My dear ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted that you have joined today's call and I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you. My name is Nicole Engelhard and I'm joined today by my colleagues Ulrike Wende, Laura Deininger, Stefan Arnold and of course our CEO, Peter Stadelmann. Jörg Walter, our CFO, is currently on his way back from a business trip to China and sends his best regards. Before we begin, just a few housekeeping rules. All participants will remain muted throughout the call. Following the presentation, we'll move directly into the Q& A session. I will read out the questions that were submitted via email. These will be answered by Peter and Stefan. Thanks a lot to all of you who submitted your questions in advance. This helps a lot provide more focused and hopefully more useful answers.
If a question has already been addressed during the presentation or similar to another, we may not repeat it during the Q& A session. Rest assured, we will make sure that all questions are answered before we conclude the call. Please note that this call is being recorded. A YouTube link will be shared with all participants. Afterwards, we kindly ask that you do not share this link outside your organization. With that I'll hand over to Peter.
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much, Nicole. Before we come to a customer success story as usual and to the financial figures, let's start with what is of most interest to all of us. The U.S. tariffs. As you know, our current production sites are located in Europe from where we export our cooking systems into the world. The Ikombi is produced in Landsberg, Germany. The Ivario is produced in Wittenheim, France. 95% of our component suppliers for production materials are located within Europe. You also know that we are currently ramping up a manufacturing site in China which is expected to start production end of this year. It will then produce a special combi steamer in China for China, so it is dedicated for the Chinese market.
It will be launched later in Q1 2026 as we will focus only on the Chinese market with this combi oven, we do not have any impact from tariffs on this project. How do the tariffs impact RATIONAL. Since early April we were facing 10% tariff on our cooking systems imported into the U.S. and 50% on steel products which affects our stands that we also import from Europe. Since August 7, the tariffs raised to 15% and the 50% steel tariff also occur on the value of steel used for the units. In total, tariffs make up to roughly 17%. However, since our stock turn rate, including shipping time is around three to four months. The increased tariffs will not heavily affect the 2025 results. What measures have we implemented so far to weather the situation?
We established direct shipment to Canada, we started local sourcing for stands and some other accessory products in the U.S. and we intensified our efficiency and cost saving program all over the company. This comes with decreased headcounts in mainly Landsberg administration. This reduces the absolute staff growth to 120 employees or 4% year- over- year and explains what some analysts worried about. What is the outlook with regard to the tariff situation in 2025 we only see limited impact to our P&L. In 2026 we will have a full year effect. We keep observing the development in the U.S. that means competition, demand and the overall economic situation. So far we kept our decision to not increase list prices in the U.S. Let's have a look at a great customer success story at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium north of London.
Hi, my name is Mark Reynolds, I'm regional executive chef for Levy in London and I'm also national chairman of Craft Guild Chefs. We're here today at Tottenham Stadium. It's a world leading multi purpose stadium. So we do football, we do concerts, NFL rugby, we've done boxing recently. We're the first stadium in the world to have double stacked tiikeskins which we're very proud of. The two ice skins that we're using down in Chicken house can now produce about 800 portions of chicken or burgers in about five to seven minutes. And they took up space of two standard combi ovens really, but they're doing the work of four.
My name is Ian Green, I'm the head chef of retail and culinary development here at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The I hexagon will be used every matchday, every event day that we're live and it fits into our busiest unit on retail within the stadium. The third party events like NFL and rugby, we use the Ihexagons throughout the day. There is a demand for food throughout the event so we can constantly keep up with demand. On an event day we'll probably put about four and a half thousand to five thousand products through the iHexagons.
So before we use the iHexagons we're using another brand of oven. Probably took 20- 25 minutes to produce what we're doing within the five and seven minutes now. So it's allowed our chefs to think less, but it allows us to cook a fresher product and a better product for the family.
Using our hexagons we have an increase in revenue for half time. In particular, we have a 15 minute window to feed as many people as we can. So using these now to get more food ready in time for half time and to also keep cooking through half time means that we're producing a lot more food. The increase of around 18%- 22%.
