Welcome to everyone participating here at this live event at Arctic. Of course, welcome also to those participating online. Sorry for the technical difficulties that we had here. I want to thank Arctic as well for allowing us to have this event call at their facilities. We jump straight into the ke y points for the quarter. We have had good EBIT growth and significant cash flow improvement in the quarter in spite of a challenging market. As most other players in the market, the automotive industry, Kongsberg Automotive has faced also a challenging situation with the market, and as a consequence, our revenues are down around 10% compared to the third quarter last year. We had EUR 162.9 million in turnover in Q3 versus EUR 181.6 million last year. This is a direct result of the market situation in the global vehicle industry.
The largest impact is in the market in North America due to the ongoing tariff situation there that has caused higher costs, market uncertainties, and therefore also a lower demand. In spite of those lower revenues, we see an improved EBIT of EUR 4.9 million in the quarter. This is up from EUR 1.1 million same quarter last year, which is a solid improvement from both previous quarters and also from Q3 last year. On cash flow, we see also a positive trend. We delivered EUR 6.6 million in positive cash flow, which is an EUR 11.8 million improvement from Q3 last year. Cost reductions, we are moving forward with our programs according to schedule. On tariffs, we have been able to mitigate the cost this quarter, and the net impact of tariff cost this year or this quarter is close to zero.
We have some challenges on warranties, and we will get back to that later in the presentation. Here we take a closer look at the financials, comparing those in the quarter versus the last four quarters. On revenues, we see the 10% drop in Q3, which is, as mentioned, caused by the market situation. We also have a currency effect due to a weaker dollar of around EUR 5.4 million, which is an implication of the business that we have in North America where the contracts are in US dollar. On EBIT, we see the positive trend. We do see the dip in Q2 where we had significant warranty accruals. That was the main reason for the drop, but you see the underlying improvement going back from Q3 last year until now. We also have some warranty accruals in this quarter.
Erik will talk a little bit more about that later. The positive thing here is that we've been able to improve EBIT in spite of lower revenues, which is good. It's not on the level far from where we want to be. There's still a lot of work ahead, but it's a positive indication. Pre-cash flow, positive trend also here. You see the positive trend on the last 12 months. Last 12 months, we are close to zero now due to the positive result in this quarter. Result of lower cost base. Reduced net working capital due to lower sales and also more cash discipline when it comes to investments. Overall, I would say a positive indication on the trend on the profitability and cash flow that is very important for us.
As previously announced, we have the cost reduction efforts, which will give us around EUR 40 million in improved cost base and a 4%-5% improvement on EBIT on stable revenues. The cost-saving programs are moving forward according to plan. We have completed the program that we launched in 2024. We have completed the program that we launched at the beginning of 2025, and we are on track with the program that we launched in May, which will be completed fully by Q3 2026. We start to see the good results of these programs, which also Erik will show in the EBIT bridge later in the presentation. Also, due to the lower market activity, we are making additional adjustments in the cost base to align with the demand and to safeguard our profitability. This is mainly impacting manufacturing locations.
On business wins, we report a business win with an estimated lifetime revenue of around EUR 34 million. This is lower than the previous quarter and also during 2024. What we do see is that there is a lower activity in the market when it comes to new contracts. This is a consequence of the tariff situation and that the focus has been more on managing that situation and also the lower demand. We also see some of our customer programs being postponed. We have a strong focus on market activities. We ke ep a very tight dialogue with our customers. We do continue with a good and strong pipeline of opportunities. Very importantly, we have not lost any major contract opportunities during 2025.
It is a number that we would like to see higher, but it is also a number I am not too concerned about due to the current situation and the good pipeline opportunities that we still have. On business wins, we also have done the revision of our investor policy. We have had a discussion with the board of directors and decided that we will only announce strategically important business wins going forward. Our investor policy will be updated to reflect this. Warranty cost. This is an area that remains a concern for us. We reported in Q3 or Q2 increased warranty accrual. In Q3, we have a total warranty cost of 2.7, of which 2.5 is increased accruals for future expenses.
Due to the situation that we uncovered in Q2, we conducted quite a comprehensive review of our exposure to warranty liabilities across the entire product portfolio and our customer base. As a result, unfortunately, we have uncovered some additional risks on further and future warranty liabilities. The problems we see here are not primarily related to our ability to deliver quality products. The challenge here is historically unfavorable contractual terms when it comes to warranty, and also that warranty management has not been very optimal. This is disappointing, and it may potentially impact our profitability going forward. Those that have been responsible for this are no longer a part of the company, as they were a part of the leadership change that took place in the beginning of the year.
