Dear all, I warmly welcome you to the presentation of the results for the first half of 2025. Having already published our order intake in advance, as usual, I would now like to present the other key financial figures. Revenue, output, EBIT, and liquidity. First, I will give you a concise overview. As reported, order intake increased by 29%. In addition, revenues also grew significantly, namely by 30% compared to the previous year. Output also increased by almost the same amount at 28%. This reflects the high production output of our plant. Earnings before interest and taxes improved by as much as 39%. Without unfavorable currency effects, the increase would have been even more pronounced. Liquidity also developed particularly strongly. At midterm, it was around 57% above the figures for the same period in 2024.
The fact that it is down compared with the end of 2024 is explained by the fact that the advance payments available at the end of the year were converted into concrete sales in the current first half of the year. As usual, we look at sales development from two perspectives. The first is the breakdown by business segment. New machines, many CHP plants, supplemented by a few heat pumps, as well as service and spare parts. This chart also shows sales for the second half of the year. On Thursday, fourth of September, we announced a more specific estimate for the second half of the current year.
At the beginning of the year, we had forecast an increase in sales from EUR 376 million in 2024 to EUR 430 million-EUR 450 million for 2025, an increase of 15%-20%. However, the current situation made an adjustment necessary. Due to the pending EU approval for the so-called Biomass Package in Germany, part of the planned new business will not immediately contribute to revenues this year. Although numerous German biogas customers have already placed orders, they will not give production approval until late in the year. As a result, we are now limiting our revenue forecast to a maximum of EUR 440 million. This corresponds to a growth of up to 17% instead of the previous 20%.
The EUR 10 million shortfall is not lost, but will be really realized in 2026. At the same time, we are adjusting our EBIT expectations from up to 10.5% to up to 9.5%. Total sales rose by 30% in the first half of the year. Service sales increased solidly by 12%. New machines, in particular, saw strong growth of 55%. From a regional perspective, the strongest growth came from Europe, particularly Ukraine, which accounted for the lion's share of growth in the first half of the year. The German market also performed well, with new machines up to EUR 5 million and service up to EUR 3 million, resulting in overall growth of 10%.
Sales in North and Central America rose by 16%, while the rest of the world lagged behind the previous year with around EUR 10 million. The decline there is due to the project-specific structure of these markets. It is noteworthy, however, that service sales are also becoming increasingly established in these markets. Overall, growth in foreign markets amounted to 59%. The export ratio reached 49%, representing another significant increase compared with previous years. Let's have a look on the consolidated income statement. Total output reached a new record level of EUR 193 million, representing an increase of 28%. Material cost rose by 31%, driven by the higher material intensity of machine sales. Consequently, the material ratio increased from 61.9% to 63.2%. Personnel expenses increased by 17%, but remained significantly below the overall output.
As a result, the personnel cost ratio fell from 23.9% to 21.7%. Depreciation is increasing, mainly due to the machinery we have been operating in Puerto Rico since the second half of 2024. Other operating expenses rose by 31%, mainly due to higher sales commissions, external R&D contributions, additional costs in connection with the ERP project, and higher travel expenses. In addition, there were negative currency effects instead of positive effects in the first half of 2024. Overall, the half year closed with EBIT of EUR 5.7 million, representing an increase of 39% over the previous year. At 3.3%, the EBIT margin was slightly higher than last year. Let's look on the operating working capital.
Operating working capital rose by 21% in the first half of the year, slightly less than the total output. Inventories, in particular, increased by EUR 25 million. Of this, EUR 23 million was attributable to nearly completed CHP units, all of which were manufactured to customer's order. Advance payments already received in the amount of around EUR 12 million largely covered the increase of raw materials and supplies. These additional raw materials are necessary to prepare for the second half of the year. Once again, inventories increased EUR 25 million. This is due to the increase in nearly completed CHP units, all of which were manufactured to customer orders. Trade receivables declined as a significant portion of deliveries, particularly to Ukraine, had already been paid for in full. Prepayments not related to orders also declined after reaching exceptionally high levels in December 2024.
Trade payables increased by EUR 15 million. This is attributable, on the one hand, to a normalization following the low figures at the end of 2024, and on the other hand, to pull forward effects in connection with the changeover to the new ERP system. Overall, it is clear that the increase in working capital is exclusively due to the significant increase in almost completed order-specific CHP units. This is, as such, a positive development. A few words on liquidity. Liquidity decreased as planned on the reporting date compared with the end of 2024, but was still 57% higher than at mid-year 2024. The decline is primarily due to the conversion of high advance payments received in December 2024 into revenues.
At the same time, various investments were made: EUR 1.4 million for the global ERP system, EUR 1.2 million to expand the service vehicle fleet, EUR 0.9 million for a new assembly hall with attached office building, and EUR 0.2 million for other business and operating equipment. In the area of financing, financial liabilities amounting to EUR 1.4 million were repaid. In addition, a dividend of EUR 3.6 million was distributed in June. The negative cash flow from financing activities thus amounted to EUR 4.7 million. This left liquidity of EUR 14.2 million available at the end of the first half of the year. Let's discuss the outlook.
We continue to anticipate a significant increase in revenues for the 2025 financial year, even though the planned upper limit of EUR 450 million will be difficult to achieve due to the delay in EU approval for the German Biomass Package. Our updated forecast now puts our revenues at between EUR 430 million and EUR 440 million. This level corresponds to growth of 15%-17% compared to the previous year. This is slightly below the original expected range of up to 20%, but does not fundamentally jeopardize the growth course. Assuming a split between new machine sales and service of 55%-45%, similar to previous years, we get this picture. It becomes clear that the current order backlog obviously secures the revenue forecast.
Projects already commissioned are sufficient to reliably underpin the new target of EUR 430 million-EUR 440 million. The challenge lies not in demand, but in the regulatory delay caused by the EU approval, which slightly limits our commissioning and invoicing for 2025. However, these effects will have a positive impact on 2026, as the postponed orders will carry over into the coming financial year. The associated EBIT expectation has been adjusted accordingly from up to 10.5% to up to 9.5%. The mathematical midpoint of our forecast now represents a sales volume of around EUR 435 million and an EBIT margin of around 9%. Of particular relevance here is that EBIT growth will continue to be an average well above 20% per annum. Our medium-term growth outlook remains attractive.
For 2026, we confirm our forecast of revenues of up to EUR 490 million, with an EBIT margin in the range of 9%-11%. Let me briefly talk about our new data center division. Why is it suddenly so promising? First, here is a recent study from this year. It says, as do several other serious studies, that a reliable power supply is the top factor for choosing a location for a data center, even more important than connection to an internet node, even more important than data protection. Without electricity, there can be no data center. In fourth place is the price of electricity, and in this context, reliable power supply means electricity that is available under all weather conditions and capable of handling base load and at attractive prices.
However, as the public power supply in many industrialized countries is stretched to its limits, data centers will in future almost always need their own power supply, not just as an emergency solution, but in 24/7 mode. And that's where we come in, because we have been familiar with this 24/7 mode for decades. We have solutions which you can see here, namely a 1 MW module on the left side and a 2.5 MW module on the right side. The 1 MW module is characterized by the fact that it is stackable and therefore extremely compact, a real USP among other USPs. So we have solutions that are attracting interest worldwide. We are involved in a number of tenders. These tenders are very, very lengthy. We therefore expect the first orders to come in next year.
Please don't forget, we only reentered this business a few months ago. The data center segment is a real add-on to the frequently communicated growth path of 10% plus inflation. Thank you very much for your attention.