SGL Q2 2026 - Preliminary Earnings Alert

Event: Quartr Q2 2026 event Retrieved: 2026-08-06T10:35:00Z Comparison mode: maximal Scorecard contract: v1 Source status: release=available | financials=earnings release and half-year interim report | transcript=not available (call 2026-08-06 12:00Z)

Consensus scorecard

Metric / basis	Quartr actual	API Ninjas consensus	Beat/Miss	Beat/Miss %
Revenue / total consolidated sales revenue	EUR 209.7m	API Ninjas estimate unavailable	not calculable	not calculable
EPS / IFRS basic and diluted	EUR 0.05	API Ninjas estimate unavailable	not calculable	not calculable

Reported results and guidance

Metric (IFRS, EUR million)	Q2 2026	Q2 2025	Change
Sales revenue	209.7	218.9	−4.2%
Cost of sales	(158.3)	(164.8)	−3.9%
Gross profit	51.4	54.1	−5.0%
Gross margin	24.5%	24.7%	−0.2 pts
Selling expenses	(18.2)	(21.0)	−13.3%
Research and development costs	(4.2)	(4.9)	−14.3%
General and administrative expenses	(7.0)	(7.3)	−4.1%
Other operating income	5.1	2.9	+75.9%
Other operating expenses	(3.4)	(3.1)	+9.7%
Result from investments accounted for At-Equity	3.4	3.1	+9.7%
Restructuring expenses	(2.5)	(30.4)	−91.8%
Operating profit (loss)	24.6	(6.6)	to a profit
Interest income	1.2	0.7	+71.4%
Interest expense	(9.1)	(8.0)	+13.8%
Other financial result	(0.7)	0.6	to an expense
Result before income taxes	16.0	(13.3)	to a profit
Income tax expense	(9.8)	(11.7)	−16.2%
Net result for the period	6.2	(25.0)	to a profit
Non-controlling interests	0.3	0.3	unchanged
Consolidated net result (shareholders of the parent)	5.9	(25.3)	to a profit
Earnings per share, basic and diluted (EUR)	0.05	(0.21)	to a profit
Comprehensive income	9.1	(48.9)	to a profit

Metric (IFRS, EUR million)	6M 2026	6M 2025	Change
Sales revenue	394.2	453.2	−13.0%
Cost of sales	(300.8)	(345.9)	−13.0%
Gross profit	93.4	107.3	−13.0%
Gross margin	23.7%	23.7%	unchanged
Selling expenses	(35.6)	(43.0)	−17.2%
Research and development costs	(9.4)	(10.6)	−11.3%
General and administrative expenses	(15.4)	(14.9)	+3.4%
Other operating income	8.1	5.9	+37.3%
Other operating expenses	(4.1)	(5.6)	−26.8%
Result from investments accounted for At-Equity	7.4	4.7	+57.4%
Restructuring expenses	(3.9)	(47.0)	−91.7%
Operating profit (loss)	40.5	(3.2)	to a profit
Interest income	1.4	1.6	−12.5%
Interest expense	(17.9)	(15.9)	+12.6%
Other financial result	(1.8)	0.8	to an expense
Result before income taxes	22.2	(16.7)	to a profit
Income tax expense	(9.9)	(14.2)	−30.3%
Net result for the period	12.3	(30.9)	to a profit
Consolidated net result (shareholders of the parent)	11.8	(31.4)	to a profit
Earnings per share, basic and diluted (EUR)	0.10	(0.26)	to a profit
Adjusted EBITDA (EBITDApre)	69.8	72.5	−3.7%
Adjusted EBITDA margin	17.7%	16.0%	+1.7 pts
Depreciation and amortization	(24.2)	(25.8)	−6.2%
Adjusted EBIT	45.6	46.7	−2.4%
Free cash flow	31.4	7.3	+330.1%
Cash flow from operating activities	51.4	24.3	+111.5%
Capital expenditures	19.6	26.3	−25.5%

