Warm welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this year's investors and media briefing for the 2025 results for Schweiter Technologies. Very happy to see so many people here in the room and also connected virtually. I know it's your peak season, so therefore, we highly appreciate, of course, that you take the time and show interest in our company. Today, I'm here with Urs Scheidegger. He will go into more details about the numbers, and also our Chairman, Heinz Baumgartner, is here. What have we prepared? Here we go. I would just wrap up at the beginning, shortly, some business highlights, high-level, the numbers, but in details, Urs will go, and then some examples to show you implement our strategy and how we progress.
That would be the first part. Then Urs would dig into more details on the results, and then we would wrap it up with the outlook and how we see the current situation, in particular, for 2026. Of course, we have then also time for those physically here, you're more than invited then, of course, for the lunch afterwards. What have we achieved in 2025? We had a solid generation despite the lower net sales, and at 904 million CHF net sales, if we adjusted by the divestment of our Bus & Rail business, we had 891 million CHF. That's -9% compared to last year. One third coming from the currency exchanges, 2/3 coming from lower volumes and the record low material prices.
For the EBITDA, we achieved CHF 72 million, again, adjusted by the (Mobility) Bus & Rail business. It's CHF 74 million, which is in 8.3% more about the previous year, compared when you adjust the previous year by the Accelerate investments. Operating cash flow, of our general measures, severance payments, et cetera, that we had then this year, what we executed in 2024, but the cash out was then obviously in 2025. In good cash generation, we propose CHF 15 per share, a stable dividend, to the General Assembly in April. I would like to go a bit into the four areas and provide you some more details what we saw in the market last year. Maybe I start with Transport & Industry.
Obviously, Transport & Industry influenced by the divestment of our loss-making Bus & Rail business, but that this will improve our margin profile for the future. Also important to know, of course, we had a subdued market demand. We had lower revenues in our industry business, especially also in our traditional vehicle business, where we had lower demand from our customers. The good thing, of course, is to emphasize, is our initiative we did on the cost and efficiency side. We are compensating for that, and we are supporting our margins in the industry business. A highlight, certainly, our successful launch of our innovation of Durolen. We shared that in that community several times.
That's a fantastic product where we can attack, especially in the vehicle market, where we see the structural trend away from metal to plastics, and Durolen is a fantastic answer there on the vehicle market, and we see that we have continuous more interest from our customers, and I will come back to that when we talk about the outlook. To scale up now, Durolen is certainly one of the priorities for 2026. On the Architecture side, we had a slight revenue reduction, driven especially by the soft markets in China in particular, but also a bit slower in North America after the record the previous year before. Asia was, as I just said, heavily impacted by China.
China, we had very slow demand from our customers, and the market, the construction market, has definitely not recovered yet. The U.S. construction activity was a bit influenced by the uncertainties, be it on the tariff side, be it on the inflation, be it on the economic instability. There were some unknowns in there that had an effect on the investments in the construction market and obviously also then on our business. Europe was, that's the highlight, of course, in the Architecture business, was improving in top and also in margin. Not compensating fully for the other regions, but certainly a positive sign that in Europe, after now, rather challenging construction market years, this might now the turnaround ahead.
On the Core Materials side, we had, despite the lower revenues, we had a solid performance, especially in the first semester. A bit slower in the second semester, but we also had a certain shift over the semester there from some orders into the first semester, obviously, that had an impact then on the results in the second semester. Core Materials was profiting from the kitting operations, which we expanded in China, and the highlight there for us is due to those kitting capabilities, we actually are gaining market share against local competition in China. That shows that also in China, we can differentiate with our solutions and can attack the local competition.
This will help us, of course, in the future, because about 80%, also in 2025, of the installed capacity was in China. It's certainly the biggest market for in wind, but fast encouraging that we can win market shares against Chinese competitors. Also an important element is that we increase the share of recycled PET. We are now in the position that we can go up to 100% recycled PET in our solutions if the customers demand that. I will come back with a bit more details in a minute on that one.
