Waberer’s Group increased revenue meaningfully in the first quarter of 2026, yet operating performance was essentially flat. The widening gap between sales and operating profit suggests that growth has not yet come with a clear improvement in profitability. What is more, most of the profit continues to come from the insurance business, rather than the group’s traditional core logistics activities.
Consolidated revenue climbed to €207.9 million, up 6.9% compared with the same period a year earlier. In today’s cost-pressured European transport market, that is a solid pace. EBIT, however, came in at €11.0 million, only 0.5% higher year on year — effectively unchanged. As a result, the consolidated EBIT margin edged down from 5.7% to 5.3%.
In other words, the group produced roughly the same operating result on a larger revenue base. EBITDA rose to €27.2 million, a 6.2% increase — broadly in line with revenue growth, but without a meaningful margin uplift. The overall picture points to expansion, but not to stronger efficiency so far.
Logistics is growing, but profit remains limited
Revenue in the logistics segment reached €162.0 million, up 3.9% year on year. The drivers were mixed: the Pannonbusz acquisition and the full consolidation of MDI supported the top line, while the wind-down of an earlier third-party warehouse development project meant it no longer supported the segment’s results in the first quarter of 2026.
According to the report, organic revenue growth in traditional logistics activities was 3.4%, equal to €2.5 million. At the same time, transport and forwarding activity in the first quarter of 2026 was broadly in line with the base period, meaning the core transport business did not post material growth.
International transport and multimodal services generated €105.3 million in revenue, a modest 2.9% increase, while contract logistics contributed €63.8 million to the segment’s performance.
More telling than the segment’s growth is its ability to convert revenue into earnings. Logistics EBIT was just €1.6 million, only €0.2 million higher than a year earlier — a minimal improvement for a business line with turnover above €160 million. The segment’s EBIT margin stood at 1.0%, meaning only one euro of operating profit was left from every €100 earned in transport and contract logistics. With margins this tight, even small cost changes or currency moves can have an outsized impact.
Insurance continues to generate the bulk of profit
The overall result does not look weak primarily because the insurance segment acts as the main earnings engine, offsetting logistics’ smaller contribution. Segment revenue increased to €46.0 million, a 19.3% rise — far faster than logistics.
Insurance EBIT came to €9.5 million, representing about 86% of the group’s consolidated operating profit of €11.0 million. While Waberer’s market profile remains closely tied to logistics, the profit mix shows that earnings power has shifted decisively towards insurance.
The increase in insurance revenue was driven by two main factors. In non-life insurance, growth was supported by the ramp-up of the mobile device insurance portfolio. In life insurance, the lingering effect of earlier single-premium products continued to be felt. Because these products are not directly linked to the European freight market cycle, group profit is less exposed to swings in freight rates.
Fuel costs and a stronger forint weighed on logistics
The logistics segment’s already narrow margin came under additional pressure at the end of the quarter due to rising fuel prices. The company views this as temporary, as contractual fuel clauses are expected to compensate for the higher costs in the second quarter. However, that creates a timing mismatch: the extra cost hit results in the first quarter, while compensation arrives later.
A similar pressure came from the forint strengthening against the euro. With international transport largely accounted for in euros, the stronger forint weighed on profitability, according to the company. Towards the end of the quarter, geopolitical risks temporarily weakened the forint, and Waberer’s used that period to enter into forward FX positions. These hedges are expected to support results in coming periods and partly offset the current headwind.
Chairman and CEO Zsolt Barna highlighted in the report that the combination of higher fuel prices and the stronger forint put pressure on the group’s earnings capacity. He added that maintaining profitability through the rest of the year would require strict cost control.
Lower taxes helped lift net profit
Consolidated net profit totalled €7.7 million, a 2.4% increase, which at first glance suggests improvement. The detail is more nuanced: profit before tax fell from €10.1 million to €8.5 million, a 15.8% decline.
That means the rise in net profit was not driven solely by operating performance. A lower tax burden also played a significant role in lifting the bottom line. Taxes fell from €2.6 million to €0.8 million. Meanwhile, the financial result weakened further to minus €2.5 million, compared with minus €0.8 million a year earlier, which also pulled down profit before tax.
The company also highlighted net profit excluding unrealised FX effects, which came in at €7.3 million, up 31.5%. This metric strips out unrealised, non-cash currency impacts, and on that basis the earnings trend looks stronger than the year-on-year change in the reported net result.
Guidance remains in line with last year’s EBIT
For full-year 2026, Waberer’s management continues to expect consolidated EBIT to land around the 2025 level of €58 million. In other words, the company is not guiding to a higher annual profit figure for now, but to a repeat of last year’s EBIT performance.
The report also says previously launched business development initiatives will continue across warehouse logistics, international transport and production logistics — reinforcing a longer-term strategy built around multiple pillars.
Still, the first-quarter numbers underline a clear split between the business lines: insurance delivered consistently strong earnings, while logistics grew revenue but continued to operate on low margins in a European freight market shaped by cost pressure and currency effects.
