Paris (France) (AFP) – The world's second largest railway manufacturer, Alstom, fell sharply on the stock market on Monday after its second profit warning of the year linked to difficulties in producing Coradia Max trains in Germany, against a backdrop of a well-filled order book.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 12:11

Shortly after 11:00 a.m. Monday, the stock tumbled 28.02%, to 11.33 euros.

Since January, it has fallen more than 55%.

Its market capitalization fell late Monday morning to 5.3 billion euros compared to 11.87 billion on January 1.

For the current 2026-27 financial year, Alstom explained that it now expected to produce only 4,000 cars compared to 4,400 to 4,500 previously expected.

Of this total, "two thirds" of the production delay are linked to two of the six Coradia Max regional train contracts signed with German Länder, said financial director Bernard Delpit during an interview with analysts on Monday morning.

Due to problems related to the tests of this train - currently being technically resolved -, the approval of the first Coradia Max should only take place at the end of March, with a first actual delivery during the next financial year 2027-2028 instead of the current financial year as planned, he added. This, through a domino effect, delays milestone payments over the following financial years, underlines the financial group Oddo BHF.

The industrial and financial setbacks are compounded by late payment penalties paid to train customer regions, which lead the company to post a negative gross margin on all Coradia contracts.

And the group's free cash flow became negative by 1.25 billion euros at the end of the first half.

In April, the group had already lowered its performance targets and suffered a first stock market plunge, due to its execution difficulties, just after the arrival of Martin Sion, who succeeded Henri Poupart-Lafarge.

“Since my appointment as Managing Director in April 2026, I have requested rigorous identification and systematic escalation of risks and opportunities at project level, by mobilizing dedicated teams of Alstom experts on the most critical projects, including Coradia Max,” commented Martin Sion.

Sell ​​“profitable activities”

“The announcement made today reflects the consequences of this exercise, with the aim of normalizing the group's performance from the next fiscal year,” he assured. “I am convinced that this is the last readjustment of the schedule that we are making for Coradia Max,” he told analysts.

Alstom, which will announce the results of the first half of its postponed 2026-27 financial year on November 17, already revealed on Monday the extent of the deterioration in its results. Its operating margin is thus negative, at around -4% for the half-year instead of +6.4% during the first six months of the previous financial year.

Alstom produced 1,860 cars in the first half, down 8%. “Execution difficulties on the Coradia Max platform” “led to a manufacturing interruption during the first quarter,” the company explains.

However, turnover increased to 9.3 billion euros in the first half, up 3%.

To learn lessons and consolidate its balance sheet, the group must present a change to its organization in the “second quarter of 2027” during its investor day.

Alstom wants to reduce its debt by around 2 billion euros by September 2027, according to Oddo BHF. The group could continue its disposals, increase its capital or issue debt.

The sales should relate “to profitable activities, but not part of our core activities,” Mr. Sion told analysts.

The group thus seeks to maintain the “investment” category of their classification with the rating agencies, that of borrowers deemed the safest.

© 2026 AFP

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