Sonic Healthcare Limited

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Sonic Healthcare FY2026 full year results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this session, you will need to press star 1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Dr. Jim Newcombe, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Sonic Healthcare. Sir, please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining Sonic Healthcare's FY2026 full-year results presentation. On the call with me today are Sonic Healthcare's Chief Financial Officer, Chris Wilks, and Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Paul Alexander. We delivered solid financial results in FY2026, achieving our EBITDA guidance for the year on an underlying basis. Total revenue grew strongly, up 13% year on year to $10.867 billion, with strong EBITDA growth of 11% to $1.933 billion. Net profit after tax increased 17% to $621 million, with earnings per share up by 14% to $1.26. Operationally, we completed the acquisition of the LADR Group in Germany, further strengthening our position in that market, with synergy realisation well on track. In Switzerland, we continued substantial synergy capture from our recent acquisitions, which are also well on schedule. Across Sonic's portfolio, we achieved strong growth in advanced diagnostics, leveraging market-leading brands across multiple geographies, including our acquisition in the US this year of Cairo Diagnostics. We commenced an operating review of our US business which is laying strong foundations for improved financial performance. In addition, we completed the sale and leaseback of our Brisbane hub laboratory as part of our disciplined approach to capital management. All of these achievements were underpinned by our firm focus on growing earnings per share and improving return on invested capital. Sonic's investment proposition is clear. We deliver high value medicine at scale, which drives growth and financial performance. Our FY2026 results reinforce this proposition, something I've seen firsthand through my first nine months as CEO. Meeting our people across the globe and seeing our world leading operations platforms, I've gained an even greater appreciation for the unique competitive advantages and many more. Over four decades, Sonic has built one of the world's leading medical diagnostics networks spanning nine countries and 11 markets across pathology, radiology and primary care. We hold leading positions in all our markets, including the number one position in six. In FY2026, That scale translated into nearly $11 billion of revenue and $2 billion of earnings, but its impact extends well beyond strong financial results. Over the last year, our 47,000 employees supported 144 million patient consultations across more than 3,000 access points. Each consultation represents a moment when a patient and their doctor rely on us for an answer they can trust. That trust has been earned over decades and lies at the heart of our medical leadership culture, our second key differentiator. Medical leadership is a unique operating model that places the delivery of highest quality medicine and patient care at the heart of everything we do. We attract industry leading experts, maintain the highest standards of medical excellence, and build deep, trusted relationships with referring doctors. Those relationships create a powerful, self-reinforcing value cycle, driving organic growth and market share gains, which in turn translate into financial value for shareholders and enable us to successfully reinvest in our people, platforms and innovation. The power of medical leadership was evident in our FY2026 results. Our organic revenue grew 5%, continuing our long-standing track record of strong organic growth. Advanced Diagnostics was a particular highlight, with Sonic Genetics in Australia and Biovis in Germany delivering year-on-year growth of 15% and 12% respectively. Specialist referrals in Australian pathology continued to outperform, growing 7% year-on-year. And we built strong momentum in the expanding direct-to-consumer testing market, with our MIND direct-to-labor business in Germany growing more than 60% year-on-year. Our third competitive differentiator is operational excellence, enabled by the capabilities and infrastructure we have built at scale. By combining industry leading expertise, highly personalised specialty testing and proprietary information systems, we consistently deliver high quality patient outcomes. These capabilities are supported by sophisticated logistics management and an advanced global procurement platform, driving further productivity and operating efficiencies across the business. With these key differentiators as our foundation, we are focused on investing for the future. In FY2026, we launched a major initiative to modernise our global digital infrastructure. This company-wide transformation represents a step change in our ability to deliver better outcomes for doctors, patients and shareholders in an increasingly digital world. We are implementing this initiative across all three components of our tech platform. In our back office functions, we are migrating our finance, supply chain, and HR platforms to cloud-based systems, enabling greater standardization and scale efficiencies. This project was initiated in FY2026 with approximately $30 million of investment planned per annum over the next three years. Operationally, we are optimizing our specialist laboratory and radiology information systems, enabling more efficient, higher throughput laboratory and radiology workflows. And at the clinical frontline, we are scaling a suite of leading edge AI enabled solutions, including proprietary patient and doctor applications that improve access to care and enhance productivity. Combined, these investments create an interconnected, scalable platform Let me now turn to the performance of our markets and the key initiatives to drive revenue and earnings growth in FY2027 and beyond. Across the group, revenue performance was strong, reflecting the strength of our competitive differentiation and industry tailwinds. including ageing populations, the rising prevalence of chronic disease and the growing shift towards personalised preventative medicine. Over multiple decades we have built unmatched trust and goodwill with doctors and patients who in ever larger numbers choose Sonic for our high value medical services. We translated strong revenue growth into healthy margins across our markets. Specifically, Germany, excluding the LADR acquisition, Switzerland and Sonic Clinical Services delivered strong EBITDA margin expansion, demonstrating operating leverage from organic growth, ongoing synergy realisation and disciplined cost management. In Australian pathology and Belgium, we maintained healthy margins despite fee changes, supported by strong organic growth and revenue diversification, including private billing initiatives. Margin performance in the US, UK and radiology was affected by market-specific factors and multiple initiatives are entrained to improve performance in FY2027 and beyond. In Germany, Sonic achieved revenue growth of 43% with organic growth of 5%. We grew strongly in advanced diagnostics including genetics, specialised biochemistry and personalised precision medicine. We are leveraging SONIC's national infrastructure, trusted medical expertise and extensive laboratory network to capture growth in the fast-growing direct-to-consumer market. On the regulatory front, we are closely monitoring the proposed reform of the GOA private fee schedule. There is currently no clarity on whether the reform will proceed, nor its potential timing or impact, although it appears highly unlikely to take effect before calendar year 2028. While a wide range of potential mitigation strategies are under consideration, it is premature to provide any guidance on potential impact at this stage. In the meantime we continue to advocate against the proposed reform while pursuing opportunities for further cost efficiencies. At the beginning of this new financial year, we realigned our management and operational structure to accelerate synergy capture and efficiencies through consolidation, bringing 11 Federation members into three unified operating divisions. Finally, we are delivering significant synergies from our LADR acquisition well on schedule. We captured more than 40% of total synergies in the first year, with the balance to be realised over the next two. Key milestones included the migration to Sonic procurement contracts, the completion of two laboratory mergers in Berlin and Oldenburg, and the insourcing of LADR's external referrals into Sonic's specialty laboratories. We are realising synergies from the expansion of LADR's market-leading medical