Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the WashTec AG Capital Markets webcast. At this time, all participants have been placed on a listen-only mode. The floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. Let me now turn the floor over to Kevin Lorentz.
Welcome, everyone, and thank you for tuning in to WashTec's first Capital Markets webcast. My name is Kevin Lorentz, and I'm the Investor Relations Manager at WashTec. Today, we are trying out a new format in order to intensify communication with our current and potential future investors. With me today, I have our three board members: Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Michael Drolshagen, Chief Sales Officer, Sebastian Kutz, and Chief Financial Officer, Andreas Pabst. Also here are two experts who are pushing the digitalization efforts within our organization forward: Morten Dahle, Executive Vice President for the Nordics and Operator Services, and Carsten Klees, Vice President for Digital Solutions. Let me quickly guide you through today's agenda. First, Michael will present to you the strategic direction of WashTec. Afterwards, Sebastian will explain the ongoing transformation of WashTec to a solution provider.
We have planned a short excurse into our digitalization efforts with Morten and Carsten, who will showcase some innovations. Please be aware that at the end of this excurse, there will be a separate Q&A session with Carsten and Morten specifically on digitalization. This will not mark the end. We will move forward with Andreas, who is going to outline the midterm financial plan, followed by Michael's conclusions. Of course, at the very end, our three board members will answer all questions you might have. With that, I'm handing over to our CEO, Michael Drolshagen.
Thank you, Kevin. Ladies and gentlemen, also from my side, welcome to WashTec's Capital Markets webcast. I'm very pleased to welcome you here today as CEO, but above all, as someone who is deeply convinced of the potential of our company. Today, I would like to show you where WashTec stands, how we are strategically aligned, and why we are excellently positioned to actively shape the future of vehicle washing. Let's start with a brief overview. WashTec currently has over 43,000 installed systems worldwide. The installed base is our big plus compared to our competitors. With this base, more than 3 million vehicles are washed with our equipment every day. That's an impressive figure. We employ around 1,800 dedicated employees, and together with our partners, we are located in over 80 countries.
With over 60 years of experience in car wash, we are not only the market leader but also the innovation leader in vehicle washing. Our strengths: the largest service network in Europe, the largest installed base worldwide, a comprehensive portfolio as a one-stop shop, and last but not least, a clear leadership role in technology and innovation. When we talk about the future, it is worth taking a look back at the history that makes us proud and at the same time obligates us. WashTec is built on a foundation of 140 years of experience. Our roots go back to 1885 with the founding of Hans Kleindienst in Augsburg, the origin of our company today. In the further course of the company's history, we have developed strategically through targeted mergers and acquisitions like California Rohé and Kleindienst or the acquisition of AUWA Chemie as an important milestone.
To put it in one sentence, we were the ones who automated the car wash and continuously brought new innovations. Now, we stand at a new historical transformation since the car wash becomes digital. We have made a strategic decision in favor of this approach to enter into the partnership with Super Operator. These milestones show we think long-term, act strategically, and consistently adapt to market changes. Last year, as technological pioneers, we did launch the new SoftCare SE , and this year, we did launch SmartCare Connect, our next digital platform generation. Today, 12,000 machines are already online, 8,000 of them through managed connectivity. This is not just a technological advancement but a real competitive advantage. This history is not an end in itself. It shows that WashTec has always been strong when it comes to shaping change, and that is exactly what we are doing today.
Concise and to the point for chemistry, from product to strategic differentiator. Let's start with an area that has grown enormously in importance in recent years: our chemical expertise. With the acquisition of AUWA Chemie in 2008, we took a decisive step away from being a pure machine manufacturer and towards becoming a full service provider. Today, we develop our washing chemicals in-house, customized to our systems, to the water quality on-site, and to the requirements of our customers. What does it mean in concrete terms? Our chemical products are highly effective and environmentally friendly and biodegradable. They enable perfect washing results, even with difficult soiling, and they make an active contribution to conserving resources by reducing water and energy consumption. Above all, however, chemistry is a strategic growth driver for us.
It creates recurring sales, strengthens customer loyalty, and clearly differentiates us from the competition with our best-in-class products adapted to our machines for efficient top washing quality. Concise and to the point for service, from reactive support to a digital platform. Alongside equipment and consumables, another very important central area is our service business, and here, too, we have undergone a profound transformation in recent years. In the past, service was often reactive. Today, it's digital, proactive, and databased. What does it mean? We offer remote services that minimize downtimes. We rely on predictive maintenance to recognize problems before they arise. We have introduced mywashtec.com, a digital platform for managing, analyzing, and optimizing service processes. We offer full-service maintenance contracts that guarantee our customers maximum availability. For us today, service is far more than just technical support.
It is a central element of our customer relationship and a decisive lever for recurring revenue. What's more, by integrating it into our new metrics organization, we have created clear responsibilities with proximity to the customer and high implementation speed. To summarize once again, WashTec has innovation in its DNA. As a full-service provider, focusing on our customers and the customer journey, this is a real asset. Let us now pause for a moment and listen to what is most important to us at WashTec: the voice of our customers. We have analyzed the key needs and expectations of our operators, partners, and end users as part of a comprehensive customer survey. The results are clear and revealing. Looking at the feedback of our customers, the top priorities are automation and smart car washes.
Our customers want systems that are intuitive, efficient, and digitally controllable for a better user experience and reduced labor costs. Water recycling and operational efficiency. Sustainability is no longer a trend but an expectation. Our customers want to save resources and reduce their operating costs at the same time, reducing energy consumption and using renewable energies. This also shows that energy efficiency is a key decision criterion when choosing washing technology. One more: improved cleaning of difficult vehicle areas. The demands on washing quality with faster vehicle washes at the same time are increasing. To be clear, time is money for our operators, and good wash quality in a timely manner means happy and loyal customers at the end. For us, these results are not just a reflection of the market; they are a clear call to action. This is exactly what our value proposition is based on.
