Earnings call transcript: Geberit AG Q3 2025 sees robust sales growth

Geberit AG reported strong financial performance in the third quarter of 2025, with net sales increasing by 5.4% in local currencies. The company’s earnings per share (EPS) grew by 6.4%, and the EBITDA margin reached 30.6%. Despite the closure of a ceramics plant in Basel, Geberit continues to invest in digitalization and marketing. The company has upgraded its full-year net sales growth guidance to 4.5% and expects an EBITDA margin around 29%.

Key Takeaways

• Geberit reported a 5.4% increase in Q3 net sales in local currencies.
• EPS grew by 6.4% during the quarter.
• The company upgraded its full-year net sales growth guidance to 4.5%.
• Strong performance in Eastern Europe with a 6% growth rate.
• The renovation segment accounts for approximately 60% of total sales.

Company Performance

Geberit AG’s performance in Q3 2025 was marked by significant growth in sales and profitability. The company has managed to outperform the market across various European countries, driven by strategic stability and new product introductions. The renovation segment remains a key contributor to sales, highlighting the company’s strong position in the European construction market.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: Increased by 5.4% in local currencies for Q3.
• Earnings per share: Grew by 6.4% in Q3.
• EBITDA margin: Reached 30.6% in Q3.
• Free cash flow: Increased by 8.4% to CHF 462 million.

Outlook & Guidance

Geberit has upgraded its full-year net sales growth guidance to 4.5% and anticipates an EBITDA margin around 29%. The company expects market stabilization in Europe and potential mid-term recovery to normal housing levels. Geberit is well-positioned for continued growth, particularly in the shower toilet segment.

Executive Commentary

"We delivered strong results in the first nine months, both on the top and bottom line," said Christian Wolff, CFO. He emphasized the company’s preparedness to continue market outperformance and highlighted the success of the Alba shower toilet, which accounted for 50% of shower toilet sales.

Risks and Challenges

• Closure costs: The closure of the ceramics plant in Basel incurs a total cost of €25 million.
• Market conditions in China: Continued decline in China’s residential sector poses challenges.
• Mixed signals in German building permits: While residential permits are up, non-residential permits have declined.
• Global market variability: Strong demand in India and the Gulf Region contrasts with challenges in other markets.
• Supply chain and cost dynamics: Ongoing investments in digitalization and marketing may affect short-term margins.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about Geberit’s new product rollout strategies and the company’s approach to pricing and cost dynamics. The management addressed market conditions in specific regions, clarifying the outlook for China and European markets.

Full transcript - Geberit AG (GEBN) Q3 2025:

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Geberit’s nine month results conference call. We will start with the third quarter figures and then comment on the nine month development, and we’ll finish as usual with an outlook. Geberit delivered strong top and bottom line results in Q3. First, net sales grew in local currencies by 5.4% despite a continued challenging market environment. Second, excluding onetime costs for the closure of the ceramics plant in Basel, we kept operating margins stable.

And third, despite these onetime costs, EPS grew currency adjusted by 6.4%. Let me now give you some comments on the sales development in the third quarter in more detail. Net sales increased in Swiss francs by 2.7% and reached CHF $783,000,000. The currency impact affected the top line negatively by CHF 21,000,000 or minus 2.7%. Local currencies, group net sales increased by 5.4%, supported by a positive price effect of around 1%.

Let me turn to the regional developments in the third quarter, again in local currencies. In Europe, we achieved a sales growth of 6% driven by significant growth in almost all European markets and a strong development of new products. Italy was the only major European market, which recorded a sales decline last quarter due to the softening newbuild demand. In Middle East Africa, net sales increased by 16% in Q3, driven by strong growth in Turkey and Greece. America recorded a small sales decline of minus 2% due to wholesaler inventory rebalancing of the tariff related price adjustments in H1.

Net sales in Far East Pacific declined by minus 8%, driven by the market contraction in China, partially offset by growth in India. Continuing with the sales development per product area in Q3, again in local currency. Installation and Flushing Systems increased by 8%, while Piping Systems and Bathroom Systems both increased by 4%. Installation and Flushing Systems benefited from the second rollout wave of the new Duofix installation system. Let me now turn to the operating and financial results in Q3.

