positive book to bill and also a positive momentum in the order backlog.
Speaker #2: So jumping into Q3 now with not only a good backlog, but also beginning weeks of very good demand. So this now has to be matched with the supply.
Speaker #2: As you heard and as you will hear again when we go to our Outlook session, but so far we need to catch up with our billings.
Speaker #2: But 36% above last year and very good development so far. Gross profit margin, so this is really to my heart because we made the second quarter above our plan.
Speaker #2: So you all know that we, yeah, we are aiming for this 50% and now for the second time with a very good revenue also, yeah, so we have a good grip because we didn't increase our workforce and can really leverage now.
Ines Brückel: You all know that we are aiming for this 50%, and now for the second time, with a very good revenue also. We have a good growth because we did not increase our workforce. It can be leveraged now. We, of course, also have the help from the currency so that we do not have further loss. Second time, as in Q1, 51.6% above the 50 and well above the margins of last year. A little bit of a different picture, this time in the EBIT. We announced already last quarter that we will not see that especially high EBIT margin again because we already assumed that something is going on. Here you can see that we have a push-through from the gross margin. This EUR 1 million that we get out of gross margin also ends up in our EBIT.
Ines Brückel: You all know that we are aiming for this 50%, and now for the second time, with a very good revenue also. We have a good growth because we did not increase our workforce. It can be leveraged now. We, of course, also have the help from the currency so that we do not have further loss. Second time, as in Q1, 51.6% above the 50 and well above the margins of last year. A little bit of a different picture, this time in the EBIT. We announced already last quarter that we will not see that especially high EBIT margin again because we already assumed that something is going on. Here you can see that we have a push-through from the gross margin. This EUR 1 million that we get out of gross margin also ends up in our EBIT.
Speaker #2: We of course also have the help from the currencies, so that we don't have further loss. So second time is in Q1, 51.6% above the 50 and well above the margins of last year.
Speaker #2: So a little bit of a different picture this time in the EBIT. We announced already last quarter that we won't see that especially high EBIT margin again because we already assumed that something is going on.
Speaker #2: So here you can see that we have a push through from gross margin, so this 1 million that we get out of gross margin also ends up in our EBIT.
Speaker #2: But we have a pickup due to a variable salary structure and also due an efficiency project to increase the automation all over. So that's why you're seeing the EBIT margin lower than the EBIT margin of Q1.
Ines Brückel: But we had a pickup due to a variable salary structure and also due to an efficiency project to increase the automation all over. That is why you are seeing the EBIT margin lower than the EBIT margin of Q1. On a cost level that we are also perceiving at least for Q3 and then, having maybe another point in there for Q4. Good. I think this is a summary. We ran all over, right? Again, to point out the gross margin, when you take a look, it is five percentage points over. And also the EBIT margin, still last year, we were coming in with 7.7%. Now, not only two digit, but above the 20, with continuing trend in not increasing the cost base so much. Here also some talk.
Ines Brückel: But we had a pickup due to a variable salary structure and also due to an efficiency project to increase the automation all over. That is why you are seeing the EBIT margin lower than the EBIT margin of Q1. On a cost level that we are also perceiving at least for Q3 and then, having maybe another point in there for Q4. Good. I think this is a summary. We ran all over, right? Again, to point out the gross margin, when you take a look, it is five percentage points over. And also the EBIT margin, still last year, we were coming in with 7.7%. Now, not only two digit, but above the 20, with continuing trend in not increasing the cost base so much. Here also some talk.
Speaker #2: And on a, yeah, on a cost level, that we are also perceiving at least for Q3 and then yeah, having maybe another point in there for Q4.
Speaker #2: Good, I think this is a summary. So we ran all over, right? So again to point out the gross margin when you take a look, it's 5% points over, yeah, and also the EBIT margin still last year we were coming in with 7.7%.