consumables trading and logistics business to Sonic's referrers. In addition, we completed extensive integration across shared services, including sales, logistics, Technical Maintenance Services, IT, and Financial Systems. In Australian pathology, we delivered strong 5% organic revenue growth, driven by specialist referrals and private billing for selected tests. We benefited from the 2.4% annual indexation applied to 30% of Medicare schedule fees in FY2026, with a further 2.6% indexation in effect for FY2027. In the hospital segment, North Shore Private Hospital and Hollywood Private Hospital contracts commenced in July 2025 and February 2026 respectively, further contributing to increased specialist referrals. We also continued to implement private billing for selected tests. A highlight during the year was the completion of a national laboratory platform procurement process, driving further efficiency gains, including for the cutting edge Docklands Laboratory The Fair Work Commission gender undervaluation review resulted in wage increases for phlebotomists and health professionals with an estimated FY2027 cost impact of $4.2 million respectively. Our industry association is in good faith discussions with the Department of Health on offsetting funding options. In the meantime, We are maintaining strong cost discipline through initiatives such as the rightsizing of our collection center network to improve productivity and deliver lease cost savings. Our US business delivered stable underlying revenue performance in FY2026 with 2% organic growth after adjusting for the loss of a major Alabama payer contract and the restructuring of anatomical pathology operations. We are firmly focused on improving our financial performance through the previously announced US operating review. This review is ongoing and is already delivering tangible benefits. At the same time, we achieved accelerated growth in advanced diagnostics. We delivered strong organic growth of 16% driven by the nationalisation of the division, which combines chiro-diagnostics, thyro-seq and other highly specialised testing. We also continue to improve underlying operational efficiency. More than 70% of Dermatopathology volumes are now processed through our proprietary, world-leading Pathology Watch digital pathology platform. This platform enhances workflow efficiency while expanding our ability to serve referring specialists across a broader geographic footprint. In addition, our enhanced revenue collection system is delivering results with cash collections trending positively. The decision on PAMA fee cuts scheduled for 1 January 2027 remains uncertain, although there continues to be positive dialogue regarding potential alternative legislation. The US Operating Review is delivering substantial results and continues to ramp up into FY2027. During FY2026 we rationalised nine anatomical pathology practices, improving profitability through laboratory closures and test portfolio optimisation. We secured procurement savings across a range of non-clinical spend categories and implemented a 10% reduction in corporate headcount across centralised support functions as part of a broader efficiency program. Building on this momentum, several initiatives remain in progress, including the optimisation of external reference testing and the centralisation of corporate functions, including compliance, legal, HR and marketing. Combined, these initiatives are expected to add $25 to $30 million to FY2027 earnings. We are also actively considering further initiatives as part of our ongoing operating review to improve financial performance. Our market leading national network in Switzerland achieved strong organic growth of 4% in constant currency, accelerating to 6% in the second half. This translated into strong margin expansion supported by significant synergies realized from the integration of the SynLab Suisse and Dr. Rich acquisitions. In FY2026, we completed four laboratory mergers across Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich and Ticino, with the two largest mergers in our pipeline in Bern and Lucerne on track for completion in FY2027. We launched further optimization initiatives during the year, including in procurement, logistics, sales, IT harmonization, and insourcing of external reference testing. Regulatory changes, which took effect from 1 July 2026, are expected to have an estimated 20 million Swiss franc impact on FY2027 revenue, equating to approximately 3% of revenue as a result of fee reductions for 10 high volume tests. We have put in place initiatives across our operations to mitigate this impact. The UK delivered revenue growth of 17% supported by the first full year contribution from the Hertfordshire and West Essex, or HWE, NHS contract. As noted earlier, margin performance in the UK was impacted by market specific factors. One factor was the extended integration timeline for the HWE contract. Our cutting edge Watford Hub laboratory was completed and ready for go live as planned during this year. The transfer of testing volumes associated with the HWE contract has progressed more slowly than anticipated due to operational issues within the NHS. As a result, we now expect to achieve the planned margins for the contract by H2 FY2028. Looking ahead, the Watford laboratory is well positioned to support the strong growth we are seeing in community based diagnostics across the region. Margin performance was also impacted by higher labour costs associated with the introduction of a new pay framework in the second half of the year. This cost increase will annualise in FY2027. We continue to strengthen our long-term strategic position in the UK in other areas, including through the acquisition of cellular pathology services, expanding our capabilities in the attractive and growing private anatomical pathology market. More broadly, We have multiple promising opportunities in the pipeline to serve the growing private pathology market in the UK. Radiology delivered strong organic revenue growth of 7% and underlying EBITDA growth of 5%. Growth was supported by continued increased demand for higher value modalities, including CT, MRI and PET-CT, as well as annual Medicare indexation of 2.4% for FY2026. Margin performance was impacted by our investment in 10 greenfield sites over the last two years, which lay the foundation for future growth. These sites remain in their ramp-up phase and are expected to become accretive approximately 18 months after opening. Changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs referral guidelines affecting MRI volumes also impacted margin, but are now fully annualised. We are focused on driving margin improvement through organic growth, cost discipline, and productivity gains from the continued deployment of AI-enabled tools. As part of our digital transformation initiatives to optimize our radiology workflows, we are evaluating new system options to replace our existing radiology information system, which is now considered end of life. Finally, Sonic Clinical Services delivered revenue growth of 5% with organic growth strengthening in the second half. EBITDA increased 25% year-on-year off a low base with significant margin expansion. Our performance in the second half was supported by a 3.2% increase half-on-half in GP consultations per working day following the introduction of the bulk billing practice incentive program on 1 November 2025. Our skin health business continued to deliver strong financial performance supported by its highly personalized approach to patient care. We realigned our operational and management structures to promote shared services and other efficiencies across the medical centre, occupational health and skin health businesses. This, combined with ongoing cost-saving initiatives, contributed to EBITDA growth during the year, with more improvements expected in FY2027. Before I hand over to Chris, I would like to personally thank our management teams and all of our 47,000 people around the world. Our people's deep commitment to caring for our communities through high value medicine is the beating heart of Sonic Healthcare's success. It is our people who have delivered a strong performance in FY2026 and who will continue to do so into the future. Looking ahead, I'm confident in the momentum we are building across the business and excited by the opportunities ahead. I am positive that the initiatives underway across the business successfully build on our sound foundations of scale and diversification, an exceptional medical leadership culture and unparalleled operational excellence. We are positioned to deliver strong long-term growth, profitability and value creation for shareholders. I'll hand over now to Chris to discuss the financial results in more detail.

