Stratec : Annual Financial Report 2025

About this update from Stratec Se

stratec ee ST&UCTU&ED 'O& P&OG&ESS ANNUAL REPORT 2025 MISSION STATEMENT Together with our partners, we improve quality of life. We do this by leveraging our expertise, technology, and collaborative approach to develop innovative, purpose-built solutions for leading companies in in-vitro diagnostics and adjacent markets. As a leading OEM partner, we share responsibility for the entire product life cycle: from initial design through development, regulatory approval, production, product expansion, and ongoing support. Our success is based on the talent and dedication of our employees and our commitment to drive innovation forward. 2 CONTENTS Letter from the Board of Management | 6 Report of the Supervisory Board | 8 STRUCTURED FOR PROGRESS Micropillars Revolutionizing Diagnostics and Enabling Cell Therapy |16 From Diagnostics to Cell Therapy |19 Innovation in Focus With Our Partner BendBio | 20 From Rare Cells to Real-World Impact | 22 STRATEC's Share | 26 Group Management Report | 30 Consolidated Financial Statements | 136 Responsibility Statement | 216 Independent Auditors' Report | 217 Assurance Report of the Independent German Public Auditor | 224 3 STRATEC GROUP AT A GLANCE GROUP KEY FIGURES Sales, earnings, and dividend 2025 1 2024 Change Sales (in € thousand) 250,863 257,624 -2.6 % (cc: -1.1 %) Gross R&D expenses (in € thousand) 62,952 55,405 +13.6 % Gross R&D expenses as % of sales 25.1 21.5 +360 bps Adjusted EBITDA (in € thousand) 40,645 49,214 -17.4 % Adjusted EBITDA as % of sales 16.2 19.1 -290 bps Adjusted EBIT (in € thousand) 25,166 33,459 -24.8 % Adjusted EBIT as % of sales 10.0 13.0 -300 bps Adjusted consolidated net income (in € thousand) 14,218 20,496 -30.6 % Adjusted basic earnings per share (in €) 1.17 1.69 -30.8 % Basic earnings per share IFRS (in €) -0.02 1.32 n/a Dividend per share (in €) 0.60 2 0.60 +0.0 % 1 For comparison purposes, the adjusted figures for 2025 have been adjusted to exclude amortization from purchase price allocations in the context of acquisitions, as well as for impairments of intangible assets, write-downs of inventories, and other one-off items (including consulting expenses, fees, and reorganization expenses). 2 Subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting on June 23, 2026. bps = basis points cc = at constant-currency Balance sheet 12.31.2025 12.31.2024 Change Shareholders' equity (in € thousand) 237,320 242,533 -2.1 % Total assets (in € thousand) 425,986 445,058 -4.3 % Equity ratio (in %) 55.7 54.5 +120 bps bps = basis points Sales by operating division 2025 41.3 % Service parts and consumables (€103,560k) 34.6 % Systems (€86,727k) 0.6 % Other activities (€1,645k) 23.5 % Development and services (€58,932k) SALES 100 % (€250,863k) Locations of the STRATEC Group STRATEC SE Birkenfeld / Germany STRATEC Biomedical (Taicang) Co., Ltd. Jiangsu / China STRATEC Biomedical SRL Cluj-Napoca / Romania Diatron MI APAC Pvt. Ltd. Delhi / India Diatron US, Inc. Medley / FL / USA Diatron MI Zrt. Budapest / Hungary Natech Plastics, Inc. Ronkonkoma / NY / USA STRATEC Switzerland AG Beringen / Switzerland STRATEC Consumables GmbH Salzburg / Austria 2025 ‌LETTER FROM THE BOARD OF MANAGEMENT DEAR SHAREHOLDERS, DEAR PARTNERS AND FRIENDS OF STRATEC, For the STRATEC Group, the 2025 financial year was again characterized by a challenging market climate. Geopolitical tensions and associated restrictive and volatile trade policies led to changeable order behavior on the part of our customers and to specific uncertainties in the supply of input materials. Despite these demanding conditions, we managed to maintain an almost stable level of sales. Thanks to consistent cost management and the ongoing optimization of our internal processes, we achieved the target set at the beginning of the year for our adjusted EBIT margin. This way, we again documented the resilience of our business model and asserted ourselves very well compared with our direct competitors. Even though the market climate remains volatile, the structural, long-term growth drivers in our sector are still intact. In particular, demographic developments, technological advances, and the ongoing trend towards outsourcing in-vitro diagnostics automation solutions harbor attractive growth opportunities for our sector, and for STRATEC in particular. We are convinced that, given its reputation and broad technology pool, STRATEC is superbly positioned to sustainably benefit from these developments. Following strong growth between 2019 and 2021 and the subsequent period of sales remaining more or less stable, we now see STRATEC at the beginning of a new growth phase thanks to its young product portfolio, its robust modernization and substitution business, and numerous forthcoming product launches. Given highly robust demand in the immunodiagnostics and immunohematology businesses, we are optimistic that we will return to our growth trajectory in 2026 already. For the coming financial year, we therefore expect our constant-currency consolidated sales to show growth in a medium to high single-digit percentage range. We are also confident that we will be able to cushion the rise in input costs resulting not least from adverse geopolitical effects by implementing efficiency measures and consistently managing our costs. This way, we will be able to maintain a stable EBIT margin for the 2026 financial year viewed as a whole. The renewed willingness of our customers to reach decisions, particularly concerning system developments and lifecycle transfers, is reflected in a consistently high Marcus Wolfinger (58) Chairman of the Board of Management number of new contract negotiations, many of which already at very advanced stages. Demand for cybersecurity software solutions is also rising consistently. We are pleased to propose the distribution of a dividend of € 0.60 per share for approval by our shareholders (previous year: € 0.60 per share). In light of our positive long-term business prospects, we would like to enable you, our shareholders, to participate in the company's success. We owe our sincere thanks to our shareholders, customers, employees, and partners for the trust they have placed in us and for their continued support. Driven by confidence and commitment, we will successfully shape and develop the STRATEC Group in future as well. Kind regards, Birkenfeld, April 2026 The Board of Management of STRATEC SE Tanja Bücherl (38) Member of the Board of Management, Finance Dr. Claus Vielsack (58) Member of the Board of Management, Product Development Marcus Wolfinger Dr. Claus Vielsack Dr. Georg Bauer (53) Member of the Board of Management, Sales Dr. Georg Bauer Tanja Bücherl ‌REPORT OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD Dear Shareholders, For a company with highly complex products and internationally aligned value and supply chains, the 2025 financial year was, from the perspective of the Supervisory Board, characterized by additional challenges affecting both supplies and sales. These resulted from factors including geopolitical tensions and the resultant uncertainties in global markets. Against this backdrop, the level of sales achieved by the company fell short of the target originally formulated by the Board of Management. However, the Supervisory Board views the achievement of the margin corridor (adjusted EBIT margin), albeit it only at the lower end, as demonstrating the resilience of the company's business model and the effectiveness of the measures it has taken to manage earnings and costs. Taking due account of the challenging geopolitical situation and the sector-specific framework, as well as of the associated implications for the business model of the STRATEC Group, the Supervisory Board therefore views the overall results achieved by the company as satisfactory. Considering the measures initiated to manage earnings and costs, the Supervisory Board assesses the company's overall situation as positive, a conclusion attributable not least to the large number of development cooperations currently underway to develop new products. Supervision and advice in dialog with the Board of Management In the 2025 financial year, the Supervisory Board of STRATEC SE again dealt closely with the company's situation and its perspectives. It regularly advised the Board of Management in its management of the person meeting Hybrid-meeting telephone conference Total meetings Supervisory Board meeting 2 5 2 9 Audit Committee 0 4 4 8 Remuneration Committee 1 3 0 4 company and monitored its business management directly involved in all decisions or measures of fundamental significance, particularly those involving corporate strategy, group-related matters, and the asset, financial, and earnings position of the company and the Group, as well as those transactions requiring approval by the Supervisory Board. The Board of Management provided the Supervisory Board with regular, timely, and comprehensive written and oral information concerning all issues of relevance to the company. Meetings of the Supervisory Board and its committees The meetings of the Supervisory Board, its permanent Audit Committee, and its Remuneration Committee were held in person, as hybrid meetings, or as video or telephone conferences in the 2025 financial year. The Supervisory Board currently does not have any other permanent committees. Individual members of the Board of Management were also available to Supervisory Board members outside the meeting framework to hold one-to-one discussions on specialist topics. The Supervisory Board also regularly held meetings at which the Board of Management was temporarily absent. At these meetings, it addressed agenda items relating either to the Board of Management itself or to internal Supervisory Board matters. Supervisory Board members who are not members of the respective committees also drew on the possibility of attending committee meetings as guests. Meeting form and individual meeting attendance by members of the Supervisory Board, the Audit Committee, and the Remuneration Committee carefully and continuously. The Supervisory Board performed the duties required by law, the Articles of Association, and its Code of Procedure at all times in full awareness of its