Good catch! I inquired about the matter from the company. Apparently, the lease agreement has a higher rent for the years 2025-26, after which it returns to a lower level. I was not aware of this increase when making the latest forecasts. In our model, the growth in other operating expenses and personnel expenses totals EUR 0.4 million in 2025 and EUR 0.9 million in 2026, which includes assumed growth in personnel expenses due to increasing production volumes. It can thus be concluded that achieving our forecasts is more challenging in light of current information due to the increase in rent expense. However, the biggest variable on the cost side is gross margin, whose “normalization” closer to the 50% level would, in a favorable scenario, clearly be sufficient to cover that increase in rent expense. In our forecasts, we have a more cautious, but still upward-trending 47.5-47.9% for 2025-26 (2024: 45.8%).
Additionally, it should be noted that lease liabilities include payments for the entire remaining lease term (15 years minus something).