Speaker #2: Now not only two digits, but above the 20, yeah, with, yeah, this continuing trend in not increasing the cost base so much. And here also some talk, you might have all looked into our balance sheet, so maybe some talk to the operating cash flow here.
Ines Brückel: You might have all looked into our balance sheet, so maybe some talks to the operating cash flow here. Overall it is up, but our short-term asset structure changed a bit. We are, of course, monitoring and steering our working capital and working capital days for the days when receivables are up. This is coming through two factors. We discontinued our factoring, because of the cost analysis that we have behind there. You see some of the factoring part, which sat previously in there, now walking into the accounts receivable. We also still have the same trend in China now, with customers requiring longer payment periods. That does not help too much in the days of receivables. But steered against with other short-term financial receivables helping here in the picture and also getting a good grip on the accounts payable side.
Ines Brückel: You might have all looked into our balance sheet, so maybe some talks to the operating cash flow here. Overall it is up, but our short-term asset structure changed a bit. We are, of course, monitoring and steering our working capital and working capital days for the days when receivables are up. This is coming through two factors. We discontinued our factoring, because of the cost analysis that we have behind there. You see some of the factoring part, which sat previously in there, now walking into the accounts receivable. We also still have the same trend in China now, with customers requiring longer payment periods. That does not help too much in the days of receivables. But steered against with other short-term financial receivables helping here in the picture and also getting a good grip on the accounts payable side.
Speaker #2: So overall it's up, but our short-term asset structure changed a bit. So we are of course monitoring and steering our working capital and working capital days for the days when we see the bills are up.
Speaker #2: So this is coming through two factors. We discontinued our factoring because of a cost analysis that we have behind there. So you see some of the factoring part, which said previously in there, now walking into their accounts receivables.
Speaker #2: And we also still have the same trend in China, with customers requiring longer payment periods. So that doesn't help too much in the days of receivables.
Speaker #2: But steered against with other short-term financial receivables helping here in the picture and also getting a good grip on the accounts payable side. So that positive trend in the OCF and with that of course positive trend also in the free cash flow where we want to have it.
Ines Brückel: That positive trend in the OCF and with that, of course, positive trend also in the free cash flow where we want to have it. Here, this is the summary of the first picture now as a table, as you already know it. Maybe here to point out, we have our liabilities to banks decreased to clean. We are currently now running at EUR 40.6 million on a decreasing path because we are getting our debts down by the quarter. Cash equivalent up could be a bit higher, if we would have higher conversion rate in the receivables, but definitely positive trend in here. That is why also being up in the net debts with a positive effect, now only being less EUR 10 million. Jumping to the share. This is no more changes or not a lot of changes as usually.
Ines Brückel: That positive trend in the OCF and with that, of course, positive trend also in the free cash flow where we want to have it. Here, this is the summary of the first picture now as a table, as you already know it. Maybe here to point out, we have our liabilities to banks decreased to clean. We are currently now running at EUR 40.6 million on a decreasing path because we are getting our debts down by the quarter. Cash equivalent up could be a bit higher, if we would have higher conversion rate in the receivables, but definitely positive trend in here. That is why also being up in the net debts with a positive effect, now only being less EUR 10 million. Jumping to the share. This is no more changes or not a lot of changes as usually.
Speaker #2: So here this is the summary of the first picture now as a table as you already know it. Maybe here to point out we have our reliabilities to banks decreased to plan.
Speaker #2: So we are currently now running at 40.6 million on a decreasing path because we are getting our debts down by the quarter. Cash and equivalents up should or could be a bit higher, if we would have higher, yeah, conversion rate in the receivables, but definitely positive trend in here.
Speaker #2: And that's why also being, yeah, being up in the net debts with a positive effect now only being 10 million being less 10 million.
Speaker #2: So jumping to the share. So this is, yeah, no more changes or not a lot of changes as usually. So you know that picture and we don't have much fluctuation in this one.
