JOST Werke SE, a global leader in safety-critical systems for the commercial vehicle industry, reported strong financial results for the second quarter of 2026, with revenue and profitability growing across all regions and business lines. The company's revenue rose by 12.7% to EUR 440.2 million, up from EUR 390.7 million in the same period last year, driven by organic growth of 8.9%, adjusted for currency and acquisition effects. This broad-based growth was supported by market share gains from new customer wins and cross-selling synergies from the integration of Hyva, particularly in the off-highway segments.
Profitability improved significantly, with adjusted EBIT increasing by 18.5% to EUR 43.9 million, and the adjusted EBIT margin rising to 10.0% from 9.5% in the prior year. This performance places JOST within its strategic profitability corridor of 10% to 12%. The company's net earnings more than doubled, reaching EUR 15.9 million, up 132% from EUR 6.8 million in Q2 2025, while adjusted earnings after tax grew by 19% to EUR 24.6 million.
Regionally, EMEA revenue grew by 9.5% to EUR 205.9 million, with organic growth of 3.1% after adjusting for currency and the Cranes base effect. However, adjusted EBIT in EMEA declined to EUR 8.8 million, with a margin of 4.3%, due to a structural adjustment in the business model and higher input costs. In AMERICAS, revenue increased by 17.1% to EUR 121.0 million, with organic growth of 14.2%, and adjusted EBIT surged by 42.3% to EUR 16.2 million, reflecting new customer wins in North America and expansion in South America. APAC also performed well, with revenue up 14.0% to EUR 113.3 million and organic growth of 14.8%, driven by strong demand in China and India, particularly for hydraulic components for construction and mining. Adjusted EBIT in APAC grew by 30.6% to EUR 17.8 million.
The company's capital allocation strategy is yielding results. Free cash flow improved significantly to EUR +17.3 million in Q2 2026, compared to EUR +0.6 million in the prior year. Net debt decreased to EUR 380.2 million, and the leverage ratio improved to 1.81x, back within the target range of 1.0x to 2.0x. Return on capital employed (ROCE) increased by 3.5 percentage points to 16.3%. CFO Oliver Gantzert commented, "Our disciplined capital allocation is paying off. Just one and a half years after the largest acquisition in our company's history, we have increased ROCE by 3.5 percentage points to 16.3% and brought our leverage ratio back into the strategic target range."
Looking ahead, JOST confirms its outlook for fiscal year 2026, expecting group revenue to increase in the single-digit percentage range and adjusted EBIT to grow faster than revenue, with a margin higher than the prior year's 9.5%. This outlook is based on the assumption that economic conditions in key markets do not deteriorate unexpectedly. The company sees no significant impact from the military conflict in Iran on customer demand.
The interim report for the first half of 2026 is available at https://ir.jost-world.com/reports. A virtual earnings conference was held on August 13, 2026, with a recording available on the JOST website at https://ir.jost-world.com.
