Umicore: Full Year Results 2025

Umicore Group key highlights for the full year 2025

Statement from Bart Sap, CEO

“2025 was a pivotal year for Umicore. With the launch of our CORE strategy, we continue to reinforce our leadership in our foundation businesses while taking necessary steps to restore value in the battery materials activities. In a dynamic global context, our teams delivered strong results, showing a clear performance mindset, rigorous capital discipline and sustained operational excellence, supported by a favorable metal price environment. As we enter 2026, recent industry announcements highlight increasing challenges in the EV industry. Building on the execution discipline demonstrated in 2025, we remain focused on the levers within our control to deliver on our strategy, while navigating the volatility that surrounds us.”

Reporting structure

As part of its strategy update in March 2025, Umicore has grouped its businesses related to the evolving EV market into a single Business Group Battery Materials Solutions as of fiscal year 2025. The Battery Materials Solutions Business Group is now composed of:

The Recycling Business Group is composed of the business units Precious Metals Refining, Jewelry & Industrial Metals and Precious Metals Management. In this release, the 2024 financial reporting has been restated according to the new Business Group structure.

Business performance in 2025

The year 2025 marked an important turning point for Umicore. In March, the Company launched its CORE strategy focused on reinforcing its leadership in its foundation businesses while further unlocking their strong cash generation potential. At the same time, Umicore continues to set up Battery Cathode Materials for value recovery. Thanks to a strong performance in its foundation businesses and successful rollout of the CORE strategy, Umicore achieved solid results throughout 2025.

Group revenues reached € 3.6 billion up 3% versus 2024. Adjusted EBITDA increased 11% compared to 2024 and amounted to € 847 million with a solid 24.0% margin. Adjusted EBIT stood at € 579 million, up 21% year-on-year. Capital discipline remained rigorous, with capital expenditures limited to € 310 million over 2025. The positive year-on-year earnings evolution is mainly driven by improved underlying performance in a supportive metal price environment, boosted by efficiency measures that allowed to almost fully offset headwinds from unfavorable foreign exchange movements and inflation. The Group maintained a robust balance sheet, ending the year with net debt of € 1.4 billion (1.60x LTM EBITDA). ROCE amounted to 15.7% reflecting the aforementioned step up in earnings and capital discipline.

Outlook 2026

Building on the implementation of the CORE strategy in 2025, the Group enters the year on a stronger foundation. By maintaining its focus on capital discipline, cash generation and efficiency, Umicore anticipates to further advance its strategic objectives in 2026.

In Battery Materials Solutions, the Company will pursue its mid‑term plan to recover value in Battery Cathode Materials, while navigating a volatile and competitive market. Umicore will continue to focus on rigorous capital allocation and leveraging its customer contracts with take-or-pay commitments, which are gaining importance in light of slower customer volume ramp-up. The business remains committed to its high‑quality product portfolio, bringing its cost base down and exploring partnerships along the value chain. In Battery Recycling Solutions, spending on technology optimization is expected to remain broadly in line with 2025.

The Catalysis Business Group is anticipated to continue benefitting from its strong market position in light-duty gasoline catalyst applications within Automotive Catalysts, even as global internal combustion engine production has reached its peak. In this context, Umicore will keep driving the quality and resilience of earnings.

The Recycling Business Group’s performance is expected to be supported by a continued favorable metal price environment, provided the current trend persists throughout the year. Together with ongoing efficiency measures, this should help offset the year-on-year impact of lower average hedging prices and the scheduled smelter maintenance shutdown.

Building on its solid performance in 2025, Umicore anticipates sustained top-line momentum in Specialty Materials in 2026. This should be underpinned by good demand for its germanium products, a more supportive cobalt price environment, and continued efficiency gains.

Corporate costs are expected to somewhat increase versus 2025, mainly resulting from further investments in digitalization and artificial intelligence capabilities. While focusing on continued strict capital discipline, particularly in Battery Cathode Materials, capital expenditures are anticipated to increase versus 2025 mostly driven by selective growth investments in the foundation businesses. In the second half of 2026, Umicore expects to take a final investment decision on expanding its proprietary hydrometallurgical flowsheet in the Precious Metals Refining business unit. The project aims to increase copper and nickel capacity, and shorten Platinum Group Metals throughput times. It will further broaden the process window through the addition of an 18 th metal, cobalt and allow to achieve increased output for antimony and tin. At the same time, the project will strengthen its best-in-class environmental performance.

While a dynamic geopolitical context continues to create uncertainty across several end-markets, the Group expects to remain resilient thanks to its robust foundations, diversified portfolio, technology leadership and high-quality product portfolio. Umicore’s circular, multi-metal model is as a powerful differentiator and an anchor in a fragmented market, ensuring independent, secure and sustainable supply chains for critical metals.

An audio webcast for analysts and investors will take place today at 09:30 AM CET. Media are welcome to attend and listen to the live audio webcast and can direct their questions to Umicore Media Relations. Please visit: https://umicore.engagestream.companywebcast.com/fy-results-2025

For more information

Investor Relations

Media Relations

Financial calendar

27 March 2026 Publication of the annual report 2025

30 April 2026 Annual General Meeting

31 July 2026 Half year results 2026

Umicore profile

Umicore is a global advanced materials and recycling Group. Leveraging decades of expertise in materials science, metallurgy, chemistry, and metals management, Umicore transforms precious and critical metals into functional technologies that enable everyday applications. Its unique circular business model ensures that these critical elements are continuously refined and recycled, to be reintegrated in new applications.

Umicore’s four Business Groups – Catalysis, Recycling, Specialty Materials and Battery Materials Solutions – offer materials and solutions addressing resource scarcity and the growing need for functional materials for clean technologies, clean mobility and a connected world. Through tailored and cutting-edge products and processes they drive innovation and sustainability.

Umicore generates the majority of its revenues from, and focuses most of its R&D efforts on, clean mobility and recycling. Its overriding goal of sustainable value creation is rooted in developing, producing and recycling materials for a better life.

Umicore’s industrial, commercial and R&D activities, with more than 11,000 employees, are located across the world to best serve its global customer base. Group revenues (excluding metal) reached € 3.6 billion (turnover of € 19.4 billion) in 2025.

1 All references to revenues in this document refer to revenues excluding metals (i.e. all revenue elements less the value of the following purchased metals: Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, Rh, Co, Ni, Pb, Cu, Ge, Li and Mn).

2 2024 Adjusted EBITDA included positive one-off’s of c. € 40 million.

3 To be noted that the Recycling Business Group no longer includes the Battery Recycling Solutions business unit and is henceforth composed of the business units Precious Metals Refining, Jewelry & Industrial Metals and Precious Metals Management. We refer to section ‘Reporting structure’ in this press release for more information. The Business Group’s revenues and earnings for 2024 have been restated to take this change into account

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