Ines Brückel: You know that picture, and we do not have much fluctuation in this one. We had a lot of fluctuation, of course, in the quarter. We were ending up, 5 August, we were at 26.8. Today, a little bit of a rally. We watched 24 to 26, up and down a bit, but I think the overall trend is good and very positive from our point of view, matching to the picture that we have. Now coming to the outlook already.
Ines Brückel: You know that picture, and we do not have much fluctuation in this one. We had a lot of fluctuation, of course, in the quarter. We were ending up, 5 August, we were at 26.8. Today, a little bit of a rally. We watched 24 to 26, up and down a bit, but I think the overall trend is good and very positive from our point of view, matching to the picture that we have. Now coming to the outlook already.
Speaker #2: We had a lot of fluctuation of course in the quarter, yeah, so we were ending up with a piece of August, we were at 26.8, today a little bit of a rally.
Speaker #2: So we watched 24 to 26 up and down a bit, but I think the overall trend is still and very positive from our point of view matching to the picture that we have.
Speaker #2: And now coming to the Outlook already. So it was plus one.
Hardy Mehl: Okay.
Hardy Mehl: Okay.
Speaker #1: Okay, thank you Ines. Taking over again for the Outlook. And maybe giving you a first of all assumption. That we base our Outlook on.
Ines Brückel: First, Bas one.
Ines Brückel: First, Bas one.
Hardy Mehl: Okay, thank you, Ines. Taking over again for the outlook and maybe giving you, first of all, an assumption that we base our outlook on. First of all, we expect for the remainder of the year, the computer vision market to develop positively. We see step-by-step a broader recovery. It all started more in semiconductor and consumer electronics, data center, hardware, and logistics. But we see step-by-step CapEx investment also in other area happening that is fueling the demand for automation and for our products. We foresee that the trade and geopolitical conflicts will not be solved. They will most likely rise over the course. The uncertainties will stay high, and combined with the Middle East conflict, it makes the H2 difficult to predict to a certain extent. However, we have seen so far, as mentioned earlier, no significant impact from those conflicts.
Hardy Mehl: Okay, thank you, Ines. Taking over again for the outlook and maybe giving you, first of all, an assumption that we base our outlook on. First of all, we expect for the remainder of the year, the computer vision market to develop positively. We see step-by-step a broader recovery. It all started more in semiconductor and consumer electronics, data center, hardware, and logistics. But we see step-by-step CapEx investment also in other area happening that is fueling the demand for automation and for our products. We foresee that the trade and geopolitical conflicts will not be solved. They will most likely rise over the course. The uncertainties will stay high, and combined with the Middle East conflict, it makes the H2 difficult to predict to a certain extent. However, we have seen so far, as mentioned earlier, no significant impact from those conflicts.
Speaker #1: So first of all, we expect for the remainder of the year the computer vision market to develop positively. So we see step by step a broader recovery.
Speaker #1: It all started more in semicon, consumer electronics, data center hardware and logistics, but we see step by step CapEx investment also in other area happening that is fueling the demand for automation and for our products.
Speaker #1: We yeah, foresee that the trade and geopolitical conflicts will not be solved. They will most likely rise over the course so the uncertainties will stay high and combined with the Middle East conflict it makes the H2 difficult to predict to a certain extent.
Speaker #1: However, we have seen so far as mentioned earlier, no significant impact from those conflicts. Currency volatility, we assume that more or less the currency will stay where they are at the moment.
Hardy Mehl: Currency volatility, we assume that more or less the currency will stay where they are at the moment, the currencies that are important to us, so that we continue to have weaknesses for the Korean won and Japanese yen and a relatively stable situation for Chinese yuan and US dollar. We believe that the supply chains will tighten more over the course of the next months. So it is very important that we stay close to our suppliers, that we have a good supply and demand planning, to have good transparency and match those two worlds together. With regard to the earthquake, maybe here some more information. Exactly a week ago, an earthquake happened in the Kumamoto area, which is one of the main areas in Japan where semiconductors are produced and also semiconductor machines are being produced and developed. And there is one crucial foundry for us.
