Iveco Group Nv

We would like to remind you that today's call is being recorded. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star one and one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Federico Donati, Head of Investment Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Razia. Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to this webcast and conference call for Iveco Group third quarter financial results for the period ending 30th September 2025. This call is being broadcast live on our website and is copyrighted by Iveco Group. I'm sure you appreciate that any other use, recording or transmission of any portion of this broadcast without the concept of Iveco Group is not allowed. Hosting today's call are IVECO Group CEO Olof Persson and me, Federico Donati, Head of Investor Relations, standing in for the financial section usually covered by our CFO, as Anna Tangarelli could not be present today. Please note that any forward-looking statements we make during today's call are subject to the risks and uncertainties mentioned in the Safe Harbor Statement, including in the presentation material. Additional information relating to factors that could cause actual results to differ from forecast and expectation is contained in the company most recent annual report as well as other recent reports and filings with the authorities in the Netherlands and Italy. The company presentation may include certain non-IFRS financial measures. Additional information including reconciliation to the most directly comparable IFRS financial measures is included in the presentation material. Furthermore, on 30 July 2025, IVECO Group announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell its defense business, IDV and Astra brands to Leonardo SBA. The transaction is expected to be completed no later than 31 March 2026, subject to the customary regulatory approvals and carve-out completion. In accordance with IFRS 5, non-current asset held for sale and discontinued operation, As the sale becomes highly probable in July, the defense business meets the criteria to be classified as a disposal group held for sale. It also meets the criteria to be classified as discontinued operation. In accordance with applicable accounting standards, the figures in the income statement and the statement of cash flow for 2024 comparative periods have been recast consistently. Additionally, in 2024, the firefighting business was classified as discontinued operation. It says it was completely on the 3rd of January 2025. As a consequence, 2025 and 2024 financial data shown in this presentation refers to the continuing operation only, unless otherwise stated. Finally, please note that subject to applicable disclosure requirements pending the publication of the final offer document, we will not comment on the tender offer. As per the joint press release on July 30th announcing the entering into the merger agreement and the press release by TATAN on August 19th announcing the filing of the document with CONSOB, anyone interested is invited to refer to the offeror's notice published on July 30th, 2025. which indicates the legal basis, rationale, condition, terms, and key elements of the tender offer. All the aforementioned material and announcements are available on IVECO Group corporate website, where any additional relevant information will be published in due time. We will not comment on the sale of the defense business to Leonardo Ather. The rationale, terms, and condition of the sale, with the details as currently available, were disclosed on July 30th. As announced, the transaction is expected to be completed in Q1 2026, subject to customer regulatory approvals and carve-out completion. Consistently with the agreement reached with Tata, Iveco Group will distribute the net proceeds of the transaction based on the enterprise value agreed with the purchaser via an extraordinary dividend estimated at 5.56 euros per common share to be paid out to the company shareholders before the tender offer is settled. With those points covered, I'd like to turn things over to our CEO, Olof.

