Aixtron Se Unsp/Adr

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Extron's Analyst Conference Call Q3 2025. Please note that today's call is being recorded. Questions can only be asked via telephone. If you wish to make use of this option, please ensure you dial in by phone. In this case, we recommend muting the webcast during the Q&A session. Please check your registration confirmation for dial-in data. Let me now hand you over to Mr. Christian Ludwig, Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Extron, for opening remarks and introductions.

Thank you very much, Mrs. Brunner. A warm welcome also from my side to Extron's Q3 2025 results call. My name is Christian Ludwig. I'm the Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Extron. With me in the room today are our CEO, Dr. Felix Trabach, and our CFO, Dr. Christian Danninger, who will guide you through today's presentation and then take your questions. This call is being recorded by Extron and is considered copyright material. As such, it cannot be recorded or rebroadcast without permission. Your participation in this call implies your consent to this recording. Please take note of the disclaimer that you find on page one of the presentation document as it applies throughout the conference call. This call is not being immediately presented by a webcast or any other medium. However, you will place a transcript on our website at some point after the call. I would now like to hand you over to our CEO for his opening remarks. Felix, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Christian. Let me also welcome you to our Q325 results call. I will start with an overview of the highlights of the quarter and then hand over to our CFO, Christian, for more details on our financial figures. Finally, I will give you an update on the development of our business and our guidance. Let me first start by giving you an update on the key business developments of the second quarter on slide two. The important messages for Q325 are Our free cash flow in the quarter was 39 million, totaling 110 million in the first nine months, 25, while inventories are down to 316 million, coming from 369 million at the year end 24. This shows we are well on track with our strategy to rebuild our cash provision after we had depleted that with the construction of our 300 millimeter clean room, the innovation center in the years 23 and 24. In Q3, we recognized new orders of 124 million, which lead to an equipment order backlog of 287 million, where we have achieved a book-to-bill of 1.04. We concluded the quarter with revenues of 120 million euros. With that, we were in our guided range of 110 to 140 million. The gross margin reached 39% in Q3 and averaged 37% in the first nine months. This figure includes a one-off expense related to our implemented personal reduction earlier in the year. Adjusted for this effect, the gross margin after nine months came out at 38%, slightly below previous year's 39%, mainly due to volume shifts and FX headway. As the market remained soft, we had to adjust our fiscal 25 guidance two weeks ago. We are now expecting revenues in the range between 530 and 565 million euros, which corresponds to the lower half of the initial guidance, 530 to 600. And a gross margin of now 40 to 41%, down from previously 41 to 42%. And an EBIT margin of now around 17 to 19%, from previously 18 to 22%. AI continues to be the main end market driver, especially for our optoelectronics segments. Automotive-driven power electronics demand, on the other hand, remains soft. Christian will now provide a detailed look into our financials on the following pages before I take over with an update.