We offer convenience through simple operation and digital control. We deliver efficiency and sustainability through intelligent use of resources, and we guarantee quality with every wash, every vehicle, and every customer contact. These values: convenience, efficiency, sustainability, and quality are not just slogans. They are the guidelines on which we base our products, services, and our entire strategy. Only those who understand their customers can inspire them in the long term. These values lead to our core value propositions, the economic success of our customers, and therefore also of us and all our employees, partners, and suppliers. Let's now take a look at the overarching goals that determine our strategic direction. These goals have not been chosen arbitrarily. They are a direct response to the developments we are observing in the market. Let's start on the left with the market trends that are currently shaping our industry.
Shortage of skilled labor, a structural problem that affects many of our customers. Operators are looking for solutions that can manage with fewer staff but still deliver the highest quality. Machine availability or uptime in a highly competitive environment, every minute counts. Our customers expect maximum reliability and minimum downtime. Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have but a key purchasing criterion. Energy efficiency, water recycling, and CO2 reduction are now standard requirements. Convenience for both operators and end customers is essential. Operation must be intuitive, the washing experience pleasant, and customizable. Stagnating washing figures show we are seeing saturation in many markets. This means that our customers need to differentiate themselves more in order to remain profitable. These trends are not a risk for us; they are an opportunity because they clearly show us what is important. It is precisely from this that we derive our four overarching goals.
Quality as an immovable foundation. Our systems, our chemistry, our service, everything must meet the highest standards. For us, quality is not a goal but a promise. Convenience and user-friendliness for operators and end customers. We develop solutions that are intuitive to use, simplify processes, and improve the washing experience. Economic success for our customers and for WashTec. Our products and services must pay for themselves through efficiency, availability, and recurring revenue. Sustainability is an integral part of our business model. We think in cycles, reducing resource consumption, and developing solutions that make ecological and economic sense. These four goals are our overarching compass. They help us to make the right decisions in product development, in service, and in the organization. Our customers make it clear. We listen, we understand, and we act.
Let's now take a look at the core of our strategic direction, what we call our house of strategy. Our smart products form the foundation; they are the basis of our business model. We go far beyond that. We bundle these products into modular, customized solutions that are precisely tailored to the needs of our customers. Our focus is on the entire customer journey, from initial contact to long-term support. This means that we offer complete car wash solutions consisting of machines, chemicals, service, and software, all from a single source. Our digital products make it possible: intelligent payment and control systems, data analysis, and performance optimization. Customer loyalty through smart user guidance. We are clearly positioning ourselves as a solution provider with a focus on Europe and North America, on B2B business, and with strong partnerships. Strategy is nothing without culture.
That is why we have committed ourselves to the following four value propositions: customer focus and market understanding, enthusiasm and personal responsibility, values, and a corporate culture that motivates and supports our employees. Our strategy comes to life through the people who implement it. In order to successfully implement the strategy, we have fundamentally restructured our organization as early as September 1st, 2024. We now work in a global matrix structure that differentiates between three central levels: business lines, they are the drivers of the business, they have budget responsibility, product and project responsibility, and ensure synchronizing within their teams. Functions ensure technical excellence, define standards, processes, and governance, and are responsible for people management. Last but not least, regions are our local implementers. They act as sensors in the market, assume project responsibility in selected phases, and ensure proximity to the customer. This structure creates clarity, speed, and accountability.
It has already had an effect. The first quick wins, for example, by reducing the complexity of machines, have been realized. Our service strategy and cooperation with the regions have also been reorganized with clear roles and more efficient processes. Ladies and gentlemen, we at WashTec are not acting from a defensive position. We are acting from a position of strength. This strength is reflected in five key statements that summarize our current starting position and our strategic stance. First, we are customer-centered. Our strategy is not a theoretical construct. It is based on real customer feedback. We have listened carefully: what do our customers need? What do they expect from us? We have translated the answers into concrete measures from product development to service organization. Second, we are well-prepared. In recent months and years, we have laid the foundations for actively shaping change.
We have developed clever products that are modular, efficient, and digital. We have created data transparency, both internally and externally. We have restructured our organization with clear responsibilities and a global matrix structure. We have optimized our processes in order to be faster, leaner, and more customer-oriented. Third, we have already started the transformation. This is not a future project. We are right in the middle of it. Our digital products are on the market, not in the pipeline. Our new organization has been implemented, not planned. Our strategy has been developed and is being implemented, not just on paper. We have not only defined the direction; we are already on our way. Fourth, our team is highly motivated and actively demands change. This is perhaps our greatest lever. We have a team that not only pulls together but also helps to shape things.
A team that is prepared to take responsibility, break new ground, and question the status quo. The willingness to change does not come from outside; it comes from within the company itself. We are continuing to write the WashTec success story with less complexity, more focus, and clear prioritization. Less is more. This is not just a motto but a principle that we apply consistently. To summarize, we have the right products, we have the right organization, we have the right strategy, and we have the right people. That's why I say with full conviction, we are acting from a position of strength. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your interest so far, and I would like to hand over to my colleague, Sebastian Kutz. Sebastian, the stage is yours.
Thank you very much, Michael.
Before I talk about the transformation to becoming a solution provider, I would like to explain in more detail what we mean by acting from a position of strength. We have a very broad product range. In the equipment sector, we offer rollovers, tunnels, truck wash, jet wash, and water reclaim systems. This is complemented by a comprehensive range of consumables, technical services, leasing, and rental solutions. Our portfolio is rounded off by our digital platform, mywashtec.com. We see ourselves as a service provider and supplier of the entire horizontal value chain for our customers. Globally, we have the largest installed base of any manufacturer. Rollover, which remains our main product, accounts for the largest share here. The share of water reclaim systems is rising steadily.