Thank you very much, Federico. And let me add my own warm welcome to everyone joining our call today. I'll start with slide three, outlining the main highlights from our third quarter performance, excluding defense. Throughout the quarter, we maintained a high focus on our long-term vision and maintained discipline in the execution of measures that will help achieve it. These include tight control on inventory levels, diligent cost management, and the ongoing commitment to our multi-year efficiency program, as well as its acceleration for the current year, which is proceeding as planned. We have also identified additional areas of improvement which will deliver further full-year savings. In our truck business unit, we concentrated on balancing pricing and market share. The focus was on protecting our leadership position in the LCV chassis cap sub-segment, where pricing dynamics were more challenging, and maintaining a very strict pricing discipline in medium and heavy in support of the final phase of the introduction of our model year 2024 across European countries, and thereby ensuring the quality, performance, and the full potential of the product. I'd now like to break down our performance by business units. In-truck industry demand in Europe remained particularly low in the chassis cab sub-segment, which affected profitability in the quarter that was only partially offset by strict cost control measures. European deliveries in the period were down year over year, particularly for light commercial vehicles, which were down 27% versus last year. At the end of the quarter, worldwide book-to-bill for tri came in at 1.0, up 25 basis points versus the same period last year. In powertrain, we began to see the first sign of a sustainable recovery in engine volumes, as had been expected, supporting profitability improvements. In our robust business unit, profitability was impacted by costs associated with the ramp-up of production in our M&A plant in France, But despite this, our order books remain strong, providing us with a clear long-term visibility. Free cash flow absorption in the third quarter of 2025 was at 513 million euros, broadly in line with last year's performance when we excluded from last year the positive effect of the deployment of the higher inventory levels that we registered at the end of June 2024. You will recall that this was linked to the phase-in and phase-out of the new model year in tracks. Going forward, we will continue to remain very focused on quality and operations in line with our long-term pathway, maintaining tight control on production levels and inventory management, and on delivering our efficiency programs. Guide 4 outlines our indicative timeline for the first half of 2026 with the sale of our defense business and the tender of the free vehicle group progressing in parallel. Regulatory filings for both transactions, including those required by the European Union, are currently underway and subject to final approvals. Both the sale of the defense business to Leonardo and subsequent distribution of the net sale proceed through an external ordinary dividend and the tender of the Batata are on track for completion within the first half of 2026, as we stated previously. Moving on to slide six and the truck segment. We maintained pricing discipline and tight inventory control throughout the Q3 in 2025. European industry volumes increased by 5% year-over-year for both light commercial vehicles and medium and heavy trucks. Iveco's third quarter LCV market share was 11.7%, of which 29.7% was in the chassis cab sub-segment and 65.8% was in the upper end of the segment. Industry growth overall was largely driven by the camper sub-segment, where Iveco has limited exposure. Chassis cab volumes, on the other hand, remained under pressure, yet we managed to protect our leadership position. In medium and heavy trucks, our market share reached 7.2%, with heavy trucks accounting for 6.4%. I do apologize. In this segment, we implemented a selective sales mix strategy throughout the quarter to optimize challenge profitability and support the final phase of the introduction of our model year 2024 across European countries, and thereby ensuring the quality, performance, and full potential of the product. Our ability to adapt to segment dynamics while preserving pricing integrity and managing inventory effectively reflects the strength of our commercial execution and the strategic clarity