We managed to grow our bottom line results from EBITDA down to EPS, both in local currencies and in Swiss francs. EBITDA grew by 5.3% in local currencies and the EBITDA margin reached 30.6%. This represents a margin decrease of minus 40 basis points, driven by onetime costs of EUR4 million related to the vehicle plant closure booked in Q3. Excluding the closure costs, the EBITDA margin would have increased slightly by 10 basis points. Net income increased in local currency by 6.1%.

Net income margin reached 19.9%. Earnings per share reached CHF4.73 and grew in local currencies by 6.4% despite the before mentioned closure process. Let me now continue with a review of our net sales development in the first nine months of the year. Net sales grew in Swiss francs by 2% and reached CHF 2,400,000,000.0. The negative currency effect led to a net sales loss of CHF 58,000,000 or minus 2.4%.

In local currencies, net sales increased by 4.4. This growth was substantially driven by the continued strong development of new products such as the supply piping system FROFIT, MAPRES TERM and the shower toilet, ALBA. This brings me to the regional net sales development in the first nine months. Again, our growth figures refer to growth in local currency. I’ll start with a review in Europe, where we achieved the sales growth of 4%, clearly above the market development.

In Austria, net sales increased by 10%, thanks to growth of our new products. In Benelux, net sales increased by 6% with growth in both countries, Belgium and Netherlands. In Eastern Europe, net sales increased by 6%, supported by strong growth in the Adriatic Region and Hungary. In Germany, net sales increased also by 6%, significantly better than the market. Net sales in Northern Europe increased by 2% with growth in all Nordic countries.

In Italy, net sales increased by 1% in a softening newbuild market. In Switzerland, net sales were stable year over year, negatively affected by selective price adjustments due to the strengthening of the Swiss franc over the last years. In Western Europe, net sales declined by 1%, driven by a market decline in France, which was only partially offset by strong growth in Iberia. Let me now turn to the regions outside Europe. In the Middle East and Africa region, net sales increased in the first nine months by 22% driven by Turkey, Greece and South Africa.

In America, net sales increased by 6% due to the strong U. S. Faucet business. In Far East Pacific, net sales decreased by 6% with strong growth in India, only partially offsetting the market decline in China. Let me now comment on the phase development per product area, again in local currency.

Installation and Flushing Systems and Bathroom Systems both increased by 5%, while Piping Systems grew by 3%. The lower relative growth of Piping Systems was driven by the higher exposure to the newbuild sector. I continue with the operating and financial results in the first nine months. Currency effects as well as onetime costs related to the closure of the Wessel plant negatively impacted the operating results on all levels. We booked €22,000,000 onetime costs for the site closure in the first nine months, which splits into €16,000,000 as OpEx and €6,000,000 as depreciation.

EBITDA in Swiss francs remained stable at CHF753 million. Excluding negative currency effects, EBITDA increased by 3.1%. The EBITDA margin reached 30.8%, decreasing by 60 basis points, which can entirely be attributed to the previously mentioned extraordinary costs of €60,000,000 related to the closure of the ceramic site in WELD. Excluding this one time effect, the EBITDA margin in Swiss francs would have reached 31.4% identical to previous year’s level. The positive operating leverage and slight negative price effect on the EBITDA margin were offset by three factors: first, wage inflation of around four percent second, 15% higher energy prices and third, investments in several dedicated growth initiatives in emerging markets and additional expenditures for IT and digitalization.

EBIT margin reached 25.9, a decrease of 90 basis points, also almost entirely driven by the plant closure costs of €22,000,000 Excluding these onetime charges, the EBIT margin would have reached 26.7%, only 10 basis points below previous year. Net income in local currency increased by 2.7% and reached CHF494 million, which resulted in a net income margin of 20.2%. Earnings per share reached CHF 15.01, an increase of 3.2% in local currencies. If also onetime costs are excluded, EPS would have increased by 6.7% in the first nine months versus last year. CapEx decreased by CHF 10,000,000 or minus 10% to CHF 93,000,000 due to varying project timings.

