Mutares Turns Positive EBITDA in Q1 as Record Exit Pipeline and SABIC Megadeal Drive Momentum

Mutares reports Q1 revenue up 10%, EBITDA swing to positive €11.1M; shares down 11.5% YTD. Focus on record exit pipeline and SABIC acquisition to repair covenant.

Mutares shares closed at €26.45 on Friday, still nursing a year?to?date decline of around 11.5% and a 20% slide over the past twelve months, despite the Munich?based buyout group delivering a sharp operational turnaround in the first quarter. The stock remains well below its 200?day moving average of €29.14, a gap that reflects investor caution over the holding?level deficit even as the group’s transaction machine accelerates.

However, the operating picture brightened considerably. Consolidated revenue rose 10% year?on?year to €1.68 billion, while adjusted EBITDA swung from a loss of €30.1 million in the prior?year period to a positive €11.1 million. The improvement was driven largely by a surge in acquisition activity, which expanded the portfolio and boosted top?line contributions. On the holding company line, net income printed at minus €0.9 million against a €29.5 million profit a year earlier — that gap is explained by the one?off gain from the partial exit of Steyr Motors that flattered the 2025 comparison.

Structural changes within the portfolio also began to show. Infrastructure & Defense generated €455 million in revenue, and two businesses, Alterga and Nervión Industries, have been reclassified into that segment to sharpen margin comparisons. Meanwhile, a brand?new segment — Chemicals & Materials — debuted after Mutares signed a deal in January to acquire SABIC’s Engineering Thermoplastics business in the Americas and Europe. That transaction, the largest in the group’s history, is expected to close by the end of the current quarter and bring in roughly €2 billion in revenue. Holliday Pigments, acquired in February, contributed €13.4 million to the new segment in Q1, up from zero a year ago.

The exit pipeline, which management describes as the largest in the company’s history, is now the main catalyst for the rest of the year. Multiple processes are running in defense, energy and energy?infrastructure. Efacec is a prominent candidate: it is forecast to generate EBITDA of €40 million to €50 million in 2026 and carries an order pipeline of roughly €1.5 billion. NEM Energy booked order intake of more than €500 million in the first months of the year, underscoring structural demand that is attracting buyer interest. Beyond these, Mutares has signed agreements to sell Kalzip and WIJ Special Media, and after the quarter closed added planned exits including inTime Group, Relobus, Conexus and Peugeot Motocycles.

The flurry of transactions is intended to help the group repair a breached covenant, which management aims to heal by the end of June using contributions from recent acquisitions. For the full year, Mutares stands by its revenue guidance of €7.9 billion to €9.1 billion and a holding?level net profit target of €165 million to €200 million — ranges that depend heavily on successful exits delivering tangible cash.

Shareholders will vote on a proposed dividend of €2.00 per share at the annual general meeting on 3 July. Management has flagged an additional performance dividend should material exit proceeds materialise during the year. The next major milestone after the AGM is a London Investor Day on 19 November, where executives plan to present progress from selected portfolio companies. Whether the promised exits will have translated into concrete gains by then is a question the half?year report, due in summer, may begin to answer.