TAKKT AG (TTK) Earnings Call Transcript

Of TAKKT AG. The company's CEO, Andreas Weishaar; and CFO, Timo Krutoff, will guide you through the presentation in a moment, followed by a Q&A session via online. And with that, I hand over to you, Mr. Weishaar.

Thank you, and welcome to our earnings call for quarter 2. I'm hosting the call together with our CFO, Timo Krutoff, who will present our financials in detail in a few minutes. To start the call, let me give you a brief overview of our key financials in the first half of the year and our progress in implementing our TAKKT Forward strategy. Overall, we're seeing visible progress that the measures we have implemented as part of TAKKT Forward are beginning to gain traction. We're not yet where we want to be and the market environment remains challenging and volatile, but the direction of travel is improving. On the top line, we continued the stabilization of our business in the second quarter. Organic growth for the first half stood at minus 5.4%. This number is still affected by the deliberate discontinuation of our Foodservices bid contract business by more than 1 percentage point. Over the course of the first half, we saw a clear improvement in sales development, supported by our targeted go-to-market initiatives. Excluding the bid contract effect, like-for-like growth in the second quarter was at minus 3%, which gives us confidence that the underlying business development is moving in the right direction. Profitability was supported by a solid gross profit margin and disciplined cost management despite headwinds from higher energy and freight costs. We continue to streamline our cost base while, at the same time, investing into processes, systems and capabilities that strengthen our business for the future. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 3.3% for the first half of the year. Looking at cash generation, the picture is mixed. Free cash flow for the first 6 months was clearly negative. However, we achieved a slightly positive free cash flow in the second quarter, and, with that, are on prior year's level after the first 6 months. Let me also provide an update on our strategic progress. First, we continue to simplify and focus our portfolio with the divestment of XXLhoreca at the end of June. We will come back to this in more detail on the next slides. Second, we're increasingly seeing encouraging results from our go-to-market growth initiatives. The continued stabilization in Industrial & Packaging and the improved development at OF&D indicates that the commercial measures we implemented are starting to translate into better business performance. And third, our performance initiatives remain on track. The savings we're realizing through a leaner operating model and more efficient processes gives us the flexibility to keep investing in the business while improving profitability and cash generation over time. So while the overall environment remains far from easy, we see increasing evidence that our actions are delivering results. The improvements are gradual rather than step changes. But what we see supports our conviction that we're moving in the right direction. Let me now comment on 2 progress steps under our Focus agenda in a little more detail. First, the strengthening of our core business, I&P. In May, we expanded the Management Board and appointed Helmar Hipp as a member of the Board. With this decision, we're underlining the strategic importance of Industrial & Packaging, our largest business area and the core of TAKKT. Helmar has been leading the division since the beginning of the year and has already been driving a number of targeted commercial initiatives to support the return to profitable growth. Having worked very closely with him over the past months, I'm very pleased to continue this partnership now on the Board level. Helmar brings extensive international leadership experience and a strong commercial background. In previous leadership roles at Zwilling and Cyberport, he successfully drove omnichannel and e-commerce initiatives and helped accelerate growth. These experiences are highly relevant as we continue to develop our customer-centric go-to-market approach and unlock the significant growth potential we see in Industrial & Packaging. With this appointment, we further strengthened our leadership team while reinforcing our focus on the continued development of our most important business area. The second element of our Focus agenda is the ongoing simplification of our portfolio. Over the past 2 years, we have taken several steps to sharpen the strategic profile of TAKKT and to reduce complexity in the Group. End of 2024, we sold MyDisplays. In 2025, we integrated our PostUpStand brand into Displays2Go and decided to discontinue the bid contract business in Foodservices. These were all deliberate steps to exit less profitable or less strategic activities and to focus our resources more clearly on areas with stronger value creation potential. The next step in this process was the sale of XXLhoreca, which we completed at the end of June. XXLhoreca was our European Foodservice business and generated around EUR 15 million in sales in 2025 with a negative EBITDA margin. The business had a different setup from the rest of the Group with its own commercial model, systems and operating structure. Following a careful review, we concluded that a sale to GastroHero is the best path forward. For TAKKT, the transaction further reduces complexity and sharpens our portfolio. It also allows us to concentrate management attention and resources more clearly on our core activities. So overall, this is another consistent step in executing our Focus agenda: fewer distractions, a simpler portfolio and a clearer allocation of resources to the areas that matter most for TAKKT's future development. Let me now turn to Industrial & Packaging and provide an update on the progress we're making in our largest business area, starting with the market environment. Conditions remain challenging, particularly in Germany. The conflict in the Middle East has increased uncertainty and weighed on economic expectations across our markets. At the same time, we have seen a gradual improvement in manufacturing PMIs over the course of the first half of the year, suggesting a somewhat more constructive backdrop for industrial activities going forward. However, developments remain uneven. While Europe overall has shown some signs of stabilization, Germany continues to lag behind, industrial production remains weak, and many large companies, particularly in the automotive sector, have announced material job reduction programs. As a result, customer investment decisions remain cautious and demand visibility is still limited. Against this backdrop, we are encouraged by the progress we have seen in our business. Most European countries recorded higher order intake than in the prior year, which we view as an important signal that our commercial initiatives are beginning to gain traction. However, performance varies across countries. Germany, in particular, is marked by a challenging industrial environment. So this is clearly not a mission-accomplished moment for us. We still have a lot of work ahead. But it is an encouraging step in the right direction and provides further evidence that the measures we have implemented as part of TAKKT Forward are starting to have an impact. We're also seeing improving trends in our packaging business. The actions we have taken include the rebuilding of the ratioform brand, the formation of a dedicated packaging leadership team, and the extension of customer growth action. With these measures, we're contributing to a stabilization of performance and support our confidence in the opportunities within this category. Looking ahead, our priorities remain focused on execution. Under our go-to-market boost program, we're deliberately concentrating on initiatives that can generate a direct impact on order intake and sales in the current environment. This includes a strong focus on customer reactivation and on deepening relationships with