Free cash flow increased by 8.4% to CHF462 million due to the timing of tax payments and CapEx. Let me now comment on our market outlook for the full year 2025, which does not significantly differ from our outlook given at our H1 results communication in August. In Europe, we expect for the full year 2025 a slight decline in newbuild activity as building permits continues to decline slightly in the 2025 by minus 3%. This decline is offset by a positive renovation segment this year, which contributes around 60% together in sales, as indicated by several indicators, for example, increased real estate transactions. In sum, we continue to expect building construction demand in Europe to have stabilized in 2025.

Outside Europe, we expect a mixed picture for the building construction industry. Strong demand is seen in several markets, for example, in India and the Gulf Region. In China, on the other hand, we expect a continuation of the market decline due to the challenging residential sector. On the supply side, we expect a sideways development of direct material prices for Q4 compared to Q3. Let me now briefly comment on the Geberit priorities for the rest of the year.

We will continue to have a strong focus on new products. For example, the new DuoFix installation system, but also important new products introduced over the last years, like the already mentioned FlowFit, Marcus Therum and the Shower Todderdalpa. Other important initiatives this year include dedicated sales activities outside Europe, for example, in India, and increased OpEx in the area of IT and digitalization, for example, for AI initiatives and digital marketing efforts. Let me continue with our full year guidance. Due to the better than expected growth in Q3, we increased our top line guidance.

We expect for the full year now a net sales growth in local currencies of around 4.5%. Net sales in October were above previous year’s level and in line with this full year top line guidance. For the EBITDA margin, we continue to expect a level of around 29%. This guidance includes €18,000,000 site closure costs, thereof €16,000,000 already booked in the first nine months and another €2,000,000 expected to be booked in Q4. This brings me to the update of the closure of the site in Basel per 2026.

We have signed an agreement with the employee representatives on the social plan. The total plant closure costs in the amount of €25,000,000 are unchanged, consisting of €80,000,000 for operating expenses and €7,000,000 for depreciation. Compared to the plant closure costs estimated communicated in August, the timing of the OpEx has changed slightly with the total OpEx amount now booked already this year. As a result, we only expect a minor P and L impact of €1,000,000 depreciation related to the plant closure next year. Let me close our introduction with a short summary.

Geberit delivered strong results in the first nine months, both on the top and bottom line. With a currency adjusted top line growth of 4.4%, we achieved a significant market outperformance in the first nine months. Operating margins remained stable despite headwinds from a still sticky wage inflation and investments into OpEx for various strategic and operational initiatives. Earnings per share grew by 6.7%, excluding negative currency effects and planned closure costs. We consider this operationally driven EPS growth as a very strong result in this still challenging market environment.

For the full year 2025, the overall market demand in Europe should stabilize and the picture overseas remains to be mixed. Geberit is well prepared to continue its market outperformance in this environment, as already demonstrated since mid-twenty twenty two when the construction markets collapsed in Europe. Our confidence is based on the fundamental need for our products, our resilient strategy and business model and our long term focus and track record. Thank you for your attention. We are now ready to answer your questions.

Conference Moderator: We will now begin the question and answer session. Our first question comes from Elodie Rall from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Elodie Rall, Analyst, JPMorgan: Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. So my first question is around the estimated market share that you’ve delivered versus your underlying market. So I think it’s around 3%, 3.5% like outperformance. So can you come back on that, give us color on by geography, what are the main drivers?

How much of that is coming from new products? Second, you had delivered 1% price increase more or less this year. So can you give us a hint about how you’re thinking about price increases next year? And then lastly, on Eastern Europe, growth accelerated a lot, it seems, Q3 at around 15%, and it was 2% in H1. So I was wondering what’s driving that and how sustainable this is.

Thank you

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: for your question. Question number one about market outperformance. We believe we are outperforming the market across the countries, not specifically in specific regions, especially in Europe. And the main drivers are two. One is what we call strategic stability two or three years ago that we remain present in the markets, that we remain present with our customers.

We continue to invest into our customer relations. That’s one of the reasons. And number two is mentioned new products, which are a significant contributor to the growth and market outperformance this year as mentioned in the introduction. Question number two, price increases 2026. We are at the moment finalizing the price increases, and we will communicate what we will do with the prices as usual with our first info mid January.

And question number three, the strong performance of Eastern Europe in Q3. The accelerated growth performance versus H1 where Eastern Europe was a little bit smaller in terms of growth. There are two drivers. One is in the first half of the year, we had a bit more tougher comps because the 2024 was quite strong in Eastern Europe. That’s one of the answers.

