Dürr Aktiengesellschaft

Welcome to the DUR conference call for the first quarter of 2026. I will now hand over to Bjorn Hoss, Head of Investor Relations of DUR AG.

Yes, good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to today's call. My name is Bjorn Hoss and I assume the position as DUR's Head of Investor Relations on April 1st. Many of today's participants probably know me, so only a small introduction of myself. I spent 20 years at the Capital Market, first as a sell-side analyst for automotive and industrials, then I switched into portfolio and asset management at Barber, and in the last six years I worked as Head of Investor Relations and M&A at Bertrand AG. You might have noticed three little changes in today's reporting. First, we tried to streamline the quarterly statement with a reduced number of pages, but with the full-fledged content you need. Second, the reporting package was online at 7 a.m. this morning, just to give you an appropriate amount of time to collect the material. Of course, this will continue. And thirdly, all documents on our website section can be printed again. Of course, we hope that helps you as well. And feedback is, of course, welcome. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to getting in personal touch with all of you soon, and if you wish, already after this call, to discuss more details on Q1. For now, I would like to hand over to our CEO, Jochen Weyra, and to our CFO, Dietmar Heinrich. Jochen will start on page four. Jochen, the mic is yours.

Thank you, Björn, and good afternoon to all participants on the call. The war in the Middle East created a lot of additional political and economic uncertainty. In this challenging environment, Q1 actuals basically met our own expectations. Especially our two large divisions, automotive and woodworking, did relatively well and demonstrated resilience with robust incoming orders and profitability. Our third division, industrial automation, developed heterogeneously, with Shane's balancing business performing well, while DBS automation fell short of expectations, prompting us to develop far-reaching efficiency measures in the automotive business. I'll come back to this topic later on. The book-to-bill ratio was slightly above 1. Sales showed a muted start to the year, but will improve in the further course. On the earnings side, we continued on our improvement path. The EBIT margin before extraordinary is to 4.2%, mainly backed by a good start to the year in automotive. Profitability gains in the service business. successful admin cost cutting, and strongly reduced corporate center expenses for the One Deer Group program. Net profit additionally benefited from an improved financial result and lower extra ordinaries and was up 22%. Free cash flow was clearly positive at 29 million euros supported by further improvement in networking capital. Looking at the sales channel, We expect higher networking capital needs in the next few quarters accompanied by cash outs for tax issues and for the admin adjustments. We are confirming the group outlook for 2026 given in early March. However, the divisional forecast for industrial automation is under review after the muted Q1 at BBS Automation. A quick update on the CFO position. We will announce people's successes soon. There are only a few details to be finalized, but the decision itself has been taken. Next is slide four. The 11% in order intake was partly driven by the low level of new orders in BBS Automation's mobility business. Woodworking's order intake at 370 million euros was above last year's quarterly average. In automotive, we see a solid investment pipeline for the next quarters. There are enough projects out there. The question is rather if they will be awarded within the expected timeframe given the uncertainty in the market. Sales amounted to 940 million euros and were marked by some customer-induced delays in automotive. as well as by the low order intake at the height of the tariff uncertainties in Q2 and Q3 in 2025. However, we foresee higher quarterly sales to come. As I've already explained the drivers for the improvements in earnings and free cash flow, I would like to jump to slide five. The reduction in order intake versus Q4 was expected as Q4 included three very large orders, and was extraordinarily strong. The comparison with Q2 and Q3 2025 shows that the impact of the war in the Middle East on order intake was less severe than the dampening effects arising from the tariff conflicts last year. Our customers seem to have got used to the macro volatility and can cope better with it. Slide six shows the regional split of order intake. I would like to highlight two things here. First, we want several larger orders in China in Q1 against local players, which underlines our competitive edge there. And second, despite low order intake in the Americas in Q1, we see a promising pipeline in the USA as customers are planning more investments there in order to localize and to evade taxes. Slide 7 deals with our Middle East exposure. As mentioned, the direct impact from the Iran conflict on order intake has been limited so far. However, lasting energy price hikes, rising interest rates, and supply chain disruptions could affect our customers' investment behavior. On the other hand, the strain on energy prices underlines the risks our customers are facing when operating their plants with oil and gas. This triggers additional awareness for DURS energy efficient and non-fossil production technologies and their advantages regarding security of supply and efficiency. In April, the Automotive Division organized an amazing virtual trade fair, mainly focusing on innovations for energy efficient and the electrification of plant shops. I was watching the performance together with customers and can assure you they have really been thrilled. In terms of energy and transportation costs, we're not too much worried. Our business is not energy intense and logistics costs are under control. In many cases, there are price escalation clauses in place. Our sales exposure in the Middle East amounts to around 150 million euros, of which more than 80% is attributable to Saudi Arabia. We are currently executing two major projects near Jeddah in the West. So far, there have been no major impediments caused by the conflict. Another topic from the political sphere is that we have requested the refunding of IWEPA tariffs paid as these were declared unlawful by the US courts. However, it's still too early to assess on the outcome. Let's continue with the view on our division starting on page nine. I've already commented on automotive's order intake in Q1 and the solid pipeline with new investment projects. The sales channel indicates higher revenues in the further course of the year, And this should go in line with increasing networking capital needs, which will be mainly reflected in higher contract assets. As you know, there's a seasonal pattern in the division sales and margin development. That's why the 6% in Q1 is a solid start and a good basis for reaching the full-year target of 7% to 8%. Please note that the lithium-ion battery business unit that formerly belonged to the industrial automation business has been part of the automotive division since January 2026. Next is industrial automation on slide 10. The division's two business units performed heterogeneously into one. Change balancing technology achieved significant increases in order intake and earnings. On the other hand, BVS Automation's performance was not satisfactory, which led to decreases in most relevant key figures on a dimensional level. As you know, there's a new management in place at BVS Automation that is tackling the challenges systematically, especially the soft automotive business and improvements in operating business. The first measure has been initiated in early April with the consolidation of BVS Automation's China business at the Kunshan site, whereas the neighboring Suzhou site will be closed. China has already performed solidly, but this step will further improve our business there. We're working on further efficiency measures in other parts of the world and will present them to you in due course. Last but not least, please note that the figures shown for 2026 and 2025 no longer include the lithium-ion battery business that was shifted to automotive and the bench tooling business that has been part of woodworking since the beginning of the year. We know that changing reporting structures causes hassle on your side. However, the new organization is helping to simplify the group structure and to become more efficient, and we do not intend to change anything else for the time being. Page 11 shows that the woodworking division's order intake in Q1 clearly surpassed last year's quarterly average of 352 million euros. While business with the furniture industry remains subdued, the positive trend in timber house production technology continues. Sales were affected by the muted order intake following the tariff conflict in Q2 and Q3 2025, but should gain traction in the further course of the year. The margin was impacted by the sales reduction, higher R&D spending, and initial one-offs for an ERP transition, but should also increase looking down the road. The important optimization measure is the ramp-up of Womack's new factory in Poland later this year, that will generate further efficiency gains from 2027 on. A quick view on the service business on slide 12. While the service share of group revenue was stable, the gross margin developed nicely on the back of higher spare parts portion. The continuous development of the service business has always been high on our agenda, as it balances out the volatility of new equipment orders. Consequently, profitable service growth was included in this year's SDI target for the management board and the entire executive team. I'm now pleased to hand over to Dietmar, who will take you through the financials.