EQS-News: AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG ANNOUNCEMENT 9M 2025 RESULTS

Q3 2025 results confirm our prior guidance for growth momentum

Significant performance improvement in Q3, with Document Lifecycle Management and Digital Technologies the key growth drivers

• Group Revenues of €262.4m (14% reduction vs. 9M 2024), adversely impacted by the already realized in H1 2025 normalization in the Turkish payment card market as well as the temporary moderation vs. last year’s significant contribution of metal card sales to Fintech clients in Europe. Document Lifecycle Management and Digital Technologies maintained solid revenue growth trajectory, reaffirming our successful geographical and market share expansion strategy to date. Q3 2025 Group Revenues increased 22% vs. Q2 2025.
• Adjusted EBITDA of €36.1m (13.7% margin), impacted by the revenue shortfall, despite cost optimization efforts and a more favourable revenue mix towards service-related revenues. Q3 2025 adjusted EBITDA of €16.8m (17.0% margin), increased 16% vs. Q3 2024 and more than doubled vs. Q2 2025, driven by the robust pipeline as well as the contribution of higher-margin services and solutions.
• Net Profit of €9.8m (vs. €16.3m in 9M 2024), burdened by the EBITDA reduction and by higher depreciation & amortization expenses (+12% vs. 9M 2024), despite lower financial expenses (-14% vs. 9M 2024). Q3 2025 Net Profit of €7.4m, up by 45% vs. Q3 2024, backed by the EBITDA growth.
• Solid operating cash flow generation of €23.2m (+23% vs. 9M 2024), on account of our disciplined focus to optimize cash flow management as well as a reduced pace of working capital build-up. Free Cash Flow (FCF) (Operating Cash Flow minus CAPEX) generation of €11.7m vs. €2.7m in 9M 2024.
• Group Leverage maintained at healthy levels (1.9x) with Group Net Debt of €91.2m (€4.4m reduction vs. end-2024).
• Q3 2025 results reaffirm Management’s earlier guidance for robust growth momentum. The Group remains well positioned to deliver a meaningful improvement vs. H2 2024, supported by efficiency initiatives, disciplined cost management as well as a favourable revenue mix towards higher-margin services and solutions. The Group’s performance in Q3 2025 underscores the success of our strategic initiatives in driving sustained margin enhancement and long-term earnings growth.

 

November 13, 2025 – AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG (ACAG), the international applied technology group headquartered in Vienna, announces its 9M 2025 financial results.

 

Manolis Kontos, Chairman of the Management Board and Group CEO, commented:

"Q3 2025 marked a return to growth momentum for AUSTRIACARD. Strong performance from both Document Lifecycle Management and Digital Technologies alleviated revenue headwinds from cyclical and macroeconomic factors, which burdened our Payment solutions segment performance in H1 2025. Despite these temporary headwinds, our strategy to evolve into a holistic payments and identity solutions provider remains firmly on track and continues to drive sustained revenue growth, building on our strong performance in recent years.

During the third quarter we achieved significant sequential growth and a solid year-on-year improvement in EBITDA, confirming our prior guidance, driven by operational efficiency, a robust pipeline and a revenue mix increasingly weighted towards higher-margin services and solutions. Our strong free cash flow generation and healthy balance sheet underscore our disciplined financial management and long-term commitment to sustainable value creation.

The progress achieved in Q3 2025 reinforces our confidence in continued growth momentum for the remainder of the year. More importantly, the investments during 2025 in people, product and solutions portfolio development will serve as a key enabler of growth in the years ahead. We remain focused on executing our strategic priorities — expanding our digital and AI-enabled solutions portfolio, enhancing operational scalability, and deepening integration across our markets. We continue to evolve into a holistic solutions provider and a trusted, long-term partner, delivering end-to-end value to clients.

With technology at the core of our strategy, AUSTRIACARD is well positioned to convert this momentum into sustainable growth. We will continue to pursue selective inorganic opportunities that add strategic capabilities and extend our market reach, as part of our commitment to create long-term value for our clients and shareholders.”

 

GROUP PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS[1]

 

 

Group Revenues

Group Revenues of €262.4m, a 14% decline vs. 9M 2024 on account of the following key items that have already, largely, been realized in H1 2025 results:

• the normalization of the Turkish payment card market (€25m total impact to Group 9M 2025 Revenues), primarily driven by cyclicality and a challenging macro backdrop, following several years of exceptional growth (5-year CAGR of 52%).
• a temporary moderation vs. last year’s significant contribution of metal card sales to Fintech in Europe (€24m total impact to Group 9M 2025 Revenues). Nevertheless, we are confident that metal cards will continue to increase their revenue contribution going forward.

