Dear ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third quarter results 2025 analyst conference call of Fortescue. This conference will be recorded. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, there'll be an opportunity for analysts of Fortescue to ask questions. May I now hand over to Andreas Schaller, Head of Investor Relations at Fortescue, who will start the meeting today. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you, Sharon. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is Andreas Schaller speaking on behalf of Fortescue. I wish you a very warm welcome to today's conference call on the nine-month earnings. Before we start, maybe let me quickly introduce myself. I'm the successor of Lutz Ackermann as new Head of Investor Relations at Fortescue. I have almost 25 years of experience having worked in various sectors like semiconductors, building materials, and also machine building. Now I'm at the company that supplies all these sectors with very innovative lubricants. I'm very happy to be here and look forward to discuss the Fortescue equity story with you and support you together with my team whenever you have questions. With me on the call today are our CEO, Stefan Fuchs, and our CFO, Esma Saglik. As always, Esma and Stefan will lead you through the presentation followed by a Q&A session.
We also have the investor relations team here with us, Theresa Landau and Niklas Neff. Actually, it's Niklas' birthday today, so happy birthday, Niklas.
Hey.
Yeah.
Yeah, all the documents to this call you can find on our web pages, and we assume that you have them in front of you. Please be also aware of our disclaimer on the last page of the presentation. Now it's my pleasure to hand over to Esma.
Thank you.
Please go ahead.
Thank you, Andreas. First of all, happy birthday to you, Niklas. Secondly, Andreas, great to have you here and welcome you on board, actually. We are really looking forward to work with you. Let's go and talk about our financial highlights for the third quarter. After a tough second quarter, we saw a strong recovery in Q3. Still, the environment is challenging, especially in Europe where the demand remains weak. Mainly, uncertainty in the markets overall continues still. Despite all the volatility, we managed to grow our business both organically and through acquisitions. Sales rose by 1% to EUR 2.7 billion. Currency effects had a negative impact of EUR 51 million, mainly due to the stronger euro versus the US dollar, Australian dollar, and the Chinese renminbi. EBIT also developed positively in Q3, even exceeding last year's Q3 results.
After nine months, we reached a profitability of EUR 326 million, which is EUR 8 million or 2% below the prior year. What were the key drivers? It was a strong business mix, especially in North America. Continued growth in Asia. Here to mention China, and the first effects from our cost measure initiative we have initiated a quarter ago. Our free cash flow came in at EUR 181 million, which is a solid result. All in all, we are on track, and that is why we confirm our 2025 outlook as communicated in July. On the next slide, you can see the sales development by quarter. Compared to the previous quarter, sales increased by around 2% to EUR 869 million. The growth came from all regions. However, if we compare it to Q3 last year, sales are down by EUR 6 million.
This decline is mainly due to negative currency effects impacting the quarter by EUR 32 million. As we all know, the euro continued to get stronger in Q3, which led to a higher FX impact than in the first half of the year. Looking ahead, we expect Q4 revenues to remain broadly in line with our prior year. Let's move to the next slide and take a look at EBIT on a quarterly basis. The picture has changed compared to the last quarter, which is actually a good signal. We can see an improvement of 16% in EBIT sequentially, and we are even slightly above our strong third quarter of last year. For the last quarter, we expect EBIT to develop in line with our expectations, which would bring profitability to almost the same level as last year. Having a look to our group sales development.
We are actually happy to see sales growing year-over-year, and this both organically and through acquisitions, despite the tough market conditions we are facing right now. As of September, sales reached EUR 2.7 billion. That is a year-over-year increase, as mentioned, of 1% or EUR 34 million in absolute terms. Both organic growth and acquisitions were contributing equally to this positive development. The organic growth came mainly from Asia-Pacific and the Americas, which is underlining the strength of our local-to-local strategy and the strategic investments we have made over the past year. The growth of these two regions was even able to offset the moderate organic decline we have seen in EMEA. On the external growth side, our acquisitions, especially LUBCON and STRUB, now SWISS LUBRICANTS, made a strong contribution.
