Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today for Autoneum's half year earnings call 2026. I'm happy to share a strong set of results for the first half of the year. Let me start with three key messages. The first half of 2026 confirmed that discipline execution matters, especially in a subdued market environment. While global vehicle production declined, Autoneum improved its financial performance, strengthened cash generation, further enhanced earnings, and raised its full year guidance for both EBITDA margin and free cash flow. These results demonstrate our ability to consistently translate operational improvements into stronger business performance while continuing to execute our strategic priorities. Before we go into detail, let me briefly walk you through today's agenda. I will start with the key performance highlights of the first half of 2026. After that, our Chief Financial Officer, Bernhard Wiehl, will present the financial results in more detail.
I will come back to provide an update on our market outlook and our guidance for the full year. As usual, we will conclude the call with a Q&A session. Please also note that this conference call may not be recorded for publication or broadcast. Let me start with the highlights of the first half of 2026. Autoneum performed well in a weaker automotive market. Global light vehicle production declined by one percentage point in the first half of 2026, while Autoneum achieved a 3% total growth in local currencies, of which organic revenue was 0.1%. This means that we outperformed the global market. In the first half of 2026, Autoneum delivered a strong financial and operational performance.
By executing our strategic priorities with discipline, we increased our EBITDA margin to 6%, generated free cash flow of CHF 58.6 million, reduced net debt, and further strengthened our balance sheet. Across the regions, Europe, North America, and SAMEA delivered strong contributions to profitability. At the same time, Asia showed solid top-line momentum, while profitability was temporarily affected by integration efforts, new plant launches, and continued price pressure. We also advanced our innovation leadership in electric mobility and made tangible progress on operational sustainability, including, for example, energy efficiency initiatives that generate annual savings of more than 19,000 MWh. China remains the most competitive and fast-moving automotive market in the world. The market continues to be shaped by high volatility, intense price pressure, accelerating consolidation, and the growing influence of local OEMs.
At the same time, these developments create opportunities for suppliers with the right skill, customer access, and operational footprint. In this environment, Autoneum continues to strengthen its position in China. While the market contracted in the first half of the year, our revenue in local currencies increased by more than 14%, driven by the contributions from our recent acquisitions of Jiangsu Huanyu Group and Chengdu Yiqi-Sihuan Group. These acquisitions have significantly expanded our footprint, customer access, and local capabilities in China, and strengthen our position as the number two player in our market in China. We are progressing per our plan with the integration of our recent acquisitions and realizing first synergies. This strengthens our growth platform in the world's largest automotive market, together with the recently announced two new plants in Wuhu and Anqing, and continued business wins, including additional awards from Chery.
While continued price pressure, integration efforts, and launch costs temporarily affected profitability, the strategic rationale remains fully intact. We have built a strong platform for future growth, synergies, and deepened customer relationships in what has become the world's most important automotive market. Building on our deep technology knowhow and process expertise, we continue to expand our portfolio of innovative solutions for battery electric vehicles, addressing OEM requirements for safety, lightweight construction, and performance. This expertise enables us to develop highly engineered solutions that combine material innovation and advanced manufacturing processes. A strong example is our Spray Transfer Molding technology, or STM. During the first half of the year, a European car manufacturer selected an Autoneum STM-based underbody shield for a new vehicle platform. This award validates STM as a next-generation lightweight composite solution for structural underbody applications and demonstrates its ability to replace conventional materials while meeting demanding performance requirements.
We are also seeing growing customer interest in our Impact Protection Plate, which protects battery systems against impact, fire, and corrosion. In the first half of 2026, we secured the first series production award for this technology from a major Japanese vehicle manufacturer in China. This nomination represents an important milestone and further confirms the attractiveness of our shielding technologies. These wins illustrate a broader trend. Customers are increasingly seeking integrated solutions that combine safety, lightweight design, and performance. With our expanding product portfolio of shielding technologies, Autoneum is well-positioned to benefit from this growing demand and to further strengthen its role as a technology partner for the next generation of mobility. The second innovation example around electric mobility is our next-generation battery lid technology, which we unveiled last month at The Battery Show Europe 2026 in Stuttgart.