responsibility. In this, it also took due account of the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code. The Supervisory Board was In- Video or With one exception, all members of the Supervisory Board attended all meetings and committee meetings. Dr. Vornhagen was unable to attend one hybrid meeting of the Supervisory Board but, consistent with the Articles of Association, participated in voting by exercising his proxy rights and having his written votes submitted by the Supervisory Board Chair. Activities and key focuses of discussion of full Supervisory Board Nine meetings took place in the year under report. Two meetings were held in person, five as hybrid meetings, and two by way of video or telephone conference. Furthermore, several resolutions were adopted in writing by circulating the respective documents ("written resolutions"). Matters regularly discussed at the meetings on April 22, 2025, September 24, 2025, and December 8, 2025 included risk reporting, sustainability topics, the com-pany's sales and earnings performance, its financial situation and planning, developments in inventories and procurement, the status of individual development projects and of the company's negotiations for major contracts, and the M&A strategy pursued by the Board of Management to supplement the company's organic growth. Further topical focuses involved discussions on the business performance of subsidiaries, the company's organizational structure and the development in its human resources, as well as the implications of new legislative requirements. The topic of structural further developments to the risk management system was addressed at the meeting on May 23, 2025. Upon the expiry of the deadline for achieving the targets set for the share of women in the Supervisory Board and the Board of Management, at its meeting on February 10, 2025 the Supervisory Board set corresponding targets for a subsequent period. It also decided to commission external consultants to support the company in analyzing further efficiency potential. Prof. Dr. Georg Heni (68) Chairman of the Supervisory Board Dr. Frank Hiller (59) Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board Dr. Patricia Geller (59) Member of the Supervisory Board Dr. Rolf Vornhagen (72) Ralf Leistner (51) Member of the Supervisory Board Member of the Supervisory Boards REPORT OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD With regard to debt financing facilities due to mature, the Supervisory Board was informed about various refinancing options and their respective advantages and disadvantages. Following discussions within the Supervisory Board, on March 4, 2025 the Board of Management was commissioned by way of a written resolution to negotiate long-term syndicated financing. In a written resolution initiated on August 21, 2025, the Supervisory Board approved the resultant transaction requiring its approval, namely the conclusion and take-up of the syndicated loan discussed at several meetings and presented in detail by the Board of Management. At the Supervisory Board meeting on March 19, 2025, the Board of Management held a several-hour strategy workshop to present the company's medium-term future development by reference to various topical areas. Furthermore, at this meeting the Supervisory Board accepted the findings and recommendations of the Remuneration Committee and in particular adopted the target achievement and further variable remuneration components of the respective members of the Board of Management for the bonus payment for the 2024 financial year in accordance with their individual supplementary agreements (medium-term remuneration agreement, MTR) and adopted a corresponding written resolution. The targets thereby agreed also include sustainability-related targets. As well as addressing recurring topical focuses, at its meeting on April 22, 2025 the Supervisory Board was informed about the current status of the annual financial statements. In addition, the draft version thus far compiled for the individual targets for members of the Board of Management for the medium-term remuneration agreement (MTR) for 2025 was circulated at the meeting. At its meeting on May 12, 2025, the Supervisory Board stipulated the resolutions to be proposed for approval by the Annual General Meeting and approved the appropriation of profit for the 2024 financial year. The Report of the Supervisory Board was also approved for publication. In a subsequent written resolution, the Supervisory Board approved the proposal submitted by the Board of Management that the forthcoming Annual General Meeting should again be held on a virtual basis in accordance with the details thereby presented. Following detailed discussion and preparation at several meetings of the Audit Committee, at its meeting on May 16, 2025 the Supervisory Board approved the annual financial statements, management report, consolidated financial statements, and group management report of STRATEC SE for the 2024 financial year. Moreover, at this meeting the Supervisory Board decided to endorse the recommendation submitted by the Audit Committee and to propose to the Annual General Meeting that PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main, should be elected as auditor and group auditor for the 2025 financial year and the audit of the 2025 annual financial statements. By written resolution adopted on May 16, 2025 the Supervisory Board agreed that an amended remuneration system for the Board of Management should be submitted for approval by the Annual General Meeting in June 2025. At the Supervisory Board meeting held on May 23, 2025, the Board of Management provided an extensive overview of the market and competitive situation, also with regard to US tariff policies and the company's project pipeline. Building on the strategy workshop held in March 2025, this meeting also dealt with STRATEC's M&A strategy as a core component of its growth strategy, as well as with the topics of IT, cybersecurity, and AI. In addition, the findings of the analysis performed by external consultants to leverage further efficiency potential were presented and the next steps determined. 10 Moreover, preparatory discussions were held with regard to setting the individual targets for members of the Board of Management for the medium-term remuneration agreement (MTR) for the 2025 financial year. Building on a process which began in February 2025 with the compilation of a profile for a future CFO and continued with the selection of a consultancy to support the recruiting process in March 2025, a pre-selection process for potential candidates in April 2025, and in-person interviews and professional assessments with the final candidates in May 2025, on June 17, 2025 the Supervisory Board adopted a written resolution to appoint Tanja Bücherl to the Board of Management as the company's Chief Financial Officer. As well as addressing recurring focus topics, at its meeting on September 24, 2025 the Supervisory Board was informed about relevant human resources topics in the management level below the Board of Management. The on-boarding process underway for the new CFO Tanja Bücherl, who was due to join the company in November 2025, was also discussed. In addition, the Supervisory Board approved the application to extend the current business allocation plan, in particular for the area of Operations, through to the end of 2026. At various meetings and in one-to-one discussions, the Supervisory Board and Board of Management exchanged opinions on the individual targets for the medium-term remuneration agreement (MTR) for the 2025 financial year, as well as on the discretionary component and the appreciation bonus (now: appropriateness bonus). On this basis, the Supervisory Board approved the respective stipulations on September 24, 2025. At its meeting on November 17, 2025, the Supervisory Board addressing recurring topical focuses and also discussed its meeting schedule and the financial and reporting calendar for 2026. As well as dealing with regular focus topics, at its meeting on December 8, 2025 the Supervisory Board received a presentation by the Board of Management of the 2026 budget. The Supervisory Board recommended that the budget should be subject to a sensitivity review and subsequently submitted. In its risk reporting, the Board of Management reported on the status of measures taken to further develop the risk management system. Furthermore, the Board of Management provided the Supervisory Board with a brief overview of the target achievement status for the medium-term remuneration agreement (MTR) and the appropriateness bonus. Moreover, the competence profile was amended to account for the extension in the Supervisory Board to include Ralf Leistner. In the run-up to the December meeting, the Supervisory Board conducted an internal self-assessment (efficiency review) based on a structured catalog of questions. Evaluation of the results showed that the activities of the Supervisory Board are in all respects efficient. German Corporate Governance Code The Supervisory Board approved the Corporate Governance Statement by written resolution on April 14, 2025. Furthermore, at the Supervisory Board meeting held on December 8, 2025, the Supervisory Board and Board of Management renewed the Declaration of Compliance pursuant to § 161 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG). Both documents were made permanently available to shareholders on the company's website at https://www.stratec.com > Company > Investors > Corporate Governance. Activities and key focuses in committees The Audit Committee held eight meetings in the 2025 financial year. Of these, four meetings were held in hybrid form and four as video or telephone conferences. All committee members participated in all committee meetings. At its meetings on January 8, 2025, February 25, 2025, March 29, 2025, April 14, 2025, April 24, 2025, and May 12, 2025, the Audit Committee focused on matters relating to the processes, schedule, and respective status of the audit work and the audit findings to date. With the exception of March 29, 2025, all these meetings were attended by representatives of the auditor. 