Good afternoon to everyone. Thank you for being here with us for the nine-month results conference call. This meeting is recorded. This afternoon, we have with us Paul Fogolin, CFO of the group, who will start the presentation. The floor will then continue with Federico de Stefani, CEO of the group. Paul, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Mara. And good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for joining. Let me put it in full screen and start the presentation of the nine-month performance. Starting with some highlights, we just underlined as an opening statement the comparison with the last quarter sales. As we can see, the Q3 2025 was 17.2% versus last year's consolidated level, touching the €84.3 million. There was, of course, some benefit from the comparison, but also the absolute figures are interesting and giving a flavor of how this quarter performed. Looking at the heating and ventilation, it was an 11.6% increase. The metering altogether made 26.3, where the gas metering was very good in performance, over 30%, nearly 35%, and the water metering at 13.2%. Overall, the top line performed well. This brings the nine-month consolidated revenues to €238 million at 6.8% versus previous month.
Looking at the EBITDA performance, the nine-month adjusted EBITDA was €32.5 million. That brings us 13.6%. It's an improvement also versus the half-year results. It's a good margin increasing over 80% versus last year. We are seeing the impact of volumes and, of course, the effectiveness of our cost efficiencies. We underlined also the EBIT. It performed €12.9 million, 5.4%. It underlines the operating performance and the turnaround in our operations. This data is highlighted in the table on the right where we represent the nine months of adjusted P&L. All lines are comparable, and we see the performance on all lines. As for debt, we closed the quarter at €142 million. It was €152 million at the same date of last year. We will go into details of that when we get to the cash flow statement.
Looking at the reported data, which is basically the top part of this slide, just to go on to the main differences, we can see the consolidated revenue, 6.8%. Here, we break down the divisional trends, highlighting the Forex impact on heating. It was six, it would be, it was six in the nine months. It would have been 7.5% at the same Forex. We all are aware that we are still active on efficiency initiatives, reorganization activities. We do have some one-off costs in these nine months. We totalize €3.9 million in the reported data. Just some accounting details. You know, we recall that last year, we had the transaction with the negotiation cost with the banks. We had to, these €4 million. The comparison on the reported line of net financial charges includes this specific $4 million in 2024.
Talking about tax and tax accounting, in nine months of 2024, we accrued deferred tax. At the end of 2024, these were written off. In 2025, we are following that policy. The tax that we accrue in 2025 is $3.4 million. Basically, it refers to the tax that accrues on the subsidiaries and foreign subsidiaries. The policy will be not accruing any deferred tax assets. This brings us to a reported net income of $1.6 million. We are in a net income situation, finally. If we look at the net income adjusted of the exceptional items, it's $4.6 million. Overall, the P&L gives us this photograph of the nine months. Looking at some cash flow items, operations produced $11.9 million. It was $3.6 million last year, so significant improvement. Working capital is $72.1 million. Again, $77 million. That's approximately at 22% of revenues at both dates.
As for net debt, I already commented. We are confident that these numbers, together with the ones that we presented in half-year, underline a turnaround in the operations and in the P&L. Let's go into more detail of these numbers. On the top line, this is our traditional way of representing the bridge of our sales. As you can see, the increase in volume and mix, increase in prices, and the Forex effect basically on the heating and ventilation. This is in the ninth month. Here, the breakdown of the geographies that in our business, in our company at the moment, is maybe not so representative at consolidated level, given that it's mainly the heating business that is the most exposed to foreign countries. This is the photograph and the bridge of the nine months. This is the photograph and the bridge of the third quarter.
We see here the increase in the volumes is basically concentrated in the third quarter. I think that the numbers were commented before. There's no need to go into detail. Available for any comment and Q&A later on. Let's look at the performance at the heating and ventilation business sales. Again, we highlight the Forex impact. It's important. We all are aware that this year our business is growing in the States and in the United States. We are exposed to the U.S. dollar, so we do have some effect on this top line. We represented here $14.6 million and Q3 $7.5 million in year to date. Coming to the single geographies, Italy is confirming the trend that we are looking and we are seeing in the last quarters. It's 15.3 in Q3 and 14.1% increase in the full year in the year to date.
