EXEL COMPOSITES PLC | HALF-YEAR FINANCIAL REPORT | 14 AUGUST 2025 AT 9:00 EEST
This release is a summary of Exel Composites' half-year financial report for January-June 2025. The complete report is attached to this release as a pdf file and available on the company's website at https://investors.exelcomposites.com/publications/
Figures in parentheses refer to the corresponding period in the previous year, unless otherwise specified.
Q2 2025 in brief
- Order intake increased by 7.7% to EUR 28.4 million (Q2 2024: 26.4)
- Revenue decreased by 6.7% to EUR 24.8 million (26.6)
- Operating profit was EUR 0.8 million (1.2) and operating profit margin 3.1% (4.4%)
- Adjusted operating profit decreased to EUR 1.1 million (1.4) and adjusted operating profit margin was 4.5% (5.2%)
- Earnings per share was EUR -0.03 (0.02)
Q1-Q2 2025 in brief
- Order intake increased by 14.6% to EUR 63.0 million (Q1-Q2 2024: 55.0)
- Revenue was stable at EUR 50.1 million (50.0)
- Operating profit was EUR 0.9 million (0.6) and operating profit margin 1.8% (1.2%)
- Adjusted operating profit increased significantly to EUR 1.8 million (0.8) and adjusted operating profit margin was 3.6% (1.6%)
- Earnings per share was EUR -0.05 (0.01)
Guidance for the full year 2025 (unchanged)
Exel Composites expects revenue to increase and adjusted operating profit to increase significantly in 2025 compared to 2024. (Published on 14 February 2025)
Paul Sohlberg, President and CEO:
The year 2025 has continued positively for Exel. As in the first quarter, we continued effectively navigating the business environment. We increased our order intake by almost 8% in the second quarter and by 15% in the first half of 2025, compared to the respective periods a year ago. Growth was strong especially in the strategic Energy customer industry, relating to both wind power as well as electrical transmission and distribution customers, and supported by favorable demand also from the defense and industrial customers.
Revenue for the first half of the year was on previous year's level, totaling EUR 50.1 million. This was primarily due to the timing of deliveries related to the ongoing transition of production from our closed factory in Belgium to our other factories, a process that will continue through 2025. The ramp-up of production at our other sites progressed well following the closure.
While revenue declined by 6.7% in the second quarter due primarily to the aforementioned ongoing transition of Belgian volumes and due in part to some caution in customers related to macroeconomic factors, we focused on driving profitability. This allowed us to deliver an adjusted operating profit margin of 4.5% for the quarter.
Strategic transformation delivering results
Our strategic transformation is progressing as planned and delivering results. Aligned with our first strategic focus area, organic growth, we are pleased that our order backlog at the end of June stood at EUR 46.6 million, 35% higher than in the comparison period. We are advancing our second strategic focus area, customer value, through projects that involve complex composites design, for example airship tube design for Flying Whales, wind turbine helihoist platforms and value-adding post processing of transport profiles.
We are seeing encouraging results from our third strategic pillar of profitability, as we are optimizing capacity, sweating our assets and maintaining tight cost control to improve our operations. This significantly improved our profitability in the first half of 2025: our adjusted operating profit rose to EUR 1.8 million, up from EUR 1.1 million in the comparison period, thus already exceeding that of full year 2024.
As outlined in our strategy, we are preparing to move from the stability and profitability phase to the growth phase, supported by the growing order backlog and the ramp-up of production at our new factory in India. Building readiness for a larger volume of deliveries and executing our planned investments impacted on our working capital and cash flow. As a result, net cash flow from operating activities stood at EUR -3.8 million (1.0), resulting from the change in working capital of EUR -5.4 million (-0.9) and net cash flow from investing activities was EUR -1.9 million (-0.9).
Cyberattack in July
Exel Composites was the target of a cyberattack, resulting in a confirmed data breach on 18 July 2025. We acted swiftly with internal and external experts to contain the incident and secure our systems. Unfortunately, some personal data of employees and shareholders, in addition to some of Exel's business information, was compromised. We launched a support program for affected individuals and continue to provide data protection services. Latest information about the breach and the services is available on our investor website.
While we have invested significantly in cybersecurity over time and across the whole organization, this incident highlights the evolving nature of cyber threats. We regret the breach and are taking further steps to strengthen our defenses and to train and support our employees.