The feedback we've had from fans has been the speed of service. Now we've seen salad go up, we've reduced the queue time and for me, I think we've improved the quality. When we was having to use the fryers, the product could actually go greasy and soggy, whereas with the iH exagon, it's cooking it faster and it's coming back crispy, it's keeping the chicken moist. We put the popcorn chicken through it, we're putting our tenders through it. Every game we seem to be putting more and more product through them.
To iHexagons, we have a unit called N17 where we sell burgers, which now means when they need topping up, we can use the iHexagons, get the food cooked through there more than 50% quicker than what we could do before to support the other units whilst still maintaining what we need to do in chicken house. Using my display is tailored to us here at Spurs, we've actually got cockerel on the display. The menu and the drop down features are tailored to our dishes. So you just select the product, drop it into the box, cook, repeat.
So we have 265 chefs here on a match day, so for them guys to be coming in and using a bit of new kit, it's quite scary for them. But now they've all been taught how to use them. It's all pre programmed for them and for ease of use, it's really been good for them and for us. We get a guaranteed product at the end.
Using our iHexagon has definitely tipped boxing for our sustainability targets. We did a rough calculation. We're probably saving around 16,000 liters of oil over a season. Obviously the energy use is a lot less and we have less wastage because we can cook more on demand than cooking so far in advance and hold it cleaning. With the auto dose system, we don't need to worry about gloves and goggles and things like that. At the end of service, the chefs can just put the iHexagons on to clean, walk away, then the machine will turn itself off and it's ready to go the next day. Using the iHexagon means we can certainly have confidence in what we're doing. We know that the programs are set to work, we know that the consistency is right, the temperature is right, it's safer for our food safety element as well. And yeah, it's a no brainer really to start to use them.
They're really delivering for us for speed, ease of use, reducing electric, reducing chemicals. And to be fair, it does what it says on the tin. We'd definitely be looking at using more our Hexagon into the future at Tottenham Hotspur stage.
Yes. So that's what customers say about the i Hexagon. And I would like to repeat two quotes. Mark Reynolds who said it takes now five to seven minutes instead of 20- 25 and the products are fresher and better. So they could increase revenues in half time break 18%- 22%. Just let those numbers get into your mind. And Ian said The iHexagon saves 16,000 liters of oil per season. It uses a lot less energy and we have less food waste. Also in terms of sustainability, I think that is remarkable and confirms the lead of the i Hexagon against all existing cooking equipment. To get more sustainable in a commercial kitchen is very easy while using RATIONAL equipment. We do that also in our own company restaurants and they recently got awarded the Green Canteen Award.
The team is very proud and demonstrates the everyday sustainability of RATIONAL equipment. Let me begin our number, numbers parts by saying a few words about the general performance of RATIONAL during the first nine months of the year. World economy is still a little bit weaker than in past years, but it's still showing robust growth rates in the major regions of the world. The hospitality industry is in many markets under pressure, especially traditional restaurants. But we still see that the industry is growing on a worldwide basis. I cannot repeat it enough. The place and the way meals are prepared are changing, but the total number of meals prepared is increasing and will do so in the future. It is just a shift of production, not a decrease of production. And our equipment is capable of helping in all ways preparing hot meals.
Furthermore, our products address important challenges of the industry like energy savings and shortage of skilled labor. We see currently and also in the future unchanged enormous growth potential for RATIONAL. This is also true for the remainder of 2025 and for 2026 and many years to come. We see a profound need and demand f or our products.
From an investors perspective. RATIONAL in my eyes is not only outperforming its industry, but also many other industries that suffer major or minor transformations. Our growth in 2025 is the result of our investment into more salespeople in our markets. We will continue the expansion of our sales force. This is the building block for our growth which is now back to normal speed after the pandemic and the subsequent supply side shortages. This is the reason why we can once again present new all time high figures for a third quarter and also for the nine months of 2025. Our track record is outstanding and hard to find elsewhere. Once more we could demonstrate that our business model is very resilient to economic fluctuations in the regions of the world and even at the current volatile situation of the world economy itself.
