Cencora, Inc.

Hello everyone and thank you for joining the Sancora Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Results Call. My name is Lucy and I'll be coordinating a call today. During the presentation you can register a question by pressing staff followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind please press staff followed by two. It is now my pleasure to hand over to your host, Bennett Murphy, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury, to begin. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, good afternoon, and thank you all for joining us for this conference call to discuss Sancora's Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Results. I am Bennett Murphy, Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations and Treasury. Joining me today are Bob Motch, President and CEO, and Jim Cleary, Executive Vice President and CFO. On today's call we will be discussing non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation of these measures to GAAP are provided in today's press release which is available on our website at .sancora.com. We have also posted a slide presentation to accompany today's press release on our investor website. During this conference call we will discuss forward-looking statements about our business and financial expectations on an adjusted non-GAAP basis, including but not limited to EPS, operating income, and income taxes. Forward-looking statements are based on our management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and change. For our discussion of key risks and assumptions we refer you to today's press release and our SEC filings including our most recent 10Q. Sancora assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements and this call cannot be rebroadcast without the express permission of the company. You will have the opportunity to ask questions after today's remarks by management. We ask that you limit your questions to one per participant in order for us to get to as many participants as possible within the hour. With that I will turn the call over to Bob.

Thank you, Bennett. Hi everyone and thank you for joining Sancora's Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter Earnings call. To start, I'd like to thank the over 51,000 Sancora team members for the industry-leading expertise and purpose-driven approach they bring to work each day. Their talent and commitment fuel our growth as we continue to strengthen our position as an -to-end healthcare solutions provider. Through the strength of our strategy, services, and unwavering standards, Sancora's business model is driven by pharmaceutical distribution and complemented by higher margin, high growth, value-added services and solutions for our biopharma and provider customers. In our third quarter, Sancora delivered strong performance with adjusted operating income growth of 21% and adjusted diluted EPS growth of 20%. In recognition of our outperformance during the quarter and -to-date, both in the U.S. segment and on a consolidated basis, we are pleased to once again raise our fiscal 2025 guidance. Today, I will highlight three growth priorities. First, enhancing patient care and adherence. Through decades of investment in physical and digital infrastructure, our core pharmaceutical distribution services ensure access to life-saving medications. Second, strengthening our specialty leadership. As we focus on future growth, we are differentiating the services and solutions we offer to pharmaceutical manufacturers to support specialty product innovation. And third, leading with market leaders. By prioritizing active learning and active leading, we identify opportunities to create value in collaboration with our leading customer portfolio. I'll begin with how Sancora enhances patient access to pharmaceuticals through our critical role as a leader in pharmaceutical distribution. Our global reach, coupled with our local expertise, ensures patients have access to the medications they need, when and where they need them in an efficient, reliable and secure manner. We've invested in our distribution capabilities for decades, enhancing our efficiency, security and ability to handle increasingly complex medications, allowing us to meet the needs of innovation and the increased use of pharmaceuticals. We are responsible for delivering millions of pharmaceutical orders overnight or the same day to hundreds of thousands of healthcare providers we serve, ensuring pharmacists, physicians, veterinarians and other healthcare providers have access to the medications they require to treat patients. Specifically, we believe our investments over the past decade have made Sancora a market leader in ensuring the supply chain is supported and equipped to comply with the enhanced tracking and visibility requirements of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, DSCSA, which goes