This high number of installed machines not only provides the basis for recurring business through consumables and services but also forms the foundation and security of our business model. Ladies and gentlemen, one of our greatest strengths and at the same time an often underestimated competitive advantage is our service network. With around 1,800 employees worldwide, including over 700 in service, we have a unique presence and proximity to our customers. This is not just a number, it is a promise. We ensure the availability of our equipment. We guarantee uptime. Service is not an add-on. Service is a central element of our business model. A look at the global distribution of roles underscores this. 41% of our employees work in service, another 25% in operations, 16% in sales, 6% in research and development, and 11% in administration and training.
This means that almost every second employee at WashTec is directly involved with customers, providing maintenance, repair, consulting, and support services. Why is this so important? Because machine availability is a decisive factor for success today. Our customers expect their equipment to run reliably, efficiently, and without downtime. That is exactly what we ensure with a comprehensive, highly qualified service network. This strength is not easy to replicate. It is based on decades of experience, continuous investments in training and digitalization, and a clear commitment to customer proximity. That is why I can say with conviction, our strong market position is also based on our strong service network. That is a key building block for our future success. Despite all our strengths, we are increasingly noticing that customer requirements are changing. As already mentioned, this has been confirmed once again by our recent customer survey.
New challenges must be met with new solutions. For this reason, we began our transformation into a solution provider on May 5th of this year. The focus on new smart services supports this transformation. I will explain the smart services in more detail shortly. First, let me go into more detail about the transformation we are currently undergoing. The basis for this is smart equipment. Building on this, the aim is to make existing service more efficient through digitalization. This is the only way to create the additional capacity needed to offer new digital services. These also open up new business models for WashTec. One example is pay-per-use models. A transformation like this doesn't happen overnight. We have to explain the new concept to our customers, get them excited about it, and align our organization and employees with it.
We need to gain experience, learn, and continuously develop the concept of being a solution provider. Companies like Google or Amazon took around five years to achieve a breakthrough with their new business models. We are working to make it happen faster, but it will be a journey with the goal of establishing WashTec as a smart solution provider. That is the motto, smart solutions for a bright future. This new slogan appeals to all stakeholders and, in our view, can be associated with all the qualities that WashTec stands for in the future. Based on the new SmartCare Connect, we bundle equipment, consumables, and our technical service into solution packages for our customers and connect them to our digital platform. This enables us to offer completely new digital services. We call these smart services.
Since the bundle with chemicals and service is a basic requirement, we will further expand the share of our recurring revenues. The decisive factor here is to solve the emerging problems faced by our customers. As you can see in the chart, our main product, the rollover, has already been connected. Other equipment lines will follow shortly. The situation is similar for smart services. Let me now take you into more detail about the new services. First and foremost, the services that are designed to make life easier for our customers, the operators, and the car wash customers. Let's start with SmartSite, the intelligent control platform for operators with multiple car washes at a single location. SmartSite enables real-time monitoring and control of all systems, analyzes efficiency and consumption data, and creates a whole new level of transparency.
The result: optimized operating processes and sustainable use of resources, such as energy and water, which will lead to higher profitability for the site. In addition, comfort for the operator is significantly increased. The second solution we offer is CarWash Assist , our smart service for comprehensive remote monitoring and control of our SmartCare Connect. Thanks to the central hotline for car wash customers and the ability to intervene directly in the control system, malfunctions can be fixed remotely. The result: reduced need for on-site personnel and smooth, efficient operation with unique convenience for the operator and to the satisfaction of every car wash customer. WashTec also enables its operators to run their facilities unmanned, which in turn makes it easier for them to open new locations. In addition to unmanned facilities, there is an even more important prerequisite for opening additional locations from the operator's point of view.
It is the number of washes sold per year. Michael mentioned at the beginning that this has been stagnating for years at the existing locations. For this reason, the number of locations is also stagnating. We have solutions for this as well. I would like to explain these to you on the next slide. Now we come to the really exciting topics that will help our customers substantially develop their car wash business in the future. Let me start with WashNow, our innovative sales platform where operators, car manufacturers, and other market participants can offer car washes. Customers can see in real time where a car wash is available on this platform, book conveniently via smartphone or, in the near future, via the car's navigation system, and pay directly via the platform, either per wash or, in the future, as part of a flat-rate model.
Car washing has never been easier or more convenient. The next smart service to grow the cake is Easy Car Wash PRO. It is the digital solution for modern and flexible marketing of car washes. This user-friendly app allows operators to offer both individual washes and subscription models. Quick customer registration and targeted marketing tools help to attract new customers and retain them long term, for example, with attractive flat-rate offers. With these smart services, we are setting new standards in digital vehicle washing. Efficiency, customer-friendliness, and increasing the number of washes are the focus. My two colleagues, Carsten and Morten, will now explain the Easy Car Wash PRO smart service in more detail. Thank you.
Yes, I'm Morten Dahle, responsible for Operator Services and bringing out all the digital solutions to our subsidiaries and distributed markets.
Hi, I'm Carsten Klees. I'm Vice President Digital Solutions and here at WashTec, responsible for developing digital solutions, software, and AI solutions. You heard it already from Sebastian. There are basically four smart solutions coming with our new solution provider approach. We would like to take now a few minutes to focus on one of them, Easy Car Wash PRO and Easy Car Wash 4U . The first question, of course, is, what is Easy Car Wash 4U? What is Easy Car Wash PRO? I'm sure all the viewers drive cars, are also car wash customers. Imagine to make your car wash experience just a little bit more pleasant. Instead of going into a shop, buying tickets, you can choose your car wash at an app and even don't have to get out of the car because you are a subscription customer.
To showcase this a little bit, we have prepared a small video that shows the user journey of a car wash customer. Nevertheless, basically, the user experience is compared to a traditional or an analog way much easier. It's a much more pleasant experience. The key here is also that the customers can use subscriptions. Morten can elaborate a little bit about that.
Yeah, thank you, Carsten. This is, I think, maybe the most powerful tool we have seen in the last 20 years within car wash. We see that bringing in subscription, it increases the wash counts for the operators. It reduces the fluctuations with the weather. We have a fixed monthly income for the operator. We see that due to the nature of car wash business for the operator with low operational cost, variable cost, we also see that it's very profitable. We see that it's a fantastic loyalty program for the customers. You get happy returning customers. I think, let's say, looking into this power, we see from the operator point of view, if you look at the value of one average car wash customer, we see a traditional car wash buying single washes compared to an average subscription customer. The value of subscription customers is three times higher.