Hardy Mehl: Currency volatility, we assume that more or less the currency will stay where they are at the moment, the currencies that are important to us, so that we continue to have weaknesses for the Korean won and Japanese yen and a relatively stable situation for Chinese yuan and US dollar. We believe that the supply chains will tighten more over the course of the next months. So it is very important that we stay close to our suppliers, that we have a good supply and demand planning, to have good transparency and match those two worlds together. With regard to the earthquake, maybe here some more information. Exactly a week ago, an earthquake happened in the Kumamoto area, which is one of the main areas in Japan where semiconductors are produced and also semiconductor machines are being produced and developed. And there is one crucial foundry for us.
Speaker #1: The currencies that are important to us. So that we continue to have weaknesses for the Korean wong and Japanese yen and a relatively stable situation for Chinese yuan and US dollar.
Speaker #1: We believe that the supply chains will tighten more over the course of the next months. So it's very important that we stay close to our suppliers that we have a good supplier and demand planning.
Speaker #1: To have good transparency and match those two worlds together. With regard to the earthquake, maybe here some more information. Exactly a week ago an earthquake happened in the Kumamoto area, which is one of the main areas in Japan where semiconductors are produced and also semiconductor machines are being produced and developed.
Speaker #1: And there is one crucial foundry for us. This is the Sony image sensor foundry. One of the leading foundries in the world to supply the world with image sensors.
Hardy Mehl: This is the Sony image sensor foundry, one of the leading foundries in the world to supply the world with image sensors. And due to the earthquake, this Kumamoto fab was shut down. It is still shut down and under inspection. However, there is already ongoing measures to bring this foundry back on track. And the forecast from Sony is that the Kumamoto foundry will be back to its original productivity by mid of August. So we talk about two, three weeks of impact, not months. We are on a daily call with Sony, what this means to our supply chain. But we have to put this into our assumption that there will be a disruption that cannot be caught up in the next month, as the foundry was running at 100% utilization already. With regard to competition, no change.
Hardy Mehl: This is the Sony image sensor foundry, one of the leading foundries in the world to supply the world with image sensors. And due to the earthquake, this Kumamoto fab was shut down. It is still shut down and under inspection. However, there is already ongoing measures to bring this foundry back on track. And the forecast from Sony is that the Kumamoto foundry will be back to its original productivity by mid of August. So we talk about two, three weeks of impact, not months. We are on a daily call with Sony, what this means to our supply chain. But we have to put this into our assumption that there will be a disruption that cannot be caught up in the next month, as the foundry was running at 100% utilization already. With regard to competition, no change.
Speaker #1: And due to the earthquake, there was this Kumamoto fab was shut down. It's still shut down and under inspection. However, there is already ongoing measures to bring this foundry back on track.
Speaker #1: And the forecast on the from Sony is that the Kumamoto foundry will be back to its original productivity by mid of August. So we talk about two, three months of impact two, three weeks of impact, not months.
Speaker #1: We are on a daily call with Sony what this means to our supply chain, but we have to put this into our assumption that there will be a disruption that cannot be caught up in the next month as the foundry was running at 100% utilization already.
Speaker #1: So with regard to competition, I mean no change. We foresee continuing high intensity of competition. Especially in China and the Asia Pacific region. So putting this all into consideration, and with our year-to-date results, we are increasing again our guidance for 2026 from originally 247 to 270 million euro, now to 270 to 290 million euro revenue.
Hardy Mehl: We foresee continuing high intensity of competition, especially in China and the Asia Pacific region. Putting this all into consideration and with our year-to-date results, we are increasing again our guidance for 2026 from originally EUR 247 to EUR 270 million, now to EUR 270 to EUR 290 million revenue. And EBIT margins in between 12.5% to 14.5%. Beforehand, we were projecting 9.5% to 13%. This top line is considering the hits on the supply chain. There is a clear statement from us that it is not a demand bottleneck at the moment, it is more a supply bottleneck. However, we are strongly convinced to get to these numbers, which is a significant increase compared to last year, obviously. And on the EBIT margin side, we are also considering, besides the variable incomes that we will have also a bonus payment to our employees. It is not accrued yet.
