Speaker #1: We will briefly look at the key messages, then deep dive into the current trading results, give an update on the footprint, as well as the leadership change and close with the outlook.
Speaker #1: Before we look into the details, let me say a word about the current environment: the market developed very differently regionally. China and India showed comparatively stronger investment activity, while no sustainable recovery was evident in the region, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, EMEA, as well as the Americas.
Speaker #1: Now to the key messages on slide number 4. Let us start with the green boxes on the left. Order intake amounted to 951 million Swiss francs, an increase of 70%, dominantly driven by the first-time consolidation of pharma as man-made fiber division since February 2026.
Speaker #1: Sales amounted to 899 million Swiss francs, an increase of staggering 96%, but also here the increase was due to the first-time consolidation of pharma.
Speaker #1: A word on orders above sales. Overall, order intake remains ahead of sales resulting in a positive book-to-bill ratio for the first 9 months for the group, and all 3 divisions are indicating higher sales volumes for the future.
Speaker #1: When we look on the quarterly development of the order intake figures, it shows a clear upward trend in all the divisions. In quarter 1, we recorded 226 million Swiss francs, in quarter 2 we recorded 328 million Swiss francs, an increase of 45%, and finally in quarter 3 we recorded 397 million Swiss francs, another increase of 21%.
Speaker #1: Now to the blue boxes. As mentioned, the market outlook—or in the market outlook—China and India showed comparatively stronger investment activities. While elevated raw material prices continue to create operational headwinds, our teams are managing these challenges with discipline and focus.
Speaker #1: Based on our performance to date, and the visibility provided by our order backlog, we have adjusted our financial outlook for 2026. Oliver will provide further details on the updated guidance on slide number 15.
Speaker #1: And finally, let's have a look on the gray boxes. The pharma integration is progressing according to plan. Teams are working closely together, and common synergies creation are on track.
Speaker #1: The structural measures initiated to strengthen our global manufacturing footprint and consolidate sites are advancing as expected. I will go into more details later on slide number 11.
Speaker #1: And we also have announced in October the change in leadership. I will show this then on slide number 13. This takes me now to the current trading environment.
Speaker #1: Slide number 6 shows the market situation at a glance. Investment sentiment is showing selective improvement across global textile markets, while market conditions remain mixed across regions, with continued to see encouraging modernization opportunities and a growing focus on productivity, automation, and operational efficiency.
Speaker #1: In the Americas, investment activities remain selective. Customers continue to prioritize retrofit projects and service-related investments, supported by the region's large installed base. For Rieter, however, the existing pipeline of new machine projects has not yet translated into significant order intake.
Speaker #1: At the same time, we see further growth potential through our strengthened local support network and improved spare parts availability. Let's move to EMEA. In EMEA, market conditions remain challenging.
Speaker #1: Particularly in Turkey, which continues to be on the significant pressure. On the positive side, yarn demand is increasing in the CIS, and Central Asian markets and Pakistan is showing early signs of investment recovery.
Speaker #1: From a Rieter perspective, the project pipeline still remains relatively weak. But we are well positioned to benefit from customer investments focused on productivity improvements and yarn quality enhancements.
Speaker #1: India continues to demonstrate the strongest investment sentiment globally. Despite ongoing market volatility, yarn demand remains healthy, and is increasing, and modernization and expansion projects are driving investment decisions across the industry.
Speaker #1: This positive market environment is reflected in Rieter's strong project activity, across key customer segments, where investments are increasingly focused on improving competitiveness and efficiency in high-volume production applications.
Speaker #1: Last but not least, China. In China, customers continue to invest, although some purchasing decisions are now being postponed due to some uncertainty in the market.
Speaker #1: Demand for automation solutions, and advanced technology, remains strong. For Rieter, pricing pressure persists but opportunities continue to arise from replacement demand in the short-staple fiber division.
Speaker #1: Strong demand for components, combined with a healthy order pipeline in the man-made fiber division, provides a solid foundation for growth. Overall, while regional dynamics remain uneven, the market outlook is gradually improving.
Speaker #1: The ongoing focus on modernization, automation, productivity, and efficiency provides attractive opportunities for us, particularly in India, and selected Asian growth regions where investment activity is strengthening.
Speaker #1: This concludes my first part of the presentation, and I now hand over to Oliver.
Speaker #2: Thank you, Thomas. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let me take you through order intake and sales for the first 9 months, before I return at the end of our presentation with the updated outlook for the full year.
Speaker #2: Let's start with order intake on slide number 7. Group order intake reached 951.4 million in the first 9 months, compared with 559.3 million in the prior year period.
Speaker #2: This corresponds to a reported increase of 70%. However, it is important to distinguish between reported and organic development. The increase is driven by the first-time consolidation of pharma as our man-made fiber division.
Speaker #2: On an organic basis, group order intake declined by 10.5%. Currency effects reduced order intake by a third, 3.7 percentage points. When we look closer at the divisions, short-staple fiber recorded orders of 335.8 million, down 19.4% reported, and 15.6% organically.
Speaker #2: This confirms that the market recovery in this business remains relatively slow. Components and technology delivered an order intake of 146.5 million, reported growth was 2.7%, and organic growth 4.4%.
Speaker #2: And lastly, man-made fiber contributed 469.1 million, since its first-time consolidation in February. There is no comparable prior year period for man-made fiber within the Rieter group.
Speaker #2: Overall, order intake remains ahead of sales as we heard before, which results in a positive book-to-bill ratio for the first 9 months for the group, and also for all three divisions.
Speaker #2: And the key takeaway is clear: the new Rieter group has substantially higher reported order intake due to pharma as our new man-made fiber division, while the existing Rieter business continues to operate in a challenging market environment.
Speaker #2: Now, let us turn to sales on slide number 8. Group sales amounted to 898.6 million, compared with 457.7 million in the first 9 months of last year.
Speaker #2: This represents a reported increase of 96.3%. Again, almost all of this reported increase comes from the consolidation of pharma. When we look on an organic basis, group sales declined by 2.1%, while currency translation had an additional negative impact of 3.6 percentage points.