When our operators, if it's a big network, if it's a small network, but they start reflecting on this, the power of this is really amazing. That's where the good discussion starts.
It's basically a solution that drives the business of our operators through subscriptions.
That's great, Carsten.
This is this example business case. What do we see here?
Yeah, I think this is interesting because we have been doing this for many, many years. I come from the Nordic region, and I think this is, let's say, an actual business case from one of our, let's say, larger networks. We launched the subscription service at this network, and I think after 12 months, we saw an increase in the wash count, very close to 30%. That also goes for, let's say, the profitability of the customers. When talking to the management of this, let's say, larger network, they say this is the best decision they have done for the last 10 years. I think by having subscription, we also allow the local operators to, let's say, have tailor-made subscriptions for local businesses, for taxi drivers, for other customer groups. This gives them a very, very steady platform.
We see that the power of convenience is amazing because they have traditional payment terminals. You can pay at the cashier. Just after 12 months of operation, we actually see that 70% of all the transactions, they happen through the app. This, I think, has surprised us very positively that the change is happening so fast. Having, let's say, a business with much more, let's say, less fluctuations, more predictability, more recurring businesses, this is, let's say, perceived very positive and leads to a very strong partnership with our customers.
You mentioned the Nordics a lot. I assume we are also rolling this out in other countries already?
Yes, correct, Carsten. We have now a dedicated team. I think based upon the experiences from the Nordic countries, we are now actively doing this in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, many, many other countries where we have subsidiaries. We're also expanding into Australia, into the U.S. I think we're also now opening up for all our dealer markets. All these tools have really low thresholds. They are easy to get started with. I think short term, we have basically 600 sites in the pipeline. We are busy, and we see also a lot of positive momentum from our colleagues in different countries that they welcome us to try to assist them in scaling this in their local countries.
You elaborated a lot on the benefits for our car wash operators. Since this is an investor webcast, tell us a little bit more of what's in for WashTec.
Yeah, I think it's good that you bring that up because we also have to maintain, let's say, high wash count is also increased responsibility to maintain a very high uptime on their networks if it's a large customer or a smaller customer. It is very mandatory for us that they have to use WashTec for our chemicals. It's also mandatory that they have a paper wash service contract with us. This is, let's say, something we develop and we also explain why we need this. I think this is also then understood and respected by our, let's say, customers.
Is the funding a must?
It's a must, yes.
Okay. After addressing all the benefits for WashTec and our operators, let's take a little look into the technology behind it. I had earlier in the example, basically, it's a system that relies on the license plate recognition, which makes it the easiest for our car wash customers to activate the wash. There's also another cam that shows a possible queue of the wash bay. It's all connected to the internet through a little box. Basically, when we look at the apps, there are two types of apps that we provide. The first one is, we call it Easy Car Wash 4U because here we provide a solution that can be branded for individual networks that would like to provide an own app experience to their customers.
The Easy Car Wash 4U app will then be present in the App Store and in the Google Store under its own name, customer name, and can be found there and downloaded there. Customers can easily register there. On the other side, we have Easy Car Wash PRO. That is more addressed to smaller operators that have maybe only a couple of wash bays that want to be part of WashTec's own solution. Easy Car Wash PRO is therefore the successor of the original Easy Car Wash we have launched a couple of years ago. The main difference is that we have gained a lot of experience with our first edition. We learned a lot in terms of stability, robustness, scalability. As we heard from Michael earlier, we partnered up with a company called Super Operator. We are working jointly on the further development of the solution.
We act as one team, take technical decisions together. This is what really accelerates our solution from now on. Coming back to the technology, what you also see on the slide is the dashboard. The dashboard provides data insights to the operators to see how well the business is going, basically. It also provides the possibility to define the products, the programs, the permissions the individual customers will get, the pricing, for example. This is all happening in this one dashboard. It's a web-based access. For sure, as a beginner in that business, if you never have had a subscription business for your customers, this can be quite challenging, Morten.
Yeah, I think first of all, what we often do, Carsten, is sit down with the customers and try to make them understand what is your current business. What are the mix of the wash programs? What are the variable cost situations? We sit down and we make different kinds of simulations. We ask them, what kind of position do you prefer in your market? By going hand in hand, we see the consequences. This is very, very interesting. It also means we can then share the risks because the tool is powerful and it needs to be handled in a smart way. By sharing all these experiences, we also see that we're able to scale businesses in many, many markets because I think convenience knows no borders. I think we see more or less the same effect in all the markets where we're active.
Great. Basically, we can say that Easy Car Wash PRO is one part of our growing digital ecosystem. It combines the possibilities of license plate recognition and subscription. It's usable on a very broad base. It's also connected to our other My Car Wash products. As we heard before, we have My Car Wash, the operator platform. We have mywashtec.com API, which provides API interfaces to data and to the machines itself, depending on the customer use case. It also provides other interfaces for alternative digital ticketing solutions for our customers. This is a very good example of how we are now transforming from an equipment manufacturer to a solution provider. With that being said, that would be it from our side. Of course, we're looking forward to your questions if there are any.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, for any questions regarding digital solutions, please press nine followed by the star key. In case you wish to withdraw your question, please press three and star. Please press nine and star for any questions on the digitalization solutions topic. We have a question coming from Stefan Augustin. Over to you.
Yes, thank you very much for taking the question. Some very interesting data here. Can you outline a little bit what happens exactly? Why a customer, when he has the digital solution, increases the number and the value of the car washes? I mean, you probably have made a client questionnaire and get a bit closer to the answer. That would be intriguing for me. The second one is, have you ever looked at the addressable market here? I mean, obviously, you would gain market share in your operators. You would gain market share. That is for the other equipment producers. You would have a higher share in the chemicals business, and you would add on top the software fee. Do you have an idea how much possible growth is in this overall stagnant market?