The marine and technology segment was a bit muted in 2025, but the balsa business performed very well and was supporting not only in the top line, but in particular, also on the margins. We are extremely happy that we have our 15,000 hectares FSC-certified forest in Ecuador and Papua New Guinea in order to deliver against the expectation from our customers to actually have balsa and PET in our portfolio. On the Display side, we had lower revenues, driven by the economic conditions, the customer sentiments were certainly still rather negative in 2025 in Europe and in North America. Of course, the top line was also influenced by the record-low raw material prices.
For instance, our main raw material, methyl methacrylate, which is the basis for our acrylic solutions. Actually, the price or the raw material price was cut in half compared first of January to the end of the year. Of course, that has an impact on our top line because there's a certain expectation then in the market, of course, to also adapt the prices accordingly. The portfolio transformation is going ahead. We extended our Re series. Re series we call the series where we have an increased or even 100% recycling content in our portfolio or in our products.
We see there an increasing demand as an option on the one hand, to improve the sustainability profile of our customers, and on the other hand, when we, it's that we improve our cost position, because we always say we transform our portfolio towards a more sustainable but also more attractive portfolio. The relative margins were protected by our cost and efficiency program, as well as extreme procurement and pricing measures. The procurement activities, actually, we did in all the four business areas, but the impact was in Display, the biggest. That's a bit the summary, what we saw in the different markets, in the different business areas.
I would like now to give you one or the other example, that shows a bit how we implement our strategy and how we want to move forward. I would like to start with an example. It's also on the, on the title of today's presentation, the BMO Centre in Calgary. It's actually the largest event location in Western Canada, with more than 1 million sq ft space, so about 100,000 square meters. Why do I show you that picture? Of course, it's a nice picture and a nice building, but it's really a testimonial for our endless design possibilities. We won that project, because convincing on, I mean, the color and the color options.
The architect had a clear vision how he wanted to show somehow the prairie and the country of Canada, and we were the only one matching exactly the colors he wanted. That's why we won that project. That shows with our experts, we have in all the locations, color-matching experts. That's a clear differentiator against our competitors. We do not have just a number of standard colors. We actually can adapt the finishes to the specific needs of our customers. Another example, from Architecture, where we see, despite the challenging market environment, where we see growth opportunities. One is the data center environment in the Americas. We are actually gaining market share in a growing market.
The key arguments for using ALUCOBOND in data centers, the main argument is, again, aesthetics and design possibilities. Even in the Americas, it's not so easy to get the permission to build a data center in the middle of a city or close to the cities. Hence, aesthetics possibilities are important, and there we have a differentiation against other materials, but also against other competitors. I mentioned the color capabilities. We have 90 standard colors, but as I said before, we can adjust to the specific needs of our customers. Durability, of course, low maintenance, you don't need to clean it. It's or there's definitely a low maintenance and low lifecycle cost.
The high material recycled content, up to 100%, and it's 100% recyclable at the end afterwards. That's also a key argument for our customers, and in certain cases, even our rear-ventilated facades, ALUCOBOND can actually improve or reduce the cooling load for the data centers. The one in the middle, we actually won due to that reason. It was due to that rear- ventilated facade. There was more space for additional isolation without reducing the space of the building, so it was an additional argument to go with ALUCOBOND. Not in all cases that's relevant, but in that particular case, that was the winning argument against competition and other materials.
If you look at the numbers in the U.S. market, last year, there were about 120 data centers built in the U.S. Different sizes, of course, and there is a double-digit growth projected for 2026. The market size, we estimate around CHF 50 million for the facades only. We have currently about 10% market share of this CHF 50 million, and we have clearly the ambition to grow that market share in the future. That's one of our focus vertical markets for 2026. Another example where we can show how we implement strategy. You know, the two other examples were more on the element, on attractive markets, how we want to identify attractive markets, where there is growth, et cetera.
This is an example of maybe operational excellence and attractive markets, where we drive digitalization and want to create more or better access to our customers. I showed you several times already our virtual world. We extended now that one. It's not just a supermarket and a shopping mall. We have now also a petrol station and a car dealership shop. That shows we are extending that offering, and what we actually achieved is that the number of visitors of that of our virtual world, we doubled, and also the mean residence time doubled. In the beginning, a visitor was about or stayed about one and a half minutes in the virtual world.
