NORMA Group (ETR:NOEJ) outlined its “New NORMA” strategy at its first capital markets day since the company’s 2011 initial public offering, setting targets for profitable growth, margin expansion and cash generation through 2031.
Chief Executive Officer Birgit Seeger said the company is reorganizing around two strategic business units: Mobility & New Energy and Industry Applications. The group is targeting average annual sales growth of approximately 1% to 3% from 2026 through 2031, an adjusted EBIT margin above 10%, and cash conversion above 70% by 2031.
“We expect very different results, but we are doing very different things,” Seeger said, referring to the company’s planned commercial, operational and organizational changes.
Industry Applications Sales Push
Industry Applications, which represents about 30% of NORMA’s revenue, is being positioned as a principal growth engine. Dominik Görts, president of the Industry Applications business unit, said the company had historically relied heavily on distribution channels and had limited direct visibility into end customers and higher-growth markets.
NORMA has identified seven focus industries, including data centers, battery energy storage systems, heat pumps and white goods. Görts said the company estimates the addressable market across those focus industries could grow around 12% annually through 2031. The share of focus industries in Industry Applications sales is expected to rise from about 25% currently to roughly 34% in 2031.
The company plans to use its fastening, connecting and fluid-management capabilities in those applications. For example, it is supplying cable-management products to data-center projects in Asia-Pacific and Australia, while it has also received initial serial orders for dry-break valves used in battery energy storage systems.
Jeff Lombardi, NORMA’s vice president of business development in the Americas, said the company’s established distribution-oriented base business remains important for utilization, speed to market and cash generation. He said NORMA’s Americas base business grew volume by 5% year over year in a flat market, driven by product availability, engineering support and customer-conversion programs.
Mobility Business Targets Resilience Across Powertrains
Mobility & New Energy accounts for about 70% of group revenue, including roughly 50% from passenger vehicles and 20% from commercial vehicles, according to Seeger. Sergio Bonfá, global segment leader for commercial vehicles, said the business is intended to remain a stable and profitable source of cash despite the automotive market’s transition across combustion, hybrid and battery-electric vehicles.
Bonfá said NORMA’s content per vehicle is designed to be resilient across powertrains. The company supplies exhaust-related products and quick connectors for combustion vehicles, thermal-management products for battery-electric vehicles, and a combination of both for hybrid vehicles.
NORMA said it had won its largest-ever passenger vehicle program, representing EUR 157 million in lifetime revenue. About 80% of the award renews existing business while 20% represents growth, according to Bonfá. He also said lifetime program wins during the first nine months of the year were 45% higher than in the comparable prior-year period.
Cost Programs and Manufacturing Footprint
The company plans to shift from regional management to an SBU-led structure beginning in January 2027. Acting Group Chief Financial Officer Okan Celiker said the new approach will place pricing, costs, capacity and margin responsibility under business-unit leadership, while manufacturing plants will be managed as cost centers rather than standalone profit centers.
NORMA also plans to adopt a cost-of-sales accounting presentation in place of its current total-cost method. Management said the change is intended to improve transparency and accountability around margins, pricing and overhead expenses.
Seeger said the company currently has an underutilized asset base, with utilization in the 50% to 60% range. NORMA is targeting utilization above 80% while limiting capital expenditures because existing plants are already well invested.
The company’s transformation program includes two waves of administrative and organizational measures:
- Wave 1 is expected to generate EUR 38 million to EUR 42 million in annualized savings by fiscal 2028, including EUR 15 million expected by the end of 2026.
- Wave 2 is expected to add EUR 28 million to EUR 32 million in annualized savings by 2028 through further simplification, digitalization and structural cost reductions.
- EMEA manufacturing-footprint actions are expected to contribute a further EUR 20 million to EUR 30 million of annualized EBIT by 2031.
Combined, the programs are expected to produce EUR 70 million to EUR 90 million in incremental annualized EBIT savings by 2031. Celiker said Wave 1 implementation costs are expected to total EUR 54 million to EUR 61 million through 2028, while Wave 2 and footprint measures are expected to generate average annual implementation costs of EUR 15 million to EUR 20 million from 2027 through 2031.
Capital Allocation and Cash Generation
NORMA plans to keep capital expenditures below 5% of sales while assuming depreciation and amortization of about 5%, supporting its cash-conversion target. The company also expects to improve trade working capital, although its planning assumptions include a reduction in supply-chain financing programs.
Seeger said NORMA’s capital-allocation priorities are maintaining a healthy balance sheet, investing in organic growth, considering selective acquisitions after roughly two years of internal stabilization, and returning capital to shareholders. The company updated its dividend policy to establish a minimum payout of 10% of adjusted net income, subject to liquidity and financial conditions, while retaining the option for opportunistic share buybacks.
Management said its 2031 targets assume organic standalone development, stable geopolitical conditions, comparable foreign-exchange rates, stable energy and raw-material prices, and continued personnel-cost inflation.
About NORMA Group (ETR:NOEJ)
NORMA Group SE, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells engineered joining technology solutions in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia-Pacific. The company provides quick connectors, hose clamps, retaining clamps, and pipe couplings. It also offers various products for stormwater management, landscape irrigation, and joining components for water infrastructure solutions. The company sells its products to distributors, original equipment manufacturer aftermarket customers, technical wholesalers, and hardware stores under the ABA, Breeze, Clamp-All, CONNECTORS, FISH, Gemi, Kimplas, NDS, NORMA, Raindrip, R.G.RAY, Serflex, TORCA, and TRUSTLENE brand names.