of our truck business. Moving on to slide seven, our worldwide truck book-to-build ratio reached 1.0 at the end of the quarter, registering a 25 basis point improvement year-over-year. This reflects balanced commercial performance across geographies and product categories. In light commercial vehicles, our European order intake rose by 17% compared to Q3 2024, supported by a book-to-bill ratio of 105. This increase, we believe, is a welcome first sign of recovery. Coming on the heels of a prolonged period of production coverage well below last year's level, seven weeks this year versus 12 weeks last year, In South America, experience even stronger growth with order intake up 37% and book-to-bill ratio 1.11. In medium and heavy trucks, European order intake declined by 3% year-over-year with a book-to-bill ratio of 0.82. South America saw a more pronounced contraction of 21% with a book-to-bill ratio of 0.94. While these figures reflect a softer demand environment, the backlog remains stable at seven weeks of production coverage. Let's move to the next slide, number nine, with bus industry volumes and market shares. EVECO bus during the quarter continued to demonstrate strong competitive positioning across Europe. In the intercity segment, our leadership was reaffirmed with a 55.1% market share in Q3, representing a 5% point increase year-over-year. This gain can be attributed to the successful introduction of electrical models, which are contributing positively to both volumes and brand perception. In the European city buses segment, our market share stood at 15.1% in Q3. We expect an acceleration in deliveries during Q4 consistent with the seasonal patterns and supported by backlog conversion. Overall, Iveco Bus maintained its consolidated number two position in the European market with a 21.3% market share year-to-date. Moving on to slide 10, in Q3 2025, our bus order intake declined with 17% following the strong momentum we enjoyed in the first half of the year. This front-loaded demand contributed to a 6% year-to-date increase as of September. Deliveries rose 20% compared to Q3 2024, demonstrating robust execution and sustained customer demand. The book-to-bill ratio stood at 0.77 at the quarter end, a figure impacted by scheduling of orders early in the year. Importantly, year-to-date order intake remained higher than 2024 at 108, demonstrating the segment's resilience. On the 29th of October, EVECOBUS signed the framework agreements with Ile-de-France Mobilité, a leading public transport authority managing one of Europe's largest and most complex transit networks. EVECOBUS will supply Ile-de-France Mobilité with up to 4,000 low and zero emission buses and coaches between 2026 and 2032. This is in line with the brand's long-term strategy to building on zero emission and electromobility solutions. In conclusion, we maintained a solid long-term visibility for Intercity and CityBuds, with coverage now extending well into the second half of 2026. On slide 12, we have the delivery performance for our powertrain business units, and after nearly two years of consecutive year-over-year decline, engine volumes increased by 1% compared to Q3 2024. While modest, this improvement reflects the recovery we predicted last quarter. During the period, new third-party customer contracts were signed with Lindner and JCB. Production for these orders will begin in 2026. These contracts position FBT Industrial as one of the main references in the agriculture industry and are in line with our long-term strategy to grow the number of third-party clients. Operational discipline remains central to our approach. We continue to manage costs diligently. and remain committed to our efficiency program. These efforts are helping us to protect margins and ensure sustainable delivery as volumes recover. Looking ahead, we expect the recovery in deliveries to third-party customers to continue throughout Q4 and beyond, supporting profitability improvements. Going to slide 14 looks at our electric vehicle portfolio where year-to-date delivery volumes continue to grow across the business units despite the challenging market demand scenario. This clearly shows the competitiveness of our product lineup and our unique positioning in LCV where EVEKO is the only truck maker to offer a complete fully electric product lineup ranging from 2.5 to 7 tons. With that, I finish my opening remarks and I will now hand over the call to Federico.