Let me start with some sales figures. As I said, even in challenging economic situation in individual regions of the world and among individual customer groups, we continued our growth path. End of September we achieved a new sales record of 918 million Euro and exceeded the previous year's sales by + 5%. It is important to understand the impact from exchange rate here in the development over the years. Before Efix our sales growth was at around 7%. ITW reports a 3% growth in food service organically, only 1% after nine months. Electrolux Professional reports a total growth of 0.7% organically. And after FX a decrease of revenues by - 3.9%. And Middleby reported today 1.6% organic growth in Q3. So I think that's quite impressive. Overall with these numbers we are within the range of our guidance for 2025 and in line with our plan.
Looking at the business performance by quarter, Sales revenues in Q1, 2025 increased by 3% to 295 million. There was not a relevant FX effect included. In the second quarter we achieved the sales increase by + 5.5%. Without EFIX it would be 8% even. And this was even more pronounced than in Q3 where we grew by 6% and without ethics, even almost 9%. Q3 was again the best third quarter ever and in total the second best quarter ever. Only Q4 last year with sales of 318 million was on a higher level. Assuming a trend toward normal seasonality and taking into account the business development of the first weeks in Q4, we would expect to see a new all time high. Q4. That's it, Stefan, please take it from here.
Thank you, Peter. So also a warm welcome from my side to all the participants. So now let me start with the development in the different regions. So to start with the biggest growth market we have, North America again was a big contributor to growth. In the nine month period we grew by around 6%. And in the North American territory, adjusted for FX rates because of the weak, especially the weak U.S. dollar and CAN dollar, we would grow by around 10% in the nine month period. Just in Q3 we were down a little bit by 2% here. Also here there is a big impact coming from FX. Adjusted for that, there would be a growth rate of 4%. And one thing we need to consider here as well is that Q3 last year was by way the strongest quarter in 2024.
So here we have a very tough comparison as well. Coming to Europe, the pace of growth accelerated here Once more in Q3, meaning sales revenues were up by a little bit over 10% after the first nine months now. And next to the big markets that are mostly driving here the growth, that's the U.K., that's Italy, that's France for sure. Also smaller markets such as Austria, Scandinavia or the Benelux countries were really contributing significantly to this continued improvement. In our home market in Germany we were now able to clear this shortfall that we saw until H1 by generating a really significant growth of 18% in sales revenues in the third quarter, thus ending up the nine month period with a 5% growth on previous year's level.
And Q3 was mainly strong on the one hand because of a lower comparison we had in Q3 last year and a strong aftermarket business in Latin America. Sales revenues were also significantly higher in the third quarter, up by 11%. Taking the figure now for the nine month period to a 5% growth rate compared to last year. And here the major growth drivers were Brazil and the Central American markets. We had a lot of discussions about Asia throughout the year. So looking on the quarters, sales revenues were slightly up on the previous two quarters now in Q3 and now almost reaching the prior year level which still was a little bit higher due to a result of an additional order in the last year. After nine months, sales revenues in Asia were now down by around 12% compared to last year.
And looking a little bit into the future as we saw a strong Q4 2024, we do indeed not expect strong growth rates in Q4, but from 2026 on. So from Q1 we again expect to come back to year- over- year growth rates. So looking at the product groups we again see that the Ivaru on the right hand side here is continuing on its growth path with a significant sales increase of 16% in Q3 resulting in an 11% growth rate after nine months. So here with growth rates between 10% and 42%, all major regions were growing their Ivario business double digit in Q3. That's really remarkable. Especially the American markets were growing over proportionally. Here in Q3, looking on the left hand side we see so due to its size, the iCombi development is more or less reflecting also the group development.
So it grew by 5% in Q3 and by 4% then after nine months. And the regional development is approximately as you can see it in the announcement we published today. So when we come over to the earnings, we see that EBIT is growing a little bit slower than sales revenues by around 3% to EUR 234 million in the nine month period. And again we highlight this. This is again the best 9M result we ever have achieved. Looking at Q3 alone, EBIT was EUR 81 million . And this translates to an EBIT margin of 25.9% in Q3 and after a margin of 26.1% in Q2. This is again confirming also the seasonality outlook that we gave after H1.
