5/7/2026

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Teleflex first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode. At the end of the company's prepared remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. Please note that this conference call is being recorded and will be available on the company's website for replay shortly. And now, I will turn the call over to Mr. Lawrence Kirsch, Vice President of Investor Relations and Strategy Development. You may begin.

speaker
Lawrence Kirsch
Vice President of Investor Relations and Strategy Development

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Teleflex Incorporated first quarter 2026 earnings conference call. The press release and slides to accompany this call are available on our website at teleflex.com. As a reminder, a replay will be available on our website. Those wishing to access the replay can refer to our press release from this morning for details. Participating on today's call are Stuart Randall, interim president and chief executive officer, and John Darin, executive vice president and chief financial officer. Stu and John will provide prepared remarks, and then we will open the call to Q&A. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that some of the matters discussed in the conference call will contain forward-looking statements regarding future events as outlined in the slides posted to the investor relations section of the Teleflex website. We wish to caution you that such statements are, in fact, forward-looking in nature and are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual events or results may differ materially. The factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially include, but are not limited to, factors referenced in our press release today, as well as our filings with the SEC, including our Form 10-K, which can be accessed on our website. Now, I'll turn the call over to Stu for his remarks.

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Larry, and good morning, everyone. Before I review the first quarter 2026 results, I will provide an update on our strategic objectives and our commitment to maximize long-term shareholder value. Teleflex has made demonstrable progress optimizing its portfolio and positioning the company for the meaningful opportunities ahead of us. In July 2025, we completed the acquisition of Biotronics' vascular intervention business expanding our coronary intervention portfolio, and establishing a global footprint in the fast-growing peripheral intervention market. In December 2025, we announced agreements to sell the acute care, interventional urology, and OEM businesses as part of our overall transformation plan, creating a more focused medical technologies leader with a higher forward revenue CAGR, greater exposure to core critical care and high acuity hospital markets, and a more focused portfolio across vascular access, interventional, and surgical. These strategic divestitures remain on track to close in the second half of 2026. On OEM, we reached an important milestone in March when the Hart-Scott-Rodina waiting period expired. We are focused on completing the remaining closing conditions with the target of closing in the third quarter of 2026. Separately in March, Teleflex and the buyer of the acute care and interventional urology businesses Each received a second request for additional information from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. We are cooperating with the FTC and continue to expect that transaction to close in the second half of 2026. We remain committed to using the proceeds from the divestitures on the share repurchase program of up to $1 billion and to reduce debt by $800 million, reflecting our disciplined approach to capital allocation and our focus on enhancing shareholder value and financial flexibility. We now expect to begin opportunistic share repurchases in the open market during the second quarter of this year ahead of the previously anticipated timing of following the completion of the strategic divestitures. This action reflects our confidence in the value of the business, the progress we are making on our transformation plan, and our commitment to disciplined capital allocation and long-term shareholder value creation. Teleflex is also making progress on its strategic priorities. which include driving durable performance and building a clear financial profile through improved margins, lower interest expense, and stronger adjusted earnings per share over time. In the first quarter, we met or exceeded our internal expectations for revenues, margins, and adjusted EPS. Proforma adjusted constant currency growth increased 5.1%, while adjusted operating margin was 18.1%. We've remained focused on closing the sale transactions and delivering on our financial objectives for 2026, as well as building further momentum to drive sustainable growth and operating leverage. As previously announced, we launched a multiyear restructuring plan that is expected to achieve approximately $50 million in annual pre-tax cost savings upon completion in mid-2028. Restructuring activities, which are on track, began in the first quarter of 2026, and savings are expected to accelerate in the second half of the year. In April, Teleflex announced governance changes, including the nomination of Michael J. Tokich, former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Staris, to the Board of Directors, as well as the intent to establish a new Growth and Operating Committee of the Board. These actions reflect our continued focus on strong governance, thoughtful oversight, and long-term performance. Additionally, we announced that Dr. Stephen Klausko and John Heinmiller will conclude their respective terms on the Board at