Knorr-Bremse AG has published its results for the first nine months and third quarter of 2025, with the company citing high demand in the rail sector as a strong contributing factor to its overall success.
The company’s order intake has shown to have improved over the previous year, reaching 6.44 million EUR (over 2024’s 6.182 million EUR).
Order backlog increased by 4.4% to 7.368 million EUR (7.058 million EUR in 2024), representing an organic increase of 8.2%. Group sales remained stable at 5.839 million EUR when compared to the first nine months of 2024 (5.897 million EUR), with sales rising by 0.4% organically.
Citing increased revenue from the Rail division, resulting economies of scale, targeted efficiency measures and the success of portfolio restructuring; the group’s overall net come improved. Operating EBIT rose by 3.3% to 749 million EUR (2024: 725 million EUR), with the operating EBIT margin improved accordingly from 12.3% in the prior-year period to 12.8% – an increase of 0.5 percentage points.
During Q3, the operating EBIT margin improved by one percentage point to 13.3%. Free cash flow saw an increase during the first nine months due to strong operating performance and working capital optimisations, reaching an increase of nearly 30% to 319 million EUR (2024: 348 million EUR).
The company has also provided an operational outlook for 2025, which is based on the assumptions of stable geopolitical and macroeconomic conditions, exchange rates remaining at the October 2025 level, and no major impact from potential tariffs.
Marc Llistosella, CEO of Knorr-Bremse AG:Our company remains on course – driven by strong demand, our resilient business model, and consistent strategy implementation. The development of our Rail division, in particular, is a major contributor to our success.
Knorr-Bremse has stated it expects sales of between 7,800 million EUR and 8,100 million EUR, an operating EBIT margin of 12.5% to 13.5%, and free cash flow of between 700 million EUR and 800 million EUR.
The full interim report for January to September 2025 can be found on the Knorr-Bremse AG website.