On a positive note, the following items partially compensated for the aforesaid shortfall:

• €16.7m revenues related to the delivery of high-security, personalized National Examination Papers with traceability services in East Africa (Document Lifecycle Management)
• €10.5m revenues related to contracted, large-scale, public sector digitization projects in Greece (16% increase vs. 9M 2024) (Digital Technologies)

After excluding the adverse negative effect of both the Turkish payment card market and the metal cards sales to Fintech in Europe, 9M 2025 Group Revenues increased by 3% vs. 9M 2024 (or by €8m).

Overall, the following categories within our Group continue to deliver solid revenue growth, hence reaffirming our successful strategy to date:

• Document Lifecycle Management (+11% vs. 9M 2024), particularly our document output (including the aforesaid National Examinations project in East Africa) and our payment cards distribution services, particularly in WEST (+36% vs. 9M 2024), which are linked to higher volume of personalized cards for our Fintech clients.
• Digital Technologies (+10% vs. 9M 2024), largely supported by the large-scale, public sector digitalization projects in Greece, which, since the beginning of Q3 2025, are in full implementation mode, as well as from the roll-out of our technologically advanced solutions (e.g. Card-as-a-Service) and our proprietary agentic AI platform GaiaB™ (albeit the contribution is still relatively small).

 

 

Central Eastern Europe & DACH (CEE)

Revenues in the segment registered a 14% decline vs. 9M 2024 to €149.6m, largely due to the reduction in the intra-segment revenues between CEE and MEA segments (€21m revenue impact for the segment, driven by a 63% drop in card volumes vs. 9M 2024), on account of the aforesaid headwinds in the Turkish payment card market. The aforesaid revenue shortfall was only marginally compensated by revenue growth from public sector digitization projects in Greece (16% increase vs. 9M 2024).

 

Western Europe, Nordics, Americas (WEST)

Revenues in the segment registered a 17% decline vs. 9M 2024 to €87.4m, largely due to the aforesaid temporary moderation vs. last year’s significant contribution of metal card sales to Fintech in Europe (€24m impact to Group Revenues). As previously communicated (H1 2025 Results Press Release), during the course of 2024 certain of our Fintech clients in Europe had launched metal cards campaigns, resulting in sizeable metal cards orders, which have not been repeated with the same scale during this year, although we continue to register strong momentum in metal card sales across the WEST/US markets. On a positive note, revenues related to the distribution of Fintech-related personalized cards have continued their upward trajectory, generating solid growth of 36% vs. 9M 2024, reaffirming our strategy to focus on serving the fast-growing Fintech sector. Moreover, our prior years investments in the US are delivering meaningful results, as evident in the 17% revenue growth in 9M 2025, driven primarily by our strategic focus on the Challenger Banks/Fintech sector (sales of metal cards and personalized cards distribution services have been the key contributors). Worth highlighting that in 2025 we have onboarded significant Tier 1 Fintechs in the US, which wil enable sustained growth in the coming years for this important geography. Moreover, we continue to expand our customer base, having signed 98 new customers in 9M 2025, including also Tier 1 Banks in the UK, with a solid backlog of customer onboardings scheduled in Q4 2025. These developments are expected to have a meaningful contribution to the WEST segment performance from 2026 onwards.

Overall, our strategy for the WEST segment is centered on the development of cutting-edge products and comprehensive solutions (e.g. Card-as-a-Service) that will enable our targeted inroads in the fast growing segment of the Challenger Banks/Fintech and the Tier 2 Banks.

 

Türkiye, Middle East and Africa (MEA)

Revenues in the segment registered a 26% decline vs. 9M 2024 to €46.9m, adversely impacted by the continued normalization of the Turkish payment card market (€21m impact to segment revenues), on account of the persistent macroeconomic volatility and uncertainty, together with cyclicality and normalized customer stock levels, following high levels of paid stock after several years of substantial growth. Notwithstanding said headwinds, our solid market share in Türkiye remained unchanged, while in Q3 2025 we have witnessed early signs of a market stabilization, as evident in the 17% increase vs. Q2 2025 in card personalization revenues.

Moreover, segment revenues related to the Document Lifecycle Management solutions increased 67% vs. 9M 2024, largely on account of the National Examinations project in East Africa revenue contribution (€16.7m).

Overall, our strategy for the MEA segment is focused on diversifying the segment’s earnings mix by pursuing targeted initiatives and opportunities in the Document Lifecycle Management (e.g. high-security, personalized National Examination Papers with traceability services, high security ballot papers and supportive material for elections) and holistic Citizen Identity services that are already building a recurring revenue base, and will continue to increase their Revenue and EBITDA contribution in this geographical segment.

 

Identity & Payment

Revenues have been adversely impacted by the continued normalization of the Turkish payment card market as well as the temporary moderation vs. last year’s significant contribution of metal card sales to Fintech in Europe, both of which have been already, largely, realized in H1 2025 results.

