Intelligent Automation Solutions segment
Business performance and level of orders
The order situation in the Intelligent Automation Solutions segment was encouraging in the nine months under review, both in the project business and in the service business. Although order intake at €2,575.3 million was lower than in the prior-year period (Q1–Q3 2025: €2,941.2 million), the decrease was attributable to the exceptionally high comparative figure resulting from the record order intake registered in the project business in the second quarter of 2025. Moreover, the segment saw a solid year-on-year rise in order intake in the service business.
The Intelligent Automation Solutions segment’s order book grew to €2,829.5 million as at September 30, 2026 (December 31, 2025: €2,688.4 million). Currency effects – primarily in relation to the stronger US dollar – increased the order book for the segment by a total of €97.6 million.
in € million |
|
Q3 |
|
Q3 |
|
Change |
|
Q1 – Q3 |
|
Q1 – Q3 |
|
Change |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total revenue |
|
890.2 |
|
768.5 |
|
15.8% |
|
2,519.3 |
|
2,154.3 |
|
16.9% |
||||
EBITDA |
|
95.2 |
|
65.2 |
|
45.9% |
|
249.0 |
|
185.4 |
|
34.3% |
||||
Adjusted EBITDA |
|
95.7 |
|
67.4 |
|
41.9% |
|
249.7 |
|
184.8 |
|
35.1% |
||||
EBIT |
|
45.8 |
|
10.1 |
|
> 100.0% |
|
113.0 |
|
52.1 |
|
> 100.0% |
||||
Adjusted EBIT |
|
66.1 |
|
47.6 |
|
38.8% |
|
172.2 |
|
126.0 |
|
36.6% |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Adjusted EBITDA margin |
|
10.7% |
|
8.8% |
|
– |
|
9.9% |
|
8.6% |
|
– |
||||
Adjusted EBIT margin |
|
7.4% |
|
6.2% |
|
– |
|
6.8% |
|
5.8% |
|
– |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
Order intake |
|
750.8 |
|
740.1 |
|
1.4% |
|
2,575.3 |
|
2,941.2 |
|
−12.4% |
||||
Order book1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2,829.5 |
|
2,688.4 |
|
5.2% |
||||
|
||||||||||||||||
Revenue
The total revenue of the Intelligent Automation Solutions segment increased by 16.9 percent to €2,519.3 million in the first nine months of 2026 (Q1–Q3 2025: €2,154.3 million), chiefly on the back of project business (business solutions), which had benefited from the sustained growth of order intake in recent quarters. Segment revenue in the service business was stable at the high level of the prior-year period. The proportion of the segment’s revenue from external customers accounted for by the service business returned to a normal level, by historical standards, of 37.8 percent in the reporting period (Q1–Q3 2025: 44.3 percent).
Further details concerning revenue generated from external customers in the Intelligent Automation Solutions segment can be found in the table ‘Revenue from third parties by product category’.
Earnings
The Intelligent Automation Solutions segment recorded a strong rise in its adjusted EBIT to €172.2 million in the first nine months of 2026 (Q1–Q3 2025: €126.0 million), with the main growth driver being the much higher level of gross profit from the project business. The contribution to earnings from the high-margin service business, meanwhile, was not quite able to match the high level of the prior-year period. The lower value of employees’ long-term variable remuneration as a result of share price movements also contributed to the increase in earnings. The adjusted EBIT margin improved from 5.8 percent in the first three quarters of 2025 to 6.8 percent in the period under review.
After taking into account non-recurring items and purchase price allocation effects, the segment’s EBIT amounted to €113.0 million (Q1–Q3 2025: €52.1 million).
Adjusted EBITDA improved to €249.7 million (Q1–Q3 2025: €184.8 million); the adjusted EBITDA margin was 9.9 percent (Q1–Q3 2025: 8.6 percent).