2025 outlook and guidance maintained
We maintain our financial guidance for 2025 and expect revenue to increase and adjusted operating profit to increase significantly compared to 2024.
As recently implemented tariffs may influence sourcing and supply chain decisions, we see opportunities emerging as customers explore alternative manufacturing regions and strategies. We have secured first major supply agreements driven by tariff reactions and continue to be well positioned to respond to such changes in customer demand.
We are energized by the strategic advances and the promising results we are seeing and continue executing our strategy to drive sustainable and profitable growth, supported by a strong order backlog. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to our customers and investors for their continued trust, and to the entire Exel team for their dedication, hard work, and commitment to excellence.
Paul Sohlberg
Consolidated key figures
Q2 | Q2 | Change | Q1-Q2 | Q1-Q2 | Change | Q1-Q4 | |
EUR thousand unless otherwise indicated | 2025 | 2024 | % | 2025 | 2024 | % | 2024 |
Revenue | 24,809 | 26,589 | -6.7 | 50,087 | 49,954 | 0.3 | 99,614 |
Operating profit | 772 | 1,159 | -33.4 | 885 | 604 | 46.5 | -2,853 |
% of revenue | 3.1 | 4.4 | 1.8 | 1.2 | -2.9 | ||
Adjusted operating profit 1) | 1,129 | 1,374 | -17.8 | 1,811 | 819 | 121.1 | 1,704 |
% of revenue | 4.5 | 5.2 | 3.6 | 1.6 | 1.7 | ||
EBITDA | 2,013 | 2,605 | -22.7 | 3,464 | 3,509 | -1.3 | 4,246 |
Adjusted EBITDA 1) | 2,370 | 2,819 | -15.9 | 4,390 | 3,724 | 17.9 | 7,624 |
Profit before tax | -2,926 | 836 | -450.2 | -5,168 | 228 | -2364.0 | -3,778 |
Profit for the period | -2,898 | 573 | -606.0 | -5,133 | -26 | -19989.6 | -5,027 |
Profit for the period excluding non-controlling interest | -2,724 | 669 | -506.9 | -4,790 | 130 | -3770.9 | -4,663 |
% of revenue | -11.0 | 2.5 | -9.6 | 0.3 | -4.7 | ||
Shareholders' equity | 28,803 | 37,230 | -22.6 | 28,803 | 37,230 | -22.6 | 32,337 |
Interest-bearing liabilities | 32,945 | 49,129 | -32.9 | 32,945 | 49,129 | -32.9 | 30,414 |
Cash and cash equivalents | 7,305 | 32,431 | -77.5 | 7,305 | 32,431 | -77.5 | 10,904 |
Net interest-bearing liabilities | 25,640 | 16,699 | 53.5 | 25,640 | 16,699 | 53.5 | 19,509 |
Net debt to adjusted EBITDA 2) | 3.1 | 3.9 | -21.2 | 3.1 | 3.9 | -21.2 | 2.6 |
Capital employed | 61,748 | 86,359 | -28.5 | 61,748 | 86,359 | -28.5 | 62,751 |
Return on equity, % | -39.0 | 8.5 | -559.1 | -33.6 | -0.2 | -17944.8 | -20.1 |
Return on capital employed, % | 5.1 | 6.4 | -20.5 | 3.0 | 1.8 | 61.8 | -4.3 |
Equity ratio, % | 32.9 | 32.4 | 1.6 | 32.9 | 32.4 | 1.6 | 36.8 |
Net gearing, % | 89.0 | 44.9 | 98.5 | 89.0 | 44.9 | 98.5 | 60.3 |
Net cash flow from operating activities | -376 | 3,606 | -110.4 | -3,830 | 994 | -485.2 | 581 |
Net cash flow from investing activities | -733 | -424 | 72.9 | -1,925 | -856 | 124.9 | -2,595 |
Capital expenditure | 679 | 375 | 81.3 | 1,902 | 815 | 133.4 | 2,658 |
% of revenue | 2.7 | 1.4 | 3.8 | 1.6 | 2.7 | ||
Research and development costs | 982 | 919 | 6.9 | 1,933 | 1,996 | -3.2 | 3,738 |
% of revenue | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.8 | ||
Order intake | 28,427 | 26,404 | 7.7 | 63,031 | 55,018 | 14.6 | 104,872 |
Order backlog | 46,621 | 34,487 | 35.2 | 46,621 | 34,487 | 35.2 | 34,177 |
Earnings per share, diluted and undiluted, EUR | -0.03 | 0.02 | -213.6 | -0.05 | 0.01 | -817.2 | -0.07 |