On a positive note:

• 9M 2025 solution revenues in the US increased 13% vs. 9M 2024, with metal card sales the key growth driver.
• Q3 2025 personalization revenues increased 10% vs. Q3 2024, driven primarily by WEST (+15% vs. Q3 2024) and MEA (+16% vs. Q3 2024)

 

Document Lifecycle Management

Revenues registered a solid 11% increase vs. 9M 2024, largely driven by the following categories:

• document output: +16% vs. 9M 2024, predominantly on account of the revenues related to the National Examinations project in East Africa.
• distribution services: +7% vs. 9M 2024, with WEST the key growth driver (+36% vs. 9M 2024), driven by the distribution of Fintech-related personalized cards.

Q3 2025 segment revenues increased 19% vs. Q3 2024, with the National Examinations project in East Africa and the distribution services (+9% vs. Q3 2024) the key growth drivers.

Digital Technologies

Revenues reported a solid 10% increase vs. 9M 2024, largely on account of the 16% increase vs. 9M 2024 in revenues related to contracted, large-scale, public sector digitization projects in Greece. To date, we have been awarded (both directly and indirectly) public sector digitization projects in Greece worth in total approx. €60m, of which approx. €27m has been cumulatively received/recognized (from 2023 until end-September 2025), with the remaining amount of approx. €33m to be recognized from Q4 2025 onwards (the majority is expected to be recognized within the course of 2026).

Moreover and on the back of prior years’ investments in R&D, aimed at scaling our digital services offering, we continue to make good progress in rolling out Card-as-a-Service (CaaS) for Challenger Banks/Fintech in WEST as well as securing document digitization projects in MEA (revenues for both have more than doubled vs. 9M 2024, albeit from a rather very low base).

In addition, in October 2025, we entered into an important collaboration with Dell Technologies, a global technology leader, to develop and market our proprietary GaiaB™ Appliance. GaiaB™ Appliance is an advanced Generative AI solution for the automation of business processes and operations, which comes pre-integrated with Dell PowerEdge servers and will operate entirely on-premises or in private cloud environments. This collaboration reinforces the Group’s strategic transformation into a large-scale applied technology provider and showcases our internationally acclaimed expertise in Agentic AI.

 

 

 

Gross profit I: the reported 5% decline vs. 9M 2024 is largely attributed to the aforesaid revenue shortfall.

Gross profit I margin widened by more than 4 percentage points to 49.9%, on the back of a more favourable revenue mix towards higher-margin services and solutions, which are not burdened by the associated material costs. Worth highlighting that all 3 geographic segments have reported expanded Gross Profit I margin (MEA by 18 percentage points, WEST by 3.4 percentage points and CEE by 2.5 percentage points). Please refer to pages 12-14 for a detailed analysis of the Group’s geographic segments.

Gross profit II: the reported 16% reduction vs. 9M 2024 is attributed to:

• the Gross Profit I reduction, and
• higher production costs (due to depreciation & amortization expenses and project-related transportation costs).

Gross profit II margin tightened by less than 1 percentage point to 23.5%, as the more favourable revenue mix towards higher-margin services and solutions has largely compensated for the Gross Profit I reduction and higher production costs.

 

 

 

Group OPEX (excluding depreciation, amortization & impairment) marginally increased (by €0.9m) vs. 9M 2024, as our disciplined focus on operational efficiency improvements delivered an 9% reduction vs. 9M 2024 to Group SG&A (includes both Selling and distribution, and Administrative) expenses. Notably, our SG&A cost rationalisation efforts are clearly visible in both CEE (-14% 9M 2024) and WEST (-7% vs. 9M 2024). Moreover, higher R&D expenses reflect our continued investment in R&D capabilities to support future business growth (especially in Digital Technologies).

 

 

 

Group adjusted EBITDA: the reported 17% reduction vs. 9M 2024 is largely associated to the revenue shortfall (€41m decline), which more than offset our cost savings in both cost of sales (€29m reduction) and SG&A (-9% vs. 9M 2024). That said Group adjusted EBITDA margin contracted by less than 1 percentage point to 13.7%, supported by the more favourable revenue mix towards higher-margin services and solutions.

Group adjusted EBIT: following the adjusted EBITDA reduction, higher depreciation & amortization expenses, associated to our prior-year CAPEX and M&A activity, further burdened Group adjusted EBIT (-29% vs. 9M 2024). The more favourable revenue mix towards higher-margin services and solutions contributed to containing the adjusted EBIT margin tightening to less than 2 percentage points at 8.3%.

Please refer to pages 12-14 and 21-22 in the Appendix for a detailed analysis of the Group segments per Geography.

