Getinge Stock

Welcome to the Getinge Q3 Report 2026. [Operator Instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO, Mattias Perjos; and CFO, Agneta Palmér. Please go ahead.

Thanks, and welcome, everyone, to today's earnings call. As mentioned, I have our CFO, Agneta Palmér, with me today. And in the conference call today, we'll go through our performance and some highlights in the third quarter before opening up for the customary Q&A. So let's move to Page #2 right away, please.

So if we start looking at the development of some of our longer-term strategic KPIs. We continue to clearly track in line with plan to increase the share of sales from recurring revenue, accelerating the share of sales from high-margin products like, for example, our ECLS offering and the BetaBags in Sterile Transfer, which have both had a very strong year so far. All these activities are, of course, supported by solid and effective quality processes as well.

So if we look at sales from recurring revenue, it continues to make up about 2/3 of our sales, and the high-margin products are at 70% as of Q3. When it comes to quality, the number of field actions in relation to sales have decreased significantly in the last 3 years. We are currently tracking slightly above last year's level, but remain within our expected range on this KPI. These improvements should, of course, be achieved also through responsible financial leverage and an attractive long-term return on invested capital.

Let's move to Page #3, please. So if we look at the key takeaways when it comes to the third quarter with an emphasis on the financial KPIs. Overall, we delivered a healthy financial performance in the quarter with top line growth. Net sales grew 2.1% organically with positive development in most of the business areas. Order intake increased by 2.6% organically.

If we then look at the adjusted gross and EBITA margins, they were up in the quarter as a result of the continued positive underlying performance that we've seen for quite a while now. Margins were also supported by a remaining tariff refund of SEK 45 million. This led to another quarter with strong cash flow and a very solid financial position. Our financial leverage is at 1.5x right now, so well below the 2.5x EBITDA as we have like an internal threshold.

So let's move to Page #4 and talk about some of the key events from the quarter. I think first and foremost, I would like to share the information that we recently had the results of our annual customer feedback survey, and I'm very pleased to report that our Net Promoter Score has reached an all-time high. We also had very strong employee engagement, and these are 2 KPIs that are extremely important for long-term success. I'm also happy to say that we, at the end of the quarter, initiated the launch of the new version of our ECMO platform, Cardiohelp II, in CE countries and in Hong Kong. And so far, this has been very well received by our customers. So we look forward to continuing this launch.

Within our Digital Health Solutions, we launched Torin Plan Optimizer, which supports the surgical planning in hospitals, thanks to an AI-powered system. And just to quote the Head of OR Management at Klinikum Stuttgart in Germany, he mentioned that this supports better informed planning decisions and much more effective use of our existing surgical capacity.

Furthermore, in collaboration with the Swedish nonprofit organization, Beredskapslyftet, we continued our support to the National Specialized Children's Hospital in Kyiv through a donation of ECMO consumables. The hospital operates one of Ukraine's leading pediatric ECMO programs treating critically ill children from across the country. And in 2025, the hospital reported that it doubled its ECMO capacity, and this continues to trend in a good direction. We're very happy to be part of supporting this important initiative. It's really clear that our donation helps sustain life-saving capability.

And then just continuing on the pediatric track for a moment. We received also in the quarter, 510(k) clearance for a new smaller Edi catheter, which is used with our ventilators, and this makes it possible to support premature infants between 500 grams and 1,000 grams in weight. It's also very comforting to see that our sustainability KPIs are tracking well. Just to highlight 2 of them. Compared to last year, we have reduced our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by more than 20% and the share of renewable energy is above 70%.

We can then move to Page #5, please. So if we talk about then our organic top line growth, this was driven by ACT and SW in the quarter. So order intake grew 2.6% organically. The organic order intake in Acute Care Therapies increased primarily in ECLS therapy consumables and Cardiac Assist and EVH consumables. Life Science organic order intake declined slightly during the quarter. The positive performance in bioprocessing and service did not fully offset the continuing decline that we see within our washer, isolator, and sterilizer subsegment. Surgical Workflows increased mainly driven by strong performance in operating room equipment, such as surgical tables and lights.

If we then look at the net sales part, we grew net sales with 2.1% in the quarter. This was mainly driven by disciplined work with pricing. Acute Care Therapies increased the net sales organically, primarily due to ECLS therapy consumables, intra-aortic balloon pumps in Cardiac Assist and also our covered stents. Organic net sales for Life Science fell slightly following a continuing decline in washers, isolator, sterilizers, and this was despite a robust growth in Sterile Transfer. In Surgical Workflows, organic net sales rose slightly following growth in Infection Control and in our Digital Health Solutions portfolio.

We can then move to Page #6, please, and I hand over to you, Agneta, for a moment.

Thank you, Mattias. So overall, we continue to improve our margins, and I'm particularly pleased that the main driver of this is the underlying improvement in the business, mainly thanks to the disciplined pricing efforts that Mattias mentioned, but also positive mix shift and productivity.

Let's have a look at adjusted gross profit. For the group, adjusted gross profit amounted to SEK 4.343 billion in the quarter, primarily on the back of the factors I just mentioned, but also supported by the remaining tariff refund of approximately SEK 45 million. This led to an increase of the adjusted gross margin by plus 2.2 percentage points in total.

Moving on to adjusted EBITA. The effect from adjusted gross profit on the EBITA margin was plus 1.7 percentage points. OpEx increased less than inflation and adjusted for currency, OpEx had a slight positive impact on the margin by about plus 0.1 percentage points in the quarter. FX impacted by plus 0.3 percentage points. All in all, this resulted in an adjusted EBITA of SEK 1.278 billion and a margin of 15.1%.

Let's move to Page #7, please. So the strong operating results further strengthened our financial position. Free cash flow was again above the SEK 1 billion mark, amounting to SEK 1.302 billion in the quarter. Compared with last year, free cash flow was impacted by the improved operating profit and changes in working capital. At the end of Q3, net debt decreased to SEK 10.4 billion due to the cash flow generation. If we adjust for pension liabilities, net debt was at SEK 8.1 billion.

This brings us to a leverage of 1.5x adjusted EBITDA, which is well below the 2.5x, which we have as an internal threshold. If we adjust for pension liabilities, leverage is at 1.1x adjusted EBITDA. Cash amounted to approximately SEK 3.2 billion at the end of the quarter. So all in all, we can conclude that the financial position continues to be strong.

Let's then move to Page #8, please, and back to you, Mattias.

All right. Thank you, Agneta. Just one picture as well to show the traction that we're making towards our midterm guidance span. So looking at the rolling 12-month development for adjusted EBITA margin, we have over 2 years, improved from 12% to 15.6%. Normalized, which means excluding tariffs, we are at 15.8%. So even if excluding the tariff refund of SEK 381 million in Q2 and Q3 of 2026, we are at 14.5%.

In the Capital Markets update that we had in May 2024, we guided for an adjusted EBITA margin span of 16% to 19% by the end of 2028. We have a bit more than 2 years until the end of 2028. And as you can see, we are steadily closing in on the span. The main drivers which will support us getting there in spite of continued tariffs are the gradual cost release from the second half of this year, mainly impacting 2027 and 2028. And this is stemming from the regulatory submissions and the approval process when it comes to CardioSave and Cardiohelp II.

We also have the mix shift to more recurring revenue and high-margin revenue that I mentioned in the beginning of the call. And we also rely on the continuous productivity measures and the key product launches that we've had recently and will have before 2028.

With that, we can move over to Page #9, please. So if we then focus on the outlook for the remainder of 2026. As we all know, there's still some geopolitical uncertainties that we need to navigate. But based on the underlying demand that we see, our regular dialogue with customers, our expectation remains for an organic net sales growth to be in the range of 3% to 5% for 2026, adjusted for the phaseout of surgical perfusion. And surgical perfusion is still expected to have net sales in 2026, declining from about SEK 250 million to SEK 50 million.

Year-to-date, we are at 2.5% organic growth and believe Q4 performance will take us into the span of 3% to 5%. Q4 is usually our largest quarter net sales-wise and multiple factors, especially on the customer side, impact if deliveries can go out before year-end. Here, all involved are always doing an incredible effort. We've seen this the last 3 or 4 years, and we rely on that type of performance again for the end of this year. The uncertainty here is the main reason why we're not tightening the guidance span.

We can then move to Page #11, please. So just to talk about and summarize the key takeaways then. So overall, we have a solid financial performance with organic growth in top line. Margins came in healthy in the quarter, primarily thanks to the improving underlying performance in our business. Cash flow in the quarter was very strong. Our financial position also remains very solid. For 2026, we reiterate our guidance for organic net sales growth of 3% to 5%, adjusted for the phaseout of surgical perfusion.

Our priorities for the last quarter of 2026, they remain the same as they've been before. So it's about addressing the remaining challenges when it comes to quality work in Acute Care Therapies. It's about sustainable productivity improvements and cost consciousness when navigating the political uncertainty that we see on a daily basis and also addressing, of course, the impact from tariffs. And most importantly, continuing creating the added value for our customers, which you could really see when it comes to the Net Promoter Score at an all-time high during this year.

So with that said, I open up for questions.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Philip Ekengren from Nordea.

I have 2 questions. I'll take them one by one. So starting with the outlook, that implies some growth acceleration in Q4, obviously here. Which products or segments you think will support that acceleration? And is the upper end still in place?

Yes. We don't disclose which categories we believe are most important when it comes to a specific quarter like this. I think the patterns that you've seen before, they will remain intact. So ECLS consumables is definitely one of those categories. Sterile Transfer, another one. But other than that, we don't want to single out anything specific here. And then I think it goes without saying that the lower part of the guidance span is easier and much more realistic than the upper part. But again, like I said in the summary, we do have a lot of deliveries scheduled for the fourth quarter, and there's a lot of swing factors involved there. So that's the reason for not narrowing the span.

Makes sense. And then you highlighted some positive customer response following the launch of Cardiohelp II. Are orders primarily replacing existing Cardiohelp systems? Or is it expanding your installed base?

It's a mix of both. We don't disclose this, but it's a mix of both. This is a therapy that is in general expansion mode. So it's both about replacing, but also opening up new ECMO centers and adding capacity in existing ones.

The next question comes from Ludwig Germunder from Handelsbanken.

I have a first one, which is a general question on demand. I'm interested to hear what you're currently seeing and hearing from customers. So we see some industry peers to you reporting more challenging demand situation, but you seem to be doing well, and I think you sound confident on the outlook here. But beyond the reported numbers, are you seeing and hearing from your customers right now?

I think the general situation when it comes to demand is stable and positive. We see that across most categories, and this is a pattern that's been with us for a while. I think on the challenging side, it's mostly on the big capital part in Life Science that is still sluggish. I think one of the small bright spots maybe in the quarter was that we had a little bit better momentum in the U.S. for that category, which is the first in a while. But I describe the general situation as rather stable when it comes to both the surgical procedures that are being performed and the way they drive this demand in the short term. But I also think customers seem to have long-term faith in the future and willing to also place capital orders. You saw, for example, order intake in Surgical Workflows operating tables is one example of that.

Okay. And then second question on order mix. You mentioned that the order intake was primarily increasing in ECLS therapy consumables, Cardiac Assist and EVH consumables. In the total ACT orders, do you see any change in the mix when it comes to these consumables? Or would you say that they make up a normal share of total orders?

Yes. Nothing to call out, I think, from a mix pattern. I think what we've predicted and seen for a long while keeps happening, keeps unfolding, I would say.

With that in mind, maybe just to add that Q4 is usually a bit of a different mix, more capital heavy or a seasonal pattern.

Okay. And just as a quick one, if I may. I noticed that acquisition cost in the quarter was SEK 33 million. I know it's a small number, but it's still standing out a bit compared to previous quarters. Could you comment anything on what's driving this increase?

Yes. Nothing specific other than that we remain very active when it comes to looking at M&A. So there is a good inflow in the funnel of interesting targets, and we do spend some money on due diligence in processes here, but nothing I can call out or talk about any result from here. But it's a normal part of what we do, a little bit heightened level in the third quarter, and I think that's all.

The next question comes from Erik Cassel from Danske Bank.

First question on ACT margins. You've said that quality costs were going to taper off a bit now during H2. Have you already seen that help the ACT margin now in Q3? Or is it more to come in Q4?

I think just to say that we are progressing on that trajectory that we have described before when it comes to quality cost, but it still remains elevated compared to sort of normal levels, and that will remain for some time. But that message is the same as before. Just to reiterate the drivers of the margin in ACT is a continuation of what we have talked about before. So it is pricing, it is mix, positive mix shift, and then underlying productivity factors. And then in this quarter, a little bit of help from currency.

Okay. But you can't say if the effect is going to be bigger in Q4 than it was now?

I would not count on it being bigger in Q4 than now.

Okay. And then you said on the last conference call that the event comps were going to be a lot cleaner now in H2, but it looks like events continued to fall. Do you think that's anything on timing? Or is the market still perhaps a bit weaker than what you expect?

Nothing particular to call out. I think it is a market that is normalizing in the wake of a number of players leaving the space here. And we've had an uptick in the past, but nothing specific to call out here other than sometimes there's a bit of lumpiness also when it comes to contracts on ventilators.

Okay. And then it looks like balloon pump consumables did fairly well as well. Is that some sort of effect from supply constraint being released in Europe? And also if it is supply constraint being lifted, do you have any sort of backlog that you now bring into Q4, which you sort of expect to catch up on?

I think the consumables supply, we don't really have any restrictions on. That's been fairly smooth for some time. The capacity restrictions are on the balloon pumps themselves, where you know very well the history here, and we do still have constraints when it comes to everything from certain components to manpower to build pumps. So that's the situation. And we do expect this to be a challenging situation for the remainder of this year as well. I can't call out any specific dynamic now for Q3 compared to Q4. But until we have worked through the entire supply chain situation and the capacity, I think we will have a bit of sluggishness when it comes to the hardware.

Okay. And then just a quick last one. I didn't see a mention on ECMO filing in the U.S. Do you have any update on if you're still aiming for previous communication on ECMO filing time line?

No news. Really, we will communicate once it's been submitted. We continue to have a constructive dialogue in these pre-submission meetings with FDA. But nothing new to share here.

The next question comes from Mattias Vadsten from SEB.

First one is on Life Science. So no comment on Sterile Transfer on the order side this time around. So I just want to see if this area is still showing solid performance and if momentum is holding up there?

Yes. I think generally, yes, it is a category where we expect to have good long-term momentum. Then as you know, some of these orders are because of large contracts as well. So you can have some lumpiness quarter-by-quarter. So in the quarter, the order intake wasn't spectacular here, but we believe that we have confidence going forward in both order intake and sales of Sterile Transfer products.

That's clear. And then just to take a step back, maybe you've singled out ECLS consumables as a contributor to organic order intake in ACT, I think all throughout last year. So just some more broader words on the reason for this strength. And with the new products, I guess, that strength will continue also for next year?

Yes, that is the assumption. Like we said in many occasions, we believe that this is really a core area for us for the future. We have a very strong market position. So we do benefit from just the day-to-day usage of ECMO therapy. In addition to this, then we have the launch of Cardiohelp II in CE markets and Hong Kong. So this will be a gradual addition to that part of the business here. But I want to underline that the launch takes a while to really roll out properly and see the effect of this in terms of consumables usage as well. But it's a very good start, I think, for the next generation of ECMO therapy.

If I squeeze in one last question. So you're seeing a lot of mix as a positive effect in Q3 year-on-year. I just wanted to see if this is more around the rotation to more margin accretive revenue streams or if it's anything in particular for Q3 that you want to single out? That's my last one.

Thank you. This is the overall trend that we have described now and the ambition to also have this mix shift towards high-margin disposables is a little bit more pronounced in Q3 compared to the general trend.

The next question comes from Thyra Lee from UBS.

Just one, please, and that was on the acute care margin strength. Could you elaborate on how you expect margins in this business to evolve from here and into 2027, please?

No, it's the short answer. I think we've seen some strength based on the factors we mentioned when it comes to mix, to pricing and some of the underlying improvement work. But we don't comment on neither Q4 or the outlook for 2027 when it comes to specific BA margins here.

The next question comes from Sten Gustafsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

Two questions, if I may. I know you commented on the ECMO U.S. filing. Can you give us an update on the CardioSave U.S. filing as well? That would be my first question. And then I have a follow-up.

Yes. I think there isn't that much to say. We've submitted the applications. We have a dialogue now with the FDA about some like follow-on questions on this, but nothing out of the ordinary. We still expect a long approval time. We said 6 to 9 months because it's a very complex product, a complex 510(k) submission, but nothing really to update since last time we reported.

That's good. But you have an ongoing dialogue with them and not unusual. Perfect. My second question is on -- well, it's the same products, Cardiohelp and CardioSave, and what you see here in Europe where you actually have those products. And I noticed that one of your competitors have some issues or -- well, maybe not issues, but there was some clinical paper questioning a little bit one of their products. And are you seeing any benefit from that on your products?