Thank you, Olof. Let's now take a look at the highlights of our third quarter 2025 financial results on slide 16. Again, all figures provided in the presentation refer to continuing operation only, excluding defense, if not otherwise stated. Q3 2025 closed with €3.1 billion in consolidated net revenues and €3 billion in net revenues of industrial activities. These figures reflect a contraction of 3.6% and 3% respectively on a year-over-year basis, mainly due to lower volumes in Europe for track and a negative forex translation effect primarily in Brazil and in Turkey. The Group Adjusted Debit closed at €111 million with a 3.6 margin and the adjusted EBIT of industrial activities reached 76 million euro with a 2.5% margin, both contracted by 210 basis points versus Q3 2024. The net financial expenses amounted to 58 million euro in the third quarter this year in line with same quarter last year. Reporting income tax expenses come to 17 million euro in Q3 2025 with an adjusted effective tax rate of 25%. This resulted in an adjusted net income for continuing operation at €40 million, down €54 million versus last year, with an adjusted dilute EPS of €0.15. Moving to our free cash flow performance in the quarter, Q3 2025 closed with a €513 million cash up flow absorption, which was broadly in line with last year's performance when we excluded from last year, the positive effect of the deployment of the higher inventory level that we registered at the end of June 2024, as Olaf said in his opening remarks. I will provide more details further in the presentation. Finally, available liquidity, including undrawn committed credit lines, closed solidly at €4 billion on the 30th of September, of which €1.9 billion was in undrawn committed facilities. Let's now focus on net revenue of industrial activities on slide 17. As you can see from the chart on the right-hand side of this slide, all regions contracted compared to prior year, excluding South America, which was flat versus Q3 2024. Looking at our net revenues evolution by business unit, BUS was solidly up versus prior year at plus 31 percent. The power trend was flat, and TAC contracted 11 percent versus Q3 2024. More in detail, truck net revenues total €2 billion in this quarter, down 11% versus prior year, primarily as a consequence of two factors. First, a lower delivery rate in light-duty trucks due to the continuing challenging environment in the chassis gap subsegment. Second, a selective sales mix strategy throughout the quarter in heavy-duty trucks in order to optimize channel profitability and support the final phase-up phase of the introduction of our model year 2024 across European countries. Additionally, the top line was affected by adverse year-over-year foreign exchange rate trend, mainly in Brazil and Turkey. Our bus net revenues were up 31.4% in Q3 2025, reaching 719 million euro, thanks to higher volumes. And finally, our powertrain net revenues were broadening line year-over-year at 745 million euro, with higher volumes offset by an adverse foreign exchange rate impact. Sales to external customers accounted for 49% in line with Q3 2024. Turning to slide 18, let me briefly comment on the main drivers underlying the year-over-year performance in our adjusted EBIT margin of industrial activities. Volume mix contributed negative 67 million euros in the period, mainly due to lower track volumes in Europe. The decrease in deliveries of light-duty vehicles particularly impacted the overall truck profitability. The year-over-year net pricing contributed positively for €15 million at industrial activities level and was positive across business units. Production costs were negative €7 million year-over-year, with negative performance in truck and bus, partially offset by solid positive performance in powertrain. Finally, the year-over-year improvement in SG&A costs, totaling €17 million in this quarter and €50 million to date, is again a result of the acceleration of the efficiency action announced and launched at the beginning of this year. Let's now take a look at the adjusted ebbing margin performance for each industrial business unit on slide 19. TRAC closed the quarter with a 2.9% adjusted ebbing margin. As already mentioned, this was a result of lower volumes and negative mix, mainly due to the continuing challenging environment in the chassis cap subsegment, which experienced lower volumes in Europe. The negative absorption due to lower production level was only partially compensated by the cost containment action implemented in the period. Truck pricing in Europe was positive year over year, confirming our tight price discipline. The Q3 2025 adjusted EBIT margin for our bus business unit closed at 4%, down 110 basis points versus prior year, with higher volumes and positive price realizations offset by higher costs associated with the ramp-up of production in our Annone plant. Finally, the powertrain adjusted EBIT margin closed at 5.1% in the third quarter, resulting from continued and diligent cost control and operational efficiency, as well as a slight increase in engine volumes. Let's now have a look at the performance of our financial services business unit during the quarter on slide 20. The Q3 2025 adjusted EBIT for financial services closed at €35 million with a managed portfolio, including unconsolidated joint ventures, of €7.5 billion at the end of the period, of which retail accounted for 45% and wholesale 55%. This figure is down €106 million compared to the 30th of September 2024. Stock of receivables past due by more than 30 days as a percentage of the overall homebook portfolio was at 2.1%, which is slightly up versus last year. The return on assets remained solid at 2.1%. Let's move to our free cash flow and net industrial cash evolution on slide 21. As said previously, the Q3 2025 grief cash flow absorption coming at 513 million euro, which is broadly in line with last year performance when we exclude the positive effect of the initial deployment of the higher inventory level that we register at the end of June 2024. The lower adjusted EBITDA was offset by positive year-over-year swings in financial charges and taxes, the positive delta in working capital, and lower investments. The negative year-over-year swing in provision was driven by lower sales volume in our Truck Business Unit. Lastly, investments totaled €150 million in Q3 2025, down €39 million versus the same period last year. This is in line with the already disclosed acceleration of our efficiency program and the reprioritization of some of our less strategic investments. Moving now to slide 22. As of 30 September 2025, our available liquidity for continuing operations, excluding defense, stood solidly at €4 billion, with €2.3 billion in cash-in-cash equivalents and €1.9 billion of undrawn committed facilities. Looking at our debt maturity profile, the majority of our debt will mature from 2027 onwards, and our cash and cash equivalent levels will continue to more than cover all the cash maturities foreseen for the coming years. Moving now to my last slide for today, number 24, with the discontinued operation performance of our defense business unit. The net revenues for defense came in at 293 million euro, up 9.7% compared to Q3 2024, driven by higher volumes. The adjusted EBIT was 25 million compared to 23 million in Q3 2024, resulting from production efficiency partially offset by higher R&D costs. The adjusted EBIT margin was at 8.5%, down 10 basis points compared to Q3 2024. The funded order book level at the end of September 2025 reached almost €5.3 billion, up close to €300 million from the end of June 2025. Thank you. I will now turn the call back to Olof for his final remarks.