Thank you Jim and good morning everyone. I'd like to now move to slide 23 where we have some more detail on the financial results. As Jim has already stated, FY26 was a solid financial result for Sonic and in line with the guidance we set back in August 2025. Total revenue for the year increased by 13% to $10.867 billion. On an underlying basis, adjusted for net non-recurring items of $51 million, which I'll discuss in more detail shortly, EBITDA for FY26 was $1.933 billion 11% higher than FY25. On a constant currency basis EBITDA was $1.916 billion and within our guidance range for the year. Net profit for the year was $621 million up 17% while earnings per share grew 14% to $1.26. As you can see on the right hand side of the slide depreciation expense was $771 million Interest expense was $188 million, approximately 19% higher than the previous year, largely a consequence of the funding of the LADR acquisition in Germany and the Cairo acquisition in the US, and also the purchase of two laboratory properties. The underlying effective tax rate for the year was 26%, a bit lower than the 27% we had guided. Property plant and equipment capex in FY2026 totaled $631 million. This was higher than normal owing to $280 million in strategic property investments. These included the acquisition and ongoing fit out of the Melbourne Laboratory in Docklands as well as of 16 Giffnock Avenue, Macquarie Park which expands our existing site at 14 Giffnock Avenue. Maintenance capex was $351 million or approximately 3% of revenue. We expect property related capex to be lower in FY27 and drop away from FY28 onwards as these major Australian projects and the lab infrastructure in Switzerland and the UK are completed. On slide 24 we have more detail on the non-recurring items we have excluded from our underlying results. The most significant item was the $107 million gain from the sale and leaseback of our Brisbane hub laboratory which was completed in June 2026. This game was offset by a number of items which also have their own tax impacts as set out in the table. We've written down 33 million Australian dollars in US debtors relating to the 2024 Change Healthcare cyber attack for revenue which was recognised in FY 2024 and 2025. As we have mentioned in previous disclosures, this was a very disruptive event for us and this is the net financial effect of it. There was a $14 million wage adjustment relating to the interpretation of an Australian shift worker award dating back six years prior to FY26, which was identified through an internal review. We've impaired $83 million in software intangibles, which is part of our digital and AI transformation initiative. This mainly relates to our radiology information system and legacy ERP systems, which, as Jim has mentioned earlier, are considered end of life. We incurred $8 million in acquisition costs relating to the Larder acquisition in Germany and the Cairo acquisition in the US. There was $14 million in restructuring costs related to US anatomical pathology business and facility rationalisation in Germany and in the sonic clinical service business in Australia. We made an initial $6 million investment in the implementation of finance, supply chain and HR systems as part of our digital and AI transformation initiative. We've also taken the decision to adjust for an interest deduction we're expecting in Germany relating to FY 2017-19. This was triggered by a recent German court decision against another taxpayer. The net impact on the EBITDA of these non-recurring items was an adjustment of approximately $51 million in FY 2026. Turning to capital management on slide 25, our priorities remain unchanged. First, maintaining an investment-grade balance sheet is considered fundamental. Second, we are maintaining a progressive dividend and expect the medium-term payout ratio to return to 70% to 80% of net profit as our profits grow. Third, pursuing strategic, selective and synergistic acquisitions, which has been an important part of our history and remains a priority going forward. And finally, We will consider share buybacks using surplus funds subject to market conditions and other factors. Moving to slide 26, our credit metrics remain in line with historical levels. We ended the year with a debt cover ratio of 2.2. The increase in net debt versus prior year relates to the acquisition of LADR and chirodiagnostics completed during the year, offset to some extent by the final leaseback of our Bowen Hills lab which settled in June. As at 30 June 2026 we had approximately 1.6 billion of available headroom. This was however before the final dividend payment. I note that we have recently entered into a new 245 million euro bank debt facility that will effectively refinance the USPP debt we have maturing in November this year. On to slide 27 we are pleased to announce a final dividend of 63 cents per share taking the full year dividend to $1.08 and increase of one cent on FY 2025. This dividend will be franked to 60% with a record date of the 3rd of September and a payment date of the 17th of September. Whilst the payout ratio is relatively high this year, it is well supported by a strong operating cash flow investment grade balance sheet. Turning to slide 28, where we have set out some of our recent property transactions, which are important operationally, but also for capital management. We remain focused on optimising returns on capital tied up in owned real estate, beginning with the sale and leaseback of our Bowen Hills Laboratory, which was completed in June for $445 million. The transaction enabled us to release capital and an effective pre-tax cost of 5.6%, while also crystallising value that was not reflected on our balance sheet. We also signed a conditional contract for the sale of our surplus property at 95 Epping Road, Macquarie Park, which has been re-zoned for a multi-storey residential development. Together these transactions demonstrate our disciplined approach to capital management and our ongoing focus on improving returns on invested capital. Looking ahead on slide 29, we're evaluating additional property sale and leaseback opportunities including our Melbourne Pathology Laboratory development in Docklands and our Macquarie Park Laboratory at 14 and 16 Giffnock Avenue. The latter property was acquired during the second half of the year for approximately $75 million to expand our laboratory footprint and support our long-term growth in this important market. Moving now to our FY2027 outlook and guidance on slides 30 and 31. We believe the fundamental growth drivers that underpinned our performance in FY26 will continue into FY27 and beyond. We expect strong organic growth across our key markets, supported by favourable healthcare demand trends and Sonic's key differentiators of scale and diversification, medical leadership and operational excellence. We also see significant opportunities to accelerate growth in advanced diagnostics and emerging channels, including direct to consumer testing. While these underlying drivers remain positive, we have some headwinds with regulatory changes in Switzerland and the extended integration timeline associated with the UK NHS outsource contract that are expected to impact EBITDA growth in FY27. Our focus remains firmly on the execution of our proven strategies in FY27 to help mitigate these margin impacts. These include continuing to deliver cost efficiency through our ongoing operating review in the US, Capturing the benefits and synergies from our Swiss and German acquisitions and executing on operational efficiency initiatives across procurement, automation and clinical AI. Now for our FY2027 guidance. On a constant currency basis, we expect EBITDA to be within the range of $1.95 billion to $2.03 billion. This excludes the back office IT transformation costs of approximately $30 million, as Jim mentioned earlier. Depreciation expense is forecast to be in the range of $810 to $825 million. Amortization expense is forecast to be lower in FY27 within the range of $90 to $95 million. Interest expense is expected to increase by 6% versus FY26. And our effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 27%. This guidance excludes any gains from the sale of properties, includes only completed Thank you for joining us today. Looking ahead, we remain well positioned for continued growth, supported by industry tailwinds and the initiatives underway across the business to drive further efficiencies and improve returns on invested capital. We are confident in our outlook and in Sonic's ability to deliver earnings growth and long-term value for shareholders. We will now open the call for questions.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. In fairness to all, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Please stand by while we compile our Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Davin Dillon, NSN with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Thanks. Morning, Jim and Chris. Appreciate the presentation. Jim, perhaps a question for you to start off with. If I look at your FY27 guide on an EBITDA basis, it implies about, I would say, low to mid single digit type growth. Clearly, there's a fair amount of moving parts for the business. Could you perhaps summarize the top three key priorities that you're looking at to sort of help improve EPS and ROIC in line with your strategy? Thank you.