No, I think we follow the same news that you do, but I can't really call out any specific benefits from this adverse news for competitors. I think we remain close to our customers. It's a therapy field where depending on the complexity of the situation with the patient, you have different choices to make. I think maybe there's some net benefit from this, but nothing that we have seen that we can kind of call out or measure.

The next question comes from David Adlington from JPMorgan.

A couple from me, please. Firstly, I was wondering if you're able to quantify any stocking impacts from Cardiohelp II launch in the quarter? And then secondly, just wondering how you're thinking about inflation into 2027. Anything to be putting out there in terms of particular headwinds?

Yes. I think there's no stocking effect when it comes to Cardiohelp in the quarter, absolutely not. And when it comes to inflation, we do see, of course, an upward pressure when it comes to everything from labor to energy to certain materials, freight and so on. But I think our team have done a great job as well mitigating this for the most part. So nothing of a material impact that we see right now.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Kristofer Liljeberg from DNB Carnegie.

Three questions. First, coming back to the visibility here for Q4 sales. I think you need at least 4% to reach the lower end of the guidance. What would you highlight as the main risk of not reaching that?

Yes. I would highlight if there is a slowdown in some of the areas that are kind of book and turn in Q4 when it comes to ECLS consumables, Sterile Transfer, those categories that we depend on, I think that will be one maybe thing that could potentially have an impact. The other one, I think, is more that what we've seen in previous years that sometimes customers are not entirely ready to receive like a shipment of capital goods, most often because something on their part isn't finished yet, and then it ends up in the first quarter instead. So that would be maybe the second thing that is kind of a risk factor here. But nothing out of the ordinary. It's the same dynamics as every year in Q4.

Okay. Great. And I was wondering a little bit about the Life Science margin. I guess high-margin products are making up a larger part of sales there, given what you have said. Why is that not resulting in a better margin? Is it just the leverage effect you have on lower manufacturing of bigger capital equipment or something else?

Yes, that is essentially -- you described it well. As you can see the gross margin is up somewhat. So we do compensate on it. But overall, through the P&L, this leverage effect on the lower levels in the WIS category are difficult to fully compensate.

Great. And then a final question. I know it has been asked before, but based on what you say, it seems lower quality cost hasn't been a big impact at all for the ACT margin in the third quarter year-over-year. Is that correct?

Yes, that's right. We are seeing that we are continuing to improve in this area, but it's not a material impact that I would factor in Q3.

So this means for 2027, this should be a pretty big positive tailwind for you?

Well, overall, we are following this trajectory that we have described before, a gradual step down in quality-related costs.

Okay. But possible to say whether the decline is going to be in absolute terms, larger in 2027 or 2028 versus current levels?

Yes, it's definitely larger in '27 compared to '26, and then larger again in 2028. That's the dynamic we expect.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

All right. Thank you very much. Thanks for joining here. I think we already summarized this. I appreciate the attendance today and the dialogue when it comes to the Q&A. So thanks very much, everyone. Have a great rest of the day.

All right. I hope everybody can hear me. Welcome, everyone, to this fireside chat for Getinge. I'm Aisyah Noor, Head of European MedTech Research at Morgan Stanley. It's my pleasure to host Getinge's CEO, Mattias Perjos, today.

Before we start, I'm obligated to inform you to check for research disclosures at morganstanley.com/researchdisclosures. And with any questions, please check with your MS sales rep.

With that, welcome, Mattias. It's great to have you here again in New York.

Shall we start off with a big picture question. So you've been running Getinge for almost a decade now. If you compare the company today with when you took over, what has changed most fundamentally about the business? What are you most satisfied with and what still needs attention?

Thanks for having me, firstly. Very nice to be here. And that's a broad question to kick things off. And it's always great to reflect, I think, of the last 9, 10 years that I've been with the company. And it's a world of difference, I have to say, today, compared to 2017 when I joined. And I think -- and that's in a number of dimensions, I say. So I think the -- one is, of course, the quality aspect of the business. We -- even if we're still in a consent decree, it's a much different situation today compared to 2017.

We have a compliant quality management system in place since several years now. We've uplifted most of the products that were part of the consent decree as well. We have 2 key 510(k) to get approved, but the rest of the range is in a fully compliant state. We've also made a lot of progress when it comes to our compliance. And so that's another positive. We've been able to maintain growth, I think, is really a key highlight. And I think the one thing that surprised me already when I joined and continues to surprise me, is the loyalty that our customers show us. I mean it's really tangible that we've been around for 120 years. We have great support from our customers every day.

So that supported growth. And it's also good to see that operationally, I think we're a very different company also. I mean we have a different structure in the business and also a different approach to continuous improvement, for example, which you can, I think, most clearly seen, for example, in the underlying margin improvement of the business. So quite a big difference compared to a decade ago.

And I think maybe the last thing I'd highlight, which kind of is the glue that gels everything together is in terms of culture in the company. We have a much more long-term culture in our company. We have people who understand what good looks like, how to work with continuous improvements and of course, also serve our customers better.

Perfect. If we move on then to the current market outlook, starting with U.S. hospital CapEx. On the second quarter call, you acknowledged concerns around U.S. hospital CapEx, but you had mentioned that Getinge had seen no real demand impact because many of your acute care therapies are essential to everyday patient treatment. Has anything changed in these customer conversations? And how would you characterize U.S. hospital willingness to commit to capital equipment today?

No, we continue to be encouraged by the plans that we discuss with our customers, and they really show also long-term perspective and willingness to invest, I think, especially in the OR and the productivity of the OR, the outcomes for patients. So surprisingly robust and a good dialogue with all our customers.

Okay. Moving on then to the European outlook. So EMEA has actually been Getinge's strongest geography recently and your second quarter sales for EMEA were up 9% organically and very strong in ACT. How sustainable is the European hospital investment environment from here? And do you see any divergence between Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Germany health care reform, et cetera?

Yes. I think, like you said, we've had good momentum in EMEA for quite a while, and that is encouraging. And I do think that it's sustainable, maybe not at those levels that we had in Q2, but I think in line with our growth ambitions for the year. The picture tends to vary quite a bit within Europe. I think Germany, for example, has been a real strong point for us, and there are pockets of weakness elsewhere. But I think overall, the picture is that we feel good and solid momentum, and we feel in a very good competitive position in Europe as well.

Okay. If I look at the European tender dynamics, for ACT, the order intake in EMEA was up 16% in the second quarter, and you called out ventilator demand in Poland and Italy. To what extent does this represent underlying strength versus a handful of large tenders that you think are just part of the seasonality?

I think we're having both. I think we both have a robust underlying business. And then on top of that, you have this kind of single significant tenders every now and then. And we do have that from time to time in our business, maybe less so in Acute Care Therapies than in Surgical Workflows and Life Science, but it's not an uncommon pattern, I would say.

Okay. And then moving on to China, which was one of the weaker geographies in the second quarter, which you said expected to remain challenging for the foreseeable future, especially in Surgical Workflows. Is there -- is that challenge primarily macro-driven, procurement driven? And or are you seeing more competition?

Well, I'd say all of the above, I think, is what contributes to the challenging position situation in China. So I think we've been reasonably happy that we've been able to at least grow the business a little bit in the last couple of years. That's not something you can take for granted in MedTech these days. So I think that the macro situation has been challenging for a number of years, and I think that will remain a challenge for the foreseeable future as well. The competitive position is definitely also changing. We've seen this for almost a decade in China also and learn to live with it, and this is something that continues to evolve every day.

Then on the purchasing side, I think we've not been in part of any VBP initiative in China. So that's been a plus for us. And I think if you take a step back, I think what you will see from Getinge's perspective is that we will have gone from having like 12%, 13%, 14% growth in China down to around 0. And then hopefully now when things seems to be bottoming out, will grow in line with the market, which is more like in the 5% range.

Okay. Perfect. It's interesting that you mentioned that you're not exposed to VBP. What areas are you then exposed to in China for your business? And why do you think the government hasn't yet scrutinized this element -- this segment of the market?

I can't speculate in the latter part of the question here. So we just continue to monitor the situation, but I don't have any insights to share there. So I think the areas that have been most impacted for us has been partly the macro dynamics like we touched on. You also have the made in China, make local, the local content part of it. That's probably been the biggest headwind for us, especially when it comes to Surgical Workflows. So even though we have a really great factory in Suzhou is performing tremendously well for us. It's still a challenge to be competitive in some of the categories, especially in Surgical Workflows.

Okay. And then moving on to the life science market, which per the second quarter results was quite conflicting. You had very strong order intake, 21% -- 41% growth in Americas, better bioprocessing, strong sterile transfer, but then washer infector was weak because pharma customers are delaying capital decisions. What's your outlook there? Is the life science market now recovering? Or are you still expecting this kind of start/stop dynamic here?

Yes, I don't think it's really a start/stop dynamic. It's -- we still have the decision anxiety for some of the bigger investments, but we're starting to see some decisions being made and starting to be implemented. So that's like a small positive, but I don't view this as a start and stop really.

And then if you look at the other parts of our business like Sterile Transfer, which is more directly linked to production output in pharma, that's been going well for several quarters now. So that seems to be fully in the clear. And then on the bioprocessing side, we're starting to see an uptick as well, U.S. driven. And we remain optimistic about that continuing but it's not going to be at where -- lightning speed.

Okay. You've said that many pharma companies have announced major expansion plans without yet translating those announcements into equipment orders, and Getinge as a washer infector, tender win rate has remained stable. What's stopping those projects from converting today? And what do you think needs to happen for this pharma CapEx cycle to really inflect?

I think they need clarity on what will apply in terms of tariffs, for example, and the overall geopolitical landscape. That seems to be the main hurdle for putting the foot down and saying this is what we're going to go with. So then in terms of the impact on our business, you have both of that. Of course, there's no business if they haven't made the decision where to invest. But also when they made the decision, depending on the scope that we have, it can be a time lag or delay before we see the orders in our books.

Okay. All right. You've specifically identified or announced the U.S. pharma manufacturing investments as an opportunity through 2028. Where does Getinge sit in the investment cycle for these projects? And how long is that lag that you mentioned typically between a pharma company announcing a new manufacturing facility and then Getinge seeing an order?

It's hard to give an average. But if you look at the larger capital equipment for us, like the sterilizers or you mentioned the GMP washers as well. I mean, those projects are often 12, 18 months cycles. And then we become included, the bigger the products, we tend to be included earlier in the decision phase of customers, but the delivery times are quite long. And these are complex projects with very often a lot of changes during the course of the implementation.

Okay. And then moving on to Acute Care Therapies. So this business moved from a 4% organic sales decline in the first quarter to 6% growth in the second quarter. Beyond the easier ventilation comparisons, what changed between the first and the second quarter? And what's the best indicator of the ACT underlying growth rate today?

Yes. I think some of the things that we've been optimistic about pointing out is, of course, the Cardiohelp II launch, where we've gone from a market -- a limited market release to now a full launch. That's something that we believe is positive, especially now for the second half of this year. Then you -- like you said, we've had the ventilator comps cloud in the picture a little bit. We have still some starts and stops when it comes to part of our portfolio. We talked about the Hemopro 3 launch, for example, in the past and so on.

So I think the key thing with ACT is to look through these fluctuations that are triggered either by the ventilator dynamics or start and stops in previous comp periods. The underlying demand here is driven by procedure volumes primarily, which I think seems to be fairly robust and stable. And we can also see that customers are prioritizing even in times when CapEx is constrained, we tend to be in categories that are prioritized by customers. So I'm very confident about the underlying demand situation for ACT even if there's some quarterly lumpiness here and there.

Okay. And you mentioned the Cardiohelp II. So that asset received its CE Mark in Q1, and then you've resolved the limited market release or you're now in full launch, and you're expecting the new generation to carry a better gross margin than the predecessor. Beyond replacing the existing Cardiohelp units, what can Cardiohelp II do to expand your installed base or increase the consumables pull-through?

I mean it's a great new evolution of the Cardiohelp platform. So we have a better sensor technologies. It's a lighter product as well. And just to remind everybody, there's a lot of transport applications with helicopters and ambulance and so on. The other thing that, I think, in general will drive demand in ECMO is also new application areas like CPR, for example, is something that we've seen for some time now coming and that we're optimistic about going forward. So that will definitely be a demand driver in this.

Okay. With respect to the U.S. sales of Cardiohelp and HLS, that still remains restricted to existing customers or customers without a viable alternative. And you've guided to a 510(k) submission for the complete ECMO system in the second half of 2026. Are you still on track for that second half submission? And what milestones do you still need to see before the FDA review begins?

Yes. So I think the short answer, we're still on track for the submission second half of this year. And I think the ongoing dialogue with the FDA has been very constructive as well. So we look forward to finalizing the last pieces of work for a complete submission. So we'll come back and update the capital markets when that's been done.

Okay. And then for Cardiosave, so the CE Mark was reinstated under conditions. Shipments have now restarted. And in the second quarter, you said you remain supply constrained for this product. How quickly is the manufacturing capacity improving? And when can the Cardiosave supply in Europe normalize?

I can't give a forecast for when we're kind of completely out of supply constraints, but we've been plagued by both labor shortages, but also component shortages for this business. We've had to take out a lot of products for testing for quite some time as well. So we're gradually moving ourselves out of this situation. It's improving on a weekly basis, but I can't give you a forecast for when we're kind of completely unrestricted here.

Okay. All right. If we move then on to the Cardiac Assist. So Teleflex, one of your competitors has agreed to sell its acute care business, including the IABP portfolio to intrasurgical as part of their portfolio transformation. Does that change in ownership create an opportunity for Getinge to strengthen the position as Cardiosave returns? Or could just a more focused owner ultimately become a stronger competitor in your view?

Yes. I have no idea. It's too early to say. We'll have to just monitor the situation here. I'm hoping that it creates a better situation, but too early to say.

Okay. All right. With respect to ventilator, so that business benefited substantially in 2025 from a competitor exit and then Q1 and part of Q2 '26 comparisons are a little bit difficult. You've now said in Q3 and Q4, the comps are cleaner, the market stabilized. So what's a reasonable normalized growth rate for your ventilator franchise from here?

We think this will return to the low to mid-single-digit growth territory. That's the most realistic outlook, I think. So -- it is nice to see things kind of stabilizing both, I mean, COVID, post-COVID, but also the competitive dynamics settling a little bit here. So that's the best guidance. And it's a business also that continues to evolve from rather capital heavy to more software to more high-value disposables and so on. So it's a good trend from that perspective.

Okay. Now moving on to Paragonix. So this business has performed quite well for you. The last disclosure we have from you on this business is well over $100 million, and you've since called out it's tracking above expectations after the acquisition. How is Paragonix performing in 2026 so far? How big is this business now? And has anything surprised you about the execution or share gains of this business?

No. We continue to be happy with the acquisition. The integration has gone well. It performs in line with our expectations. And the key thing for us, key focus has been now on the OUS launch, so Europe, where we've had really good momentum, and we're continuing to invest in that in mostly. We have all the regulatory approvals. So it's more about investment in resources and infrastructure to support the growth of this business in Europe. And then, of course, we're also starting to invest in the next generation of products. So those were the two main reasons we acquired the company, and the strategic rationale remains intact.

So your -- the competitor of Paragonix, TransMedics generated close to SEK 200 million revenue in second quarter, up 21%. Against the competitor growing at that pace, how should we judge whether Paragonix is gaining or losing share within the organ presence?

Yes, I realize that's hard from the outside, given that it's integrated in acute care therapies now. And we've created transplant care as an individual product area under the ACT umbrella. I think one should keep in mind though that our business in transplant is very much focused on the device and the service related to this. We don't have the full service model with aircraft and all that part like TransMedics. So it becomes difficult to compare, I think.

Okay. So again, on this topic. So TransMedics says their technology has helped to drive U.S. liver, heart and lung transplant volumes higher. And they're targeting 10,000 U.S. transplants by 2028; 20,000 by 2030. How do you size the addressable opportunity for organ preservation? Is the bigger opportunity share shift from ice boxes or growth in the number of total organs transplanted? Just help us kind of size that market opportunity for you.

Yes. I think we've also passed the 10,000 transplant mark. So we're involved in a lot of transplants with a much smaller scope than, for example, TransMedics. So that's important to keep in mind when you compare also. And I think there's clearly a need when it comes to patient need here. There is a challenge with the donor -- supply/donor availability. I think that the whole industry needs to address. So that's really a key thing.

And then I think, of course, as we implement new technology as well, that will also help growth of the business. So it's not easy to give like a single answer on what's the key factor here. There's a number of factors in play.

Okay. Just last one on Paragonix for the innovation piece. So the Paragonix has expanded from [ SurePaPack ] into multiple organ-specific preservation platforms. You have kidney vault, and you've also talked about expanding outside of the U.S. What are the most important product launches or indication expansions that investors should watch out for, for the next kind of years?

Yes. I think for now, the current year and the coming year, I'd say it's mostly about expanding with the portfolio that we have. We have the regulatory approvals we need. The next generation with integrated perfusion technology will be more important, and that's something to keep an eye out for. But we haven't given a time line for when we'll start bringing this to the market.