11 REPORT OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD At its meeting on May 16, 2025, the Audit Committee recommended that the full Supervisory Board should adopt the 2024 annual financial statements and approve the 2024 consolidated financial statements. Based on analysis jointly performed with the auditor, STRATEC made an adjustment in accordance with IAS 8 (Accounting Policies, Changes in Accounting Estimates and Errors) to the accounting method used to recognize development cooperations in the consolidated financial statements. Due to the increased auditing input resulting from the change of auditors (initial audit) and additional time required to implement the aforementioned accounting method, which affected numerous aspects of the company's core accounting, the 2024 Annual Report was published on May 19, 2025, and thus later than originally planned. At its meeting on August 18, 2025, the Audit Committee discussed the half-year financial report. The Remuneration Committee held four meetings in the 2025 financial year. One meeting was held in person, while three took place in hybrid form. All committee members attended all meetings of the committee. At its meeting on January 8, 2025, the Remuneration Committee discussed matters relating to the Board of Management and recommended that the Supervisory Board should extend the appointment of Dr. Georg Bauer to the Board of Management. On February 10, 2025, the Remuneration Committee discussed the structure of the current remuneration system for the Board of Management which, following specific amendments, was submitted for approval to the Annual General Meeting in June 2025. The structure of the short-term variable remuneration (bonus) was simplified, while the sustainability aspect within longterm variable remuneration (stock awards) was reinforced. Furthermore, relevant criteria intended to enhance transparency were objectively defined. Moreover, at this meeting the Global Head of Human Resources provided a presentation, focusing in particular on employee development and the employee turnover rate, on human resources capacities within the STRATEC Group, and on current management development programs. At its meetings on February 10, 2025 and March 19, 2025, the Remuneration Committee prepared resolutions to be adopted by the Supervisory Board with regard to setting targets for variable remuneration, reviewing target achievement, and determining and reviewing the appropriateness of remuneration for the Board of Management. At its meeting on November 17, 2025, the Remuneration Committee again addressed the remuneration system for the Board of Management. A renowned consulting company reviewed the existing remuneration system in terms of its transparency, market conformity compared with other listed companies, and its compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code and determined that a new remuneration system should be developed. These findings were discussed and a decision taken to develop this new approach, which is already being actively addressed. The tasks and responsibilities of the Audit and Remuneration Committees are detailed in the respective Codes of Procedure, which are published on the company's website. Training and development measures The company provides appropriate support to Supervisory Board members when they assume their positions and in the training and development measures required for their tasks, which they perform under their own responsibility. 12 Review of potential conflicts of interest and independence of Supervisory Board members One important aspect of good corporate governance is the independence of Supervisory Board members and the absence of any conflicts of interest on their part. The Supervisory Board bases its assessment of its members' independence on the recommendations made by the German Corporate Governance Code and the additional criteria for assessing the independence of Supervisory Board members laid down in the competence profile for the Supervisory Board. No conflicts of interest requiring immediate disclosure to the Supervisory Board and immediate notification of the Annual General Meeting arose among members of the Board of Management or the Supervisory Board. No material transactions were performed with any member of the Board of Management or with any person or company closely related to such. Based on the Supervisory Board's assessment, all five of its members, and thus all three members of the Audit Committee and all three members of the Remuneration Committee, are currently to be viewed as independent. Further information about this can be found in the Corporate Governance Statement. Change in composition of Board of Management and Supervisory Board By written resolution dated January 8, 2025, the Supervisory Board extended the appointment to the Board of Management of Dr. Georg Bauer, who is responsible for Sales, through to December 31, 2030. Following various preliminary discussions, by written resolution dated June 17, 2025 the Supervisory Board appointed Tanja Bücherl to the Board of Management as Chief Financial Officer as of January 1, 2026. To account her being available from an earlier date, by written resolution dated October 30, 2025 the Supervisory Board appointed Tanja Bücherl to the Board of Management for a three-year term as of November 1, 2025. Tanja Bücherl will strengthen the existing team of Marcus Wolfinger, Dr. Claus Vielsack, and Dr. Georg Bauer in the Board of Management, which now again comprises four members. In connection with the elections to the Supervisory Board, the Supervisory Board proposed Ralf Leistner for election by the Annual General Meeting on June 27, 2025. He was subsequently elected subject to the condition precedent that the amendment to the Articles of Association adopted by the Annual General Meeting in order to enlarge the Supervisory Board from four to five members should first be entered in the Commercial Register. The amendment to the Articles of Association was entered in the Commercial Register on August 21, 2025. In a structured on-boarding process, the company provided Ralf Leistner with targeted support in preparing for his new duties. A software engineer, he now supplements the Supervisory Board competence profile with his expertise in the fields of IT, cybersecurity, and AI. At its constitutive meeting, from its members the Supervisory Board again elected Prof. Dr. Georg Heni as Supervisory Board Chair and Dr. Frank Hiller as Deputy Chair. The other members of the Supervisory Board are Dr. Patricia Geller, Dr. Rolf Vornhagen, and Ralf Leistner. Furthermore, the members of the two committees also required renewed election. The following members were elected to the Audit Committee: Dr. Frank Hiller (Chair), Prof. Dr. Georg Heni, and Dr. Patricia Geller. The following members were elected to the Remuneration Committee: Prof. Dr. Georg Heni (Chair), Dr. Frank Hiller, and Dr. Patricia Geller. The elections were conducted by written resolution dated August 21, 2025. Audit of annual and consolidated financial statements; audit of non-financial group declaration as of December 31, 2025 Consistent with the proposal submitted by the Supervisory Board, the Annual General Meeting on June 27, 2025 elected PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main, as auditor and group auditor for the 2025 financial year. PricewaterhouseCoopers has audited the annual and consolidated financial statements of STRATEC SE since the 2024 financial year. The auditor responsible for the audit of the 2025 annual and consolidated financial statements is Christiane Lawrenz; her co-signatory is Sylvia Weidinger. 13 REPORT OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD At its meeting on April 24, 2026, the Audit Committee addressed the final version of the annual financial statements and management report, as well as the consolidated financial statements and group management report, together with the non-financial group declaration, of STRATEC SE for the 2025 financial year. Both sets of financial statements and management reports were audited and provided with unqualified audit opinions by the auditor. Furthermore, in its assessment of the risk management system the auditor confirmed that the Board of Management had taken the measures required by the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) for the early identification of any risks to the company's continued existence. In addition to the statutory audit of the financial statements, Pricewater-houseCoopers was commissioned by the Supervisory Board to perform a limited assurance audit on the non-financial group declaration, which is a constituent component of the group management report, and, on this basis, did not raise any objections to the reporting in the non-financial group declaration or its compliance with the legal requirements applicable to such. In addition, the 2025 remuneration report was subject to a formal review. Furthermore, the auditor reported on the impairments totaling € 10.5 million recognized on intangible assets and inventories, which had resulted from the annual impairment tests performed when preparing the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2025. The impairments for the 2025 financial year chiefly relate to a delayed market launch and lower sales potential for a product family in the Diatron brand. Impairment losses totaling € 46,139k were stated in the separate financial statements for the 2025 financial year in connection with the assumption of losses at STRATEC Capital GmbH. Moreover, further write-downs were recognized on f inancial assets and securities recognized under non-current assets, on shares in STRATEC Biomedical Inc. (€ 6,792k), on shares in STRATEC Capital GmbH (€ 28k), and on loans to STRATEC Capital GmbH (€ 4,957k) and to Natech Plastics, Inc. (€ 5,217k; previous year: € 0k in each case). The annual financial statements and management report, consolidated financial statements and group management report with the non-financial group declaration, the proposal submitted by the Board of Management in respect of the appropriation of profit, the remuneration report, and the auditor's audit reports were forwarded to all members of the Supervisory Board for their own review. Representatives of the auditor attended the discussion of the annual and consolidated financial statements at the Audit Committee meeting on April 24, 2026 and explained the key audit findings. The audit of the annual financial statements and management report and of the consolidated financial statements and group management report with the non-financial group declaration and remuneration report of STRATEC SE by the Audit Committee did not result in any objections being raised. Following preparation in the Audit Committee, on April 27, 2026 the Supervisory Board concurred with the findings of the audit conducted by the auditor in accordance with legal requirements and approved the annual financial statements and management report, as well as the consolidated financial statements and group management report. The annual financial statements are thus adopted. 