Segment (EUR million)	6M 2026 sales	6M 2025 sales	Change	6M 2026 adj. EBITDA	6M 2025 adj. EBITDA	Change
Graphite Solutions	234.1	221.0	+5.9%	46.6	40.8	+14.2%
Process Technology	50.4	70.2	−28.2%	7.3	19.9	−63.3%
Fiber Composites	99.4	152.6	−34.9%	18.9	10.6	+78.3%
Corporate	10.3	9.4	+9.6%	(3.0)	1.2	to a loss
Group	394.2	453.2	−13.0%	69.8	72.5	−3.7%

Balance-sheet metric (EUR million)	30 Jun 2026	31 Dec 2025	Change
Total assets	1,191.3	1,167.4	+2.0%
Total equity	483.1	467.0	+3.4%
Equity attributable to shareholders of the parent	472.7	457.2	+3.4%
Equity ratio	39.7%	39.2%	+0.5 pts
Net financial debt	79.3	98.9	−19.8%
Debt ratio	0.6	0.7	−0.1
Total liquidity	165.2	148.9	+10.9%
Cash and cash equivalents	87.4	101.1	−13.6%
Time deposits	77.8	47.8	+62.8%
Inventories	302.9	297.1	+2.0%
Interest-bearing loans, non-current	226.4	227.0	−0.3%
Contract liabilities, non-current	78.8	69.4	+13.5%

Guidance metric (EUR million)	FY 2026 guide	Prior guide	FY 2025 actual
Consolidated sales	720 - 770	720 - 770 (confirmed, unchanged)	850.2
Adjusted EBITDA	110 - 130	110 - 130 (confirmed, unchanged)	135.0
Return on capital employed (adjusted EBIT)	9% - 10%	9% - 10% (confirmed, unchanged)	9.8%
Free cash flow	at previous year's level	at previous year's level (confirmed, unchanged)	37.0

Scorecard recap: no formal beat/miss is published for this event because API Ninjas carries no consensus row for the XETRA listing SGL; Q2 sales revenue was EUR 209.7m and IFRS basic and diluted EPS was EUR 0.05.
Full-year 2026 guidance was confirmed on all four metrics, and the release is headlined "Still on track to meet its 2026 annual targets".
Compensation payments of EUR 28.7m from contract adjustments with semiconductor customers were recognized in Graphite Solutions sales and adjusted EBITDA in the half, of which EUR 21.0m fell in Q2 and EUR 7.7m in Q1.
CEO Andreas Klein tied the outlook to the "SGL Growth 2030" strategy focused on semiconductors, power generation, defense, and aerospace.
The sales decline is attributed to the mid-2025 discontinuation of unprofitable carbon fiber business, lower Graphite Solutions demand, and a challenging Process Technology order situation.
The former Carbon Fibers and Composite Solutions segments have been merged into a single Fiber Composites business unit.

Key bullish aspects

The quarter swung to profit on every line below gross profit: operating profit of EUR 24.6m against a EUR (6.6)m loss, pre-tax result of EUR 16.0m against EUR (13.3)m, and EPS of EUR 0.05 against EUR (0.21).
Restructuring expenses fell 91.8% in the quarter to EUR 2.5m from EUR 30.4m, and 91.7% in the half to EUR 3.9m from EUR 47.0m, so the carbon fiber restructuring charge burden is substantially behind the company.
Adjusted EBITDA margin improved 1.7 points to 17.7% from 16.0% despite sales falling 13.0%, so the mix and cost actions more than offset the volume loss.
Fiber Composites adjusted EBITDA rose 78.3% to EUR 18.9m on sales that fell 34.9%, lifting its margin to 19.0% from 6.9% and validating the decision to exit loss-making carbon fiber volume.
Graphite Solutions, the largest unit, grew sales 5.9% to EUR 234.1m and adjusted EBITDA 14.2% to EUR 46.6m, with margin up to 19.9% from 18.5%.
Free cash flow of EUR 31.4m rose from EUR 7.3m, already 85% of the full-year 2025 figure of EUR 37.0m at the half-year mark.
Operating cash flow more than doubled to EUR 51.4m from EUR 24.3m.
Net financial debt fell 19.8% to EUR 79.3m from EUR 98.9m at the end of 2025, and the debt ratio improved to 0.6 from 0.7.
Capital expenditures of EUR 19.6m fell 25.5% and ran below depreciation and amortization of EUR 24.5m, so the business is self-funding at current investment levels.
Total liquidity rose 10.9% to EUR 165.2m and the equity ratio improved to 39.7%.
Every operating cost line fell in the quarter: selling expenses −13.3%, research and development −14.3%, and general and administrative −4.1%, each faster than the 4.2% sales decline.
The At-Equity contribution from the Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic Brakes joint venture rose to EUR 7.4m from EUR 4.7m in the half.
Non-current contract liabilities rose 13.5% since December to EUR 78.8m, indicating customer prepayments on longer-dated work.
The quarterly sales decline of 4.2% is materially milder than the 13.0% half-year decline, so the year-over-year drag is easing as the mid-2025 carbon fiber exit laps.

