Ladies and gentlemen, we warmly welcome you to the H1 earnings call of the Ringmetall SE. I am [audio distortion] pleased to welcome the CEO, Christoph Petri, who will guide us through the presentation in a moment, after which we will move on to a Q&A session via audio line and chat. With that, I am handing over to you, Mr. Petri.
Wonderful. Thank you very much, and a warm welcome from my side as well to Ringmetall's second earnings call on our time. Again, we would like to give you a brief overview of the second quarter, but also for everyone who is new to Ringmetall, maybe a small introduction into what we do, who we are, and where we are. Ringmetall is the leading provider and a leading supplier to the packaging industry. We are a hybrid between a focused company in industrial packaging on the one-hand side, and on the other-hand side, a so-called serial acquirer. I just heard that the tone is not very well. I will just try to
Mr. Petri, here the tone is actually quite good. I am not sure.
Can I try through this? Is that better?
I can hear you perfectly, yes.
Mr. [inaudible] Is it better like this? Yeah, okay. All right.
Perfect.
Thank you. All right, so once again, a hybrid between a focused industrial packaging company and a serial acquirer. Within the last years, we have proven a track record of buy and build and a growth rate in average of close to 11% on revenue level and more than 15% on EBITDA level. We are the world market leader in drum closure systems and in the meantime, one of the world market leaders in drum liners as well. In total, Ringmetall has 25 production sites in the meantime, in 10 countries on three continents.
The ambition is clearly to continue this growth rate and to continue this growth path by acquiring further companies to our group and expanding the business, again, with 10% average growth rate on revenue and EBITDA level. The structure of Ringmetall, just to give you an overview. We are still structured as a holding company with two segments, Ringmetall Closure Systems, where we have all of our ring closure systems combined in three business units, Northern Europe, Asia, and we have a business unit, Southern Europe, and the business unit North America.
Everything is under the global name and brand Berger. Within the Liner segment, we have seen a certain rearrangement. Ringmetall Liner segment is divided into four product and market segments, which is the chemical technical liners, the bag-in-box systems between 1 L and 20 L, our pharmaceutical liners, and the food, beer, and beverage, and basically liquid segment. You see here our new and latest additions to the group. We have purchased this year already the company Makplast, which is an addition to the bag-in-box systems, and we have acquired the company New England Plastics.
Actually, that was an asset deal, so we have not acquired the shares, but we have a new location acquired in Massachusetts, U.S.A., to the chemical and technical Liner segment. The overview of the financials of the first half year 2026, you see that we have a development in revenues, a growth rate of close to 4%. Total output also more than 4%, and we are now already in the half year at more than EUR 100 million in revenues. The gross profit we were able to grow by 5.7% to EUR 55 million, and the EBITDA, we were able to grow by 9% to EUR 13.3 million.
That is quite a significant growth rate, and we are more or less on track towards our guidance and budget figures, which we have published in February. I will come later to that as well. Basically, we see that despite the fact that we have some headwinds from the geopolitical situation, Ringmetall was able to fulfill the budget and guidance figures and was able to grow revenue and profitability. Profitability, we were actually even able to grow more than we expected to be.
The EBITDA range or the EBITDA margin, we were even able to increase to 13.1%. Looking into the different segments, we see that there is quite a gap between the two segments in the development. While the Closure Systems have seen a revenue decrease by close to 4% and a total output decrease of 3.3%, the EBITDA was still at a high margin of 17.2%, and it only reduced by 1.4%. The main drivers of this segment are, of course, the chemical industry, and we have seen that especially in Europe, but also to a certain extent in the U.S. where our key markets are, that the volumes have come down by roughly 3.3%.
Despite that, we were again able, including cost savings, to more or less keep our EBITDA stable. Within the Liner segment, we have seen a very nice development. We were able to grow our revenues by 15.3%. Output, we were able to increase by 15%, and the EBITDA, we were even able to increase by 22.5%. Main drivers of this are, of course, the latest acquisitions which we have done, but also we have seen price effects and certain volume effects in that segment.
To give you some more meat on the bone, what really happened in the last half year, we have seen raw material prices, especially within the Liner division, to stay quite volatile and elevated. That is especially due to the, let's say, fluctuations we have seen in the oil price, and we still believe that this will continue. What really happened was that with the increase of the oil price, some of our customers already started to pre-order still on lower margin or lower price levels, and we were, in fact, in a position where we needed to increase our stocking. Prices have then slowly increased, and that is what we have seen in the growth rate.
