Rieter Holding AG (0QKA) Q2 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. A warm welcome also from my side. Here's the agenda. We will briefly look at the key messages, review the market, and give you an update on the planned bar mark acquisition. I will then hand over to Oliver for a deep dive into the financials. Let's turn to the key messages on slide number four. I will discuss in the financial part just order intake, sales, and operating EBIT. Oliver will walk you through the details on sales, EBIT, free cash flow, and net profit. So let me start with the green boxes. The first half of 2025 was challenging, to say the least. marked by macroeconomic and geopolitical turbulences as a result of the Trump administration's trade tariffs. We got off to a good start in the business year 2025, seeing increased offer activity across the board. Also, orders were coming in smoothly. But then the massive disruption caused by the trade tariffs brought order intake to a grinding halt in the second quarter 2025. The uncertainty proved to be toxic for investment decisions. The missing order intake in the second quarter of 2025 consequently translates to missing sales volume in the second half of 2025. As you may remember from our annual press conference in March, we considered this as essential for our top-line guidance. The hesitation of our customers in turn led to higher inventory for the first half of 2025. On top of our strict cost discipline, we introduced additional cost measures which brought operating EBIT almost to a break-even level. Even so, the 336 million Swiss franc sales volume fell short of our break-even point. The second half of 2025 is therefore set to remain challenging. On to the blue boxes. For the planned acquisition, We are on track so far. We have completed all filings for the merger contr...