KAP cuts 2026 revenue forecast to €220–240 million and EBITDA to €14.5–17.5 million
Key Facts
KAP cut its 2026 fiscal-year revenue forecast to €220.0–240.0 million, from €230.0–250.0 million, and lowered its normalized EBITDA range to €14.5–17.5 million from €19.0–23.0 million. The company announced the revision on 27 October, during the close of the first nine months of the fiscal year. The decision combines a review of revenue and operating-profit forecasts as the group contends with currency pressures and declining orders from a major customer. KAP said the withdrawal of orders at its U.S. site contributed to the lower revenue forecast and affected the earnings performance of one of its segments. The new EBITDA range represents a reduction at both ends of the previous estimate, alongside the lower revenue range.
KAP attributed the earnings forecast revision mainly to negative currency effects, which it said resulted from the Israeli shekel and Hungarian forint strengthening against the euro. The company said the two currencies rose against the European currency, weighing on its financial outlook. Alongside the currency factor, expected business volume at a U.S. site belonging to the group declined following a development in orders. The company said a major customer in the electric vehicle sector withdrew, at short notice, supply orders expected for the rest of the year. The withdrawal affected Heiche US in Jasper, United States, and KAP did not describe the move as a general decline in orders across all its sites or segments.
The impact of the order withdrawal is tied to the surface technology segment at Heiche US; KAP said it led to a significant decline in utilization of available capacity and weighed on the segment's earnings performance. This defines the scope of the operational impact in the announcement: the Jasper site and the surface technology segment, not the group's entire production capacity. The forecast cut follows weak performance in the first half, when group revenue fell 4.6% to €133.2 million, from €139.6 million in the corresponding period. Normalized EBITDA also fell 58.8% to €0.7 million, as production-line utilization remained weak. During that half, the company linked weak demand in the automotive and industrial segments to lower orders from major customer groups and capacity utilization.
KAP had previously reported a 9.1% decline in first-quarter 2026 revenue to €66.0 million, from €72.6 million a year earlier, while normalized EBITDA fell 15.8% to €6.4 million from €7.6 million. The company then attributed the earnings decline to lower customer orders and the resulting weak utilization of production capacity. In April, it reported 2025 revenue of €241.4 million, down 4.4% from €252.5 million in 2024, and a 4.6% decline in normalized EBITDA to €20.9 million from €21.9 million. The company also recorded asset impairment losses of €50.9 million in the engineered products and surface technology segments during 2025, and its consolidated net loss was €67.5 million. These results place the latest forecast cut in the context of the revenue and earnings declines that preceded the announcement.
KAP said in May that rising oil and energy prices had put pressure on supply chains, reducing order volumes or leading to their temporary postponement. It said at the time that it had begun restructuring measures covering cost reductions, adjustments to product portfolios and production capacities, and sales initiatives across its three segments and holding company. CEO and Transformation Officer Ralph Romberg said the plan aims to "align our production capacities with actual demand and increase efficiency in our plants." The plan includes gradually transferring production from the loss-making Hessisch Lichtenau site to two existing sites in the Czech Republic and India, with the German site set to close on 30 June 2027. In April, the company had agreed with its banks on total financing of €96.0 million, running through 30 March 2029 to support the transformation.