existing customers. We are allocating marketing spend more selectively towards channels where we see an immediate commercial return and where we can drive customer engagement most effectively. As part of this approach, we're also increasing the use of print marketing again. In the coming weeks, we will launch a larger catalog mailing to existing customers, complementing our digital activities and supporting our efforts to stay close to the customers and stimulate demand. Overall, while market conditions remain difficult, we're seeing initial positive signs that our actions are gaining traction and that Industrial & Packaging is moving in the right direction. Let me now move to the Growth activities of our U.S. businesses, starting with the market environment. Compared to Europe, the overall economic backdrop in the U.S. has remained somewhat more supportive with GDP growth still at a higher level. At the same time, the environment is far from easy. Inflation remains elevated, energy costs have increased following the conflict in the Middle East, and overall demand across our end markets continues to be restrained. As a result, customers remain cautious and continue to scrutinize investment decisions carefully. Looking at our individual markets. In office furniture, spending remains subdued. In displays and promotional products, demand remains dependent on marketing budgets and event-related spending. And in Foodservice, market conditions remain challenging as operators continue to balance cost pressures with a cautious customer environment. Against this backdrop, the Restaurant Performance Index moved around the expansion threshold of 100 points during the first half of the year and stood at 100.1 points in May, indicating a market that is stable, but not yet showing meaningful growth momentum. Next, let's now look at the progress we've achieved, starting with NBF. NBF delivered a strong performance in the first half and clearly remains the best-performing part of our U.S. portfolio. We continue to gain traction with our commercial initiatives and achieve positive growth. This development is being supported by the investments we have made in our sales capabilities, the continued expansion of our commercial organization, and our strong customer focus. Going forward, we will further strengthen the sales organization, expand customer acquisition activities, and continue to improve commercial productivity. At the same time, we will continue to invest selectively in the business to support sustainable profitable growth. Turning to Displays2Go. After the positive development we saw during much of last year, performance at the beginning of 2026 was impacted by adverse conditions. For example, externally, snowstorms at the beginning of the year that temporarily interrupted operations. Quarter 2 development was noticeably better while still remaining below prior year. We remain confident that the actions the team has taken to strengthen customer acquisition, improve traffic quality and enhance commercial execution will increasingly add to our top line development in the coming months. Overall, we continue to see good progress in the execution of our strategy. We're further improving our assortment, strengthening our digital capabilities, and focusing on initiatives that enhance the customer experience and support conversion rates. Finally, let me turn to Foodservice. Foodservice, with our brands, Hubert and Central, continued to be our most challenging business. Unlike the development we discussed for I&P and OF&D, we have not yet seen a meaningful stabilization of top line performance. At the same time, our reported development with an organic growth rate of minus 13% is still significantly affected by the discontinuation of the bid contract business. Adjusted for this effect, the underlying run rate is similar to prior year at around minus 7%. Obviously, this is not yet where we want the business to be. And while we accelerated existing and introduced new measures, we continue to execute the turnaround measures rigorously. Our priorities are clear: improving the website and call center performance, converting the chains pipeline, and expanding the spare parts business. These are the areas where we see the most relevant levers to improve customer acquisition, strengthen repeat business and gradually stabilize the top line. So looking at the U.S. development overall, it differs across the 3 businesses. NBF continues to perform very well. Displays2Go is slightly below prior year. And Foodservice remains our key turnaround priority. Overall, however, we believe the actions we are taking across all 3 business units are improving our competitive position and laying the groundwork for stronger performance going forward. With that, I would like to turn to the Performance lever. One year ago, we communicated our target to achieve more than EUR 30 million of sustainable run rate savings by the end of 2026, and we remain fully on track to deliver this target. To date, we have already achieved roughly 2/3 of the expected savings. This progress reflects the broad range of measures we have implemented across the Group, which gives us confidence that we will realize the full savings potential as planned. A key contributor is the new operating model in Industrial & Packaging, which we started rolling out in mid-2025. The objective is clear: simplify our organization, standardize and automate transactional processes, and allow our teams to focus more strongly on customers and commercial execution. At the same time, we continue to expand the capabilities of our TAKKT Competence Center and further streamline workflows across the organization. These measures reduce complexity and costs. And they also improve flexibility, scalability, and create a stronger foundation for future growth. Another area where we are making good progress is the use of automation and AI. We're implementing solutions in areas such as order processing, translations and product descriptions. These initiatives help us work more efficiently, reduce manual effort and support a leaner organizational setup. Looking ahead, we continue to see meaningful potential, particularly in sourcing from best cost countries, stronger category management, and supplier consolidation, which remains an important lever that should gradually support profitability and further improve our overall cost competitiveness. That said, not all developments are moving in our favor. Higher energy prices following the conflict in the Middle East as well as increased freight costs create headwinds. These effects partially offset the savings we are realizing through our Performance initiatives. Overall, the picture is clear. Our performance measures are working. We're progressing as planned. And we remain fully committed to further improving efficiency, strengthening our cost position, and creating additional flexibility to invest in the future development of the business. Let me finally also briefly touch on cash generation. After the expected cash outflow in the first quarter, free cash flow turned slightly positive in the second quarter. As a result, free cash flow year-to-date was, therefore, virtually unchanged compared with the prior year level. Going forward, our priorities remain unchanged. We will continue to focus on reducing net working capital during the second half and on improving cash conversion across the Group. In addition, we continue to evaluate options for further cash contributions. These could include selected asset disposals; for example, real estate transactions. However, let me be very clear, we will only pursue measures that make operational and economic sense and create value for TAKKT. The timing of such transactions is therefore not fixed and depends on market conditions and attractiveness of the respective opportunities. With our year-to-date performance and based on all the measures already implemented, we remain on track to achieve a positive free cash flow for the full year. And with this, over to Timo, who will present a more detailed look at our financials.