The innovative composite design combines safety, lightweight construction, and functional integration in a single component. It addresses OEMs' growing demand for efficient and scalable battery housing solutions for future BEV and HEV platforms. From a technology perspective, the battery lid enhances thermal and acoustic performance while improving the overall system efficiency of the powertrain. These innovations demonstrate how Autoneum combines its core expertise in acoustic and thermal management with the requirements of next-generation electric vehicles. The numbers speak for themselves. In the past 12 months, we have advanced 10 innovation projects to important development milestones and filed 12 patent family applications, of which seven of them were in China. Last but not least, I would like to mention a recent milestone that makes us particularly proud.
Our Flexi-Light PET technology has been nominated for a 2026 PACE Pilot Award, widely regarded as one of the automotive industry's highest honors for innovation. The nomination recognizes a product that perfectly reflects Autoneum's approach to innovation, combining outstanding performance, lightweight design, and sustainability in a single solution. Made entirely from polyester with a high share of recycled content, Flexi-Light PET delivers excellent acoustic performance while supporting circularity and end-of-life recyclability. We see this nomination as a strong validation of our innovation capabilities and are very much looking forward to the award ceremony on November 17. Naturally, we hope to bring the trophy home to Autoneum. Our improved profitability in the first half of 2026 was supported by strong regional execution. In Europe, we continue to benefit from a strong market position, operational excellence, and a loyal customer base.
The region remains a key contributor to the group's profitability and demonstrates the benefits of our focus on efficiency and execution. In North America, we maintained our disciplined approach to commercial and operational management. We continue to optimize our manufacturing footprint, including the consolidation of operations in Canada through the closure of our London plant. At the same time, we navigated the evolving tariff environment effectively. Thanks to our local-for-local production strategy, our direct exposure remains limited, enabling the region to continue demonstrating resilience and a strong focus on value creation. In Asia, we continue to execute our growth strategy with a strong focus on integrating recent acquisitions, consolidating our footprint, and realizing additional synergies. At the same time, we further strengthened our position with Chinese OEMs and expanded our manufacturing footprint to support future growth.
In SAMEA, we once again demonstrated the strength of our market position and our customer relationships. Despite operating in a highly inflationary environment, we continue to manage cost pressures proactively and effectively. The region is also benefiting from a number of program launches secured in recent years, particularly in Turkey and South Africa, which are now ramping up production. As our most profitable region, SAMEA remains an important contributor to the group's performance, and we see significant opportunities to further expand our presence and grow the business. Across all regions, our focus remains unchanged: disciplined execution, operational excellence, customer proximity, and the ability to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. These capabilities continue to support profitable growth and strengthen Autoneum's competitive position worldwide. Our sustainability efforts continue to gain external recognition.
With a gold rating from EcoVadis and further progress in the CDP assessment, we are seeing tangible validation of the actions we are taking across our operations. In the first half of 2026, we continued to implement measures that improve resource efficiency and generate tangible savings. In Scope 1, targeted efficiency measures resulted in annual fossil fuel savings of more than 11,000 MWh . In Scope 2, operational excellence and technology upgrades generated around 8,000 MWh of annual electricity savings. We reduced hazardous waste by more than 3,000 tons through material efficiency and waste reduction activities. Dedicated water reuse and leak detection projects are generating annual water savings of around 2,000 cubic meters across our operations. At the same time, we are advancing our decarbonization roadmap. Autoneum remains committed to increasing the share of renewable energy across its global operations to 25% by 2027.