our upcoming Annual Stockholders Meeting. Dr. Klasko recently accepted a new significant healthcare leadership role, and Mr. Heinmuller is pursuing other professional interests. On behalf of the board, I want to thank Steve and John for the meaningful contributions and dedication to Teleflex over their many years of service, and wish them well in their future endeavors. Effective following the annual meeting, Andrew Krakauer, who currently serves as the chair of the board's comp committee, will succeed Steve as chair of the board. Andy has served as the director of Teleflex since 2018. He previously served as CEO and board member of Cantel Medical Corporation from 2009 to 2016, which was an NYSE listed provider of infection control products and services during his tenure. Taken together, these actions reflect a more focused portfolio, stronger governance, disciplined capital allocation, and a clear path to value creation. We believe they position Teleflex to deliver improved execution and stronger long-term performance. Finally, I want to welcome Jason Weidman as Teleflex's next president and CEO, effective June 8. Jason is a proven medical technology leader with more than 25 years of industry experience and a strong track record of building and scaling businesses globally. His deep medical technology expertise and proven track record of driving growth, innovation, and operational execution make him well suited to lead Teleflex through its next chapter and help accelerate the opportunities ahead. It has been an honor to lead Teleflex as interim president and CEO, and I look forward to continuing to support the company as a member of the board. Now moving to our first quarter continuing operations results and updated financial guidance for 2026. All growth rates that I referred to on a year-over-year pro forma adjusted constant currency basis unless otherwise noted. Pro forma adjusted constant currency growth for 2026 excludes the impact of foreign exchange The Italian payback measure in the second half of 2025 of $9 million and the impact of approximately $14 million in continuing operations product revenue that was discontinued at the end of 2025 due to a strategic realignment. But it includes revenue generated by the acquired investment intervention business for the prior full year period. All comments are related to the continuing operations for the first quarter of 2026. For the first quarter, Telflex revenues were $548.3 million, up 32.3% year over year on a gap basis, and an increase of 5.1% on a pro forma adjusted constant currency basis. In the quarter, we demonstrated strong execution, and to a lesser extent, also benefited from some timing of orders in our surgical instrument portfolio. First quarter adjusted earnings per share was $1.39, a 3.5% decrease year over year. Early in the second quarter, we were notified that two third-party product suppliers had initiated a recall for certain components included in some of our vascular and interventional kits. We have identified actions to return our products to market and have a remediation program underway. We have included the necessary estimated cost provision within our first quarter results to remediate our current product stock. Although the actions for the remediation may result in some elevated backorders at the end of the second quarter, we do not currently believe that there will be a significant impact on our full year 2026 revenue guidance as we continue to focus on serving the needs of our customers. Now let's turn to a deeper dive into our first quarter revenue performance. I will begin with the review of our revenues by global product category for the first quarter. Starting with vascular revenue increased 4.8% year-over-year to $236.8 million, was primarily driven by growth in our hemostatic products in our central venous and other access portfolio. Moving to interventional, revenue was 204.7 million, an increase of 3%. Performance for the quarter was driven by intraosseous, right heart catheters, and complex catheters. We are continuing our integration of the vascular intervention business, which closed early in the third quarter of 2025. In the first quarter, the sales forces of the legacy teleplex interventional and vascular intervention businesses were combined. As expected, we have experienced some disruption from the integration and restructuring activities, but we continue to anticipate improving momentum in the second half of the year based on our expanded presence and cross-selling opportunities in the cath lab. As part of our commitment to increasing R&D investment for innovative new technologies, we continue to advance our clinical study for the FreeSolve drug-eluting resorbable magnesium scaffold technology. FreeSolve's combination of temporary scaffolding with drug delivery is anticipated to address the current trend in interventional cardiology and endovascular procedures towards leaving nothing behind. Recruitment for the Biomag2 study, which is a European pivotal trial for Freesolve, continues to outpace our assumption for the study, positioning us for a late 2027 data readout. We intend to expand our regulatory pathway for Freesolve and additional geographies including the initiation of the Biomek 3 pivotal trial in the U.S. during 2026. In our surgical business, revenue was $106.8 million, an increase of 9.9%, which was primarily driven by strong performance in our ligation clip and some timing of orders in our instrument portfolio. Instrument orders can be lumpy quarter to quarter. We anticipate some moderation of growth in the second quarter. That completes my comments on the first quarter revenue performance. Now I'd like to turn the call over to John for a more detailed review of our financial results. John.