Speaker #2: A closer look by division reveals that short-staple fiber sales came in at 301.6 million, which is broadly stable compared with the prior year. While organic sales increased by 2.7%, the reported sales figure, as explained, is more or less flat at the minus 0.5%.
Speaker #2: Components and technology sales declined to 134.7 million, which is 12.9% lower on a reported basis and 11.4% organically. And man-made fiber contributed 462.3 million, to group sales for the 8 months since consolidation.
Speaker #2: All in all, headline sales the headline sales increase reflects the changed perimeter of the group, while organic group sales remains slightly below the prior year level.
Speaker #2: This brings me to the regional development on slide number 9, which we would like to bring to your attention as an additional information. The slide shows the short-staple fiber and the components and technology divisions only.
Speaker #2: And this allows you to review the underlying geographic development without the pharma consolidation effect. The dominant market pattern over recent years for short-staple fiber and components and technology is a substantial sales shift towards Asia, driven by a structurally changing market.
Speaker #2: Specifically, China increased from 147 million Swiss francs to 220 million in sales, this reflects continued investment activity and our improved position in the local market.
Speaker #2: India remained broadly stable at approximately 100 million in turnover, the market continues to show strong investment activity, although competitive intensity and pricing pressure remain high.
Speaker #2: And while order intake continues to be well above last year, the market recovery has not yet materialized in sales. However, the picture is very different outside of Asia.
Speaker #2: Which are the historical core markets of Rieter? AMEA declined from 119 million to only 73 million, and the Americas from 89 million to 42 million.
Speaker #2: Most notably, Turkey has not yet recovered to previous market levels after the severe earthquake in February 2023. This is consistent with what Thomas described earlier: there are selected opportunities and signs of improvement, but we are not seeing a broad-based market recovery yet.
Speaker #2: And the regional mix is also very relevant for profitability. Our strongest markets today are China and India, where competition and pricing pressure is considerably higher.
Speaker #2: The geographic shift is therefore supportive from a volume perspective, yes, but it does not automatically translate into comparable improvements in margins. And in summary, Asia continues to provide the strongest demand support, while AMEA and the Americas remain material below the prior year levels.
Speaker #2: And now back to you, Thomas, for the footprint and leadership updates.
Speaker #1: Thank you very much, Oliver. So if you have a change in your market environment, you also have to adapt yourself. So let me now provide an update on our restructuring and transformation programs.
Speaker #1: As outlined previously, we started end of 2025 to work on our footprint. Throughout the near future, we will increasingly see the benefits of these actions materializing in our financial performance, supporting improved efficiency, a leaner cost structure, and a more focused operational footprint.
Speaker #1: In the short-staple fiber division, we implemented a number of measures to optimize our global setup. This included for example the transfer of repair services activities to India and the Czech Republic, as well as planned capacity adjustments in hindsberg in Germany and the partial relocation of winder assembly activities from Germany to China.
Speaker #1: These actions allow us to better align resources with customer demand, while leveraging competitive manufacturing locations. Within the components and technology division, we reduced and reallocated R&D and SG&A expenses, and completed the consolidation of our system operations in Germany, in addition we successfully executed several portfolio optimization measures.
Speaker #1: Including the sale of Comitex in Belgium, the closure of Graph Netherlands sites with the transfer of production activities to China, and the closure of the Brecker France site.
Speaker #1: Together, these actions have simplified our footprint and strengthened our cost competitiveness for the future. In the man-made fiber division, we started measures to realign the Remscheid and Neumünster sites in Germany, negotiations with the employee representatives in the legally required consultation process have been initiated.
Speaker #1: Overall, these restructuring initiatives will significantly resize and streamline our operations. While the associated costs were largely recognized in 2025 and 2026, the benefits will become increasingly visible through improved productivity, lower fixed cost, and a more competitive global manufacturing network.
Speaker #1: The full impact of all those measures will be fully visible in 2028. Let's move to the leadership change. We have highlighted the changes on slide number 13.
Speaker #1: On September 30 this year, we informed the public of my decision to step down as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors as of October 31, 2026.
Speaker #1: In my view, the successful implementation of the next-level performance program, the structural measures undertaken to consolidate our sites, the move and strengthening of our operation in China, and the acquisition of Baremark marked the completion of an important phase in the company's development.
Speaker #1: The time has therefore come. To entrust leadership to a new generation and fresh perspectives. Furthermore, the separation of the roles of CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors had already been envisaged, when I assumed office three and a half years ago.
Speaker #1: My successor Daniel Lidtuner will take over the CEO of Rieter on November 1, 2026. I'm really delighted that the Board of Directors has appointed an excellent leader for this key role.
Speaker #1: I am convinced that together with our talented employees, he will successfully lead Rieter into its next chapter of growth and innovation. Already in August 2026, we announced that Roger Albrecht, Head of the Components and Technology Division, has decided to pursue a new opportunity outside of the Rieter Group.
Speaker #1: Roger will leave Rieter during the first quarter of 2027. His successor will be announced in due course. And I would like to thank Roger for his contributions over the last years, and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.
Speaker #1: This completes now my part, my second part of the presentation, and I'm handing over to Oliver for the outlook.
Speaker #2: Thank you, Thomas. Let me conclude with our updated outlook for the full year 2026 on slide number 14. Based on business development during the first nine months in our current expectations for the fourth quarter, we are adjusting our outlook for 2026.
Speaker #2: On sales, we expect the full year to finish at the lower end of our previously communicated range of 1.3 to 1.5 billion. At the same time, profitability has developed below our expectations.
Speaker #2: The main reason are continued margin pressure, particularly in our short-staple fiber business, and the slower-than-expected market recovery in EMEA and the Americas. We therefore now expect an operating EBIT margin in the range of zero to minus 2% for the full year 2026.
Speaker #2: We continue to implement the restructuring and footprint measures across the group. These measures are important to improve our cost position and competitiveness, but their benefits will only materialize progressively.