Thank you very much, Federico, and I'd like to conclude this presentation by looking at both the outlook for the industry and our own financial guidance. I will also, as usual, provide some takeaway messages from what you have heard today. We confirm our total industry outlook for the current year across the segments and regions. Specifically, we expect demands to remain low in the chassis cab subsegment and South America to continue to be negatively impacted by reduced consumer confidence and less willingness to invest in heavy-duty trucks, giving the increase in interest rates in Brazil since the beginning of the year. Next slide has our full year 2025 updated financial guidance, also expressed as continuing operation, which means excluding defense. Our full year 2025 financial guidance has been revised across all key performance metrics, except for the industrial activities net revenue, which remains unchanged. This update reflects the year-to-day performance negatively affected by two main circumstances. a slower than expected recovery in light commercial vehicles during the second half of 2025, particularly in the chassis cab sub-segment, which has negatively affected our truck business units' year-to-day profitability. Secondly, we have allowed for extra costs associated with the ramp-up of production in our NMA plant, which negatively impacted our bus business units' profitability in the third quarter. Implied in our updated guidance is increased Q4 profitability year-over-year across business units and an additional positive effect from the acceleration of our efficiency program compared to the initial €150 million . Based on these premises, the updated guidance for our full year 2025 is as follows. At consolidated level, including defense, group adjusted EBIT now at between 830 and 880 million euros. And for industrial activities, net revenues, including currency effect, confirmed to be down at between 3% and 5% year over year. Adjusted EBIT from industrial activities at between 700 and 750 million euros and industrial free cash flow to be between 250 and 350 million euros. On this slide, we have also shown what this guidance implies for continuing operations only. The free cash flow forecast excluding defense is not included due to ongoing activities related to the separation that could affect some balance sheet accounts. We will continue to manage production levels for truck in Europe in line with the retail demand, while at the same time maintaining diligent cost management and leveraging the benefits of our efficiency program across business units. And now to slide 28, let me provide you with some takeaway messages from today's call. First, as I said, implied in our revised guidance is increased Q4 profitability year-over-year across business units. And if we break that down by business unit, in truck, our LCV and medium and heavy vehicles are sold out, covering the remaining two months of the year. This, combined with strict control on pricing and cost management, will positively contribute to higher profitability compared to the fourth quarter of last year. In bus, ramp-up costs are now behind us, and we expect higher volumes to contribute positively to the year-over-year performance. And lastly, in powertrain, as mentioned earlier, third-party client volumes are expected to continue their year-over-year growth, supporting progressively profitability improvements. The increase in third-quarter order intake for light commercial vehicles is an encouraging early sign that the worst is behind us. In heavy-duty trucks, we will continue to maintain strict pricing discipline to support our model year 2024, ensuring the quality, performance, and the full potential of the product. In powertrain, new third-party customer contracts were signed, among which Lindner and JCB, with production for these orders beginning in 2026. A robust order book remains strong, providing solid visibility well into the second half of 2026. And the funded order book for our defense business unit reached almost $5.3 billion at the end of September 2025, demonstrating continued momentum in the industry. Thirdly, we are proceeding at pace with acceleration of our efficiency program and reprioritization of certain investments, confirming the expected €150 million in savings in capex and opex for the current year, as well as additional areas of improvement which will deliver further full-year savings. And finally, we are on track to complete the sale of our defense business to Leonardo as per our original combination, and the tender offered by Tata is expected to be completed within the first half of 2026. In conclusion, as always, we are focused on our commitment to operational excellence. each business unit remains laser-focused on its short and long-term objectives, working to deliver lasting value for all our stakeholders. With that, I would like to thank you and hand it back to Federico.