Further additions came from Bots and Ionco, both being a part of SWISS LUBRICANTS since the beginning of this year. As you possibly read in the news, early October, we expanded our presence in Switzerland by acquiring our long-standing distribution partner, Arceo Swiss AG. This company will be merged into SWISS LUBRICANTS by the end of the year. Despite all the good development at the top line, unfortunately, a part of the growth got offset by negative currency effects. Taking a closer look at some of our KPIs, about sales and EBIT, we have talked already. Looking to our gross margin, we see a steady improvement. Year to date, our gross margin stands at 34.9%, which is above last year. On the other hand, our functional costs increased also, mainly due to recent acquisitions we made, inflationary cost increases, and one-time investments we did for new customer projects.
Some of these costs are one-off costs or pre-investments, which will normalize throughout the year. However, the rising cost base due to inflation still needs to be taken or needs to get closer attention. To manage this development, we have introduced cost control measures, as we have announced also in our last call. Of which we could see positive effects in Q3. So far, EBIT is down 2% year-over-year, but towards the year-end, we expect to reach prior-year levels. Our key balance sheet indicators are on track. As of September. Free cash flow reached EUR 181 million, and both CapEx and the change in net operating working capital are almost in line with last year. Looking into the regions, in EMEA, the main growth driver are our acquisitions, which successfully offset the organic decline.
The decline in organic sales is mainly due to the challenging economic situation in Europe, here especially the weak automotive manufacturing sector. On the positive side, the acquisitions supported not only the sales growth but also contributed positively to earnings. I think it's also worth to mention that by the end of Q3, total profitability in EMEA was slightly above the prior-year level. I think that's a good sign despite all the difficult market environments we are facing in Europe. Moving over to Asia, the main growth driver in the region was clearly China, which showed an excellent result. Our decision to invest in local production is really paying off. India also gained momentum and grew faster, while Australia continued its positive trend, especially supported by solid growth in the automotive aftermarket segment. All of these together led to a profitability increase of 17% year-over-year.
In summary, the development in Asia-Pacific is very positive and clearly confirms the strength and the potential of our regional strategy. Now coming to North and South America. As we all know, the region has been a bit volatile in recent months, mainly due to ramp-up activities and unfavorable products. After a challenging Q2, we saw positive momentum in Q3. Sales increased compared to the previous quarter, and EBIT improved, reaching its strongest level so far in 2025. The main drivers are a better product mix and the improved cost base we are seeing in the U.S. The one-off costs related to the Mercedes business are largely behind us, and volumes are ramping up, which is a positive sign. In summary, year to date, sales are up 2%, and profitability is recovering. Now turning to the development of our net liquidity. Earnings after tax were close to last year's level.
CapEx was in line with our expectations, and the contribution from net operating working capital was also roughly on prior-year levels. As a result, free cash flow before acquisition reached EUR 181 million by the end of September. However, despite the solid operating cash flow, dividend payments and acquisitions led to a cash outflow, which reduced net liquidity to EUR 30 million. On the next slide, we take a closer look at the quarterly development of our working capital. Overall, we see the usual seasonal pattern: an increase over the course of the year, followed by a reduction towards the year-end. The increase in Q3 is actually cut-off related. Inventory increased to prepare for a stronger sales month like October and November. Positive to note is that we managed to improve net working capital compared to last year, both in absolute terms and also as a percentage of sales.
For the fourth quarter, we expect a typical seasonal decline in working capital as we move towards the year-end. Now a quick look at raw materials. For base-oil, we saw only minor price movements in the past quarter. Euro/dollar currency effects are positively contributing. Looking ahead, base-oil prices are expected to soften slightly. When it comes to the additive packages, prices remained broadly stable during Q3. Here as well, we expect a slight softening in the near future. However, developments around tariffs and current exchange rates remain uncertain and should be monitored closely, as they could still have an impact on the material prices. As you know, in July, we have adjusted our outlook, which we confirm now again. We expect sales to remain at the same level as last year, slightly higher in volume, but balanced out by currency headway.