It's very hard to make any estimates on the net value of the total liabilities that we may be held accountable for. It's quite complex and a lot of different potential outcomes here. We are working very hard to address these shortcomings. We have also implemented a much more proactive approach to warranty management and strengthened the team there. At this point, we cannot disclose any further details due to the ongoing discussions we have with affected customers. As soon as we have more information, we will provide that when we have more clarity on the potential financial impact. Tariffs. We have previously communicated that we will recover 1% of the tariff cost. That has been a clear ambition for us, and we were very much aware that this was not an easy task. The process with our customers can be challenging, have been challenging.
They request a lot of documentation, and there are also some tough negotiations that are taking place. We have been very firm and consistent in all our customer negotiations, and that has been basically that we cannot absorb this cost, and tariff-related cost has to be passed on to the end consumer. That's been a consistent message both in the U.S., where we had the biggest impact, but also in China, where we have also some impact of the tariffs that have been implemented there. The approach has given good results. In Q3, we had zero net impact of the tariff cost. We continue to have some costs that we have not been compensated for yet, but we have agreements in place with our customers, so it's more a question of time to get that compensation.
For those of you that follow the automotive business and industry closely, you would have heard about Nexperia, which is a Chinese semiconductor manufacturer that has put a halt on export out of China because of a dispute and the situation in the Netherlands. This caused quite a lot of disruptions in the industry. KA also has some products that are directly impacted by these semiconductors. We have been proactively managing the situation and been able to secure supply of the semiconductors, so we have had no issues related to that situation. As previously announced and communicated, the main concern here for us is not the direct cost impact of the tariffs. We have been able to mitigate that. The concern here is the impact that we have already seen materialize on the market demand. Then some other highlights in the quarter.
Two of the acquisitions that we have previously announced. The first one is Chassis Autonomy, which is a transaction that we completed in the quarter. We now own 100% of the company, and full integration is ongoing. It is a very interesting technology. We receive a lot of interest from potential customers, so we're very excited about the steer-by-wire technology. We expect to play an important part of Kongsberg Automotive's future. The transaction and all payments of the shares were done in the quarter, and the net cash effect of the transaction was positive also in the quarter. The acquisition of the 25% share of the remaining share of our joint venture in China with Dongfeng and Nissan was also completed. We have now full ownership of that company, and that also means all our operations in China. This gives us more flexibility and strategic options in that important market.
Also, this transaction was fully paid in Q3. Last on this slide is the renewal of the EUR 25 million loan facility. We have agreed to renew that. That is a loan facility we have with NORD/L B. That was established in 2020. It was set to mature in January 2026, and this we have agreed to renew with one more year with the same interest terms. Okay, now looking a bit forward. We have to deal with the current challenges and also look forward, of course. We have been working very hard during the quarter to work on a new strategic direction for Kongsberg Automotive. End of September, we had a strategy seminar with the board of directors.
This is still some work in progress, but a ke y outcome of that seminar was that we decided that the business, let's say business unit, the driveline, is no longer going to be considered as non-core. Instead, we recognize that this is a business that continues to create value for Kongsberg Automotive, and we will continue to pursue opportunities within that area to win new businesses, extend current contracts, and to optimize the pricing. This is also reflected in our financial reporting, so you will see that the numbers from driveline are not now reported separately, but reported as a part of the business area Drive Control Systems. We continue working on the strategy, and the plan is to present this on Capital Markets Day on December 16th in Kongsberg. You are hereby all invited to that event.
I think it will be a great event with some very interesting updates about our strategic goals, our strategies to achieve those goals, and we'll also give you some hands-on insights and a look at the products that will be a ke y part of Kongsberg Automotive going forward at our tech center that is also located in Kongsberg. Let's see. We are also trying to see if we can get some opportunities for some test driving. We are checking the possibilities. We will let you know. We also organized some transport from Oslo. We will have lunch. I hope to see as many as possible on that event. We will provide more practical information about this during November. You will receive that from us. We continue to stay focused on our priorities for 2025.