14 The Supervisory Board endorsed the proposal submitted by the Board of Management in respect of the appropriation of profit. Subject to approval by shareholders at this year's Annual General Meeting, the company plans to distribute a total dividend of € 7.3 million (€ 0.60 per share) to shareholders of STRATEC SE. In addition, at its meetings in April 2026 the Supervisory Board adopted the Corporate Governance Statement, its proposed resolutions for the agenda items at the 2026 Annual General Meeting, and the Report of the Supervisory Board, as well as approving the remuneration report by written resolution. Thanks The Supervisory Board would like to thank the members of the Board of Management and all employees of STRATEC SE and its subsidiaries worldwide for their personal commitment in the 2025 financial year. We would like to thank you, the company's shareholders, very warmly for the trust you again placed in us in the 2025 financial year. Birkenfeld, April 2026 On behalf of the Supervisory Board Prof. Dr. Georg Heni Supervisory Board Chair 15 ‌MICROPILLARS REVOLUTIONIZING DIAGNOSTICS AND ENABLING CELL THERAPY Cells:The Rare Ones Matter "No matter how we twist and turn, we shall eventually come back to the cell".This quote by Rudolf Virchow (1858) has never been truer: whether in diagnostics or therapy, meaningful biological signals are typically embedded within vast populations of otherwise healthy or unremarkable cells, making their reliable isolation far from trivial. Blood is an illustrative example of this challenge. Despite this complexity, it has remained one of the most powerful windows into human health for more than a century. For decades, however, accessing this information required drawing relatively large volumes of blood and running multiple separate laboratory tests, even for routine clinical questions. This challenge arises from the inherent complexity and cellular density of blood. The diagnostically relevant content is often extraordinarily scarce: even in late-stage cancer, circulating tumor cells typically only account for ~0.000001% of all blood cells, equivalent to finding a single needle hidden in 100 tons of hay. Extracting rare, valuable information from such a background is not primarily a detection problem; it is fundamentally a separation and concentration problem. One must be able to isolate rare target cells from overwhelming background populations. Across diagnostics, research, and emerging therapeutic applications, the ability to isolate specific cells from complex biological samples encompasses a critical bottleneck. Traditional separation techniques, such as centrifugation or chemical labeling, are labor-intensive, difficult to automate, and introduce variability or mechanical stress that compromises cell integrity. Those that do maintain cell viability rely on modifications, such as labeling, binding, or capturing cells, ultimately complicating the possibility for downstream processing. This has driven the development of microfluidic filtering structures that exploit differences in cell size and physical properties through tailored microscopic features inside the micro-channels. As diagnostic assays become more sensitive and as cell-based therapies move toward large-scale therapeutic manufacturing, separation technologies must meet new requirements simultaneously: they must be gentle, high-throughput, reproducible, and, crucially, compatible with automated workflows. Geometrical features that leverage predictable cell behavior in microscopic flow systems achieve just that - and micropillars are a prominent example of scalability and functionality. 17 Electron microscopy images of micropillar-like structures - and a human hair at the same scale. Micropillars: A Simple Geometry Solving a Complex Problem Micropillars are microscopic, pillar-shaped structures engineered into microfluidic chips. For scale: a human hair is approximately 70 micrometers in diameter, while micropillars are typically only a few micrometers wide and spaced just a few micrometers apart. Though simple in appearance, their precisely defined geometry enables powerful control over how cells move through flowing fluids. Arranged in carefully designed patterns within microfluidic channels, micropillars translate subtle differences in cell size, shape, and mechanical properties into deterministic separation behavior: smaller and more deformable cells pass through narrow gaps, while larger or stiffer cells are selectively diverted, retained, or redirected, without the need for complex engineering, such as chemical labels, reagents, or external forces. Crucially, the micropillars inherently function as concentrators: by regulating the flow of different cell types, they enable isolation of valuable ones at meaningful concentrations for further processing. This geometry-driven approach enables passive, label-free separation that is both gentle on cells and inherently scalable. Micropillars operate continuously and in parallel, therefore they form the basis of robust, high-throughput microfluidic "engines" suitable for integration into automated systems. ‌FROM DIAGNOSTICS TO CELL THERAPY Many conventional treatments are designed to manage symptoms rather than address the underlying cause of disease. Cell therapy represents a fundamental shift in this approach, aiming to treat disease at its biological source by restoring or replacing dysfunctional cells. The same challenges encountered in advanced diagnostics (rarity, purity, and robustness) are even more pronounced in cell therapy manufacturing. Cell therapies rely on highly purified populations of functional cells, often derived directly from patient samples. The quality of these starting materials directly impacts therapeutic efficacy, safety, and reproducibility. At this scale, cell therapy manufacturing is a signal-to-noise problem: when the desired cells are buried in a large background of unwanted material, even small inefficiencies in separation will dominate the outcome. While biological innovation in cell therapy has rapidly progressed, processing workflows have struggled to keep pace, heavily relying on legacy separation methods that are difficult to automate and scale, such as the labor-intensive process of density-based centrifugation. As a result, the spotlight is now on manufacturing and process control, not bioengineering, as the primary constraint on broader adoption of cell-based therapies. Microstructured microfluidic systems directly address this gap. By enabling gentle, reproducible, and high-throughput cell isolation, they provide a foundation for closed, automated workflows that preserve cell viability and function while meeting industrial manufacturing requirements. ‌INNOVATION IN FOCUS WITH OUR PARTNER BENDBIO BendBio is a prime example of how geometry-driven microfluidic platforms are translated into industrially relevant solutions. Originating from pioneering academic research, their inertial microfluidics "engine" integrates core functions such as cell sorting, washing, and concentration into compact, modular units designed for OEM integration. The aforementioned laborious workflows are readily replaced by geometry-driven microfluidic processing, all while preserving cell viability and function. Importantly, these systems are designed from the outset for manufacturability and seamless integration into larger diagnostic and therapeutic instruments. Achieving high volumetric throughput in microstructured microfluidic systems is not trivial: it requires deeper structures and intricate microfluidic features. BendBio products have been designed and manufactured to achieve just that, demonstrating high rate processing (at least 5 L/h) while maintaining reliable High-throughput cell processing modules from BendBio UltraSorter UltraConcentrator Device Stack separation performance. Moreover, the modular stackable design enables scaling the throughput in a predictable manner. The value of micropillar-based microfluidics ultimately depends on the ability to manufacture these intricate structures reliably and at scale. Since 2011, STRATEC has been actively engaged in the research and product development of microstructured systems for cell separation and concentration. Today, this expertise is reflected in a comprehensive automated manufacturing platform that combines mastering (the fabrication of micro- and nanostructures), high-precision, temperature-variable compression molding, and various bonding and laser welding processes. In this way, STRATEC enables the consistent production of complex microfluidic components. Depending on the end application, the geometrical characteristics of the micro- CELL pillars are optimized and the manufacturing process adapted to deliver the precision required to enable high throughput processing. These manufacturing capabilities ensure the reproducibility, quality, and cost-efficiency required for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications. By bridging the gap between microfluidic innovation and industrial-scale production, STRATEC enables partners to move beyond prototypes and into commercially viable products, reducing risk, accelerating time-to-market, and supporting long-term scalability. While cell sorting is certainly a critical application, the possibilities for micropillar-based microfluidic systems are widespread. The underlying separation challenges that are so simply and elegantly addressed through a manufacturing design are still