Yeah, I think I can start maybe by addressing your good questions. I think we see that the different programs are valid basically for any markets. If you have, let's say, a high market share, we also see that we increase the wash counts where we have a high market share. In less mature markets, we see this is also valid because it's a very new, much more attractive offering from the operators. I think we basically see from different market perspectives that this is, let's say, valid for maybe more or less all markets, both mature and less mature. When it comes to, let's say, the bonding part, which we touched briefly upon, I think that's also key that we, let's say, are very clear on this when we start. We also have opportunities to link in also other equipment.
For the financial impacts, I think we will hand that over to the board in the, let's say, later Q&A session.
Why is it that the customers actually go for more car washes and more valuable car washes?
I think this is the basics that when you have a fixed price that you pay per month, we see that in all countries that they change their car wash habit. I think we see the European average between six and eight washes per year done in the machine. When we see subscription-based with more than 10,000 subscribers, we see that the average wash is then between 25 and 30 times per year. I think this, let's say, new way of bringing convenience and fair value to the market is actually changing the behavior of the car drivers. This is, let's say, the force of convenience. I think convenience here works like gravity.
Can you help me here a little bit? If a client pays a subscription, I fully understand that, and then he can, let's say, basically wash his car as often as he likes.
He can, as a general statement, wash as often as he wants. This subscription, I think, is a big number game. It's like the Gauss curve. We see that it's an average number game. We see that the average usage is between 25 and 30 washes per year. Of course, you have some customers doing more and some customers doing less. We have to keep in mind that this is the average number game and look at the fleet of customers and look at average numbers. That's what makes this model so interesting. Some customers use fair use policy. Basically, we offer wash as much as you want. We see that with more than 10,000 customers on subscription, its average is then 25- 30 times per year. It's very stable regardless of price point.
Okay. Just back to that slide where we have, let's say, at the beginning, I had this somewhere from seven washes at EUR 8 per share to 12 washes at EUR 14 per share. If he pays a subscription, is the 12 times the 14 simply then the subscription price?
Yes, correct. That's correct. It is more that they get the fixed income per month from the operator point of view. This then increases the value, as mentioned, three times compared to a customer that only buys single washes roughly eight times a year.
All right. No, I got it. Thank you very much for that one.
Thank you for good questions. Thank you.
For any additional questions regarding digital solutions, please press nine followed by the star key. Thank you. At the moment, there are no further questions.
Thank you very much. We leave the stage for Andreas.
Thank you, Carsten. Thank you, Morten. Really good for giving up that insight. Hello all. A very warm welcome. Great that you are all on the call today. Let's now come to a more profane, but nonetheless, a topic with highest importance: WashTec's financial plan for the next years. I will start with an overview of our financial framework, followed by our main financial KPIs: revenue, EBIT, free cash flow, and ROCI, where we now give an outlook for the upcoming years until 2027 for the first time. After that, some other important financial KPIs and some non-financial KPIs for steering our company will follow. Let's jump into the financial framework. The financial framework is what we, the WashTec management board, discussed and aligned with the supervisory board over the past months with respect to our general financial guidelines. The framework consists of eight major components.
First, we aim for an annual top-line growth based on our superior offerings as a solution provider. Here, especially the second component kicks in. WashTec stands clearly for a profitable growth. That means we always aim for an over-proportionate profitability growth. If we initiate new programs, new projects, as shown by Michael before, there are many, we always target a return on investment under three years. By acting so, we will be able to continue generating high and steady cash flows, which we invest in our business or use for payback to our shareholders. In terms of investments and CapEx, we keep our business model asset-light, meaning we, as a solution provider, deliver everything, what is necessary to run a profitable car wash business by our customers. We do not invest in own operations apart from some flagship stores.
Over the last years, we mainly distributed our free cash flow via paying dividends. We want to continue to deliver high returns for investors. This could also be done via share buybacks like we did until 2015. Our clear statement here is that we stand for high returns to investors. Furthermore, we decided to put a stronger emphasis on our capital market communication. Today's event is only the beginning. Kevin will guide you through our financial calendar 2025 at the end of this webcast. Regarding our financial structure, we stand for a strong and stable balance sheet with moderate leverage. To ensure that we are doing the right things, we have introduced a sophisticated set of financial and non-financial KPIs and metrics to steer the group. Last but not least, you find the item merger and acquisition on our financial framework slide.
Over the last years, we did only some minor acquisitions. We bought our former dealers in New Zealand and Poland. This was mainly occasional. That is something we decided to change. We want to play a more active part here in case there are attributable targets at a reasonable price. Here are our four major financial KPIs, which we historically guided each year. After we have composed a three-year plan two times now, we now feel comfortable sharing our goals for the development of those KPIs till 2027, first time. On first glimpse, you see that we set ourselves ambitious targets. With an average revenue growth of 5% per year, we plan to achieve a clear double-digit EBIT margin of 12%- 14%. Free cash flow remains at a high level of EUR 40 million- EUR 15 million, and the ROCI above 28%. That's just an overview.
Let's now move to more details. First, let's have a look at the expectation of our revenue development by segments. In general, we will focus on our two segments, Europe and North America. By expanding our market share and bundling our offerings, we want to grow in all regions. Also, in 2027, our strongest local market will be Germany, followed by the U.S., and France. Digging a little deeper into the different segments, we see ourselves with over 40,000 installed machines as a clear market leader. For Europe, we expect for the upcoming years a stable or slight increase of car wash sites, whereas in North America, we expect a growth rate a little bit higher. We believe that the split between key accounts and non-key accounts is to be stable, which means that we postulate a key account ratio of 40%- 45% of our total revenues.