In the meantime, we are above 3 minutes, that shows we somehow can show our applications and can show what can be done with our solutions. It really showcases the applications and not just talking about the product. Another example is our Sintra. Sintra is a new solution that we launched at the beginning of 2025. Instead of just always telling you how great our products are, I brought you today a testimonial from a customer, that's Ameri Plastics in London, and they published actually, that LinkedIn post on the left-hand side. Can you see the difference? Perform, built to last. On the left-hand side.
The time between the left picture and the right picture is a month, and that was actually also all the time outside, in the rain, in the weather, in the cold, et cetera, and there is no difference visible. Hence, that emphasizes how good the quality is of our Sintra, how you can advertise and use it also for outside applications. That shows we are also there on the right track with our innovations. Since we launched last year, we see now the recurring orders from our top customers, and already more than 50% of our top customers placed recurring orders. Of course, the ambition is that it's at the end 100%, but already 50% of our top customers placed additional orders on Sintra.
Like the dual lane I mentioned before, certainly a focus area to leverage now the possibilities with Sintra and to drive it in 2026. When we talk about PET, that's a PET solution, then we can also talk about PET recycling. Another example where we may be more on the operational excellence, how we try, on the one hand, to save costs and reduce our costs, and on the other hand, helping our customers to improve their sustainability profile. We had a PET waste in our JMB Poland kitting operations. We gathered that, and it was about 1,200 metric tons in 2025. We recycled that and fill it fully into our production again.
That reduces, on the one hand, our CO2 equivalents and scope three emissions, about 3,000 tons, but also costs. You can assume, depending a bit on the specifications, a ton of PET costs between CHF 1,000-CHF 1,500 times 1,200. That initiative brought the saving between CHF 1 million-CHF 2 million. That shows, again, we are working in all dimensions to reduce our costs and at the same time adding value for our customers. What we also did additionally is that we secured the supply chain to post-consumer PET in order to make sure that if our customers want our PET with 100% recycled material, that we also have the raw material. It's not so easy to get recycled PET.
There's that market, it's a fight in that market, but we have that supply chain now secured with a cost advantage for us, again, transforming our portfolio into a more sustainable, but at the same time, more attractive volume. This closed-loop system supports now that we can significantly increase our recycled PET, not only technically, but also that we have the raw materials available. Of course, always without making any compromise on properties or on the performance of our products... These were a bit the examples that show how we implement our strategy. If I look outside, the winter is almost gone, but we still have a picture from winter here where our products are used.
Last year, we showed you a picture at the sea, but also in wintertime, our products are used, be it in the skis when you have a balsa core, or be it on a chairlift, or the protections of the ice rinks. Of course, we used it this year because we were obviously also present with our Sintra at the Olympic Games, especially in Bormio and in Cortina. There were a lot of the signages were Sintra, and of course, that emphasizes also in winter times, our products are relevant and used in different applications. With that, I would hand over to Urs to dig a bit more into more details regarding the numbers.
Thank you very much, Roman. Good morning from my side to all of you. Thank you for being here. I present first the key financials of the group for the full year. All right. Net sales top line, we see a reduction of -11% to CHF 904 million, FX adjusted, -8%. If you then further adjust it with the divestment of the Bus & Rail segment, we reach CHF 891 million, which is then a reduction of 9%, and FX adjusted, 6%. Despite the lower net sales, the group was able to secure profitability with CHF 72 million EBITDA, which is the same level as one year ago, CHF 72 million.
If you adjust it in 2024 with the Accelerate expenses for our efficiency and innovation program, and we adjust it for the exit of the divestment, mobility, we reach CHF 74 million. This is now the continued operations going forward compared to the CHF 92 million one year ago. Despite lower net sales, we reach a secured profitability of 8.3%. EBIT stands at CHF 30 million, compared to the CHF 23 million last year. The CHF 23 million was impacted by the Accelerate provisions. EBIT adjusted without the mobility business, we reached CHF 34 million. The operational loss for the mobility business, January to July, 7 months, was CHF 3.5 million. This business, we have exited. The CHF 34 million is now the ongoing operation.
