Schaeffler AG

Reported Q2 sales were down 0.3% year over year on a currency-adjusted basis, with Christoph Hannequin saying sales were “more or less stable” and Klaus Rosenfeld describing top line as “more or less flat.” Gross profit margin improved by 1 percentage point, and EBIT margin improved by 1 percentage point to 4.5%; Rosenfeld also cited EPS of EUR 0.10. Management said free cash flow in the quarter was still negative, and H1 free cash flow ex M&A was minus EUR 300 million, while full-year 2026 guidance remains EUR 100 million to EUR 300 million. The company also confirmed 2026 guidance overall and said the 2028 midterm target now reflects lower group sales growth, while the EBIT margin target and free cash flow target stay unchanged at 6% to 8%. On segments, E-Mobility sales rose 9.4% and gross profit margin improved to 6.9%; PTC sales fell 5.1% and gross profit margin was 22.4%; Vehicle Lifetime Solutions and Bearings & Industrial Solutions both showed stronger profitability, with Rosenfeld saying VLS and BIS were at or above the upper end of their full-year guidance.

Klaus Rosenfeld’s message was that the company is using a tougher market backdrop to make the plan more realistic and credible, not less ambitious. He emphasized diversification, saying the group’s “hedging logic” is working, and argued that stronger businesses are offsetting weakness in e-mobility. His tone was confident but candid: he acknowledged disappointment on the e-mobility margin target, but stressed realism, restructuring discipline, and new growth options like humanoids.

Christophe Hannequin focused on the bridge from sales to improved profitability. He said the main gross profit drivers were favorable pricing, almost EUR 40 million of year-over-year production cost improvement, and better cost structure and operational efficiency, while volume was the main drag, especially in PTC. He also pointed to EUR 25 million in other income, a EUR 1 billion bond issuance in May at favorable terms, leverage at 2.4 seasonally, and a cautious CapEx approach, especially in e-mobility, to match investment with market ramp-up. On cash flow, he said the first half is typically negative and reiterated the full-year EUR 100 million to EUR 300 million target.

Analysts pressed on why e-mobility still needs to change structurally to become sustainably profitable, whether humanoids could become another long-cycle, competitive business, and why the humanoid order book only shows EUR 350 million. Management said the humanoid figure only includes signed series-production orders and uses heavy haircuts for conservatism; the team also said platform standardization, pricing discipline, and existing technology should help avoid the e-mobility experience. On the 2028 target changes, management said the update came from the annual strategic planning process and that PTC and VLS were raised because underlying performance is stronger than previously assumed. For cash flow and tax, Hannequin said no significant tax-rate improvement is expected in 2026, while H2 cash generation should follow Schaeffler’s normal seasonality and still support the full-year free cash flow target.