Thank you very much for the question. I think if we look at the FY27 guidance, we've tried to provide a lot of colour there about the moving parts, as you've said, and where our markets are at. We see, as we've always seen, the biggest driver of achieving that guidance is the organic growth and we've got a very strong history in that regard. I see medical leadership and our culture and our ability to have those relationships with referring doctors and patients Directly as the key driver for that as well as our incredible strength in logistics and operations. So I think we enter the year with really good momentum on a lot of initiatives. We've identified opportunities through the operational improvement initiatives and productivity programs across the markets that we've talked about. The US operating review is obviously front of mind and we've identified significant savings there that will contribute to the guidance this year. and in terms of the potential headwinds that we've flagged I think that we've come in with a lot of strong momentum and the ability to mitigate those through our strong operating platforms and scale in Switzerland and the UK and so we're very confident that we can mitigate those and we've incorporated that of course into the guidance. So I think that looking ahead to the year we see a huge amount of opportunities, a lot of momentum from the previous year that we're going to take forwards and strong growth ahead.

Okay and just one last one for me. An observation is over that second half 26 period it looks like there were a lot of non-recurring costs that were recognized across multiple components. Could you please perhaps give us a sense of what happened across that time frame? You sort of taken

I think that what we've presented today in terms of the digital and AI transformation is a recognition of several assets of ours, software assets which are end of life, and then a deliberate attempt to invest in the future and create a very modern, scalable platform across those three areas that includes back office, operational and clinical. We've looked at all of those areas in terms of our current software platforms and identified those impairments but on the flip side of that is the investments to create this global platform to move forward and I think very much enable the operating platform that we already have around the world but do so in a way that is Modernising our approach to it, enabling AI tools across all three of those areas of the software portfolio and particularly I think moving forward what we see is an opportunity where we're first rolling out in Australia is our three operating divisions here which is the most well advanced of this rollout. The opportunity to use shared services and scale those across our three divisions in Australia but then more broadly globally in the future.