For EBIT and our F3A, we expect 2025 to close at a strong level as 2024. When it comes to the free cash flow before acquisition, we assume a normalization after last year's exceptional results and expect to land at around EUR 260 million. In summary, 2025 is expected to end at a similar level as last year, which is a solid result, especially considering the high uncertainty in today's market. We are confident about our future because we have a strong business foundation, resilient structures, and above all, a very committed and motivated team. At the same time, the market environment remains uncertain. Therefore, we have to watch closely the market developments and be prepared for any potential headwinds. With that being said, I come to the end of my financial presentation, and I would like to hand over to Stefan.
Thank you very much, Esma.
Before we enter your questions and we will answer, a few slides about news from the FUCHS world since we met the last time. I think the first part, Esma already mentioned. With 70 subsidiaries across the world, we were blank in Switzerland. We had no subsidiary. We had a distributor there. Switzerland is a high-tech country. It was very nice that when we took over LUBCON, they had a subsidiary in Switzerland. Then we acquired STRUB at the end of the year. We have now a facility in Reiden in between Lucerne and Basel. It's a modern facility. The building you see here on the picture is like an old abandoned part of the property, which we will demolish moving forward. Now we have merged the two companies, LUBCON and STRUB, and have renamed them SWISS LUBRICANTS. We have now also acquired the Arceo distributorship.
All in all, we have now about 50 people on the account. We have revenues of CHF 20 million, which are nowadays EUR 22 million. I think that's a good basis to grow in the future. That was, for us, a really nice development. In the next slide, as you all know, sustainability is very important to us. It's at the bottom of our heart. The economic part, Esma went through. I think the third quarter was on the good old track record, you know. On the economic side, I think we do well in the current circumstances. I want to go into the other two parts. If you go on the ecological part, the one part is lubricants themselves have a positive impact on the CO₂ balance of our customers because they hinder wear and tear, but they also prohibit corrosion and many other things. They cool the electric.
They help the electric conductivity. Our customers also want to know, in the sheer chemistry, how much CO₂ footprint is in each kg of the products we deliver. We have an automated system now built in our recipes in SAP. Obviously, we need to make a couple of assumptions. To be clear, we have them certified by TÜV Rheinland. I think we are a frontrunner in the lubricants business that we can now tell our customers with a click on the mousepad what the CO₂ balance per kg is. I think that was very important for many of our customers. On the social side, we have a lot of social projects around the world. Our people are there not only for making money and succession planning in the countries, but also to be a good citizen.
We have a lot of social projects in the South Side of Chicago, outside of Johannesburg, in Mumbai, wherever our plants are, or in São Paulo. We have scholarships and things like this. In Germany, our flagship part is our FUCHS Föderpreis, how we call it. We do that since 26 years. We started humble. Now we have increased the amount to EUR 75,000 last year because it was the 25th jubilee of that sponsorship award. Now, as Esma said, with the cost avoidance, we turn around each Euro on marketing, on traveling, on consulting. That part, we wanted to keep because it's very important for us and the region. It's not only spending EUR 75,000, but it's also to provide a platform to all the people who do that and sacrifice private hours in doing social work. As it functions, we have 50 applicants for projects.
They go through the city of Mannheim, through their Social Welfare Department. We actually celebrate 16 projects. There are about 100 people here. The mayor of Mannheim is here. We spend two hours with them. They give us feedback on what they do with the money. It's a very emotional part. I just wanted to share that with you. It was two days ago. It's always a very nice ceremony. I hand back to Esma for the last slide for an announcement. We are happy to enter into the discussion.
Yeah. We are happy to announce our next Capital Market Day, which will take place on Thursday, April the 16th, next year at our headquarters here in Mannheim. This event will be a special one for us as we will officially launch our new strategic program, FUCHS 100. You all may hear it already.
This strategy is led by our Deputy CEO, Timo Reister, which will guide us from 2026- 2031, the year where FUCHS will celebrate 100 years of anniversary. We are very much looking forward to welcoming you here in Mannheim and sharing our vision for the future with you in person. A formal invitation will follow in the coming weeks. I think, with that being said, looking forward to see you here in Mannheim the next year later.