Net income stands at - CHF 10 million because this is including CHF 27.5 million impairments, depreciations of the shareholder loans to the mobility business, and transaction costs. This is included. Overall, we have an impact of CHF 31 million for the mobility business, CHF 3.5 million above EBIT, and CHF 27.5 million below EBIT in financial expenses. Free Operating Cash Flow stands at CHF 39 million, a solid number, and this was achieved with solid conversion, cash conversion, strict working capital measures, and CapEx management. We will see it a bit later. All right, thank you. We see here the breakdown of the net sales on the left-hand side, in volume price mix.
You notice we have a volume impact of CHF 50 million, which is mainly related to the Display business, in particular in the second half year. In the Display business, as in Europe, the distributors were destocking and also went on a wait-and-see attitude for our Display products due to the falling raw material cost notations. The Core Materials and Architecture business was much more resilient for the full year 2025. Core Materials, a bit stronger in the first half year and a bit weaker in the second half year. This is a bit seasonality and how the OEM blade producers are ordering the material. T&I, so Transport & Industry, was confronted with much more muted demand for the full year.
The price impact of CHF 15 million is clearly related to the Display and acrylic business in Europe. In particular, in that segment, the PMMA and MMA costs went rapidly down, and that also had an impact then on the net sales pricing. All other business segments, Core Materials, and particularly also Architecture, were much more robust in pricing, and we are able to keep the prices or increase it. We have a slight positive mix change as the group is further transforming to the more attractive and more profitable segments. That will further run into 2026. Currency translation is a negative hit of CHF 30 million due to the higher appreciation Swiss franc, particularly to the U.S. dollar, for our company.
You see how the business composition has developed, and the Architecture is slightly increasing the share in particular, and also Core Materials is able to increase the share. Now, towards the EBITDA development. We start from the CHF 92 million in 2024, so this number is adjusted by the Accelerate expenses. The CHF 74 million, which is adjusted by the divestment of Mobility. Gross margins, relative gross margins remain robust and healthy. You see that as well in that bridge, the gross margins are even slightly further increasing. This has to do with our self-helping measures, particularly in procurement, where our material cost in percentage of net sales are further reduced to 51.0%. 1 year ago, 51.5%. You remember, 2 years ago, it was 53.5%.
The group is actively working to optimize procurement with more sources and also changing specifications at lower cost with the same or even better quality. SG&A, we have a saving of CHF 12 million. That's mainly related to the realization of the Accelerate program, right? Savings out of the closures of plant and personal cost reduction. That was a good contribution, but not only Accelerate, the company, of course, worked to reduce SG&A across the board. Here you see the development on the margin profile. I explained gross margins even slightly better and healthy, the SG&A, of course, with the lower denominator on net sales, despite the CHF 12 million savings, cannot fully compensate at the moment. We are now moving to the cash flow. Cash flow is reaching CHF 39 million.
I'm talking about Free Operating Cash Flow, which is about 6% ROIC, the development is as follows: We have about a neutral impact on EBITDA. We are further improving change of net working capital. You see that in the cash flow segment of CHF 16 million, better, improving due to our actions. On a change on change, 2024 was even CHF 26 million, it's a negative move of CHF 10 million. The group is working to optimize the inventory levels, the safety stocks. The operational measures are improving across the board on Days of Sales Outstanding and receivables, on Days of Payable Outstanding, and on inventories. This is moving in the right direction. On CapEx, you see the CHF 7 million, on the cash out, it's only CHF 16 million CapEx.
You need to neutralize this a little bit because we received a grant in England for an investment project of CHF 3 million. The normalized CapEx is about CHF 20 million, like in 2024, and much, much lower than in the past. The CHF 20 million for last year is a sustainable number. We are working hard to keep at that level. You also remember, we said the maximum cap is CHF 30 million, which we want to spend for CapEx. We have the CHF 15 million, and this is majorly a cash out of severance payments of the Accelerate program due to the closures, which resulted in cash outs in 2025. About CHF 10 million of the CHF 15 million is related to the severance payments.
