(Reuters) - Swiss access and security group Dormakaba raised its annual margin outlook on Tuesday and said a strong order backlog would support its momentum in the second half of the 2024/25 financial
Dormakaba targets sales growth in US despite looming tariffs
By Bernadette Hogg
(Reuters) -Dormakaba expects to keep growing its organic sales in the U.S. even as the Swiss access and security group studies the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs on its business, its CEO said on Tuesday.
While many of Dormakaba's products sold in the United States, its biggest market, are produced there, it also has some production in Canada and Mexico, CEO Till Reuter told Reuters in a call.
U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico are set to be hit by sweeping 25% tariffs when the pause on Trump's plan lapses early next month.
Dormakaba, whose entrance systems can be found in venues such as offices, airports and sports stadiums, is also exposed to aluminium and steel imports that are facing 25% tariffs from March 12, Reuter said.
"We are following, we are screening, analysing, but here it's important that we are not the only company and in the end also our competitors have some kind of a global footprint," he said.
The potential tariff impact is independent of the company's goal to grow its American market, Reuter added. He did not say how big that impact might be.
Earlier on Tuesday, Dormakaba raised its adjusted core profit margin target to around 15.5% for the 2024/25 financial year, up from the previous forecast of at least 15%.
Reuter said a strong order backlog and growth across the company's major markets meant it was on the right track to meet its medium-term margin outlook of 16% to 18% in 2025/26.
Dormakaba also said it had named René Peter as its chief financial officer. He had held the position on an interim basis since July 2024 due to the illness of his predecessor Christina Johansson, whose passing the company announced earlier in February.
It reported 5.1% organic growth in its net sales to 1.42 billion Swiss francs ($1.58 billion) in the first half of the year through June 2025. Analysts on average were expecting organic growth of 4.4% to 1.41 billion francs.
Dormakaba's shares rose 3.9% by 0809 GMT.
($1 = 0.8968 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Bernadette Hogg in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)