Okay. Now we can start with the Q&A session, please.
Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. We will now go with our first question. The first question today comes from the line of Sebastian Bray from Berenberg. Please go ahead. Hello.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. My first one is on the associates' income line at FUCHS. This seems to be one of the reasons why their margins have held up reasonably well year to date. Notably, there was quite an improvement year- on year in Q3 results. Could you talk a little about what has improved in the equity income associates and if this could be expected to continue into Q4 and 2026? My second question is on the organic volume growth in the Asian market. If you were to just come up with one cause that is driving this versus, let's say, two, three years ago, is it that FUCHS has signed good deals with Chinese automotive manufacturers or are other reasons at play? Thank you.
Okay, Sebastian, thanks a lot for the question. I will start with the Chinese question, which is very important.
As you know, a good part of FUCHS in Asia is China, followed by Australia, India, and some other important countries. We are in China since 40 years. We have spent the last 10 years to really make deep localization in China. We have built our formulas based on our IP around the world. In China, we have increased our capabilities with testing products, with developing products. Our Chinese colleagues are very fast. You know the terminology of China speed. That is also true for our colleagues. They have developed really cool products. What we now do, we go with our Chinese OEM customers. If I talk about OEM customers, they are not only in cars and trucks and construction equipment, but they are also in the machine industry, in the windmill manufacturers, in all mining equipment part. We go with them internationally.
I think that's the difference of us to many other German Mittelstand companies because we very early on said the know-how cannot only sit in Mannheim. We wanted to really push as one part of our FUCHS 2025 Strategy, U.S. and China. The Chinese colleagues have been much faster than the U.S. colleagues. They have also done a good job. That's the main reason.
In regards, Sebastian, to your question of our development of the equity in South Asia, it's actually coming through good business partnerings, let's say it this way, from Middle East especially. Yes, we expect here also going forward an improvement.
That's helpful. Thank you for taking my questions.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of
Constantine Heffer from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much for taking my questions. First of all, Nicholas, happy birthday. Turning over to the questions.
Look, number one would be visibility in 2025, right? I think that it goes without saying that you did surprise us with the guidance cut back in July because of a very weak June, despite previously having been talked about that momentum remained relatively okay. I am just wondering, as we move into the end of the year, how comfortable are you with the visibility that you have from today that we could potentially not see a worsening situation again and could potentially have to see an adjustment to the guidance or anything like that? Just in terms of visibility, how does it look like until the end of 2025 as of today? That is the first question.
Thank you, Constantine. I am very happy, especially for Jefferies, because we were glad when you took over the coverage and just you took over, made a recommendation.
We had to lower our earnings outlook. I was a little bit concerned about your mood. Honestly, we do not have yet a good visibility in 2025 moving forward. We were caught by surprise in the second quarter. My reading on that is really that we have just lost a few quarters in North America with regard to local consumption being down on the uncertainty of the tariffs for the consumers of white lines. Cars, barbecues, whatever we supply there. That was the one part. Each month is a little bit different. We had a wonderful July. We had a terrible August. We had a very good September. Trading has not changed yet. You read the newspaper with chip shortages and other things. You never know what Donald Trump does on the next morning. We are confident with our outlook.
We know that we have to do a little bit better in the fourth quarter compared to last year, which we see it does it. For us, mainly, it was to hit the third quarter. That was very important. The third quarter last year was extraordinarily high. I think we made it this year again. Honestly, we did not have to take the silverware out of the cupboard to show you that number.
Sounds good. October remains a good momentum so far.
So far. Honestly, only early January, I can tell you how we close on December.
Sounds good.
I mean, just from a normal bookkeeping, we do not expect surprises. No.
Sounds good. Sounds great. Look, I just want to have a bit of a conversation. As we go, a couple of questions on one on Capital Markets Day, one on 2026.