And the second part is that we have had in some of the smaller countries like Hungary or Alunatics a very strong project business. And these smaller countries are more volatile because of the project business, so the volatility plays also a role. But nevertheless, over the nine months in Eastern Europe, we are growing 6%, which is pretty much in line with the rest of Europe, and we are very satisfied.

Elodie Rall, Analyst, JPMorgan: Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Martin Luther, ZKB. Please go ahead.

Martin Luther, Analyst, ZKB: Yes, good morning and thank you for taking my questions. Two at the moment. First of all, to Germany, can you maybe elaborate a bit more what you see kind of underlying trends, what you observe in the market as I guess building permits are likely to be a bit more positive than what you see generally in Europe. So basically, my question is, do you already see some end market demand coming from new construction, if I take it one by one?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: The situation in Germany is that we believe the market has stabilized in the first nine months. Also, if we listen to our customers, that’s clearly obvious, but we hear not a recovery but a stabilization of the business. If you look into the building indicators, as you mentioned correctly, building permits also started to stabilize. On the residential side, even growth over the first eight months, January until August, residential building permits grew by 7% in Germany with a positive dynamic. However, on the non resi side, the picture is still a bit negative.

Non resi building permits are still down around 7% in the eight months. So I would say it’s stable environment with a positive dynamic in some of the indicators, but not yet feelable and visible recovery in the market in the first nine months in Germany.

Martin Luther, Analyst, ZKB: Okay. Thank you. And then my second question on material costs in Q3 in terms terms of sales. Actually, they have sequentially increased by roughly 110 bps, if I calculate it correctly, even though we saw raw material costs to be slightly down sequentially. So what were the major effects for the increase in Q3?

Tobias, Financial Executive, Geberit AG: So that is largely a normal seasonality effect. If you look at last year’s sequential evolution of the cost of material, it would have had exactly the same change from Q2 to Q3. And that is largely due to mix effects of the inventory during the summer holidays linked to plant closures. So mostly a seasonal effect that you’re seeing here.

Martin Luther, Analyst, ZKB: Okay. Now I remember that you told me that a year ago. Thanks a lot. Welcome.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Pujarini Ghosh from Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Pujarini Ghosh, Analyst, Bernstein: Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. So on your upgraded revenue growth guidance, could you talk a little bit about what has changed? Which markets or products might be performing better that led you to upgrade the guidance? And my second question is on the price cost.

So for Q3 or nine ms pricing has remained flat despite you having raised pricing by 1% in April. And on the cost side, wages have come down from Q2, but it’s still up 4%. You highlighted higher energy costs and raw materials are slightly down. So if we talk about price cost, could you talk about the different moving parts and what that implies for the pricecost spread in Q3 and how we should expect that to evolve in Q4 and going into 2026?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Thank you for your questions. I will answer number one. Number two will be answered by Tobias. The main reason why we have slightly upgraded our top line guidance was the result of Q3, which was a bit better than what we expected, not a specific country. It it was just across the board.

Question number two, Tobias?

Tobias, Financial Executive, Geberit AG: So there’s various factors that come into that. If we start with the top line, the price effect, yes, zero year to date, but 1% in Q3. That is, as explained previously, that is linked to the timing of the price increases. And therefore, it’s only fully reflected in Q3. Then the other effect that we have is indeed the persistent wage increases, which is at in Q3 around 3% and on the year to date still at 3.8%.

We do expect, as said previously, to have a wage inflation during the year of around 3% to 4%, so fully in line with what we said previously. And the other effects, but that’s less the pricecost area, are then the other cost increases, which are in line with previous guidance, so especially the sales growth initiatives in digitalization and marketing.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Seidel Ekblom from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Seidel Ekblom, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Thanks very much. It looks like one of the positive contributors to your plan in the quarter was the rollout of new products. I wonder if you could talk a little bit more about which product categories you’ve seen the most success and traction with? And also where we are in the product rollout time line, how many more products should we expect to see coming to the market in the fourth quarter and then into next year? Just to try and understand how much more of a tailwind we can get from these new product introductions.

Thank you.

