Editorial and group management report

What will tomorrow’s world look like? How will we live, work, and move? What will drive our thoughts and actions? At Bosch, we see it as our responsibility to find and shape answers to these questions.

While we do not have a crystal ball, we are a globally diversified technology company with antennas and sensors around the world. We are close to markets, close to customers, close to people. Decades of experience, outstanding technological expertise, and global presence have given us a keen intuition for what might lie ahead, and for the conditions needed to succeed. We know how important it is to set the right course early on, because tomorrow is created in the here and now.

“For Tomorrow. Today.” — the guiding theme of our current annual report — is far more than a slogan. It is the promise we live by, the essence of our work, the driving force behind all innovation, the compass for our strategic direction. It reflects our conviction that we have a responsibility today to actively and positively influence tomorrow’s world. This commitment has guided us for the past 140 years.

At Bosch, we think long-term, act with agility, filter new ideas and let go of outdated ones, learn continuously, and adapt to constant change. Day in, day out, our engineers, scientists, and developers work on technologies and services that benefit people and protect the planet. We provide solutions for sustainable and safe mobility, make buildings efficient and climate-friendly, enhance convenience and comfort in everyday life, and increase productivity in industries and factories. In a nutshell: we develop technology that people need — technology invented for life.

Everything we do is guided by this purpose. Our decisions, investments, development activities, and our entire innovative strength are geared toward not only meeting today’s needs, but also creating the best possible foundations for future generations. Bosch does not simply observe change. Bosch shapes it. With creativity and imagination, courage and action, we design the future. The future can bring change. It can surprise, challenge, and inspire us. The future is a space of possibility. How we enter it, how we engage with it, is our choice. Bosch has made its choice. With a clear conviction: “For Tomorrow. Today.” — because today determines tomorrow.

The 2025 fiscal year was shaped by weak markets, rising trade barriers, geopolitical tensions, and intense competition. Despite these considerable uncertainties, the global economy’s development proved remarkably resilient, although global output once again remained subdued. The mood in Bosch’s focus markets was similarly cautious. Against this backdrop, we intensified our efforts to strengthen our competitiveness. This entailed, among other things, the announcement of extensive additional personnel adjustment measures, particularly in the Mobility business sector and mainly in Germany. At the same time, we took important steps to position ourselves for future market requirements. An important milestone was the successful completion of the acquisition of the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning business from Johnson Controls and Hitachi, which significantly strengthens our technological and regional position.

The Bosch Group’s sales revenue rose slightly to 91.0 billion euros, an increase of 4.1 percent after adjusting for exchange-rate effects. The acquisition in the Home Comfort division made an important contribution of 1.2 billion euros to sales revenue. At the same time, the completed sale of significant parts of the Building Technologies product business resulted in a loss of sales revenue from mid-year onward. All business sectors were able to increase their sales revenue slightly, with the exception of Consumer Goods; adjusted for exchange-rate effects, all business sectors increased their sales revenue. At 2.0 percent, the EBIT margin from operations was well below the previous year’s figure of 3.5 percent, a development we cannot be satisfied with. Restructuring expenses in particular had a negative impact. All business sectors returned a positive EBIT from operations. At 0.3 billion euros, free cash flow is positive, despite the decline in earnings, but lower than in the previous year. The focus for the 2026 fiscal year is on implementing the structural measures needed so that they take effect quickly and on continuing the strategy to strengthen our position as a leading technology company. Despite persisting geopolitical tensions and trade barriers, which continue to weigh on growth opportunities, we aim to increase the Bosch Group’s sales revenue by between 2 and 5 percent. In addition, we expect the measures introduced in 2025 to take effect and culminate in an EBIT margin from operations within a corridor of 4 to 6 percent of sales revenue.