I mean, you have not grown in 2024, have not grown in 2025. If I look at 2026 overall macro, right, I look at the IMF estimates, there have been some slight, tiny upgrades for 2026 numbers. I think the VDMA expects a very small recovery in industrial activity going into next year. Just thinking about the building blocks into next year, without guiding, just speaking qualitative, really, is there anything that, from an underlying perspective, but also potentially from acquisitions that you've done this year, where you could potentially see an accelerated growth profile in 2026 compared to 2025?
I think it's an excellent question. The one correction I want to make when you say we were not growing, actually, in 2025, we see a volume growth which we have not seen for a number of years. That's not 1% or 2%, so we are happy with it.
When we saw the huge raw material increase in 2021 and 2022, we saw a little bit of softening in late 2024, early 2025. That is reflected in the selling prices. When Esma shows you the organic growth, you have the volume growth, you have the selling price on existing business, and you have the mixed part of it. Gaining the Mercedes contract, that is rather on the lower side. Volume growth was there this year. The guidance for 2026 was quite a battle internally. Honestly, we have very much pushed for rather a modest budget. For us, it was important because when we relooked in 2019, we saw the U.S.-China conflict peak time. In 2020 and 2021, we had COVID. 2021, 2022, we had a raw material increase of almost 70%. Then we had the Russia war. Each year had something new.
Then Donald Trump, the election, and then tariffs. We have not made our internal volume budget for a number of years. We confronted our people in the middle of this year. We told them we have to learn to make our budget again. We made sure that we don't have wild dreams on the volume. Each one of them was very modest on the volume. Internally, Esma provided us with, in a positive manner, a very mean allowance for fixed-cost increase. They have all budgeted accordingly. For me, that's a much better budget because to allow for more spending is an easy exercise. I think for us internally, it was important really not to allow for dreaming on the top line, but to make sure we are realistic. I think for FUCHS 2025, we have a number of initiatives going on where we have the business already.
You never know what is happening on the other side. The volatility is out in the market. That's a little bit on the basis. I have seen a first number last night [from the club] , but I can't share anything more than that.
Fair enough. That makes sense. Thanks. Maybe just on the Capital Markets Day, talking about the target format, right? Historically, you've typically given an EBIT target. I'm just wondering, going into this one, is there going to be a roughly, is the idea to be basically a similar target, or are you expecting to provide the market with something different?
I think we will have a target. The one thing is we will condition the target, what we have not done the last time.
We will review the target most likely each year and discuss it with you and then correct it down or up, however we are going. It will be very much conditioned because the last time we just put a number out bluntly. Yes, I think what we have delivered last year and hopefully deliver this year is, on the current circumstances, not a bad result. It does not fulfill our own aspirations. It did not fulfill what we were looking for with FUCHS 2025. Let us discuss it internally, put it on paper. We discuss it also with our supervisory board and with our government. We have our own timeline behind. In the middle of April, we will share and discuss it.
Understood. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Michael Schaefer from ODDO BHF. Please go ahead.
Yeah.
Thanks for taking my three questions. For the first one, I want to come back to APEC growth, which you have shown in Q3 and give a bit more, maybe a bit more color, basically what you really understand on specialties being the key growth components and maybe looking into 2026. What is the kind of growth pattern we should expect, which you have maybe already in the books in terms of OEM model wins and things like that? Any color on the kind of sustainability of the growth trends which we have strongly seen in 2025, which I think is rather triple the growth which you have shown in 2024 so far? Any color would be helpful on that one. The second one is you elaborated on the U.S. market, showing a nice catch-up in Q3 compared to a rather challenging Q2. Where are we there now?
Is this kind of normal run rate which you have now achieved, or how should we think about this one going into the fourth quarter? Lastly, third question, on the raw materials outlook, Esma, you flagged basically expectations for also a decline in the loop additives space and then also on top of the base- oil slight decline. Where does this come from, this view on lower additive costs? Is this something which you have already signed and in your books? Or just a bit of knowledge on that one? Thank you.