Thanks, Lee.

Thank you. And one moment for our next question. Our next question is going to come from the line of David Lowe with UBS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Thanks very much. Maybe just one for Chris to start off with. Just the FX, I mean, it's all constant currency. Could you give us a sense of if we use spot rates, you know, what the implications are for some of those guidance lines, please?

Dave, obviously it's difficult to forecast, but in the 4E you'll see the rates that have been used for the year's results that we've just reported. And I guess you can compare that with current rates, but there is a bit of headwind now. I think off the top of my head, it's probably if the current rates prevailed for the whole year to be something like $40 to $50 million, Thank you for joining us.

Can I get you to talk a little bit about what you think can happen with margins from here post the restructure? And if you wouldn't mind just reminding us of the Zypin revenue recognition and whether there's still benefits expected there. And if I could just add into that, the PAMA cuts, are they in the guidance? I think in the past they tended to be excluded.

Just maybe the last question first. I think we specifically mentioned the PAMICUTS are excluded because they're still pretty uncertain and there seems to be gaining momentum in Washington on the issue of the results legislation etc. So that remains a work in progress and we probably won't hear about that until closer to the end of the year. In terms of the The margin improvement, I guess, if you just take the numbers we've mentioned there, the $25 to $30 million, that in itself adds a reasonable margin improvement to our U.S. operation. Separately, there's other things that are happening there, so I guess we're hoping that that will flow through into the 27 numbers for the group. I think there was another third question there.

I can't remember exactly.

Yeah, so Zyphon, it's fully rolled out other than in Hawaii and it has been a little more challenging than we had hoped because it's not just a simple rollout of a software. It involves lots of tools including client portals, all that sort of thing. We're starting to see some green shoots on that. I think we mentioned in February that we're probably A little behind the upside we're expecting from it this year, but that's evolving. There's some new AI tools that we've started implementing I think in March this year that are starting to bear some fruit. So I think going into 27 we hope to see some more benefits flowing through from the use of that technology.

I just think the other point to make around the operating review of the US in general is that We're seeing very good top line growth in important areas like advanced diagnostics, and we have a clear market differentiation in there with ThiraSeq, ChiroDiagnostics, and other services, and seeing very good national rollout of those. So that's a platform that we're very confident will continue to grow, and that will help drive margins there as well. Thank you very much.

Thank you, and one moment for our next question. Our next question is going to come from the line of David Stanton with Jeff Rees. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good morning, team, and thanks very much for taking my questions. First question and then a follow-up. I've noticed that you've had less impact from the Fair Work decision for F27 than at least one of your peers has talked to. So can you give us an idea of why that would be, given the size of your operations compared to your peers in the Australian market?

Yeah, thanks, David. And I think we talked about this at the half year. It's a similar story to back then, which is that we have, we believe, leading employees in terms of expertise and long-term retention. And we have historically valued them very strongly. And part of that is that we're starting at a higher base in terms of any uplift from the gender undervaluation review. And I think you're seeing the impact of that in these numbers compared to our competition.

I think, Dave, it might be worth mentioning that I think one of our competitors also included in their number just the base wage case impact, whereas we're just pointing out the impact of the gender under-evaluation aspect of it.

And probably also just to reinforce the point I think we made at the half year that in relation to the increases for phlebotomists, The ratio of collection centre numbers to revenue for Sonic is vastly different from our competitors and so we're less impacted by that.

And my follow-up is one for Chris. I wonder if you could give us sort of a more specific guide around CapEx, PP&E and F27 please.

Yeah look I think I did in my comments mention some numbers there. trying to pluck out the building costs because that's had a fair impact in the last few years as we've built some infrastructure which we also referred to in the deck. I think the maintenance capex number is kind of I think a rule of thumb about 3% of revenue and I think we quoted around about $351 million which was this year just gone and it's probably going to be sitting at a similar level for FY27. That doesn't include intangibles which is a pretty static number around the 100, just a bit over 100 million.

As Chris flagged earlier, on top of that maintenance cost in 27 there will still be some building costs but not as high as in the current year, as in the 2026 year.

We've got the completion of the fit-out down in in Docklands which is the biggest chunk of that which is due to finish in June in June 27.

So down on the 631 I guess would be my would be the call.

Yeah yeah yes yeah absolutely.

Okay thank you.

Thank you and one moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Saul Haddison with Barbara and Joey. Your line is open please go ahead.

Yeah, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to ask about the guidance and I think just looking at the midpoint of EBITDA, it equates to about just under $60 million of uplift versus this year as in from 26. You flagged the $25 to $30 million coming from improvements in US operations. So the remaining EBITDA increase is really only about $25 or $30 million. I guess my question is, is this an issue that relates to top line? You highlighted 5% organic revenue growth for the business in 26. Is this a revenue issue into 27 that that revenue growth is going to slow and therefore EBITDA growth slows? The midpoint of your guidance, if you run down through all the line items, suggests NPAT will be flat on fiscal 26 and I'm trying to understand

where is the lack of leverage coming through at that EBTA line is it is this a revenue issue is it a is it a cost issue particular labor cost thanks so yeah i don't think it's a revenue issue but we have cited and in the swiss slide that we have we've got some headwinds there which uh circa 20 million um so that's swiss francs which is you know getting closer to 40 million which is because it's a fee cut, it's a top-end, bottom-line effect. There's also, we mentioned, the delays in HWE. So without those, the guidance would probably be a bit stronger. But also, you've chosen the midpoint. I guess we're hoping, even though we've given a range, we're hoping we would do better than the midpoint, but time will tell on that.