We continue to address our cost base, as you have seen, and we are taking the additional necessary steps to adjust the money level further because of the market volumes. We continue to focus on generating positive cash flow with disciplined CapEx management and targeted reduction of networking capital. We have made changes in the leadership on the top level. We start from the top. We do need to continue working on strengthening the leadership teams across the entire organization. That is a very important priority for us. We need strong leaders and strong teams with the right competencies, values, and mindset, supported by a clear structure of accountability and responsibility. We are also working on the future with innovations and profitable growth. We have a very strong focus on customer needs and very tight dialogue with them on, I would say, all levels.
This is also very important for us to understand what their needs are going forward and how we can create value in that, let's say, space of opportunities. We do believe that KA is well positioned to deliver long-term and sustainable financial performance. The 2026 priorities, together with the longer-term goals and strategies, will be shared during the Capital Markets Day in December. That was the summary, and I will hand over to Erik to go through the financial updates.
Thank you, Trond. Can you hear me? Yeah. Good. Also on the webcast. Yeah. I was last in KA from 1999 to 2006, and it's very motivating and interesting to be back. I think what we are trying to do is to merge the best of how KA was managed and run in those days back then, and then with the new best practices and processes.
I think we are starting to see some contours of that, and that's very motivating and interesting. I'll take you through some more of the figures. As commented by Trond, the driveline segment is now part of Drive Control Systems, and it's no longer defined as non-core. This is also the way that we as management run and manage that business. You see, the revenue level in Q3 was EUR 95.1 million, and before the negative current situation effect, it was around EUR 99 million, and still lower than the EUR 110 million in Q3 2024. The revenue is also lower than Q3 2025, and that is also what we communicated in Q2. We did expect the second half of this year to be weaker and lower sales than the first half year.
Even though we had lower sales, we recorded a higher EBIT in Q2 2025 compared to Q3 2024, driven by lower operating costs and lower warranty accruals. I will also comment upon that later. The net effect of tariff costs in this quarter is zero, isolated, which is good, and I think it is the first quarter when we have that. We still have a balance of tariff costs that we will get reimbursed from our customers, and that is ongoing work. On the other business area, fraud control systems, the revenue is significantly lower than in Q2 2025. If you kind of adjust for the current centralization effects, it is not so much lower than Q3 2024. In this business area, we had an impairment made in Q3 of EUR 1 million. We had an EBIT of EUR 4 million before that impairment.
The reason why we do impairment of development asset is part of streamlining our R&D portfolio and where we want to focus our resources. It is part of that ongoing strategy process that also Trond referred to. The reduction in operating costs reduces the effect we have of lost contribution, ending up in an EBIT of EUR 3 million in Q3. This EBIT bridge, just pointing out some points, you see the effect of the lower operating cost compared to the same period in 2024 with a + 4.8 and a + 12.4. This effectively mitigates the effect of the lower volume and mix, which is good. As I commented, the net effect of tariff costs was zero in Q3, and year- to- date, we have EUR 2.9 million we are going to get reimbursement.
The warranty cost in Q3, as Trond mentioned, was EUR 2.7 million, and in Q3 2024, it was EUR 7.2 million. That is the bridge effect of 4.5 that you have there. This is just to underline that we do have warranty costs also in this quarter in 2025. Both in Q3 2024 and in early quarters, there were reversal of impairments done. That explains the majority of that bridge effect of impairment. Ending up from the EBIT of 4.9 then in Q3 2025, this is significantly higher than the 1.1 in Q3 last year. Coming from a negative EBIT of 8.3 million in Q3 2024, with the effects we see here, we end up with a positive EBIT of 1.6 million in Q3 2025, driven by the lower net, the higher EBIT, the lower net currency loss, and tax effects.
This is also, of course, driving the cash flow together with the operating result, which we will see coming into now. The positive result in profitability and working capital effects contributes to the net positive cash flow of EUR 6.6 million in Q3 2025. Looking back, just compared to Q3 2024. We have higher cash flow operations, lower investment levels, and positive currency effect. This also gives, which is very positive, a significant increase in the 12-month trend, which is now close to zero. In line with what we have communicated, one of our ke y priorities is to generate positive cash flow. That is much more important than actually having positive results. You have to get the cash flow coming out of that. There is much more potential in Kongsberg Automotive, both on the working capital side and the whole capital employed area.