I can maybe comment a little bit on the raw material thing. We do not see a material decline coming up on base-oil and additives. I would be a little bit careful. As I have explained to you before, we do half of our stuff, more or less, related to the dollar, most likely.
Half is foreign currencies. If your currency weakens in South Africa, Australia, or China, your raw material costs increase in those countries. That more than offtakes if you have a dollar-denominated decrease in base-oils in Europe. All in all, if I have to make a conclusion, it is rather a little softer than a little higher, but we do not see such a material change. If you look at our cost margin, I mean, we have increased that again now a little bit in the third quarter, but we are in our comfort zone knowing the mix of the business. On APEC and North America,
let me start first with North America, because that was actually in Q2 a bit of [basis] points. If you recall it right, in July, I was saying, first of all, we have the inflated result in North America for the fourth top.
We had a ramp-up of the Mercedes business. We had one-off topics. Now we are seeing, actually, that they are phasing out. If you say, is that now the run- rate? No. On the other hand, what we are seeing right now is that our specialty business sequentially is picking up. It is not on the level where we have been last year, but the market is slowly picking up on that end as well. For Q4, our expectation would be at least America being on the run rate of Q3, maybe even slightly higher. That would be actually the average run rate we would expect for America going forward. If it comes to APEC and to growth components, I mean, we mentioned specialty segments, and you all know one of our main growth drivers we are having in China is the windmill.
As of effect, that one is growing locally. With the OEMs on site and also in the automotive, we are expecting actually to grow with the OEMs and the producers outside of China. That is the growth path we are seeing in China going forward.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. We will now go to the next question. Your next question today comes from the line of Martin Rüdiger from Kettler Schiffer. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thanks for taking my two questions. The first is a clarification question to Esma Saglik. You said in your speech about the outlook that you expect profitability to be almost at last year's level.
Then you said EBIT in 2025 will be on a similar level as of [2024]. Do you want to convey that EBIT might be slightly below last year's level of EUR 434 million? That's my first one. The second question is to Stefan Fuchs. You have significant exposure to the automotive industry, and you mentioned already. The supply shortage of chips from Nexperia. And we hear some car producers implementing short-term work because of these supply issues. Do you think this could become a concern for you?
Let me maybe first ask that, Stefan, in regards of a similar and maybe and might be. Frankly speaking, Martin, it can be also slightly above. Instead of being below. And so it's difficult to say. Let me say it this way. We say we will be on the level of last year.
And it was a wording which I was using because I can never say if the dot and comma will actually. We will achieve. And that was the reason why I phrased this accordingly.
On the car exposure, as you know, 25% of our business is with trade and automotive aftermarket, which has nothing to do with any car manufacturing. All the chips which are of those cars needing an oil change are already in those cars. When it comes to a major shutdown of the German car industry, obviously, we will also have a dampening impact. But we do not see that at the moment because we supply a lot of [chips] in those cars. We supply a lot of shovel saw in those cars. But I do not see a shutdown coming up like we have seen during COVID.
Obviously, there are many other risks you can name which could still derail our outlook, which are not known yet, but so far no impact. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now take the next question. The question comes from the line of Anil Shenoy from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my questions. I've got two, please. The first one is on cost-cutting measures which you spoke of. You have said that you have seen the initial impact of the cost-cutting measures in Q3. Does that mean that we will see the full impact in Q4, which in turn would imply that there will probably be a higher contribution, of course, from these cost-cutting measures in Q4? Also, if you could give some color on the nature of this.
Apologies. The line is very quiet.
Sorry. Can you hear me now?
You're still a little bit quiet.
Sorry. Any chance you can hear me now?
Okay. Yeah.
Right. Sorry. I had two questions. One, the first one was on cost-cutting measures. You spoke of seeing the initial impact of these cost-cutting measures in Q3. Does that mean we will see the full impact in Q4, which in turn would imply that there will be a higher contribution from cost cuts in Q4 compared to that of Q3? Also, if you could give us some color on the nature of these cost-cutting measures, please. I'm just trying to understand if these costs are expected to come back in 2026, or is there any chance that there are more scopes for more cost cuttings if macro conditions do not improve in 2026? That's my first question.