Thank you, Andreas. Let me now take you through the financials. Let's start with a brief overview for Q2. Group sales came in at EUR 228 million. Adjusted for currency, sales development was 4.1% below prior year. This means we are clearly seeing a continued stabilization. If we also adjust for the bid contract discontinuation in Foodservice, we would have been only slightly below prior year in Q2. Still not where we want to be, but definitely an improvement compared to the development last year. On profitability, we achieved an adjusted EBITDA margin of 4.1% in Q2. This was supported by a strong gross profit margin, where we saw several effects. Elevated energy prices negatively impacted freight costs and increases in some product groups, especially in packaging. Still, we were able to more than compensate these adverse effects with initial procurement savings out of our best cost country sourcing strategy, and we had additional tailwind from the change in tariff regulations in the U.S. Together with continued cost management, this allowed us to slightly improve our margin compared to prior year. Free cash flow was slightly positive in Q2, a clear improvement compared to Q1 and supported by the profit development and positive contribution from net working capital. Overall, we see improvements in each of our key financials. So a strong quarter, which we want to build on in the coming months. But without taking anything away from our performance, some of the tailwind we saw in profitability might not continue on the same level in H2. So we don't necessarily expect a 4% adjusted EBITDA margin going forward. Let's now take a closer look at the Group financials for the second quarter before we dive into the half-year financials in each division. I've talked about our top line performance and the continued stabilization on the previous slide. To summarize where we stand, we are not out of the woods yet, but the current trend looks promising. Looking at profitability, as you can see, the biggest detractor is the lower sales level, which reduced gross profit by around EUR 5 million year-on-year. On gross profit margin, we were above prior year in Q2. I've already mentioned the various effects that played a role here on the previous slide. Some of these effects might be temporary and will probably not have the same positive effect in the coming quarters. But we continue to manage our cost position well, and we're able to fully compensate the negative impact from lower top line on earnings. Onetime costs were just short of EUR 5 million, up EUR 2 million from last year. They were mainly related to investments into a more efficient logistics network in Europe. As a result, EBITDA for Q2 this year came in at EUR 4.6 million. Moving over to the first half of the year. Sales came in at EUR 454 million, 7.7% below prior year. Currency effects impacted sales by 2.3 percentage points. Organic growth was at minus 5.4%. Adjusted for the Foodservice bid contract, we were closer to minus 4% in H1. On profitability, lower sales had a negative impact of EUR 15 million. Gross profit margin was flat year-over-year in H1, so no impact here. With the cost management initiatives we've implemented last year, we were able to reduce costs by around EUR 9 million and, with that, compensate a large part of the earnings impact from the lower top line. Onetime costs were slightly higher than last year at EUR 6 million. EBITDA reached EUR 9 million. The adjusted margin was 3.3%, down 1 percentage point to prior year. Let's now take a closer look at the divisions, starting with I&P. As Andreas already mentioned, we saw a positive development here over the course of the first 6 months. While our OI was already slightly positive in Q2, organic sales remained below prior year. This was influenced by below-average performance in Germany, while other regions and countries are already showing growth. Visibility here remains limited. On the one hand, we have manufacturing PMIs continuing their positive trend. On the other hand, job cuts and energy prices could negatively impact demand in the coming months. Costs were at a similar level as last year, adjusted for one-offs, with continued investment into our systems and processes. We also started to change our logistics network footprint here in Europe. We are planning to gradually transition the operational business of one of our warehouse locations to an external logistics provider to increase flexibility and efficiency. In Q2, this led to one-offs associated with this decision. Adjusted EBITDA margin for I&P was at 7.1%, down from 8.9% last year. Let me now move on to OF&D, where we saw a strong performance in Q2. While reported sales were still down year-over-year due to the currency impact, organic growth was positive in Q2 with a plus 4%, confirming the positive trend we already saw in the last few quarters. Growth was driven by very positive development with orders from business customers at NBF, while demand from other channels and the displays business remains subdued. On profitability, we see an improved gross profit margin, while cost positions were mainly at prior year levels. Onetime costs didn't have much of an impact, similar to prior year. The adjusted EBITDA margin improved significantly to 7.1%, up almost 2 percentage points from last year. Onto our third division, Foodservices. This is clearly the business where we will have a lot of improvements in front of us. Sales declined by 18.5%, impacted by currency effects from the weaker U.S. dollars and, additionally, from the discontinuation of the bid contract business. On a like-for-like basis, sales decline was similar to prior year's run rate at minus 7%. Andreas has already touched on the initiatives we are working on. We remain confident that we will gradually see an improved top line performance with increased contributions from both our parts business and the conversion of our project pipeline in the emerging chains business. On profitability, we were able to achieve substantial cost savings in personnel, marketing and other costs. Still, given the negative top line, this was not enough to keep margin levels stable. As a result, adjusted EBITDA margin was at minus 2.5%, compared to minus 0.7% last year. Let me now cover cash flow generation in the first half of this year. Cash flow before changes in net working capital was lower year-on-year, mainly reflecting the weaker EBITDA performance. On net working capital, there was an increase in trade receivables compared to the low year-end level. Still, compared to last year, we saw less of a cash out here. CapEx was lower compared to prior year, partly impacted by a shift towards more cloud-based software solutions, which reduced the need for upfront investment spending. And in Q1, we had some contribution, not a huge one, but some at least, from the sale of an office in the Netherlands. Lease repayments were broadly in line with prior year. The slight increase you see here is due to a one-off payment where we prematurely terminated the lease of an office in Germany. In total, we now stand at the same level as prior year and continue to expect a positive free cash flow for the full year, with significant contribution in the last quarter. Over to our balance sheet. There is no significant change since the year-end of 2025. Net financial liabilities remain almost unchanged compared to year-end at EUR 134 million. Our equity ratio also didn't move much and remains at around 50%, underlining the continued solid capital structure of our Group. And with that, back to Andreas for our view on the rest of the year.