Speaker #2: Our immediate focus remains on execution, cash discipline, and the implementation of the structural measures already announced. And with that, I conclude the presentation. Now over to you, Relindis, for the Q&A.
Speaker #3: Thanks, Oliver. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now open the lines for the participants in the conference call. Then we will take the questions from the webcast.
Speaker #3: As usual, the Q&A session will be recorded. I kindly ask the participants to mention your name, and the company you work for, before asking your question.
Speaker #3: So Matthias, let us take the first person's in the conference call.
Speaker #4: Yes, the first question comes from the line of Amira Manai from Otter PHF. Please go ahead. Yes. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the presentation.
Speaker #4: I have a couple of questions. First one is, yeah, with sales expected at the lower end of the guidance range that are announced, what gives you the confidence and the sequential acceleration implied for Q4?
Speaker #4: I will ask the questions separately.
Speaker #2: Yep. So the guidance is the guidance. So we said the top line guidance and the bottom line guidance. There is a range behind, and the range is depending always whether you manage to execute and ship certain orders in the last quarter.
Speaker #2: If there is, you know, one bigger job which may be moved from next year to this quarter, or from this last quarter to the next year, this can change of course your top line as well as your bottom line.
Speaker #2: So that's the reason why we have in both in the top line and in the bottom line this range. And I cannot give you more details where within the range at the end we will land.
Speaker #4: Okay. We're trying to remain very strong in terms of activity that you also highlight continued pricing pressure. Should we expect a strong growth in China to be structurally margin diluted?
Speaker #2: Well, it is true that, you know, the two markets China has been quite stable on a good level on a solid level already in the past.
Speaker #2: And India is now really starting to boom. So already three years ago, we were announcing that we have to build up strong presence and a strong internal organization in those two markets, and we have shifted a lot of resources into those two markets.
Speaker #2: So that's what you also see now in our order intake and especially also in our sales level. In the sales level, you already see it this year in China, and due to a good momentum in orders in India, you will see that more in sales for the next year.
Speaker #2: Now, the truth is that customers are buying from us because they see that we are technology leader. And as a technology leader, we do get a price premium over competition.
Speaker #2: But the local competition is strong, and so yes, there is a price pressure happening because the baseline when you get a premium of 10 or 15 or 20% is comparably lower than in a Western market.
Speaker #2: Now, what you have to do is you have to localize more and more of your production into those two countries. And this is exactly what we are doing with our footprint measures.
Speaker #2: We are becoming more cost competitive also to improve margins in those two markets where you have higher price pressure.
Speaker #4: Okay. And with Barm, I can do question processing according to plan. And with the current margin pressure, can it be related to integration headwinds or it's entirely market-driven?
Speaker #2: No, there is no pressure from the Barmark acquisition as I have said. At the integration, the soft integration, is working very well. Teams are really working together.
Speaker #2: Also, in terms of synergies, we are on track. Even slightly ahead. So we are combining volumes in the material part, but also in the overhead cost part.
Speaker #2: And we are very, very happy and very confident that this acquisition will pay off. Of course, always over the cycle. So there's no additional pressure because of this acquisition.
Speaker #2: Not at all.
Speaker #4: Okay. And the last question. How much of the ongoing restructuring and savings will already be visible in 2027 and can these measures maturely improve profitability even without a meaningful market recovery?
Speaker #2: It seems so. The micro is not so good, but I think I understood. So the question was how much savings are we expecting and when does and how much of it will come in 2027.
Speaker #2: So as an indication, you know, the overall full-fledged savings should come in 2028. And I think it is fair to say that when we have our annual press conference in February, the new CEO and also the CFO will highlight what you can expect for the year 2027 already.
Speaker #4: Okay. Thank you.
Speaker #2: Thank you.
Speaker #4: The next question comes from the line of Walter Bamert from Zurich Kantonalbank. Please go ahead.
Speaker #3: Good morning, everybody. Can you hear me?
Speaker #2: Yes, very good. Walter.
Speaker #3: Perfect. Can you please assess the Middle East impact of man-made fiber projects in China? I would have assumed there is some hesitance currently, but it looks okay.
Speaker #3: Is it too early to assess it, or is there no hesitance due to feedstock issues?
Speaker #2: The Middle East, what do you how you mean because of the oil price? So what happened yeah, what happened what happened is the following.
Speaker #2: So of course, oil prices went up immediately. Dramatically. And the sales price so the purchase price or the purchase cost, but also the sales price are immediately fluctuating when there is a substantial oil price change.
Speaker #2: So what in fact happened is that our customers in the man-made fiber division immediately were increasing their prices. And as they had some stock, they had at the beginning a tailwind.
Speaker #2: So they could still sell, you know, yarn or filament at a good price, but the input cost had been lower. Now, of course, the costs are going up because they have to buy the raw material.
Speaker #2: And now this is leveling out again. So there was not a there was not a negative impact for our customers. But of course, what happens is that overall, all the fabrics coming out of oil are becoming more expensive.
Speaker #2: And this could in a long term dampen a little bit the overall consumption. But we have not seen that so far. So in textile, we have not seen that there was a shrinkening of the end consumer markets.
Speaker #2: What it brings is that there is a little bit of hesitation at the moment whether you want to do really big, big, big investments.
Speaker #2: Because we talked then sometimes about hundreds of millions of US dollars, not only for our machinery, but for the whole expansion. And there is a little bit of a postponement of the really large jobs.
Speaker #3: Okay. That gives say you saw rather a stable investment mood overall in man-made fiber in China. So nothing that we should worry for the coming period.
Speaker #2: So there is what we see is all the projects we know nothing has been canceled. Nothing. And so all the projects work is going on.
Speaker #2: What happened is that there is some timing happening timing postponements happening. But this has less to do with the investment mood or profitability. It has more to do with certain government regulations that now those factories of our customers are considered as chemical factories.
Speaker #2: And they need more approvals now. And this has given a postponement of a couple of months for certain projects in order to get the project approvals from the government.
Speaker #2: But no, not a single project so far has been reconsidered to be canceled or not to be executed.