Secondly, and I'm sorry if I missed this, have you lowered the bonus provisions for 2025, given that you had to cut your guidance in Q2? If you have, then has that, by any chance, benefited the Q3 results? Could that benefit Q4 results as well? That's all I have for now.
Okay. Anil, maybe let me start with your first question. The last time when we got the question, we said, actually, the nature of our cost measure program is around a lower double digit. We started this package, or actually, we started about talking cost measures and reducing it already in May, June. We are seeing a quite significant impact already in Q3, and I would expect, and that's actually how we are faced with, more or less balancing or having the same amount also in Q4.
Coming to your second question, initially, I think it was last quarter, I also stated we are not doing results by reversing bonuses, etc. So far, our KPIs are on the level as last year, and that's actually how our bonuses were. As we are normally usually doing, our bonuses for nine months in. year-over-year, you should not expect actually any pluses or minuses of big impact coming from any bonuses. The same relates to Q4 as we are targeting or heading off achieving the 2024.
Thank you so much.
That's very helpful. Thank you. We will now take our final question for today. The final question comes from the line of Lars Vom Cleff from Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question.
First of all, I'm glad that you specified your Q4 EBIT outlook because when I first saw the Bloomberg headline saying that you expect profitability to be on the previous year's level for Q4, I was scratching my head how that could then work with reaching your guidance, but that is clearly understood now. Looking at Q3 and EMEA, profitability was nicely up. Revenue were flat. I guess some of these positive effects were also already coming from the cost avoidance measures, especially in EMEA, correct?
Yes, that's correct.
You also know that in EMEA, all equity results it, where you get EUR 1 million extra.
Yeah, correct.
Okay. Perfect. Then looking at the split of the EBIT by division, I saw that holding and consolidation EBIT for the first nine months was EUR 3 million.
I know it was a EUR 3 million positive contribution in H1, so holding and consolidation must have been - 6 in Q3. Is this cost for the implementation of these measures, or am I missing anything?
Lars, you gave the answer already. It is actually related to our [Trends] Born to Grow project, which is sitting there right now.
That was it? Or is there anything additional to come in Q4, maybe early 2026?
You mean from the cost base there?
From the cost side. Yeah, yeah. Not from the—
I mean, we are running this project, but it's on budget. It will be actually a project for the next year, and the cost will evolve accordingly.
Oh. The cost for the implementation or the reduction of your production costs?
No, the cost of the implementation.
Okay. Okay. Understood.
You call it targeted cost avoidance measures, but I guess you already gave the answer. Yeah. To a certain extent, I was afraid or I was worried that this could also be partly a postponement of costs into the next years. You're more or less not only avoiding the costs, but also taking them out, as I take it, or yeah, cancel these costs.
Yeah. Lars, what are we doing? It's, of course, being a bit more cautious if everything we are spending right now is really needed to be spent. If you look to travel, if you look to consulting fees, etc., that will not bounce back again. It's just not a spend we are doing right now.
Understood. Thank you. The last one. Net working or net operating working capital to annualized sales revenues. You guided for a range or had a target range of 21%-22% in the past.
Is that still valid? Because you haven't achieved that for the last two years now.
That's a fair question. I'll see it the same way as you, probably to your full perspective. That will be also our guidance going forward. Of course, we have to see our setups, etc., but nevertheless, that should be actually what we should target for.
Understood. Thank you very much. I'll go back into the line. Thank you.
Thank you. That was our final question for today. I will now hand the call back to Andreas for closing remarks.
Yeah. Thank you very much, Sharon. Thank you very much to all of you for your interest in our company, in the earnings, and for your questions. We look forward very much to seeing, hopefully, all of you then at our Capital Market Day next year.
The next earnings publication will be on March 20th, 2026, when we publish the full-year results. Thank you once again for your interest. If you have further questions, don't hesitate to contact the Investor Relations team. You may now disconnect. Thank you very much.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may all now disconnect.