A strategy to unlock structural growth

dormakaba operates in an attractive industry shaped by powerful trends – urbanization, digitalization, heightened security needs and sustainability – that are fueling demand for intelligent, secure and sustainable access. Our strategy captures that demand through four levers: product innovation, disciplined acquisitions, a vertical go-to-market approach and a sharper focus on North America, the world’s largest access solutions market.

Building the foundation

Elevating performance. dormakaba’s three-year transformation program delivered CHF 235 million in savings, lifting the adjusted EBITDA margin to a record 16.1%. Over the past three years, we have built strength, driving operational excellence through leaner manufacturing, smarter procurement, optimized R&D and simplified processes. The work continues: our commercial transformation is on track to deliver CHF 40 million in annual savings by financial year 2027/28.

A cornerstone of this effort is the implementation of the dormakaba Business Services (dBS), our competence centers in Nogales (Mexico), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Chennai (India) that combine professional services across commercial, finance, IT, HR and other support functions with engineering and product development. Established to drive efficiency through AI-powered process automation, they now strengthen our operational resilience, generate business insights and give us the scalability to support growth. Together, they employ more than 800 colleagues.

A rising share of production in best-cost countries optimizes our cost base. In April 2026, we opened a new facility in Nogales, expanding capacity at our vertically integrated North American plant producing door hardware, mechanical and electronic locks and safe locks. Near Sofia, a new plant is being commissioned and is planned to begin operations later in the year, supporting production and logistics across the region for entrance automation and entrance security solutions, both part of our Access Automation Solutions (AAS) portfolio. We continued to streamline our manufacturing footprint, closing smaller production sites such as Eggenburg in Austria.

At the heart of these efforts is our ambition to think bigger together, act as a team of teams guided by our shared values and build a performance-oriented culture driven by continuous improvement, feedback and accountability.

Reducing complexity. Simplifying our portfolio, operations and processes increases agility, strengthens execution and unlocks scalable growth. In 2025/26 we continued our portfolio review, divesting our time & attendance business in Brazil in November 2025.

A globally aligned product roadmap directs resources toward strategic priorities: our door closer complexity-reduction initiative is on track to deliver savings by 2027/28, with further potential identified in exit devices and entrance systems controls (ESC). We have successfully reduced our software portfolio, with further optimization potential resulting from the development of global software platforms. Global product management and a platform-based approach, powered by the broad deployment of AI across the R&D organization, will accelerate innovation, enhance scalability and improve engineering efficiency.

Operationally, we are shifting from a production-driven push model to a customer-centric pull model. Stronger sales and operations planning, a resilient supply network, manufacturing excellence and targeted investment in capacity and modernization are improving availability, lead times and cost competitiveness – key factors in winning business.

Innovate & grow

A sharper go-to-market through verticals. We focus on key verticals where we see the greatest potential to grow and differentiate: aviation, data centers, healthcare, critical infrastructure, marine, sports & entertainment and hospitality. Dedicated vertical teams combine global expertise with strong local execution, building deep knowledge of each market’s regulations, customer journeys and ecosystems, and translating it into distinctive, end-to-end value propositions. Recent wins with American Airlines (aviation) in the US and the New Aker Hospital (healthcare) in Norway are examples of this strategy at work; the "Verticals in focus" section of this report explores the outcomes in depth.

Accelerating profitable growth through targeted acquisitions. Bolt-on M&A is a distinct growth lever directed at deepening our capabilities in priority verticals and technologies. In 2025/26, acquisitions strengthened our data center offering, extended our aviation software portfolio, and advanced our mobile-credential technology – each reinforcing an existing strength and feeding our vertical go-to-market approach. Read this year's full acquisition story in the article “Disciplined M&A behind every priority" in this report.

A sharper focus on North America. In the world's largest access solutions market, our growth plan is progressing under new regional leadership. We have strengthened our Access Hardware Solutions portfolio in exit devices and keys & cores, extended Access Automation Solutions through the acquisition of Avant-Garde, and strengthened Access Control Solutions in hospitality and components. Find out how the North American growth plan comes together in the article “North America: at the core of our growth ambition" in this report.

Underpinned by sustainability

Sustainability is both a competitive differentiator and enabler of customer value. Through energy-efficient, durable, responsibly sourced solutions, we help customers meet their own ESG goals while strengthening our resilience, our innovation capability and our long-term relevance.