Comparison of target and actual values

NORMA Group issued a forecast on the development of the Group’s key performance indicators in fiscal year 2024 when it published its Annual Report 2023 on March 26, 2024. ANNUAL REPORT 2023

In fiscal year 2024, NORMA Group’s performance was influenced by a variety of factors and a challenging market environment. This included a further weakening of customer demand, especially since the second quarter of 2024, with declining volumes in parts of the customer industries relevant to NORMA Group. In the automotive industry, in particular, customer demand was highly volatile, which limited NORMA Group’s ability to plan.

Based on trend forecasts in the customer industries and markets relevant to NORMA Group and assuming continued challenging months in the rest of 2024, the Management Board of NORMA Group had concretized the sales forecast in the previously known range towards the lower end with the publication of the interim statement for the third quarter of 2024. Since then, the Management Board has assumed Group sales of around EUR 1.2 billion for the full year 2024 (previous forecast: “Group sales in the range of around EUR 1.2 billion to around EUR 1.3 billion”). Against this backdrop, the Management Board also took a closer look at developments in the three regional segments:

•For the EMEA region, the Management since expected sales in the range of around EUR 480 million to around EUR 500 million for the full year 2024, taking into account a continued subdued environment – particularly in the European automotive industry (previous forecast: “Sales in the range of around EUR 500 million to around EUR 550 million”).

•For Asia-Pacific, the Management Board anticipated that development in the region in the fourth quarter of 2024 would be weaker than previously thought and therefore expected a lower sales figure in the 2024 fiscal year than originally assumed. This was expected to be in the range of around EUR 140 million to around EUR 150 million (previous forecast: “Sales in the range of EUR 170 million to EUR 200 million”).

•For the Americas region, the Management had slightly increased the lower end of the forecast range (“sales of around EUR 530 million to around EUR 550 million)” that had been known since the publication of the 2023 Annual Report. For 2024 as a whole, the Management Board expected sales in the range of around EUR 540 million to around EUR 550 million.

Taking into account the reasons and factors outlined here as well as current findings, management had also specified the target values for the adjusted EBIT margin and NORMA Value Added (NOVA).

Since then, the Management Board has expected the adjusted EBIT margin to reach around 8% in the 2024 fiscal year, which would be at the lower end of the most recently communicated corridor (previous forecast: “around 8% to 8.5%”).

The Management Board has assumed that NORMA Value Added would reach a value of around EUR -40 million (previous forecast: “in the range of EUR -40 million to EUR -20 million”).

The publication of the quarterly statement for the third quarter of 2024 did not specify any further relevant key performance indicators. The Management therefore anticipated that the net operating cash flow and the non-financial key performance indicator of CO₂ emissions would develop as last communicated in the 2023 Annual Report - and confirmed in the interim report for the second quarter of 2024.

The table TABLE T020: COMPARISON OF TARGET AND ACTUAL VALUES provides an overview of the target and actual values as well as the forecast specifications and adjustments during the year.

Explanations of the development of the target values

With Group sales of EUR 1,155.1 million in fiscal year 2024, NORMA Group achieved the forecast figure (“Group sales of around EUR 1.2 billion”) published in the interim statement for the third quarter of 2024 on November 5, 2024. Meanwhile, developments in the regional segments were as follows: The EMEA region recorded sales of EUR 477.3 million and thus developed in line with expectations compared to the most recent figures. At EUR 147.4 million, the Asia-Pacific region achieved the anticipated sales level. In the Americas region, revenue totaled EUR 530.4 million and was therefore slightly lower than recently assumed.

At 8.0%, the adjusted EBIT margin in the 2024 fiscal year was exactly in line with the expected target of “around 8%”.

NORMA Value Added (NOVA) also developed in line with the forecast for fiscal year 2024 at EUR -38.8 million.

Net operating cash flow reached a value of EUR 105.4 million and was thus at the upper end of the forecast range of “around EUR 80 million to around EUR 110 million”. The main drivers of this positive development included optimized working capital management in line with business developments and lower investments from the operating business.

In the 2024 fiscal year, CO₂ emissions totaled 4,171 tons of CO₂ equivalents^13,14 and thus remained well below the target value of “below 9,600 tons of CO₂ equivalents”.

¹³ The CO₂ emissions for the target value are reported in accordance with the GHG Protocol (market-based, Scope 1 and Scope 2). Scope 1 only includes emissions from natural gas and liquid gas and Scope 2 emissions from purchased electricity and district heating. When recording emissions, only emissions relating to the production sites are taken into account. Since January 2022, NORMA Group has purchased electricity from renewable energy sources at all production sites. NORMA Group purchases “Energy Attribute Certificates” for this purpose. These are also included in the target value.

¹⁴ The methodology described in footnote 3 was used in the management system until the end of 2024 based on the forecast for CO₂ emissions of “below 9,600 tons of CO₂ equivalents” published in the 2024 financial year. The change in the calculation basis in connection with the first-time application of the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) will be included in the 2025 Annual Report. This means that in future annual reports, the emissions from the greenhouse gas balance in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol initiative will be reported in the Scope 1 to Scope 3 categories for all locations worldwide in the management system.