SGL Carbon SE reported a weak fourth quarter, with sales and adjusted EBITDA both falling versus the prior year as the company completed a restructuring of its Carbon Fibers business unit and continued to face soft demand in key end markets.
Fourth-quarter 2025 revenues were €197.3 million, a 19.3% decline from the year-earlier quarter and about 1% under the consensus expectation of €199 million. Management attributed much of the top-line contraction to the structural changes in the Carbon Fibers unit, which are now complete, and to ongoing weakness in demand from semiconductor and automotive customers.
Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter came in at €26.2 million, down 26% year-on-year and roughly 13% below the consensus estimate of €30.0 million. For the full fiscal year 2025, adjusted EBITDA totaled €135 million, which sits within the company’s previously stated guidance range of €130 million to €150 million.
Looking to fiscal 2026 and assuming largely unchanged economic conditions, SGL Carbon set a revenue guidance range of €720 million to €770 million. That top-line outlook compares with consensus expectations of about €805 million to €850 million for 2025. The company also forecast adjusted EBITDA of €110 million to €130 million for 2026, versus a consensus figure of €111 million. Taken at the midpoint, the company’s adjusted EBITDA guidance is approximately 8% above consensus.
SGL Carbon noted that the discontinuation of loss-making Carbon Fibers operations in mid-2025 will be fully reflected in the 2026 results and will have an effect on the consolidated top line for the year.
Beyond 2026, the company provided a 2030 target of sales exceeding €1 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin in the 15% to 18% range. Management identified several potential growth applications that could contribute to longer-term expansion, including specialty graphites for small modular reactors, opportunities in the defense and security sector, and aerospace applications.
On the cash flow front, free cash flow for fiscal 2025 was broadly stable at €37 million, versus €39 million in the prior year. That stability occurred despite cash outflows related to the Carbon Fibers restructuring, including site closures in Portugal and the United States. SGL Carbon said the restructuring is largely complete from a liquidity perspective and reiterated the aim to return to positive free cash flow in 2026, targeting a level broadly in line with the €37 million reported for 2025.
Data recap
- Q4 2025 sales: €197.3 million (down 19.3% year-over-year; consensus €199 million)
- Q4 2025 adjusted EBITDA: €26.2 million (down 26% year-over-year; consensus €30.0 million)
- FY 2025 adjusted EBITDA: €135 million (within €130 million to €150 million guidance)
- FY 2026 revenue guidance: €720 million to €770 million (consensus ~€805 million to €850 million for 2025)
- FY 2026 adjusted EBITDA guidance: €110 million to €130 million (consensus €111 million)
- Free cash flow FY 2025: €37 million (FY 2024: €39 million)
- 2030 targets: sales >€1 billion; adjusted EBITDA margin 15% to 18%
This set of results and the 2026 framework leave the company positioned with a leaner Carbon Fibers profile, a free-cash-flow target that aims to stabilize after restructuring outflows, and a midterm aspiration to scale sales and margins by 2030. The guidance assumes largely unchanged economic conditions, and the company highlighted targeted industrial applications as potential long-term growth drivers.