into effect later this year in the United States. The significant investments made over the past several years in support of the DSCSA is yet another clear proof point of the vital role Sancora and our industry play to ensure patients efficient, safe and reliable access to medication. Next, Sancora is strengthening our leadership and specialty by enhancing capabilities through RCA. RCA's physician-centric approach in Retina is enhancing clinical trial access, supporting specialty product innovation and improved outcomes for patients. Recently, physician and business leaders across the RCA organization came together at our offices outside Philadelphia for their business and medical leadership board. The time our team spent together demonstrated collective value as we focused on practice management, value creation and the future of patient care. In addition, Retina specialists across RCA had a significant presence at the annual American Society of Retina Specialist Meeting, which was oriented around highlighting the rapid innovation in Retina treatments. RCA physicians drove discussions and clinical research where they demonstrated clinical excellence, strong clinical trial patient enrollments and novel therapeutic approaches, including the delivery of an investigational gene therapy. We are proud to support these groundbreaking clinicians. Additionally, Sancora's long-standing leadership and specialty distribution, including deep relationships in the Retina market, equips us with specific expertise to support manufacturer's product launches. As a result, we look forward to serving as the specialty distributor for several recently approved Retina therapies that are beginning to enter both the U.S. and international markets. Through these partnerships, we are facilitating streamlined market entry, secure storage and distribution. Innovation is driving specialty pharmaceutical market growth, and Sancora is deepening our leadership and specialty by remaining at the forefront through our portfolio of services and solutions -to-end from manufacturers to specialty providers. And finally, our focus on active learning and active leading is bolstering relationships with our industry-leading portfolio of customers, furthering our leadership with market leaders. Our teams are prioritizing focused engagement with our partners to deeply understand their business challenges and growth opportunity. The intentional time we spend with our customers is helping inform how we invest and expand our business to best create value. Throughout the quarter, we drove meaningful interactions with our customers and partners across the supply chain. As an example, we hosted our annual Good Neighbor Pharmacy Thought Spot Conference, giving our independent pharmacy customers the opportunity to learn about the latest trends shaping the industry and connect with peers. Our enterprise leadership team recently had the opportunity to visit a Good Neighbor Pharmacy member that is a great representation of a pharmacy that has positioned itself as a differentiated care provider. Community pharmacies are vital, accessible healthcare destinations, providing care tailored to the community they serve. I'm continually inspired by the creativity and tenacity these community pharmacists exhibit, and I'm proud of Sincora's partnership with these market leaders. In closing, and before I hand it over to Jim, as I near the end of my first year as CEO, I'll remind you we are focused on four drivers that will strengthen our execution. Digital transformation, talent and culture, productivity, and prioritizing growth-oriented investments. We're focused on Sincora's digital transformation, using data and advanced analytics to accelerate operational excellence and enhance both the customer and team member experience. We're committed to developing our team members, ensuring Sincora is a place where -in-class talent come to grow their careers and furthering our purpose-driven culture. We've elevated our concentration and productivity, equipping us to identify ongoing capability and process improvements. And finally, our commitment to leading now and in the future means we prioritize investments in strategic growth-oriented areas. As evidenced by our continued investment in technology and capabilities for our customers, our acquisition of RCA, and our investment with a pathway to full ownership and one oncology. This also means that we continually evaluate the areas which are less strategically aligned where we should de-emphasize investment. To close, I want to again thank the Sincora team members. It's due to their expertise, efficient execution of our strategy, and dedication to our purpose that Jim and I are able to once again report such strong results. With that, I will turn the call over to Jim for an in-depth review of our third quarter results and our updated fiscal 2025 guidance. Jim?