I think on organic revenue growth, we flagged that in both Switzerland, other than this fee issue, and And so just to follow up on that,

Would it be fair to assume that you're expecting your organic revenue growth at a group level to be fairly consistent in 27, as in around 5%?

So we will have annualised the Harts and West Essex contract, which is obviously a substantial step up in revenue. You would have seen in the UK that it was 17% in the year. So adjusting, if you take that impact out, then yes, we would expect probably similar growth levels of organic growth other than the Swiss FECA.

Got it. Thank you very much. That's all I have.

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from the line of Chris Cooper with JP Morgan. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Just on the US, it does sound like you're happy with the progress of the Operating Review clearly contributing a decent amount of the growth to the 27 guide as well with that 25 to 30 million number that you called out but just curious I mean performance overall there still seems below where you would expect it to be are there scenarios where you would consider other options for that business or is that entirely off the table for now?

Our focus has been and continues to be on the Operating Review we've presented the The positive outcomes from that and again apart from efficiency and productivity measures that we've seen bearing fruit, we're also seeing pleasing top line growth in really important areas. So that's our focus and we'll keep the market up to date with the progress of that operating review as you'd expect and we're quite pleased with how it's going.

And just secondly on the EBITDA guidance, you're excluding 30 million of IT costs. Can I just confirm that's a number you have a good handle on? I mean, we tend to see time and time again, this is the sort of thing that can creep up and become more of a headwind as these investments progress. So I just wanted to make sure that that 30 million number is not going to sort of extend through the course of the year.

Yeah, look, we're pretty comfortable with the $30 million for 27. We also cited a similar number in 28 and 29. Those outer years, we probably haven't got as much detail on, but based on the work we've done so far, we're pretty confident that those projects can be delivered within that sort of envelope of cost. And they will then... help us deliver all sorts of other benefits from shared services, use of AI agents, et cetera, et cetera. So there's lots that we're expecting to flow from that, particularly in the back office area. Thanks for taking the questions.

Thank you, and one moment for our next question. Our next question is going to come from the line of Leanne Harrison with B of A. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Hi, good morning all. I might come back to the United States here. I think you quoted, I think, flat organic growth in the United States and called out progress with advanced diagnostics and thyroseq. But I'm trying to understand, you know, when you compare it to the organic growth that you showed in the first half, it was quite similar. So can you explain how you might be able to accelerate United States' top line growth, particularly given that it's one of the more challenging markets?

Yeah, thank you for the question. And it's important in this FY26 to look at the underlying organic growth. We did have, as we've talked about, the major payer contract loss in Alabama in January 2025. and of course the restructuring of the AP operations that we've talked about. So adjusting for that, we've got underlying organic growth of 2% in FY26. Moving forwards, apart from the advanced diagnostics and dermatopathology divisions, we're putting a lot of effort into coordinating our sales teams in our major markets and investing in those. Those are particularly important in US markets, so in our major clinical pathology and other divisions we are putting extra resources and strategic intent into that which we're seeing the benefits of. In our Mid-South area we're seeing benefits apart from Alabama in different states that we've been able to shift resources from the Alabama market into other neighbouring states and seeing a lot of benefit in terms of top line growth there. So across all of our areas and Hawaii as well we're seeing excellent growth ongoing there. I think it's fair to say this is not just an advanced diagnostics story. We're putting focus on other large parts of our business like clinical pathology, core business, and investing in marketing teams and processes there.

Okay. And as a second question, I think that slide 11 on EBITDA margin movements was interesting. What are your expectations for those markets in terms of what the EBITDA margin movement might look like for fiscal 27 and in particular the United States and United Kingdom. Do you expect that to return to sort of the margins you saw in fiscal 25?

Maybe I'll take that one. We're trying to give a bit more transparency on margins in that slide without giving too much detail. The margins for the US should improve with the initiatives we've spelled out in the US slides and that Jim's talked to. I think in the UK we're probably expecting a flatter period in 2027, maybe even down a bit as we incur some double costs associated with the HWE contract until we get the lab in Watford. Live, so I think probably more a margin improvement in the UK in FY28 and beyond and that should be pretty solid then because we remain very confident that that contract is going to be excellent for the business. Does that answer the main questions you had?

Yeah, and then also Switzerland, given the fee cuts there, and then Australia with the labour. Do you expect Australia to be maintained and Switzerland perhaps a little bit down?

Yeah, maybe I'll have a go at that and Jim, you can chime in. But I think Australia, particularly with some of our, we'll have cycled past some of the changes to fees for B12 and neurons. And with some of the private billing, I'm hoping that we would see some Improvement in margins in Australia going forward. And in Switzerland, we've got lots of synergies coming through. We've got that happening at the same time as this fee change, so we'll see how that pans out. But certainly there's pressures going both ways in that market, and it just remains to be seen how we end up at the end of the year. Jim, I don't know what you want.