As part of this roadmap, for instance, our Volduchy plants in Czechia recently launched a solar panel project, with production scheduled to start in 2027. These initiatives demonstrate that sustainability and operational excellence go hand in hand. They reduce environmental impact, improve efficiency, and support our long-term competitiveness. Let me also highlight an achievement that is important for the long-term success of Autoneum. Our Swiss headquarters has once again been certified as a Top Employer in Switzerland in 2026. This renewed certification reflects the continued development of our people policies and our focus on creating a high-performance and inclusive work environment. It confirms our progress in areas such as employee engagement, leadership development, and organizational effectiveness. For Autoneum, a people-centric culture is not separate from business performance. It is an important enabler of execution, innovation, and long-term success.
By strengthening employee engagement and employer attractiveness, we also strengthen the foundations for sustainable performance across the group. With that, I will now hand over to Bernhard, who will take you through the financial results in more detail.
Thank you, Eelco, good morning, everyone. I am pleased to walk you through Autoneum's financial performance for the first half of 2026. Starting with the key figures for the first half of the year, reported revenue was broadly stable with CHF 1.15 billion, compared with CHF 1.17 billion in the prior period. This slight decline of CHF 17 million was due to negative currency translation effects, mainly reflecting the continued appreciation of the Swiss franc. In local currencies, revenue increased both organically 0.1% and inorganically 2.9%, supported by the contribution from our two acquisitions in China and resilient underlying demand in Europe. EBITDA increased to CHF 69.8 million compared with CHF 61.9 in the prior year period. The EBITDA margin rose from 5.3% to 6%, which is at the upper end of the full-year guidance we issued in March. The net result increased by CHF 5.6 million to CHF 46.3 million.
Basic earnings per share rose to CHF 5.42 compared with CHF 5.16 in the first half of 2025. Free cash flow amounted to CHF 59 million, compared with CHF 48 million excluding M&A effects in the prior year period. The key message is that Autoneum delivered on profitability and strong cash generation despite a subdued automotive market. This performance was supported by execution lever within our control, operational improvement, effective cost management, and working capital discipline, rather than by market tailwinds. Let me now turn on our revenue development. Organically, revenue increased by 0.1% in the first half, outperforming the global automotive market, which declined by 1%. In local currencies, revenue increased by CHF 35 million or 3%. Organic growth contributed CHF 0.8 million, while inorganic growth accounted for CHF 34.3 million, stemming from last year's acquisition of Jiangsu Huanyu Group and Chengdu Yiqi-Sihuan Group in China.
This positive development was more than offset by CHF 51.6 million of negative currency translation effects. As a result, reported revenue in CHF declined slightly by CHF 16.6 million year-on-year. In Business Group Europe, revenue in local currencies increased by 2.1%, with a positive impact from volumes and sales price changes. This was better result than the overall market, which increased only slightly by 0.3%. Revenue in Swiss franc for the region rose to CHF 562 million in the first half from CHF 560 million in the year earlier period. In Business Group North America, revenue and local currencies declined by 3.5%, negatively impacted by lower volumes and transactional FX, among other effects. Volume were in line with the overall North American market, which fell by 0.7% in the first half due to softer demand and higher trade-related uncertainty.
In Swiss franc, Business Group North America's revenue fell to CHF 377 million in the first half from CHF 421 million in the prior year period, additionally reflecting adverse currency translation effects. Turning to Business Group Asia, revenue in local currencies increased by 14%, driven by the acquisition in China. In contrast, the overall market fell by 0.8% due to weak domestic vehicle demand for light vehicles produced, both Chinese and Western OEMs. Consolidated revenue in Swiss franc rose to CHF 156 million in the first half from CHF 143 million a year earlier. In Business Group SAMEA, revenue in local currencies increased by 32.5%, driven by the inflation-related price adjustments and higher volumes. In contrast, the overall market in the Business Group SAMEA fell by 6.1% in the first half due to inflation and economic uncertainty in the Middle East.