When we look at at the long term development since 2019 that you can see here on this slide, we achieved this year with an EBIT margin of 25.5% after nine months, a margin level that is approximately on the pre pandemic level. And on the next slide we see now more details about the EBIT margin development. Okay, so we see here the gross margin to start with is quite stable, a little bit below previous year after the nine month period. But in Q3 alone the gross margin was on a lower level on 58.1% compared to 58.9% in the Q2.25. So this 80 basis points margin drop was mainly due to the tariff costs which amounted to around EUR 4 million in Q3.
And in total the tariff costs we accounted for this year were approximately EUR 6 million , so around EUR 2 million in the first half year. So on the other hand when we go down the P& L. So in line with our projections, our operating expenses were up by 7% to EUR 306 million . A little bit over proportional to the sales growth. And with the highest increase in the R& D costs at around 19%. So we expanded the R and D cost in all product groups, so including iCombi, iVario, Road to China and also with Connected Cooking. What does this mean? So on the one hand it's more people in R& D and on the other hand we had an additional impact coming to an accounting change which led to somewhat higher increase in R& D costs.
A very important OpEx section is the sales and service costs, which increased by around 6%. We expanded our sales team by around 40 people, which means approximately 7% year- over- year. September compared to September last year, and this in the end led us to higher numbers of customer visits, of cooking live participants, and also then translating into more sales, which makes us confident about the coming months. Regarding also the incoming orders, our admin expenses were more or less flat as we want to continue to have these lean processes in our admin teams, and we basically said we want to keep the headquarter functions on a stable level, but invest more in sales functions, in customer-oriented functions.
And we had indeed one question before, I can answer here with so we had a slight decrease in Q3 in the admin cost which is a normal fluctuation, plus also this little accounting effect which took down a little bit the admin expenses. And of course the last topic on the P& L is the currency result. Here we see we have a balanced result this year and we had a negative one last year. So this is also of course helping us to keep the margin approximately on the previous year's level or just slightly below. So when we come to the balance sheet again, this is not really spectacular. So you are all familiar with our solid balance sheet structure and there is no major changes. So an equity ratio of 79% and a liquidity ratio of around 45%.
So this is including the bank deposits and our short term investments. So with this we remain very, very robust and the working capital is also growing in line with our business and is also on a normal level there is maybe one specialty. Now when you look onto the figures, it seems that the inventories are a little bit inflated here. They are a little bit higher. The reason for that is we have higher warehouse volumes in overseas markets and we have the capitalization of the U.S. tariffs which is now in the inventories of said around EUR 6 million . So and with this we come to the guidance for the outlook for this year. So all over our figures of the first nine months show that our business is running according to our guidance that we gave in August.
So all the KPIs, sales growth, gross profit margin, OpEx, EBIT margin as of September are more or less in line with our plans or expectations. And also for the remainder of the year we see this on a planned level. The only things that were leading us to lowering the guidance a little bit after half year one was the U.S. tariff situation and the weak FX development which we of course were able to project into Q3 and Q4 then and we saw that we would come out rather in the range between 25% and 26% in the EBIT margin. But now after nine months we do not see any need to change anything regarding the guidance.
So that's why we can say we can confirm this guidance and when we look a little bit more long term in the next year, as Peter already pointed out, there is this huge open potential. The trends are positive, the number of salespeople of activities is going up. The challenges for our customers are becoming not less, rather even more. And we can help here and that's why we are really confident to be able to continue to come back to this former growth patterns we were able to show and with this outlook. We are at the end of the presentation and now we are starting the Q& A session and I hand over to Nicole.
Thank you very much Stefan. Yes, so we got quite a few questions and I will start with you Peter. What is the actual outlook for the gastronomy industry in your markets?
Well over there is no change. We have good feedback from a recent U.S. customer study that out of home food will stay an important part of people people's life. I might say that maybe the presence in the media, especially in Germany, does not really reflect the actual state. So it's a little bit overdone I think.
Is your U.S. peer Alto-Shaam gaining market share?
No, we don't think so. Alto-Shaam is also producing Combi Ovens but has a much broader portfolio and we don't assume that they gained market share.
And are there any changes in the competitive landscape like UNOPS or Circus Group?
No, it's much ado about almost nothing I would say so. Some of those names are quite loud sometimes, but the results are quite small.