Thank you, Timo. Looking at our current expectations, we confirm our guidance that we published and presented at the end of March. Still, the conflict in the Middle East remains an important factor and headwind for longer than initially expected. Starting with the top line. As discussed before, we expect a gradual improvement in organic sales development as 2026 progresses. If you look at the first half, we already see an important indication here. Adjusted for the discontinuation of the Foodservice bid contract business, organic development in Q2 showed a clear improvement compared to Q1. That is the trend we want to build on as our commercial measures gain traction. At the same time, we want to be very clear, uncertainty remains elevated and, visibility on demand across customer segments, limited. Overall, we expect organic sales development to be between minus 7% and plus 3% for the full year. Turning to profitability. We will continue executing the structural improvements initiated last year. Onetime costs related to these measures are now expected to remain slightly below EUR 10 million. This is lower than initially assumed, reflecting a better execution than expected at the beginning of the year rather than any reduction in scope. Timo talked about the tailwind we saw on gross profit margin in Q2, which will be partly temporary. This also implies that adjusted EBITDA margin will most likely not remain on the Q2 level in the second half of the year. For the full year, we target an adjusted EBITDA margin in a range of 2% to 5% for 2026. On cash, our focus remains on discipline and structural improvement. We will continue to release net working capital while, at the same time, evaluating additional options to further strengthen cash generation. Based on these measures, we expect positive free cash flow for the full year. Let me finally address the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The main effects we are seeing are elevated energy prices and inflation, which weigh on GDP growth and customer demand as well as on freight and product pricing. There is still uncertainty around the magnitude and duration of these effects. We've seen a high degree of volatility and elevated levels in the oil price just recently, for example. With the guidance I've just outlined, we assume these impacts to remain manageable and not worsen in the coming months. And with that, we're happy to take your questions. Over to the operator for Q&A.