dominating hematology diagnostics, immune profiling, fertility treatments, and other emerging point of care platforms. ‌FROM RARE CELLS TO REAL-WORLD IMPACT Micropillar-based microfluidic technologies address the seemingly niche occurring at the intersection of diagnostics, manufacturing, and patient impact. By enabling the reliable extraction of rare, valuable cells from complex biological samples, they support earlier diagnosis, more efficient workflows, and scalable production of advanced therapies. However, this niche is becoming more and more a necessity as healthcare continues to move toward automation, personalization, and decentralized testing. Slowly, platforms that combine physical robustness with industrial manufacturability play an ever-increasing defining role. By industrializing micropillar-based microfluidics, STRATEC enables partners to turn complex cell separation challenges into scalable, recurring commercial products across diagnostics and advanced therapies. ANNUAL REPORT OF STRATEC SE 24 CONTENTS STRATEC's Share | 26 Group Management Report | 30 Consolidated Financial Statements | 136 Responsibility Statement | 216 Independent Auditors' Report | 217 Assurance Report of the Independent German Public Auditor | 224 25 ‌STRATEC'S SHARE Review of 2025 on the stock markets Driven by a further reduction in inflation rates, initial steps by key central banks to cut interest rates, and predominantly robust corporate earnings, stock markets continued their positive performance in 2025. Global economic growth may have remained moderate and the macroeconomic situation in Europe, and Germany in particular, subdued, but stock markets again chose to disregard short-term negative factors. Alongside the ongoing dominant topic of artificial intelligence, investors increasingly focused on infrastructure investments, defense, and the energy transition. Periods of volatility arose in the course of the year, with geopolitical tensions, uncertainties surrounding international trade relationships, and political risks repeatedly undermining market confidence. At times, the discussions surrounding possible "higher for longer" interest rate policies and concerns as to global economic growth led to increased volatility and temporary dips in stock prices, particularly in cyclical and growth-oriented sectors. Against this backdrop, German stock markets showed a favorable overall performance in 2025, albeit with disparities between indices. While the DAX, MDAX, and SDAX posted clearly double-digit price gains during the year, the TecDAX reported a slightly more subdued performance with moderate single-digit gains. Listing, stock market turnover, and index membership STRATEC's shares are listed in the Regulated Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (marketplaces: Xetra and Frankfurt) and meet the transparency requirements of the Prime Standard. Its shares are also traded on regional stock markets in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, and Stuttgart, as well as on Tradegate, the electronic over-the-counter trading system at the Tradegate Exchange. Measured in terms of simple order book turnover, STRATEC shares worth € 136.3 million changed hands on the above marketplaces (excluding Tradegate) in 2025 (previous year: € 79.7 million). The Xetra and Frankfurt marketplaces accounted for 78.9 % of these volumes (previous year: 84.5 %). The company's shares also witness brisk trading on multilateral trading systems, which are gaining increasing market share from the regulated marketplaces with which they compete. A multilateral trading system is a market-like trading platform set up and operated by a financial services provider, securities companies, or market operator. This kind of system brings together buy and sell orders for shares and other financial instruments in accordance with specific regulations and thus generates contract agreements. Trading data for STRATEC's share (status: December 31) 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 Year-end price previous year (€) 29.80 45.55 81.10 137.80 122.80 Annual low (€) 19.58 26.05 36.00 72.70 100.40 Annual high (€) 37.40 48.60 93.00 138.60 147.40 Year-end price (€) 22.45 29.80 45.55 81.10 137.80 Performance (%) -24.7 -34.6 -43.8 -41.1 +12.2 Market capitalization (€ million) 272.9 362.3 553.8 986.0 1.671.2 Trading volumes (€ million) 136.3 79.7 141.7 318.9 379.7 Average daily trading volume (€) 538,707 313,783 555,652 1,240,704 1,489,029 Average daily trading volume (number of shares) 20,334 7,907 9,916 12,260 12,041 STRATEC's Annual General Meeting approves all agenda items On June 27, 2025, STRATEC's Board of Management and Supervisory Board welcomed the company's shareholders to the Annual General Meeting which, as in previous years already, was held on a virtual basis. All of the agenda items submitted for resolution were approved by shareholders with clear majorities. Overall, 71.9 % of the company's registered share capital was represented at the virtual Annual General Meeting. As proposed, STRATEC enabled its shareholders to participate in the company's performance by distributing a dividend of € 0.60 for the past 2024 financial year (previous year's dividend: € 0.55 per share). The distribution total therefore amounted to € 7.3 million. Shareholders approved the actions of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board and elected PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wir tschaftsprü-fungsgesellschaft (PwC), Frankfurt am Main, as auditor for the 2025 financial year. By resolution of the Annual General Meeting, the Supervisory Board of STRATEC SE was extended from four to five members and Ralf Leistner was elected to this body. Furthermore, the remuneration report for the 2024 financial year was also submitted to and approved by the Annual General Meeting. Moreover, the remuneration system for members of the Board of Management was approved.The Annual General Meeting also once again approved authorized and conditional capital and the authorization to acquire and dispose of treasury stocks. Further information about the Annual General Meeting, including information about the other agenda items, can be found at https://www.stratec.com/agm , where the detailed voting results are also published. The next Annual General Meeting is expected to be held at CongressCentrum Pforzheim on June 23, 2026. Proposed dividend for the 2025 financial year The Supervisory Board and Board of Management of STRATEC will propose the distribution of a dividend of € 0.60 per share for the 2025 financial year for approval by the Annual General Meeting on June 23, 2026 (previous year: € 0.60 per share). This distribution reflects our positive business performance and our efforts to offer an attractive return to our shareholders. Based on the closing price of € 22.45 for STRATEC's share on December 30, 2025, the distribution total of € 7.3 million (€ 0.60 per share) corresponds to a dividend yield of 2.7 %. Shareholder structure remains stable The largest shareholder in the company is still the family of its founder, Hermann Leistner, who together with their investment companies hold a combined stake of 40.40 %. A further 0.02 % of the shares are held by the company itself, while 59.58 % are attributable to large numbers of retail and institutional investors both in Germany and abroad. Institutional investors holding at least 3 % of the voting rights are: Brown Capital Management, LLC, Baltimore, Maryland, US, with 5.01 %, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wilmington, Delaware, US, with 0.92 % (incl. instruments 4.38 %), Juno Investment Partners B.V., The Hague, Netherlands, with 3.02 %, Morgan Stanley, Wilmington, Delaware, US, with 5.09 % (incl. instruments 5.16 %) 1 , and Aalap Mahadevia (Briarwood Capital Partners LP, US), with 5.09 % Further information about STRATEC's share ISIN DE000STRA555 WKN STRA55 Ticker SBS Reuters Instrument Code SBSG.DE Bloomberg Ticker SBS:GR Segment Prime Standard Market Regulated Market Share type and class No-par registered ordinary shares Share capital (€) 12,157,841 Share capital (number of shares) 12,157,841 Initial listing August 25, 1998 Xetra; Frankfurt and further Marketplaces regional stock exchanges in Germany Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe Privatbank AG (until 12.31.2025) Designated sponsors Baader Bank AG (since 01.01.2026) Key figures for STRATEC's share (status: December 31) 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021 Number of shares issued (million) 12.2 12.2 12.2 12.1 12.1 Number of shares with dividend entitlement (million) 12.2 12.2 12.2 12.1 12.1 Cash dividend per share (€) 0.60 1 0.60 0.55 0.97 0.95 Total distribution (€ million) 7.3 1 7.3 6.7 11.8 11.5 Dividend yield (%) 2.7 1 2.0 1.2 1.2 0.7 1 Subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting 1 This notification was triggered due to the purchase of customer securities for which Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC has utilization rights Investor relations STRATEC maintains an ongoing dialog with existing and potential investors, analysts, and business and financial journalists. When communicating with market participants, the company adheres to the principle that all information should be provided simultaneously, openly, and transparently. With its active and ongoing reporting, it aims to enable all capital market players to form their own realistic assessment of the company's performance. The financial calendar keeps interested parties regularly informed about important dates with sufficient advance notice. Financial calendar 04.28.2026 Annual Financial Report 2025 05.11.2026 Quarterly Statement Q1|2026 06.23.2026 Annual General Meeting 08.14.2026 Half-year Financial Report H1|2026 11.12.2026 Quarterly Statement 9M|2026 German Equity Forum Furthermore, we also regularly inform capital market participants about the company's strategic development and business performance by publishing financial reports, ad-hoc announcements, and press releases. One core component of STRATEC's investor relations activities involves holding conference calls upon the publication of results and occurrence of other major events at the company.These calls are also transmitted via the company's website. As