Hardy Mehl: We foresee continuing high intensity of competition, especially in China and the Asia Pacific region. Putting this all into consideration and with our year-to-date results, we are increasing again our guidance for 2026 from originally EUR 247 to EUR 270 million, now to EUR 270 to EUR 290 million revenue. And EBIT margins in between 12.5% to 14.5%. Beforehand, we were projecting 9.5% to 13%. This top line is considering the hits on the supply chain. There is a clear statement from us that it is not a demand bottleneck at the moment, it is more a supply bottleneck. However, we are strongly convinced to get to these numbers, which is a significant increase compared to last year, obviously. And on the EBIT margin side, we are also considering, besides the variable incomes that we will have also a bonus payment to our employees. It is not accrued yet.
Speaker #1: And EBIT margins in between 12 and a half to 14 and a half percent beforehand we were projecting 9.5 to 13%. So these top line is considering the hits on the supply chain it also is there is a clear statement from us that it's not a demand bottleneck at the moment.
Speaker #1: It's more supply bottleneck. However, we are strongly convinced to get to these numbers, which is a significant increase compared to last year obviously. And on the earn EBIT margin side, we are also considering besides the variable incomes that we will have also a payment of kind of a bonus payment to our employees.
Speaker #1: It's not accrued yet. It's just that we reflect this in our guidance to give appropriate transparency about the thinking that we are having. So we are definitely proud to present this.
Hardy Mehl: It's just that we reflect this in our guidance to give appropriate transparency about the thinking that we are having. We are definitely proud to present this. We are very convinced to get there, and it makes us even more convinced to get to our midterm guidance. This guidance is now one and a half years old, and we have the ability to get there already this year. What does it mean? This means to us, we will wait for another one or two quarters until end of the year to update our midterm guidance. But obviously, in the light of the current numbers and the current developments, this looks weak to us. But please bear with us that we also want to investigate further a little bit how the markets will develop over the next two quarters. This brings us to the end of the slideshow.
Hardy Mehl: It's just that we reflect this in our guidance to give appropriate transparency about the thinking that we are having. We are definitely proud to present this. We are very convinced to get there, and it makes us even more convinced to get to our midterm guidance. This guidance is now one and a half years old, and we have the ability to get there already this year. What does it mean? This means to us, we will wait for another one or two quarters until end of the year to update our midterm guidance. But obviously, in the light of the current numbers and the current developments, this looks weak to us. But please bear with us that we also want to investigate further a little bit how the markets will develop over the next two quarters. This brings us to the end of the slideshow.
Speaker #1: We are very convinced to get there. And it makes us even more convinced to get to our midterm guidance. I mean this guidance is now one and a half years old.
Speaker #1: And we have the ability to get there already this year. So what does it mean? This means to us we will wait for another two or one or two quarters until end of the year to update our midterm guidance.
Speaker #1: But obviously in the light of the current numbers and the current development this looks weak to us. But please bear with us that we also want to investigate further a little bit how the markets will develop over the next two quarters.
Speaker #1: Yeah, this brings us to the end of the slideshow. Yeah, we are strongly committed for, let's say, making the best out of the third quarter.
Hardy Mehl: We are strongly committed for, let's say, making the best out of Q3 and reporting also, again, good numbers to you in a quarter from now. Thank you very much. Thank you. Talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.
Hardy Mehl: We are strongly committed for, let's say, making the best out of Q3 and reporting also, again, good numbers to you in a quarter from now. Thank you very much. Thank you. Talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.
Speaker #1: And reporting also again good numbers to you in a quarter from now. Thank you very much. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.
