SIUAF (SIUAF) Q3 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Thank you, Dr. Buchsner. [Operator Instructions] So we already have 2 questions. So the first question is from Mr. Klaus Ringel of ODDO BHF. Sorry, Mr. Ringel, could you again to -- ask a question? [Operator Instructions] Mr. Ringel, you can ask your question now. So we cannot hear you at the moment. Maybe you are muted.

I would be interested in the kind of qualitative outlook on the business looking ahead because when you did the pre-release about 2 weeks ago, some investors were asking a bit concerned how you want to fill the revenue and especially the earnings contribution from the assets that you have sold. And so if you just could give a comment on the ramping up projects with the actuation business of auto [indiscernible] or from this defense order for the rocket engines or maybe even from the humanoids, if you see the potential to fill the gap or even to generate growth these upcoming projects. So yes, I know it's too early to ask for guidance for next year, but maybe some qualitative statements on the prospects from the ramp-ups here looking ahead. Michael Büchsner: Absolutely. I'm happy to do that. First of all, we talk about these growth angles, right? You mentioned the door actuation. The door actuation is going very well. We've been launching it with Xiaomi in China. We are now filling the pipeline of parts, and they start the Xiaomi production in August. Similarly in Europe, with BMW, we are the supplier for door actuation for -- starting with the X5 Series, and they are also here now in filling the pipeline for -- in terms of sales. So both activities happen over the summer period, which actually is August and September. So it's too early to say yet how this progresses then for the next year, coming back to your question also in the future. But for the time being, it's absolutely in accordance, slightly a notch higher than our expectation. That's in terms of door actuation. When it comes to the defense area, we are in the execution. You mentioned the propulsion system. There is a rocket propulsion system, a nuclear propulsion system where we deliver the remote handling equipment. This is running on track. It's exactly in terms of our forecast, running on our forecast level and also making good progress. The humanoids is currently on a stage where we see first sales for next year. This will be on the low single-digit million sales for next year, but kicking in as well next year. However, this year, only by sample parts. This is important to know. The thing which goes positive is, in general terms, all these industrial businesses. However, and that's the point. And you are referencing also to the information we gave to the capital market 2 weeks ago. The industry of automotive in general terms is lagging behind. And this is something which we -- and I mentioned that as headwinds, we took into consideration narrowing down the guidance. Why is that? Because we know that -- and we had exchange with our OEMs before hand, for sure, we always know this information from their EDIs a little beforehand. And nowadays, you probably heard over the course of the past last days that the majority of the bigger scale automotive suppliers, automotive customers have been dampening their outlook for the next quarter a bit. This is something which we saw coming already a couple of weeks ago. This is why we said, okay, let's consider that in our doings. Hopefully, it turns out a little better than this expectation is from the OEMs. Our current guidance on one hand side includes this cautiousness of these automotive suppliers because we got this heads up a little earlier for sure with our EDIs. On the other hand side, we see very positive development on the door actuators, the defense area and in general terms, industry. And this is something which we see also going forward because I mentioned that our automotive business in an organic way is down 15% quarter-over-quarter, quarter 3 last year to quarter 3 this year. However, the way more positive and profitable industry business is up 8% year-over-year. And this is something which we think will be also strong in the quarters to come. However, it will leave some marks on the sales side in terms of this automotive space. But we are making up some of it with more profitable industry business. So this shift from automotive industry, which is volatile to the industry business with a good margin profile is working very well. We've been putting basically the money into the right basket with this initiative to strengthen industry business. I hope that answers your question, Klaus.

Yes, that's very helpful. Second one would just be a clarification on the cost savings. You said you have this EUR 15.4 million year-to-date in 2026, and you target about EUR 19 million for '27. So the incremental savings is then the EUR 19 million? Or is it just something like EUR 3 million to EUR 4 million? Michael Büchsner: The incremental savings will be the EUR 4 million. So as we stand year-to-date at EUR 15.4 million. We will add another almost EUR 4 million for the rest of the year because there's only 2 more months to go now. And we had this steep ramp up. We wanted to execute all the savings early in the year. So there is EUR 4 million to come. And then we have the run rate for '27, which is the EUR 19 million. And then out in '28, it will be up to EUR 32 million even because then there are some operational savings coming. Thank you very much for your question. Are there further questions?

There is another question from Ms. Yasmin Steilen from Berenberg.

