Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good afternoon and welcome to the first earnings call of Steyr Motors on the occasion of the publication of the 2024 annual report. I'm delighted to share our financial performance, future strategic milestones, and also the outlook for the future. For all those participants who don't know us, we are Steyr Motors, one of the world's leading companies in the development and production of customized high-performance diesel engines for mission-critical defense and civilian applications. Also, the third part of our business model, alongside development and production, is the service and spare parts business. With a global customer base and a highly recognized reputation for high quality, we are well prepared for our intended massive further expansion. The year 2024 was a very exceptional year for Steyr Motors, marking a clear turning point in our company's history.
Our team's hard work and dedication have translated into strong financial results, a successful listing in Frankfurt, and most importantly, a solid foundation for massive future growth. Let's go into some more details to our financial performance and shareholder value. Reflecting on our achievements in 2024, I'm pleased to report that we have successfully met our financial forecasts. Our revenue grew by more than 9% to EUR 41.7 million. The EBIT adjusted for one-offs regarding restructuring and consulting costs stood at EUR 10.1 million. This means, on a reported unadjusted base, EUR 6.5 million. These impressive figures underline our commitment to financial discipline and also, of course, operational excellence. In the light of our strong performance, the Management Board and Supervisory Board will propose a dividend of EUR 0.55 per dividend entitled share at our upcoming annual general meeting on May 7th.
We strongly believe that our shareholders should also participate in the success we have achieved and remain confident in our long-term value creation strategy. Regarding the future, we see massive growth potential and also a lot of market opportunities. I have just explained our 2024 key financial figures, and while those are promising, our journey to even further growth has just begun. Currently, we are witnessing dynamic growth in demand for our products, in particular in the defense sector. Given the clear current geopolitical landscape, governments worldwide are significantly increasing defense budgets. The super cycle presents a tremendous opportunity for us, at least for the next decade. We have here, and we see a super cycle in the defense world. One of the key highlights of our strategic growth is our recently announced framework agreement with Rheinmetall.
This collaboration is a proof for the innovative strength of both companies, setting new standards in the development of modern military platforms. We are proud to contribute our technology to this pioneering project and work together with Rheinmetall on forward-looking solutions for the defense industry. This journey has just begun; also here, we will see massive growth in the future. The consistent market development has already led to a noticeable increase in the order backlog of Steyr Motors. Our order backlog is made up of firm orders, framework agreements, long-term framework agreements, and non-binding but very concrete commitments currently amounting to almost EUR 200 million, with a visibility up to 2027. The framework agreements, of course, also offer significant medium to long-term potential for even additional orders beyond the minimum agreed in the order backlog.
Moreover, further contracts, of course, are about to be signed, which would increase Steyr Motors' order backlog for the period after 2027 by an additional EUR 150 million at the moment. We believe that this volume will increase significantly due to the long-term framework agreements in the defense industry. Alongside, we see a lot of further potential, especially regarding our global expansion strategy and our strategic returns. As part of the listing, the management of Steyr Motors has drawn up a business plan up to 2027, which shows sustained and dynamic growth of around about 40% each year in top-line revenue and a four-times EBIT 2027 compared to the just-adjusted EBIT in 2024. The first step regarding our global expansion in 2024, we took a significant step towards international growth by opening an office in China in Beijing for marketing and delivering civilian engines for the marine industry in Asia.
In recent months, we've also focused on developing new business opportunities and consistently expanded our international presence through cooperation agreements in regions not previously covered by Steyr Motors. The strategy includes targeted market development and the establishment of long-term partnerships in several high-growth regions of the world to exploit so far untapped expansion potential. In addition to intensive customer visits, we have significantly strengthened our network of distributors worldwide. Furthermore, new distribution agreements have been successfully concluded with sales agents in Asia. This includes Indonesia, as a new market on top of the activities in China, as well as in India, in South America, the US, and other regions. Let's come also to our milestone from a financial point of view with the listing. This was clearly a turning point in the recent history of Steyr Motors.
