Stadler has been the victim of severe weather disasters three times in the last five months, some of which have had a massive impact on production. The floods in Valencia, but also the storms in Valais and Lower Austria mean that Stadler has to correct its guidance.
Around 3,000 employees work at the Stadler plant in Valencia, all of whom fortunately survived the storm disaster at the end of October 2024 unscathed. Currently, around 400 employees from the south of Valencia cannot reach the factory in the north of the city because roads and public transport are interrupted. Stadler’s work remained undamaged. However, several of Stadler Valencia’s satellite warehouses were affected. Around 30 suppliers were hit hard, with their production and warehouses destroyed or flooded with mud. They cannot supply the required components. For these reasons, Stadler Valencia is currently working at a reduced rate and has to postpone between 150,000 and 200,000 production hours from 2024 to 2025 because supply chains are interrupted. Therefore, vehicles cannot be delivered as planned.
Supplier Constellium: Delivery difficulties until August 2025
At the end of June 2024, a storm flooded the Rhone plain and the supplier Constellium’s factory in Valais. The Stadler aluminum profile supplier’s factory was idle for several months. 800 tons of aluminum profiles from Stadler have to be disposed of. Stadler immediately took countermeasures. At the end of October 2024, Constellium was able to deliver the first aluminum profiles for building the car bodies. Constellium will probably not have caught up with the backlog in the delivery of aluminum profiles until the end of August 2025.
Dürnrohr: Flooded new double-decker train
In September 2024, after days of heavy rain, a dam in Dürnrohr, Lower Austria, burst and flooded the Stadler commissioning center. The water was half a meter high. One of the new ÖBB double-decker trains KISS was destroyed as a result.
Delays in Berlin
Delays in the delivery of trains for the Berlin subway also have a negative impact on the 2024 financial year. Stadler won an international tender with the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) in 2019, which competitor Alstom appealed. This objection postponed the signing of the framework agreement for over a year. After the framework agreement was signed in spring 2020, the Covid pandemic broke out and temporarily interrupted the processing of the order. Software problems further delayed delivery. In addition, only around 376 cars of the 1,500 cars have been ordered so far. This led to underutilization at the Berlin-Pankow plant.
EBIT margin: Decline of a maximum of 2 percentage points in 2024
According to initial assessments, these unforeseeable events will lead to a lower EBIT margin of a maximum of 2 percentage points in 2024. Before these events, Stadler expected an EBIT margin of over 5 percent. Part of the 2024 sales will be postponed to 2025. To what extent cannot currently be said. However, Stadler expects that the previous 2024 sales target of CHF 3.5 to 3.7 billion can no longer be achieved.
Outlook for the 2025 and 2026 financial years
The effects of the four events on the 2025 and 2026 financial years cannot currently be estimated. Due to these serious events, Stadler is forced to suspend the guidance for 2025 and 2026. After the 2025 budget and the 2026 and 2027 financial planning have been revised, Stadler will actively communicate the new guidance in the first quarter of 2025.
Order books are well filled
Stadler’s order books are well filled. In the first half of 2024, the order backlog reached a high of 26.8 billion francs. There are currently 188 new orders being processed and another 150 orders still in the guarantee phase.
Group CEO Markus Bernsteiner:
«The order situation in the Stadler Group is good. We have taken all the necessary measures to make up for the backlog in production caused by the storm disasters.”
Stadler is currently working on a catch-up program to make up for the delays caused by the floods. During the 2021 Covid pandemic, Stadler was unable to deliver 130 locomotives and trains due to travel restrictions and supply chain interruptions. Thanks to an internal catch-up program, Stadler was able to make up for this backlog in 2022 and successfully manage the orders.