Yeah, I think just stepping back and having a look at a bit of a longer-term timeframe here, I think it's important to remind ourselves that in terms of the margin story, we intentionally went into contracts and acquisitions which we knew were going to be margin dilutive in the initial stages. So that's LADR acquisition and the HWE contract. LADR is well on track, we're realising synergies from that and its integration into the broader German network that we have. HWE we've shared today some of the delays that we're seeing with that but still looking longer term what we see here are incredible opportunities to drive long-term earnings growth and drive scale and efficiency across those two markets. So important to remember that we went into those with that strategy and that there is still a very attractive long-term margin and value growth story with those contracts and acquisitions.

and maybe just to remind you that the HWE contract is a 15-year contract so it should deliver good returns to Sonic from many years but these things always take a, they're a little harder in the first few years with the transition process.

Great, thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question is going to come from the line of Sasha Curran with Evans and Partners. Your line is open, please go ahead.

Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. I just want to understand the headwinds into FY27 a little bit more in terms of EBITDA. So the Swiss VCAT, presumably that's all margin until you can potentially mitigate that somewhat. And then secondly, are you able to quantify the UK headwind that you flagged there and maybe talk about the extent to which you think that may reverse in FY28?

We probably can't give you more information than we've set out in the deck so that on the Swiss front you're right that that amount is a fee cut so that it goes off the top and bottom line initially. We're obviously also right in the middle of a whole lot of synergy capture from the acquisitions we made so this is where we've got two issues at play here, a fee cut but that should be to some degree offset by some of those synergies that are flowing through for FY27. I think in our answer to the previous question on HWE we've said that we think the impact in 27 will be kind of flat to maybe slightly negative on margin for 27 but then rebound in 28.

and I think in both of those markets again to point out the history here is that in FY26 in Switzerland we saw very strong margin growth through synergy capture from recent acquisitions which were margin dilutive and great execution on that and so with every confidence in our platform and team there to drive further synergies and margin growth moving forwards even with the regulatory change that we talked about In the UK, similarly, we've got a very strong operating model relationship with the NHS over many years through our HSL joint venture. So we have the right people, platforms, processes to realise these and have the historical evidence for it. So it's about moving forward, executing on that, and we're very confident in that.

Okay, and then my follow-up, just in relation to the Swiss fee, Kat, I know you can't You're not going to comment on GOA reform at the moment, but are there any other fee cuts of this magnitude that we should be aware of beyond FY27?

No, there's nothing to advise on at this stage. Okay, thank you.

One moment for our next question. Our next question is going to come from the line of Craig Wong Pan with RBC. Your line is open, please go ahead.

Thanks and good morning. Just with the UK labour costs increases, when did they come into effect and what impact did they have in the second half period?

They came into effect as they were partly backdated in April 25. So FY26 has had more than a year's effect of them because they only were... H2 I can't remember the exact date so there was some backdating of that so they've been effective for even more than the full year that we've just reported.

Okay so the impact into 27 will be lower than the actual amount you had in the second half given that that was inclusive of back to April 25?

Yes that's correct yeah.

Okay, and then just the second question is on the net interest expense, the increase of 6%. Just trying to understand that, is that mainly the additional leasing costs coming through?

Yeah, so as always that's a complicated forecast to perform. Obviously with the sale of Bowen Hills, the sale and lease back, there's a sort of a move between sort of you know normal debt interest and lease interest so lease interest is up significantly in relation to that deal but largely the lease interest on Bowen Hills offsets the savings in interest that we'd have on the other side but then you've got other movements like for example the USPP debt that Chris mentioned expires in November this year that was at a A low rate of 1.75%, so there's a bit of a higher rate come through once that's refinanced. And there's some other, you know, we've got some tax payments to make that were flagged in the NRI and some earnouts on some acquisitions to make as well that all those parts contribute to that uplift.

Okay, thank you.

One moment for our next question. Our next question will come from the line of Andrew Goodsall with MST Marquee. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Well, thanks very much for taking my question. You did talk to the spot effect, I guess, versus the current speed. I'm just wondering if you could put a number on what your sort of natural hedging offset might be against that 50 or so at the EBITDA.

Well that's a difficult question to answer on the hop Andrew. Yeah we gave a little bit of direction to I think a question Dave Lowe asked before at the EBITDA line but you're asking also what's the natural hedge offset there?

We'd need to take that offline, Andrew, and maybe if you had a look at the movements in the second half of the financial year of FY26, that would give you some guidance.

I can still run it, but I just thought you had a back of envelope. Then maybe just moving on to Australia, obviously good growth there, probably more than double the MBS, a lot of moving parts, possible contract wins and so on, but when it comes down to patients, Thank you very much.

So it's a bit of a scratchy line there, Andrew, but I think I've got the gist of the question. So we have, as we've talked about previously, rolled out private billing, particularly for vitamin B12 testing, but also other vitamins, which are actually quite complex and advanced tests to perform, specialised tests, many of the other vitamins. And so it is certainly gaining momentum, and we have private billing testing pathways in the majority of our operations for vitamin B12. In all cases, there is informed consent from patients beforehand. There are other options in most cases. All of these, I think it's really important to say, come with, first of all, medical decision with clinical governance around what's the right medicine to do in different situations and then giving a patient, if there is an option, a choice to go down different pathways. And we've done that, of course, in close collaboration with our referring doctors. So it is a complex area. but we've certainly gained momentum during this last financial year in private billing in general because we think it's the right thing to do in order to meet the medical needs and to support those we need to raise appropriate revenue from private billing to support those diagnostics.

I guess they're still ongoing and I guess still some more upside.