Business Group SAMEA's consolidated revenue in Swiss franc rose to CHF 68 million in the first half from CHF 55 million a year earlier. Moving on to the operating result. This bridge illustrates the improvement in Autoneum's earnings. Three out of four regions contributed to the group EBITDA increase. Asia was the main offset, reflecting recent integration costs and ongoing price pressure in a highly competitive market. Group EBITDA increased by nearly CHF 8 million -CHF 70 million in the first half, and the EBITDA margin improved to 6%. The margin improvement was driven by three main factors: Better operational performance, disciplined price and cost management, and structural measures to align capacity with demand. These positive effects more than offset volume pressures, currency headwinds, and temporary integration costs in Asia.
In Business Group Europe, EBITDA increased to CHF 33 million from CHF 24 million a year earlier, with the EBITDA margin improving to 5.9% from 4.3%. The improvement reflects the cumulative effect of structural measures already implemented following the consolidation of our footprint in Czech Republic, France, Germany, and U.K., and tighter cost alignment. These measures are part of our broader effort to adapt capacity and cost structures to both current and expected demand levels. In Business Group North America, EBITDA rose to CHF 24 million in the first half from CHF 21.5 million a year earlier. The EBITDA margin increased to 6.5% from 5.1% as operational improvements and disciplined price management enabled us to offset lower volumes due to adverse market conditions.
In Business Group Asia, EBITDA fell to CHF 7.9 million in the first half compared with CHF 11 million a year earlier, while the EBITDA margin declined to 5.1% coming from 7.7%. Profitability was impacted by integration costs from the recent acquisitions, ongoing price pressure in the market, and launch costs for the two new plants in Wuhu and Anqing in China. Turning to Business Group SAMEA, profitability remained strong in the first half. EBITDA increased to CHF 9.8 million from CHF 8 million in the prior year period, with the EBITDA margin remaining at a high 14.4%. This result reflects a strong operational performance and a successful price management in a region that continues to be affected by high inflation and market volatility. Finally, EBITDA fell by CHF 2.9 million for corporate and eliminations as we invested into our IT infrastructure by moving to S/4HANA, amongst other expenses.
Overall, execution quality in Europe, North America, and SAMEA drove the improvements in profitability. Asia represents the main medium-term improvement lever. All four business groups delivered EBITDA margin of more than 5% in the first half, confirming the progress we have made in strengthening our profitability in the recent years. Turning to the lower section of the income statement, the financial result amounted to -CHF 7.1 million in the first half, compared to -CHF 7 million in the prior year period. A higher net foreign exchange loss of CHF 1.6 million was mainly driven by less favorable valuation of lease liabilities in foreign currency. Interest expenses came in at CHF 2.2 million, lower than last year due to the decline in debt, combined with the lower interest rates driven by the lower SARON and margin.
Income taxes increased by CHF 2.3 million, while the effective income tax rate was 26.2%, which is broadly comparable with the prior period. Consequently, the net result increased by 13.7% to CHF 46 million. The portion attributable to Autoneum shareholders increased to CHF 31 million, and the basic earnings per share rose to CHF 5.42. The main takeaways from the income statement is that the operational improvements were translating into sustainable earnings growth. Let's now focus on our cash flow. Cash flow from operating activities increased to CHF 85 million, supported by the improved net result and a favorable working capital development compared to the prior year period. Cash used in investing activities fell to CHF 27 million in the first half because the prior year period included a net cash outflow for the acquisition of Huanyu.
At the same time, capital expenditure was higher year-on-year, mainly due to the investments related into recovery at our A Rúa plant in Spain, following a wildfire last August that led to extensive property damage. Free cash flow increased to CHF 59 million from CHF 16 million in the prior year period, which included M&A-related net cash outflow in the amount of CHF 32 million. Excluding M&A effects, free cash flow rose by more than 21%. The underlying free cash flow development demonstrates that the stronger earnings are not just a P&L improvement. We have again converted this into cash. I will conclude the financial review with the balance sheet. Total assets increased by CHF 43 million to CHF 1.81 million at the end of June, mainly due to FX translation effects of CHF 28.5 million.