You see that if you would adjust the CHF 39 million with CHF 10 million severances, which is a one-time hit, but calculate back the CHF 3 million grant, you will reach for CHF 46 million, and about 6.5% ROIC. You see on the periods, the CHF 39 million, how it stands historically. Despite clearly lower net sales, the group is able to keep a robust free cash flow of CHF 40 million. We have a positive net cash, net liquidity of CHF 56 million, which is still further improving year-on-year. The equity ratio stands at 68%, so we have a very solid balance sheet, and it is proposed to the General Assembly to pay a 15 CHF dividend per registered share, which is a payout of CHF 21 million for the total dividend.
With that, I'm handing over again to you, Roman, for the outlook.
Thank you, Urs. In the outlook, I would like to start with, that picture, that you know.
In that volatile business environment we are in, we are convinced it's about consequent implementation of our strategy. We confirmed our strategy along attractive markets, innovation, portfolio transformation, operational excellence, focusing on our people and cash flow. To stay agile and to implement consequently, will be key for success in 2026 in those challenging times. On the left-hand side, you see a bit in more details how we judge currently the markets. If I start with Transport & Industry, what we see at the moment, still confronted with subdued market demands. On the other hand, maybe on the positive side, the manufacturing PMI was, for a long time, above 50 in February. Maybe that's a positive sign. Question is, how sustainable is it?
On the Architecture side, is certainly linked to the predicted increase in construction activity. Also there, if we look at Europe, the EUROCONSTRUCT shows also positive momentum, the index. After week 24 and 25, it also shows a positive momentum. Also there, the question is, how sustainable is it, and will it have a direct impact or a fast impact? On the Core Materials side, Uls explained it, we had a very reliable and stable business last year. We expect that also this year. There's even a bit of sign for an upswing in the second semester due to the discussions we have with our customers, also there, still a bit of unknown, still quite some months to go until the second semester.
On the Display side, certainly, we are dependent on the consumer sentiment, if we also take maybe from Europe, the Consumer Confidence Index, was in February, -12.1. Still negative, it was negative for the last couple of years, but it was the highest since November 2024. Also there is the question, will it be now a bit better than 2025? Is there a positive movement? Also there, uncertainty, how sustainable those good indications of the indexes as we follow are, and of course, the visibility for our business is still very limited. For instance, in the Display business, we see about 4-5 weeks, you know?
What is beyond, we are not sure anymore because the customers started to order in much more shorter lead times. They expect also shorter lead times. That's also an opportunity again for us, because we produce very close to our customers and don't need to bring it from far away. The question is, again, also here, how sustainable that development is. If we look into 2026, we expect short term, still a demanding situation on the top line. Also driven by the low raw material prices we still have. Also there, the raw material prices increased slightly now in January, February. Obviously, we also adapted our prices in the market. Also, there is the question, how sustainable is that development?
Will it now rather increase over time, or will it hover again on the levels we are now? The visibility, as I said now several times, is just very limited, and we are not sure in which direction it will go, but of course, want to make transparent also which indexes we follow that give indications for our business. We have a lot of measures initiated that are designed to gain market shares, also in a market environment that is stable or even shrinking and to safeguard our margins.
Just to highlight maybe a couple of those actions, because we are convinced we need to focus our energy on the things we can influence, and therefore, we want to do our homework, that we are more than ready then, in case there is a bit of tailwind. On the attractive market side, maybe just to highlight two elements that we really drive the vertical markets that we specified, where we see growth. Data centers, I mentioned. In the Display business, it's certainly the grocery stores. I just was at the EuroShop this week in Düsseldorf. That's the biggest retail trade fair, where all the shop builders, et cetera, also exhibit, and we have been there with our booths and our team as well.
If we look at what they exhibit, they exhibit 70-75% is grocery stores, and not for shoes or whatever, but shops for food. That, of course, shows us that we believe there is a growth potential in there. We also have a differentiation there, because normally in a grocery store, you have higher humidity, so you need better quality material that it lasts longer, and we have the right answers there. The other main element for the attractive markets and to create growth is that we drive our specification business, that we do not only talk to our distributors, but rather with the end user, that they specify our material and create a pull effect from the market.