Thanks, Bob. Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. As a reminder, before I turn to my prepared remarks, my remarks today will focus on our adjusted non-GAAP financial results. For a detailed discussion of our GAAP results, please refer to our earnings press release and presentation. Sincora delivered strong financial performance in our fiscal third quarter, and we are pleased to be raising our full-year fiscal 2025 guidance as we move into the fourth quarter. Our pharmaceutical-centric strategy and positioning in key markets has allowed us to capitalize on favorable industry trends, and our growth-oriented investments to advance our leadership and specialty are driving significant value as evidenced by our adjusted diluted EPS growth of 20%. Before reviewing our updated guidance, I'll first turn to a review of our consolidated and segment-level third quarter results beginning with revenue. Our consolidated revenue was $80.7 billion, up 9%, driven by revenue growth in both reporting segments. In the U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment, which makes up the significant majority of our revenue and operating income, we continue to benefit from strong utilization trends and volume growth, including continued growth in GLP-1 products. Excluding sales of GLP-1s, our consolidated revenue growth would have been 8%. Turning now to gross profit. Consolidated gross profit was $2.9 billion, up 21%, primarily due to the U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment. Consolidated gross profit margin was 3.55%, an increase of 36 basis points, primarily driven by the gross profit contribution from our acquisition of Retina Consultants of America. Moving now to operating expenses. In the quarter, consolidated operating expenses were $1.8 billion, up 21%, driven primarily by the RCA acquisition and to support our revenue growth. Consolidated operating income was $1.1 billion, an increase of 21% compared to the prior year quarter due to continued strong performance in our U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment, which I will discuss in more detail in the segment-level results. Moving now to our net interest expense and effective tax rate for the third quarter. Net interest expense was $82 million, an increase of $50 million versus the prior year quarter, primarily due to the $3.3 billion in debt raised to finance a portion of the RCA acquisition. Turning now to income taxes. Our effective income tax rate was 20.7%, compared to .0% in the prior year quarter. Finally, our diluted share count was 195.2 million shares, a 2% decrease compared to the prior year quarter, driven by approximately $1 billion in opportunistic share repurchases over the past year. Regarding our cash balance and adjusted free cash flow, we ended June with $2.2 billion of cash and -to-date adjusted free cash flow of approximately $100 million. Our full year adjusted free cash flow guidance of $2 billion to $3 billion remains unchanged. This completes the review of our consolidated results. Now I'll turn to our segment results for the third quarter. US Healthcare Solutions segment revenue was $72.9 billion, up 9%, as the strong pharmaceutical utilization trends continued, including growth in GLP-1s. Across the segment, we saw broad-based revenue growth in all customer classes. As it relates to GLP-1 products, in the quarter, GLP-1 sales increased $1.4 billion, or 19% -over-year. Turning now to operating income, US Healthcare Solutions segment operating income increased an outstanding 29% to $902 million, driven by growth across our distribution businesses and the contribution from RCA. In the quarter, specialty remained a key growth driver in both health systems and specialty physician practices, where we benefited from strong volumes and saw good biosimilar conversion trends. I'll now turn to our International Healthcare Solutions segment. In the quarter, International Healthcare Solutions revenue was $7.8 billion, up approximately 11% on an as-reported basis, and up 9% on a constant currency basis, primarily driven by revenue growth in our European distribution business. International Healthcare Solutions operating income was $156 million, down 13% on an as-reported basis, and down 16% on a constant currency basis. The decline was driven by continued softness for our higher margin global specialty logistics, as well as a decline at our consulting business. While our global specialty logistics business did have a decline -over-year, it grew sequentially from the March quarter, as our teams have taken steps to optimize the business and drive value for our customers. We expect to see the same type of sequential improvement in operating income from the June quarter to the September quarter for this business. In the third quarter, we also saw solid performance in our 3PL business, as our differentiated footprint is resonating with manufacturers. That completes the review of our third quarter results. I'll now discuss our updated fiscal 2025 guidance expectations. As a reminder, we do not provide forward-looking guidance for certain metrics on a GAAP basis, so the following information is provided on an adjusted non-GAAP basis, except with respect to revenue and share count. I will also provide certain guidance metrics on a constant currency basis. I will start with adjusted diluted EPS guidance, and then provide detail on the income statement items contributing to the increase. We are raising and narrowing our fiscal 2025 EPS guidance and now expect EPS to be in the range of $15.85 to $16, up from the previous range of $15.70 to $15.95, and representing growth of 15% to 16%. The updated guidance reflects the continued strong performance of our U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment and reflects a lower expected contribution from our International Healthcare Solutions segment. Moving to revenue, we are narrowing our consolidated revenue guidance to be growth of approximately 9%. At the segment level, we are updating both our U.S. and International Healthcare Solutions segment revenue growth outlooks. In the U.S., we now expect segment revenue growth to be in the range of 9% to 10%, narrowed from our previous range of 9% to 11%, and given the trends we have seen and foreshadowed last quarter, we will likely finish in the lower part of that revenue range for the U.S. For the International segment, we now expect our segment revenue growth to be in the range of 6% to 7% on an as-reported basis, up from our previous range of 3% to 4% to reflect the weakening of the U.S. dollar relative to several key currencies and sales mix for our European distribution business. On a constant currency basis, we now expect International Healthcare Solutions segment revenue growth to be in the range of 7% to 8%, up from the previous range of 6% to 8%. Moving to operating income, we are raising and narrowing our expected consolidated operating income growth guidance to be in the range of 15% to 16%, up from our previous range of .5% to .5% growth. In the U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment, we now expect operating income growth to be in the range of 20% to 21%, up from our prior range of .5% to 19.5%. The updated guidance reflects our strong performance and execution and expectation for continued strong pharmaceutical utilization trends in our fourth quarter, despite the previously disclosed loss of an oncology customer due to its acquisition. Turning now to the International Healthcare Solutions segment, on an as-reported basis, we now expect operating income to be down approximately 6% compared to our prior expectations for operating income to be down 4% to down 1%. The updated guidance range reflects the pressure we have seen in our higher margin global specialty logistics and consulting businesses. On a constant currency basis, we now expect segment operating income to be down approximately 5%. As we move into the fourth quarter, we have an easier comparison, and with continued sequential improvement from our global specialty logistics business, we expect to see the International Healthcare Solutions segment operating income return to growth exiting the fiscal year. That concludes our full year guidance update. As we near the end of our fiscal year, I remain inspired by our team members' dedication to being a differentiated and solution-oriented partner for our customers, which continues to result in strong financial results. Sancora continues to drive impressive performance powered by our U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment, as we are positioned to capitalize on positive industry trends, and our investments in high-growth specialty are generating value. Grounded in our pharmaceutical-centric strategy, Sancora is delivering sustainable growth, investing in our strengths, and is well positioned to continue driving long-term value for all our stakeholders. Now I will turn the call over to the operator to open the line for questions. Operator?

