EQS-News: STRATEC POSTS RESULTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2026

STRATEC POSTS RESULTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2026

• Significant rise in free cash flow to € 18.6 million in Q1/2026 (Q1/2025: € -8.3 million)
• Consolidated sales and key profitability figures decreased as previously communicated, but remain within the intra-year planning corridor; ongoing strong momentum in the Systems business
• Well-filled development pipeline and progress in transferring projects to serial production
• 2026 guidance confirmed: Constant-currency sales expected to show growth in medium to high single-digit percentage range with adjusted EBIT margin at previous year’s level (10.0%)

Birkenfeld, May 11, 2026

STRATEC SE, Birkenfeld, Germany, (Frankfurt: SBS; Prime Standard) today announced its financial results and key events for the period from January 1, 2026 to March 31, 2026 with the publication of its Quarterly Statement Q1|2026.

KEY FIGURES ¹

€ 000s	Q1/2026	Q1/2025	Change
Sales	53,426	60,363	-11.5% (cc: -8.8%)
Adj. EBITDA	4,691	9,305	-49.6%
Adj. EBITDA margin (%)	8.8	15.4	-660 bps
Adj. EBIT	691	5,363	-87.1%
Adj. EBIT margin (%)	1.3	8.9	-760 bps
Adj. consolidated net income	-1,110	3,155	n/a
Adj. earnings per share (€)	-0.09	0.26	n/a
Free cash flow	18,597	-8,329	n/a

Adj. = adjusted
bps = basis points
cc = constant-currency

¹ To facilitate comparison, figures have been adjusted to exclude amortization resulting from purchase price allocations in the context of acquisitions and other non-recurring items (including one-off advisory expenses, fees, and reorganization expenses).

 

“As predicted upon publication of our 2025 results, the STRATEC Group posted a subdued start to the new year. The reductions in sales and key earnings figures in what is still a challenging market climate are nevertheless consistent with our planning and thus also accounted for in the targets we have communicated for 2026. Based on customer orders received, we expect to see a notably more dynamic business performance in the second quarter already and especially in the second half of 2026. Not least in view of the preparations currently underway to transfer projects to serial production, we are convinced of our company’s medium to long-term growth prospects. That is also reflected in the targets we recently published for the period through 2030. Over and above that, at the beginning of the year we pressed further ahead with implementing measures to enhance our efficiency and manage our costs”: Marcus Wolfinger, CEO of STRATEC SE.

BUSINESS PERFORMANCE
The consolidated sales of the STRATEC Group amounted to € 53.4 million in the first quarter of 2026, compared with € 60.4 million in the previous year’s quarter. This corresponds to a constant-currency sales decline of 8.8% (nominal: -11.5%) and is thus consistent with the expectations underpinning the company’s intra-year planning. The notably more dynamic performance recently seen in the Systems business continued, with double-digit growth rates in the first quarter of 2026. By contrast, the Service Parts and Consumables business posted a reduction in sales due to logistics optimization measures at customers. Sales from Development and Services also decreased as, in line with expectations, it was not possible to repeat the high volume achieved in the previous year.

Due to negative scale effects and significant sales and product mix effects, particularly due to the lower share of high-margin Service Parts and Consumables sales, adjusted EBIT fell from € 5.4 million in the previous year’s period to € 0.7 million in the first quarter of 2026. The adjusted EBIT margin therefore stood at 1.3% and, consistent with the company’s intra-year planning, fell significantly short of the previous year’s figure of 8.9%.

The reduction in operating profitability also led adjusted consolidated net income to decrease from € 3.2 million in the previous year to € -1.1 million. Adjusted earnings per share (diluted) for the first quarter of 2026 therefore stood at € -0.09, as against € 0.26 in the previous year.

Free cash flow improved significantly, rising from € -8.3 million in the previous year’s quarter to € 18.6 million in the first quarter of 2026. This positive cash flow performance was driven by the strong momentum in Systems sales that had already emerged toward the end of the 2025 financial year. Given what remains a highly pronounced degree of seasonality, this led the elevated volume of trade receivables reported at the end of the year to decrease in Q1 2026.

To facilitate comparison, the earnings figures have been adjusted to exclude amortization resulting from purchase price allocations in the context of acquisitions and other non-recurring items (including one-off advisory expenses, fees, and reorganization expenses). A reconciliation of the adjusted figures with the unadjusted key earnings figures can be found in the Quarterly Statement Q1|2026 also published today.

2026 FINANCIAL GUIDANCE
Overall, the first-quarter sales and earnings performance is consistent with the assumptions made in the company’s intra-year planning for the 2026 financial guidance. As a result, and based on current orders and order forecasts received from customers, STRATEC’s Board of Management can confirm the guidance provided for the 2026 financial year. STRATEC expects to generate year-on-year constant-currency consolidated sales growth in a medium to high single-digit percentage range in the 2026 financial year. The resultant benefits of scale are expected to be partly to fully offset by rising input costs due not least to adverse geopolitical factors. Accordingly, the adjusted EBIT margin for 2026 is expected to be around the previous year’s level (2025: 10.0%).

Furthermore, investments in property, plant and equipment and in intangible assets corresponding to a total of 6.5% to 8.5% of sales are still budgeted for the 2026 financial year (2025: 6.5%).

PROJECTS AND OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
STRATEC has a well-filled development pipeline and, together with its partners, pressed further ahead with numerous developments and projects once again in the first quarter of 2026. Two system developments, for example, are currently being transferred to serial production and therefore approaching market launch by the respective customers. STRATEC is also holding numerous promising negotiations for additional collaborations with existing and new partners.

DEVELOPMENT IN PERSONNEL
Including personnel hired from employment agencies and trainees, the STRATEC Group had a total of 1,395 employees at the end of the first quarter of 2026, compared with 1,443 in the previous year’s period. This reduction by 3.3% is aligned to the business performance and also reflects the consistent implementation of measures in the Operational Excellence program.

QUARTERLY STATEMENT Q1|2026
The Quarterly Statement Q1|2026 of STRATEC SE has been published on the company’s website at www.stratec.com/financial_reports.

FORTHCOMING DATES
The Annual General Meeting of STRATEC SE will be held as an in-person event in Pforzheim on June 23, 2026. The Half-Year Financial Report H1|2026 will be published on August 14, 2026.

CONFERENCE CALL AND AUDIO WEBCAST
To mark the publication of the results for the first quarter of 2026, STRATEC will hold a conference call in English at 2.00 p.m. (CEST) today, Monday, May 11, 2026.

You will receive the dial-in data (telephone number, password + individual PIN) following brief registration at the following link: www.stratec.com/registration

The conference call will also be available at the same time as an audio webcast at http://www.stratec.com/audiowebcast20260511 (brief registration required). Please note that no questions can be submitted via the audio webcast. Clicking this link also enables you to follow or download the slide presentation.

ABOUT STRATEC
STRATEC SE (www.stratec.com) designs and manufactures fully automated analyzer systems for its partners in the fields of clinical diagnostics and life sciences. Furthermore, the company offers complex consumables for diagnostic and medical applications. For its analyzer systems and consumables, STRATEC covers the entire value chain – from development to design and production through to quality assurance.

The partners market the systems, software, and consumables, in general together with their own reagents, as system solutions to laboratories, blood banks and research institutes around the world. STRATEC develops its products on the basis of patented technologies.

Shares in the company (ISIN: DE000STRA555) are traded in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

FURTHER INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE FROM:
STRATEC SE
Jan Keppeler, CFA | Investor Relations, Sustainability & Corporate Communications
Tel: +49 7082 7916-6515
ir@stratec.com
www.stratec.com