Speaker #3: Okay. Then the realignment in the man-made fiber division, is that a normal planned post-merger integration? Or is that reducing capacity? Or is it more a location decision, moving closer to the clients?
Speaker #2: It is a location decision. Has nothing to do with the acquisition. This the two major locations in Germany, Neumünster and Rennscheid in Neumünster is just because the products we produce in Neumünster are still on a low level.
Speaker #2: So carpet yarn, polyester staple machines, this is some non-woven products. It is still on a low market sentiment. So we have to adjust according to the market.
Speaker #2: And in Rennscheid, it has more to do that we have moved our vine or part of our winder production in the man-made fiber division to China, to Suzhou.
Speaker #2: Now we are renting up these production in Suzhou very successfully with very good quality. And on the other side, we are renting down partially the production in Rennscheid.
Speaker #2: So it's a site decision. And the divisional decision and had nothing to do with the acquisition.
Speaker #3: Okay. Then the new CEO coming from Heberline Technologies or having some link to that company, which looks like a great competitor and having a great fit if you would merge it with Rieter.
Speaker #3: Is there a conflict of interest? And how will that be resolved?
Speaker #2: I would not like to comment on that. You know, Daniel is starting on November 1st. He has all the capabilities and all the experience to be a good CEO in our company.
Speaker #2: And whatever question you have as you mentioned, I think should be answered by the board of directors.
Speaker #3: Until now has Heberline been considered a competitor or a business partner?
Speaker #2: Well, Heberline is an independent company in the market. They are supplying a lot of companies also on our side. They are supplying certain components to the man-made fiber division.
Speaker #2: They're also strong in some short staple fiber components. And so there is no combined business strategy. So they are a supplier and as they supply some other companies as well, of course, they are an independent company in the market.
Speaker #3: Oh, okay. Could the CFO give us some guidance on the EBIT adjustments to be expected this year?
Speaker #2: That's in a similar amount as I already communicated with the half-year result. We will have some substantial PPA adjustments. And we will also have some restructuring adjustments.
Speaker #2: But that's also the reason why we guide an operating EBIT level and further details we will communicate with the full-year result.
Speaker #3: Can you remind me of what you said at the half-year?
Speaker #2: The PPA effect will be roughly in the amount of 50 to 60 million adjustments.
Speaker #3: Plus restructuring then in addition.
Speaker #2: Plus restructuring, yes.
Speaker #3: Oh, okay. How satisfied are you with the balance sheet? Do the restructuring efforts require some equity strengthening?
Speaker #2: I think that's premature to comment when I look at the balance sheet. First and foremost, this is a sales and orders update. So we don't report any other financial metrics.
Speaker #2: But the picture is more or less unchanged. And obviously, the most prominent topic is our balance sheet is leverage. Leverage is too high. We knew that leverage will be elevated post-closing of the acquisition.
Speaker #2: And that deleveraging will be a key priority of management. Now, what do we need to structurally deleverage is a certain market recovery. And operational improvement.
Speaker #2: And with regards to the market recovery, we are limited in what we can do. And with regards to operational improvements, as Thomas pointed out previously, there are various initiatives ongoing.
Speaker #2: As an indication, I can reassure you that leverage, as we speak, is lower than with the half-year results. We were able to generate some positive free cash flow over recent months, predominantly driven by the release of networking capital.
Speaker #3: Perfect. So the last question is regarding the region EMEA. Can you tell us something positive about the outlook for that region? I mean, do you see certain countries like Turkey or Egypt developing positively?
Speaker #3: Or is that still a very stagnating situation? Overall. And in detail, country by country.
Speaker #2: So there is there are good news also in EMEA. But maybe I first have to say which are the main markets in EMEA because it's a very, very I would call it like a tutti frutti region.
Speaker #2: There is everything inside. So when we talk about EMEA, we talk about Pakistan, an important market. Pakistan is starting to see there is we are at the beginning of some investment activities happening.
Speaker #2: We see that. Then also to EMEA, we have this so-called CIS countries. So Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan. We do have orders in fact, we just have closed a very good order last week in Azerbaijan.
Speaker #2: We've also good margins. Because those countries also have or some of them also have cotton. And they sold in the past cotton. And now they all try to replicate the Uzbekistan model.
Speaker #2: And Uzbekistan is supporting those countries like Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan how to implement the whole value chain in textile market. And we have been super strong in Uzbekistan in the last 15 years.
Speaker #2: So we have a very good position there when it starts to take off. Then you have Turkey. And Turkey, I have to say, I have not seen any sign of recovery.
Speaker #2: So our volumes in Turkey have been reduced by 90%. It has been our strongest single market in the past. And is now not at the moment relevant for us anymore.
Speaker #2: Then you have a country like Syria. Syria not yet on the list to do business. But it has a strong textile background. And when we have some political stability, I think Syria could become a relevant market.
Speaker #2: Then you have the North African countries. And there are mainly two, Egypt and Morocco. Morocco not so much in the spinning. But Egypt, a very, very important market for us.
Speaker #2: And there are some severe projects in all divisions in our project pipeline to come. So it is short staple fiber, components, and man-made fiber.
Speaker #2: So Egypt, we believe, is a very strong market for the future because it is closed to the European Union. Has a own textile history and there we clearly see that markets will increase.
Speaker #2: And then you go to the South. You have the so-called Sub-Sahara zone. In the Sub-Sahara zone, you also have countries where you have cotton.
Speaker #2: So it goes from ivory coast, Benin, then you can cross the whole continent up to Ethiopia. Probably the strongest hotspot at the moment is Benin.
Speaker #2: We do have projects there. We also have mills there. But in the Sub-Saharan zone, political stability is very much necessary. So if I say very hope Pakistan is hope, this CIS countries are hope.
Speaker #2: And Egypt is hope. And then last but not least, our first project for the recycling powerhouse should also happen in the Middle East. In Qatar, and we hope some more stability there that we can start to execute.
Speaker #2: So there is not a general recovery, but some countries will come back. And we see and we have booked now the first orders.
Speaker #3: Thank you very much.
Speaker #2: Thank you.