That concludes our prepared remarks and we can now open it up for questions. To be mindful of the time, we kindly ask that you hold off on any detailed modeling and accounting questions. For this, you can follow up directly with me and the Investor Relations team after the call. In addition, as already pointed out, pending the publication of the formal offer document on the tender offer by Tata, we will not comment on the legal basis, rational, condition, terms, and key elements of the tender offer. In this respect, for the time being, you are kindly invited to refer to the materials already published in the ad hoc section of the company website. As for the sale of the defense business to Leonardo, the activities are ongoing and on track, consistently with the timeline commented during the presentation. The company will strictly comply with applicable disclosure requirements, but for the time being, it has nothing to add vis-à-vis what has been already announced. Operators, please go ahead.

Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. Once again, please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1 and 1 again. We are now going to take our first question. And the questions come from the line of Akshat Kakkar from J.P. Morgan. Please ask a question.

Good morning. Aloha, Federico Akshat from J.P. Morgan. A couple of questions, please. The first one on the truck and LCV business. Obviously, the trends this year have been difficult to focus and understand, given the pre-buy last year and also the changeover in the product family. Could you just help us understand how are you looking at the business going forward, probably into Q4, but also any early signs on how you expect the LCB business to develop going into 2026? And if you could just add some color regionally as well, between Europe and Brazil. We've heard from a few of your peers that inventories are high in the Brazilian and Latin markets. And overall, there is some pricing pressure. So some details there would be helpful. The second question is on the powertrain business. You talked about a slight increase in engine volumes for signs of recovery. Could you just give us some more details in terms of where are these green shoots emerging from? And do you not expect volumes to turn positive going into fourth quarter, please? Thank you.

Okay, so on the LCV market, I mean, as we said, the indications we're getting now and also you saw on the book to bill and the increase in order intake gives us, you know, confidence that we believe that the worst is behind us and we will see a gradual update. We see that also in the activity levels in the market. And as we said, we're sold out now for this year and going into next year. So I think it's always difficult to really judge where this is going, coming from such a long period of lower markets. But I feel the LCV side, I think we have the worst behind us, and exactly how that will pan out coming into 2026, we will have to see. We need a couple of more weeks or months to see that coming into it. But I would say so far so good, and it's really good and encouraging to see that this is opening up. And that is, of course, moving also in our key segments on the cabover and both in the medium and the upper side of it. On the LATAM pricing?

I was referring to inventory level, if I understood correctly. That's right.

I'm talking about the weakness in that market, specifically in the medium and heavy prices.

When it comes to the inventory, both our own inventory, the dealer inventory, and the whole chain, we manage that very carefully, as you know. We do that also in LATAM when we see the order of volumes going down. We, of course, are just production, and we do that rather quickly in Latam because it's a simple one-factory system where we can really manage that in a good way. So I don't have any concerns about the inventory levels in Latam going forward, even though, of course, on the heavy-duty side, there is, as we said, a decline in the market and the order intake. Then the final question was around... Engines. Engines, yes. So the green shoes for the engines. I would say that there are a couple of things. One is, of course, that we are getting a third-party business. The team in Powertrain has done a great job in actually capturing more third-party business, which is good. We also see, of course, and we have said that before, it's around the stock level of engines out there in the market. And the time it has taken to destock that, giving the downturn that we've seen over the last basically two years. And that also gives you confidence that this is, you know, covering up for the destocking coming to an end and thereby the volumes are coming back up again. So it's a combination of that plus the fact that we actually are then successfully getting third-party business. That's given me confidence going forward in the powertrain side. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now proceed with our next question. And the next questions come from the line of Martino D'Ambrogio from Equita. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everybody. The first question is still on the LCV. Olaf, I understood your qualitative comments on LCV for next year. Could you provide what is your feeling in terms of European and South America if in 26 the market overall is able to have at least a small single digit rebound in terms of volumes? And the second question is specifically on the defense business because you are providing the guidance with and without defense. I was wondering if in implying what is the defense EBIT and revenues is it correct to take 150 million of adjusted EBIT and probably close to 1.3 billion sales or there are inter-companies or other items that could affect these figures and I clearly understand you are not providing any updated guidance without defense on free cash flow. But could you comment about what is the normalized free cash flow or cash conversion for this business or what was in the past? Thank you.

Okay, if I start with the LCV market, I think I need to stay a little bit on top and give you the feeling I have right now, because we need a couple of weeks or at least a month to really see where the activities are going to start with in 2026. I mean, we now have a visibility in for the rest of the year, sold out, and then we need to see how the activity is going. As I said, so far so good. I mean, the activity levels that we see from our customers, the tender activities we see is coming. We do see, as you have seen, an increase in the order intake coming from very low level in Q2 and so on and so forth. So the indications are good. But let's see when we have got that all together and we will come back to that with a more detailed market development on that one. On the other two questions, I'll leave it to you.

Yeah, on the defense side, I think, Martino, on the heavy side, yeah, you can be rounded to the number you have mentioned as well as on the top line. And in terms of the free cash flow of defense, as you know, we have never disclosed it by business unit. The only thing I can say is cash generative business, but on a full year basis. I hope this helps, President.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you. We are now going to take our next question. And the next questions come from the line of Nikolai Kempf from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good morning. It's Nikolai from Deutsche Bank. Thank you for taking my questions. Also, too, maybe coming back on your full year guidance, it does imply a significant step up in Q4 of rounds. $250 million in Q4 earnings versus $300 million in the first nine months. I mean, you mentioned that all segments may be stronger in Q4, but can just give a bit more color which segments should drive that. And it's probably going to be the light trucks, but any help would be appreciated here. And the second one, if I look at the EU heavy truck market share, came in at 6.4%. I think historically even closer to 9 or 10%. And that is despite the fact that you have launched a new model year. Should we expect that next year you should have a higher market share or rise below the historic run rate despite having a rather new product in the market? Thank you.