As usual, net working capital was seasonably higher in the half compared with the year-end 2025, increasing by nearly CHF 14 million. Net debt declined by CHF 23 million to CHF 390 million, supported by our strong cash flow generation. Shareholders' equity increased to CHF 656 million, while the equity ratio edged up to 36.3%. This improvement was achieved in addition to the CHF 32 million in dividend payments to Autoneum and minority shareholders. This stronger financial position gives us the flexibility to continue investing into our business while maintaining a disciplined capital allocation. Our priorities remain clear: Improving operational performance across our global footprint, advancing innovation in acoustic, thermal, and shielding technologies, and generating synergies from our acquired business in the strategically important Chinese market. With that, I will hand back to Eelco, who will take you through the market outlook and the guidance.
Thank you, Bernhard. The financial results you have just presented provide a strong foundation for the next phase of our strategic journey. We improved our profitability, strengthened cash generation, and further enhanced our financial resilience. I will now turn to the market outlook and our guidance for 2026. Looking at the market environment, global light vehicle production is expected to remain under pressure in 2026. According to the latest July 2026 forecast from Mobility Global, global vehicle production is expected to reach approximately 91 million units, representing a decline of just above 2% compared to 2025. The first half of the year remains soft, with production of 44.8 million vehicles. Looking ahead, production is expected to improve to more than 46 million vehicles in the second half, an increase of 3.6% compared to the first six months of 2026.
However, this does not mean that the market environment will become easy. The oil price remains an unpredictable external factor. Regional developments will be uneven. Europe and North America are expected to remain broadly stable, while China and other regions continue to face a more challenging environment. For Autoneum, this means that we will continue to focus on what we can control: Disciplined cost management, operational excellence, pricing discipline, and the realization of synergies from our expanded footprint in China. Based on our strong first half performance and the expected market development for the remainder of the year, we are improving our guidance for 2026. We reaffirm our full year revenue guidance of CHF 2.2 billion-CHF 2.4 billion. We are increasing our EBITDA margin guidance to a range of 5.7%-6.2%, and we are increasing our free cash flow guidance to more than CHF 110 million.
This improved guidance reflects the progress we have made through disciplined execution, operational excellence, and stronger profitability across the whole group. In the first half of 2026, we increased our EBITDA margin to 6%, compared with 5.3% in the prior year period, while maintaining strong cash generation. At the same time, we remain mindful of market uncertainty, regional volatility, and continued price pressure, particularly in relation to the oil price, raw materials, and the competitive environment in China. We will therefore continue to manage the business with discipline and agility. This brings me to the end of our presentation. To summarize, Autoneum delivered a strong first half of 2026. We outperformed global market development organically, increased our EBITDA margin to 6%, generated a free cash flow of more than CHF 58 million, and further reduced net debt.
We made further progress in China, advanced our innovation portfolio for electric mobility, implemented tangible sustainability measures, and strengthened our position as an attractive employer. Looking ahead, we remain cautious and focused on our execution. With our improved guidance, we confirm our confidence in Autoneum's ability to deliver resilient performance in a demanding environment. Thank you for your attention. We will now start the Q&A session. Let me briefly explain how the question process works. To ask a question in writing, please click on the Text Q&A in the left-hand bar. You can also ask a question via video. In this case, please click on Join Video Q&A, as shown on the slide. Once you are admitted, please allow your browser to access your microphone and camera. If you'd like to ask a question, also please use the Raise Your Hand feature. The moderator will then call your name.
Please make sure to unmute yourself when prompted, as we cannot do this for you. You may also activate your camera if you wish. Once your question has been answered, you can leave the Q&A area. Thank you for your cooperation. Now, Ulrike, our Head of Corporate Communications, she will manage your questions. Ulrike, we do not hear you yet, or we do not hear the question yet. I hope you can hear us so that we can take the first question. Again, it can be either in writing or.
Yes. I am sorry. We have a first question from Torsten Sauter. Non-controlling interest and net profits has increased from CHF 10.8 million last year to CHF 14.9 million in half year one, 2026. What should we expect for H2, and what could be an approximate percentage share over the medium term?