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: The new products played an important role in Q3 as they played an important role also in H1. And we do not plan any further new product introduction until the end of the year. We typically introduce products as of Q2 of the year. So there is nothing new to be expected. What was a bit specific in Q3 that we have the second rollout wave of the Duo Fix system, which supported sales in the third quarter.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Priyal Boulf from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Seidel Ekblom, Analyst, Morgan Stanley: Hi. Just thank you for taking my questions. Just two for me, please. So firstly, it’s just a follow-up on pricing. So obviously, you reported 1% in Q3.

Can I just check where you are with the pricing adjustments in Switzerland? I seem to recall you said that was going to be a drag for the full year. Is that no longer the case? Or actually, are we seeing better pricing elsewhere basically? And then the second question is just on the upgrade to the top line guidance for full year 2025.

I think it implies a sort of 5% organic growth rate in the last quarter of the year, so similar to Q3. But obviously, comparables get much easier. Is this just reflecting fewer new product rollouts as we go into the final quarter? Or are you just being conservative?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: So question number one with regards to pricing in Q3 in Switzerland, nothing changed. We implemented, as you know, selective price decreases currency related price decreases in Switzerland, and they have the same impact more or less on each quarter of the year, no specific in Q3. Q4 implies so our guidance implies a Q4 growth, which is more or less in line with the first nine months of the 4.04%. So also that is not driven by specific new activities. It’s just that we believe that we should do relatively similar than what we have seen in the first nine months, also supported by the sales in October.

Martin Luther, Analyst, ZKB: Thank you.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Jon Reville from Thomson Reuters. Please go ahead.

Jon Reville, Analyst, Thomson Reuters: Good morning and thank you for taking my questions. It’s just a bit more of a drill down into your raised guidance. I know, Christian, you mentioned that basically, you did a lot better you did better in Q3 than expected. Could you I know it’s basically broad based, but can you give us pick out what was behind that or a bit more just a bit more color on how much better was Q3 than expected? And or what was driving that?

That’s the first one. And then the second one is, I know it’s very, very early days, but is there any kind of initial indications for 2026, how the construction market in Europe is looking next year? I mean, obviously, it’s very preliminary, but I just wondered if you have any thoughts or opinions based on permits. And is it likely to be more renovation again next year in Europe or newbuild or what you see next year?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: So looking at the products in Q3, what was a bit better than expected was the rollout of the new DuoFix system. The DuoFix system is quite a large part of our business. It’s a large assortment, which we rolled out into two waves. One was in Q2 and the other one was in Q3. And it turned out that in the wave two, customers seemed to wait a bit until we were coming with the new products in Q3.

So therefore, Q3 was a bit benefiting from this rollout wave number two of DuoFix Systems. That was from a product reason perspective, the reason why we have been a bit surprised by the positive and not by the negative. And with regards to market 2026, as usual, as you know, we only will then talk about our market outlook as usual with our first income January.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Patrick Raiffeis from UBS. I

Patrick Raiffeis, Analyst, UBS: have a couple of follow ups. Staying with DUROfix, which you just elaborated on, was that the last wave two? Or will there be more to come in the future? And related to the new products, you spoke about MAPPRES, Alba FlowFit for the nine months. How did these new products evolve during Q3 versus H1?

That’s the first question.

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: So as I just mentioned, the Duofix system is a large assortment. We talk about hundreds of SKUs, and it was always a plan to roll that out in two ways and only two waves: one, Q2, as I said before, and the second wave then in Q3. And as I mentioned before, we realized that customers waited somehow in Q2 for the wave two, which was launched then in Q3. The same effect didn’t happen with Wave one because we had the price increase as of Q2, if you remember. So there was an incentive to still buy in Q1 due to the lower prices.

This was not the case from Q2 to Q3. So that’s now through. We have 100% rollout, no effect anymore to look at in Q4. So it’s important to look at the nine month figures where we have reached a 5% growth, including now the replacement with the new Toolfix systems. I think that’s a good way to look in that.

And with the other new products, all of the three, which we have mentioned, have been growing significantly double digit, and they all fit together contribute substantially to the growth of the 4.4% in the first nine months.

Patrick Raiffeis, Analyst, UBS: Okay. That’s clear. Then the second question would be on the EBITDA bridge. When I look at the Q3 bridge and look at the guidance, which implies a Q4 EBITDA margin that is more or less in line with the prior year, should we assume that your planned Q4 EBITDA bridge is very comparable to the Q3 one with the only difference being less dilution from closure costs. Does that make sense?

