The machine factory Berthold HERMLE AG developed better than expected in 2025 in an extremely difficult and turbulent environment. The order intake of the Swabian machine tool and automation specialist increased on a preliminary basis by around 6% to approximately 484 million euros (previous year: 456 million euros). The main reason for this was unexpected, extensive large orders from abroad, which led to a temporary peak in the second half of the year and more than compensated for the weak domestic demand. Accordingly, the order intake from abroad increased significantly in the entire year of 2025. In contrast, a decline was recorded domestically, which can be attributed to ongoing uncertainty due to the US customs policy, as well as location-specific factors such as the economic downturn, structural problems in the automotive industry, high energy costs, difficult financing conditions, and rampant bureaucracy. The order backlog of the HERMLE Group amounted to around 91 million euros as of December 31, 2025 (previous year: 99 million euros).
Since the large orders from the second half of the year were largely processed by the end of the year, there was a healthy stabilization of capacity utilization in the meantime, and the HERMLE Group's revenue slightly increased in 2025 according to preliminary, unaudited calculations to 492 million euros (previous year: 488 million euros). In the remaining months of the year, the capacities were not sufficiently utilized. Therefore, the company had to implement additional downtime and short-time work. The earnings situation was additionally affected by various negative effects such as wage and energy price increases, bureaucratic requirements, and currency fluctuations. The operating result (EBIT) of the HERMLE Group thus decreased by about 19% to around 69 million euros (previous year: 85 million euros), but was still significantly above expectations at the beginning of the year. The forecast raised in November 2025, in which HERMLE had still anticipated a decline of at least 25%, was also exceeded, as both capacity utilization and value creation turned out to be better than expected towards the end of the year.
Based on the preliminary figures, the Board of Directors today presented its distribution recommendation for the 2025 financial year to the Supervisory Board: It is proposed to suggest a dividend of 9.50 euros per ordinary share and 9.55 euros per preferred share to the Annual General Meeting on July 1, 2026 (previous year: 11.00 euros and 11.05 euros). Following the dividend payment, HERMLE employees in the domestic market are to receive a bonus again, based on the distribution.
The Supervisory Board also decided to appoint Benedikt Hermle (37) as Chairman of the Board effective November 1, 2026. He has been a member of the three-person body since 2018 and is responsible for the areas of production, service, and personnel.
HERMLE will publish the complete, audited financial figures for the 2025 financial year at the end of April 2026.
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