Given the fact of a slowly growing number of car wash sites and our ambition of rising revenues in all markets, we clearly need to have a market-changing idea or ideas. That is what we have. With the further expanded number of connected machines and the usage of our advanced digital solutions, we will be able to boost our business in every country. Our business solutions, partwise presented to you by Morten and Carsten, can be transformed and adapted very easily to every customer, to every connected machine. A higher number of car washes, especially due to subscriptions, will lead to a higher turnover of consumables. Service will follow, and the replacement cycle of our car wash machines will shorten. By the way, digitalization also helps a lot to do cross-selling, or in our case, digitalization is the enabler to bundle all our offerings and become a real solution provider.
Now, let's look closer to our three business lines: equipment, service, and consumables. As you are probably aware, we consider our revenues with service and consumables as recurring. From this chart, it becomes obvious. We improved our recurring revenues from 38% in 2021 to 44% in 2025. We want to expand that higher profitable part of our business further to at least 50% in 2027. One important driver to reach our targets here is, again, our efforts in the aforementioned field of digitalization. Currently, we, for example, roll out a new sales tool, our Global Scope Configurator, which supports our sales reps in offering our full range of products and services. Another important aspect of the Global Scope Configurator is that starting at the sales point, all our following processes, like order management, production, installation, are streamlined as well. That means more efficient, streamlined processes, and especially lower indirect costs.
Coming back to our revenues by business lines, it's not only our digital offerings. We have some nice products which had recently their initial launch, like the new polish of Magic Care, which gives the cars a shine never seen before. The sustainable packaging form came in a box, which reduced the transport cost of empty consumable packages by up to 50%. Furthermore, we are working on improving the convenience of ordering of consumables. You know, it's much easier to spend money if the next order is just one click away. This slide now gives you a deeper insight into our cost structure and how we look at our business lines. On the left, our gross profit development is shown, coming from 28.9% in 2020 to a respectable 30.9% in 2024, + 2%.
Given the fact that in this period, some bad external shocks like corona, supply shortages, and the Ukraine war took place, this is quite good. To compare the profitability of the different business lines, we need to combine gross profit and selling expenses to, as we call it, contribution margin three. This profitability ratio grew even higher by 2.4% to 18.2% in 2024. As you can see from the cost composition chart for equipment and consumables, it is significant that there are selling costs, whereas for service, these costs are minor. If you have followed us over our latest communications, you know that we have set up several operational excellence programs for further growing profitability. Streamlining our processes will need some investment and time at the beginning, but will for sure boost our profitability in the future. Just to mention some programs. First, installation costs and warranty.
We have set up multiple small steps for a significant reduction of our installation time and therefore costs. For improving our warranty costs, and the warranty costs are compared to our competitors already, as of today, not bad. We have set up a group-wide program to improve further, following the complete product lifecycle from R&D, overproduction, logistics, installation, to service. Secondly, we work on optimization of our production footprint and the workflow across all production sites. Doing so, we will expand our capacities in Czech, whereas in Augsburg, we will focus on the final assembly of our equipment. We work intensively on our processes to identify and eliminate inefficiencies. Just one example. At the beginning of this year, we had around about 700 different suppliers. Every supplier goes along with handling costs. We set a clear target to reduce the number of suppliers, also using our improving IT capabilities.
This frees up for better supplier monitoring and development. Coming now to the result of our efforts. As stated for the guidance 2025, we also aim for an overproportionate EBIT growth compared to revenue in the future. We expect to reach an EBIT margin in 2027 between 12% and 14%. The contribution of Europe remains higher than North America, and we expect for both segments higher margins. One of the key drivers of this profitability increase is that our share of recurring revenue from service and consumables will further increase. You know, bringing our business lines in a profitability ranking that consumables are the most profitable, followed by service, but also with equipment, we have a double-digit margin. Now, some words regarding our plans with respect to free cash flow. Over the last years, WashTec has always generated a high free cash flow.
Measured in free cash flow ratio, meaning free cash flow divided by total revenues, we were able to achieve a ratio between 8% and 12%, excluding 2022. WashTec's board will do its utmost to maintain a strong performance with this KPI. Currently, we are doing some studies to optimize our stockkeeping and push global terms and conditions for our customers and suppliers. This will have positive effects on our trade working capital in the long run. For 2027, we expect on a cautious assumption a free cash flow between EUR 40 million- EUR 50 million and a high free cash flow ratio in the above-mentioned range, which we saw in the past. As of today, we also do not see any significant changes in our CapEx policy, meaning that we expect that our annual CapEx for the next years will be in the range of EUR 10 million- EUR 50 million.
Following our expectation on EBIT development over the next years and taking our CapEx
Planning into consideration, it is quite obvious that WashTec's management expects an increase of royalty until 2027. We see here a target value of above 28%, which is indicated in this chart. On this page, we would like to touch shortly on some other financial KPIs, which we have under constant focus. As you see, we managed to reduce our C2C, cash-to-cash days, since 2022 from 115 to now 108 days. This is the result of an ongoing optimization of our trade working capital. With all our projects and measures, for example, a reduction in the number of equipment variances supported by the Global Scope Configurator, we expect to reduce this number further. For the healthiness of our company, a solid balance sheet is key. You derive that from our equity ratio, which is continuously over 30%.
Also, our net financial debt was in the last three years between EUR 42 million and EUR 46 million. This results in an EBITDA leverage of 0.7x- 0.9x. A rock-solid situation. Don't get me wrong, for a company like WashTec, I could also imagine a higher leverage of 1.5x or maybe even 2x, resulting in a net financial debt over EUR 90 million. Also, basic for our business model is that we do not invest heavily in fixed assets. Following this, our fixed asset ratio is and will be around 15%. For information about the dividends, let's go further on to the next page. At least since I have been with WashTec, our statement referring to dividend payment has always been that we stand for a steady or slightly increasing dividend, and that is exactly what we did.
