Knorr-Bremse AG

Welcome to Knorr Bremse's conference call for the second quarter 2026 results. This conference is being recorded. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. The floor will be open for questions following the presentation. Let me now turn the floor over to your host, Andreas Spitzauer, Head of Investor Relations.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon as well as good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I hope all of you are very fine. My name is Andreas Spitzauer, Head of Investor Relations. I want to welcome you to KnoBremse's presentation for the second quarter results of 2026 and our midterm update. Today, Marc Llistosella, our CEO, and Frank Weber, our CFO, will present the results of KnoBremse followed by a Q&A session. A conference call will be recorded and is available on our homepage in the Investor Relations section. It is now my pleasure to hand over to Marc Llistosella. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Mr. Spitzauer. The past portal was very strong, Mr. Bremsen. By the way, I assume that most of you in the call I will see tomorrow anyway, so it's a little bit redundant. Hopefully, we can share the time with some additional questions and discussions. Both rail and truck contributed to their good performance. Organic growth accelerated in RBS, while CVS benefited from the successful execution of the transformation measures, as shown by organic revenue growth and the increase in profitability. Given the first half-year results of 26 and the positive outlook for year-end, we increase our full year 26 guidance. We have also successfully signed the agreement for the sale of our HVAC, as always told, and expect the closing of the deal by the end of this year. With this transaction, we have completed exactly our sell-out program that we declared in BOOST. In total, we have sold companies with a combined revenue of approximately 750 million euros, as also predicted. Looking ahead, BOOST has transformed Knoll-Bremse into a stronger, more resilient and more profitable company. I think this is very open and very clearly to be decided. Building on this robust foundation, we are launching our Growth Beyond program now, the next strategic chapter focused on accelerating margin-creative growth while safeguarding the efficiency that we gained via Boost. Finally, we will present the financial targets that defined our path towards 2030. Before turning to our performance, let me briefly touch on the market environment on page 4. As all of you are aware, the overall picture remains supportive of Knorr Bremse. In rail, demand continues to be robust. Order books across the industry remain at extremely high levels, well supported by strong passenger business and activities in signaling, despite mixed freight markets. In truck, we are increasingly seeing signs that the market is finding its footing. Whatever that means, in Europe, the market sentiment is rather supportive when it comes to Western Europe, where we generate most of our revenues. China continues to develop well, and the recovery in North America, as we anticipated, is taking shape. While crop production rates were still mixed in the first six months, the underlying demand and the orders picked up nicely. For 26, we expect continued positive demand for aftermarket, and our estimates regarding truck production rates are fully in line with our OEM customers. Looking ahead, we continue to expect a supportive rail environment and further normalization in truck, especially in North America, which represents a very solid base for our guidance. On page 5, all the intake increased year on year, reaching a solid level of more than 2.2 billion euros. Group revenues amounted to 2.1 billion euros representing organic growth of more than 6% year-on-year. The operating EBIT margin was particularly pleasing in the past quarter which increased by 110 basic points year-on-year to 14.2. This number is the highest quarterly figure in the last five and a half years and we reached our current mid-term margin target with the result. It not only reflects supportive markets, but even more the structural improvements we have implemented across the group over the past years, which we always kept you updated. Free cash flow amounted to 62 million euros, remarkable improvement year over year. All in all, we delivered a very strong group performance, combining good growth with another significant step up in profitability. With that, I would like to hand over to Frank.