Yes, so yes, we're certainly getting momentum. We think there is more upside into FY2027 in that front.

Some of the changes were only introduced through the year, Andrew, so there's an annualisation effect upside that could come from those in FY2027.

And finally, you've mentioned buybacks. What sort of timing would you put around the idea or the consideration?

Yeah, look, it's on the list of capital management priorities. I don't want to be disclosing something we haven't made a call on yet, but it's there and will be considered when appropriate.

Our next question is going to be from the line of Christine Tran with Macquarie Capital. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Morning team, thanks for taking my question. First question, could we just get an update on that New Jersey contract, I guess in terms of timing, when we can assume a more meaningful impact to US revenue?

Yes, thanks for the question. This is the Horizon contract that we've talked about earlier and we are seeing a lot of sales outreach going on in that region. It is relatively new, so I think it's fair to say that we're not seeing significant uplift in FY26 from that. But moving forward to FY27, there is, I think, a lot of growth to be gained in that northern part of New Jersey, in particular, through the initial sales outreaches that we've had. So it's something which is, I think, it goes back to what we talked about earlier, which is that we've presented some headlines in terms of advanced diagnostics, dermatopathology, as well as the cost-efficiency measures, but There is a lot of work going on at the ground level in our major markets in the North East and Texas and Mid South from a more routine clinical pathology point of view to get out there and grow our sales network and our footprint. So we're very happy with how New Jersey is going and in terms of last financial year I think it's still building pace but we'll continue that momentum into FY27.

Great. And just a second question from me. I guess it's been a bit quiet on the M&A front. Just interested on your stance on future M&A and if there are any opportunities you're chasing or just focusing on that core business for now.

Yeah, I mean, we talked about, again, our capital management priorities and that continues to include selective synergistic acquisitions where there's a strong investment thesis. We've got a very strong focus on return on invested capital as we always have at Sonic Healthcare. I think what might be a little bit different today is that we have a lot of internal opportunities to create value from the assets we already own. We've talked already about the LADR acquisition, CARA diagnostics, recent Swiss acquisitions. That's unlocking a lot of value in those areas. So, of course, we remain active and interested in opportunities, but we're also equally focused on extracting the value that we already have in our strong portfolio.

Great. Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of Steve Wien with Jarden. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good morning. Just two very quick ones just for helping with reconciling some of the items. So firstly, in the FY26 EBITDA, could you just quantify, and I may have missed this, the amount of IT costs that were reclassified out of the 26 year?

David, you're meaning, I think there's a number in the page, the 6.3% Thank you very much. I'm not sure about the 25 number. I had to look back at 25, but I'm not aware of that.

Because you did it in the accounts, you reclassified that for the 25 number. But anyway, that was just the net difference, the movement in the EBITDA that I took. Anyway, we can take that offline, but this is the six that I was after. And then just the second thing was just in the one-off items. The tax effect on the gain on sale, is that a benefit?

It's a bit of a crazy one. I'll hand this one over to Sir Paul to weave his magic on an answer here.

Yes, so it is a credit, you're right. And that credit is a combination of, first of all, that we had something like $170 million of unbooked capital losses that we've utilised against the gain. So that certainly has a positive impact on the amount of tax we actually have to pay. There is about $40 million of tax to pay but the other impact is related to AASB 16 and the timing differences between AASB 16 accounting and the tax deduction for rent. We've tried to explain this in the 4E and under the tax expense explanation so you could have a look there and happy to go into it in a little more detail later but really it relates to the fact that under old accounting standards our gain on the sale of this building was more like 300 million whereas under AASB 16 it was only a bit over 100 million and that 200 million is kind of a timing difference for tax purposes going forward. So the net of all of that is the credit of $19 million this year.

Right, okay. So that's, I mean, one of my issues was trying to get to your 26 effective tax rate because of, anyway, that's going to be one of the big explanations, I think, as to why we're... Yeah, that is part of the delta between the 22 and the 26. Yeah, yeah, got it. Okay, thanks for that.

Thank you. And our last question is from Andrew Payne with CLSA. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for taking my question. Just one from me. Just be good to get a bit of a guide on where you are in terms of earnings contribution from recent M&A in Switzerland and some of the other regions and understand whether they're delivering in line with the rest of the group's margins. You know, really just trying to understand the

So yeah, maybe we can't obviously disclose more than we've disclosed really, but just on maybe LADA to start with our German acquisition, there is some information in the 4e that discloses the fact that it contributed about 59 million NPAT. That's obviously without interest. For FY26, so that's already a return above our cost of capital. I think when we announced that transaction we told you that we expected to get to about 11% RIC after three years. So that one's performing absolutely according to plan. We've already achieved 40% of the expected synergies in this first year. So absolutely on target as are the two in Switzerland. So there's been solid, you'll see in that margin slide, solid margin growth in FY26 in Switzerland. We've got this fee issue now to deal with in FY27. So all of those acquisitions are performing according to plan. And likewise with Cairo in the US, that's probably doing even a little better than we'd originally budgeted for.

Okay that's great Carl, I'll have a look at that. So just looking into 27 do you still see some uplifts coming through as they progress to where you want to get to?

Yeah absolutely on all of those we would be expecting continued improvements coming through from the synergies which we've talked about. We've got two big lab mergers coming up in FY27 in Switzerland which we I think mentioned on the slide. So yeah, lots of activity going on and all heading in the right direction.

That's great. That's all I had. Thanks.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this will conclude today's question and answer session. This will also conclude today's conference call. Thank you for participating and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.