Okay, I've got a couple of questions on the U.S. tariffs now. Are any tariff driven pricing actions confirmed in the U.S?
No, we have no price increase so far and once we change our decision we will inform.
And what is your tariff cost in percent of sales in Q3 2025 it?
Was around EUR 4 million , meaning a little bit more than 1%.
One question on North America. Has the order intake come under pressure as a result of the tariff implementation?
No, nothing significant here.
And have U.S. competitors made any further changes to their pricing relative to what has already been announced in Q2?
The majority of competitors announced price increases in the range of 4%- 10% and most of them already implemented them. So I think we are probably one or two remaining manufacturers that didn't.
The next question is on the North America tariff impact on your cogs. Is your US inventory now fully subject to the tariffs in terms of their import date. And was that the case throughout Q3?
With the exception of some slow movers on stock, for instance the jailhouse version, as some of you know all of those are shipped before mid of August. So the U.S. inventory is now fully reflecting tariffs.
And what is your current thinking on the impact on the group gross margin on a full year basis of the U.S. tariffs assuming no price increases? And how much of this could RATIONAL potentially offset by efficiency gains, lower spending in other areas and or by accelerating sales growth elsewhere?
We would assume around EUR 11 million negative impact for 2025. For 2026 we estimate tariff expenses of around 24 million euro. This would mean approximately 1% point negative impact on the margin assuming no price increases. And to fully compensate the full year effect would be quite challenging by just cost reductions elsewhere.
Are there any more restrictions from the geopolitical situation?
No, nothing significant.
Can you shed some light on key accounts versus street business performance?
Key account business is doing okay. Pipeline is growing, daily business and smaller projects are running well, and we have one replacement contract won.
And would you like to give us an update on your activity in China?
Yes. So no changes on our road to China project. We are on plan. We are already with some units in field tests with real customers. We will start production end of 2025 or early 2026 and start of sales is expected in Q1 2026.
And any update on your activity? No, sorry. Any update on the i Hexagon?
Yes, you all saw again the in my eyes impressing movie about Tottenham stadium. We are happy to see more customers success stories coming especially in stadiums. We see great experience all over. We are quite satisfied with the recent development. And please note that we will not disclose I hexagon numbers due to competitive reasons.
And could you please provide growth rates in Q3 for both unit sales and for non unit sales? And what is driving the higher growth in the non unit sales?
Yes, in Q3 we had a stronger unit growth growth with + 7.5% while non units growth reached 3%. Overall cleaner sales have increased significantly over long term also due the fact that our units are self cleaning and need cleaners.
And what are the reasons for the steep increase in the sales of iVario in Q3? Which percentage of these sales is non equipment business?
Quarterly fluctuations with a very strong Q3 and the after sales share in the iVario business is at around 15% since there are no cleaners and less accessories compared to a Combi steamer. And don't forget so far more than 80,000 iVario units are installed.
Sales in Germany were + 18.4% in Q3 after several soft quarters. Were there special factors for example large tier count orders that drove this?
All over w e don't see one single reason for this surprising positive effect. There is a positive after sales business development plus a weaker previous year Q3 adding to in general good business development.
North America sales was minus 2% year- on- year in Q3 versus 10% in Q2. What's the year- on- year change rate? If we exclude FX impact and are there any factors to affect customers activities.
Like tariffs excluding FX effect, we have a growth of of year- on- year of + 4% in North America and we don't see any significant changes in customer activities.
And what are the reasons for the business in Europe turning out so strong in Q3 2025?
Yes, Europe was overall very strong. The big markets like U.K., France and Italy were doing well and also smaller markets like Austria or Benelux contributed in a very significant way. Of course as you know some markets are highly penetrated but many are not.
Thank you Peter. I go on with you now Stefan. What is the expected further development of input cost?
So in general we are expecting the input costs now on a stable level. So tariff costs will eventually of course end up in the cox in the U.S. Now from Q4 on in Q4 as we said it's around EUR 5 million and from next year on we are expecting cost of EUR 24 million, EUR 25 million. So this of course will add up. And so this 10% rate in the tariffs that was introduced earlier is already effective completely and the additional 7% is mainly coming now end of this year or early next year.