There are several aspects of the question. Let me one after the other explain it. I think we continue in also in half year two, the net profit development also in the non-controlling interest. There are various units behind. We have in Europe, mainly fully owned, but we have in North America, in Asia and in SAMEA, several joint venture activities with different business development. I expect it continue. It might be a little bit lower in half year two because of the half year two has always less working days than half year one. This might slightly impact, but overall, the level, I think, is quite similar to that what I see. We see also positive development in the next years following that trend.
Thank you. Now we have another question. This comes from Klaus Ringle. Can you please provide your current view of the Chinese auto market amidst the recent negative news flows from OEMs and suppliers? Do you expect a stabilization improvement in H2 2026?
Yes, Klaus, that is correct. I think we can confirm that the first half of this year, from a volume point of view, has been extremely low. I think more than 5% reduction compared to the first half of 2025. We have seen very low volumes, and we can also confirm that we do see a volume recovery. The call-offs for July and August are significantly higher than what we see in the first half year. I expect the volumes in the second half to be better than the first half, even though the first half, as you also mentioned, has been quite weak. We'll have to wait and see what, of course, the macroeconomic environment will do overall. We expect a better second half year than the first half year.
Just a little bit to that. We have always to consider, we are used in the Western Hemisphere that the working days in the half year one versus half year two are in the way that half year one is higher and half year two, because of vacation period in December, is lower. In China, it's the other way around. In China, the working days in half year two are higher than half year one, just to add on then. Also, which at the end of the day, in the absolute volumes also have an impact.
Thank you. We have a video question from Lothar Lubinetzki. Lothar, it's your turn.
All right. Thank you very much. Can I just continue with China? There was a very strange development in the first half. Wholesale and retail was very weak. Production was holding up quite nicely, which means we had a reasonably strong buildup in inventories. You said that the call-offs are better. How do you think the market will solve this problem?
First of all, yes, inventories are relatively high, but I think we still see that certain incentives are also placed again by local governments to incentivize the people of buying new vehicles. Specifically, BYD, which is one of our largest customers in the region, also launched several new models and the new batteries for multiple new vehicles. That will foster the capability to sell more vehicles on which we are supplying as well. Of course, the overall macroeconomic environment, we will have to see how China develops. At least the prediction is that the second half, volume wise, should be significantly better than the first half, yeah.
There's one-
All right.
One additional-
Sorry.
Sorry. There is one additional aspect in that between production and selling of cars. The export was relative also to the prior increase, which in some way limited the increase of the inventories as they produced more than the domestic market was doing. The export, in other words, more than, and balanced also the selling.
Yeah, you are right. Staying in China, am I right to assume that your customer base now after the two acquisitions is roughly split 50/50 between your traditional Western OEMs and local OEMs?
I think that is a good estimation. Yeah. I think with our customer portfolio, we reflect more and more the market in China. That should address also the strategic weakness we had in the past. I think the 50/50 estimate is a fair judgment, yeah. Potentially, we would see actually a further increase of the Chinese content versus the international OEMs in China still.
Moving to Business Group North America. Market was down slightly. You had 3.5% organic decline in sales, which was driven by, I think, predominantly mix. On the other hand, if I am not mistaken, you had very strong order intakes in the U.S. in recent years. When do you think that this will show up?
I think, the strong order intake, in 2024, 2025, we hope also that 2026 will again confirm this positive trend, should provide, from 2028 and 2029, a positive impact. We have also some programs which are end of life actually this year and next year. This will offset some of the programs, which are ending from a production point of view. 2028, 2029, we would expect to see the signs of also a top-line recovery.
Thank you, Eelco. Two questions for Bernhard. Were there any meaningful one-offs in H1 either last year or this year? I think you mentioned the wildfire, the impact there last year.