well as holding numerous one-to-one talks, at capital market conferences the company gives presentations and thus informs investors and analysts from Germany and abroad about its current situation and business performance. At present, a total of seven institutions regularly cover STRATEC in extensive studies and brief analyses: Berenberg Bank, Deutsche Bank, DZ Bank, Kepler Cheuvreux, Metzler Capital Markets, mwb research, and ODDO BHF. The latest information about STRATEC and its share can be found on the company's website at www. 11.24.2026 Subject to amendment (Analyst conference) stratec.com. ‌GROUP MANAGEMENT REPORT FOR THE 2025 FINANCIAL YEAR OF STRATEC SE 30 CONTENTS The STRATEC Group | 32 Business model and strategy | 32 Group structure | 36 Management of the STRATEC Group | 37 Market | 37 Research and development | 38 Business Report | 40 Macroeconomic and sector-specific framework | 40 Business performance | 42 Position | 43 Non-financial performance indicators | 48 Outlook | 49 Opportunities and Risks | 50 Opportunities | 50 Risks | 51 Risk management system | 58 Takeover-relevant Disclosures | 62 (Group) Corporate Governance Statement | 65 Non-financial Group Declaration | 66 ESRS 2 - General Disclosures | 66 ESRS E1 - Climate Change | 88 ESRS E5 - Resource Use and Circular Economy | 97 ESRS S1 - Own Workforce | 100 ESRS S2 - Workers in the Value Chain | 112 ESRS S4 - Company-Specific Disclosures: Patient Safety | 116 ESRS G1 - Business Conduct | 118 Reporting pursuant to EU Taxonomy Regulation | 120 31 ‌THE STRATEC GROUP Business model and strategy Basic features of business model STRATEC (hereinafter also "the STRATEC Group") designs and manufactures automation solutions for highly regulated laboratory markets. STRATEC acts as an OEM partner to leading players in the in-vitro diagnostics and life sciences markets. The Group's product range includes both hardware solutions, software solutions, and related consumables, as well as independently marketed consumables. These products are mostly combined into fully integrated system solutions and often receive market approval together with partners' reagents. STRATEC's partners predominantly operate in markets in which a relatively small number of companies determine industry trends and developments.This being so, it is crucial for STRATEC to position itself as a partner to these global players and to gain their trust with its reliability and performance. The experience, expertise, and power of development STRATEC has built up since its foundation in 1979 have enabled it to grow into a major player in various market niches. STRATEC aims to further boost this position, to act as a one-stop source of innovative solutions for its partners, and enable all parties involved to generate growth rates sustainably ahead of the industry average by offering a well-calibrated mix of cost efficiency, expertise, and innovation. STRATEC's core competence involves compiling and implementing concepts and requirements in the automation and instrumentation of biochemical processes using hardware and software solutions. STRATEC also has comprehensive knowledge of quality and documentation requirements, particularly for the approval of medical technology solutions by the relevant national and international authorities. STRATEC accompanies its customers in an advisory capacity from the very outset. Drawing on its longstanding experience, it offers valuable tips when it comes to compiling specifications and determining suitable system alignments. These include tips on user-friendliness, a factor which promotes acceptance of the resultant system among end customers. Due to its existing technology pool and its experience in the approval process, STRATEC is also able to shorten the development times for its partners. STRATEC's primary objective here is to be able to react across all areas of the company to customers' requirements in an efficient and coordinated manner. This way, it aims to offer those solutions and products from all the areas of activity and specialisms available at the Group that customers need to meet their respective market requirements. Over the years, STRATEC has built up targeted expertise and technologies in those areas that are viewed as forming the basis for further growth and new developments in the fields of diagnostics and life sciences. Even though the instrumentation comes from STRATEC, in virtually all cases it is the OEM partner's brand name that is displayed on the systems themselves. While the specifications are in most cases jointly defined by the partners, the development stage is characterized by parallel development processes. During this time, STRATEC focuses on developing the automation solution, the corresponding software, often highly complex consumables and quality management, as well as on preparing system approval. New market requirements, such as connectivity, cybersecurity, or complex consumables, form a key basis for STRATEC's permanently evolving technology portfolio. This means that customers can focus all their energies on developing their reagent menus, as well as on their market expertise, access to end customers, and support measures. Throughout the development stage, however, the various activities often running in parallel have to be closely coordinated. Soon after the first prototypes are complete, work already begins on integrating the reagents into the automation process. This complex process, which is performed with close cooperation between the two partners, is one of the key foundations for the functionality of the resultant systems. One key success factor for the STRATEC Group involves providing its customers with the solutions they need in the fields of automation and software development for them to implement their own objectives. Alongside patents and internally developed technologies, it is the company's wide variety of expertise in different scientific and technological disciplines that offers the basis for the shared success it aims to achieve with its partners. STRATEC can look back on more than 40 years of development and production activity. Equally relevant to the subsequent success of jointly developed products is the in-depth understanding which STRATEC's partners have of end customers' requirements and thus of the market, as are the measures they take with their own service and sales activities to ensure suitably prepared market access. In view of this, STRATEC focuses on business-to-business and OEM relationships and does not maintain any significant proprietary sales network to its end customers. The product specialists at STRATEC's partners are individually supported in their activities. This particularly takes the form of training, but in exceptional cases also involves providing specific services on location. When it comes to developing instrumentation solutions, a basic distinction can be made between two approaches towards cooperating with partners: Partnering Business In its partnering business, STRATEC works together with the respective partner from a very early stage of planning to jointly define specifications for a new analyzer system.The cooperation is very close throughout the entire development phase. STRATEC is responsible for developing the hardware, software, and often the consumables as well. It draws here on its constantly growing pool of proprietary technologies, patents, rights, and know-how.This way, the development work is faster and more cost-effective, and it involves fewer risks. In close cooperation with the partner, the reagents menu is integrated into the automation processes and consumables utilization. As soon as the system and, if applicable, the smart consumable have been fully developed and approved by the regulatory authorities together with the reagents and software package, they are launched onto the market and serial production begins. In this stage, the partner focuses on marketing and selling the product to end customers, generally clinical laboratories, blood banks, and research institutes, as well as on offering follow-up customer support and other services. STRATEC provides an ongoing supply of maintenance, service parts, and consumables. It also holds discussions with the customer concerning ongoing improvements to, further developments in, and measures to safeguard adequate product lifecycle management for the system, particularly with regard to software applications, user-friend-liness, and activities to extend the reagents menu. Platform development A STRATEC platform is a system developed internally by the company. It is not designed in cooperation with a specific partner but, given its general design scheme, is suitable for marketing to several customers. This merely involves adapting the platform to the specific requirements of customer reagents and corporate design schemes. Often offered under STRATEC's brand as part of the STRATEC hybrid OEM business model, these platforms are particularly suited to partners aiming to enter a market very rapidly - and thus draw on a platform solution - or who on account of their size and market access are not yet able to place the volume of systems needed to amortize the high level of development expenses. STRATEC chiefly develops such platforms for areas with potential for generating multiplier effects. Further major factors in this platform development include the need to present the company as a technology driver, to establish and stabilize innovations, and to develop those intellectual and industrial property rights that are crucially important to STRATEC's business model. STRATEC has supplemented its activities with traditional instrumentation solutions in the medium to upper throughput ranges by establishing itself as a provider of analyzer systems, system components, consumables, and tests in the lower throughput segment. These are suitable for use in both human and veterinary diagnostics. Furthermore, STRATEC is active in the field of polymer-based "intelligent" consumables, referred to as "smart consumables". Within in-vitro diagnostics, smart consumables include polymer chips and single-molecule arrays in the field of microfluids. This area represents a key component of STRATEC's technology and product spectrum and has extended the company's