All families are growing, but especially ventilation for direct heating applications. We know that the strategic initiative in the Coker Woods , and we can eventually comment it later on. Europe, finally, we see a positive number, 2.7 in the Q3. It improves slightly the year to date to minus 2.9%. I would say that as last reporting, we highlighted the Turkey market where it was very much concentrated. This quarter, the market rebounded well, bringing the quarter in a positive level together in both local markets and in central heating applications in some OEMs. Central Europe market was up over 10%, while the UK is basically flattish in this quarter. Coming to America, we are confirming the data. We see the quarter and the year to date in the range of 30% and 39% and 35% increase if we look at the same Forex.
Here, we have a positive performance in the direct heating, meaning fireplaces, and in the central heating. We are confirming the trend in this area. China is a Pacific, is up, but let's say China is still weak. Basically, the quarterly performance was in other geographies. China is still, let's say, in a still a weak market in our industry. I will go to the heating. Here we see if we see that the quarter very positive, 34. We know that the metering, the gas metering has a strong portfolio of orders since from the beginning of the year and was ramping up production. Now they are streamlined and producing this 15.9 million in Q3, bringing the year to date to 44.5, which is basically 3%. We are on track for the performance that we expect at the end of the year.
Water metering is going, let's say, at its usual growth rate. We are satisfied, double digits, 13.2% in the quarter, 9% in the year. Here also, we are in line with what we are expecting. I will go to the working capital. I think I already highlighted the main number in terms of working capital on revenues. We are in the same range, around 22%. The absolute level is different because in the last year, we are in the middle of an important restocking that was interested the whole industry, but we were much involved in that part of the year. Now we are in a more normal situation. The increase in this year, in this part of the year, which is the 6.4, is in line with our seasonality. We think that on this side of our balance sheet, there will be no surprises.
Management is performing in line with our expectations. Cash flow, of course, our current cash flow coming from, let's say, EBITDA is much more positive. It's nearly €30 million against €16 million. In the nine months, we burned €4.5 million in working capital and other working capital as well. We have VAT absorption of cash in this period. Here, we highlight the CapEx much more, let's say, focused, much more optimized versus last year. Altogether, the €11.9 million of operating cash flow is here, that's summarized. Under the operations, we have interest charges, leases, and other issues. The reduction in net debt from the beginning of the year is €4 million. Here, we see on the right the composition of our net debt. Finally, but not to forget the ratio, the leverage ratio. Here, we have the three numbers, 3.4 is our current number, 5.3 was the end of the year and 6.4 was a year ago. Here also, I say we underline a good effective performance. These are for the final comments. I leave them to Federico.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. For the final comments and the full year outlook, we'll start with the considerations about the scenario. We have been playing in a European declining market for boilers. This means that we have been able to grow, first of all, to outperform the boilers market and the residential heating market, but also to grow in other applications because the EU has been declining. The U.S. has been growing. The U.S. has been growing as a market. We have been, again, also here overperforming the market. China, as stated by Paul, has been a declining market so far this year. We are positioned in the retail market, which has been decreasing less than the average of the market. Nevertheless, China has not been performing well. These are my comments about the residential heating market.
As stated, we know that our turnover in this residential gas boilers market represents 38% of the total turnover of the group. This is part of our strategy to be less dependent from this market and therefore to continue to be leaders in the heating market, but also to expand to other markets. For this year's priorities, we know that our target has been and still is to restore profitability across the whole income statement. From this point of view, we can say that we are in percentage terms back to the historical EBITDA percentage levels. Our strategy and our priority, as stated, has been and still is the progressive reduction of the net financial debt. As stated by Paul, we have performed a significant deleveraging from 6.4 to 3.4. These strategic priorities have all been accomplished as planned, as announced.
Looking ahead, our adjusted EBITDA for the year is expected to remain solidly positive and to reach the value of around $40 million. The projected net financial position at the end of the year in the area of the $140 million. All these also thanks to a very smart and selective strategy on CapEx. We said many times that we have had a period where we have invested heavily in production capacity, in the new laboratories, in the new headquarter. Now we will focus, continue to focus, as we did throughout the whole year in 2025. We continue to focus on CapEx mainly for product development and innovation in order to allow the group to enter the applications and to maintain the leadership in our core market. I think that's it for the presentation, but we are here for your questions and answers.