Thank you so much for the presentation, Mr. Weishaar and Mr. Krutoff. Ladies and gentlemen, now it is your turn; we are opening the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] And we do already have a raised hand, by Christian Bruns. [Operator Instructions]

Yes, hello. Christian Bruns talking. Yes, of course, I can say a little bit congratulations to the improvements you've shown for the first time since a lot of quarters. My first question is on the order intake. I think it's -- you spoke that it was positive for most of the countries, I assume it's not Germany where the order intake is positive, and has been positive in Q2. And I would also like to know if this positive trend in the order intake is continuing in July. We have seen improved purchasing managers' indices in the Eurozone and also in Germany. So I hope that you also see this development in the beginning of Q3. Can you confirm this?

Thank you, Christian, for your question. And as mentioned in our prepared remarks, we see in a number of countries in Europe a positive development throughout the prior months. As far as the current trading is concerned and what we're currently seeing are different development in our businesses, which, in our view, reflect the continued volatility in the overall market environment. For the Group, the current run rate is slightly below what we saw in quarter 2. In I&P, we had a relatively good order intake in July last year. So the slowdown we've seen in recent weeks has been in line with our expectations. In the U.S., we're seeing an improvement in our Foodservice division while OF&D is not yet on the same level what we saw in quarter 2. Therefore, for quarter 3, we continue to work on executing our go-to-market activities and initiatives. Some of these are obviously longer term, while others, which we're prioritizing, have more immediate impact. As mentioned earlier, we expect increasing contributions from these measures in the coming months. But of course, and nowadays, it seems one always needs to make these statements with a little caveat, the economic environment will continue to play an important role in how fast we can further stabilize our top line.

Okay. Maybe can I continue with the question on free cash flow? Because I think I was surprised by the better improvement on the gross margin. And you also said that this could be -- could not repeat maybe in Q3. And also on Page 8, the cash flow picture chart shows that there might be a weaker cash flow development in Q3, but then a better one in Q4. Is it just by chance in this chart or will you -- are you going to prepare that Q3 will see another -- yes, some difficulties?

Yes. Timo, do you want to take this?

I can take that. I think with the cash flow, it's a good idea to also look at the development of last year. You can look at those quarters, right, because it's a pretty good comparison since we are now pretty exactly at the same amount we were negative free cash flow-wise as we were after H1 from last year. Luckily, at the end of the last year -- or not luckily, but if you look at the trend, we did end up positive by the end of last year. And we always have the seasonality, which is not quite the same in all of the different divisions, right? So some of them have their highest sales season right now, while I&P is a little later in the year. So therefore, we always have some net working capital effects now increasing -- still increasing net working capital a little bit in Q3, and then we usually sell off everything and get the cash in, especially in Q4. So yes, the observation is right. We're expecting a rather -- I don't want to say difficult because -- but on the sales side, a good Q3 and then a negative cash effect out of that and then a very positive Q4 again. So similar to last year, just that Q2 this year was a little better because we didn't end up quite as much the inventory in June as we did last year. But again, it's mainly seasonality, and we feel comfortable with the positive free cash flow for this year.