Speaker #1: We now have a question from the line of Alessandro Foletti from Octavian. Please go ahead.
Speaker #3: Yes. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I have three, if I may. Starting with Burma, before I ask you the question, can you remind me as of which date it was first consolidated?
Speaker #2: We thought of February consolidating the Burma figures.
Speaker #3: Right. So 1st of February around about. So you have one month missing. Because last year in the first nine months, Burma did 553 million orders.
Speaker #3: So now I take one month out. It still looks like there is a decline in that business. Year over year. I fully understand it was not your company.
Speaker #3: But still, now the 469 orders that you have seems to be lower than last year. So I was wondering, what is the weakness? Is this all related to this what we have discussed before?
Speaker #3: Middle East? Or is the more to that?
Speaker #2: Knowing the Burma area, at the end you talk about two markets. It's one very, very big one. And one substantial one. The big one is China.
Speaker #2: There has been a lot of projects still executed of course in the last years. China is stable. There is a lot of projects ongoing.
Speaker #2: And the interesting thing with China is that there is a lot of push in terms of sustainability. So this will end in an increasing demand to modernize existing mills.
Speaker #2: So the efforts of the central government to become more green they have selected several industries and one of them is the chemical industry. And I just mentioned before now our customers of Burma are now considered as part of the chemical industry.
Speaker #2: This has the disadvantage that the approval takes a little bit longer for a project. So that is dampening a little bit this year. But on the other side, it will also fuel opportunities in modernizing existing installations.
Speaker #2: So there is no we don't see any scenario that now suddenly we have a crisis in China. We don't see that. In contradiction, some Chinese are also thinking about investing outside of China.
Speaker #2: Then we have India. And India also in the man-made fiber division has a huge project pipeline. Really big, big, big. Whether all of them will be executed at the end, we will see in the near future.
Speaker #2: But this should bring a lot of additional order intake over the next 12 months. Then materializing in sales, in 2028. So we are confident with the Burma development in top line, but also in the bottom line.
Speaker #3: Great. And maybe if you were talking about Burma, can you add a word on the USA about the carpet business? You mentioned what you're doing in that business, right?
Speaker #2: Yeah. So in the carpet business, the US is a very, very important market. There was a huge investment cycle happening in 2022 and 2023.
Speaker #2: This has I would say almost collapsed to zero. In the last three years. Now we see the first orders to come. They should be booked in the next six months.
Speaker #2: But not from a magnitude as we have experienced at a couple of years ago. So and I do not believe that the carpet yarn market will come back to the levels we have been.
Speaker #2: Because also in the US, the customer sentiment is changing. In apartments, people do not only want to have carpets anymore. They also want to have wooden floors.
Speaker #2: But there are now some projects coming up. And this will help us in Neumünster also to deliver sustainable results.
Speaker #3: All right. Thank you very much. I wanted to ask another question on Turkey, if I may. You mentioned earthquake. And I remember we spoke about it in past conferences.
Speaker #3: The region where the earthquake took place was really very important for the textile industry. And you mentioned now minus 90% order intake does it mean that the whole industry was there actually in that region?
Speaker #2: So 70% of the installed capacity in our business so spinning has been impacted by the earthquake. And there were two, let's say, major areas.
Speaker #2: So it was in Anatolia cities called Karaman Marash, Gaziantep. Where 70% of the installed base was, especially also the big spinners, which are our customers.
Speaker #2: And almost everything has been damaged. Not destroyed. Some of it has been rebuilt again. But in the same moment, we had this huge inflation in Turkey.
Speaker #2: So people had no job. They went into other businesses to work. Especially construction business. Or moved even out of the area. And the reality is they never have recovered.
Speaker #2: The industry has never really recovered. And especially smaller spinners have suffered even more. And spinners who are not fully automized because now you have costs between 1,500 to 2,000 euro per operator per month.
Speaker #2: And when you go to when you go to Egypt, it's 150 to 200. So it's 10%. And so this has brought Turkey to uncompetitiveness.
Speaker #2: And I don't see that in the near future this will really come back.
Speaker #3: Okay. Wow. That's thank you for this information. It's surprising I have to say. And my last question is maybe on the comments you made before.
Speaker #3: On the networking capital, maybe can you maybe be a little bit more precise which components is are driving the improvement in free cash flow generation that you have mentioned, Mr. Streuli.
Speaker #2: Yes. Yes. Couple of effects here. By division, what I can tell you is that the man-made fiber division has the biggest improvements in networking capital.
Speaker #2: Part of that is driven by seasonality. We had a certain acceleration in orders throughout the year in man-made fiber. And that comes along obviously with higher advanced payments.
Speaker #2: So that is a part of the improvements. But also we had a certain acceleration in sales. So we could release some inventories. And then we continue to work on streamlining our footprint.
Speaker #2: So we reduced inventories also in the other two divisions. But I would say inventory and advanced payments were the main drivers.
Speaker #3: Oh, okay. And is it possible can you say more or less you had like 450 million cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year in June it was down to 220.
Speaker #3: Are we backing up like midway or and are you going to be like again to this 450 million by the end of this year?
Speaker #3: Is that possible?
Speaker #2: We don't provide the guidance on available liquidity. But as I mentioned, we have improved our liquidity position versus the half-year results.
Speaker #3: All right. Okay. Thank you very much.
Speaker #2: But also if I may add, with the integration of the bar mark businesses, man-made fiber division, we will be subject to higher volatility with regards to our networking capital position.
Speaker #2: Because this is purely a project business. And orders are by nature bigger. Then compared with the short staple fiber or even the components business.
Speaker #2: So it has to be understood with a pinch of salt. With regards to networking capital, elements on due dates.
Speaker #3: Yes. I understand that. Thank you.
Speaker #1: The next question comes from the line of Dominic Belter from NZZ. Please go ahead.
Speaker #2: Yes. Good morning. You mentioned this shift of resources from Europe to Asia. Could you please elaborate a bit on that? I mean, how much have you been have you extended by in terms of people your presence?