I have 3 questions, if I may. So the first on APAC. So could you elaborate a little bit more detail the reason for the sales weakness in APAC auto because you referred to the softer market environment, while based on your slides, the light vehicle production volumes in APAC seems stable in Q4 and Q3. And do you feel comfortable to keep the adjusted EBIT margin in APAC above 10%? Or do you require additional cost measures in these regions? That's my first question. Michael Büchsner: Okay. So that's good. Let's start step-by-step, Yasmin. The first question is, in Asia Pacific, we've been down 18% year-over-year. As you know, that is what we have in the numbers and you're absolutely right, the light vehicle production. In general terms, was basically flat. However, if you look into the details of the light vehicle production, the light vehicle production was predominantly strong in the small segment cars and those OEMs also where there is low technical shipment of products. We are strong there with Gas Springs, right? This is also why we see there on the Gas Spring side, a positive sign. However, if you go to the typical vehicles where you would have a Powerise like the Cherys, like the Western OEMs, unfortunately, and we hear in the press that the western OEMs are just losing their share. Also to certain shares still Tesla there, but also the known bigger Asia Pacific suppliers for bigger cars or producers for bigger cars like Geely, they are having had the difficulties in the last quarter, particularly in the last quarter, and this is basically what we saw. Our biggest customer is, as you know, on global scale VW. And this is also something where we are strong in China. Unfortunately, for example, VW, and you hear it in all the media is basically suffering as well this weak market and particularly a competitiveness issue and with this lower sales on that end. For sure, we have a good stake in the Western world customers on the OEM side, and they're a little softer than we would have seen last year. So this is the reason overall light vehicle production, yes, they produce the cars. But if you go into the segment analysis and then you divide it between Western world and local Chinese OEMs, then you see some shifts. And there are some vehicles out there. I mean, BYD is also losing some shares, but they are still doing good in their volumes. But as you know, they produce the Powerise on their own. And this is something in conjunction with the Western world OEMs being a little softer, which hurts us there. So the second part of your first question was the 10% EBIT margin. The 10% EBIT margin, we will defend and will be even a little higher than that. Why is that? There are 2 elements to that. In Asia Pacific, one hand thing is we still have some cost levers we do. The Chinese now as they are under pressure, they are rapidly working on technical changes. So our technical changes to come down with costs, they are on the run their progress, and we'll execute upon to them. And this will help us to get to maintain this margin position. That's one point. And then we also will further strengthen our industrial business, not only in the region Europe and North America, but also China. And this is why I'm confident that we stabilize the margin in China, even if the competitive pressure is -- will continue. I hope that's answering your first question.

Yes. Very good. So just to clarify, so it's more a customer mix issue and pricing has not deteriorated, but slightly kind of -- at least we've seen a softening of the price erosion we have seen in the first half. Michael Büchsner: I would say we see a softening of the price erosion. There is still year-over-year 5% price erosion, almost 6%, yes. But -- and this is kind of the pressure on the pricing side they will maintain in China. This is a given, right? Because everybody in this industry is under pressure in terms of pricing. The important thing to know is that we have these technical levers to counterbalance this deterioration of the pricing. And then the other part is, as you well said, is the market softness predominantly Western world and higher ranked vehicle segment classes. So these 2 elements are important and 6% is around -- about 5% to 6% is price erosion in this basket.

Then on the humanoid robot business. So you mentioned in the presentation that up to 30 actuators are included in the robot. What's the content per one robot roughly? And what's the split in terms of value contribution between you and Synapticon? Michael Büchsner: The content for the time being, and this is basically -- we are talking now still at premature levels, and we are basically producing on sample purposes, but you can calculate that depending on the size of the joint. It's anywhere between -- in the final stage in 2, 3 years at EUR 100 to EUR 250 per joint. The value creation in that term between Stabilus and Synapticon is probably rather 40% to -- 30% to 40% is on Synapticon and in the range of 70 -- 60% to 70% on Stabilus. The hardware is still the more expensive part because it requires a lot of precision parts and the software is pretty much scalable. I'm a little cautious with this number, and I'll tell you why because this pretty much depends on the volume, right? Because software, you do buy a license and then the software depends just up, do you buy EUR 1 million, EUR 2 million or EUR 3 million or EUR 10 million parts. And then the software cost per part come down significantly, whereas a lot in terms of the mechanical part is driven by the bill of material. But as a rough estimation, in years from now, EUR 100 to EUR 250 would be the cost of such a joint.

Okay. That's very clear. And then finally, just on the goodwill. So we have seen the cargo sales have stabilized, up 5% year-over-year in the third quarter. However, organically still down in the first 9 months. So do you still feel comfortable with the goodwill and the intangibles that are related to the cargo on your balance sheet? Or should we expect some rightsizing? Michael Büchsner: That's too early to, in detail, talk about it. For sure, we do goodwill analysis every month and every quarter. For the time being, we are confident, and that's why also we passed the third quarter with the goodwill which we have in place. But for sure, the reduced sales is something to consider in this equation. And these considerations are ongoing. And it pretty much depends on how also the business will develop in the fourth quarter, particularly when it also comes to the humanoids and the effect of the humanoids. We are currently in discussions with various customers and are in the preparation of our outlook and the outlook for next year will be, and this is where we're just in the midst of the budgeting planning, basically go hand-in-hand to the fourth quarter and the full year result. And this is basically something which we will review over the course of the next 2 months and then come up with eventually changes. It pretty much depends on the budgeting and it's too early to say how the effect over the year will be because there are a lot of moving elements in there. But for the quarter 3, we have been confident and had the goodwill on a level which was still good and acceptable.

So at the moment, no more questions. [Operator Instructions] Michael Büchsner: Good. If there are no further questions, it's also understandable because we are in the midst of vacation time, right, early August. If there are no further questions, we would close the call, and I would wish you a still good summer time. And if you haven't had them, good vacation.