Jenoptik’s 3Q results show revenue of €753 million – down 7.6%, yoy

13 Nov 2025

“Weak start to the year, but orders improving in latest quarter, driven by biophotonics,” says CEO.

Jenoptik, the global photonics technologies group, has reported its financial results for the first nine months of 2025. Its quarterly statement describes a “robust business performance in a challenging market environment”.

Notable features of this week’s statement include:

• Order intake after the first nine months almost reached the prior year’s level despite a weak start to the year;
• Revenue and earnings, however, are down year-on-year – as expected;
• The company says its “financial and balance sheet position remained very solid”;
• Revenue and EBITDA margins for 2025 are expected “at the lower end of the guidance range”.

Dr. Stefan Traeger, President & CEO of Jenoptik, commented, “Following a weak start to the year, order intake continued to improve in the third quarter, driven primarily by our Biophotonics business unit. Nevertheless, as expected, the Group’s revenue and earnings for the first nine months were below the prior year’s level. In particular, our largest business unit, Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing, recorded significant declines in revenue and earnings.”

“Even though the announced massive investments in AI data centers worldwide indicate a fundamentally positive development in the semiconductor industry, uncertainties remain high,” Traeger continued. “Against the background of these and the general challenges in our markets, we have responded with a cost reduction program, which is now at an advanced stage of implementation.”

Revenue changes

Figures below are for the first nine months of 2025 (2024).

The Photonics Group generated total revenues of € 753.2 million (€ 815.1 million) – a decline of 7.6 percent. Broken down into Strategic Business Units (SBUs), the total comprised:

• SBU Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing generated revenue of € 314.9 million (€ 371.2 million) – down by 15.2 percent.
• SBU Biophotonics increased revenue to € 182.1 million (€ 160.7 million) – up by 13.4 percent. This was driven primarily by strong performances in medical technology and defense.

SBU Metrology & Production Solutions generated € 139.0 million (€ 156.7 million), a drop of 11.3 per cent, due to the continuing difficult market situation in the automotive industry and revenue shifts into the fourth quarter.

• SBU Smart Mobility Solutions increased its revenue by 13.7 percent to € 94.4 million (€ 83.0 million), driven by strong business development particularly in the Americas and Middle East/Africa regions.

Earnings development

The Group’s pre-tax earnings (EBITDA) decreased to € 131.8 million (€ 160. 6 million), down 17.9 percent. EBITDA margin was 17.5 percent (19.7 percent). Jenoptik’s statement continued, “In particular, lower capacity utilization, a changed product mix and costs for the move to the new location in Dresden had a negative impact on the SBU Semiconductor & Advanced Manufacturing. This could not be offset by the positive development in the SBUs Biophotonics and Smart Mobility Solutions.

Accordingly, at € 72.9 million, EBIT remained significantly below the prior year's figure of € 104.6 million. The Group's earnings after tax totaled € 47.0 million (€ 66.8 million. A program aimed at reducing personnel and material expenses is at an advanced stage of implementation.

Outlook

The outlook for the fiscal year 2025 remains influenced by high market uncertainties, the company stated. For 2025, revenue is forecast to be at the lower end of the guidance range (between the prior year's figure and minus 5 percent / 2024: € 1.12 billion). The EBITDA margin is also expected to be 18.0-19.5 percent, at the lower end of the guidance (19.9 percent). Investments in the current fiscal year are anticipated to be significantly below the prior year's level of € 114.6 million.

In the semiconductor industry, Jenoptik’s Executive Board expects “a fundamentally positive development, based in part on the announced significant investments in data centers. At the same time, there are still uncertainties, especially with regard to the timing and extent of the expected pick-up in demand, and due to current macroeconomic and political developments. These include the ongoing discussions and announcements on the subject of tariffs and their possible impacts, both on direct customer demand and on global economic growth.”

The Executive Board concluded that it is “optimistic that both an increase in revenue and an improvement in margins can be achieved in the coming fiscal year”.