Rosenbauer to continue efforts to increase efficiency, chg.

Rosenbauer continued to strengthen its bottom line with Q4 EBIT having improved 44% yoy to € 51.1m, ahead of expectations (eNuW: € 46.6m). This increase was driven by ongoing efficiency measures and a conscious management decision to prioritize higher margins (+3.1 pp yoy) over sales, shifting some delivery dates into Q1. Hence, Q4 sales rose only by 2.6% yoy to € 478.3m. While this shift had been announced in Q3, it turned out larger than expected, leading the company to miss our revenue expectations (eNuW: € 500.9m).

Profitability strengthened in FY 2025. Revenue grew by 9.4% yoy to € 1.43bn on account of an improved product mix, raised importance of component sales and customer service as well as stronger after-sales activities. While the final result came in slightly below the guidance of € 1.45bn, the decision prioritize margins over sales in Q4 makes up for this, in our view. With this but also increased efficiencies from optimized internal processes during the year, the FY EBIT-margin improved by 0.9pp to 5.9%, despite a negative contribution of € 13.8m from the PFP segment (of which € 4.1m constituted a goodwill impairment).

Net profit soared by 82.2% yoy to € 54.3m, due to higher profitability, lower financing costs associated with the refinancing of its debt and lower taxes, largely based on one-offs (tax losses carried forward).

Strengthened balance sheet. The equity ratio increased from 16.6% to 27.8% through a capital increase of € 119m, higher profitability as well as working capital releases. Hence, ND/EBITDA notably decreased from 4x to a solid 2x. With this, financing costs are to decrease by additional 75bps.

Looking to FY26e, we slightly lower our revenue growth expectation of 12.3% to € 1.61m (eNuW) reflecting the company’s proven preference for margin improvements over stronger revenue growth. The ambition to increase its share of vehicles in the product mix and additional international expansion ahead remain intact as growth drivers. The EBIT margin is expected to improve to 6.7% (eNuW) leading to EBIT of € 107.5m, based on further efficiency gains from process reviews and the roll-out of a new ERP system, while accounting for potential cargo cost increases incurred in Q1 in the Middle East. We hence regard management’s sales guidance of € 1.6bn as realistic while the margin guidance of >6% seems rather conservative, in our view.

At the end of last year, the backlog reach new highs (FY25 book-to-bill at 1.1x) despite weaker intake from the Americas in light on uncertainties. Nevertheless, visibility reaches well into 2027. If profitability continues to improve as planned, the company could consider resuming regular dividend payments by FY27, in our view.

Maintaining BUY at an unchanged PT of € 61, based on based on a blended FCFY framework FY26/27e.