Which percentage of the cost of the U.S. sales do you source in the U.S.A. at the moment?
So when we look at the cogs this is really negligible. So we produce in Germany or in France and the cost that we are facing in the U.S. is the U.S. subsidiary.
How could you decrease the admin cost by 4% in Q3 2025?
As already said in the in the presentation, this is an accounting effect mainly or just fluctuation in quarters.
By how much do you want to reduce your cost by group wide cost savings and efficiency program and when?
We would rather say that we won't come back to sensible cost ratios between the different functions by allocating costs rather to customer oriented functions and to less headquarter functions. So there is not the one concrete figure for savings. So it's rather, let's say depending on growth rates and then we balance how we allocate the costs.
And what are the drivers for the better operating costs than expected?
Let's say overall costs developed as expected, a little bit over proportionally. However, of course currency effects that were negative on the, on the sales line of course had a positive impact on the costs and contributed to lower cost growth.
A question on the Q4 EBIT margin. The mid range of the guidance would imply a Q4 EBIT margin of around 26%, which should be compared with 27.6% in Q4 2024. What are the main reasons behind this performance? Is it only linked to tariffs?
So as we guide for a range between 25% and 26%, this would mathematically mean that the Q margin could be up to 27.2%. And as you said, the expected tariff costs of around EUR 5 million for Q4 are here the major driver.
Does the EBIT margin stay stable in Q3 on quarter, on quarter base despite increasing tariff costs? And why is that?
So when you look into the to the cost items, you see all the cost items are a little bit growing a little bit under proportionally here we had a little positive contributing effects plus less negative FX result in addition is leading to this result.
And how has demand developed into Q4 and also by region?
So yeah, you know, we cannot say too much about it, but we had it in the, in the announcements. There was a quite promising start into Q4 and that's why we also are confirming the guidance for, for the fiscal year 25.
I guess you just answered that question. How well did you start into Q4? 2025? Kind of, yeah. Okay. Could you give us a sense of the geographic outlook for Q4 2025?
Yes. So in general we would expect the trends in the different regions to be continued, more or less.
Are the accounts payable at around EUR 35 million , the new normal level.
So the accounts payable are of course, let's say a function of business volume. And this means that the level of accounts payable is of course growing. And in addition, we are managing the accounts payable in a way that we can use the early payment discounts as much as possible. And that's why it can fluctuate from balance sheet date to balance sheet date a little bit.
What is the further development of your wage cost?
So this is something of course not that's not yet clear. This will depend on the economic outlook that we see see during our planning phase and of course the inflation expectations for 2026.
And what can we expect to hear about on your capital markets day on November 18, focus on iVario or also some updates on iHexagon and the China Ramp.
So we will of course focus here on Wittenheim, on the iVario, on the development of the location and we do not expect that there will be significant news compared to today on the i Hexagon in China until in two weeks.
T here was still no decision announced regarding price increases in the U.S. to at least partially offset the tariff impact. Can we expect a decision to be made by the end of the Capital Markets day?
Let's say that way presumably we will not communicate any details about that on the CMD.
Thank you. Stefan, we have one more question. Oh, sorry. No, actually yeah, it's also for you, Stefan. Sorry. When should we see RATIONAL Naga price increases to offset tariff impacts?
Yeah, I would say I can confirm of course Peter's statements before. There is no decision announced yet and we will inform you as soon as we see it sensible or we deem it sensible.
Okay, it looks like all questions have been answered. Thank you very much for your participation in today's call. We hope you found the session informative and helpful and as always, we welcome your feedback. Feel free to share any thoughts or suggestions with us. And before we close this call today, allow me to make a brief announcement. We would like to invite you to our IR follow up talk on today's results. This will take place next week, November 13th at 2pm CET and you can register via the IR calendar on our website. We would of course be very delighted to welcome you there. And there's another event I would like to invite you to. If you would like to visit our capital markets day on November 17th in Wittenheim, France. Our 18th. Sorry, it says 18th. 17th. 18th in Wittenheim, France and did not yet register. Please do this until tomorrow as we will close the registration at the end of the week. And with that I say goodbye for now and take care.