Okay. All right. Moving on to Life Science then. So your Life Science business in scale is about 1/3 of the ACT business, so close to SEK 5 billion. And yet it contains one of Getinge's fastest-growing and highest-margin franchises. So the Sterile Transfer. Does that business -- Life Science altogether have sufficient scale today? And how large does this business need to become to reach its full strategic and margin potential?

Yes. I don't think it's that much of a scale question. Actually, like you pointed out, if you look at Sterile Transfer, it's a significant portion of our Life Science business that's certainly a scale. If you look at the big sterilizers, for example, I mean, we're a leading player. So that's certainly at scale as well. So we're smaller when it comes to bioreactors as an example, and some of the single-use supply. But I don't feel that we're -- that scale is the bigger issue. I think we've been more vulnerable to the type of subsegment that we're exposed to bioreactors, for example, and some individual customer dependencies here. So maybe that you can solve via scale, but it's not my, I think, top 3 concern when it comes to obstacles to growth of this business.

Okay. So Sterile Transfer has moved from destocking concerns in 2024 to now double-digit order growth. Second quarter recurring Life Science revenue was up 23%. You've talked about GLP-1 manufacturing growth and this EU GMP Annex 1 as the demand drivers for beta bags. Can you separate for us how much of the current growth is these different drivers? And how much is underlying share gain in your view?

No. Short answer is no. I cannot. It's not something we disclose externally. I think we have a good understanding of our customers and what the products and the solutions are used for, but it's not something we communicate externally.

Okay. On the BetaBag durability, you've talked before about how the Alpha Port hardware creates this future stream of captive better bag consumable sales, which is an attractive business model for Getinge. Once the Alpha Port is installed, how sticky is that customer? What does the lifetime consumable opportunity look like relative to the initial sale? And how long does that sale sustain before the customer needs a second installation?

Yes. It's rather sticky, I have to say. I think it's -- I can't give you a percentage number, but it's very, very rare that a customer tries like an alternative beta bag with our Alpha Port. We've had some, I mean, single instances in the past, but the customers tend to come back to us for quality reason, and they really don't want to take any risk with contamination and revalidating their production line. So I think it's a very high level of stickiness.

How often it's replaced depends quite a lot on the customers. I couldn't give you an average on that. But it is a business that also is supported by the regulatory trends, both I think, by FDA guidance here in the U.S., but also Annex 1 in Europe. So I think there's a lot of good supporting factors, driving factors for this business.

Okay. For bioprocessing. So that business has finally shown some signs of improvement after some time of downturn. The second quarter order intake was also contributing to the Life Science order growth. What are you seeing in the customer utilization and the funding environment that makes you -- makes this a real recovery than just another kind of restocking cycle in your view?

Yes. Yes. I don't think stocking is an issue here at all. So it's more about where we're seeing the investment decisions starting to be made again after a difficult time. I mean, you had some destocking dynamics post COVID. I think the bigger hit was partly -- we have very big China exposure. So from a macro perspective, it was a difficult situation there. Competitive environment has become more intense as well. And that's something we have to live with. But it does seem to be coming back and showing a little bit more underlying strength now compared to a year ago.

Okay. If we now move on to Surgical Workflows. So this business generated an 8.7% EBITA margin in the second quarter, a little bit higher year-over-year. And the last 12-month margin has now hit double digits, 10%. Is that profitability now sustainable? And what do you think is the longer-term margin potential of this business?

We've always said that this should be a double-digit margin business given the portfolio we currently have, given that we have invested in the next generation of operating tables, for example, we've added Healthmark. So we have -- and [ cuarterlyn ]. We've done some organic investments and developments when it comes to infection prevention consumables. I think the composition of the business now really makes it possible to be a 10% plus business. We've said that we'd like to be comfortably above that threshold before we put out a new target.

Okay. And then within Surgical Workflows, the infection control business has been one of the strongest parts of this business. And you saw the second quarter growth in both the service and consumables, and strong North American order intake. What is driving that strength? And can infection control become a larger recurring revenue franchise for Getinge?

I think it's a number of things that's driving this. One, again, this is also linked to procedure volumes. And so that's one important underlying factors. But it's also driven by more awareness of infection prevention and how to work proactively with it. So that's another continuing driving factor that is important. And we spent quite a lot of time and investment on like clinical education and which is important and also longer term becomes reflected in both order intake and sales.

Okay. And then on digital health. So this business or Digital Health Solutions grew the order intake by more than 30% in the first quarter. They talked about OR integration. And then it declined again in the second quarter, that's highlighting the lumpiness of the project business. What does the underlying growth rate of Digital Health look like once you kind of look through the project timing? And can software eventually become a meaningful profit pool?

I think long term, it can become a meaningful profit pool. It's still a business that is -- there's a lot of gray area in terms of how you define this, and therefore, it's difficult to say, okay, this is the underlying growth. But we can clearly see that there is a trend towards digitalization among our customers. We can clearly see that, for example, when it comes to our tools when it comes to operating room planning and capacity utilization, customers can see a measurable benefit when using our tools and hence, the willingness to pay for this as well.

I think also when it comes to our T-DOC product, which is for sterile goods flow, here's -- it's a product that's been around for over 25 years, and we have a clear leading position. It's one of the few truly global digital applications in our industry as well which also, again, is driven by the same factors as I mentioned when it comes to Healthmark, so procedure volumes, but also the fact that what makes an operating room productive is one enabler for that is what happens in the sterile supply department, making sure that you get the right tools for the surgery, the right time properly disinfected and sterilized. And that's something that T-DOC does tremendously well.

Okay. If we move now to the profitability and the cost outlook. So against a challenging cost inflation environment, in the second quarter, you again highlighted successful price adjustments and productivity improvements. Could you remind us where you are seeing the most cost headwinds across labor, components, freight? And which of your productivity or pricing efforts are making the most difference?

Yes. When it comes to the inflationary pressures. In percentage terms, it's probably on transport and logistics. But in absolute terms, it's definitely labor inflation. I mean that's a much bigger portion of our cost composition in the company. So that's a bigger impact. But like you mentioned, and I keep repeating that, I think our team has done a tremendous job when it comes to purchasing negotiations, working with productivity to mitigate some of the headwinds that we've seen from inflation. And then pricing broadly as well. I think the team is doing a good job. We've been around 2% average this year, and I think that's well done in a rather challenging environment.

Okay. Could you talk about the gross margin? I mean you achieved 55% adjusted gross margin in the second quarter, up year-over-year, and that did include some tariff refunds. But even excluding that benefit, you had mix pricing and productivity moving in your favor. As you look beyond the refund and the current tariff volatility, do you still see a scope for gross margin to continue expanding? Or will the labor and material inflation piece offset that more in the near term and midterm?

Yes, it's a bit hard to speculate, I think, in the short term here. But if you look at the long term and if you extend this to our 2028 targets, part of getting to an EBITDA level of 16% to 19% is the gross margin improvement as well, which comes from some of the factors that you mentioned, so pricing, mix, productivity, I think growth itself, we have a good operational leverage in our business. So just pure growth also helps.

Okay. One comment on quality costs. So those kind of peaked in 2024, and then it fell a little bit in 2025, coming down again in '26. Of that SEK 800 million quality cost in '24, how much of that ultimately disappears from the P&L? And more broadly, when should investors expect the gap between reported and adjusted earnings to come down over time?

Yes. I think we -- the SEK 800 million that we've talked about as kind of extraordinary that peaked in 2024. They reduced a little bit in '25. They will reduce a little bit in '26 as well. And the bigger steps are in '27 and '28. And we've said that we'd be disappointed if not half of it was gone at least by the end of 2028. So that's another contributing factor, I think, to the margin expansion.

Okay. And then one on capital allocation and M&A. So your net leverage was 1.7x in the second quarter, well below your internal kind of 2.5x threshold, and that's despite Paragonix, [ Pennamed ], the dividend. Given the balance sheet capacity, where is the hurdle today in reinvesting organically or doing another acquisition or returning capital to shareholders?

We continue -- I think the M&A pipeline is quite active. There's a lot of inflow in the M&A funnel, and we continue to analyze several hundred companies every year. So I think when it comes to capital deployment, our Plan A is always organic investment in market presence in new products and so on. And then it's selective M&A of different sizes. I mean we've done a number of bolt-ons in the last few years. We have Paragonix. That's a new adjacency for us. And we're open to larger acquisitions as well if there is a strong strategic fit.

Okay. Fantastic. That takes us to the end of the session. Mattias, thanks so much for the insights today. And to the audience, thanks for participating. Thanks, everyone.

Thank you very much.

Hi, everyone, and welcome to today's conference. This is Mattias Perjos, the CEO of Getinge. And with me today, I have our CFO, Agneta Palmer. So in today's conference, we'll go through our performance and some of the highlights from the second quarter before we open up for a Q&A.

So we can move over to Page #2, please. And as usual, let's start by looking at the development of our strategic KPIs. We continue to clearly track in line with plan to increase the share of sales from recurring revenue, accelerating the share of sales from high-margin products like, for example, our ECLS offering, consumables and infection control and BetaBags in Sterile Transfer. This is all supported by solid and effective quality processes. And sales from recurring revenue continue to make up about two-thirds and the high-margin products are now at 70%.

For quality, the number of field actions in relation to sales has decreased significantly, and we're pacing a lot better than last year. These improvements should, of course, be achieved through responsible leverage and also an attractive long-term return on invested capital. With that, we can move over to Page #3, please. So if we zoom in on the second quarter and some of the financial key takeaways for the quarter. Overall, we delivered a healthy financial performance in the quarter with solid top line growth. Net sales grew 4.6% organically and with positive development in most of the business areas. Order intake increased by 6.2% organically. Adjusted gross and EBITDA margins were up in the quarter as a result of the tariff refund and also continued positive underlying performance in our business.

This led to a strong cash flow and a strong financial position with financial leverage at 1.7x, so well below the 2.5x EBITDA as we have as our internal threshold. We can then move over to Page #4 and some of the key events in the quarter. So we take a step back here and look at some of the key events in our business across the second quarter. When it comes to the offering and customers, we continue to be innovative. And in the quarter, we launched 3 products, which will benefit customers and patients.

We have launched the Aquadis Endo 110, which is the next generation of automated endoscope reprocessing, while the Fluobeam LS expands the fluorescence imaging portfolio for small incision surgery. We also launched Vasoview Hemopro 3, which is the latest evolution of our EVH platform, supporting coronary artery bypass grafting procedures. And in Hamburg in Germany, we opened a digital OR innovation center with the purpose of accelerating the path to a more intelligent perioperative workflow.

Furthermore, in Surgical Workflows, we strengthened our infection prevention offering in endoscopy by acquiring Pennamed, a U.K.-based distributor of endoscopic consumables. We, of course, also monitor the situation in the Middle East closely. Our first priority remains to tend to our employees in the region and continue to support our customers. The region makes up about 2% of sales, where Saudi Arabia is around half. And thanks to our team's diligent efforts to reroute shipments to implement sourcing initiatives and also take other mitigating actions, the impact on both top line and costs have been very limited so far. Naturally, this might become more of a headwind if the situation worsens, and we continue to follow this very closely.

If we then move to sustainability and quality, we reached an important regulatory milestone in June when we submitted the 510(k) application to FDA for our Cardiosave intra-aortic balloon pump. I'm also happy to see that several of our sustainability KPIs are trending in the right direction. For example, when you look at the product quality KPI and the greenhouse gas emissions noted here on the slide. As briefly mentioned also, when it comes to our tariffs that we communicated separately, we did receive an IEEPA refund in the quarter of approximately $36 million.

We can then move over to Page #5, and we'll discuss our top line performance. So when it comes to top lines, and then we start with order intake. The organic order intake in Acute Care Therapies increased primarily in ECLS therapy consumables in our covered stent portfolio and within EVH. When it comes to Life Science, the organic order intake rose sharply during the quarter following a double-digit growth in Sterile Transfer and in Bio-processing. This continued to decline as a result of the geopolitical uncertainty and the impact that this has on decision-making and the continued challenging investment climate for pharma. The organic order intake for Surgical Workflows increased slightly, driven by strong performance in Infection Control, while Digital Health Solutions and Surgical Workflow places noted a decline in the quarter.

Then when it comes to net sales, we had 4.6% organic growth. Acute Care Therapies increased its net sales organically, primarily due to sales of stents, ECLS therapy consumables as well as Intra-aortic balloon pumps and consumables in the Cardiac Assist subsegment. In Life Science, organic net sales fell slightly despite robust growth in all product categories, except for WIS. And in Surgical Workflows, organic net sales increased following growth in Surgical Workplaces as well as service and consumables in Infection Control.

So with that, we can move over to Page #6, please, and I hand over to you, Agneta.

Thank you, Mattias. Overall, in addition to the tariff refund, we improved our margins in the quarter, thanks to leverage on the increased sales and continued efforts with pricing, mix shift and productivity. If we look at adjusted gross profit for the group, adjusted gross profit amounted to SEK 4.645 billion in the quarter, primarily on the back of the tariff refund, increased sales and price adjustments. This led to an increase of the adjusted gross profit margin by plus 4.6 percentage points in total. On adjusted EBITDA, adjusted gross profit effect on the EBITDA margin was plus 4.8 (sic) [ 4.6 ] percentage points. Adjusted for currency, OpEx had a positive impact on the margin by about plus 1.1 percentage points in the quarter and FX impacted negatively by minus 0.4 percentage points. All in all, this resulted in an adjusted EBITA of SEK 1.478 billion and a margin of 17.6%. Let's move to Page #7, please. We remain in a solid financial position. Free cash flow in the quarter amounted to SEK 1 billion.

Compared with last year, free cash flow was impacted by improved operating profit and changes in working capital. At the end of Q2, net debt increased to SEK 11.5 billion on the back of the final earn-out for Paragonix, the acquisition of Pennamed and the dividend. If we adjust for pension liabilities, net debt is at SEK 9 billion. This brings us to a leverage of 1.7x adjusted EBITDA, which is well below the 2.5x, which we have set as an internal threshold. If we adjust for pension liabilities, leverage is at 1.3x adjusted EBITDA. Cash amounted to approximately SEK 2.1 billion at the end of the quarter. So all in all, we can conclude that the financial position continues to be strong.

Let's move to Page #8, please, and back to you, Mattias.

Okay. Great. Thank you very much, Agneta. And besides the tariff refund, Q2 was the first quarter in a while with a little bit cleaner year-on-year comparison as there were tariffs also in Q2 2025. And even if there was still a headwind from FX in this quarter, it has eased. Looking then at the rolling 12 months development for adjusted EBITA margin, we were at 12.7%, 2 years ago, and we're now at 15.2%. Normalized, which means that including -- excluding tariffs, we are at 15.5%. If we go back to the capital market update that we had in May 2024, we guided for an adjusted EBITA margin span of 16% to 19% by the end of 2028. We're about halfway to the end of 2021 -- 2028 from then, and we are closing in on this span. The main drivers which will support us there in spite of continued tariffs are the gradual cost release from the second half of this year, primarily stemming from the regulatory submission and the future approval processes when it comes to Cardiosave and also Cardiohelp II.

There's also the mix shift to more recurring and high-margin revenue, and there is also the results of our continuous productivity measures and some of the key product launches that we have ahead of us. With that, we can move to Page #9, please. So in terms of the financial outlook for 2026, I think we're all aware of that we live in an uncertain time with a lot of geopolitical uncertainties that we need to navigate on a daily basis in our business. But based on the underlying demand that we see and our regular dialogue with customers, our expectation remains for an organic net sales growth to be in the range of 3% to 5% and this is adjusted for the phase-out of our surgical perfusion product category. Surgical perfusion is still expected to have some net sales in 2026, but declining from about SEK 250 million to around SEK 50 million.

We can then move to Page #11, please. So just to summarize the quarter before we head into Q&A. Overall, we had a robust financial performance with solid organic growth in top line. Margins came in healthy, thanks to the tariff refund and also our improving underlying performance. Cash flow in the quarter and our financial position remains strong. For 2026, we reiterate our guidance for organic net sales growth of 3% to 5% adjusted for the phaseout of the surgical perfusion. Our priorities for 2026, they remain the same as they've been from the beginning of this year.

We continue to have the #1 priority of addressing the remaining challenges in Acute Care Therapies. We have the sustainability productivity improvements that we're working on and the cost consciousness when it comes to navigating in this geopolitical uncertainty and also addressing the impact from tariffs. And #1 priority, of course, is also continue to creating added value for our customers, which I think is something that we see on an everyday basis in our business. So, with that, I open up for questions. Thank you very much.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Erik Cassel from Danske Bank.

First, I wanted to ask about the composition of organic order growth, specifically for EMEA, obviously, very strong at 16%. And you're saying that mainly it seems to do with ventilator orders. But I also wanted to ask you, is there any component of Cardiosave return and early Cardiohelp II units that you're seeing now in order intake and also on the Polish, Italian ventilator tenders, were they sort of very significant and I guess, nonrecurring? Any color on both of those would be very helpful.