A key highlight in 2024 was the successful listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange last October. This has been followed by the secondary listing on the Vienna Stock Exchange in February this year, 2025. This move has significantly enhanced our visibility among investors, but also strengthens our access to capital markets. The listing provides us with the financial flexibility needed to execute our expansion plan efficiently. Furthermore, the increased transparency and recognition have already generated new business opportunities, including a potential partnership in the US with a large listed defense company. This company proactively approached us, which is a clear signal towards our intended strategy. Let's go to the future and our outlook for 2025. We will see strong growth ahead. Looking ahead, we are highly optimistic about 2025 and beyond.
Based on our strong order backlog and ongoing negotiations, we expect revenue to increase for 2025 by at least 40% compared to 2024. We are targeting an output of more than 1,250 engine units, a significant jump from the 729 engines produced in 2024. Alongside with that, we anticipate achieving an EBIT margin of at least 20% in 2025. Also, to highlight that at our production site in Steyr, in Upper Austria, we have capacity for more than doubling our current output, and we will still be in a working one-shift system without the need of any further CapEx investments. We have a perfect platform for the intended future growth we will see. The growth will be driven by intensified activities, especially in Asia, the Middle East region, South America, and of course, the US, as one of our main markets.
Our medium-term outlook remains unchanged, and we fully expect to see a four-fold increase in targeted EBIT by 2027 compared to 2024. Beyond that, we anticipate continued strong performance on an unadjusted base. Therefore, the end of 2025 with strong confidence and determination, ready for the opportunities this year and the upcoming years ahead. To summarize it, we are at the beginning of a defense super cycle for at least the next decade. The market is there. We face perfect market conditions for our business, especially for our defense business. Second, we have the perfect setup with our platform for multiplying our output without the need of further CapEx investments. Third, also as a starting point with a strong order backlog, and this order backlog will grow.
Fourth, in addition to that, we are working on some new opportunities with newly developed products in order to achieve potentials beyond the business plan. Thank you so far for joining on this journey. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress and our future achievements. Now I'm more than happy to take any questions you may have. Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press nine and star on your telephone keypad. In case you wish to withdraw a question, please press three and star on your telephone keypad. For any questions, please press now nine and star. We have one question so far coming from Simon Keller, HAIB. Please go ahead with your question.
Hey, Julian. Thanks for taking my question. I'd start with two, please. Firstly, can you give us an update on current trading?
Maybe then also, how do you expect the growth that you expect for 2025 to be distributed throughout the year? Can we assume a similar growth rate in H1 as in H2, or would it rather be back-end loaded? Secondly, on the 2025 guidance, is there still any large order that still needs to come so that you can actually realize the over 40% sales growth?
Okay. Thanks, Simon, for your questions. First of all, we are still in March, so first quarter. We are in the middle of first quarter. Of course, we have a staging in our business plan. Q1, as just said, is still running. At the moment, it seems that Q1 will be more or less the result will be there, what we have expected.
Given also our business model will be sometimes long lead times, especially in the defense industry, our business plan looks like that in H2, we will see a stronger growth compared to H1. This was also the case last year. It is due to our business model that, of course, especially in the defense industry, we have, as just said, long lead times. We start with engineering services, and in the next step, we start to sell our engines. There is a stronger revenue increase later and not proportionally. As just said, this has been also the case last year. Regarding your third question regarding large orders, at the moment, we see an order backlog.
In the order backlog for 2025, about two-thirds of our targeted revenues to achieve a more than 40% revenue increase compared to last year, more than two-thirds for the revenues targeted 2025 is currently in the order backlog. Of course, there needs to be filled in some more revenues, but more than about two-thirds is already in the order backlog. This should give at least some guidance and some confidence to achieve our targets in 2025.
Thank you, Julian. That was already very helpful. Two further questions, if I may. Firstly, what would be the impact of tariffs from the US, for example, on your supply chain? Secondly, what's your CapEx target for 2025? That's excluding lease and intangible investments.