Tobias, Financial Executive, Geberit AG: To be honest, we haven’t done exactly the bridge for Q4. But what is definitely correct is that the there won’t be or there will be less closure costs for diesel. There will be only €2,000,000 compared to €4,000,000 in this quarter. The other cost effect indeed will be similar. You remember that we had the ramp up of the €20,000,000 So these will be comparable to Q3 indeed as it was back end loaded compared to H1.

Price effect net on the top line pricing, we expect the same. Cost of material could be lower than in Q3 because of the seasonality effect. And I think and then currency effect, who knows, but that’s probably as well comparable. So I guess the assumption with these few remarks I made could be relatively correct and would lead then to the around 29% we guided.

Patrick Raiffeis, Analyst, UBS: Okay, perfect. And the last one would be just some geographic details. Trying to understand the slowdown in Far East. Was that more due to China worsening versus Q2 or H1 or India slowing? And similar question to Western Europe.

Can you maybe add some color on the impacts from France there?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Question number one, with forest specific, you’re right. This was more driven by a weakening in China and not by a weakening in India. And in Western Europe, there were no specific the main reason was that we had a bit better business than in France also in Q3, sorry, versus in the first half of the year.

Patrick Raiffeis, Analyst, UBS: Okay. Thanks for that. That’s all for me.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Alessandro Foletti from Octavian. Please go ahead.

Alessandro Foletti, Analyst, Octavian: Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking my questions. But what I wanted to ask has been discussed. Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Arnaud Lehmann from Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Martin Luther, Analyst, ZKB: Thank you very much and good morning gentlemen. Two questions on my side. Firstly, starting with the big picture is on volumes. You had double digit volume decline, I think, in 2023. I think since then, cumulatively, 2024, 2025, you will be will have recovered about half of that about 6%.

Do you think the plus 6% over the last two years is purely outperformance versus stable markets? Or do you think the markets have improved a little bit and they have more to go? I appreciate it’s hard to be sure, but just a bit of color would be helpful. And secondly, just a follow-up on China. You mentioned that it’s been getting worse in the past months.

Would you consider some restructuring or capacity closure in the country, taking more of a medium term view of the market? First

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: question about volume development over the last two, three years. We believe that the market over the last two, three years was not stable. It was obviously declining. We’ve just seen a stabilization this year. So the 6%, which I can’t confirm the number you just mentioned, that is a stronger outperformance versus a market which was obviously in a decline and not only stable.

In China, we will make sure that the business remains to be profitable, although where sales are declining. So we will adapt on a lower level the organization just to ensure that we will remain to be profitable also in China.

Martin Luther, Analyst, ZKB: Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Yassine Tuhari from On Field Investment Research. Please go ahead.

Conference Moderator0: Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Just a question again on volume situation. I think one of the big issue that we’ve seen in Europe for housing is the affordability. Do you see any is it something that you monitor?

Do you see the government, for example, of Austria, Germany, Switzerland or Benelux trying to address these issues? And how do you think about the outlook for housing? And I think the question is coming back to the question around like where do you see the midterm if the level of activity recover? What kind of potential recovery could you see if we go back do you think we could go back to, let’s say, like the level of activity that we saw in 2021? It would be great to get a little bit of color on your outlook for volume and the situation.

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Question number one, and I’m sure if I fully understood your question, is the question was if we have seen recently activities of governments taking influence on the housing market in Europe, I would say the answer is no. We have not seen specific broad programs which should support now the housing on a larger scale, is what the question. And number two, on the longer term, we are still, as just mentioned before, stabilizing at a low level in Europe. So overall volumes are low compared obviously to what we have seen a couple of years ago. So midterm, we should see a recovery to normal housing levels because in many, many countries in Europe, there is a big shortage of housing.

And with that level of activity, which we see now, that will not be covered. Therefore, midterm, we should expect a recovery to more normal housing levels again also in Europe.

Jon Reville, Analyst, Thomson Reuters: Thank you.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Raimo Rosenow from Helvetische Bank. Please go ahead.