If you have any questions, please raise your hand. Okay. Emanuele Negri, the floor is yours.
Yes, good afternoon, thanks for the presentation and for taking my question. I have a couple. The first one is related to the closing remarks you did in your presentation where you mentioned some challenges occurred in the last few quarters in the reference market. For what you can share with us, how did your market share evolve in the last few years in all these, let's say, market turmoil we had in the heating market in Europe? How is your market, let's say, scenario changed in terms of market share? The second one is, again, on the point of the presentation, you mentioned the positive effect from pricing in the first nine months of this year. Could you break down even maybe in a qualitative way the price effect from all the business, so heating, gas metering, and water metering? Thanks.
Okay. Thank you, Emanuele. What our development of our market share over the years, we have been more present in a certain market, which is, let's say, the condensing boilers market I'm referring to. As part of this, there has been the combustion management system, so the smart boilers market, let's call it this way, in terms of combustion. We had a lower market share in what's called the CMS, the condensing boilers market. I would say that we probably lost the minimum of market share in the previous years.
Now, the trend is back to the, the volumes are moving away from CMS back to, let's say, standard condensing boilers. That's why we've probably been benefiting this year from this shift and will continue to benefit. We probably, again, lost the minimum of market share in the past few years, previous years. This year, we have been regaining that and we have been probably improving in certain our market share in certain products. For example, fence, fence for boilers is an area where we've been growing our market share. About your pricing, your question about the pricing effect.
I'll try to be short, if you don't mind. Emanuele, I just want to give you this insight. My business colleagues always ask me if we have to give this information to the market. I say, actually, no. I say that at a consolidated level, you can say that it is in the heating business. If you are in the metering, you can say it is in the heating business. You can play on this fact so that we do not disclose how we manage prices. Given that, I want to be fair and just give you some insight that part of our, and here, this part of this dynamic in the market, in one, some business is more of a, let's say, not day by day, but more of a year by year, quarter by quarter. In another business, it is more of a, let's say, a year-on-year process, given that the way to market is different from one business to the other. If you don't mind, we won't go into more detail on this.
No, it's fine. Thank you.
Jada. Jada, we can't hear you.
I'm very sorry. Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Okay, s orry for that. Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. I have a couple of questions. The first one is that I was wondering which are the fastest growing product families in Europe in the heating and ventilation division, excluding traditional products, so meaning products for residential gas boilers. For example, for Italy, you mentioned ventilation for direct heating. Which are the best ones in Europe? If these products have kept or will keep the same profitability as traditional products. The second question is, how do you see 2026? Do you think you are going to consolidate growth? Do you see some big changes? How is the market? Some color on your expectations. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Jada. About the market segments out of the boilers, we have seen North America growing significantly. That's a result of a fireplace market that has been performing very well. We are a market leader in the market, so we have been growing with the market. We have performed well in the storage, again, in North America as well, in the storage water heaters market. That's a quite stable market. That's market share growth. With regard to the, what we call DMC, mechanical ventilation, that market has been growing in 2025. It still represents a minority of our turnover. In that area, we have been growing in 2025, probably not in terms of, oh, some indirect market share, but let's say we have been growing slightly more than the market average. About 2026.
The budget is not already approved?
We are in the process of developing, as you can imagine, a budget which is coming from a very important year, like 2025. We have been able to prove that we have been performing what we claimed a year ago. It's still very early to comment on 2026. Generally speaking, we see North America continue to remain strong. I remind that we are present in three main markets in North America. Two of them I already mentioned, fireplaces and storage water heaters, but also in boilers.
All these three markets have been performing well in the first nine months of the year and are expected to continue throughout the year. We see a North American economy and in our market for our industry to remain, let's say, quite interesting, let me say. We see some European markets starting to expect to recover in 2026. For us, the priority for 2026 continues to be to penetrate, to increase our share in new markets. This 38%, obviously, we want it to grow in absolute terms. The priority for us is, again, to grow also in other markets that are not only the residential heating.
Can we summarize that even if you don't have a budget, the CEO has a positive feeling on 2026?
Absolutely.
Okay.
Yes, that's well summarized, Mara. Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Jada. Let's see if we have additional questions. I don't see any, really. Let me check the other page. No, I don't see any additional. No, yes. I agree. Emanuele, do you have another question?