The tariffs for the US, we are in constant contact with our at the moment two US sales agents sitting in the US. I've been to the US end of last year. I think I've talked directly to Navy representatives. Also, we are to explain that we are delivering our engines via our sales agents to boat builders in the US. Those boat builders then sell the boats, including our engines, to the Navy to the Navy field. You can consider it as made-in-US product, which is in the context of the current discussions, quite helpful. Secondly, if you compare the price of our engines to the price of, for instance, the vehicles or the boats, and add on top of that some percentage of tariffs, this is a relatively small portion.
Even if we would face some tariffs on our engines, in theory, the absolute effect is not relevant, as just that the price of the boat itself in comparison to the price of the engine is relatively small. The total effect is relatively small. I do not see any negative impact at the moment. Yeah. I hope that answers your question, Simon.
Yes. Thank you very much. On CapEx, is there any color you can give us?
Yeah. CapEx, we are, let's say, asset-light, capital-light business model, as our USP is clearly the development, the engineering of the new engines to customize those engines. In our business plan for 2025, we would say at the moment below EUR 5 million CapEx for 2025.
You can always discuss whether you go for one more sort of project I have just highlighted in my introduction, that we, of course, are working on new products, new potential opportunities beyond the business plan. You can always decide how far you will go for that, how far you will invest. Given the current strategy and the current business plan, it is below EUR 5 million to give you a ballpark figure regarding that.
That is very helpful. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Simon.
We have one more question coming from Raimund Ortner, Coinfinity GmbH. Please go ahead with your question.
Hi, Julian. Raimond here. Happy to be here. Happy to be at this meeting today. I am here as a private person, and I have a question regarding dividend payments. Are dividend payments planned?
If so, will it have an impact on the growth of the company mid to long term? Thank you.
Dividends are planned. This is alongside our strategy. We have communicated alongside with our listings in Frankfurt and Vienna. This is a crucial part of our strategy that we also want our shareholders to contribute and to take part in our success story. For this year, we proposed a dividend per share of EUR 0.55 a share. This will be decided in the annual general meeting on May 7th. You can expect in the next couple of years dividend payments from Steyr Motors, as this is a clear part of our strategy to contribute to the shareholder value.
Maybe one more question. Maybe you have mentioned already. I'm not sure.
Are there some additional exchange listings planned for Steyr Motors, or how is the outlook for that? You mean further listings or stock exchange listings?
Yes. So far, no further listing is planned.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question comes from Lukas Stein, Tegris Capital GmbH. Please go ahead with your question.
Yes. Hi, good afternoon. One follow-up question to your explanation about the order backlog for this year and the mentioned two-thirds of your targeted revenue. Until when do you need to fill, let's say, the rest of the needed revenue, so the one-third, to convert it into revenue this year?
On a constant base, I mean, this is the almost two-thirds we have currently in the order backlog for 2025. This is, of course, the status at the moment. This can clearly change tomorrow. This can change in the afternoon.
This is only idea, the current status. We are not only delivering the defense industry. We're also selling marine engines. Let's call it more standardized engines to our distributors. This is what we call spot business. These engines we sell on a constant base, on a daily base. Therefore, on a constant base, our gap to the targeted revenue increase to the targeted revenue aim is and will be closed. Of course, so far in March 2025, we have a clear plan and are in ongoing discussions with our customers. Until then, for instance, a new tender will be released, a new purchase order will be placed with us. There is no, yeah, there's no single order. We are waiting to close the, let's call it, gap. This is done on a constant base. We have spot business, as just explained.
We have also a clear plan according and aligned with our customers. Until then, we expect a concrete purchase order or a new frame contract so that we convert this also in our order backlog.
Okay. If we would assume the stock price would be or would sustain on this level, would you consider a possible uplifting to the prime standard? Also to have the chance maybe to come into the SDAX?
We will discuss this, of course. This would be a logical next step. So far, no actions regarding that have been taken. Of course, we also think about that. So far, we have been listed for a couple of months. The development in the last couple of weeks, the last couple of months, is of course quite positive.
As you just mentioned, this would be, of course, a logical next step. We will consider that. This may be yes.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question comes from Johan van den Hoven at Edison Group. Please go ahead with your question.