For 2024, we paid a dividend of EUR 2.40 per share, that is 103% of our net income or 81% of full year's free cash flow. With that, WashTec has a dividend yield of 5.5%. For the future, WashTec stands for high shareholder return. Does it always have to be only a dividend, or can it be more a mix of dividends and share buyback? We are open to that, and you might remember that WashTec did some share buybacks in 2015 and before. As a result, we hold 4.25% of our own shares, which we could use, for example, for doing some M&A if there is a good opportunity. Another point is that we want to improve the liquidity of our shares, investing more time in capital market communication like today or by attending conferences, as Kevin will show later.
Since I am with WashTec, we have implemented a wide range of financial and non-financial KPIs and metrics to improve the steering of our company. To give you a feeling of how we track digitalization, these metrics could be of interest. I do not want to step in every detail here. Just some highlights. The most important metric in terms of business improvement via digitalization is that our machines are connected. This figure is steadily improving. Coming from 8,200 connected machines in 2020, we are end of 2024 already at 11,500 units. Only with that broad fundament can we offer digital products like Easy Car Wash PRO, Easy Car Wash 4U , which Morten and Carsten presented. We can do remote services. In combining our data with different databases, we clearly can identify a lot of potential for our business.
A simple and easy one is the sleeping customer ratio for consumables and services. As of today, we only serve 70% of WashTec equipment by our own service technicians, or in a reciprocal expression, 30% of WashTec's equipment is not serviced by us. We call these sleeping customers. In terms of consumables, the sleeping customer ratio is even higher at 70%. A lot to gain for us. Combining these data, understanding better our customer behavior is a clear competitive advantage, what we will further exploit. You see, there are really a lot of good things going on in WashTec. This will boost our top line as well as our profitability. With digitalization, our efficiency programs, and our bundling efforts, which will lead to expanded recurring revenues, I am convinced that we will achieve our ambitious targets in the upcoming years.
With that, I will close the financial section and hand over to Michael to draw the conclusion of our webcast today.
Thank you, Andreas. Let me conclude by summarizing the key points of our presentation today. At the same time, looking to the future. We have seen today the markets are changing. Customer behavior, technological requirements, sustainability, digitalization. All of this is changing. We at WashTec have not only recognized this change, we have embraced it. We act from a position of strength. With a leading global market position, a broad installed base, and a strong team behind us, we are in an excellent position to actively shape this change. Not reactively, but proactively. We are developing WashTec into a solution provider. We no longer just offer machines, we offer solutions. Complete solutions that intelligently combine machines, chemicals, software, and service.
Solutions that are customized for our customers, modular, scalable, future-proof. We use digitalization as a cross-driver. By bundling our offerings on digital platforms, we are creating new business models with a clear goal to significantly increase the proportion of recurring revenue. This means more predictability, greater customer proximity, and more added value. We place profitability at the center of everything we do. Efficiency, availability, service, quality. All of this contributes to one goal: sustainable, profitable growth for our customers, for our partners, and for us as a company. We increase the total shareholder return because in the end, it is also about increasing the value of our company through strategic clarity, operational excellence, and consistent implementation. Our conclusion: WashTec is on the right track. We have set the right course. We have a strong team, and we have a clear vision. Thank you for your attention and your trust.
We are looking forward to your questions and to further discussion with you.
Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press nine and the star key on your telephone keypad. In case you wish to withdraw your question, please press three and star. Please press nine and star to register for a question. We have again Stephan Augustin from Warburg Research in the line. Over to you.
Yes, hello again. Okay, coming back to the earlier question. When you look at the possibilities of the rollout of the digital solutions and bundling connected to it, how much, if you would assume currently something like zero growth in the equipment business, very much down in the long term, how long could you grow and how much, let's say, market share in consumables and service do you think is possibly to be captured with that strategy?
Maybe I take that one question. Thank you for addressing it. There's a little bit of a challenge in answering that question. First of all, digitalization is a building block that will help us to increase the share of recurring revenue from currently 40%- 50%. It's a little bit challenging to give you precise numbers about the quantities. The challenge is that...
Yeah, of course.
Some of the solutions are in the pilot phase or in the process of setting up these services. Of course, the goal is to reach the share of 50% and 50%, but you are totally right. Higher utilization of our equipment, which comes with subscription models, is what we see in the Nordics but also in the U.S. This increases the demand for new sites. I mentioned before that we see in Europe a kind of stagnation in terms of opening new sites. We expect this increase in sites, but it's really challenging to say when we will see it because some customers have equipment that is maybe three or four years old. There is a lot of free utilization, so it's quite challenging to see that next year we see this percentage and in two years this percentage.
We see one, but we can't provide you with the exact figures when it will be how much. Hopefully, I could answer your question.
Yes, partially. For example, if we look at the 30% third-party service providers to your equipment, if you roll out all the digital processes, how much of those do you think could you capture? Is there a possibility to bring the percentage up, for example, to 85% or even 90%? How would you think about that? The same is with the third-party share of the consumables or the chemicals. How much do you think you can increase the penetration of using the own wash chemicals in your equipment?
In terms of service, as you said, one of the reasons why customers decide not to ask for our service is because very often with these customers, the business case is not solid. They're not selling enough washes to, let's say, afford a service contract with us, for example. Of course, with our digital solutions and other possibilities that I mentioned, we will increase the profitability of our customers, and then they can afford our service. Therefore, I assume that we can increase the share, of course, not to 100% because there will still be customers, let's say, car dealers, which make hidden or internal washes. Their goal is not to increase the amount of washes, and maybe they don't have the high motivation to go and change something in service.
When it comes to consumables, there's even more to win because, as Andreas mentioned, the sleeping customers in that field are even higher. Also here we see a bigger uplift to convince more of these customers because maybe we did not really mention it in detail. One of the reasons why we ask for such a strong bundling, especially with chemicals, but also with service, is because just imagine you have a subscription for a car wash site and you paid already in advance. That means if you come now and you would like to wash your car and the system or the unit is broken and it's closed and it's shut down.