Right. Thanks, Erik. We don't disclose detailed numbers on product area level, but we do have some sales of both categories that you mentioned here and also a bit of an impact from sales in Poland, but I -- we don't disclose detailed numbers of this. So there's an impact. And -- but it's early days when it comes to both Cardiohelp II and also the shipments of Cardiosave.

Okay. And then I wanted to also ask about subsegment products as well, I guess. But on the order quality in Life Science, super strong as well, especially Americas. I just wanted to see if you can say anything about in part, what's happening with the market over there? And also if you can talk about the mix between Sterile Transfers versus bioprocessing split if there's anything nonrecurring in that order intake or if we're just seeing, say, the U.S. market on a new higher level?

Yes, I'd say there is nothing nonrecurring in there. It's -- it is sterile transfer continuing to trend very, very strongly as it has for a while. And also then in addition to this, we are seeing a bit of a better market climate when it comes to bioprocessing. And then on the negative side, as I mentioned in the call, we have a slightly more challenging situation when it comes to the WIS business and the capital goods there. There's still some decision anxiety when it comes to our pharma customers. So that is a drag on the business, but there's nothing unusual or one-off nature when it comes to the order intake otherwise.

Okay. Good. And just a quick one, is these types of orders, which I guess are mostly consumables, not the mix in Life Science, are they converting relatively fast? Or is this order intake for long term, so to say?

Sorry, which category were you talking about then?

Mainly sterile transfer, but overall consumables within Life Science.

I think there's some lumpiness when it comes to order patterns in consumables in Life Science. But again, there's nothing that stands out dramatically here, I'd say. And when it comes to the sales, it is a lot more smooth when it comes to deliveries. So nothing out of the ordinary, I would say, in the quarter as such.

The next question comes from Sten Gustafsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

More product detailed questions then. I was wondering if you could share with us sort of growth rate and demand for your ECMO and intra-aortic balloon pump products. I guess we all saw one of the competing products out there having some issues and weak sales momentum. So I was wondering if that has helped your products in the market?

Yes. Thanks, Sten. No, we have no evidence of that to us this -- I can't talk about the competitor positions here or anything that they've discussed in their earnings calls. But when it comes to our business, we basically continue to see the good trend that we've had for our ECLS business. And this is geographically, I say, very, very strong across the board also. And when it comes to the balloon pump business, we -- as you know, we started to release shipments for CE markets and kind of ramping up the deliveries here as well. But I don't see a big connection between what other companies have communicated here and our growth. For us, it seems like normal strong demand driven.

Great. And then my second question is, and this is more of a clarification. I think you mentioned in your remarks, cost releases in the second half related to the upcoming launches. I was wondering if you could perhaps quantify those.

Yes, we haven't put a number on this when it comes to the second half of this year. What we've said is really just reiterating what we've talked about for a few years now that all the costs that go into remediating the 2 remaining categories in Cardiopulmonary in Cardiac Assist will start to come down in the second half of this year. So the overall number I'm talking about here is the SEK 800 million of extraordinary quality costs that we said peaked in 2024. So we had a little bit of a lowering of these costs in 2025. We expect another lowering in 2026, mostly back-end loaded for '26 and then a little bit of a rapid decrease of cost in 2027 and '28.

The next question comes from Ludwig Germunder from Handelsbanken.

So first one, I just want to follow up on the IABP ramp-up in CE markets. Maybe you mentioned it, but would you say that there are any stocking effects in that at the moment since you're ramping up? Or would you say that the sales and orders are very true to the underlying demand?

We are still supply constrained. So there's no possibility for anyone to stock any of the balloon pumps that we have started to ship here. We really have just been able to meet the most critical and urgent customer demand.

Great. Secondly, I just wanted to focus a bit on ACT margins here. So could you help us understand and maybe elaborate a bit on the underlying margin development for ACT specifically if we adjust for tariff refunds how should we think about that?

Go ahead, Agneta.

Yes. No, So the majority of the tariff refund is related to ACT, but underlying margin performance is rather strong connected to those factors that Mattias also mentioned. It is a mix shift. It is the high-margin disposables that come through. It is continued pricing efforts, and it is those productivity initiatives. So underlying margin develop is strong, but it is boosted by this refund.

And then just a quick final one, if I may. So recently, there has been some discussions regarding U.S. hospital CapEx levels. I was just curious if you could share anything what you're currently seeing in the U.S. and if you have changed -- sorry, if you have noticed any change recently in the customer dialogues.

No, we have the same data as everybody else here. And I can only -- and we actually have seen this since almost a year back in some of the data from our customers as well. But we are very close to, I mean, strongly needed acute therapies. So we haven't had any real demand impact from our perspective. And I think, as I alluded to in the call, the continued dialogue that we have on an everyday basis with our customers is still rather positive and customers seems to be willing to invest in the type of products and therapies that we offer because it's something that is needed to treat patients on an everyday basis.

The next question comes from Kristofer Liljeberg from DNB Carnegie.

Two questions. First, could you just update us on the Cardiohelp II previous hopefully problem status? And also, I'm curious to hear your view here now about the potential to lift margin for the full year and also if we adjust for this tariff refund that you had and maybe somewhat more of that in the second half of the year?

When it comes to the Cardiohelp II, limited market release, this issue, as you mentioned, has been resolved. So we are back into the final phase of that. And then, of course, in the coming months, then move into like a full market release. So that issue is behind us. When it comes to the margin guidance, we don't give detailed guidance for 2026, but we have mentioned earlier that our ambition is to improve the reported margin also this year. we have not changed that at all, but we're not prepared to give any more detailed guidance now.

When it comes to the tariffs, we have, of course, reported what has been refunded to us and also how this is reported in the financial numbers. And we'll continue to report forward-looking from here on what tariffs we end up paying. But I would underline that as of next week, there is a new tariff regime coming into place. We don't know exactly what this is. So we'll continue to update you once we have clarity on this. But our intention is only to continue to report tariffs paid going forward.

Could I just follow up on what you said about margin. Would you say that the second quarter margin -- underlying margin development was according to what you were planning earlier this year? Or have you become more confident in this margin recovery we see now of the second quarter.

Yes. I think the drivers of the margin, if we disregard the tariffs, I think the other drivers of the margins when it comes to impact from leverage on growth when it comes to the product mix, when it comes to the productivity improvements that we have, I think it's broadly tracking according to the plans that we have. So maybe some additional comfort from this. But I think to us, no major surprise. We can see this development on a day-to-day business as we follow up everything that we do.

The next question comes from Mattias Vadsten from SEB.

First one, zooming out on APAC here in this quarter, overall dropping in orders and in sales, although nothing material. But could you just describe maybe the climate that you see in the regions, specifically covering key drivers in China?

Yes. I think China, like we've said for some time now, we expect to be a challenging market for the foreseeable future. Last year, we did have around 2% growth in China. We don't guide on individual markets, but I think the headwinds are, I think, well known per category, they're quite well known by now. And there's no particular dynamic to call out. I think China was one of the weak points in the quarter from a geographic perspective, but it's also something that fluctuates between quarters. So I think we have no reason to revise our outlook or anything when it comes to evolution in APAC overall or China in particular.

I think the categories within ACT that we have strong positions in, they continue to have a good demand situation. Surgical Workflows, on the other hand, we've had some strong competitive pressure for quite some time, and that's also continued now. And Life Science is a little bit more diverse depending on which product category you look at. So from a demand perspective in China, nothing to call out. We expect this to continue to be challenging, but I think our team locally is doing a very good job in navigating this also.

Good. The next question relates to ventilators. It seems to be doing well. How would you describe the comparison figures when you move in here to the second half of the year compared to what you have experienced in the first half? Are they easing up?

Yes. We've had some positive boost from this ventilator conversion that was going on and impacted the comps last year. We see -- we had some of that remaining in Q2, but I think Q3 and Q4 are kind of cleaner from that perspective. And overall, the ventilation market has, I think, stabilized quite well after all this post-COVID turbulence, and we continue to protect and develop our market share.

Good. Final question is, what is a reasonable time line from now as to when you're able to sell Cardiosave and the full ECMO offering in the U.S. without restrictions? -- based on your knowledge?

Yes. That is an important question, but very difficult to give a time line. When it comes to the time of the part that we can impact, which means the submission of 510(k) applications, I think we're on top of that. So as I mentioned in the call here, and we have submitted the 510(k) application for our intra-aortic balloon pump. When it comes to the ECMO indication, it is second half of the year, and we'll come back specifically when that happens as well. But no change to plans or -- I think the time when it comes to submissions either. And of course, approval process is a dialogue that we have with FDA and not something I can give you any guidance.

So H2 is both Cardiohelp and HLS set?

It's a complete submission, yes, for U.S. ECMO indication. Which means both hardware and consumables.

The next question comes from Filip Wetterqvist from SB1 Markets.

I'll take them one by one. First one, you mentioned price adjustments as a contributor to growth. So I'm kind of wondering how much did that contribute? You mentioned in Q4 that you expect prices to contribute about 2% for the full year. Does that still stand? Or have you been able to increase prices further?

No, it's around the same level. So no change here.

All right. Perfect. And then on Life Science, growth declined despite a solid development in all categories, except WIS. So how big part of Life Science sales are WIS, let's say?

We don't disclose detailed numbers on the categories. But it is -- I mean, it is the legacy part of our portfolio, I think the longest offering that we've had in the market, and it consists of also capital and service close to around 50-50 for those. But no detailed numbers on exactly the size of the business, but it is the one with the strongest headwind in Life Science right now.

And my last question is on field actions. You report field actions per SEK billion, and it was up quarter-over-quarter by SEK 0.1 billion. What was the reason for that increase?

We don't disclose, I think, detailed feedback. I think the information that you can get is from what is like officially published from regulatory authorities here. So no other particular drivers to call out here. This is also something that can vary quite a bit over the quarter. So nothing to call out here in terms of product categories or geographic markets.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from David Adlington from JPMorgan.

First question, just on the revenue guidance. You've obviously 2.7% year-to-date. I just wondered if the top end of the range at 5% is really in scope and what drives you -- what drives the acceleration in the second half to get there?

Yes. We're not going to break down the guidance span into any more detail here. We have a fairly good momentum and reiterate the span as such. So -- and when it comes to the demand drivers, I'd say, overall, is what we've talked about for a while. We do see good traction when it comes to the cardiopulmonary business and the ECLS therapy products that we have. We expect sterile transfer to continue to be a strong point as well within Life Science. But we can't give you any more details on where we expect to land and what's required in terms of the guidance.

Okay. Fair enough. And then just on margins. On the cost inflation side, anything you want to call out in terms of additional cost inflation, either the impact on the second half or into next year?

Yes. This is something we're monitoring very, very closely. So far, we haven't seen any significant impact. I think the biggest individual impact has been when it comes to transport and transport surcharges. But again, not material at this stage. We continue to monitor all different categories very closely.

And as you know, we have a productivity program in place since quite a while. We were hoping maybe for some of these benefits to drop through to the bottom line. But right now, they have more of a mitigating effect towards some of the inflationary pressures that we see. So definitely on our radar and thus far, manageable. And I think we will be able to offset, hopefully, most of this with the continued productivity improvements that we're working on.

That's good. And then just finally, on the IABP, you say you're supply constrained. Are you planning on ramping up capacity? And if so, when do you expect that to be able to meet demand?

Yes, I can't give you a time line. We are continuously ramping up capacity here, but there are some constraints when it comes to components and also when it comes actually to labor and ramping up. So -- and as you know, we've had a lot of capacity constraints because of the remediation program and having to do quite a lot of testing when it comes to products and so on. So it is an upward trajectory, and I can't give you a time line for when we will be kind of in balance.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

All right. Thank you very much. Thanks for tuning in. I think we already made the summary here. So I appreciate you taking the time to be with us today and wish you a great rest of the day. Thank you very much.

Welcome to Getinge Q1 Report 2026 Presentation. [Operator Instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO, Mattias Perjos; and CFO, Agneta Palmer. Please go ahead.

Thanks, and welcome, everyone. Thanks for joining the call today. As mentioned in the intro here, it's me and our CFO, Agneta Palmer, with you today. And in today's conference, we'll go through performance and some of the highlights in the first quarter of 2026 before opening up for a Q&A.

So let's move directly to Page #2, please. And I'd like to start by looking at the development of some of our strategic KPIs. And as you can see here, it's evident that we continue to clearly track in line with plan to increase the share of sales from recurring revenue and also accelerating the share of sales from higher-margin products like, for example, our ECLS offering, our consumables in Infection Control and our BetaBags within the Sterile Transfer product category.

This is all supported, of course, by solid and effective quality processes. And if we look at the specifics here, you can see that sales from recurring revenue continue to make up 2/3 and high-margin products closing in on about 70% right now. When it comes to quality, the number of field actions in relation to sales has decreased significantly, and we see this positive trend sequentially continue also into the beginning of 2026. And these improvements, we always act with -- in line with thinking of responsible leverage and an attractive long-term return on invested capital.

We can move to Page #3, please. So if we then look at some of the key takeaways from the first quarter, we managed to beat last year's record quarter and grow top line organically. Net sales grew by 0.8% organically with positive development specifically in Life Science and in Surgical Workflows. And on the order intake front, we saw an organic increase of 3.9%.

When it comes to our adjusted gross and EBITA margins, they were down in the quarter, mainly due to the strong headwind from currency and from tariffs. And adjusting for the SEK 226 million in currency and tariff headwinds in the quarter, the EBITA margin was about 50 basis points higher than last year's Q1. So the conclusion from that is that the underlying performance in business -- in our business continues to be strong, and it's developing according to the plans, the long-term plans that we have laid out.

We also have a strong cash flow and continue to have a solid financial position. So our financial leverage is at 1.5x and well below the 2.5x EBITDA that we have kind of as an internal threshold.

We can then move over to Page #4 and some of the key events during the quarter. And if we start with our product offering and our customers, I think one situation that is, of course, evolving on a daily basis is the situation in Middle East, and we continue to monitor this closely. Our first priority is, of course, to tend to our employees in the region and continue to support our customers. And if you look at the region as such, it makes up about 2% of our sales and where Saudi Arabia is half. And so far, the impact on top line and on cost has been very limited for us.

To our Life Science customers, we launched a new steam sterilizer dedicated to larger items for use for labs and for research applications. And when it comes to the sustainability and quality perspective, I'm very happy to see that we got the CE approval for Cardiohelp II in the quarter, and I'll talk more about that on the coming slide here. In addition to this, we have in our implants business received EU MDR certificate for the Intergard Synergy, which is a vascular graft with an antimicrobial coating, to minimize the risk of infections. Furthermore, in the quarter, we released our annual report for 2025, including our sustainability statement and the annual report provides a lot of good information on Getinge. So I encourage you to have a look at this if you haven't done so already.

We can then move to Page #5, please. So just wanted to elaborate a moment on the positive news about the CE approval for Cardiohelp II. And just to remind everybody, this is a market segment where we are already the global market leader within ECLS therapy, thanks to our strong existing portfolio.

With the launch of Cardiohelp II now, we become even more relevant for our customers. And some of the systems' key features are that it's even more lightweight and transportable, meaning that it can be used for both in-hospital and intra-hospital use. It also has an attachable gas blender as an option, which is something that is highly appreciated by our customers. And from an interface standpoint, we have an interface now that is even easier for users to operate, and it includes also several smart monitoring functionalities for better decision support for our customers.

We have initiated a limited market release now in the beginning of the second quarter to a handful of customers and very happy to see how positive the reception from our customers have been for this important product. The plan now is to do a full CE market release at the beginning of the third quarter. And when it comes to the important U.S. market, the plan is still to make the submission of the Cardiohelp II system, including our HLS Advanced consumables in the second half of this year.

We can then move to Page #6 and talk about the top line for a moment. So overall, we had a solid top line performance in Life Science and in Surgical Workflows. And when it comes to order intake for the group, we grew 3.9% organically. The order intake for Acute Care Therapies decreased mainly due to the temporarily high comparative figures in ventilation, where one competitor last year drastically exited the market. So we're very successful in capturing some of that market share. At the same time, we saw really good growth when it comes to ECLS consumables across the board. And this is, as you know, one of our key categories.

In Life Science, the organic order intake increased in the quarter, for example, because of an anticipated improvement from low levels that we've seen in bioprocessing for quite some time. And this is something that [indiscernible] and it's good to see some of the momentum here. [ Surgical Workflows ] grew double digit in the quarter, mainly on the back of the strong development across all our product areas, which is also encouraging to see.

Net sales there, we had growth of 0.8% organically for Acute Care Therapies. Organic net sales decreased mainly on the back of last year's consolidation in the ventilation market, that I just mentioned. In Life Science, they had a really strong quarter in terms of deliveries, and they grew organic net sales in all product areas. BetaBags and Sterile Transfer continues to show significant traction and momentum. In Surgical Workflows, the organic net sales increased primarily thanks to growth in Infection Control consumables within service and within our operating table category.