Yeah. Good afternoon. This is Johan from Edison Group. Two questions, please. The first one is, given your expected high growth of 40% in revenues in 2025 and hopefully also in the years beyond 2025, is there any risk in your organization that you can smoothly keep up with this growth? Are there any bottlenecks which we should take in mind to see if you can reach this high level of revenue growth? Second question is, your free float is currently low. I did not hear the exact answer on the previous question, but is there any side on increasing your free float?
Because you are listing that it would help if the free float goes up. Thank you.
Thanks for your questions. Let's start with the bottlenecks. I don't see any bottlenecks from an operational point of view. We are in a very comfortable situation as we have in Steyr the capacity to more than double our current output without the need of any CapEx investments needed. The only thing we have to add, and we've already done so, is to add a couple of new blue-collar workers. We are still operating in a one-shift system. We can easily double our current output. We will still be having a one-shift system. Of course, the next level would be we could go to a two-shift system. This is not needed for 2025. We also do not need that for 2026.
Therefore, from an operational point of view, I don't see any bottlenecks regarding that. We have a perfect platform. We have the capacity. We have the materials. We're also in the Upper Austria Steyr region. We have a lot of qualified workers. If there's recruiting need, we'll find those workers. Therefore, to answer your question, I don't see any restrictions on that. We have a platform. We have to fill this platform with sales, with corporate development. More or less automatically, we will have the profitability, the increasing profitability. We will have those results we just communicated.
Yeah. Yeah. The question is, is this a question about sort of the only material you need, all the components? You already talked about long lead times, making a bit of. That growth in the second half will be large.
Is that any problem from the supply side, or is that already all sort of arranged?
As we have a production plan looking ahead for a couple of months, we always try and always and we are confident that we can and will have the respective materials on time. Therefore, we buy upfront. In some cases, we buy upfront for several months so that we can be sure that we have the right material here in Steyr to produce the respective engines. Also, in many cases, we operate with a second-source model. So also regarding that, I do not see any obstacles in order to fulfill our targeted growth.
Okay. Thank you.
Regarding free float, this was your second question, I assume. I mean, I cannot comment on that. Of course, we have some shareholders with bigger portions, I would say.
Regarding these questions, it's probably better to talk directly to them because I cannot comment on their next actions or their future actions. Of course, you're right. The free float we see at the moment is limited.
At the moment, there seem to be no further questions. If you would like to ask a question, please press nine and star on your telephone keypad. We have one more question from Tegris Capital representative from Tegris Capital GmbH. Please go ahead with your question. Mr. Cassutti, your line is open. You may ask your question.
Sorry. Do you understand me now?
Y es.
Okay. Great. Thank you. You mentioned EUR 5 million CapEx this year. I compare also with EUR 5.4 million grant capital, if I remember right. I remember EUR 11.4 million free float. I know this question was before concerning the free float.
If I combine all three figures, it seems to me, in the vision of your growth, of your big growth, which you announced, that there will be maybe some further capital needed for financing this growth. Could you imagine any capital increase or some other emission, like a bond, within the next time?
Our business plan, not only for this year, but including 2027, is completely self-financing. The plan is clearly, at the moment, we do not have any bank loans. We did not have any bank debt. We have communicated in the balance sheet of 2024. We had a net cash position of around EUR 8 million. Also, the midterm target is that we will not be active on the loan, on the bond, or that environment. We do not need that to fulfill, to achieve our intended growth within our business plan until 2027.
Yeah, this is unchanged. This is an unchanged statement in comparison to the listing.
Okay. Also no capital increase?
There are, at the moment, no concrete plans regarding that. Yes.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
For any additional questions, please press nine and star. There are no further questions from the audience. I hand back to Mr. Cassutti for closing remarks.
Okay. Thanks a lot. Thanks for attending this call. If there are no further questions, as just said, very happy to have you here for your attendance. Once again, thank you for joining us on this journey. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress and our achievements. Thanks a lot. Have a nice afternoon. Have a nice evening. We will keep you posted. Thanks a lot. Thank you.