Thank you. To ask a question, please press star followed by 1 on your telephone keypad now. If you change your mind, please press star followed by 2. When preparing to ask a question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. In the interest of time, we ask participants to limit their questions to one per person. The first question comes from Lisa Gill of JPMorgan. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Good morning and thanks very much, Bob and Jim. Congrats on a very strong quarter. First, can we just start with the U.S. Healthcare segment, where we saw strong growth profit, strong operating profit, but a slight trim in the revenue, Jim, that you talked about from a guidance perspective. Can you talk about what some of the key drivers are there on each side? And then secondly, I just want a clarification on the international business. I'm assuming that some of the things that you talked about from an environmental perspective are around the SMID or mid-size biotech pharma environment, and you talked about that getting better as we exit the year. Can you maybe just talk a little bit about what you're seeing there as well?

Sure, Lisa. Thanks so much for the questions. Very much appreciate it. First question had to do with our particularly strong performance in the U.S. business, but revenue growth moderating a bit there. But I'll say first of all, we were really pleased to be able to increase our adjusted operating income guidance in the U.S. business to a range of about 20 to 21 percent because the excellent performance there. Now, if we look at revenue versus operating income, we did see revenue growth moderating a bit in the U.S. segment. And I'll really call out a few things. One is biosimilars, both part D and part B, which, of course, impact top line growth, particularly part D. Another thing is moderated GLP-1 growth. You know, GLP-1s are still growing, but the growth we saw is 19 percent in the most recent quarter. So while the growth is still strong, it's decelerating versus prior year. And then a third thing on the top line is a grocery customer that we no longer have. There was a very kind of high revenue customer, but a very low margin customer. So those are some of the things that, you know, are impacting revenue growth guidance in the U.S. segment. If we looked at operating income results in the most recent quarter and our guidance, you know, it really shows just excellent performance and excellent growth. And I'll just kind of call out things that we've been talking about for quite some time. Broad-based, strong performance in the U.S. segment. Specialty sales to physician practices and health systems. So some of our higher margin businesses are performing quite well. And then also part B, biosimilar growth that's moderating sales growth a bit. It's kind of very positive from an operating income standpoint. And so those are some of the things that are just causing our operating income growth in the U.S., which is excellent to be faster than our top line growth. And then you were asking about international and just some of the things that we've been seeing there. And, you know, as other players in the market have been calling out the clinical trial activity this year has been subdued, which has been pressuring some of our businesses in the international segment, particularly our global specialty logistics business in the earlier stage, pharma consulting projects that impacts our consulting business. And so the rebound's been slower than expected in the segment and been impacting our global specialty logistics business, our consulting business. And, you know, one thing I did say in my prepared remarks is that the global specialty logistics business, while it's declining year over year, it did grow sequentially in the June quarter versus the March quarter. And we also expect sequential growth in the September quarter versus the June quarter. And so as we look ahead in the segment, we are encouraged by better clinical trial start statistics that we've been seeing the last couple months that other people have been calling out also. And we see that as a positive leading indicator for potential future demand. And so we do expect, of course, to see business performance improve. And as we move into the fourth quarter, we do have an easier comparison. And with the continued sequential improvement from our global specialty logistics business, we expect to see the international health care solution segment operating income to return to growth in the fourth quarter. So thank you very much for those questions, Lisa.

