03.08.2026 | press release

Automotive market environment remains challenging – Order intake, diversification, and efficiency program highlight opportunities

Bertrandt publishes report for the third quarter 2025/2026

Ehningen, 03. August 2026 – Bertrandt looks back on a challenging first nine months of fiscal year 2025/2026. The market environment continued to be shaped by macroeconomic uncertainties, geopolitical tensions, protectionist measures, and industry-specific challenges within the automotive sector. At the same time, the market for research and development services remained fundamentally intact. The persistently high volume of customer inquiries and quotations, together with strong order intake, underscores Bertrandt’s positive medium- to long-term market opportunities. The company continues to consistently implement its “Fit for Future” earnings optimization program and has selectively expanded the package of measures with additional initiatives. Capacity is being further aligned with customer demand, while diversification into industries beyond automotive is being systematically advanced.

Despite a solid start to the first quarter, business performance during the first nine months of fiscal year 2025/2026 continued to be characterized by limited short-term visibility and subdued call-off activity by certain customers. The trend of product and project postponements by some customers, which has been observed since spring 2024, continued. The lack of momentum in customer call-offs, particularly in Germany, continued to weigh on capacity utilization. At the same time, Bertrandt recorded significantly higher order intake during the reporting period, exceeding both the prior-year period and total revenues by a substantial margin. As a result, the market environment continues to present both challenges and opportunities.

In the first nine months of fiscal year 2025/2026, total revenues of the Bertrandt Group amounted to EUR 671.6 million, compared with EUR 742.0 million in the prior year period. In the third quarter, total revenues reached EUR 214.9 million, compared with EUR 225.6 million in the same quarter of the previous year. This development primarily reflects lower customer call-offs from the automotive industry, as well as the countermeasures implemented, including workforce reductions. A significant increase in business with customers from the aerospace and defence sector helped stabilize revenue development.

Despite the continued decline in total revenues, Bertrandt improved EBIT in the first nine months compared with the prior-year period. EBIT amounted to EUR -28.9 million, compared with EUR -38.9 million in the previous year. In the third quarter, EBIT came to EUR -15.8 million, compared with EUR -24.6 million in the same quarter of the previous year. A key driver of this earnings improvement was the continued and consistent implementation of the “Fit for Future” earnings optimization program. Annualized savings generated by the program exceed EUR 120 million, significantly surpassing the original target range of EUR 70 million to EUR 90 million.

“The market environment remains challenging and highly volatile, particularly in the automotive industry. At the same time, the continued high volume of inquiries and the significant increase in order intake clearly demonstrate the opportunities that continue to exist for Bertrandt. Following the expected weaker third quarter, we are more optimistic about the upcoming fourth quarter. The key priorities now are to further accelerate diversification into high-growth industries such as aerospace and defence, energy, electrical engineering, and medical technology, while continuing to consistently implement efficiency measures. This will create the conditions necessary for a return to sustainable profitability,” says Markus Ruf, Member of the Executive Board Finance.

The most important key figures at a glance

IFRS-based figures for the Bertrandt Group01/10/2025 
until 30/06/2026
01/10/2024 
until 30/06/2025

Total revenues (in EUR m)

671.638741.983

EBIT (in EUR m)

-28.911-38.937

Free cash flow (in EUR m)

14.81416.868

Equity (in EUR m)

269.356316.277

Equity ratio (in percent)

41.441.5

Employees worldwide

11,53712,672

 

About Bertrandt
Through our development performance, we accelerate technological progress and make a relevant contribution to a sustainable future. We are an independent and international development service provider with many years of automotive expertise. With cross-industry know-how and a holistic understanding of systems and products, we create technological solutions along the entire value chain. We deal with a focus on trend topics such as digitalization, e-mobility and autonomous systems, mainly for the automotive, aviation and mechanical engineering sectors, and consistently facilitate the development of tailored solutions in these areas. We work on this every day – with around 12,000 employees at over 50 sites worldwide.

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