Just to underline that, we start to see here that we are moving into a positive cash flow situation. That improved cash flow and profitability also materializes in the reduction in net interest-bearing debt and the reduction in the leverage ratio, the blue line here, which is the ke y in relation to the bond loan that we have, where we have a covenant level. We see we go from, it has been increasing since Q4 2024 from 2.1 up to 3.1, and now we have 2.6 in this quarter. Everything we do on profitability improvements, cash flow, we kind of materialize in net interest-bearing debt and the leverage ratio we measure here. The return on capital point of 1.7% that we have in Q3 is, of course, not satisfactory and also a ke y priority for us to improve. The equity ratio increased from 30.7% to 31%.
As our improvement programs continue giving increased profitability, the equity ratio will also continue to increase. It is kind of continuing work for us to achieve reductions in capital employed. We want this to be an integrated part of the operations in the business area and something that we do every day and that we will follow up the business areas on every day, instead of doing this on a kind of piecemeal basis. That is very ingrained in us to get this as part of the daily work, to get inventory down, accounts receivable down, and only do the good and best investment levels. I think all in all, a positive quarter for us, positive results, fairly good cash flow, positive cash flow increase in the 12-month trend.
We do have challenges and difficulties, but we are managing a positive result, increased result with a significantly lower revenue level, which is kind of our priority. The only thing we really can control is our own costs. We have to manage with the market that we have. When the market picks up again, we will be positioned to get a very good profitability level out of that. I think, Trond, that brings us into the summary and outlook.
Okay. Thank you, Erik. To summarize our presentation, just quickly go through the ke y points again. We do see that we have the positive trend on EBIT and cash flow in spite of a challenging market. We do see that the cost reduction programs are going according to schedule and that we are taking additional measures due to the market situation. The tariff costs are being effectively mitigated.
We have the warranty liabilities that we are addressing, and we will provide updates as soon as we have more clarity on the financial impact. We will hold the Capital Markets Day on December 16th, where you are all invited, and we will share some exciting news on strategy goals and the strategies. I hope as many can participate on that event as possible. We want to emphasize the messages that were given in the previous earnings call. That is to restore value creation for our shareholders. That remains a ke y priority for us. We are very much focused on that and find the balance between short-term and longer-term priorities. We do believe strongly in the future of KA, and we are very determined to succeed so we can realize the full potential of KA. We do believe that we are on the right path.
We see some positive indications here, but it's important also to remember this is not a sprint; it's a marathon. We have a lot of work ahead of us. The numbers are going in the right direction, but they're far from where we want to be. I would say the positive thing here, we do see that there is a lot of things to work with. There's a lot of improvement opportunities. Yes, there are some challenges, but eventually we will solve them. Also with some help from the market, we will see stronger financial results. Regarding the outlook in the shorter term, we do have no changes on the EBIT outlook. We expect the EBIT to surpass both the first half this year and the second half last year. The rest of the year, we do see a stable outlook compared to Q3. For 2026, we are cautiously optimistic.
We are very also aware that there are a lot of uncertainties. The market scenario is very hard to predict. We don't know what is next coming from over the other side of the Atlantic. It is something we are monitoring very tightly, and we're managing the situation, and we're prepared for any scenario, I would say. As a base case, it's cautiously optimistic. I think that concludes our presentation. We are ready for the Q&A. We have questions that can be done and made also here in the room and also on web.
Let's get started with the first question from the webcast. What is the reason that Driveline is now considered non-core?
Driveline, as mentioned, we had the strategic review with the board. What we see from Driveline business is that it is a business that creates value for us. It is profitable.
We do also see opportunities in that area that we can capture without too big efforts. There are also opportunities to extend profitable contracts. There are possibilities to optimize pricing. We do also see that the customer base is important for us for new products that we are developing and launching. That is the reason why we have made that decision.
Thank you. Next question. Why will KA change to the new business when reporting going forward?
Yeah, I can answer that. Just to underline, as we also mentioned, we will continue to announce strategically important contracts. They can be fairly small. They can be quite small, but it depends on the market, the type of contract, new type of customers. We will always summarize the business in the quarterly reports and then a bit more detail than we do now.
I think that the fact is that KA, at any given time, will have a number of contracts that are being renewed. Some contracts expire, and we get into new contracts, big and small. I think that doing this change, we are doing it to get a better communication with the market and improved communication. It is better to kind of summarize this in the quarterly reports instead of kind of doing piecemeal announcements of certain business wins. Just to underline that, we will continue to report strategically important contracts that could also mean very significant ones in value. We will always summarize it in the quarterly reports. This is also in line with our peers, and I think what our larger companies and also associates do. We are kind of aligning more with that.