product range to include an important part of the value chain. This reduces customers' project risks and the associated project supervision input. STRATEC is able to offer substantial added value to its customers, particularly by assuming responsibility across the various interfaces involved. The change in conventional consumables into complex smart consumables enables various test process steps to be "outsourced" to the consumable in a targeted manner. Where comparatively low numbers of analyses are conducted, for example at decentralized insti-tutitons, this "loss" of process steps makes it possible to significantly reduce the size, complexity, and cost of instruments. That is a crucial factor, particularly for point-of-care applications. Furthermore, by offering greater flexibility it opens up new possibilities to develop test processes. STRATEC has diverse skills and applications in the fields of nano-structuring and micro-structuring, various coating technologies, polymer science applications, and the automated and industrial production of smart consumables. Consumables are developed in close cooperation with the relevant partners and in line with their requirements for the development of reagents and instrumentation. Core of corporate strategy STRATEC's overriding mission is to improve people's quality of life in cooperation with its partners and cus-tomers.To achieve this, STRATEC draws on the wealth of expertise it has built up over decades, on its extensive pool of technology, and on its understanding of value-building partnerships in order to develop innovative, tailored solutions for leading companies in in-vitro diagnostics and adjacent markets. Due to not least to their embedding in the company values, sustainability topics such as environmental concerns and social aspects are becoming continually more important for STRATEC, as is also the case at its customers and suppliers. Strategic objectives Unlock growth potential of strategic partnerships: STRATEC aims to enable both its customers and the company itself to achieve sustainable growth that exceeds the long-term market average. To achieve this, STRATEC focuses both on forging partnerships with new partners and on deepening existing long-term collaborations with customers. Leverage and expand total cost of ownership advantage: From a customer perspective, outsourcing automation solutions to highly specialized partners like STRATEC offers significant benefits.These relate both to total cost of ownership and to risk assessment covering the entire lifecycle of a product. STRATEC's goal is to leverage and expand this existing advantage to further increase the value of collaboration for our customers by reducing operational risks and achieving greater cost efficiencies. Strengthen resilience: STRATEC is making efforts to further enhance the resilience of its business. It therefore aims to diversify its customer base, raise the share of recurring sales, and expand into new markets. By pursuing these approaches, the company intends to further increase the stability and adaptability of its business with regard to market fluctuations. STRATEC's strategy covers five dimensions: Focus on technologically sophisticated and high-growth markets: To meet the growth targets it has formulated and stand out with cutting-edge technologies and high product quality, STRATEC focuses on technologically sophisticated market segments that demonstrate above-average growth rates. Innovate for added value: To sustain and strengthen its market position in the long term, it is essential for the company to continually expand its technology and product portfolio. By leveraging the extensive market insights gained from long-term relationships with industry leaders, STRATEC aims to ensure that its innovations are perfectly aligned with its customers' needs and the challenges they face. This customer-centric approach allows the company to consistently generate added value from the customer's perspective. Act early to address and interact with partners from an: The aim here is to ensure that STRATEC is early to participate in new developments and able to benefit from upcoming trends in the industry. This is achieved by establishing and expanding a structured approach to facilitate early and consistent interaction with top-tier IVD companies, start-ups, and research organizations and to align development capabilities with their long-term innovation agendas. Efficiency in operations and development: STRATEC is dedicated to continuous efficiency enhancements focusing on lean and agile operations and development processes. This involves cost savings and process improvements along the whole of the value chain, as well as in production, and development. By deploying cutting-edge technology, the company aims to boost productivity and efficiency. Furthermore, it should be ensured that these improvements translate into competitive products for customers. STRATEC fosters a culture of collective collaboration, in which every team member actively contributes to its success. Targeted market expansion: STRATEC is looking into new markets in which its core competencies can create competitive advantages and provide synergetic growth with its existing business divisions. Production and locations In manufacturing its products, STRATEC has to meet especially strict quality requirements, compliance with which is regularly audited by internal specialists, customers, and external authorities. Analyzer systems are manufactured in accordance with the highest standards at the locations in Beringen (Switzerland), Birkenfeld (Germany), Budapest (Hungary), and, in very limited numbers, in Shanghai (China). The locations in Anif (Austria) and Ronkonkoma (US) manufacture highly complex polymer-based consumables in a controlled production environment. The value chain is closely coordinated within the STRATEC Group, with up-stream and downstream services being drawn on from subsidiaries in numerous products. The Group's largest development capacities can be found at its headquarters in Birkenfeld (Germany), in Budapest (Hungary), in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and, for polymer-based consumables, at the Anif location (Austria). ‌Supply Chain To enhance flexibility, reduce capital intensity, and optimize its cost structures on a long-term basis, apart from for the production of polymer-based consumables, the targeted production of modules offering benefits in terms of their processes, expertise, or scale, and systems involving small construction space, the STRATEC Group generally works with a low level of vertical integration and often outsources upstream production activities to highly specialized contractual suppliers. For instrumentation production, final assembly and testing generally takes place at STRATEC's locations, with these activities being performed by employees with the highest level of qualification and training.Testing procedures are based on actual subsequent applications. Working with integrated procurement management, STRATEC purchases the functional modules and individual components from strategic suppliers that stand out on account of their quality and compliance management systems. Integrating these suppliers into an early stage of product development ensures market access to current production methods and procedures in each case. Master agreements provide a commercial framework for these cooperations, with use also being made of state-of-the-art production and logistics strategies. In many cases, STRATEC supplies the finished analyzer systems directly to the logistics distribution centers of large diagnostics companies, which then market the systems together with the relevant reagents as system solutions under their own names and brands. As the STRATEC Group's customers largely supply their country outlets and customers directly from these distribution centers, the regional sales reported in the STRATEC Group's figures do not correspond to the actual geographical distribution or final destinations of the analyzer systems produced by STRATEC. Group structure The STRATEC Group's individual locations address identical target markets.The activities of individual subsidiaries are closely interrelated and in many cases significantly overlap. Beyond this, sales and business development activities for the locations are centralized and managed for all products by the member of the Board of Management responsible for sales. Resource allocation and business activities, including product development and other functional units, are therefore managed centrally for all locations by the Board of Management. STRATEC thus takes the form of a "one-segment company". The parent company STRATEC SE has its legal domicile in Birkenfeld, Germany. It has operative activity fields focusing on the development and manufacture of analyzer systems and also performs and manages administrative and organizational tasks both on its own behalf and on a prorated basis for the group of companies. The targets set for the subsidiaries are agreed with the parent company, with their implementation status and relevant results also regularly reported to the parent company. Given its size and the dovetailing of its business activities, the STRATEC Group is organized by reference to a matrix organizational structure. In this, business activities are grouped across locations into what is both vertically and horizontally an integrated value chain. The Beringen location (Switzerland) manufactures analyzer systems in the medium to high throughput ranges on which the highly complex polymer-based consumables in the laboratory at the Anif location (Austria) can be deployed. In vertical terms, the manufacturing activities in Beringen in some case draw on input products from the Budapest location (Hungary). ‌Management of the STRATEC Group For group management at STRATEC SE, the Board of Management approves the group budget prepared on the basis of an extensive bottom-up planning approach. Heads of department receive clear targets which are derived from this group budget and reflect the results of the bottom-up planning. These targets are monitored and reviewed on the management level below the Board of Management, with local managing directors and heads of