With that, we can move over to Page #7, and I hand over to you, Agneta for a moment.

Okay. Thank you, Mattias. So overall, the headwind from tariffs and currency continued in the first quarter. Even so, we managed to hold up margins, thanks to continued pricing and productivity. Starting with adjusted gross profit for the group, adjusted gross profit amounted to SEK 3.828 billion in the quarter, heavily impacted by currency and tariffs. Adjusted gross margin was down by 0.7 percentage points in total in spite of healthy contribution from price and mix.

If we then look at adjusted EBITA, cleared for currency, adjusted gross profit effect on the EBITA margin was plus 0.3 percentage points, while OpEx adjusted for currency had a negative impact on the margin by about minus 1 percentage points in the quarter. And FX impacted by minus 0.3 percentage points. So all in all, this resulted in an adjusted EBITA of SEK 824 million and a margin of 11.1%.

Let's then move to Page 8, please. And here, we can clearly state that we remain in a solid financial position. Free cash flow amounted to SEK 842 million in the quarter. Compared with last year, free cash flow was impacted by improved operating profit and changes in capital. Working capital days continued to be well below 100. We are now at roughly 90 days. On operating return on invested capital, we are at 11.4% on a rolling 12-month basis, which is well above the cost of capital.

At the end of Q1, net debt decreased to SEK 9.3 billion. If we adjust for pension liabilities, we are now at SEK 7 billion. This brings us to a leverage of 1.5x adjusted EBITDA, which is well below the 2.5x that we have set as an internal threshold. If we adjust for pension liabilities, leverage is at 1.1x adjusted EBITDA.

Cash amounted to approximately SEK 4 billion at the end of the quarter. So all in all, we can conclude that the financial position continues to be strong.

Let's now move to Page 9, please, and back to you, Mattias.

Okay. Great. Thank you, Agneta. Just a moment then to focus on the impact from tariffs and FX in the quarter. So this was, in total, a drag on adjusted EBITA in Q1 of more than SEK 200 million, so SEK 226 million altogether. Tariffs made up just over SEK 100 million of that. And if we exclude the impact of tariffs and currency, our adjusted EBITA margin in Q1 would have been 12.6%. And there, as you can see, showing then an underlying improvement.

As tariffs were first implemented in Q2 of 2025, then we expect the year-on-year comparison to be a little bit cleaner from Q2 and onwards if tariff levels remain. And that's, of course, something we'll continue to update you on.

We can then move over to Page #10, please. So I want to talk a little bit more about the long term as well. So zooming out and returning to what we said at the Capital Market update that we had in May of 2024. There, we talked about an adjusted EBITA margin of 16% to 19% by the end of 2028. And I think we're on a steady path of reaching that despite the headwind factors that we have seen, that we were not aware of when we announced this target.

The main drivers which will enable this are growth, mix and productivity. From a growth perspective, from regulatory approvals and key strategic product launches such as Cardiohelp II in ECMO that we've talked about here and also launching our low-temp sterilization in the U.S., having the sales restrictions removed for Cardiosave in our Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump business. It's just to mention a few factors here.

Specifically, when it comes to Cardiosave, I'm happy to say that we, at the end of last week, got the release for sales in CEE countries in line with the plan for Q2. We also expect that the investment fatigue that we've seen in the pharma industry will improve and some of the decision anxiety that we've seen in the last year will go away here as well. We will also, in addition to this, get our share of the announced U.S. investments and benefit from the recovery in bioprocessing. And of course, we will also continue our diligent and successful work with realizing price increases annually.

When it comes to mix, we have been successful in our strategic intent to steer our business towards a continued rotation to high-margin products and consumables. And if possible, we prefer to have products made up of a competent hardware with captive consumables attached to it, similar to what we have in our ECLS offering with Cardiohelp and HLS and in the Sterile Transfer offering with Alpha Ports driving the consumption of BetaBag. Our strong R&D and innovation pipeline is, of course, set to support this.

When it comes to productivity, here, we've already done a lot in different parts of the business, and we are still excited that there remain quite a few opportunities across the business as well. One thing to mention, I think, is the heightened extraordinary quality costs connected to the product uplift of Cardiosave and Cardiohelp that is expected now to go down in the second half of 2026 and that we will be on a lower level in 2027 and '28.

Furthermore, we will, of course, continue with our production excellence effort, where we also have some very tangible measurable benefits and helping us further optimize our supply chain and remain with an overall tight cost control across the company. So this all supports our assessment that our target for 2028 is still within good reach.

Then we can move over to Page 11, please. So for the remainder of 2026, we confirm the financial outlook for 2026. As we all know, there are some geopolitical uncertainties that we need to navigate. But based on the underlying demand and the dialogue that we have with our customers on a daily basis, our expectation remains for an organic net sales growth in the range of 3% to 5%, adjusted for the phaseout of the surgical perfusion product category. Surgical Perfusion is still expected to have some net sales in 2026, but declining from about SEK 250 million last year to SEK 50 million this year.

We can then move to Page 13, please. So in terms of summarizing here, the key takeaways from the first quarter. We did achieve organic growth in our top line despite the record quarter last year. Tariffs and FX continue to be a significant headwind, but our underlying performance is improving. Cash flow in the quarter was really strong in the quarter, and our financial position remains solid as well. For 2026, we reiterate our guidance for organic net sales growth of 3% to 5% adjusted for the phaseout of the Surgical Perfusion.

And when it comes to our priorities for 2026, you've heard them before, we are focused on addressing the remaining challenges when it comes to quality remediation in Acute Care Therapies. We focus on sustainable productivity improvements and cost consciousness when it comes to navigating the geopolitical uncertainty and also addressing the impact from tariffs. And most importantly, we continue to focus on the work hand-in-hand with our customers, adding value for them and the patients that they serve.

With that said, I open up for questions.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Sten Gustafsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

A couple of questions. First of all, with regards to the ventilator headwinds you had here in Q1, if I remember correctly, you had pretty good sales development for ventilators also in Q2 last year. So is it fair to assume that the headwind will continue into Q2? That would be my first question.

Maybe to some extent, it's not something -- it's not going to be a significant factor, I think, for Q2, but it certainly won't be a big help either.

Okay. Excellent. My second question is regarding Cardiohelp II. And what kind of gross margin should we assume for that product compared to the existing Cardiohelp product? Is it going to be accretive? Or is it fairly similar gross margins on those 2 products?

Yes. We don't guide on and disclose gross margin levels on any of our products and Cardiohelp II is no exception. Generally, though, when we work with product development and new launches, we make sure that the products that form the next generation of any therapy or product category have a better gross margin than the generation that they replace, and Cardiohelp II should be no exception to this.

Okay. And one final, if I may. You talk about these lower extraordinary quality costs going forward. Could you please sort of quantify those? I mean we've heard SEK 800 million in the past. And where we are today? How low those will be going forward?

Yes. Yes, I think you're right. We said that they peaked at about SEK 800 million in 2024. We saw a small decrease in 2025. We expect another small decrease this year and then a slightly bigger decrease from 2027 onwards. And the end game here is to at least halve those costs.

The next question comes from Erik Cassel from Danske Bank.

First, I want to get some more color on the composition of the ACT decline. I mean, obviously, you talked about ventilators, but you're also talking about Cardiac Assist, et cetera. And I think last quarter, you said that the demand for Cardiac Assist was quite positive on the hardware side. So I wanted to ask if something has changed on that side. And if you could, if possible, give some more color on how much the ACT Americas part declined by the different parts?

Yes. No, thanks for the question. We don't dissect the business that much. What I can say on Cardiac Assist is that we had hoped to be able to resume deliveries in Q1 already of balloon pumps in CEE markets. And that was not the case. We only got the final approval to start this last Friday. So it will be a Q2 event. So that's been a little bit of a drag on sales. And also, it has a direct impact on order intake as well because customers don't order new pumps unless they have received what they're expecting to be delivered.

Can you say anything on how much the ventilator decline did on that 8.5%?

No, we don't disclose subcategory financial parameters, unfortunately.

But can you say anything if it would have been, say, positive organic growth if it wasn't for ventilators?

No, I can't answer that either, unfortunately.

All right. Fair enough. I got to try. Then on the guidance side, I view it as the wording is a bit softer, perhaps the visibility is worse now and maybe you're even seeing a bit more, say, negative outlook. Can you just talk a bit about what you're seeing for the rest of '26 in terms of the, say, customer behavior and dialogues that you're referring to? Has it become slightly more negative? Or is this just a wording change that I'm dwelling too much on?

Yes. No, that was not the intent of the wording change at all. It was really just a way of recognizing that we do operate in a rather volatile environment, and we're mindful of that, but we feel confident reconfirming our guidance here even if the word, semantics, had changed a little bit.

Okay. Just a last question then. Surgical Workflows, obviously quite strong in terms of order intake, especially for Americas and Digital Health. Is there some specific projects that this relates to that sort of makes it nonrecurring? Or are you seeing a more upbeat environment in the U.S. specifically for Surgical Workflows?

It's a bit of both. If you look at DHS, it's always lumpy. I mean they tend to be rather large projects, and we do have that, but there's also a little bit of an underlying better confidence, I think, generally in the market and also, I think in the way we operate in this business as well. We made some tweaks to how we organize ourselves, which hopefully also for the long term has a better, more positive impact. But there's absolutely a bit of -- you cannot call them one-offs because they're not. It's just project business that is a little bit fluctuating by nature.

Okay. Can I ask one short one? Will you tell us anything on the potential impact of the change in steel content tariffs? Or is that something you're going to not disclose?

What we can say there is that it's still under analysis, how it impacts us. It's fairly recent. But the preliminary evaluation is that it's mainly if it hits us. It's components and spare parts, not complete products. And the absolute majority of our exposure is on the complete products.

So the SEK 500 million for full year still holds, you think?

I don't think that we have guided on this, but that sounds like a fair assumption given the current levels, yes.

The next question comes from Filip Wetterqvist from SB1 Markets.

I have a couple. First one, given recent pricing hikes that we have seen on raw materials such as plastic, steel, aluminum, it seems like you do not see any material effect of this in Q1, and I assume contracts are negotiated a few quarters in advance. But do you anticipate any higher input costs in the coming quarters? Or do you not expect any effect at all from this?

Yes. Thank you for that question. If we dissect it a bit into parts. When it comes to freight, which is the more direct near-term impact, we have very limited impact in Q1. But if it's prolonged, yes, there will be some impact in Q2 onwards. When it comes to plastics, et cetera, it's too early to say that we have any effects there.

Okay. And at the Q4 call, you indicated price increases of around 2% for 2026. Did that materialize here in Q1, meaning the 0.8% organic growth was hampered by lower volumes? Or -- and do you -- are you able to accelerate price increases further there if you see increasing costs here in the coming quarters?

Yes. We still stand by that, roughly 2%. It is a gradual rolling during the year. So it's slightly less than that in Q1, but we are progressing well towards that level.

Okay. But let's say, we see -- so if costs are increasing, you won't be able to translate that onwards to your customers, you still anticipate only a 2% price increase then?

This is always an ongoing discussion that we have with the -- all the commercial dynamics and the cost levels that we have. So of course, we will adapt our ways of working if we see that we get higher inflation, but it's not an automatic or sort of something that we can directly pass on. Mattias mentioned it for tariffs and it's similar then for raw material. But we do have very active pricing.

The next question comes from Kristofer Liljeberg from DNB Carnegie.

I have a few short ones. I hope that's okay. First of all, is it possible to quantify at all the positive effect you expect here from the new ECMO approval in Europe or whether that potential positive effect is more a factor of when and -- yes, when you get the U.S. approval, again? And then could you just clarify a little bit about the Cardiosave status here in Europe and the U.S. filing? And then finally, on tariffs, if it's fair to assume really neutral effect here year-over-year from the second quarter?

Yes. I think we can't quantify. But of course, there is a positive effect from the launch of Cardiohelp. I mean this is an important part of our product range. So definitely a net positive, but I can't give you a magnitude of that.

When it comes to the Cardiosave status, we got approval to start shipping last Friday. So the first pumps are being delivered in CEE markets this week. And the U.S. filing, there is no change here. We still expect to do that before the half year mark.

And then when it comes to tariffs, it's dependent, obviously, on the tariff level, but also on the product mix of imports. But generally speaking, yes, it sounds like a fair assumption to assume that.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from David Adlington from JPMorgan.

Maybe could you quantify the impact of foreign exchange hedges in Q1, how they roll off through the next 12 months or so? And then secondly, obviously, we're a quarter in now, still no margin guidance. Just wondering if you're willing to give us an idea around how you're seeing margins for the year, whether up, down or sideways?

Yes. If we start with FX, we have not changed anything specifically regarding our hedging strategy, and we will not disclose that. But just a reminder, I think we have talked about it on this call before, looking at the natural hedge, around 60% of what we sell in the U.S., we also produce in the U.S. And then the second thing maybe to mention regarding natural hedging and FX exposure is that we work very actively with our payment flows to compensate or offset as much as possible.

So those are the 2 things to highlight there, but no quantification of the hedging effects as such.

And on the margin guidance, I mean, there's still [Technical Difficulty] said in the presentation, we are confident about the long-term margin guidance of 16% to 19%.

Sorry, Mattias, you broke up again. I might have missed the first part of that. Would you mind just repeating the margins for this year?

Yes. I just said that we -- there's a lot of uncertainty in the world, as you know. So we are not going to do any margin guidance for 2026. We remain with the top line guidance only, and we remain with the long-term margin guidance of 16% to 19%.

The next question comes from Ludvig Lundgren from Nordea.

Yes. I just have a follow-up on ACT. So on ECLS consumables continued to grow despite being up against a rather tough comparison numbers. And I assume there was some flu-related headwinds here given the lower hospitalizations Q1 '26. So I just wonder if there were any one-offs or stocking of consumables that you saw here in the quarter or if it's rather the underlying run rate?

You broke up for a second. Can you repeat the question on the ECLS consumables, please?

Yes. So it seems pretty strong considering the quite tough comparison. So I just wonder if you saw any stocking or one-offs here in the quarter or if it rather reflects the underlying run rate?

Yes. No, there were no abnormal events in Q1. I think your analysis of this seems correct. It's a good underlying demand.

Yes. Okay. And can you just confirm that like the flu-related sales was lower this quarter versus Q1 '25?

[indiscernible] confirm that we see the same flu data as you when it comes to hospitalizations. How our customers use the product they buy, whether it's for treating flu or something else, we don't have perfect insight into it.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Okay. Thank you very much. I think I already made the summary before the Q&A. So I just wanted to say thanks, everyone, for joining, and I wish you a good rest of the day. Thank you very much.

Welcome to the Getinge Q4 Report 2025 presentation. [Operator Instructions].

Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO, Mattias Perjos; and CFO, Agneta Palmer. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, and welcome, everyone, to today's earnings call. With me, I have our CFO, Agneta Palmer. We will start the conference today with our performance in the fourth quarter and then reflect a bit on the full year and our expectations for 2026 and onwards before ending with a Q&A.

So we can move directly to Page #2, please. So let's first look at the development of our longer-term strategic KPIs. You can see that we continue to clearly track in line with our plans to increase the share of sales from recurring revenue, accelerating the share of sales from high-margin products like our Paragonix offering, our ECLS portfolio, the consumables with infection controls and also data bags inside our Cell Transfer segment in Life Science. This is all supported by solid and effective quality processes as well, which is extremely important in our industry.

So sales from recurring revenue now makes up about 2/3 and high-margin products a little bit more of total revenue. When it comes to quality, the number of field actions in relation to sales has decreased significantly, and we see this positive trend also sequentially continuing in the fourth quarter. This improvement should, of course, be achieved through responsible leverage and an attractive long-term return on invested capital.

If you move to Page #3. If we then zoom in on the fourth quarter of last year and some of the key takeaways from the quarter, we managed to beat last year's record quarter and grow top line organically, which I think is really good. Net sales grew by 1.2% organically with positive developments in most BAs and regions, and our order intake increased 2.3% organically. If we then look at adjusted gross and EBITDA margins, they were down in the quarter, mainly due to the strong headwind from currency and tariffs. And adjusting for the over SEK 1 billion in currency and tariff headwind in 2025, the EBITA margin for the full year was considerably higher than 2024, signaling that the underlying performance of the business is strong and developing according to plan. We have solid cash flow, and we remain in a very strong financial position with our financial leverage well below 2.5x EBITDA. And the Board has -- the Board of Directors have proposed a dividend of SEK 4.75 per share.

We can then move to Page #4, please. So if we then look at some of the key activities and events in the quarter and start with our -- what we offer our customers, we -- it's usually our strongest quarter than last year's significant amount of shipments that went out in the last week of the quarter -- last week of the year. So really good collaboration with our customers overall, and that this is the reason we managed to reach record high organic sales in the quarter as well.