Key bearish aspects

Group sales fell 13.0% in the half to EUR 394.2m and 4.2% in the quarter, and the full-year guide of EUR 720m-770m implies a further decline against EUR 850.2m in 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA of EUR 69.8m fell 3.7% year over year even including the EUR 28.7m of compensation payments; excluding them, the underlying half-year adjusted EBITDA would be EUR 41.1m against EUR 72.5m.
The compensation payments are a contract-adjustment settlement recognized in sales and earnings, and the company states earnings from customer-contract adjustments that "originally pertained to the entire fiscal year" were brought forward into the first half, so the second half loses that support.
Process Technology sales fell 28.2% to EUR 50.4m and its adjusted EBITDA fell 63.3% to EUR 7.3m, collapsing the margin to 14.5% from 28.3%.
The company attributes the Process Technology weakness to chemical customers postponing investment on rising energy prices, high labor costs, and regulatory requirements, and to lower capacity utilization suspending maintenance spending, none of which is within its control.
Corporate adjusted EBITDA swung to a EUR (3.0)m loss from a EUR 1.2m profit.
Interest expense rose 13.8% in the quarter to EUR 9.1m and 12.6% in the half to EUR 17.9m, while interest income fell, so net financing cost is rising against a shrinking revenue base.
The Q2 income tax expense of EUR 9.8m against a EUR 16.0m pre-tax result is a 61.3% effective rate, and the half-year charge of EUR 9.9m against EUR 22.2m is 44.6%, well above a statutory German rate.
Graphite Solutions faced "slightly higher price pressure and rising raw material prices" on adjusted EBITDA, and its reported growth rests on the compensation payments: excluding EUR 28.7m, segment sales would be EUR 205.4m against EUR 221.0m.
Cash and cash equivalents fell 13.6% since December to EUR 87.4m; total liquidity rose only because EUR 30.0m was moved into time deposits.
Inventories rose 2.0% to EUR 302.9m against a 13.0% half-year sales decline, so inventory days lengthened.
The half-year adjusted EBITDA of EUR 69.8m against a EUR 110m-130m full-year guide requires EUR 40.2m-60.2m in the second half without the compensation-payment support that produced EUR 28.7m in the first.
Management names the Middle East conflict and a potential Strait of Hormuz disruption as risks to raw material and fuel availability and prices.

Key uncertainties

No API Ninjas consensus row exists for SGL, so there is no external estimate against which to judge the EUR 209.7m of quarterly sales or the EUR 0.05 of EPS.
The release does not state how much of the EUR 28.7m of compensation payments, if any, would otherwise have been earned in the second half, only that earnings originally pertaining to the full year were brought forward, so the size of the second-half hole is not quantified.
Quarterly segment sales and segment adjusted EBITDA are not disclosed; only half-year segment figures are given, so the EUR 21.0m of Q2 compensation payments cannot be set against a stated Q2 Graphite Solutions revenue base.
The 61.3% effective tax rate in the quarter and 44.6% in the half are not explained in either document.
Order intake and order backlog are not disclosed in either document, so forward revenue coverage for the Process Technology recovery implied by guidance cannot be assessed.
The company says it is working with semiconductor customers to reduce their inventory levels; whether further contract adjustments or compensation payments follow is not stated.
The guidance is confirmed as a range without indicating where within EUR 720m-770m of sales or EUR 110m-130m of adjusted EBITDA the company now expects to land, in contrast to the specificity given on the segments.
Adjusted EBITDA is a company-defined measure ("adjusted for one-off effects and non-recurring items"); the documents do not print a line-by-line reconciliation from operating profit to EBITDApre for either period.
The debt ratio of 0.6 is stated without its definition or the earnings denominator used.
The EUR 30.0m shift into time deposits is not explained as to tenor or purpose.
The Fiber Composites unit is newly formed from the former Carbon Fibers and Composite Solutions segments, and the documents do not show the bridge from the old segment presentation to the new prior-year comparatives.
Return on capital employed is guided to 9%-10% against 9.8% in 2025, but no first-half ROCE is disclosed, so progress against that metric is not measurable here.
The 12:00Z analyst call had not taken place when this report was written and no Quartr transcript exists, so management's account of the second-half adjusted EBITDA ramp, the Process Technology outlook, and the tax rate is not assessed at this stage.