Yes, sorry, just a quick follow-up. I was looking at the numbers for the third quarter, and I saw that the incidence of personal cost on sales was really lower compared to the last few quarters and to last year. Is this something we can project also going forward, or have you recorded some, let's say, extra effect or one-off effect which somehow modified these items?
I think that the numbers that we show on adjusted P&L can be at least them carried forward. Plus, we do have some extra activities that are not yet reflected in the current reporting. Yes, basically, if that's what a simple answer.
If I may, I would like to add that in 2026, you will see an additional effect from the activities that they have taken in 2025 in terms of efficiency. This year, they cut, let's say, some costs, and those effects are not fully reported in 2025. They will be partially, let's say, display their effect in 2026.
Carryover.
Carryover, yeah.
It will be carryover, and there will be new initiatives. Of course, you know the results that cost reductions have been important in 2025. Let's say that you know most of them are coming from the reduction or from the shutdown of the Dutch plant. It's not the only reason, as you know, as we explained many times, why costs have been reducing. Again, I stress your point. It will continue to reduce, no doubt, both through the carryover and through new initiatives.
Hopefully, we will have some, let's say, top-line increase and cost reductions.
Of course, the raw material situation is still to be monitored. Energy is obviously an important part of our P&L, and it's difficult to say, at least at this stage for us, what will be the trend of energy and raw materials in 2026, but we're working on it.
Okay.
Jada, do you have additional questions because you have your hand raised? If you have additional questions, yes, Christopher, the floor is yours.
Yeah. Hi, Mara. Hi, everyone. Congratulations, first of all, for the results. They are very encouraging indeed. Can I ask if maybe Paul Fogolin would like to venture and give an idea of where he would like to see the debt EBITDA ratio be at the end of 2026? I mean, this is maybe a wish or not a guidance, but I think it would be very reassuring for the market to know that you are going to stay on course to bring the ratio further down. Thank you.
Sorry. Just before you answer, I would say it's going to be difficult to reduce it by three times EBITDA also next year, at least. We'll try, but...
Let's say providing a range, it will be in the notch between 2.5 and 3. I know it's a wide range, but that's where we are heading.
No, it's very good. Very good. Thank you.
Thank you for the questions. If you have additional questions, we are here.
Yes. Sorry, can I ask you another one?
Of course.
Sorry because I have asked this question in the past, and I'm interested in the Tunisian plant, how this has progressed, at what stage you are in terms of what you're manufacturing there, and maybe capacity utilization. You've obviously closed the Dutch plant, and that is giving positive effects, clearly. I'm curious to hear if you have anything to add on the Tunisian plant. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Christopher. The Tunisian plant is running well according to our expectations, both in terms of volumes produced and in terms of quality performed from the plant. As you know, we are producing most of our electronics there for both divisions, both for gas metering and for heating and ventilation. We have started also to move production of some mechanical components. This is a sign that we tasted the water, let me say, from the beginning.
We wanted to make sure that the plant was going to be, as I said, effective in terms of efficiencies, in terms of quality, and so on. Now we can further move some production. Some mechanical products have been recently in the middle of being relocated there. As far as production capacity for electronics, we have no issues. In fact, extra capacity is absolutely available. These mechanical products, the lines are going in still low volumes. We're not moving the high runners. The mechanical products that we're moving there are moving with all the lines, the assembly lines. There's plenty of production capacity there.
Sounds good. Thank you.
We recently received a couple of audits from our customers, from our key customers. All the audits have had a very positive result. We were discussing this with the customer this morning. So far, so good, honestly. Yeah.
Excellent. Thank you.
It is cost-effective in terms of labor, and the quality is comparable to other plants of the group. As you know, we have not started from scratch completely because we purchased the supplier with all the know-how of the local production and the local environment. So far, so good, honestly. Very encouraging.
Thank you.
Okay. I don't know if there are any additional questions. No? Okay. Thank you very much indeed. Tomorrow, we will be at the ISMO in Milan, in a day conference organized by Intesa, which we thank you since today. We are available for any additional question or any doubt that you may have. Thanks again for participating to this call.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
Grazie. Thank you.
Grazie. Ciao.