I'm also very happy to see that our intense product development efforts have resulted in several important product launches during the quarter. In Life Science, we have announced the integration of Siemens open and flexible user interface in the new generation of washers and sterilizers, and this will support streamer operations, efficient data management and secure data integrity for our customers. And also in Surgical Workflows, we launched the utility-efficient Aquadis 44 washer-disinfector, which helps hospitals reduce cost and meet environmental -- their environmental targets. And within Surgical Workflows, we also launched Automatiq, which is a new family of next-generation automated solutions, which combines smart robotics, intelligent conveyor systems and advanced software to achieve both safer, more consistent and less labor-intensive sterile reprocessing.

If we then look at the sustainability and quality aspect of this, we continue to make good regulatory progress in the quarter. In our Implants business, we received premarket approval for the iCast covered stent in large diameter lanes. So this will help us become more competitive in the U.S. market. Our PLS set which is used in extracorporeal circulation for cardiac and pulmonary support received CE certificate under the EUR MDR. And also happy to see that PiCCO, our minimally invasive hemodynamic monitoring system is now included in the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine's guideline on circulatory shock.

I also want to highlight again that our quality KPIs such as audit finance per audit for quality systems and also field actions in relation to sales continue to trend positively. So those are the main activities and events for the fourth quarter, and we can then move to Page #5.

So looking at then our top line performance, we can see that we had solid progress in Acute Care Therapies and in Surgical Workflows. Order intake grew 2.3% organically. And in Acute Care Therapies, this increase was mainly attributable to good performance in ECLS Consumables, in Transplant Care, and we also saw growth in endoscopic vessel harvesting and in product [indiscernible]. Life Science organic order intake declined in the quarter due to softer development in WIS, which is our washers, isolators and sterilizer business and also within Bio-Processing.

The organic order intake for Surgical Workflows grew strongly in the quarter, mainly on the back of strong development in infection control consumables and also operating room equipment generally within Surgical Workflows. From a sales perspective, we had a 1.2% organic increase in sales, and we have both Acute Care Therapies and also Surgical Workflows showing low single-digit growth in organic sales. Acute Care Therapies, the growth came mostly from good performance when it comes to ventilators globally.

We saw Transplant Care with good momentum and also ECLS therapy. In Surgical Workflows, organic net sales increased primarily, thanks to growth in operating tables and in infection control consumables. And when we look at Life Science, we had an organic net sales decrease mainly due to lower sales in Bio-Processing and in the WIS business that I mentioned also on order intake. Growth in sterile transfer, which is our most important subcategory in Life Science continued strong.

We can then move over to Page #6, and I'll hand over to Agneta.

Thank you, Mattias. It's positive to see that our activities come through a strong underlying performance. Despite negative impact from tariffs and FX in the quarter, we managed comparatively well with decent margins. On adjusted gross profit for the group, adjusted gross profit amounted to SEK 5.037 billion in the quarter, primarily on the back of currency and tariffs. Adjusted gross margin was down by 1.1 percentage points in total despite a healthy contribution from price and mix.

On adjusted EBITDA, adjusted gross profit effect on the EBITDA margin was minus 0.5 percentage points due to what I just mentioned. Adjusted for currency, OpEx had a slight impact on the margin in the quarter. FX impacted severely by minus 1.2 percentage points in the quarter. And all in all, this resulted in an adjusted EBITDA of SEK 1.809 billion and a margin of 17.8%.

Let's move to Page 7, please. We remain in a solid financial position. Free cash flow amounted to SEK 1.2 billion in the quarter. Compared with last year, free cash flow was impacted by changes in working capital. At the end of Q4, net debt was SEK 9.8 billion. If we adjust for pension liabilities, we are at SEK 7.5 billion. This brings us to a leverage of 1.5x adjusted EBITDA, which is well below the 2.5x, which we have set as an internal threshold. If we adjust for pension liabilities, leverage is at 1.1x adjusted EBITDA. Cash amounted to approximately SEK 3.4 billion by the end of the quarter. So all in all, we can conclude that the financial position continues to be strong.

Let's move to Page 8, please, and back to you, Mattias.

Thank you, Agneta. Before looking at the full year and ahead, I'd just like to take the opportunity to quickly shift from financial KPIs to some other impactful figures. So at Getinge, my colleagues and I have a lot to be proud of, I think. If you look at our products and services in the hands of clinicians and pharmaceutical staff, they really make a true life-saving impact globally every minute. So this slide just lists a few figures describing some of that impact. And it really explains some of the reasons for the strong customer loyalty that we see year in and year out.

So for example, if you look at our Operating Table business, every fourth operating table globally is from Getinge. These are used in million major surgeries annually. Look at our new washer in Life Science, it uses 32% less water, 25% less energy, so reducing cost and the climate footprint for our customers. And furthermore, if you look at our unique NAVA ventilation technology, this can cut hospital stays by roughly 1/3 for adult ICU patients. So this is a significant win-win, both for patients for their health and for hospital finance.

With that, we can move to Page #9, please. So we take a step back and look at 2025. Overall, it was certainly an interesting year in many, many aspects here. If I sum up the year, it will be in 4 main themes. So first, we have the geopolitical friction such as tariffs and the strong currency headwind that we have seen throughout the year. So this has been a wet blanket not only for Getinge, but for most companies globally. And this is something we expect to continue also to have to deal with in 2026.

Secondly, more specific to Getinge, we've seen really good progress in our important quality remediation work. And thirdly, I'm happy to note that our organic innovation focus has resulted in several product launches throughout the year, which will help us further strengthen our competitive position and the support from our customers. All in all, we continue to show strong underlying performance, thanks to our industry-leading products and our team's enduring efforts together with our customers navigate through ongoing political turmoil.

We can then move over to Page #10, please. I just wanted to take a moment to zoom in on the headwind from tariffs and FX as well since this was a significant drag on adjusted EBITDA in Q4 and almost -- it was almost SEK 500 million and also, of course, a drag on full year adjusted EBITDA by over SEK 1 billion. So tariffs made up almost SEK 150 million in the quarter and about SEK 370 million for the full year, which for last year was Q2 to Q4. If we exclude the impact of tariffs and currency, our adjusted EBITA margin in Q4 would have been 20.3% and 16% for the full year. So this is right at the beginning of our longer-term guidance plan of 16% to 19% set for the end of 2028. So this really shows that the underlying improvement work is really having good momentum here, and that's something we look forward to continue working with and implementing in the coming years.

We can then move over to Page 11. Thank you. Just a few comments on the regulatory uplift plan as well with some of the major milestones coming up during the year. So at the end of 2024, if we take a step back, we reached the important milestone of clearing the quality record backlog. During 2025, several other regulatory milestones have been reached. I mentioned some examples from Q4 at the beginning of this presentation. We've also made progress in the important regulatory product uplift of our market-leading devices, CardioSave, which is our intra-aortic balloon pump in cardiac assist and Cardiohelp, the hardware for ECMO therapy within our Cardiopulmonary business segment.

When it comes to CardioSave, in CE markets, the CE approval is reinstated with conditions since last fall. We hope to initiate sales by the end of last year, but due to some delay in shipment of critical components, we have pushed of deliveries now to the second quarter of 2026. In the U.S., we're currently only selling replacement pumps to existing customers. And due to the delay with critical components that I just mentioned, we've also pushed the 510(k) submission to Q2 2026. We had strong order growth for pumps in the quarter, which confirms the leading position in this segment and the trust that our customers have in us, and this is why the submission and the start of deliveries is really a key priority for us.

If we then move to Cardiohelp, there are no sales restrictions in key markets for the existing Cardiohelp. We and our customers are very excited about the next-generation device here, the Cardiohelp II . For this one, we sent in the submission for CE-mark approval in Q4 of 2025, so last year, and we expect to be able to initiate the first shipment in Europe during the beginning of this year. In the U.S., we're only selling to existing customers or customers confirming that they don't have any other viable alternative. The work with the 510(k) submission for the complete Cardiohelp II system is going according to plan and is set for the second half of this year.

We can then move to Page #12. At the Capital Markets Day in our Capital Markets update in May 2024, we guided for an adjusted EBITA margin of 16% to 19% by the end of 2028. And I think we're on a steady path of reaching that, and that's despite the very different norm that we have today compared to 18 months ago. The main drivers which will enable this is related to growth, it's related to product mix and it's related to productivity. So if you look at the growth angle of this to begin with. So from the perspective of regulatory approvals and key strategic product launches, we have mentioned some of them here. We have the next-generation ECMO therapy with Cardiohelp II having no sales restriction for CardioSave intra-aortic balloon pump and also our low temp sterilization is something that will materialize during this guidance period.

We also expect to get our share of the announced U.S. pharma investments and a recovery in Bio-Processing. And we will, of course, continue our diligent and successful work with realizing price increases every year. From a mix perspective, it is our strategic intent to steer our business towards a continued rotation to high-margin products and consumables. And if possible, we prefer to have products that are made up of a competent hardware and with captive consumables attached to this. Our strong R&D and innovation pipeline is set to contribute to this development. And then from a productivity perspective, we've already done a lot in several parts of the business with remaining opportunities in other parts of the company.

The heightened extraordinary quality costs connected to the product uplift in CardioSave and Cardiohelp is expected to go down from the second half of 2026 and then be significantly lower in 2027 and '28. So this will also support the margin expansion. Furthermore, we will continue with our production excellence efforts, helping us to further optimize our supply chain and remain with a tight cost control across the company. So all in all, this supports our assessment that our target for 2028 is well within reach.

We can then move over to Page 13, please. So what does this mean for 2026 then? And here, we see primarily 3 themes. First, unfortunately, we expect the geopolitical friction and the FX headwind to continue in 2026. And so of course, will our mitigating efforts. Secondly, a key this year will be to hit the critical quality remediation milestones to enable the product launches that we have in the pipe as soon as possible. And thirdly, we do expect the solid underlying performance to continue, and we have good momentum across large parts of our business when it comes to this. So in many aspects, a year quite similar to 2025 and setting us up for an acceleration in 2027 and '28.

Can I move to Page 14. This takes us to our financial outlook for 2026. As we all know, there are some geopolitical uncertainties that we will need to navigate in the coming years. But based on the underlying demand that we see, our expectation is for an organic net sales growth to be in the range of 3% to 5%, adjusted for the phaseout of our Perfusion product category. Surgical Perfusion is expected to have a net sales in 2026 declining from about SEK 250 million to SEK 50 million.

We move then to Page 16, please. So summarizing the quarter, we had organic growth in top line, resulting in record high sales for the quarter. Tariffs and FX continue to be a significant headwind, but we still managed to have margins in line with the 2024 level, really confirming that the underlying performance is developing according to our plans. Our financial position remains solid. We had a good end from a cash flow perspective for 2024 -- sorry, '25. For 2026, we guide for organic net sales growth of 3% to 5% adjusted for the phaseout of Surgical Perfusion. And our priorities remain the same for 2026.

So key here is addressing the remaining challenges that we have in our Acute Care Therapies business area. We continue to focus on sustainable productivity improvement and cost consciousness when navigating the geopolitical uncertainty and addressing the impact from tariffs. And key focus, of course, as always, is to continue creating added value for our customers and really help them serve patients better. With that said, I open up for questions.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Oliver Reinberg from Kepler Cheuvreux.

Three, if I may. I'll probably take them one by one. Mattias, can you just say a word on 2026? I mean, you alluded to the fact that there's obviously still the kind of headwinds from currencies and I guess also tariffs maybe a certain annualization effect. Can you just help us to get a kind of feeling for the magnitude of these headwinds? And I think the Street is currently expecting 60 basis points of margin expansion. Is that something you feel comfortable with? That would be the first question, please.

As usual, we never comment on expectations from the capital markets here. But the -- from the tariff situation, assuming that they remain the way they are now, I think the math that we have from 2025 will apply in 2026. So we will have a slightly higher level of tariffs up to a couple of hundred million. So that's something we will need to mitigate. And so we are fingers crossed for some tariff stability at least. The best thing will be if they went away, but we expect to have to live with tariffs now for 2026. So they will continue to be around SEK 0.5 billion headwind at least. On the currency side, we do expect the dollar to continue to depreciate, but we're really in no position to make any estimates forward-looking on this. So that's an additional headwind that we will need to find ways of mitigating.

Okay. But would it be fair that you still feel that you can mitigate both and there will be net margin expansion at the end?

Yes, that's our ambition.

Okay. Perfect. And then just secondly, on this kind of midterm guidance, which you also already gave within the last call. I mean, can you just give any kind of flavor is the upper end as likely as the low end, so the full range of the whole guidance still applies?

I'm not really in a position to dissect the guidance spend now and narrow it down. But I think it's really encouraging to see that without the negative effect from the geopolitical consequences of tariffs and headwinds, we would already be within our guidance range. So the momentum underlying in our business is good. We do feel okay about investment climates among our customers as well. I think treatment needs will continue to grow slowly, but that support our business growth. And like I mentioned in the presentation page, our productivity measures across the business is also really showing good momentum. So overall, we feel good about the traction towards the margin, but I'm not prepared to make any more detailed analysis or break this down with the probabilities right now.

Okay. Fair enough. And the last question, just because we're full, it's always probably a kind of good opportunity to discuss capital allocation. I mean, you brought the leverage down quite significantly. Can you just talk about priorities? I mean, in the past, you were more leaning towards M&A. Can you just provide some kind of color how open you would be to any kind of share buybacks at this kind of point? And I think there was some time ago also you did this kind of discussion to what extent Life Sciences is a kind of long-term fit given that the industry is going to normalize. I mean, do you feel that there's a lot of people knocking on your door for any kind of potential offer? Any kind of flavor here would be great.

Yes. I think we definitely have continued inbound interest regarding the Life Science business, but it's not something that we have on the divest list here. We feel like good owners. We like the exposure to this end market, and we continue to invest in this part of the business as well. When it comes to capital allocation in general, M&A remains one area, but we have a mandate to do share buybacks as well. It's a discussion that is continually going on in the Board. Given the uncertainty that still remains, I think we've seen some examples of this already in this year with tariffs coming in or the threats of tariffs coming in and so on. So I think it's good to be a little bit prudent with how we allocate capital.

The next question comes from Mattias Vadsten from SEB.

I have 3. I'll take them one by one as well. First one, if you could talk a bit about the sort of phasing for the year, for example, assuming perhaps Q1 is one of your tougher comps during 2026 from the perspective of a couple of things? And also quality cost, it sounds like it should come down foremost towards the second half. So maybe if you could give your view there. That's the first one.

Yes. No, we're not prepared to make any kind of quarterly guidance here, but the dynamics that you described, we agree with, it's maybe the best way of putting this. But we've guided for 3% to 5% growth in 2026. Our ambition is to continue to expand the margin, but I can't really break it down by quarter.

Okay. Then it appears ventilators has been very strong, of course, and strength continued also into Q4, perhaps driven more by outside U.S. markets. But could you give us your overall sort of thinking for the business in 2026, perhaps without going into too much of a detail, but more how you think about it going forward? Are accounts sort of tougher? Or is the momentum strong enough to make it continue to grow strongly also in '26?

Yes. I think I'll describe it the way we've done it during 2025. We've had over a year of good momentum now in this business. I think definitely compared to our market share pre this shift, we've been net beneficiary when it comes to market share grab. So very thankful for the support from our customers and the great work by our teams to make this happen. I think that there is a mix of replacement cycle, normal replacement cycle going on in this business, and there is the continued withdrawal of some of the remaining incumbents in this business as well. But needless to say, the tailwind will be much, much milder than it was during end of '24 and the whole of 2025.

Okay. And then on the situation -- on the supply side in IABP, what is your sort of level of confidence to have that sorted in Q2? And also, is it fair to say that sort of CardioSave in the U.S. will be sold without restrictions towards the end of 2026? Or how do you view that?

I don't think we will be able to sell towards the end of 2026. This is now first about submitting the updated 510(k) that we said now is in the second quarter. It still hinges on making sure that we have the critical components fully available that we can do the validation and testing needed and we prepare for this. So there is still some uncertainty related to this, but we feel obviously more confident about Q2. Otherwise, we would have said something different. So there's some remaining work, but also steady progress towards this.

The next question comes from Kristofer Liljeberg from Carnegie.

I will also take my questions one by one. First, are you able to comment on Paragonix sales level here for 2025, maybe how much it's growing right now and margins?

I don't think we will disclose the exact growth figures of Paragonix, but we are very happy about this development. And as is visible in our report, we will end up with a bit of a higher earn-out also based on this. And margin-wise, it is also developing according to our expectations or a bit better.

But would you say it's still dilutive on margin?

It's slightly dilutive on margin overall on the...

Okay. For the group or for ACT?

For the group.

Okay. Then my second question, Mattias asked before about phasing effects. Just wondering about Q1 and the flu season. I think that was quite a good benefit for you last year and it seems the number of cases is dropping quite fast in the U.S. Could you maybe give a little bit of flavor how much a good or a strong or weak flu season impacting sales in a given quarter?