In terms of financial impact, no. The wildfire, yes. That was expensive damage, but we are by the insurance covered, and it was not material impacting our financials due to the insurance coverage.
Final question from my side. If I look at CapEx, it was 3.4% in the first half. Is that a good run rate for the full year?
Yeah.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. We have a couple more text questions. The next question comes from Thomas Kühne. Why are earnings for non-controlling interests that high? China or other regions?
All regions in that element contribute to that. We see just a qualitative trend that, as I said, also in China, the margins are shrinking. Also on the joint ventures, where we have the Japanese OEMs, their volumes are heavily shrinking. Overall, they are in a good level still. We adjusted our cost structure, but we have also in the other region, very solid profitability. Overall, we are quite balanced.
Thank you. Next text question comes from Klaus Ringle: Looking at input cost inflation, what's your current view as energy prices are obviously remaining higher for longer time?
Yes. I think, originally, we started the year with $60 for the barrel of oil. We went up to more than CHF 100. In the first quarter, there was maybe limited impact. In the second quarter, we have seen some impact of that. We predicted more stabilization around $80 for the oil barrel going forward. We see that this has been very volatile lately. I think we will make sure to, one, continue to work on our material cost initiatives, whether it's some vertical integration, some VA/VE or cost optimization initiatives, and at the same time, when significant increases do occur on the material side through the energy or the oil price, to make sure that we pass this on to our customers, like we did in the past.
Thank you. Next question from Walter Bamert: one-offs. Could you please give me the figures for half year one 2025, half year two 2025, half year one 2026, and half year two 2026?
I think there were no significant one-offs.
We had no significant one in half year one. The plus and minus is the normal, I would say, range, where eating each other up. It was similar, even the subjects sometimes change in half, also this half year. The insurance I already mentioned, so therefore there is no significant one. Even if there were smaller ones, they balanced each other out. Sometimes we have plus, sometimes we have minus.
Thank you. Next question from Walter. Chinese OEM in Europe, c an you comment on progress with them?
Yes. I think the strategic rationale of acquiring our two Chinese company was, of course, to get customer access to significantly strengthen our position with the Chinese OEMs, mainly in China, but as we see that they are not only exporting vehicles on which we benefit, but that they also localize production. This is for us, a real opportunity. We can say that in the last six months, we have received awards on three different continents, from different size, but on three different continents, South America, Europe, and Southeast Asia or Asia, meaning outside of China. On three different continents, received mass production contracts from Chinese OEMs. Yes, I think it has given us a much stronger position in China, but it's also an enabler for us to build on this success for the other regions in the world.
Thank you. Next question comes from Torsten Sauter: is depreciation now on a structurally lower trajectory versus previous year? Why is this? What's the CapEx and depreciation outlook?
Overall, I already have touched it with the comment or the question from Lothar. Overall, the depreciation, we have the lease assets which are going through, which mainly factory buildings. We have long-term leasing contracts, which are also part of the depreciation line, but they are very stable as the factories we are using constantly. The other side, we are investing lower in the recent years than the depreciation on tangible assets. As we have lower volumes, and there are also unutilized machinery, we more focus on replacement and not expanding capacities. Therefore, this level down, I think it's more or less balanced at the moment. Going forward, it depends also on the outlook when we then grow, what we supposed to be. I think we can, the one side, use for current technologies, idle capacities, which limits the need of new capacities.
For the one or other products like Impact Protection Plate or whatever, we are also investing according to business cases, therefore, we spend then in that new technologies, maybe they come up in the future a little bit, this also gives us the necessary return in the following years.
Thank you. Next question from Torsten Sauter. After last week's news, are there any major Chinese OEMs that Autoneum is not yet working with? Are you receiving nominations by Chinese OEMs abroad already?
Yes, as mentioned, on the three different continents. I would say we work with 80%-90% of all the Chinese OEMs. I think there are always a couple missing. Of course, we also try to be selective within China. I think if you look to the number of OEMs within China, it is a very large number. We try to focus on those customers, which we also believe will, in the long term, be successful from a volume point of view, from a financial point of view, and potentially, they will also consolidate the market further. I would say we have a very good coverage today on the Chinese OEMs, and will continue to focus on this market in China, but also on the rest of the world.