department bearing responsibility for achieving the financial and strategic targets. These involve both quantitative and qualitative targets relating to risk management, employee management, customer relationships, and M&A activities. Centralized prioritization and targeted resource deployment promote the effective implementation of these targets. As well as traditional management figures such as sales, EBIT, EBITDA, liquidity, key figures for development, production, and marketing, and product quality, STRATEC is increasingly focusing on sustainability-related topics such as environmental and social aspects, not least to do justice to its claim of being a reliable partner and an attractive employer as the company continues to grow. The most important performance indicators referred to in managing the company are sales, the adjusted EBIT margin, and the number of employees. More detailed information about these key management figures can be found in the Business Report and the Outlook. Market IVD instrumentation market In-vitro diagnostics tests are medical applications in which biological samples, such as blood, tissues, secretions, or urine, are analyzed for diagnostic purposes. These tests enable diseases to be swiftly and precisely diagnosed, treated, and monitored, as well as providing diverse further information about patients' health condition. In modern healthcare systems, in-vitro diagnostics processes support a high share of all therapy decisions. In-vitro diagnostics therefore plays a crucial role in patient healthcare. Overall, the market for in-vitro diagnostics solutions and associated instrumentation is characterized by a large number of different technologies and areas of application, to which reference is often made for market segmentation purposes. STRATEC has focused in particular on instrumentation solutions for the fields of immunodiagnostics (immunoassays), molecular diagnostics, immunohematology, complex sample preparation processes, individual cell analysis, and immunos-taining in a wide variety of throughput segments. In addition, it also provides specialist solutions in a low throughput range for clinical chemistry and hematology applications. One increasingly important area on a cross-technology basis is STRATEC's expertise in microfluidic solutions in the form of highly complex polymer-based consumables. One of the benefits of using microfluidic technology is that it often makes it possible to achieve the significantly higher sensitivities required, for example, in areas such as oncology or neurology. ‌IVD market by technologies and application fields Immunodiagnostics Analyte detection using antigen antibody reactions Molecular diagnostics Includes tests and methods able to detect a disease or susceptibility to a specific disease by investigating nucleic acids (DNA or RNA). Other technologies and application fields such as immunohematology Clinical chemistry Complex, multistage chemical processes intended to find specific substances in a sample and measure their respective shares. Hematology Investigation of cell distribution (blood count) and diagnosis of potential blood diseases. Other technologies and application fields such as food diagnostics Microbiology Cultivation of biological samples in a medium in order to multiply and thus detect and identify any microorganisms present (e.g. bacteria). Other technologies and application fields such as blood glucose monitoring STRATEC's main technologies STRATEC is exclusively represented in specialists applications Not addressed by STRATEC Research and development STRATEC's expertise is based on the development of innovative technologies that have to satisfy strict regulatory requirements and the requirements of its partners in terms of security, reliability, and user-friendli-ness. For the development of complex systems and consumables, STRATEC's development teams comprise numerous experts from various areas of activity who are supplemented by developers from our partners. As a general rule, the inter-disciplinary teams of experts draw on employees from various areas of activity. In the field of research, where new technologies, processes, and software solutions are developed, feasibility and market studies are performed or referred to at an early stage already. These enable qualified assessments to be made while at the same time minimizing any associated risks. Within STRATEC, development activities are based on the following aspects: Development of new systems for customers and system platform development STRATEC's growth is largely driven by its constantly growing range of new OEM products. These therefore remain a key focus of development activities. Here, STRATEC can offer an extensive range of technologies and services to its customers. In its development of new systems, STRATEC distinguishes between platform development and the partnering business. In platform development, STRATEC works in a way similar to the automobile industry by developing a platform or module concept internally and then in the second stage adapting this to individual customer needs. In its partnering business, by contrast, STRATEC works closely with the customer from a very early stage of development and, based on a library concept, develops a system precisely tailored to the customer's needs. Support for existing systems and product lifecycle management Strict regulatory requirements and the resultant expense required to obtain approval are leading to longer system lifecycles, which generally amount to well over ten years. To facilitate such long lifecycles for systems on the market, permanent system modernization is required. This factor is accounted for above all in software development and verification activities. This is one of the main reasons for the disproportionate growth in these areas and the associated number of employees within STRATEC's development division. Development of new technologies To boost its competitiveness and leading position as an independent system provider, STRATEC not only monitors ongoing changes in its customers' needs in terms of technologies and processes, but also constantly analyzes innovations and developments in the relevant markets. The insights thereby gained are correspondingly factored into the development of new technologies. One key focus here is on gaining early experience with processes resulting from research, and in particular with technologies and processes which harbor potential for routine applications in in-vitro diagnostics. Development of platform technologies A further focus of STRATEC's development activities involves further developing and enhancing platform technologies for relevant systems. These form the basis for the continually growing technology pool. Development of (smart) consumables In close cooperation with its subsidiaries in Anif (Austria) and Ronkonkoma (US), STRATEC also develops the consumables used with a given analyzer system. This development work is also based on proprietary industrial property rights. The products range from simple consumables through to complex, so-called smart consumables. These complex consumables present part of the test process that is otherwise often performed within the in-strument.They may be developed and manufactured together with an analyzer system or on a standalone basis to meet the individual requirements of our partners. Including temporary employees, a total of 635 employees within the STRATEC Group were allocable to research and development at the balance sheet date on December 31, 2025 (previous year: 652 employees). This corresponds to 45.3 % of the total workforce (previous year: 45.0 %). This high share underlines the innovative strength and the central importance accorded to research and development in the strategy of the STRATEC Group. ‌BUSINESS REPORT Macroeconomic and sector-specific framework Macroeconomic framework Global economic growth remained stable in 2025. In its outlook published in January 2026 (Update to the World Economic Outlook 1 ), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts 3.3 % growth in the global economy, corresponding to the previous year's level. The macroeconomic framework in the year under report was shaped by opposing factors: trade conflicts and structural challenges, such as high volumes of sovereign debt in individual economies, served to hold back global growth. In parallel, growth benefited from dynamic investment in technology and AI-driven sectors, as well as from ongoing favorable financing conditions. The advanced economies reported growth of 1.7 % in 2025 (previous year: 1.8 %). In the euro area, growth accelerated slightly to 1.4% (previous year: 0.9 %), but nevertheless remained moderate overall. Following a strong previous year, growth in the US weakened significantly and stood at 2.1 % (previous year: 2.8 %). The emerging and developing economies achieved growth of 4.4 % (previous year: 4.3 %). The expansion in the Chinese economy continued, with growth persisting at 5.0 % (previous year: 5.0 %). According to the IMF, global inflation fell overall from 5.8 % in 2024 to 4.1% in the year under report. The rate of 2.5 % in advanced economies continued to approach the respective targets, while the rate of 5.2 % in emerging and developing economies fell well short of the previous year's figure of 7.9 %. Overall, the decline in inflation progressed more slowly than originally expected, as a result of which most major economies have upheld cautious and predominantly restrictive monetary policies. Global trade volumes rose by 4.1 % and thus exceeded the moderate growth of 3.6 % seen in the previous year. This development benefited in particular from trade activities being brought forward due to increased tariff uncertainties. Given its long-term project and product lifecycles, STRATEC and the decisions its customers take concerning joint development projects are only affected by macroeconomic fluctuations to an immaterial extent. Having said this, the macroeconomic climate is nevertheless a significant factor for STRATEC's business activity and is therefore factored extensively into the company's assessments and planning. 1 Source: IWF:World Economic Outlook; Update January 2026

View stock analysis, news, and events for Stratec Se