The next question comes from Elizabeth Anderson of Evercore ISI. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Hi, guys. Good morning. Congrats on a nice quarter. And thanks for the question. You know, you obviously referenced RCA and sort of, you know, how it's been going since you closed on the purchase there. Can you talk about some of how that's tracking versus your expectations and what some of the early customer feedback is? And then on a related note, you know, obviously, there's been lots of political commentary around, you know, MFN, and that seems to be a changing landscape. Can you talk about sort of the exposure of businesses like RCA and sort of the general, the medical specialty to that and how we should think about, you know, the potential impact there? Thank you.

Hi, Elizabeth. Thanks very much for the question. I'll start with the question around RCA. And, you know, we couldn't be more pleased with, you know, where we are, you know, so far with the acquisition. I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we had the both the clinical and the management leaders from RCA at our offices in the last last few weeks. And, you know, aside from the work that we got done, which was which was meaningful in terms of how we work together, how integration will progress, how we'll identify new opportunities for growth and value creation. But, you know, I think importantly, it's just the cultural fit is really, really strong. And there's an appreciation from the physicians and the practice leaders about the value that Sankora can bring to them in terms of their continued growth. And what that means is more care for for patients, which is which is absolutely terrific. You know, when when you think about customer reaction, it's, you know, it's nothing remarkable there. Right. So, I mean, the market is adapting to an era where us and our peers are investing in MSOs. As I've said previously, it's important to note that the MSO investments or ownership are analogous to the work that we've done over over decades to support community providers, whether they be a community pharmacist or veterinarians or physicians with the wraparound services that we have in the MSOs are just the next evolution of that. So the market understands that and the customer market understands that. So, you know, I'd say all as well there. I'll take MFN quickly and just, you know, overall policy, Elizabeth. Obviously, there's a lot of news, you know, a lot of things happening, you know, right now from, you know, IRA implementation to the letter sent to the to the CEOs. And I would say we continue to believe it's just too early to call, you know, where all this goes. I think it's it's clear at this point what we all know, which is these things take these things take a long time and we're doing what you would expect that we are. We're we're staying very engaged in as things are happening. We're spending time in Washington, D.C. We're we're able to really communicate the need to make sure that access to community providers is maintained. So when you get beyond the headlines of of drug prices, you know, in many cases, that flows to reimbursement to physicians in particular in the part in the part B space. So we're spending time making sure that legislators and regulators understand that that most cost effective side of care is maintained. And somehow that is not an unintended consequence of focus on drug prices. So too early to call. We're very focused there. And thank you very much for the questions.

The next question comes from Michael Cheney of Learing Partners. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Good morning and thanks for taking the question. Yeah, I know typically gets in the year you're working on your forward year planning as you sit here today, given the moving pieces we've had into the end of the year between RCA annualizing between the international sequential upticks. How should we think about moving pieces into next year framed against your long term five to eight percent segment growth, eight to twelve percent earnings growth? Seems like the street is sitting around ten percent EPS growth for next year. I know you still have some contribution from RCA, but how do you think about what could provide a source of upside or downside, especially given areas of strength like the recent specialty trends? Thank you.

Michael, thank you very much for that question. And of course, as you know, we'll provide comprehensive fiscal twenty twenty six guidance at the end of our fiscal year after we've completed our year end planning process. And of course, we're really actively involved with our teams in that planning process now. And I will say that Sancora, we consistently delivered strong financial performance driven by our leading market positions and the continued execution by our team members. And I'd also say that our pharmaceutical centric foundation and competitive positioning enables us to capitalize on these market trends and to continue to deliver strong results. I'll say that we have confidence and we feel confident about our long term guidance that contemplates organic operating income growth of five to eight percent and EPS growth of eight to twelve percent, including capital deployment. We will benefit from RCA as we lap the close of the acquisition that occurred in our fiscal second quarter. So we had three quarters of RCA in fiscal year twenty five. We'll have four quarters of RCA in fiscal year twenty six. As we also look at moving pieces, we'll have three quarters of impact due to the loss of the previously disclosed oncology customer due to M&A activity that was acquired by a peer. And so we have one quarter impact from that in fiscal year twenty five, the September quarter, and we'll have four quarters impact from that in fiscal year twenty six. Now, other key items that will move us within the range include changes in utilization trends. And of course, we've seen very strong utilization trends, and those include things like growth and specialty products, sales to physician practices and health systems. Other things that will impact our guidance, of course, include timing of capital deployment, for instance, timing of share repurchases. And as you said, you know, another thing that will impact guidance is we'll assume better international growth given the soft fiscal year twenty five. So those are some of the moving pieces. But as I said before, we have confidence in our long term guidance of five to eight percent organic operating income growth and EPS growth of eight to twelve percent. Thank you for the question.