Market context

No API Ninjas price or volume snapshot is available for the XETRA listing SGL, so no market reaction is stated. The release was published at approximately 05:30Z on 2026-08-06, before the German cash-market open.

Source limitations

Every actual above comes from the Quartr Q2 2026 earnings release (3668519) and the Quartr half-year interim report (3668520) attached to the same event.
Quartr standardized financials for SGL Carbon stop at Q1 2026 (event 415750) and carry no Q2 2026 income statement, so the interim report is the source for all quarterly figures.
API Ninjas carries no earnings-calendar row for SGL, so both scorecard rows show the estimate as unavailable and no formal Beat, Miss, or In line result is published. This is a coverage gap in the consensus provider, not a failure of the release. No depositary listing is configured in config/listing-map.json for this issuer.
The income statement extraction placed all six columns on one row set. Column assignment was verified by arithmetic: in the Q2 2026 column, gross profit less selling, research and general costs plus other operating income less other operating expenses plus the At-Equity result less restructuring expenses equals the printed EUR 24.6m operating profit exactly, and the same check holds in the Q2 2025, 6M 2026 and 6M 2025 columns. Each column then foots through interest and tax to the printed net result, non-controlling interests, consolidated net result and per-share figure.
The quarterly columns are further corroborated by the half-year totals: Q2 2026 sales of EUR 209.7m against the EUR 394.2m half implies EUR 184.5m in Q1 2026, and Q2 2025 sales of EUR 218.9m against EUR 453.2m implies EUR 234.3m in Q1 2025.
The press release key-figures table's "Change" column did not survive extraction intact for the net result and free cash flow rows, printing EUR 12.0m and EUR 1.3m against arithmetic changes of EUR 43.2m and EUR 24.1m. Those printed change cells are not reproduced above; every change shown is calculated here from the two period columns.
The balance sheet and cash flow statement extractions were also column-shifted. Assignments were verified: non-current plus current assets equal the printed EUR 1,191.3m total, equity plus liabilities equal the same figure, and the cash flow statement's operating cash flow of EUR 51.4m less cash used in investing before time deposits of EUR 20.0m equals the EUR 31.4m free cash flow the company prints, with the same check reproducing EUR 7.3m for the prior-year period.
Adjusted EBITDA (EBITDApre), adjusted EBIT, free cash flow, net financial debt, the debt ratio, the equity ratio and return on capital employed are company-defined measures; the figures shown are the company's own.
The equity ratio of 39.7% reconciles to equity attributable to shareholders of the parent (EUR 472.7m) over total assets, not to total equity including non-controlling interests.
Gross margin percentages are calculated here from the statement's own sales and gross profit; the company does not print them.
Depreciation and amortization appears as EUR 24.2m in the release narrative and EUR 24.5m in the cash flow statement; both are reproduced above against their own sources and the difference is not explained in the documents.
The condensed interim financial statements are unaudited and unreviewed as presented in this interim report.
Segment adjusted EBITDA margins quoted in the bullish and bearish sections (19.9%, 14.5%, 19.0% and their prior-year comparatives) are the company's own stated figures from the release narrative.

earnings-desk

SGL — SGL Carbon