There an example that gives us or encourage us for 2026. We tripled the number of projects in Display compared to last year, now in the first couple of weeks. That shows that we can create momentum, but again, question is how sustainable and how will it go into the next months? On the innovation side, scale up the innovation Sintra, Durolen, also MONARK. That's certainly the main focus. Of course, we fill the pipeline further with our research, with new ideas, et cetera, but the main focus is on scaling up the innovations we just launched. For instance, we also just launched this week, the Dibond . That is a 100% recycled core, and the aluminum cover sheets are up to 95% recycled.
Again, optimizing the cost position for us at the one hand, but on the other hand, also improving the sustainability profile of our cars. Operational excellence, main focus, procurement, procurement. We have reduced our percentage versus net sales of our material costs. We want to continue that path, and we strongly believe that we have the right actions in place to do so. Of course, we will also proactively manage the working capital and the CapEx. Also, mention the magnitude CapEx between CHF 20 million and CHF 30 million, rather at the lower end, so that we also protect our cash flow in the year to come.
Again, we have a lot of measures in place and actions in place where we believe we can create some growth via market share and protect our profitability. We have to admit, we also depend a bit on the market, but again, we focus our energy on the things we can influence and are ready when a bit of tailwind is coming. Thank you very much. That's the short summary of 25 and our outlook, and we are more than happy to answer your questions. Thank you. I probably have to mention for the ones who are connected virtually, there's a blue button you can press, so that you can ask your questions then directly. Any questions?
Tobias Klöpper from ZKB, for online. What are the main levers to achieve further cost savings next to procurement? I imagine further potential as SG&A is limited. Do you also consider maybe footprint or portfolio optimization?
The footprint optimization, of course, is always a topic. We look at that, how our different factories develop. That's certainly always in focus. We revisit that constantly. In terms of portfolio, we believe the portfolio we have today, in terms of companies and those four markets, we believe we have enough growth potential in there and believe that's the right setup. Yeah.
Thank you. Maybe another question on the cash flow. If you consider flat revenues, would you feel comfortable saying that this is also flat free cash flow development going forward?
Mm-hmm. Maybe a question for you, Urs?
Yeah. Let's look on the three elements driving cash flow. As we have presented here, even if top line is challenging, there are many actions to further improve our profitability, and our EBITDA in 2026, right? Our self-helping measures in the procurement segment to realize the full run rate savings of Accelerate, and also the divestment of mobility, will help the EBITDA. On the CapEx, I mentioned the around CHF 20 million you can assume, and on the working capital, assuming raw material costs remain where they are now, we will certainly further optimize. Of course, there is a chance that raw material notations go up, that also helps us on net sales and then operational EBITDA.
We will keep a robust cash flow, also in this environment.
Thank you, Urs.
Thank you.
There was another question here, Herr Fehrenbach.
Fehrenbach, AW two, is it?
Yeah, it's on.
I have two. A bit different questions. One is, given the CHF 31 million extra costs you had and the loss of minus of CHF 10 million on net level, is the assumption correct, that this year you will be on net level positive again?
Absolutely.
The second question is, maybe from my understanding, after the divestment of the Bus & Rail business, what business do you have left in the transit?
Can I quickly complete the first question? Certainly, this 27.5 million CHF is an accounting loss. It's a one-time loss in 2025, which is not recurring in 2026. Yes, we also get rid of the operational loss of another 3.5 million CHF. Certainly, we will have clearly positive net income in 2026.
The second part of the question was, what is remaining in the Transport & Industry? The industry business we have is still heavily focusing on vehicles, but more on construction vehicles or farmer vehicles, et cetera. Well, it's more about the covers, and the difference is much more the technology behind. You know, the Bus & Rail business had sandwich structures, et cetera, and our industry or the remaining industry business is now a business where we produce the sheets and normally deliver to a thermoformer or directly to the OEM. They form it then into for a coverage of a tractor, et cetera, in the different colors, et cetera. The vehicle business is still in there.
The sanitary business, when we talk about shower covers and shower trays, et cetera. The example we showed when we talk about eyes, okay? The covers and the protections of the walls, that's industry business. So we still have mainly sanitary, vehicles and the construction market in the industry business in there. Yeah. Pardon?