The next question comes from Stephen Baxter of Wells Fargo. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you. Just a numbers question here. I was hoping that you could better help us understand the acceleration in U.S. healthcare earnings growth. I believe it was twenty three percent last quarter, more like twenty nine percent this quarter. I'm guessing part of it is that the year over year contribution from RCA is greater in the third quarter, but it doesn't feel like the acceleration goes beyond just that. I was hoping that if there's any other adjustments or kind of drivers in the acceleration you can maybe speak to. Thank you.

Yeah, yeah, thanks. I appreciate the question. And, you know, I will say just it was a it was a really strong quarter. And of course, you know, RCA had an impact on the growth rate and that we didn't have it at this time last year. But I will say that if we look at, you know, kind of beating expectations and those sorts of things, it was really more driven by just the strength of the core business and strength of what we saw in specialty market. And as we talked about many times, utilization trends and sales of specialty products to position practices and health systems. So our core business just performed very strong in the U.S. segment. Really good expectation, excuse me, really good execution by our team members and just very strong, very strong broad based performance. You know, one probably other thing, if we look at, you know, kind of relative comps is less of a covid headwind compared to other points points in time. But overall, the, you know, the twenty nine percent adjusted operating income growth in the U.S. segment during the quarter just, you know, just reflects outstanding execution by our team. Thank you.

The next question comes from Eric Purcher of Neffron Research. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Bob. I appreciate your commentary. That was a little early for you to go deep on MSN, but I'm wondering if the tariff topic is a little bit different. And you've had three months to process the full spectrum of potential policies. Any thoughts on potential impact across brand versus generic? Any change to your approach to inventory or sourcing? Do you think we may be heading into a naturally more inflationary environment?

You know, I'll start, Eric. Thanks a lot for the question. And of course, we continue to monitor the evolutions around tariffs in the pharmaceutical market. And as you can imagine, we have teams in place analyzing the impacts of the tariffs on our business and on the supply chain. Importantly, as it relates to our business, we've not called out any material impacts as a result of tariffs. And as you know, we're pharmaceutical centric and manufacturers are the importer of record for pharmaceuticals. And so, you know, the main focus is ensuring patients have access to life saving medications. And we're supporting our upstream and downstream partners as they navigate any uncertainty. And we'll continue to advocate on behalf of our customers to ensure they receive adequate reimbursement for the services that they provide. And of course, you know, we're evaluating things and kind of many announcements that come out as to whether or not they impact, you know, branded pharmaceuticals versus generic pharmaceuticals. But from a financial standpoint, we haven't called out, you know, any material impacts on our business as a result of tariffs. And I'll turn it over to Bob.

Yeah, thanks, Jim. Eric, thanks for the question. I think, you know, the headline, you know, is, you know, we're not changing our sourcing practices based on this. We have we have confidence in the supply chain and we'll continue to work through that. I do think the watch out is, you know, there is a difference between the supply chains for brands and generics. And I think what we are being careful, what we're carefully monitoring is is the risk of shortages and then therefore a disruption to patient access. So that's, again, an unintended consequence that would would not be positive. So, you know, we're thinking about that. We're analyzing it. As Jim said, we're also, you know, educating in Washington about that. Again, it's one of the roles that we play in Washington is to make sure that that ideas that are put forward are thought all the way through. We are one of the very few player health care players that really have end to end visibility of the supply chain. So we can we can play an education role. And as you think about that, you know, it's the it's the patient access impact of shortages that we're doing everything that we can to to mitigate.