No, the short answer is no. It is difficult to break it down. I mean there's been a couple of years after the pandemic where we had no flu season effect and now we saw last year that there was some and this year, if you look at 2025, '26, hospitalizations increased a little bit earlier than they did before. So there was maybe a bit more of a December effect, but it's impossible for us to speculate about the impact of this in...

Okay. And finally, when it comes to the quality cost, is it possible to say approximately how much lower they were in 2025 versus '24 or if they were still at this SEK 800-plus level?

No, I think we will stick to the information that we have provided before. We had sort of a peak level that is -- we are remaining on high levels, and it will slightly then come down, but we will not give any exact amount.

But you can confirm it was less than SEK 800 million in 2025?

Yes, that we can confirm.

The next question comes from Ludwig Germunder from Handelsbanken.

Ludwig Germunder from Handelsbanken. I would like to start with touching upon ventilators again, like we've been talking about a bit before already. But would you be willing to give some flavor around the ventilator sales? We knew that comps were tough going into this quarter and yet the sales come out strong now. What does the strong mean? What are the main drivers? And how should we think about this going into Q1, where dynamics are very similar?

I think the strength comes on the back of some continued competitive conversion, possibly some of the normal replacement cycle kicking in and also some fee effect positively. But we can't break this down even if we wanted to unfortunately.

Did it surprise you? Or was this in line with what you saw coming?

I wouldn't say surprise, mild surprise, maybe it was a mild positive compared to expectations.

Okay. And then a quick one on Paragonix as well. It seems like it's doing well there, another quarter of strong growth. What are the main drivers you're seeing in Paragonix? And what are you expecting for this in 2026?

The drivers have not changed. I mean there is this conversion from ICE, it's still one of the ongoing things. And then, of course, we had a good launch of the KidneyVault during 2025 as well. So I'd say these are the main contributors.

Okay. And then just final one on the outlook given the updated definition. If my math are correct, you're adjusting for an estimated headwind of around 57 basis points. How should we think about this in relation to the other? Has anything changed given the, let's say, the estimated rest of the business? Or is it the same as before?

The same as before, we have not guided before on 2026. Would you care to elaborate the question?

No. Yes, sorry. I'm thinking the development, for example, when you guided to 3% to 5% in 2025, you did that on the base of something. Do you see the same market development excluding the Surgical division?

There are a number of dynamics in the market development, of course. If you look at our market presence, it is the same trajectory as in 2025 and strong in our key position. Then we have different dynamics such, for example, as the one described by Mattias when it comes to ventilators and the conversion effect that is a tough comparison now moving into 2026.

The next question comes from Philip Omnou from JPMorgan.

Firstly, on Section 232, I would love to get your thoughts on that program and the implications of that and what you anticipated in terms of its outcome for 2026?

Yes. So I have hopes, but I will not speculate on the outcome. What we can say about Section 232 is that we have submitted our opinion along with our industry colleagues, and we are expecting clarity on this in Q1, this is what has been said before. So let's hope for some clarity. And as Mattias mentioned before, the very least stability on tariffs. That's all we can say on this one.

Okay. Perfect. And then maybe can you remind us of your tariff mitigation actions that you've gone through and what sort of impact do you expect they can have in 2026?

We can just reiterate what we have mentioned before. So we work with it -- we always work very actively with pricing, but we intensify these efforts to mitigate for tariffs. We also intensify our productivity agenda that has been very strong also, but we have accelerated some areas of that to compensate for the increased cost of tariffs. And then the third bucket is that we review our structure, both in terms of our business partners, so to speak, with suppliers, et cetera, and in some cases, also our own footprint.

Right. Okay. And then just the last one from me, please. I'm not sure if someone has really asked this because my line cut out. But we saw the corporate warning from Teleflex a few weeks ago, and they were talking about weakness in demand for intra-aortic balloon pumps and catheters in the U.S. and Asia. So just wondering if you had any thoughts on that and if you were seeing anything in your existing customers? Or does it change anything with planning for CardioSave?

Yes. I think we've seen that as well. We can only comment on our reality. And I think our view is a bit muddled by the fact that we have supply restrictions here, but the order intake and the optimism from our customers in terms of getting shipments of balloon pumps started in [indiscernible] is positive, I'd say. So we have a somewhat positive picture of the demand situation and the desire from our customers to have access to this therapy.

The next question comes from Sten Gustafsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

I have a question regarding the margin outlook for the year. You expect to compensate the tariffs and FX and expand margins. I think I understood you correctly. It would be good to hear what assumptions you made on tariffs and also on what type of FX headwinds you expect on EBIT for the year? Have you -- on the tariff side, have you assumed the tariffs to remain unchanged? Or coming back to the Section 232, which I think at least partly assumes higher tariffs, so if you could provide some clarity on what you have included in your sort of internal thinking for the year, that would be helpful.

Yes. When it comes to the tariffs, we have assumed the same level as we ended in 2025. We have made no predictions on the outcome of any 232 investigation here. So it's the same tariff that we left 2025 with that we have assumed for this year.

And in terms of FX headwinds, I think it was 1.2 percentage points in Q4 on EBIT?

Yes. So we -- again, we don't speculate in the FX development, and we will not give any specific guidance on this. But overall, as you know, a weakening dollar is negative for us, and we will do everything that we can to mitigate and compensate for that in the case that, that continues, which has been the trend in the start of this year.

Okay. But you're not -- do you think it will be higher than 1.2 for '26? Or is that sort of a proxy or what you have assumed the impact will continue to be during the year?

Again, we will not speculate on the development of the U.S. dollar. So we work with a number of scenarios and mitigation activities, and we adjust accordingly.

Sure. And finally, on price, you were successful last year raising prices. I think you talked about previously 2 to 3 percentage points. Do you think you can do the same thing this year, raise prices by 2% to 3%?

The ambition is more closer to 2% than 3%, I'd say, is realistic. But the price work continues actively as it has done since 2018 for us. So we will continue this work. And I think you already know the dynamics with long contracts in our industry and so on and the limited ability to maneuver in the beginning of this phase. But hopefully, there'll be some opportunities there. But yes, ambition is still to continue to improve prices in 2026.

The next question comes from Erik Cassel from Danske Bank.

First, I want to sort of touch upon the guidance as well. I mean, as you alluded to, Mattias, excluding headwinds from FX and tariffs, you've sort of already reached the low end of the targets you set. Would you say that you've sort of managed to achieve all the improvements you set out to do earlier than planned, sort of meaning that there's not much left to do? Or would you rather say that you sort of underestimated the level of margin improvement you could achieve over time?

We have definitely not run out of improvement initiatives. There's plenty to do still. I don't want to reply that we had underestimated the potential either. We know that there's a lot of potential in the business. And we've made some good progress now as you've seen in 2025, but there's a lot still to do there.

Okay. I guess that sounds good that you're not done. Then I sort of want to ask what's happening with the Perfusion business in terms of drag on margins. I mean, do you sort of keep the organization there to support customers in '26 and sort of see it become loss-making? Or have we already moved a lot of the people over to ECMO so that there is not much of an effect for ACT as a whole?

We do expect a slight marginal improvement effect coming from the gradual Surgical Perfusion in 2026.

We have moved out people already from this business, both to grow the [indiscernible] business, but also there is a reduction of people related to this that we implemented in 2025.

Okay. Great. And then lastly, on ECMO, it seems to be doing pretty well. How much would you attribute that to just the underlying market doing well, perhaps the effect of influenza season coming early? Or is there some sort of aspect of you maybe gaining back some market share that is driving the maybe above-market growth?

It's not possible for us to dissect this. It's very difficult to monitor competitor performance in detail, I think. So we've definitely benefited from good overall market momentum, a little bit of a flu effect in there as well. I think it kind of confirms our competitive products and that they do really life-saving work every day. That's something that's appreciated by the clinicians who are our customers. So this is the main reason why we continue to see growth. But what the market growth was exactly in Q4 it is not possible to say right now.

Okay. Just lastly, do you have any comments or thoughts on the sort of long-term prospects of ECMO now? I recall you saying that there's still a risk that you're going to lose out on customers from them switching. Have you seen any more evidence of that to sort of provide support that you're really going to lose market share going forward or sort of maintain or even improve? Do you have a different view now?

No, I think nothing has changed in our view. I think we believe still in a longer-term market growth of mid- to high single digits for this segment. And looking at the competitive dynamics right now, it doesn't appear that we are losing anything to competitors. So we remain strong with us in this segment. And all the work now that goes into both launching Cardiohelp II in CE markets and also getting the 510(k) submission into the U.S. is really key milestones now to continue to grow this business.

The next question comes from Filip Wetterqvist from SB1 Markets.

I just have one question on Life Science and then a follow-up. Would you say that the weak quarter in Life Science is an effect of like a big pharma production ramp-up last year ahead of tariffs leading to some cooler demand this year? Or is it just lumpiness of the business?

I think it is partly natural lumpiness of the business, we have seen also throughout 2025 that there's been a lot of delayed decision-making when it comes to projects. So a lot of companies now have announced expansion plans, but they've not really started to implement projects. So we can see that we have a similar win ratio like we've had before, but there's been less fewer big opportunities in 2025 due to customer hesitation on the back of geopolitical uncertainty.

All right. And then do you have like any idea how much the government shutdown affected Life Science in the quarter as no NIH funding was paid out during the period?

No, we cannot quantify that, unfortunately.

The next question comes from Delphine Le Louet from Bernstein.

I go again one by one. Just a clarification on the Paragonix and just willing to know how big Paragonix is now into the ACT business, how much does that represent? I know you don't want to disclose that, but probably you can give us sort of a sense and the range of how big it is? Second question to deal with Paragonix because I didn't catch. You mentioned it was not dilutive at the group level. And so if I'm hearing well, I just -- I need a confirmation. And so my question here would be, what is missing or when can you achieve sort of the ACT margin for that specific range of products? And then I will continue.

I think from a volume perspective, we don't have enough details for subsegment, but it's well over $100 million now the Paragonix business. And what Agneta said earlier is that it's slightly dilutive to group margins and consequently also dilutive to ACT margins. We don't guide for when it's going to be accretive to margins, and this is more about how we pace the expansion of the business with it. So we're happy with the performance right now, both from a growth perspective, and we can see that there is operating leverage in the business, but we're also continuing to invest quite a lot both in the U.S., in the old U.S. expansion and in the future R&D pipeline.

All right. Moving on probably to what's going on in China and any feedback you may give us regarding the grounds that you have in China on the hospital activity, on the evolution of the commercial interaction over the course of '25, have you anything specific to tell us about that?

I think it's a year or more of the same. I think the hurdles continue to be the same ones that we have battled for a number of years now. We have some really strong positions in China. And I think one of the bright spots is that we actually did grow in China also in 2025. That's not something we take for granted in our industry anymore. So that's really positive and confirms the strong positions that we have.

0Going forward, I think, again, I think the geopolitical friction and impact here will continue to be somewhat of a hurdle. And of course, there are barriers when it comes to having local presence and so on. And there's also, of course, an evolving competitive landscape in China. So basically, we stand by the comments that we've made before that we have a long-term positive view on China. But it has changed quite a lot from 5 years ago when we had good double-digit growth in that market.

Okay. Moving on to the Life Science. Obviously, we hear from the competition and on the biomanufacturing side, speaking about that, back to a very nice normalization and back to high single-digit, low double-digit growth. So I was wondering on your side, if you are feeling about any traction from the clients, if you confirm because you're probably a bit more late stage that the normalization has happened and that you're hearing probably more positive coming out from the U.S. versus Europe or any comment here either on a product or on a region would be interesting?

I think bioprocessing, we highlighted was a weak spot for us in Q4. It has been a weak spot throughout 2025. And we have relative to many of our peers in the market, a higher exposure to China, which is a more difficult market, both from an investment and competitive standpoint. But we do see on a broader basis, the comeback in other markets in China like the U.S., for example. So that market dynamic, we do see as well, but we have a slightly different exposure than our peers.

Yes. Okay. And just probably to be back into the tariff and into a mitigation measure that you are currently implementing. Can we get your first feedback, clients reaction about the price increase? And can you probably more specify over the course of the '26, how you're going to mitigate exactly the tariff? And what would be the ideal target by the end of the year for '26 when it comes to the mitigation of the tariff? Would that be 50%, 70% and then thinking about '27 and '28?

I think we've continued -- worked actively with pricing since 2018 when we were able to reverse a downward trend through price improvement, and we've been able to do that ever since. So it's really not something new for us. So there's no new -- we can't talk about new customer reactions to this. Customers understand our perspective when it comes to the impact of tariffs, but they also have, of course, a reality with their challenges. So it's a dialogue with customer by customers and very different reactions and understanding of this. But we feel that we can continue to work with pricing the way that we have done in the last 2 years successfully. So that's really the main way. And we take a couple of percentage points price increases, we can calculate the mitigation effect of that when it comes to tariffs and of course, currency.

The next question comes from Ludvig Lundgren from Nordea.

So I have 2, and I'll take them one by one. First on Life Science. So yes, weaker order intake here in Q4. So I just wonder what the lead times typically are for these products? And how much one should look at this Q4 order intake number when predicting sales for H1?

I think on average, the lead time in Life Science is 9 to 12 months. Having said that, I think in cell transfer, it's much, much quicker given the data bags, for example. And -- but when it comes to the weak business, it's obviously often over a year in lead time. So the average is 9 to 12 months.

Okay. Great. And then second one on this critical component delay, which made you push the 510(k) submission and CE mark get launch for CardioSave, I just wonder if you can elaborate a bit on your confidence in this new time and if there's any uncertainty in this?

There is some uncertainty still in this. So we still need to make sure that we have the adequate supply of the critical components and that we are able to do the remaining test validations and that is required. So it's our best estimate right now, the second quarter for submission.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Thank you very much. I think we already made a summary before the Q&A. So nothing in addition to say from me. I just thank you for your attention today, and wish you a good rest of the day. Thank you.

Welcome to the Getinge Q3 Report 2025 Presentation.

[Operator Instructions] Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers CEO, Mattias Perjos; and CFO, Agneta Palmer. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, and welcome, everyone, to today's conference. Today, we will first look into our performance in the third quarter and then also reflect a bit on the current market situation and our expectations for the remainder of 2025.

So we can move over to Page #2, please. So if we start then by looking at the development of some of our long-term or strategic KPIs, we can see that we continue to clearly track in line with our plan to increase the share of sales from recurring revenue products and also accelerating the share of sales from high-margin products, like our Paragonix offering, our ECLS portfolio, consumables in infection prevention and BetaBags in Sterile Transfer. This is all supported by solid and effective quality processes as well. Sales from recurring revenue is now at 65% and the high-margin products make up more than 2/3 of sales today. When it comes to quality, the number of field actions in relation to sales has decreased significantly, and we see this positive trend to continue also in the third quarter of this year. These improvements should, of course, be achieved through responsible leverage and an attractive long-term return on invested capital.

We can move then to Page #3, please. So if we focus then on the third quarter for a moment and the key takeaways for the quarter, we can see that we show strength in the quarter with significant growth on the top line. Net sales grew by 9.5% organically with positive development in all business areas and all regions. Order intake also increased by 4.7% organically. Adjusted gross and EBITA margins improved mainly due to acquisitions, healthy price increases, positive mix and also productivity gains. And this is in spite of continued strong headwind from tariffs and also currency on the EBITA margin, which then is a signal that the underlying development is even stronger. Our financial position remains solid with our financial leverage well below 2.5x EBITDA.

We can then move over to Page #4, please. So taking a step back then and looking at some of the key activities and events in the third quarter. When it comes to our offering and customers, I'm happy to see that Sweden's first fully automated Central Sterile Supply Department at the Malmo University Hospital has been inaugurated, with Getinge's T-DOC providing the intelligence that optimizes sterile supply Management. And by enhancing quality, patient safety, cost efficiency and also improving the work environment, T-DOC is really the critical enabler for successful operations. And this is something that we've seen for over 25 years now with this product.

Productivity is a key priority for us. And by implementing the Getinge Manufacturing Excellence program, we've been able to, for example, cut lead times by more than 20% and also reduce the COGS by about 10% for some of our key products in the product category, WIS, which is washers, isolators and sterilizers. We've also joined forces with Philips to offer hospitals in CE markets, an integrated anesthesia workstation for the operating room. So this new solution unites the precise anesthesia delivery and the state-of-the-art patient monitoring technologies.

When it then comes to sustainability and quality, in the quarter, we got the CE Mark for our Cardiosave Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump back. This is, of course, subject to certain conditions, and we plan to gradually resume deliveries towards the end of this year. When it comes to our implants business, we received EU MDR approval of 3 further indications for our V12 balloon expandable covered stent, and this will now strengthen our position, and it's a critical enabler for success on the European endovascular market. When it comes to our environment KPIs, I'm happy to see that our CO2 emissions from operations continue to decrease.