In case we come here with our service, but someone else is providing the chemicals, then very often we need to wait for the company XYZ because our technician maybe is not trained and familiar with that chemical. That is causing big delays. In combination with digital solutions like subscription models, it's just not working and it's just not convenient. That's one of the reasons why we ask for this strong bundling. This will also help us not only to win new customers and decrease the number of sleeping customers in the chemicals, but also secure existing ones. The chemical business as of today is quite competitive. That means whenever you win a customer, you don't have a guarantee that he or she will stay long term. In equipment, it's different because when you buy an equipment, you are more or less locked in for a couple of years.
At chemicals, you can change, I would say, very fast and very easy. In a nutshell, we also see an increase, but I can't give you a precise number, especially.
We don't want to give numbers here. We have a clear picture from the Nordics as well as from the U.S. market. Yeah, subscription is very, very common. We can transform this, and we have done this, but we want to see how we proceed here before we give facts and figures. Currently, we are not handing over this information.
Maybe I can add here. Yeah, the idea was to give this figure, create the idea, what is in for us, yeah, and to give you and to convince you that we are really improving. We are on the way to become a solution provider and that are not only revenue in the EBIT. There are also some other KPIs and metrics which we track in a regular way. It's also the case, yeah, that not everything which we have as of today, we have already for the year 2027.
Okay, Andreas mentioned what we want to achieve in the EBIT margin as well as in revenue. This is something we take into consideration into that number for sure.
Yes, actually on the EBIT margin, two questions left here on the EBIT margin. One is, let's say, you mentioned keys, definitely the bundling and also the consumables increase. I assume that all the other factors, you continue to sell a certain volume of equipment, you progress with your cost initiatives, and indeed the service business quote also contributes to that. Is this target dependent on the success of the business in the U.S., or is it more or less not so much dependent on that, just on the EBIT margin?
Thank you for that question, Mr. Augustin. Generally, it is the case that with the bundling, which we want to do in North America as well as in Europe, we will increase the EBIT margin in every segment. I guess it's also very realistic that also in the near future, let's say the next three years, the EBIT margin in the U.S. will always be lower than it is in Europe. The cost programs which we have started, for example, moving some workload from Augsburg to Czech or being the final assembly production line in Augsburg, that is more something which is more European-based. Nevertheless, the other things like reducing the installation costs, it is not only in Europe, but it is also in North America.
We are coming up with, or shall I say, more structured, that doesn't give the real feeling, but you know we are working with a lot of details to reduce our installation time and therefore then the installation cost, and that is applicable for both regions, for North America as well as Europe.
In consumables, we did also deep analyze where we can increase our margin due to the fact of where we lose cost in Europe in relation to the U.S., and we have also picked out how we can do it better in the future. As Andreas mentioned, we have specific programs for Europe on bottom line. We are in the U.S. also focused on bottom line, but on the equipment side, we have to also take into consideration the top line, and that we do their specific topics that we increase the value for our customers in the U.S. in the near future.
Okay, the last one is actually a small detail that you might want to share. You mentioned that you have the rollouts, the pilots, and then what you addressed. Is there a considerable decline rate or, let's say, operators that simply don't want to go on the model?
Maybe I take that one. You're referring to subscription or tools like Car Wash Assist?
Let's talk about the total product spectrum.
That means there is a small part of the market, let's say, car dealers who do these internal car washes. Yeah, and these are customers, maybe they are not that open to that smart services. To be honest, we didn't craft them for that target group. For these customers, we have our SoftCare SE, which is a solid basic product. Overall, I haven't seen a big tendency of customers that decline. Especially the big ones are very, very open to their solutions because we are addressing their main challenges, as Michael mentioned, staff shortage and growth in wash counts.
Was this the answer to your question? I thought, because we track also in Salesforce all customer topics. If they agree, how they agree, if they deny, and so on, everything is tracked in our database.
If you want to share.
No. There could be too many competitors here also in this group.
Okay, thank you very much.
You're welcome.
You're welcome.
Next up is Nicole Winkler from Berenberg. The floor is yours.
Thank you for taking my question. Thank you for the, yeah, first capital markets I have attended so far. Basically, most of my questions were already covered, especially regarding the margin. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the shareholder return point, especially when looking at the dividend policy of the recent years. You have shown that in recent years, you have paid dividends that well exceeded your earnings. Now, looking at your M&A ambitions and also might increase your leverage, there's the question, have you kind of distributed too much in recent years to now be able to finance your future growth? Let's say it the other way around. With regard to your future M&A ambitions, will you adjust the dividend policy accordingly?
Okay, thank you for the question, yes. I think it's correct that the high of the dividend in the past was always close to 100% or a little bit above the net income. WashTec stands for a high dividend. WashTec stands for a high payback to our shareholders, and I guess also in the future. I made this statement. It's not sure how we are doing the payback to our shareholders, but we have it clear in the focus. On the other side, it is important that we have the strength in our own hands that we can do every invest, every CapEx, or maybe every M&A transaction if there is a target, with a reasonable target that we can do it. Therefore, I did some analysis, or you all did it probably.
If I look at our balance sheet, I think there is enough headroom that we can do this. I guess that's the statement here.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
There are no further questions.
Okay, thank you.
This operator proceeds.
And Kevin.
And Kevin.
Yeah, the end of the closing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Now we've almost reached the end of today's event. Before we say goodbye, we would like to give you a brief outlook on what's next, especially during the following months of 2025. We've planned multiple events to interact with our investors. As previously mentioned, this was the first capital markets webcast ever, and we're planning to host one or maybe even two more webcasts this year and further ones during 2026. While today's webcast should give you a big picture overview, the following ones will be deep dives into certain areas. Also, please be aware that Andreas Pabst and myself will be attending the Berenberg Goldman Sachs German Corporate Conference in September. Both Michael Drolshagen and Andreas will attend the German Equity Forum in November. We're looking forward to meeting you during the one-on-one meetings.
Of course, today's presentation and recording will be made available on our Investor Relations website somewhere next week. Now we've really reached the end. We hope this event helped you to better understand the strategic direction of WashTec AG, and we're looking forward to your feedback. Thank you for your interest, and see you soon.