Topic: Yesterday, DOC released a strong set of record breaking Q2 25/26 results, especially driven by stronger utilization rates across kitchens amid continuous intake of customers and overall growing demand.
Q2 revenues increased by 8% yoy despite negative FX effects (USD, TRY & GBP depreciated vs. EUR; +15% yoy in cc) and were largely driven by AC segment (+10% yoy to € 515m) and supported by RLH (+14% yoy, less impacted by FX than AC). The IEC segment showed a decline in revenues by 10% to € 64m, solely due to the strong comparable base in Q2'24/25, which contained the EURO24 as a positive one-off (eNuW: € 19m sales effect in Q2'24/25). Excluding this, IEC would have grown by 23% yoy, highlighting the segment's strong underlying growth profile.
Q2 EBIT driven by efficiency gains. AC improved EBIT by 17% yoy to € 43.5m (8.4% margin, +0.5pp yoy) against a easy comparable base (Q2'24 still contained JFK start-up costs). More importantly, rising utilization rates stemmig from new airline customer wins and also growing passenger volumes among existing customers (e.g. Turkish Airlines: +3.9% yoy in H1'25), increased the fixed cost coverage and led to a strong incremental EBIT margin of 13.4% in Q2 (20.5% in H1). A similar picture was observed in RLH (€ 4.6m EBIT, 10.1% margin, up 1.2pp yoy), where incremental EBIT margins even reached 21.4% (H1: 31.3%). In IEC, the EURO24 effect described above did not hurt EBIT at all, which came in flat yoy at € 6.2m, which means a 0.9pp higher margin of 9.5%. We attribute this to a mix of two reasons: (1) the EURO 2024 event had lower than usual margins, negatively affecting the Q2'24/25 comparable base and (2) better economies of scale at each event performed in Q2'25/26. In sum, the group EBIT reached € 54.3m, which is 16% higher yoy and carries an incremental margin of 16.4%.
DOC's sharp focus on utilising their kitchens to the fullest and thus ensuring high margins, also explains a changing tone regarding next year's FIFA 2026 World Cup tender. In our view, it seems that DOC may chose not go for the tender, if they cannot ensure to reach critical mass at every single event. Although it might mean no additional (and potentially lower margin) one-off revenues (like the EURO 2024), DOC also signalled that their current plans for 2026 already indicate strong utilization rates anyway.
Against this backdrop, yesterday's negative share price reaction seems unjustified. The growth story is far from over, however DOC prioritises profitable growth instead taking on new business at any price. Consequently, the plan to increase the workforce with highly qualified chefs (educated in DOC's own academies) is just the first step to ensure exactly that. Therefore, we maintain our strong conviction in this high-quality equity story and reiterate our BUY recommendation with an unchanged PT of € 266, based on DCF.
ISIN: AT0000818802