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Investing.com -- Beneteau (EPA:CHBE) shares fell more than 7% on Thursday after the French boatmaker reported weaker-than-expected first-half results for 2025 and reduced profit forecasts for 2026 and 2027, citing lower volumes, higher costs, and continued U.S. tariffs.
The group’s adjusted EBIT was a loss of €21 million, which was a significant miss compared to the Kepler Cheuvreux forecast of a profit of €4 million.
This translates to a negative EBIT margin of 5.1%, a sharp decline from the 8.9% margin reported in H1 2024.
Kepler Cheuvreux described this as “well below our estimate,” with a “EUR71m YOY decline” driven by “lower volumes, ERP migration costs, and US yard losses.”
The decline reflected a drop in sales related to dealer network destocking, which reduced revenue by €40 million, and higher promotional activity, which cost the company €15 million.
Additional negative factors included ERP migration delays that reduced earnings by €11 million, furlough costs in Europe of €7 million, and losses at the American yard of €9 million.
These negative effects were partly offset by positive contributions from premiumisation, which added €17 million, and reductions in fixed costs, which contributed €5 million to earnings..
Free cash flow generation was subdued at €14 million, down from €52 million in H1 2024 and below Kepler Cheuvreux’s forecast of €36 million.
The brokerage said this was “despite strong WCR reduction.” Net cash stood at €258 million at the end of June, slightly below the forecast of €304 million.
Management confirmed a recovery in the second half, saying, “Beneteau expects revenues close to EUR500m in H2 2025 (vs. EUR480m in H2 2024).” The company cited “normalised dealer inventories and strong order intake for the 23 new models launched at the Cannes show” as supporting factors.
It added that “income from ordinary operations is expected around break-even for the full year” but noted profitability would remain constrained by “ongoing US tariffs (EUR5–10m impact in H2) and promotional intensity.”
Following the results, Kepler Cheuvreux revised its forecasts. For FY 2025, sales were cut by 6%, with adjusted EBIT now expected at a loss margin of 0.4% margin, compared with 2.9% previously.
For FY 2026 and 2027, sales forecasts were trimmed by 1% annually, with EBIT margins lowered to 4.8% and 6.8% respectively. This resulted in adjusted EPS cuts of 18% for FY 2026 and 13% for FY 2027.
Kepler Cheuvreux lowered its target price for Beneteau shares from €10 to €9 and reiterated its “hold” rating, noting, “Given the ongoing challenges in the boat industry, the limited visibility on volume recovery, and the high exposure to potential US-EU tariffs, we prefer to stay on the sidelines for now.” It described the current 7.9x EV/EBIT 2026E valuation as “fair.”
Beneteau, with annual sales of up to €1.2 billion, is the world’s second-largest recreational boat manufacturer, with eight brands offering around 130 models, including sailing yachts, monohulls, catamarans, and motorboats.
Motorboats account for 57% of total sales. The group also produces leisure homes and mobilehomes.