So on the Q4, I think I gave the guidance that I can give at this point in time. The basis for the improvements that we see is there, and the track side is, of course, good to see that we sold out. That means that we are, if you look at the backup of the slide, you can also see that the inventory with our dealers We have managed the dealer inventory together with the dealers and our own dealer very well as well. So we're having a sort of a system set up for an increase in terms of on that side, which I think is promising and able in that respect. Then, as I said, powertrain bus, increased volumes, the profitability, we have the cost behind us on the ramp-up in Anunnaki, and just to comment on that, it was absolutely necessary to make sure that we create a very stable, efficient Anunnaki plant in terms of quality, volume, and efficiency, and we have that behind us, and we are pushing forward now. And then, of course, on the powertrain side. On top of that, As I mentioned, and it has been mentioned a couple of times, the efficiency program, don't forget the efficiency program, that's never a linear kind of coming into the profit and loss. It's actually an accelerating program. It's always those programs very often are. And, of course, the majority or a big chunk of that program will now start to come in fully with all the activities we have done, not only on the $150 million that we talked about, but also the... activities that we have seen. So those are the things that are actually going to drive the Q4 in coming back and making the result up to the guidance we have. On the EU market side, I think we specified we are now entering into the final phase of the launch, and we have been in the market situation that has been. really focusing on keeping the price level on this new vehicle because I truly believe that we're going to live on this product for many, many years. We need to make sure that it's into the market in the right way. We have had a very stringent price discipline. We will continue to have a price discipline to really ensure, as I said, all the different aspects of the product. I definitely see this product going forward in the mid and the long term being a product that is definitely have a potential for more market share than it has today. That's for sure.

Great. Thank you.

Thank you. We will now take one final question. And our final question today comes from the line of Alex Jones from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning. Two from my side as well, please. Could you talk a little bit about the medium and heavy duty outlook that you see in terms of order trends? Also into 2026, I know you talked a bit more positively about LCV, but medium and heavy orders were down. 3% year-on-year in Europe, so your thoughts would be interesting. And then second question on defense. Can you be more specific at all on the mixed factors, the weight on margins this quarter, at least sequentially, and whether you expect those to continue going forward, Q4 and into next year? Thank you.

Well, on the medium and LCD, that was the... the feeling going forward into the fourth quarter and into next year. Again, I repeat what I said. On the LCV side, I have a good feeling on the activity level. Also, I would say on the medium and heavy. As we progress with our final implementation and launch of the Model Year 2024, We're going to see impacts there as well, not only in terms of market, but also in terms of market share over time. We're going to continue to keep a strict, selective approach, making sure that we get the pricing. I would say we come back in the beginning of next year, as we normally do, to have a view on the market and where the market is going on the heavy and medium. But we're well positioned in both of these markets. And I think, as I said, I feel comfortable that once we are really sort of fully launched this product now, we're going to see the positive impacts coming. Full confidence in that. It is a very, very good product in terms of all the different aspects.

And I leave to you, Federico, on the... On the defense, sorry, you were talking and referring to the mix, if I take your question correctly. Correct, Alex?

Yes, please.

Yeah, but I think in defense, more generally speaking, you need to consider that we have a very long and solid order book that just needs to be deployed, and so... probably looking at the defense just on a quarterly basis is much better to look at it on a full year basis and the marginality also. So this is just a question of looking at it on a yearly basis and the mix can change also by region and by country and by product itself. So as all of us said at the beginning, we are expecting the performance of each single business unit up year over year, and that would be the case for the defense as well in Q4. That is what I can share with you.

Thank you.

Thank you. That concludes the question and answer session. I would like to turn the call back to Mr. Fideli.

Thank you all, and have a nice rest of the day. Thank you. Bye.

That concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participation. Ladies and gentlemen, you may now disconnect your lines.