From a cash flow perspective, it is quite tight, actually, because we clearly wanted to be in a position where we were always able to supply our customers, and therefore, we were the ones who already stockpiled some of the raw material. Within the restructuring of FIB Beer Systems, you know, because we have explained it, I think within the last call already. We are about to close the production facility in the Netherlands, and therefore, the restructuring of FIB Beer Systems is proceeding more or less as planned. Within Q3, maybe starting of Q4, we will have the whole production facility then moved to our Ahaus facility in northern Germany.
With this, with the restructuring of FIB Beer Systems, we have already seen in Q2 some extraordinary one-off costs due to this restructuring, and the relocation of the production site will again cause some one-off costs, which will occur in Q3 then. The strong performance of our acquisitions, for us first and utmost Makplast, but also the thermoforming assets of New England Plastics, that's also contributing nicely to the performance of the group. The acquisitions contributed EUR 3.6 million in revenues. That's maybe a figure which you would like to hear.
The total growth rate in the Liner segment comes partly from these acquisitions, but also partly from the prices and the volume increase. The order intake, in general, is recovering slowly, but the volume demand stays still muted. What we have seen is that the order intake in Q2 increased, but some of the customers shifted volumes first, therefore, from Q1- Q2, and now what we have seen as well is that some of the customers shifted from Q2 even into Q3 now.
That's something what we have seen. The Closure division defends profitability despite lower volumes. Again, we have a clear cost discipline, and with this, we are able to lift our EBITDA margin now to 17.2%. For the remaining time of this year, we expect that volumes should stay at least on a stable level. We don't expect that volumes continue to decrease. The outlook for the rest of this year, we have given a more detailed guidance now with our half year report. We expect revenues to be between EUR 195 million and EUR 210 million.
This is including the two latest acquisitions of Makplast and New England Plastics. For the EBITDA, we expect that the EBITDA will range between EUR 23 million and EUR 28 million. The revenue growth is clearly driven by the Liner division, and the Liner division's growth then is driven by especially the M&A activities. What we will see is that, for the remaining time of the year, of course, we will see Makplast and New England Plastics contributing for the full six months, which will or which should give at least another input and another push upwards on revenue and EBITDA level.
We also see some catch-up effects materialized on EBITDA level, and the momentum should carry on into the second half of 2026, and the order intake is slowly recovering. The earnings quality should continue to improve. Again, we have seen some one-off effects in the first half of the year, especially Q1 was quite poor, and we have seen a recovery then in Q2. What we expect is that this should continue more or less in Q3 and Q4, let's say pro rata, because usually Q3 and Q4, as you know, are not the strongest quarters of Ringmetall in general, but still, we see improvements towards the period in the prior year.
Again, acquisitions remain a key focus, even for the remaining time of the year. We have announced already that we have acquired another company in South Africa. Closing should take place very soon, and we will continue to focus on further acquisitions for the remainder of this year as well. That's it from my side as a presentation, and I would now hand over again for the Q&A session.
Yes. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, now it's your turn. We're opening the Q&A session. If you would like to ask your questions in person via audio line, please click on the Raise Hand button below. If you're dialing in by phone, please press star key nine to raise your hand and star key six to unmute yourself. Additionally, you are also welcome to put your questions in our chat box, and I will read them out loud for you. We have received a risen hand by Mr. Steffen. I just sent you an invitation to unmute yourself, so you may do so now.
Can you hear me now?
Yeah, we can hear you now. Hello. Mr. Steffen, you were just there. I can send you another invitation.
Okay.
There you are. Hello.
Hello. Hello, Mr. Petri. Thank you very much for your presentation and my congratulations for the strong second quarter. I have one question regarding this performance. You mentioned that orders had been postponed from the first to the second quarter. What proportion of Q2 revenue is attributable to the postponement, roundabout?
Well, I would say if you ask me for a euro figure, that will be quite difficult to really say. But what we have seen is, and that's just a rough estimation, revenue of maybe around EUR 2 million, maybe EUR 2.5 million, were moved from Q1 into Q2. That would be my best guess, I guess.
Okay. That's fine. In your report, you also speak of weak demand, particularly with regard to Closure Systems. Now there are some signs of an upturn. Do you think that will be enough for organic growth in this business in the second half of the year?
We actually don't expect organic growth. We expect a flat situation, so it should be stable. It shouldn't have any further decrease, but we don't expect that there's really a growth rate. The chemical industry is still heavily fighting and I've said that many times. We have seen in the chemical industry a movement towards other regions, especially Asia, and these volumes will not come back.
We have prepared for that, and we are very clear on that. That's why we have streamlined our facilities and our production lines with this. Again, we believe that there is no growth in the second half. Maybe there is a certain catch-up effect in Q1 and Q2 in 2027 then. For the remainder of this year, we don't expect any growth in the Ring Segment.