Let's move then to Page #5 and look at our top line performance in a bit more detail. So overall, we had a specifically strong top line performance in Acute Care Therapies and Life Science. Our order intake grew 4.7% organically. And the organic order intake for Acute Care Therapies increased mainly due to ventilators in Critical Care and ECLS consumables. Life Science showed double-digit growth in the organic order intake for the quarter due to very strong performance in Sterile Transfer. And the organic order intake for Surgical Workflows declined a bit in the quarter despite the strong trend that we've seen for operating tables and also consumables in Infection Control.

When it comes to sales, we grew 9.5% organically. Both Acute Care Therapies and Life Science had double-digit growth in organic net sales. In Acute Care Therapies, this was mainly due to the very strong performance in ventilator, ECLS therapy and also within Cardiac Surgery. Organic net sales for Life Science primarily increased as a result of healthy growth in Sterile Transfer and also capital goods in the washer, isolator and sterilizer category. In Surgical Workflows, organic net sales increased due to growth in Infection Control and also thanks to operating tables within Surgical Workplaces.

We can then move over to Page #6, and I'll hand over to you, Agneta.

Thank you, Mattias. I will start on a positive note and highlight that despite some severe headwind from tariffs and FX, we continue to see improvements throughout the business, leading to higher margins.

When it comes to adjusted gross profit for the group, adjusted gross profit increased to SEK 4.051 billion in the quarter, primarily on the back of volume, acquisitions, healthy price increases and positive product mix. Adjusted gross margin was up by 0.9 percentage points in total, primarily supported by price and healthy mix. Looking at adjusted EBITA, the positive effect from adjusted gross profit on the EBITA margin was 1.4 percentage points, thanks to what I just mentioned. Adjusted for currency, OpEx had a slight positive impact on the margin in the quarter. FX impacted negatively by minus 0.6 percentage points in the quarter. All in all, this resulted in an adjusted EBITA of SEK 1.079 billion, improving our margin by about 1.6 percentage points year-over-year to 13.1%.

We move to Page 7, please. Let's have a closer look at the impact from tariffs. Earlier this year, in our Q1 call, we shared some insights on our sales flows. So just to reiterate that. About 60% of our sales in the U.S. are produced in the U.S. For EU and China, respectively, about 10% is produced in the U.S. and about 1% of sales in EU and U.S. is coming from China. As you know, the tariff discussions are highly dynamics, but this overview should provide a good understanding of our exposure. In the third quarter, cost of tariffs amounted to approximately minus SEK 108 million. Adding the impact in Q2, we are then at minus SEK 218 million year-to-date.

Let's move to Page 8, please. So how are we then mitigating this and what has been the impact on the margin? In our previous earnings call, we talked about the 3 main areas that we focus on to address this topic, and they are pricing, cost reduction and reviewing and challenging our structural setup for sourcing and production. This is, of course, nothing new, but we have intensified the efforts in all 3 of these areas. The chart on the right illustrates the margin development year-on-year for Q3. First thing to note is the great comeback in adjusted EBITDA margin from 11.5% to 13.1% for the quarter. What the chart also illustrates with the blue line is what the margin would be without tariffs and with the turquoise line, what it would be without tariffs and at last year's currency rates. So without tariffs, we would have landed on a 14.4% margin. And when also neutralizing currency, we would have been at 14.9%. So this is a clear signal of our strong underlying performance and potential.

Let's move to Page 9 and look at our financial situation. We remain in a solid financial position. Free cash flow amounted to SEK 0.8 billion in the quarter. Compared with last year, free cash flow was positively impacted by improved operating profit and changes in working capital. Working capital days continued to develop well. And on operating return on invested capital, we improved to 12.5% on a rolling 12-month basis, which is well above the cost of capital. At the end of Q3, net debt was SEK 11.1 billion. If we adjust liabilities, we are at SEK 8.6 billion. This brings us to a leverage of 1.6x adjusted EBITDA, which is well below the 2.5, which we have set as the internal threshold. If we adjust for pension liabilities, leverage is at 1.2x adjusted EBITDA. Cash amounted to approximately SEK 2.8 billion by the end of the quarter. So all in all, we can conclude that the financial position continues to be strong.

Let's move to Page 10, please, and back to you, Mattias.

All right. Thank you very much, Agneta. So just moving then to our outlook for 2025.

We will have a better balance between Q3 and Q4 this year. If you remember last year, we had a rather weak Q3 and a super strong Q4. And I think from an operations perspective, I think we will have a smoother second half of the year in 2025. So we're -- even though we're entering our fourth quarter with tough comparative figures, we believe that thanks to our leading position in key niches that meet the long-term increasing health care needs globally, we remain with our expectation for organic net sales growth to be in the range of 2% to 5% and our long-term financial target of over 12% EPS growth is also intact despite the headwind from tariffs and currency.

So with that, we can move over to Page 12, please, and just summarize the state of the union after the third quarter. So we've delivered strong organic growth with improved margins despite the significant headwind from tariffs and FX. Our financial position remains solid, as just highlighted by Agneta. And we stick to our outlook for 2025, where we guide for organic net sales growth of 2% to 5%. And the priorities for 2025 are the same as they've been throughout the year, which means addressing the remaining challenges in Acute Care Therapies when it comes to the important quality work that is the #1 priority for us. It's about sustainability productivity improvements and cost consciousness when navigating the current geopolitical uncertainty and, of course, addressing the impact from tariffs as well. And most importantly, we continue to create added value for our customers, which I think is something that is shown also through the third quarter when it comes to our order intake growth and our net sales growth.

So with that summary, I open up for questions. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] Next question comes from Kristofer Liljeberg from Carnegie.

My question relates to the strong ACT growth, and you highlighted ECMO, for example. Is it possible to comment a bit more on that? Maybe quantify how much ECMO is ECMO consumables are growing, what markets? And I'm particularly interesting to hear if there's any change when it comes to the competitive dynamics in the U.S.

Thank you. No, I think there's no -- to take the latter part of the question first, there's no significant change when it comes to competitive dynamic, I think. And the strong growth in ACT is -- in addition to ECLS disposables, we have the growth in Critical Care and also in Cardiac Surgery, that's also positive. So U.S. is obviously one of the key markets that have been performing well in this regard, but we don't break down and disclose numbers for the different product groups within the quarter.

But can you confirm that you're growing ECMO consumables in the U.S.?

Yes, we can.

Okay. Good. And the same thing, Sterile Transfers within Life Science. Any specific drivers for that strong growth?

I think generally, there's -- of course, the whole destocking is over. I think that's an important prerequisite. That's something we suffered from for a couple of years, and that's clearly over since over a year now. The other part is, of course, that there is a gradual comeback in the end market for these products. And I think in addition to this, one needs to be aware that this is a business that is also partly dictated by large contracts, and there's certain lumpiness in the business between quarters, just to be aware of that also.

Great. And then the other question I had is, if you could comment about the upcoming timing here for filing the new Cardiosave and Cardiohelp solutions in Europe.

In Europe, we've already received the CE Mark back for our Cardiosave product. So that's behind the...

I mean, the new updated version of Cardiosave and the new...

Okay. We've not provided any updated time line on this. This is into 2026. So the first milestone is the 510(k) submission in the U.S. for Cardiosave. That's the next milestone that we're working towards. And today, no update on the time line.

The next question comes from Mattias Vadsten from SEB.

I was a bit curious here how it looks now with demand in ventilators. Again, a good quarter. I think it's the fifth quarter in a row with very strong demand. So just describe a bit more in detail what you're hearing from customers. I am at least thinking about, should we expect this trend to continue given the competition dynamics? Or are comps increasingly tough going forward, which will slow it down a bit on a year-on-year basis? So anything that could help us here would be appreciated.

Yes, I think it's yes on both questions. We do expect this conversion to continue. There's been -- as you probably are aware, there's been a bit of a sped-up conversion of the [ ViAir ] installed base and a more drawn-out conversion of the other 2 players installed base. And that part, I think, will continue. But you're also right that we are meeting tougher comps now. I think the first positive developments were in Q3 last year. And then from Q4 and onwards, we had very strong momentum when it comes to ventilator conversion in critical care.

And then a follow-up on Sterile Transfer, looking very strong. Could you just describe a little bit where we are versus maybe peak volumes during COVID in this area now? Are we higher than that? And maybe, yes, there's some comments on specifically BetaBags also in terms of how they follow the higher demand in Sterile Transfer.

Yes. I think BetaBags definitely follow the high demand in Sterile Transfer. They're the biggest individual product within Sterile Transfer for us. And we -- as you may remember, we had 30% decline after COVID for 2 straight years. So we're not back at those levels yet, but it's a really encouraging comeback, I would say, where we stand right now.

And then last one for me, perhaps. In terms of the tariffs, rather flattish impact Q3 vis-a-vis Q2. Maybe some further comments on that and then also sort of outlook for the upcoming quarter here? I could assume you may be shipped some products in July already, maybe to take away some impact. I don't know, but some comments here would be helpful.

So yes, you are right. We managed to get some product into the U.S. before the raise of the tariffs from 10% to 15% that were then delivered later in the quarter. So we did not have the full 15% impact in the third quarter. When it comes to what we have ahead, we will not speculate and not guide on this. It is, as you know, a very dynamic situation. And there are many factors impacting this. And one of them is, of course, also product mix.

The next question comes from Sten Gustafsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

A question, and it's on -- related to Page or Slide 8, where you show your -- the margin development and what it would have been without tariffs and FX. How much of that improvement is driven by price? And how much is cost reduction and supply chain structure?

Yes. Thank you for that question. We will not break it down in the details, but price is an important contributor to the underlying performance as is productivity improvements. So the main pieces are around what we mentioned. It is mix. We have contribution from our recent acquisition on the gross margin and also on the EBITDA margin. And then we have those factors, pricing and productivity.

Okay. Would it be possible to get -- you mentioned price increases. How much you have raised your prices during the year?

No. For reasons, we do not disclose exactly the price increase.

So is it fair to assume that the sort of the majority of the increase comes from price?

Again, I will not break it down. It's also versus -- but we are -- we know that we are fairly successful in price realization, yes.

Okay. And we said earlier that between 2% and 3% price increase is what we're aiming for this year, and we are within that span. We won't break it down further.

No, that's very helpful. My second question would be if you can talk about what kind of drivers you see for the gross margin in Q4 and also in terms of OpEx spending, if there are any things we should be mindful about going into Q4?

I think firstly, just to repeat what Mattias said, it is tough comps when we come into Q4. We had a really strong delivery quarter last year. Some of the -- what would normally be in Q3 were sort of postponed also into Q4 of 2024, which is a tough comparison. When it comes to the margin, we will not guide on that. But as per usual in Q4, we have a higher share of capital equipment deliveries that impacts the gross margin. And for OpEx, the same there, we will not give any specific guidance. But generally speaking, we have a seasonal pattern that we have some elevated costs from that in Q4 related to the higher volumes. And also to mention that from now the end of the third quarter and ahead, we have Paragonix fully in our organic comparison as well.

I think also beyond Q4, I mean our main focus is on the underlying improvements that we're doing to our business for the longer term. So they, of course, have factors like our Manufacturing Excellence that we mentioned for Life Science in the report. There's still a lot of work to do when it comes to purchasing and things like that as well. So we remain optimistic that we can continue to improve our business, but you will have some swings between quarters. That's important to keep in mind.

The next question comes from Erik Cassel from Danske Bank.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I want to talk about guidance. You only need to deliver roughly 1.7% organic growth in Q4 to get to the upper end. And I guess lower end is quite a frightening thought. And yes, sure, I get that comps are a bit more challenging. You highlighted ventilators, for example. But can you help us pinpoint a bit more areas that you might be concerned about and as to why the upper limit is there to say? And do you still believe that the lower end is even on the table? And what would need to happen for you to get there?

Yes. Thanks for the question. I think we're not concerned about anything in particular in Q4. I think we have a well-working supply chain. We are mitigating tariffs and currency effect to the best of our ability. So -- and I think the demand situation is fairly robust as well. So there's nothing that stands out as concerning. And we've just not spent a lot of time on narrowing the guidance span here. But obviously, if you look at the way things are tracking and so on, you can work with different probabilities when it comes to the lower and the higher end of the span, of course. But we've just not decided to invest a lot of time in that. Like in line with the previous question, we're a lot more focused, of course, finishing the year serving our customers the way they need and helping patients and really then the longer term, 2026 and beyond towards what we've guided for in 2027 and '28 here, which we feel that we are well underway towards.

Okay. That's fair enough. And then on Cardiosave, I know that EU is a relatively small market, but what have you been seeing now for Cardiosave that the CE Mark is back? Does there seem to be any sort of pent-up demand from customers that they're eager to order again? Or is it fairly slow? And then also on Cardiosave, have you started to see any sort of change of use in the U.S. after the guideline changes that happened earlier?

When it comes to the situation in the EU markets, we don't expect the resuming deliveries will have any positive impact or material impact on the fourth quarter. But we can see from and hear from customers that there is a pent-up demand. There are customers who would like to replace their existing balloon pumps, but we -- it takes a while until we can actually have our factory focus on meeting demand for those customers. So therefore, there is no big impact in Q4 for this.

When it comes to use in U.S., we've not seen any real change there either. We're trying to serve the customers with the consumables for the installed base while working on the 510(k) submission. That's really our key priority there. But no other changes from like a market or customers' perspective to call out.

Okay. Good. And last question. I mean, you're reiterating long-term guidance again essentially. And I guess with both tariff and FX being worse than at the Q2 report, reiterating the long term, I guess, implies a sort of upgrade to the underlying performance that you see. And I guess if you agree with that, where have you found that sort of upside or rather what sort of cushions have you may be removed from the initial guidance now compared to Q2?

Yes. I mean you're right. I think the underlying development is good at the moment. So that supports us reiterating the longer-term targets despite the slightly stronger headwinds from tariffs and currency. And the main levers for this is we touched on all of them, I think. Pricing is one where we're seeing good traction. There is still a lot of work for us to do when it comes to purchasing, even though we have good material cost control, it doesn't mean that it can get better. We're still, I think, only partly reaping the fruits from the hard work that was done to mitigate inflation during 2022 and '23. So we still expect that to help as well. We have a positive mix rotation, also which you can see in some of the longer-term strategic KPIs. And we have now also acquisitions that help towards this target. So those, I'd say, are the main factors for feeling confident despite the short-term headwinds.

The next question comes from Ludvig Lundgren from Nordea.

So 2 on Life Science, please. So first, if in Q1, you highlighted a slowdown due to -- or partly due to NIH budget constraints. And like is some of the sales growth here seen in Q3 related to these projects? Or is it some other types of customers that are driving the sales growth in Q3?

It's very limited, I think, the positive effect from the comeback in NIH. I think there are still decisions pending to be made, both when it comes to NIH funding cuts specifically, but also the general wait and see when it -- because of geopolitical uncertainty. So I think that's probably the bigger factor. So things have developed in a positive direction since Q1, but there's still some lingering uncertainty around these key projects, I'd say.

Okay. Great. And then second one, just -- so with the strong order intake you saw in the segment as well, which I assume is mainly related to capital equipment, do you expect a Q4 budget flush similar to what we saw last year for the segment? Or have you seen any other indications for this year, so to say?

It's a good question, but very, very hard to answer. We didn't expect any budget flush last year, but there certainly was some of that. So fingers crossed for that this year as well, but we -- it's too early to have any indication or view on this.

We have one anonymous caller. So could you please present yourself with name and company? Please go ahead.

It's Ludwig Germunder from Handelsbanken here. I have 2, please. First one, just to get a bit more clarity on the tariff mitigations. In the report, you mentioned that you're successful with the price adjustment strategy. But in the short term, you need to absorb a large share of the tariff costs. And now I believe you said that you still have a good effect from price increases in your margin. Could you give some clarity on this and what to expect going forward? How much more margin can we expect you to gain from price adjustments?

Yes. I think the comment is -- should be seen like this that when it comes to mitigating the tariffs specifically that we pay, the price increases aren't lined up to compensate for those. So the price increase we talk about, they are across the board, across all our products, across all geographies. So in that sense, they help, but they're not specifically mitigating the tariffs on the product categories that are mostly going into the U.S. here. So the 2% to 3% price improvement is a global figure and the ones when it comes to specific product groups hit by tariffs, we don't disclose in detail, but that's where we're still absorbing some of this effect.

Okay. And just a follow-up on the tariffs again. You mentioned you managed to do some shipping before the increased tariff rates. Can you give -- can you comment on how close the 15% total hit from tariffs you saw over the entire quarter? Is it close to 15% or under 15%?

No, we will not break it down like this, but it is still -- if I put it like this, it did not impact the full 15% did not impact fully in the 2 months that it would have if you just normalize it over the quarter, maybe, yes, a fairly big portion of what was sold in the third quarter, we managed to import before the raise of the tariffs.

Okay. And just a final question on quality, please. Could you provide any update around the 510(k) submission for balloon pumps in the U.S.

Yes, there's no update on this right now. We're still working towards the end of this year and the second half of next year for the ECMO 510(k) submission.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

All right. Thank you very much for participating in the discussion today. We've already made the summary here, and I just wish everybody a good rest of the day. Thank you very much.