Aebi Schmidt (AEBI) 17th Annual Midwest IDEAS Conference summary

Strategic overview and market positioning

• Maintains global leadership in specialty vehicles for road, airport, municipal, goods transport, and alpine agriculture, with a focus on mission-critical, non-cyclical products.

• Achieved 20% CAGR revenue growth over the past decade, targeting CHF 3 billion revenue by 2030 through balanced organic growth and M&A.

• Holds dominant positions in municipal and airport segments, with high margins and strong backlogs, and is expanding into general aviation airports.

• Walk-in van segment, acquired via Shyft, is rebounding with full bookings into 2027, now contributing 20% of revenue.

• Local-for-local production model enhances resilience to tariffs and global disruptions.

Financial performance and guidance

• 2025 pro forma revenue reached CHF 1.9 billion, with 2026 guidance at CHF 2.05 billion and a 2030 target of CHF 3 billion.

• EBITDA margin guided to rise from just over 9% in 2025 to 13% by 2030, driven by synergies, OpEx optimization, and after-sales expansion.

• After-sales share in North America targeted to grow from 10% to 15% by 2030, offering higher gross margins.

• Working capital to sales ratio improved from 25% to 23% post-Shyft, aiming for 20% in coming years.

• Adjusted EBITDA increased 22% and net income rose by CHF 18 million in the latest quarter, reflecting strong order momentum.

M&A strategy and capital allocation

• M&A playbook targets 1–2 bolt-on deals annually and a larger acquisition every 2–3 years, with CHF 400–500 million in revenue from acquisitions planned.

• Focuses on tuck-in acquisitions in Europe and footprint/product range expansion in the U.S., including potential entry into U.S. street sweeper market via acquisition.

• Prioritizes organic growth investments, with most capital allocated to M&A; share buybacks are secondary.

• Comfortable with leverage of 1.5–2.5x, temporarily up to 3.5x for transformative deals.