 

 

Special items: lower costs related to (a) the management participation programs (attributed to the lower number of eligible participants) and (b) hyperinflation (IAS 29) were partially offset by higher FX losses (particularly related to the USD intragroup receivables).

 

 

 

Group Profit: lower financial expenses (-14% vs. 9M 2024), driven by lower base interest rates as well as a reduction to the average outstanding debt position (refer to page 11 regarding net debt), only marginally compensated for the aforesaid reduction to Group EBITDA/EBIT, which adversely impacted Group bottom-line results.

 

 

GROUP FINANCIAL POSITION

 

 

Total Equity as of 30/09/2025 reached €128.8m, a €4m increase vs. 31/12/2024, since net profit generation in the period has been partially offset by:

• dividend payments to shareholders (€4m or €0.11 per share)
• negative effect in the FX translation reserve (impact from USD and RON).

 

 

 

Net Working Capital: the €6m increase (+9%) vs. 31/12/2024 is largely attributed to the reduction in Trade Payables (€16m), due to vendor payments for chips, as well as to the increase in Contract assets (€14m) (related to the ongoing implementation of contracted public sector digitization projects in Greece, which are invoiced upon project completion). These more than offset the positive effects of the reduced pace of working capital build-up as well as our continued efforts to improve cash collections from clients and to enhance inventory management.

 

Cash flows from operating activities resulted in €23.2m inflow (+23% vs. 9M 2024), largely on account of the reduced pace of the working capital build-up.

Cash flows from investing activities resulted in €7.9m net outflow, reflecting:

• regular investments in plant and equipment
• investments in additional machinery for delivering large-scale security printing projects in MEA
• in-house software development, aimed at enhancing our Digital Technologies solutions, and
• positive cash effect from a property sale, on the back of our ongoing initiatives to streamline operations.

Cash flows from financing activities resulted in €18.2m outflow, reflecting:

• net repayments of loans and borrowings (revolving loan facilities) (€5.7m)
• interest expenses (€4.8m)
• dividend payment to shareholders (€4m or €0.11 per share) (payment effected on July 4)
• payments of finance leases (€3.2m)
• share buy-back programme (€0.5m)

 

 

Group Net Debt of €91.2m declined by €4.4m vs. 31/12/2024 and by €4.9m vs. 30/06/2025, on the back of improved operating and free cash flow generation, which has been used to reduce the Group’s debt position.

Group Leverage (Net Debt / adjusted EBITDA 12-month rolling basis) maintained at healthy levels (1.9x), within our medium-term target range of 1.5x-2x.

 

 

 

 

 

SEGMENTS REPORTING

Central Eastern Europe & DACH (CEE)

 

 

 

Western Europe, Nordics, Americas (WEST)

 

 

 

Türkiye / Middle East and Africa (MEA)

 

 

 

The present 9M 2025 Results Press Release is available on the Company’s website:

https://www.austriacard.com/investor-relations-ac/financial-reporting-ac/

 

 

Conference call Financial Results

AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG Management will host a conference call and live webcast to present the 9M 2025 Financial Results.

 

 

 

 

ABOUT AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG

AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG leverages over 130 years of experience in information management, printing, and communications to deliver secure and transparent experiences for its customers. They offer a comprehensive suite of products and services, including payment solutions, identification solutions, smart cards, card personalization, digitization solutions, and secure data management. ACAG employs a global workforce of 2,400 people and is publicly traded on both the Athens and Vienna Stock Exchanges under the symbol ACAG.

 

 

Contact person:  Mr. Dimitris Haralabopoulos, Group IR Director

E-Mail:   investors@austriacard.com

Tel (AT):   +43 1 61065 357

Tel (GR):   +30 210 669 78 60

Website:  www.austriacard.com

Symbol:  ACAG

ISIN:  AT0000A325L0

Stock Exchanges:  Vienna Prime Market (VSE), Athens Main Market (ATHEX)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX

 

A.                  PRIMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B.                   SEGMENT REPORTING

 

 

 

 

 

^[1] The analysis herein is based on the business performance as monitored by Group management with a separate presentation of Special Items which include i.a. effects from Management participation programs, foreign exchange and other valuation related effects below adjusted Profit/(Loss) before tax. Starting as of 2025 the Management view also includes effects from Hyperinflation Accounting for the Türkiye based entity in all positions, therefore previous year figures were adapted accordingly.

^[2] The analysis herein is based on the business performance as monitored by Group management with a separate presentation of Special Items which include i.a. effects from Management participation programs, foreign exchange and other valuation related effects below adjusted Profit/(Loss) before tax. Starting as of 2025 the Management view also includes effects from Hyperinflation Accounting for the Türkiye based entity in all positions, therefore previous year figures have been adapted accordingly.