The next question comes from Charles Ray of T.D. Cohen. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks for taking the question. Wanted to just go back to international and just trying to get a sense when when you're looking, obviously understanding that the comps get a little easier. And it sounds like sequentially some of the business like special logistics was improving. What is the lead time generally for projects that come in for you? Is that like a year ahead of time? Like, you know, how far ahead are projects booked for for the various business there, particularly maybe in consulting as well? Or is it kind of a short cycle type of business or is it tends to be longer and just trying to get a sense on what kind of visibility forward you have in terms of demand?

Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Charles. You know, we have, you know, as you'd expect, you know, visibility in terms of bookings and then our ability to pull through. And then the sales cycle is in your question as well. And I would just say it's variable. I mean, the size of the project, the market, the type of work that it is. So there's not a simple answer to that, certainly. But, you know, you can be assured that we have we do have good visibility in terms of, you know, where we're tracking in terms of future growth. Our teams are very focused on execution on the sales side, and we're also making sure that we're optimizing the services that we have. So as the market begins to turn more positively, that we're going to be even better positioned to take advantage of that. Thanks for the question.

The next question comes from Kevin Caliendo of UBS. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Thanks for taking my question. Good morning. Oh, I wanted to expand a little bit on the headwinds and tailwinds for 26. Jim, I appreciate the details that you gave us, but the reality is your growth in the US segment, especially, is so much above your LRP. You're talking about incremental things around RCA one quarter and the three quarters loss of FCS. And I understand that. But I guess, is there anything fundamental that you can see that would bring your growth rate down closer to your LRP where it's been exceeding it now for almost two years? Fantastic performance. I'm just wondering, is there anything in biosimilars? Is there, is GLP-1 slowdown something that could bring you back to within that range, as you sort of described within the range earlier?

Yeah, thank you very much for the question. And thank you for your commentary on our results that we've been having also. That's very much appreciated. Let me just kind of answer one very specific thing that you said, and then I'll get into a broader answer. Kind of slow down in growth in GLP-1s really wouldn't have a major impact on our guidance, because as we've said for a long time, GLP-1s add a lot to top line growth and they are profitable for us, but they're minimally profitable for us. And as we said during the second quarter earnings call, we'll say the same thing here. That is, we look at things like the remainder of the year and get next year. We certainly expect to see good growth, but we aren't assuming the same level of outperformance that we've had in the recent past. And so, you know, we do have a lot of confidence in our long term guidance. We have confidence in the momentum that we have and what that is, you know, kind of translating in, in terms of achieving the long term guidance. But, you know, we probably wouldn't assume the same level of rapid growth that we've had in the recent past, especially as we begin to comp against periods of exceptional growth that we've had. But having said that, I'll say, you know, we're very confident in our long term guidance ranges and we'll, you know, continue to evaluate them annually. Thank you for the question.

The next question comes from George Hill of Deutsche Bank. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good morning, guys, and thanks for taking the question. Bob and Jim, I'm wondering if you could comment a little bit on the competitive environment and specialty distribution, especially in the Part B space. One of your large customers last week talked about trying to rapidly expand their business in the space. So maybe talk about how you think about market segmentation and where you guys kind of want to be strong and where you might have less of a competitive advantage. Thank you.

Yeah, thanks. Thanks, George. You know, we are, you know, focused in our areas of strength, which align very well with our strategy. So I wouldn't call out anything necessarily changing about the market. You know, we are, we are a leader in the market, you know, in particular in retina and oncology. And we're very focused on making sure that we, you know, are able to do that. Execute well there for the for the near term and the long term. And also, you know, we're continuing to evaluate what what future opportunities that there are. But as we sit here now, I wouldn't call it anything changing. We're happy with with our positioning. We're very happy with the investments that we've made both in RCA and in one oncology, as well as in our internal capabilities. By the way, I don't want to I don't want to leave that out. Right. We talked about, you know, kind of the future of specialty distribution and, you know, how things are evolving. You know, I do want to probably remake the point that I made in a slightly different context in my prepared remarks, but we're we're continually investing in our in our capabilities across our network, both digital capabilities as well as physical infrastructure. So we feel good about being able to continue to to grow, meet the needs of our customers, both manufacturer customers as well as provider customers. Thanks for the question, George.

