JOST Werke SE, a leading global manufacturer of safety-critical systems for commercial vehicles, announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2026, showing strong revenue and profitability growth. The company reported a 12.7% increase in group revenue to EUR 440.2 million, driven by organic growth of 8.9%, with all regions and business lines contributing positively. Adjusted EBIT rose by 18.5% to EUR 43.9 million, with the adjusted EBIT margin improving to 10.0%.
Joachim Dürr, CEO of JOST, highlighted the quality of the growth, noting that it was broad-based and organic, reflecting market share gains and cross-selling synergies from the Hyva integration. He emphasized that the diversified portfolio helped offset challenges in the USA, and the company achieved its strongest first half-year in history with revenue of EUR 857 million and adjusted EBIT of EUR 88 million.
Revenue in the Transport business line grew by 5.6% to EUR 218.7 million, while Agriculture revenue surged by 20.2% to EUR 89.8 million, and Hydraulics revenue increased by 20.9% to EUR 131.7 million. The Hydraulics growth was partly due to a prior-year classification of the Cranes business as discontinued operations, which reduced the prior-year base. Adjusting for this, hydraulic components grew organically by 8.5%.
Regionally, EMEA revenue increased by 9.5% to EUR 205.9 million, but adjusted EBIT declined to EUR 8.8 million due to structural business model adjustments and higher input costs. AMERICAS revenue rose by 17.1% to EUR 121.0 million, with adjusted EBIT jumping 42.3% to EUR 16.2 million, reflecting improved product mix and customer wins. APAC revenue grew by 14.0% to EUR 113.3 million, with adjusted EBIT up 30.6% to EUR 17.8 million, driven by strong demand in India and China.
Group earnings after tax more than doubled to EUR 15.9 million, and adjusted earnings after tax rose by 19.1% to EUR 24.6 million. The company also strengthened its balance sheet, with equity increasing to EUR 433.9 million and the equity ratio improving to 26.9%. Free cash flow turned significantly positive at EUR +17.3 million, and net debt decreased to EUR 380.2 million, bringing the leverage ratio down to 1.81x, within the target range. ROCE improved to 16.3%.
CFO Oliver Gantzert attributed the strong capital allocation to disciplined execution, noting that the leverage ratio returned to target just 1.5 years after the Hyva acquisition. He expects free cash flow to continue improving in the second half of the year.
JOST confirmed its outlook for fiscal year 2026, expecting revenue growth in the single-digit percentage range and adjusted EBIT growth in the mid-to-upper single-digit percentage range, with an improved adjusted EBIT margin. The company remains cautious about potential economic disruptions but currently sees no significant impact from the military conflict in Iran on customer demand. The interim report is available at https://ir.jost-world.com/reports, and the earnings conference recording will be posted on the JOST website.