Alessandro Foletti, Analyst, Octavian: Yes, thank you. Good morning. About Aquaclin ALBA, are sales developing as expected, I. E, is it going in the direction of potentially becoming a game changer as you hoped, particularly also in the field of rental sleds where shower toilets never stood a chance in the past? What could you tell us about that?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: So we’re very happy with the development of Alba. Alba, in the first nine months, has already reached 50% of all shower toilets sold. So every second shower toilet we have sold in the first nine months is an ALDA. And the positive is not only that ALDA is growing nicely, it’s also supporting the rest of the category. We have also seen a double digit growth of Mira, the premium model, because Ulta obviously seems to support the category.

When it comes to the rental segment in your question, yes, it helps, but it’s still tough to convince landlords that they should also think about the shower toilet in the rental apartments. But we have some inroads into that segment, so that also is positive what you see in the market.

Alessandro Foletti, Analyst, Octavian: Okay. What kind of capacity reserves do you have for all? I mean could you sell 2x more than now or 6x more or 10x more? Or what is your reserve?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: We are prepared for even stronger growth rates than what we see at the moment.

Alessandro Foletti, Analyst, Octavian: For how many years?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: For how many years? I don’t know for how many years, to be very honest. But and don’t forget that there are two big parts of the other. One is the ceramic capacity, that’s one, obviously. And the other one is, so to say, the electronic unit.

The electronic unit is relatively simply to ramp up capacity. That’s basically assembly. So that’s not a big issue. And on the ceramic side, we have enough reserves, to be honest, I don’t know for how many years, which growth rates, but I don’t think that we will run into a shortage. We have not been running into a shortage this year either.

Alessandro Foletti, Analyst, Octavian: Okay. Great. Then another question, again, I’m afraid, about China. Without the other markets, I mean, could you I mean, it was minus 6% for a specific of the nine months. If you would just take China, what would the number be roughly?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Actually, don’t know, but it will be clearly positive. Clearly positive, I don’t know exactly, but I would guesstimate it will very double digit, but I don’t have the number, to be honest.

Alessandro Foletti, Analyst, Octavian: Yes. Was interested the other way around, how much China would have been down.

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Without the amount? Much China is down? China is double digit down, sorry. Double digit down.

Alessandro Foletti, Analyst, Octavian: Yes. So clearly, I mean, not only 11%, I guess, right?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: No, no, no, no. The extension is a double digit number, not only 11 Okay. Percent,

Alessandro Foletti, Analyst, Octavian: Great. Thank you.

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: You’re welcome.

Conference Moderator: The next question comes from Christian Arnold from ODDO BHF. Please go ahead.

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Yes, good morning all.

Conference Moderator1: And I apologize if you have commented that already during your speech, I was cut off. On Switzerland, I mean, this plus 6.3% in Q3 was quite strong and significantly better than what we have seen in the first half. And I wonder what has changed in Q3 versus the first half?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Nothing specific, but Switzerland was a bit more affected from this wave two rollout of Tour Fix, which we explained before. I don’t know if you have been in the call before or have

Conference Moderator0: you been

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: cut out, but the two waves were driven up by companies, but the two waves for the Duo Fix rollout were driven by products, basically driven by the ramp up capacity in the plant. And some countries have been more exposed to Wave two and others a bit less. And Switzerland was a bit more exposed to Wave two. That means that the installation and flushing system business was very strong in Q3, little bit weak in Q2. That was the main reason why Switzerland stood out in Q3 versus H1 or Q2.

Conference Moderator1: Okay. And then maybe a follow-up here. And in terms of Germany, when was the waves there?

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: That was broadly, I would say, line, no specifically. That was distributed Q2, Q3.

Conference Moderator: The next question is a follow-up from Martin Heuter from ZKB.

Martin Luther, Analyst, ZKB: Thank you. Just a very short one. I just wonder whether in the number of employees that you show, if there are the vessel employees included and if we talk about roughly 300 people there?

Tobias, Financial Executive, Geberit AG: Yes, indeed, the people in vessel are included, and order of magnitude is not wrong.

Martin Luther, Analyst, ZKB: Thank you.

Conference Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, that was the last question. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Christian Wolff for any closing remarks.

Christian Wolff, CFO/Presenter, Geberit AG: Thank you for your participation. We wish you all a great day, and I guess a good day in the German housing. All that.

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