Ladies and gentlemen, we warmly welcome you to the earnings call regarding the Q1 figures of 2026 of the POLYTEC Holding AG. I'm pleased to welcome POLYTEC's CFO, Markus Mühlböck, and IR Manager, Paul Rettenbacher, who will guide us through the presentation shortly. After the presentation, we will move on to a Q&A session. With having said this, I'm handing over to you, Markus.
Thank you. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us for today's investor and analyst conference call on POLYTEC Q1 results 2026. Today, I will give you an update and present the figures for the first quarter of the 2026 financials. Since we presented the figures and the development of the past financial year only two weeks ago, my presentation will now rather be short, and I will concentrate on the figures of Q1. For all those who want to familiarize themselves with the earning figures and the development of the POLYTEC GROUP for the past fiscal year, we have retained the slides for 2025 fiscal year in the back of this presentation. To remind you briefly, in 2025, POLYTEC GROUP has clearly achieved the operational turnaround and was able to improve almost every financial KPI.
We've achieved our outlook and even exceeded and could report positive earnings after taxes. This means that we are once again in a position to propose to the annual general meeting that a dividend of EUR 0.20 shall be paid for the 2025 fiscal year. The annual general meeting will be held on the 2nd of June at the company's headquarters in Hörsching, Austria. Maybe one or the other of you will also take part. After reporting the positive earnings development of the 2025 fiscal year, end of April, the figures for the first quarter 2026 have confirmed the progress of the improvement. The level of sales volume will be lower in fiscal year 2026 due to the divestment of the operating business in the U.K., the sale of a plant in Belgium, and the closure of the Weierbach plant in Germany.
We have repeatedly pointed this out. Let's have a look on the financial figures. Again, we were able to improve our KPIs compared to the first three months in 2025. Our consolidated sales revenues in the first quarter 2026 amounted to EUR 143.7 million. It was down by 20% or EUR 38 million on the previous year's first three months. The group's significantly lower total sales compared to the same quarter of the previous year are due to the divestment of the operating business in the United Kingdom as of end of December 2025 and lower sales in the Smart Plastics & Industrial Applications market area. While sales of commercial vehicles market area gained 5%, in contrast, sales in the passenger cars and light commercial vehicles are declined by 20%.
Revenues in the Smart Plastics & Industrial Applications market area fell by around half or EUR 11 million to almost EUR 10 million in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the previous year. Declines in sales were recorded at one major customer. A much better development showed the earnings figures. The EBITDA margin increased significantly by 2 percentage points from 6%-8% compared to the first three months of the previous year. The EBITDA improved by approximately 6% to EUR 11.5 million. The material expenses decreased by 29% compared to the previous year's period. The material ratio was 5 percentage points lower and reached 49%. Personnel expenses dropped by around 12%, and the personnel ratio reached 36%. As of 31st March 2026, the POLYTEC GROUP employed 3,076 people.
The number of employees was reduced by 17% or 633 people. In Germany, 208 FTEs were reduced. The significant reduction is mainly due to the divestment of the operational business in the U.K. in December 2025, which led to a reduction of 363 FTEs compared to end of March 2025. The EBIT margin increased by 1.2 percentage points to 3% compared to first quarter of previous year. As a result, the EBIT amounted to EUR 4.3 million in the first quarter of 2026, up by 35%, coming from EUR 2.3 million in the year before. A positive trend as well within the financial result, which amounted to - EUR 1.3 million, coming from - EUR 2.1 million year-on-year.
Following these improvements, earnings after tax increased by EUR 1.5 million and finally amounted to EUR 2.5 million, which is more than doubled than the year before. Headline is clear. Strong balance sheet KPIs also in Q1 of the current year. To further strengthen our balance sheet, major focus on the last two years was our net debt, where we achieved a rapid reduction. As of end of March 2026, net debt amounted to EUR 29.9 million. It decreased by 60% or EUR 44 million compared to last year. The notional debt repayment period amounted to 0.58 years. The gearing ratio showed 0.13. Both KPIs are very good and lay the foundation for further investments.
At a solid level for many years, the equity ratio was 46.2% at the end of December 2025. Three months later, equity ratio further increased and reached 48.6%, 2.4 percentage points higher than in the end of 2025. Average capital employed fell significantly by almost 11% or around EUR 30 million - EUR 249.5 million compared to the first quarter 2025. As a result, combined with the higher EBIT, return on capital employed improved substantial by 6.4 percentage points to 8.4% for the quarter one 2025. As of end of March, the POLYTEC GROUP had cash balance of EUR 44 million, 29% more than one year ago. After looking back at the figures for the first quarter, let's keep an eye on the future.
Of course, the outlook for fiscal year 2026 has not changed within the last two weeks. Repeat it again for the sake of completeness. From today's perspective, the management of POLYTEC Holding AG expects planned consolidated sales revenues in the range of EUR 560 million-EUR 590 million for the 2026 financial year. The POLYTEC GROUP's lower total sales compared to previous years are due to the divestment of the operational business in U.K. as of end of December 2025 and the closure of the Weierbach plant end of this April. With regard to the margin development, the company expects a stable or slightly improved earning situation despite the lower total sales and is aiming for an EBIT margin of around 3% for the 2026 financial year.
The company intends to pay an annual dividend again in the future. In terms of sales revenues in the automotive sector, the POLYTEC GROUP expects only low organic growth for 2026 against the backdrop of geopolitical risks, production overcapacities in the European automotive market and intensified cutthroat competition. Although the group sales will be lower in the 2026 financial years as a result of the above-mentioned effects. We are convinced that this temporary lower sales level will be offset by new projects in the non-automotive sector in the medium term and sales revenue will grow again. Our corporate goals are supported by a solid balance sheet with a solid equity ratio, low net debt and a high level of confidence from financing partners. Finally, we would like to thank all shareholders for their trust and for investing in POLYTEC Holding AG.
This was our statement on the results of quarter one, 2026 financial year. Thank you very much for your attention.
Yes. Thank you very much. We move on to the Q&A session, and therefore we stop the recording.