Thank you. Is there any questions here in the audience?
Given the challenging market and I guess declining revenue growth on your current revenue base, how much could you improve profitability with improved project mix, but also potential further cost improvements?
I can also give you a number at this point, but there are obviously opportunities to improve. If you take the current cost base and assume that we can capture most of the market and volume growth without adding much fixed costs, it can give a quite positive case. That will be an ambition going forward. You can do the math. It depends on the market development. What we do see is that there is a lot of uncertainties in the shorter term. In the longer term, we do expect growth. The question is how big growth that will be. I think we are well positioned to capture that growth.
We will then work very hard to maintain our cost base and not increase our cost base further. We can have a good gearing effect. When it comes to product mix, I think it is more on the revenues overall. Of course, we will work to optimize both our variable cost and pricing going forward. When it comes to profitability, a ke y element here is to resolve our challenges when it comes to warranty and remove that from our current cost base. Yes, there are challenges also on the warranty, but also remember that it has been a part of our cost base over the last years. It also represents an improvement opportunity for us.
Any further questions here in the room?
Hi. Regarding the new business that we have bought, what is the business case in those three—sorry, two parts, Chassis Autonomy and the China part?
Chassis Autonomy has a steer-by-wire technology that has a very interesting, let's say, future. There is a big demand for it. The forecasted estimated need for and market development for that kind of technology is very large. By 2035, the estimate is more than EUR 3 billion, and the target is to capture a meaningful portion of that market. The specific ambitions and targets, I would like to come back to you on that on the Capital Markets Day, and then we can share more information. That will be one of the products that we will highlight in that event, and then we will talk more about how we see that market developing and what is our business case. It is a new development.
There are always risks when it comes to taking on that, but we do believe that we have both the customer relationships, we have the technology, and the capabilities to take that technology to the market. So far, I would say the interest is very strong, so it looks very promising. We will come back to this on the Capital Markets Day and we will share more insights about that at that event. On the China case, we had a situation where our joint venture partners wanted to leave the joint venture, so we decided to make the acquisition. The alternative would not have been so very positive for us. For us not to buy that share, someone else could have done it, and now we have the flexibility and, let's say, the possibilities to look at alternatives and strategic alternatives for that market that we did not have before.
Also there, we are working on a strategy that we will be able to share on the Capital Markets Day regarding China. I do not have the exact numbers if you were asking for that, but we will share the strategic rationale and what our plans are for both those two businesses on the Capital Markets Day. Okay.
Let's take a question from the webcast. Have your demand to pass on 100% of the tariff cost affected your new business wins?
The answer is no. I cannot see that. I think those discussions have been very constructive, very, I will say, we have been very firm, but I do not see that the tariff discussions as such. Has had any impact on our business wins.
Thank you. How is the merger between the two factories in Sweden coming along?
It's moving forward. The merger between those two plants to move Ljungsarp plant into Mullsjö is moving forward according to plan. We have monthly reviews with the team. The plan is to conclude that transfer by Q3 next year. That move is going according to plan.
Any more questions here in the room?
You have proven today that you're able to manage the situation in the market with reducing costs. If the market increases again, or when the market increases again, will you be able to ke ep the cost base as you have it today, or do you need to also parallel increase the cost? How do you see that in the future?
The clear ambition is to maintain the cost base as we have today. We know that there are some costs on our fixed cost base that are, let's say, semi-variables.
The clear ambition is to maintain the cost base as it is today. We will work very hard to achieve. There are new technologies like AI and other technologies that can enable us to do that. It will be, can be challenging if the volume increases are significant. That will be a clear ambition to maintain the cost base as low as we can. There are further opportunities to streamline our operations, so that is also work in progress. What I can confirm is that that will be an ambition, definitely.
Yeah. Just to supplement on that, that is ambition, I think, to a large extent, we will be able to do that. Of course, we will increase cost later than earlier. We'll kind of always drag it along.
We have to make sure that we will deliver the products in the right quality to the customer at the right time. That will be the clear ambition. That's also part of the benefit that we get from all these cost reduction programs, that we will try to find better and smart ways to work with the people and the cost base that we have. Yeah.
I have to take the opportunity to congratulate and applaud what you have done so far. It's looking really promising for us shareholders.
Thank you.
No further questions in the webcast tool. If there are no further questions here in the room, we can conclude.
Thank you very much for your participation. Thank you again for hosting this for us at their facilities. That was excellent. And have an excellent.