It's different customers. The Display business normally goes to someone who cuts it and does not form it, and prints it or et cetera. The industry business, they take the sheet and they form it. They form it to via thermoforming typically, and then apply it for industry applications, yeah. The customers and the go-to-market is different, because on the industry side, it's much more that we talk directly to the OEM or the thermoformer, and then the industry, it's much more than the retail or the end user. Yeah. Other questions? As I know.
Pascal Seidner, zCapital AG. I have a question regarding your cash position and capital allocation, and maybe also to Heinz Baumgartner. Why didn't you talk or think about a share buyback on these levels? Wouldn't this be the best way to get cash reduce? Or do you have any plans for M&A? Maybe that's the reason why you didn't announce a share buyback, because more than 10% free cash flow yield, net cash, CHF 56 million. Wouldn't that make sense?
The question came up already, of course. We discussed it already a couple of weeks ago together. Share buyback was not in focus. The dividend was in focus in terms of asset allocation. What the future will bring, we will see, at the moment, it's not highest priority.
M&A?
M&A's plans, we always said our main focus is organic growth in the areas, we opportunistically add via acquisitions. In case we can add market access, we can add a new technology, we can add. It needs to make sense to somehow complete the value chain, et cetera. The focus of M&A is not to add a new business area or another segment. Opportunistically, of course, M&A is always an option, of course.
One more question on the Core Materials business and your plans in China, maybe. There's a lot of fear in the market that there's overcapacity from China. What makes you confident that you're investing out there, that you can compete with local producers on prices?
I mean, we have to probably look at it differently. It's one hand is what is happening in China. We invested into kitting capabilities, that's in the Core Materials business, to actually complete our value chain. I believe I mentioned it, that with that complete value chain, we are in the position to also compete against the local competitors, because we have also differentiation in the product itself. An example is Celix. Celix is a product that absorbs, for the same properties, less resin. That, and the resin is extremely expensive, and if the customers can reduce the resin uptake and can save money there, then the total cost of ownership are lower. Also with such differentiation on the product, we can win market share.
It's not only about capacity and volume, but we need the differentiation on the innovation side, and we believe we have good answers for that. That's maybe the example in China. What is happening in Europe due to overcapacity coming from China, for instance, in the Display business? Also there, of course, the focus needs to be that you differentiate, one on the product itself, and I showed a couple of examples, but what we also differentiate in the service. I mentioned lead times, that we can react much faster than our competitors who need to transport it in from China. There, we have a competitive advantage, especially in the current environment, that the lead times are getting shorter and shorter. Like, how easy is it to interact with us?
That we have the digitalization, we have all the top customers, we have now EDI connections. It's also convenient for our customers to order with us, instead of ordering with someone else, and that has also a value. We do differentiate ourselves on the one hand, on the product itself, but also on the services and how it is to work with us. We strongly believe that, like that, we can protect ourselves from the competition. Of course, it's a constant fight, and it's demanding, and it keeps us on the toes.
I would like to add that most of the blades are hybrid. Hybrid means PT and balsa wood goes into the blade. Schweiter is the only supplier who can provide both materials, and we still see really good demand on the balsa worldwide, and also in particular in China.
I see. Any other questions? Any online? No. Okay. You have to push the button, and then you can talk, huh? Yeah. Maybe lift the micro that people virtually can hear it.
Thank you. Goorenders from AMH. On your guidance for 2026, that's pretty vague, and it's not really linked to your strategic targets. Can you specify that a bit more so that I understand what you actually mean with that? Also, in this plan to get to 7%-9% EBIT margin.
Of course, over the cycle, we want to achieve, and we confirmed, this 7%-9% EBIT margin. Of course, we are working on the cost positions, and it was elaborated on that. Of course, we're also working on the top line. Short term, we don't see that it will change immediately, but we believe short term, that we have all the measures in place that will support that. A bit of support from the markets we will need in order to make the big next step. Short term, we are working on improving our profitability profile, and the first milestone, we want to achieve 10% EBITDA margins again.