Equity per share, EUR | 0.27 | 1.26 | -78.65 | 0.27 | 1.79 | -85.06 | 0.49 |
Average share price, EUR | 0.35 | 0.49 | -28.6 | 0.36 | 0.70 | -48.6 | 0.40 |
Average number of shares, diluted and undiluted, 1,000 shares 3) | 105,947 | 29,570 | 258.3 | 106,016 | 20,712 | 411.9 | 63,729 |
Employees, average | 605 | 622 | -2.7 | 624 | 622 | 0.3 | 632 |
Employees, end of period | 624 | 621 | 0.5 | 624 | 621 | 0.5 | 637 |
1) Excluding material items affecting comparability, such as restructuring costs, impairment losses and reversals, and costs related to planned or realized business acquisitions or disposals
2) Last 12 months' adjusted EBITDA
3) Exel's rights issue completed in June 2024 increased the total number of shares from 11,896,843 to 106,728,395. Average number of shares excludes shares held by the company.
Revenue by business unit
Q2 | Q2 | Change | Q1-Q2 | Q1-Q2 | Change | Q1-Q4 | |
EUR thousand | 2025 | 2024 | % | 2025 | 2024 | % | 2024 |
Engineered Solutions BU | 20,197 | 22,359 | -9.7 | 41,290 | 41,478 | -0.5 | 82,485 |
Industrial Solutions BU | 4,611 | 4,228 | 9.1 | 8,789 | 8,474 | 3.7 | 17,109 |
Other | 1 | 2 | -52.5 | 8 | 2 | 300.7 | 19 |
Total | 24,809 | 26,589 | -6.7 | 50,087 | 49,954 | 0.3 | 99,614 |
Revenue by customer industry
Q2 | Q2 | Change | Q1-Q2 | Q1-Q2 | Change | Q1-Q4 | |
EUR thousand | 2025 | 2024 | % | 2025 | 2024 | % | 2024 |
Buildings and infrastructure | 4,531 | 5,530 | -18.1 | 9,952 | 10,456 | -4.8 | 21,502 |
Industrial | 4,255 | 4,173 | 2.0 | 7,760 | 7,625 | 1.8 | 15,588 |
Energy | 5,320 | 4,455 | 19.4 | 10,368 | 9,881 | 4.9 | 20,923 |
Transportation | 4,314 | 4,969 | -13.2 | 9,734 | 9,014 | 8.0 | 17,391 |
Other | 6,389 | 7,462 | -14.4 | 12,274 | 12,978 | -5.4 | 24,210 |
Total | 24,809 | 26,589 | -6.7 | 50,087 | 49,954 | 0.3 | 99,614 |
Vantaa, 14 August 2025
Exel Composites Plc
Board of Directors
Financial results briefing
Exel Composites will hold a briefing related to its January-June 2025 half-year financial report today at 12:30 p.m. EEST. To participate in the online event, please register in advance by sending an email to investor@exelcomposites.com
More information:
Lauri Haavisto, Investor Relations Director
tel. +358 20 754 1214
Exel Composites in brief
Exel Composites is one of the largest manufacturers of composite profiles and tubes made with pultrusion and pullwinding technologies and a pultrusion technology forerunner in the global composite market. Our forward-thinking composite solutions made with continuous manufacturing technologies serve customers in a wide range of industries around the world. You can find our products used in applications in diverse industrial sectors such as wind power, transportation and building and infrastructure.
Our R&D expertise, collaborative approach and global footprint set us apart from our competition. Our composite solutions help customers save resources, reduce products' weight, improve performance and energy efficiency, and decrease total lifetime costs. We want to be the first choice for sustainable composite solutions globally.
Headquartered in Finland, Exel Composites employs over 600 forward-thinking professionals around the world and is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. To find out more about our offering and company please visit www.exelcomposites.com