Speaker #2: How much have you increased it in India and China? And how much are you are you shrinking your resources also in terms of people here in Europe?
Speaker #2: Especially in Germany. And if you allow another question. You've said that this is a generational change now with the new CEO coming in. I can't really see that.
Speaker #2: I mean, why is it one? I mean, he's not he's about the same age if I'm right. So what makes it a generational change?
Speaker #2: Or will there further people come in? And maybe if you have can give a comment on what your own plans are that would interest me as well.
Speaker #2: Thank you. Okay. So maybe I start with the second question. I'm not coming from the textile industry. Most of you know me. I'm grown up in the elevator industry.
Speaker #2: And I had a clear mandate what to do here with Rieter, the company was with very high sales volume in a very bad shape in terms of profitability.
Speaker #2: And it was foreseeable that markets will come down. So we had to do a lot of structural changes. On the other side, you have also to build up things.
Speaker #2: So besides doing a lot of adjustments, there were two main topics. One is we wanted to enter into the man-made fiber business. Because this has a lot of long-term growth opportunities.
Speaker #2: And we could tick that box. The second topic was in the old Rieter area, to build up good resources, good structures, in China and in India.
Speaker #2: Because it was clear that Asia will be much stronger. In the near future, then it has been in the past. And that western part has done so much of investments in 21, 22, being executed in 22, 23, and partially 24.
Speaker #2: That for a foreseeable future, there will not be a same boom again. So this is the structural shift which was foreseeable. And we had to build up a lot of resources and capabilities in Asia Pacific.
Speaker #2: As I had worked for many, many, many, many years there, I took that challenge and I think both topics or all the topics have been executed.
Speaker #2: Am I happy where we are still with the operational performance? No. I'm not. In all fairness. It could be better. And it's really it's just missing or it's just due to this missing volumes in Europe and America.
Speaker #2: But after three and a half years, I think it is now time that we continue to build up. Build up on the innovation pipeline.
Speaker #2: So next year we have the ITMA. We will have a fantastic program of products which we will show and solutions. Also to work again with more textile expertise.
Speaker #2: And that's the reason why I said, okay, from an outside manager who has done all the dirty stuff, it's now time to bring in again more textile expertise.
Speaker #2: And I think this was a fantastic decision by the board. And I'm very grateful that Daniel, although he has the same age like me, maybe it's not a generational change, but minimum an industrial expertise change.
Speaker #2: And it was very well perceived also by the organization. So that's maybe for that. Honestly, after these three and a half difficult years of course, I stay at the service for Rieter.
Speaker #2: I have personal invested also a lot into the company. It's a fantastic company. We have great employees. In a challenging environment, but I'm sure that it will be a very successful company in the future.
Speaker #2: And so I will also whenever I can contribute, I will do that. But a very good handover process to Daniel. Very intense in all the details.
Speaker #2: And I think he has a good starting point. Now to the shift of resources. If you look on the total headcount end of 22, and you compare it where we are today, we have reduced globally 40% of our workforce.
Speaker #2: That's it's not a figure I'm proud of, but it was a necessary move to reduce our workforce by 40%. And one big move we already did in 23 and 24 when we did the program Next Level.
Speaker #2: There we reduced overall everywhere in the world. Because it was a market adjustment. Then from 25 to 26, we have a shift of resources.
Speaker #2: So it's not so much about overall still reducing a lot of people. It's more where do you have people? Where do you need to have people in order to serve your customers?
Speaker #2: So you have two elements. One is the overhead cost. This is back office. This is sales. These are supply chain people. You should have it where you have your business.
Speaker #2: So we have moved also out of Winterthur, but also in our component companies, more resources to India and to China. And the second topic is that we have to move production.
Speaker #2: So wherever you have more assembly work, you should do that in where you have your manufacturing. And this is and where you have your customers.
Speaker #2: That's India and China. These are our two main factories for assembly. And we still have some manufacturing in Germany. Remscheid, Neumünster, Heinsberg, and in Czech Republic.
Speaker #2: But this we have and will and also have announced we will reduce that. Because for cost competitiveness, you should do the major work in assembly where you also have your markets.
Speaker #2: And in manufacturing, this is a second topic these are key components. Where you really differentiate from competition, where there is a lot of know-how behind, a lot of innovation behind, a lot of creativity behind.
Speaker #2: And this we have kept in Switzerland and in Germany. Because those two countries historically are very innovative countries. And we've also want to keep that innovation drive in Europe.
Speaker #2: So when we then talk about the shift of manufacturing, you easily come to a couple of hundred of people with the announced programs. And also everything else we already have done in 23 and 24.
Speaker #2: So the setup is that in the future, the majority of our employees will be in Asia Pacific. And not anymore like four, five years ago in Europe.
Speaker #1: And can you quantify this? Where do you stand at the moment?
Speaker #2: Well, I can only comment on all the programs we have announced.
Speaker #1: No. I mean, it must be known. I mean, how many people do you have on the ground now in India and China and against Europe?
Speaker #2: So the China is fast growing. Now you have to see we added, of course, all the employees now from Barmak. And we will give a country by country exact number with the closing.
Speaker #2: Because in the sustainability report, you also have to mention all the countries where you have more than 10% of your workforce. What I can say is that in Switzerland, we are just a little bit short of this 10%.
Speaker #2: And the four countries where we have more than 10% is China, is India, is Germany, and Czech Republic. And the two biggest ones are Germany and China.
Speaker #2: But the headcount details, I would like to wait until the year end.
Speaker #1: So no figure you can give me. Just where you the total headcount at the moment is?
Speaker #2: Roughly six and a half thousand people.
Speaker #1: Thank you.
Speaker #2: Roughly six and a half thousand. Including some temporary people we have. Good. Thank you for the questions.
Speaker #3: As a reminder, if you wish to register for questions, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question comes from the line of Leonie Zirn from UBS.
Speaker #3: Please go ahead.
Speaker #4: Yes. Hi. Thank you for taking my question. One question around order backlog. It increased sadly since half year to 850 million. Can you give a bit of color how much you expect to convert in Q4?