Thank you. Next question from Fabian Alben. Can you describe how the crisis of the European OEMs have affected you, and how does Autoneum react to this crisis?
First of all, I would say, especially the German OEMs have had several announcements on, let's say, the negative side. This is, of course, not good for the German industry, it's not good for the German automotive industry. However, as Autoneum, we are almost not touched. Why not? Because we are not only the world market leader, we have 70 plants distributed across the world and a very balanced customer portfolio. We supply the Americans, the Europeans, as well as the Japanese, Koreans, Indians, and Chinese, of course. There are always winners and losers in the market. With our broad customer portfolio, we, I would say, are able to balance this out.
Thank you. Next question comes from Arvin. What are the moving parts for margins in H2 2026? What headwinds or tailwinds do you see?
I would say, we would hope that the overall market volume remains stable or slightly increases. This is mainly driven out of China market. That is a tailwind we would expect for the China market. The headwind most likely will be the volatility of the macroeconomic oil price situation, where we will have to continue to evolve how it develops. As I mentioned, we'll continue to work also on our material cost initiatives, and in case of significant increases, to pass this, of course, to our customers. There are not any obvious or other clear head or tailwinds for our business in the second half.
Mm-hmm. Few more questions from Walter Bamert. Are order call-offs more disciplined, and is product variety being reduced? Is this a positive trend for Autoneum?
I would say the order discipline is maybe more stable than in the high volatility period, so that helps that there is a little bit more predictability. I would say the reduction of the number of versions would also help us on the medium term, because at the same time, we don't expect the total market volume to decline. If we can get higher volumes on the lower number of models, it might help us to reduce some of our development costs, for example. I would say it's a slight positive, but not a significant impact for now.
Next question from Walter. Can you comment on behavior of competition? Any noteworthy developments here?
We like our competition just as much as they like us, most likely.
Good. Do you still suffer from poor Borgers pipeline? How long will this last?
The pipeline, of course, and the order intake in the last years before we took over Borgers, has been very weak. That will continue to impact, and does impact us today as well. Normal lifetime of a program is around six years, so you can calculate that it will have an impact still over the next few years to come. However, we are trying to backfill that with the strong order intake we achieved in the last years and also target, again, an above-average order intake for this year.
Thank you. Klaus Ringle wants to know, I understood you want to increase your footprint in SAMEA. Is this organically or also via M&A?
Our, I would say, main intent is to optimize our footprint. We might add another site in SAMEA as well, depending on the order intake and the customer projects. I would say the main focus would be organically.
Thank you. The last question from Walter. Coming back on one-offs, you had restructuring in H1, and will have in H2 or not? Did you also have positive one-offs then?
We had the restructuring partially. It was also accrued, especially for Germany, where we had a restructuring plan going over multiple years, and it's a long process part. We are benefiting at the moment heavily out of the structural footprint adjustments, as I indicated before, because we have structured in a lower cost, and these benefits are now coming into the P&L, where I would say the last one, two years, we had very often expenses by moving machinery from A to B, and sometimes also not accrued personal expenses. The paybacks times, because of the lower volumes, is very fast. You see that in our headcount development in Europe. You see now in the segment reporting also year-over-year, that the number of heads are significantly reduced despite, as I mentioned before, the volumes were quite stable.
Therefore, this gives us the necessary backwind to also to offset one-off, I would say, one-offs or severance, but we have not a big severance package beside Germany, but we adjust step by step in each plant and the structures according the midterm, I would say, outlook, as I said before.
That were all questions. The list is empty. We are right on time.
All right. Thank you, Ulrike. Since there are no more questions, we would like to thank you very much for your attention and active participation. A recording of the presentation will be available on our website this afternoon. Thank you and goodbye.