Mm-hmm. You refer here to EBITDA margins or the EBIT margins? Because
We refer in our over the cycle targets on EBIT margins, 7%-9%. The first intermediate step is now that we achieve 10% EBITDA margins.
Okay. Follow up maybe to the other question on the share buyback. Can you give a bit more economic rationale? because basically, you only say it's not in the focus, but that's not providing a lot of insight.
Of course, these are options that have been discussed, but the conclusion was currently not in focus. I don't know, Heinz, if you want to add, one or two sentence to that.
Yeah, you.
Must fix those nice mic on it.
You basically outlined it. I mean, first priority for us has to keep a strong and healthy balance sheet. Second priority has to generate decent cash flow. Having said this, you basically have the options to do a share buyback, or to invest it in the business, or to pay an attractive dividend. The board has decided that regarding shareholders, we wanna pay a continued attractive dividend. For us, the dividend has a higher priority than a share buyback program because we are convinced that once the operating performance is there, what we are targeting, the share price will also be there, where we believe it should be. Having said this, we have the third option of instead of giving the excess cash to our shareholders, investing it in our business.
Regarding this, the management has clearly outlined that if we have an opportunity for, let's say, some bolt-on acquisitions or investments, we do that, but we are not targeting, at this point in time, significant acquisition because we are convinced that we have enough growth potential in the existing business we are in. That's a little bit to share what was the considerations at board level. Are you satisfied with this answer?
Thank you for the explanation. This gives a bit more insight, but it doesn't really link it to return potential. You cannot really make up your mind why, at this level, there is no share buyback. The whole element with cost of capital, can you please add that to the arguments why not to do a share buyback now and just give the cash back to shareholders who maybe have to pay a dividend or a tax on it? It just doesn't make sense. Economically, it doesn't make sense.
I cannot give you further rationale besides what I just mentioned. I'm not excluding that at one point in time, we might consider additional measures, and an additional measure could be a share buyback program.... I'm not excluding this. I'm simply saying, at this point in time, we want to pay an attractive dividend, and we wanna focus on further improving the performance, because the performance is the single most important driver for the share price. We believe long-term, the share price will be again there where it should be, and if you are of the opinion that there might be some, let's say, short-term deteriorations, or the share price is not where it should be, then it might be a good investment opportunity.
Again, to focus on the cash flow, to keep a strong balance sheet, to not, let's say, run into indecent debts, that is the view of the board, and I am convinced it is the right view. We have a long-term thinking and not a short-term optimization thinking.
You basically don't wanna elaborate it, while actually shareholders have the pain here, right? You currently have the situation that you have four years where you don't create shareholder value. The shares have lost 90% of the value, and it seems that you focus on the right things operationally. I'm happy to hear that you are convinced that this will play out. If that is the case, exactly now is the moment to do a share buyback, not once you have achieved it. What I notice is that in this setup, the shareholders take all the pain, and there's no one from the executives who is joining the boat, sorry. That's just not satisfying.
Maybe we can elaborate it on another moment, but I think you missed some serious points in shareholder value return and what you are doing with this strategy.
Thank you. Other questions?
There's no any though.
Manuel Bortolotti, Lennard Partner. Could you give us an update about your sale process from the closed plant in Mainz? I saw it is classified as an asset for sale in the balance sheet, about CHF 6 million. Maybe a second question, you mentioned the signs in the Core Materials for a potential upswing in H2. What are the signs that you see in the market?
Maybe the second question first. The signs in the market, it's more signs with our customers, that we see what new models they plan, where we're able to provide prototypes, et cetera. We have signs in the dialogue with our customers that there is a potential upswing, and that's why we formulated also could be. It's not that we have the orders in the books already, but there are signs in the conversations with our customers that there is a potential upswing. On the Mainz side, yes, it is for sale, and we are in the process. We have discussions with interested parties.
If that is now in a month or two months, or, a bit longer, we will see, but that process is running, yeah. Maybe a final question? Otherwise, thank you very much for your interest and, also virtually, no questions? Okay, good. Thank you very much for your interest and, for being here, and for the ones that joined virtually, and, for the ones who are here, you are more than invited, for lunch afterwards. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.