Speaker #4: And in what goes into 2027? And also has conversion time somehow changed? Are there some further delays? Cancellations? That would be my first question.
Speaker #2: Yes. So given the book-to-build times that we have in our business between 6 to 12 months, much of the sales that we expect in the fourth quarter will be delivered out of the existing backlog as of today.
Speaker #2: Given the time is just too short to convert substantial order intake now into sales until year end. And then the remainder of the backlog is predominantly then for 2027.
Speaker #2: While some backlog even lasts longer, especially also in the man-made fiber business. So that as a context. In terms of cancellations, we did have certain cancellations.
Speaker #2: As is usual, but nothing extraordinary to report at this point.
Speaker #4: Okay. Thank you. And regarding the margin downgrade, you mentioned the short-sable fiber softness, like of a MEA supports, continue pricing pressure. I'm just wondering, you also did some pricing pressures in March.
Speaker #4: Were those not enough to compensate for all of these effects? And also if we zoom into pricing, where do you see the most pressure?
Speaker #4: Is it short-sable fiber, Barmak, across the board? And is there further downside to pricing into 2027 as probably China revenues will increase and India since you see their most growth?
Speaker #2: So there is we have done another round of pricing measures. This is mainly to fight against inflation. Our biggest worry at the moment is inflation of raw materials.
Speaker #2: When you look into steel, copper, or totally out of control electronical parts, where you have sometimes a couple of hundred percentages price increases. But overall, there is a substantial inflation due to raw material cost.
Speaker #2: This is the biggest worry when you look on the quality of the backlog. And so we have done another pricing round. And we'll continue to do that.
Speaker #2: The only problem is the pricing round, you are always a little bit behind. What happened on the cost side. Of course, we do have in some contracts, we have an inflation clause.
Speaker #2: Where you can renegotiate pricing but usually this is very tough and you only have part of what you want to achieve you really can achieve.
Speaker #2: So we had to do we had to do another pricing round.
Speaker #4: And can you quantify? Okay. Yeah.
Speaker #2: No this we don't want to do that publicly. We don't want to do that publicly. But it should compensate the inflation pressure.
Speaker #4: Okay.
Speaker #2: And maybe with regards to pricing, we have if I might also comment. We have this market dynamics explained before. That we face some increased pressure in Asia.
Speaker #2: But also we have a mix effect. As our installed base business is below expectations in terms of turnover. And that adds to the mix effect on the margin side that should not be underestimated.
Speaker #2: And you are specifically for the divisions pricing pressure is most significant at our short staple fiber division.
Speaker #4: Okay. And you touched on profitability and it's suffering from pricing. I was wondering mean Barmak historically has much higher margins. So is Barmak able to compensate some of those worsening short stable fiber margins probably?
Speaker #4: What is your expectations for end of the year? Do you see some averaging at least in between short stable fiber and Barmak? Or what is your expected scenario here?
Speaker #2: So we will of course we have done the guidance for the end of the year. We also will not do any guidance for the next year.
Speaker #2: That's what we have to do then at the year-end closing. But it's clear Barmak is performing on a very solid line. We are happy with their performance.
Speaker #2: Yes, they have been higher in the past. But this is more also volume-driven. As soon as markets are coming back, volumes are going up.
Speaker #2: Then you get the operating leverage. That's the same also in the short staple fiber division. There I have to say the markets EMEA and America's have been lower and coming back slower than what we expected.
Speaker #2: And this has dampened the performance of the short stable fiber division and partially also of the components division. Measures have been taken and I'm confident that there is a flattening or an improvement happening in the short staple fiber division.
Speaker #2: And I think all the necessary actions are now have been taken. It just takes a while until you get the full impact. And one element are also this transfers of resources to India and China.
Speaker #2: Because costs are too high to manufacture in that area here in Europe.
Speaker #4: Okay. Thank you. And then one last question. Around the orders. Of Barmak and also the short stable fiber. So Barmak saw quite a jump actually.
Speaker #4: I think if you compared to past Q3 earnings versus half year, this was quite an improvement. Is this due to a new accounting method?
Speaker #4: Or is it actually a new run rate that we can assume going forward also into Q4 and into next year? And then if we look on the short stable fiber side, we've seen that also their order intake bounced actually.
Speaker #4: Despite sales despite the orders being weak. So is this more like a timing backlog execution? Or is there also some underlying improvement in short stable fibers that we should not overlook?
Speaker #4: And then maybe for 27 as final question. What is your outlook here? Do you expect a gradual recovery to continue? Or sharper upswing in 27?
Speaker #2: Thank you, Leonie. Unfortunately, or no fortunately, the first two questions I have to deny. So and the most important one is we did not change any accounting policies when considering order intake.
Speaker #2: So the figures headline although not in our consolidation perimeter should be comparable with the past. At least we did not change anything. It has to be understood also in context.
Speaker #2: This is project business. So the man-made fiber business should not be compared on a quarter by quarter basis. Yes, we had a certain acceleration throughout the year.
Speaker #2: And we had a very good Q3. But also it depends a lot. If you had a job which is 50 to 100 million whether it falls into September or October this could make a huge difference on a quarterly projection.
Speaker #2: So that's the first one. And then with regards to short staple fiber, we usually have a certain seasonality. So Q1 on the sales side is most often rather weak given Chinese New Year.
Speaker #2: And then we usually see an acceleration with regards to half year and then also Q4. Normally with regards to seasonality patterns. And into next year, at this point, it's still a little early to really judge potentially next year.
Speaker #2: We'll give you more details with the full year closing. We have at the moment the visibility of 6 to 9 months. And obviously an overall investment sentiment.
Speaker #2: And taking all that into consideration and also the order intake that we reported on, we do not see a substantial market recovery into next year at this point in time.
Speaker #4: Okay. Good. Thank you. We have a follow-up question from the line of Alessandra Foletti from Octavian. Please go ahead.
Speaker #3: Thank you for taking my follow-ups. I have two if I may a little bit more general. I was still a little bit shocked about what you said on Turkey.