The next question comes from Erin Wright of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Thanks for taking my question, Bob. Another thing from your prepared remarks, you mentioned that you're continually evaluating, I guess, areas that are less strategically aligned and where you should deemphasize investments, I guess. Maybe I'm reading too much into the comment, but how are you thinking about, you know, commitments to the international business, the different components of that business? They'll throw in animal health as well and your commitment to that business. But how are these all fitting now with the core? Is there the clear synergy that you originally thought and where there may be kind of, I guess, less so as these businesses have evolved?

Thanks very much for the question, Erin. Yeah, what I'm really saying here is there's not reading between the lines. What I'm trying to clearly say is that we're applying rigorous discipline to our entire portfolio of services and making sure that they are the right strategic fit. And then as we go through that, that will help us identify how to best deploy our resources, whether that's capex or op-ex or talent, that we make sure that we are investing in a differentiated way in the areas that are going to grow for us and are aligned with our strategy and that we're de-prioritizing investment in areas that we see as less aligned. Thanks for the question, Erin.

The next question comes from Stephen Valakett of Mizuho Securities. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks. Good morning. So, just based on our channel checks, it seems that brand drug manufacturers put in a bigger wave of AWP list price increases at mid-25, really relative to any other mid-year period in almost a decade, it seems. I'm just wondering if you were seeing this as well, even though I know you've commented that brand inflation has less beneficial impact to European now today versus history, but I'm just curious if you're really seeing the activity.

Thanks. Yeah, thank you very much for the question. What I'll say is that what we saw in terms of branded price appreciation was about in line with our expectations, may have been a little bit ahead of our expectations, certainly not something big enough for us to call out. But, you know, so I just say it was generally in line with our expectations or a little bit ahead. And as we've, you know, talked about in the past, it has less of an impact on our overall P&L that it did at one point in time and as we've, you know, rebalanced contracts and making sure that we make, you know, a great decision to create the question.

The next question comes from Daniel Grosslite of Citi. Your line is now open. Please go ahead. Daniel, your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Hi, sorry about that. I'm on mute. Congrats on the strong quarter. Thanks for taking the question. Really just a couple of policy questions for you guys. The proposed hospital outpatient perspective rule seeks to end the pricing advantage that hospital owned off campus outpatient facilities have in drug administration. I'm curious how that may impact the competitive environment and growth for your MSO assets. And separately, I'm also curious if there are any tax benefits you're realizing from the OBBA and if that's having any meaningful benefit to your free cash flow in the near term. Thanks.

Yeah, I'll start with the second part of that question that the new tax bill moving forward will have, you know, some incremental benefits for us. So as we look at our, you know, effective tax rate moving forward as a global company, there's, you know, always a lot of things that impact our consolidated effective tax rate. But the new tax bill is incrementally beneficial for us as it is for many companies. Thank you for that question.

The final question is from Brian Tranquillet of Jeffreys. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. It's Jack Sebanon for Brian. Thanks for taking the question. Just, just want to double click on the comment around GLP-1s and appreciate the commentary that a slowdown there, you know, shouldn't be particularly impactful when you think about consolidated earnings or US healthcare earnings. But maybe more broadly as you cast forward, just thinking about what are the moving pieces that need to happen as we see more competition in that category for earnings to expand there or for margins to expand there. Is it something that's just not really possible or do you think over time as as we get more and more competition and in that, that that's something that you can achieve.

Thanks. Yeah, thank you very much for the question. And as we've, you know, consistently said for quite some time, GLP-1s have really been a driver of top line growth and they are profitable for us, but they are minimally profitable for us. You know, at some point in time, as there are more competitors on the market, maybe it will move to a more normalized fee for service and they will become more profitable for us at some point in time. But it's certainly not, it's we're doing, for instance, our fiscal year 26 planning. It's not something that we're anticipating in our fiscal year 26 plan. We're expecting them to remain profitable, but be minimally profitable for us and kind of that type of time horizon. Thank you very much for the question.

We currently have no further questions, so I'll hand back to Bob for closing remarks.

Thanks everyone for your time and interest in Sancora. We're continuing to deliver strong results powered by our strength and specialty, our leading customer portfolio and our ability to enhance patient care. I want to again thank our incredible team members at Sancora who every day are executing at a very high level, bringing their passion and expertise to our customers, both upstream to manufacturers and downstream to providers and delivering our purpose every day. Thank you everyone.

This concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.