Okay. I understand. The second quarter saw very strong earnings. Was the revenue shift from the first to the second quarter the decisive factor, or were there any one-off effects?
Well, there were also, let's say, some one-off effects because some accruals were terminated. But in general, the main effects are clearly that we have acquired Makplast, and we have acquired New England Plastics, and this gave an extra boost, especially Makplast is a very profitable business. Also, the thermoforming unit of New England Plastics is very profitable, and that gave an extra boost. Again, first quarter 2026 also was a very poor quarter, where we have seen, especially in the Ring segment, for example, in Italy, very poor revenues and volumes, and this was somehow offset then in Q2.
Okay. Great. One last question about one detail. Why did the interest income rise so significantly in the first half of the year?
Yeah, that is a good question. You obviously really look into the details, Mr. Steffen. The main reason for that is the acquisition of Makplast. Makplast is obviously located in Türkiye, and when we acquired Makplast carried a significant amount of cash with them. For this cash amount, we acquired also the interest, because this cash was already with Makplast and it was invested into high-yield funds, I would say.
For this, we generated interest income. In the meantime, I have to say that we have taken this money to pay back to the old owner already. It was more or less a tax issue for the seller of the company because the tax balance of the purchase price is dealt differently in Türkiye than a dividend. Therefore, we have done it this way, and we realized, I think, more than EUR 350,000 in interest income with this additional cash, which is no longer with us.
Okay, so it is very clear now. Thank you very much for taking my questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Steffen. We have received a couple of questions in our chat box as well. One is also regarding the acquisition of Makplast. The EV paid approximately EUR 13 million, seems high relative to the acquired revenue and EBITDA. What is the background to this? Do you expect very rapid growth? For what reason were the intangible assets increased by EUR 6.2 million in the purchase price allocation?
Well, first of all, the multiple which we have paid is exactly within the range which we usually apply to such companies. This is between, I think, we paid roughly 6.8x EBITDA of Makplast. Makplast is a very profitable business, and I think even in our corporate news, we have published it at least somehow. Revenues are expected to be around EUR 6 million-EUR 7 million on an annual basis, and EBITDA is expected to be more than EUR 2 million per year. So EUR 30 million is a lot of money paid for a company making only EUR 6 million-EUR 7 million revenues.
However, for a company making more than EUR 2 million in EBITDA, I wouldn't say it's too much. The intangible assets were increased. I would need to look into the details, to be very honest. But the intangibles obviously are a significant part, which then contributes to the goodwill. So the real assets which we have acquired, and Makplast has a lot of machines, tools, dies, and all of that, they are worth, I guess, then EUR 7 million, and the remainder is the goodwill which we have paid.
Thank you so much. We got another question. To what extent are you exploring AI-driven automation in your production or logistics processes? Where do you see the most realistic efficiency gains over the next 12-24 months?
Well, AI obviously is a big issue for us as well. However, the main issues or the main gains from AI we currently see in administration. We haven't identified significant savings in AI or through AI in real use cases in logistics and in our supply chain. Automation, again, is something very different, and I wouldn't call it AI because, of course, you could call it machine learning or whatever, but AI, for me, is something different.
Automation is something that we definitely use and significantly use, and that's, I would say, the main focus for us. So AI, using real use cases of AI, we see in administration. The use cases in production, very difficult at the moment, and more automation and machine learning and these improvements we currently already use in our production and we will continue to use in our production. There are different plans on how to further automate our production lines, especially within the ring business, but also within the Liner business.
Thank you so much. Our last question in our chat box for now is, sales volume with one of the two major U.S. customers did in fact decline significantly in the first half of the year. Is there any development worth commenting on in this regard?
I do not know where this is coming from because the revenues with the two main customers, and obviously that is Greif and Mauser, it did not reduce significantly. What we have seen is that there is a certain shift now, of course, because the Liner segment is continuing to grow and therefore the share of these customers is reducing.
But the general volumes with these customers are more or less stable. What we have seen, however, is that especially Mauser, of course, continues to look for alternatives in ring supply, and we see certain fluctuations there all the time. Sometimes they buy a little bit more, sometimes they buy a little bit less. But the general situation has not changed.
All right. Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, this is it for our questions in our chat box or our risen hands so far. We have not received any other questions as I can see. I would say we therefore come to the end of today's earnings call. Thank you for your interest in Ringmetall SE. If you have any further questions at a later time, please feel free to contact investor relations. A big thank you also to you, Mr. Petri, for your presentation and the time you took to answer all the questions. I wish you all a successful day and I am handing over to you, Mr. Petri, once again for your closing remarks.
Well, thank you very much for your interest and thank you very much for listening and contributing to this call, and I am looking forward to the next call then. Thank you very much.