Speaker #3: And I was wondering who is stepping there into that to sort of do what the Turkish people were doing. Because as far as I understand the Turkish market has been by far the largest rotor market as opposed to China which is more of a ring spin market.
Speaker #3: So I wonder who's coming in? Are the stance that you mentioned? Is it Egypt? Where are these rotor capacity going?
Speaker #2: So yes, it is a shocking development of a country. First of all, shocking was especially all the tragedy of course for the people living there.
Speaker #2: I have to say. This is point number one. And I think for a lot of the Turkish people, business has become for a certain couple of weeks or months second priority.
Speaker #2: They really had so much tragedy to swallow. But the market, yes, did not come back. By the way, Turkey is not just a rotor market.
Speaker #2: It's also a ring market to be clear. It has a substantial rotor share, yes. And the real ring market is and the rotor market.
Speaker #2: So products you produce out of rotor. Has been weaker than products being produced with ring spinning machines. So it was like a double impact.
Speaker #2: There were damaged and rotor share has not really been taken away by someone else substantially. The rotor market itself was quite weak because the type of application you use with rotor was not very strong.
Speaker #2: This can go become different. Rotor products are very good for recycling of yarn. Or for fibers into yarn. So maybe the rotor will have a revival there again.
Speaker #2: The ring spinning market. So a little bit more fine. Yarn. This has been taken almost by everybody else in the market. Uzbekistan took it.
Speaker #2: India took it. And of course they then it is very difficult to get your share back as a country. Especially with the cost development.
Speaker #2: And when you look on the profit and loss statement of a spinner about 15% of the cost of a spinning company are labor cost.
Speaker #2: And if you pay 1500 dollar or euro or 300 dollar or euro this is a huge impact on competitiveness. On top also energy costs in Turkey have been more expensive.
Speaker #2: So the kilowatt hour is now 11, 12, 13 cents. When you go to Egypt you are at 4 cents. So the whole country lost competitiveness.
Speaker #2: And the shares have been taken over by other countries.
Speaker #3: All right. Thank you very much. And my last question was on the ETMA which you mentioned. You said that you have a good innovation.
Speaker #3: Can you maybe specify a little bit that? And is it too early to see an impact of that typically in the past you had kind of a weaker order until the FINMA and then you would start booking orders just after that?
Speaker #3: Is this still happening? Is it we are too far from that right now?
Speaker #2: So we will not say what kind of innovations we will bring because honestly nobody does that. It's the top secret in a company. And you should join us at our booth and get shining eyes when you see what we have developed as a new innovation.
Speaker #2: But I'm very, very confident and very, very happy how the team is developing that. Now, yes, there is there are people of course sometimes wait.
Speaker #2: Well, I don't want to buy something in June and then in September I see the following generation of a machine. So I rather wait.
Speaker #2: That can happen. But on the other side, some markets are so much now in a boom. Like India. People cannot wait until next September.
Speaker #2: They have to order in the next weeks and months. And maybe some weaker markets where customers say, well, I wait a little bit with the upgrade.
Speaker #2: They might wait until the ETMA in September. But other markets I'm sure they just go full blown ahead.
Speaker #3: Okay. Good. Thank you very much. The ETMA fair is in my calendar. If I can I will try to join you.
Speaker #2: Very good.
Speaker #1: Thank you so much. So we will move out over to the webcast question. The first question comes from Christian Roduna. Could you please tell us how your market shares as a percentage of the entire markets are developing?
Speaker #1: Is Rita gaining or losing market shares?
Speaker #2: So we are not specifying let's say concrete market shares. What we can say is that overall we had a stable development. If you look on all the three divisions there is maybe in the one or the other part it goes up and in the other part it goes down.
Speaker #2: But overall we have stable good market share. And the Rita group is by far now the biggest supplier in the machinery of the spinning equipment.
Speaker #1: Then we have two questions for Mr. Purana. The first question has been intensively answered. Let's move to the second question, Thomas, right?
Speaker #2: Yes. So what financial covenants do the RCF and term loan carry? What kind of leverage interest and so on? And what will be our EBITDA likely for 2026?
Speaker #2: And how do we refinance our bond in next November? So there is a lot of questions about the financing and the debt levels. I think I would like to hand over that answer to Oliver with one remark.
Speaker #2: Of course we do have certain agreements with our banks and every quarter we are fulfilling that. And also by end of September we fulfilled all requirements we had in our contract.
Speaker #2: Okay. And you might understand that we don't disclose the individual paragraphs of our financing agreements I think what is most important to underline once again that we have fulfilled all those conditions with the closing of the third quarter.
Speaker #2: With regards to EBITDA projections our guiding measure is operating EBIT. If you add then what I reiterated before the PPA effect between 50 to 60 million to be expected for this year.
Speaker #2: We also consider historical depreciation of our business. And also for the Walmart business. And if you take an assumption on restructuring you can value rise an EBITDA and with regards to the last question on the bond refinancing I think that is premature to answer.
Speaker #2: The bond is due in November next year and we will start refinancing activities early 2027.
Speaker #1: Thank you Oliver. There are no more questions. Back to you Thomas for the closing words.
Speaker #2: Thank you Relindis. So ladies and gentlemen my closing words. As we conclude today's investor update I would like to thank you all of you for your continued interest trust and support of Rieter.
Speaker #2: Over the past years we have navigated a highly challenging market environment while simultaneously transforming our company. We took decisive actions to adapt our cost base to optimize our footprint strengthen our portfolio and position Rieter for the future.
Speaker #2: While these measures required difficult decisions they were necessary to build a more resilient agile and competitive company. And yes like always you are never at the end of the measures you have to take.
Speaker #2: It's a continuous process ahead of you. What gives us confidence is the strength of our technology. Our global customer relationship and above all and these are really feel from the deep of my heart the dedication and the expertise of our employees around the world.
Speaker #2: These foundations position us well to capture opportunities as markets continue to recover and you see that our quarterly development is promising in terms of order intake.
Speaker #2: For me it is now to say time to say goodbye I wish you all the best for the future. I thank you for your ongoing interest in our company.
