AUSTRIACARD HOLDINGS AG (ACAG), the international applied technology group headquartered in Vienna, announces its 9M 2026 financial results.
▪ Group Revenues of €291.7m (11% increase vs. 9M 2025), with Digital Technologies and Identity
& Payment solutions the key growth drivers. All three regional segments grew, with WEST (+15%) and
MEA (+14%) delivering double-digit growth vs. 9M 2025. Q3 2026 Group Revenues increased 6% against the strongest quarter in 2025 and +8% vs. prior quarter. Annual revenue growth in Q3 2026 was driven by public sector digitization projects in Greece, Identity solutions in MEA, as well as the secure document printing project for national examinations in an East African country.
▪ Public sector digitization projects in Greece anchored growth in Digital Technologies (+70% vs. 9M
2025). Fintech clients in the WEST segment and citizen authentication solutions in the MEA segment
were the key growth catalysts for Identity & Payment solutions (+9% vs. 9M 2025). Document
Lifecycle Management (-2% vs. 9M 2025), returned to growth in Q3 2026 (+9% vs. Q3 2025), as
secure document printing in Africa outweighed the secular volume contraction in postal services and
printing in Romania.
▪ EBITDA of €30.2m (10% decline vs. 9M 2025) with Group EBITDA margin at 10.4% (250bps
reduction vs. 9M 2025). The decline mainly reflects cost and margin pressure in Document Lifecycle
Management solutions, especially in the Romanian market, higher outsourced costs for the delivery of the Greek public sector digitization projects and continued investment in the Group’s management, sales and R&D teams, as well as extraordinary expenses incurred for the settlement of the legacy management participation program 2022-2025 (SOP), the accounting valuation effects of the current LTI plan and the ongoing takeover offer from DNP. Excluding all extraordinary expenses, Group EBITDA reached €33.6m (11.5% margin), a 7% like-for-like decline vs. 9M 2025.
▪ Net Profit of €8.8m (11% decline vs. 9M 2025), reflecting lower operating profitability (EBIT -19%
vs. 9M 2025), partly offset by the one-off €2.2m gain from the 25% minority stake sale in SEGLAN S.L.
Building on trust.
▪ Operating Cash Flow of €10.9m inflow in 9M 2026 (vs. €23.2m inflow in 9M 2025), burdened by
the working capital build-up (€10m operating cash flow impact) and a cash outflow related to the SOP settlement (€4.8m). Worth highlighting that Operating Cash Flow in Q3 2026 amounted to €20.2m inflow (up 59% vs. Q3 2025), supported by a significant improvement in working capital (€14m benefit to operating cash flow in the quarter), largely attributed to invoicing and collection of Greek public sector digitization projects, inventory decline as well as VAT receivables recovery. The remaining working capital build-up in 9M 2026 is mainly attributed to higher both Contract Assets (Greek public sector digitization projects and Identity & Payment solutions) and Trade & Other Receivables (Payment & Identity solutions, Greek public sector digitization projects as well as deferred expenses).
▪ Group Net Debt of €93.6m (vs. €81.6m in FY2025), declined by approx. €10m vs. end-June 2026
(€103.9m), on the back of strong Operating Cash Flow generation in Q3 2026, despite the step-up in
growth CAPEX. Group Leverage (Net Debt / EBITDA) at 2.1x, stable vs. end-June 2026 and
marginally above 9M 2025 (2.0x).
▪ 2026 Outlook & updated Management guidance: Management reiterates its previous guidance for low-double-digit FY2026 Group Revenue growth target vs. 2025, supported by solid growth from Fintech customers in both Western Europe and the United States, the delivery of the Greek public sector digitization projects as well as secure document printing orders and Identity solutions in the MEA segment. FY2026 Group EBITDA margin is expected to contract vs. 13.6% in FY2025, on account of the cost pressure in Document Lifecycle Management solutions in the Romanian market and in the delivery of the Greek public sector digitization projects as well as higher overheads related to personnel additions to support the Group’s key growth projects. In addition, Management anticipates Group FY2026 EBITDA to be burdened by extraordinary (non-budgeted) expenses, estimated at approx. €6m for FY2026, associated with the takeover offer from DNP, the resulting change-of-control event and the settlement of the legacy management participation program 2022–2025. Based on the aforesaid factors, Management currently expects Group FY2026 reported EBITDA to decline at a high-single-digit to low double-digit rate vs. €48.8m in FY2025. After excluding all aforesaid extraordinary expenses, Group FY2026 EBITDA is expected to decline at a low-single-digit rate on a like-for-like basis vs. FY2025.
▪ Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (“DNP”) Voluntary Takeover Offer: the Offer is subject to the
Conditions Precedent set out in Section 4.1 of the Offer Document. At the time of publication of the
Results Press Release, the Conditions Precedent have not been entirely fulfilled (FDI clearance from the competent authorities in Austria is still outstanding). Therefore, the Offer has not become unconditionally binding.
Manolis Kontos, Chairman of the Management Board and Group CEO, commented:
“The first nine months of 2026 confirm the growth trajectory we set out at the start of the year. Group
revenues increased 11%, in-line with the low-double-digit growth target we raised at H1, with all three
geographic segments contributing. The largest contributions came from the areas where we have invested more deliberately: Digital Technologies, holistic Citizen Identity services in MEA and Payment solutions for Fintech and neobank clients in the UK and the United States. In the third quarter, revenues grew 6% against Q3 2025, the strongest quarter of 2025, and 8% compared to the previous quarter. Importantly, the third quarter delivered the working capital improvement we committed to. The growing contribution of large-scale technology projects is changing the way cash moves through the business. These projects absorb working capital while they are in progress and release it as milestones are reached. The third quarter showed that cycle at work. With the Greek public sector digitization projects moving into invoicing and collection, we generated €20.2m of operating cash flow in the quarter, up 59% compared to Q3 2025. That was enough to fund a higher level of investment and still reduce net debt by around €10m.
We expect working capital to improve further in the fourth quarter, driven by more projects reaching
completion and lower inventories, while the supplier terms we renegotiated in mid-2025 are now also
starting to pay off.
We remain fully committed to our strategy, and its execution is well underway, as reflected in this year’s investments. We have established a presence on the ground in Africa to support the large-scale secure document printing projects we are already delivering in MEA, and we are strengthening our position in the US with a second personalization center in Salt Lake City, Utah. We also continue to invest in our proprietary software, across Payment and Digital Technologies solutions, including GaiaB™ and Card-as-a-Service. We have been also investing in people, strengthening our management, sales and R&D teams, as the projects we deliver, grow in scale and complexity. These are deliberate choices that strengthen AUSTRIACARD as an end-to-end applied technology group, and over time they will feed into the Group’s financial profile.
The proposed combination with DNP adds a new dimension to this strategy. Subject to the completion of the transaction, AUSTRIACARD would become part of a global group, with the reach and resources to take our strategy further and faster across Europe, the United States, the Middle East and in Asia. That step is still ahead of us. In the meantime, we remain focused on what has brought us this far: serving our clients, supporting our people and delivering on our commitments.”