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Stu, and good morning. All results that I speak to will be on a continuing operations basis for 2026. Due to the reclassification of discontinued operations, historic continuing operations reflects the impact of stranded costs in all periods presented. Given Stu's previous discussion of revenue, I'll begin with margins. For the first quarter of 2026, the adjusted gross margin was 61.4%. The 470 basis point decrease year over year was primarily due to the adverse impact of tariffs, quality remediation charges primarily associated with the third-party supplier disruption, as Stu mentioned earlier, higher logistics and distribution costs, and the addition of the vascular intervention acquisition, which has a slightly lower gross margin than the corporate average. First quarter 2026 adjusted operating margin was 18.1%, The 510 basis point decrease reflected the year-over-year gross margin pressure, higher operating expenses associated with the acquisition of the vascular intervention business, as well as increased R&D investment, partially offset by the positive impact of foreign exchange rates. Adjusted net interest expense totals $24 million for the first quarter as compared to $17 million in the prior year period. The year-over-year increase is primarily due to the borrowings used to finance the vascular intervention acquisition. Our adjusted tax rate for the first quarter of 2026 is 18.3% as compared to 16.4% in the prior year. The year-over-year increase is primarily due to higher tax expense associated with stock-based compensation. At the bottom line, first quarter adjusted earnings per share was $1.39, representing a 3.5% decrease year-over-year. The year-over-year decrease is primarily due to tariffs, higher interest expense, partially offset by higher revenue and adjusted operating income, including the impact of the vascular intervention acquisition and higher R&D spending and a lower share count. At the end of the first quarter, our cash equivalents and restricted cash equivalents balanced with 329.6 million as compared to 402.7 million as of year end 2025. Net leverage at the quarter end was approximately two and a half times. Now turning to our financial guidance. As we have previously indicated, 2026 results include a number of transient factors related to our strategic divestitures that will impact our near-term results, which we expect to mitigate with the close of both transactions. Therefore, we anticipate 2027 will be a more reflective of the underlying business going forward, ultimately building a clearer financial profile with significant improvements in margins, interest expense, and adjusted earnings per share. With that context, I will review the items that will impact our 2026 results. First, our 2026 guidance reflects the fully burdened cost structure for RemainCo inclusive of approximately 90 million of stranded costs, but does not include any positive impacts from the TSA or MSAs. Secondly, the exact timing of the closing of the strategic divestitures will pace our ability to deploy capital in 2026. As a reminder, we expect to receive net proceeds of approximately 1.8 billion after tax from the divestitures. We remain committed to returning significant capital to shareholders through our previously announced $1 billion share repurchase authorization and our intention to repay $800 million in debt with the remaining proceeds from the strategic divestitures. As previously disclosed, we expect to begin opportunistic share repurchases under the existing $1 billion authorization in the open market during the second quarter. Any set repurchases will be subject to prevailing market conditions and the company's operating cash flow needs. As we look forward to 2027 and beyond, we anticipate these capital deployment actions, in combination with the impacts of the TSA and MSA arrangements, and our efforts to further mitigate stranded costs and right-size the organization, will result in a significant increase in both our operating income and margins, as well as our adjusted EPS. Moving to an update on our 2026 guidance. Please note that our 2026 guidance is provided on a continuing operation basis, excludes the acute care, interventional urology, and OEM businesses. We continue to expect pro forma adjusted constant currency revenue growth for 2026 to be in the range of 4.5% to 5.5%. Turning to adjusted earnings per share, we continue to expect a range of $6.25 to $6.55 in 2026. Our guidance does not include the anticipated positive impact from our announced plans to repurchase $1 billion of our common stock and repayment of debt, which would be primarily funded with the proceeds from the strategic divestitures. We anticipate these actions will result in a meaningfully lower share count and significantly reduced interest expense in 2027 and beyond. Although we have not included the benefits of these actions in our 2026 adjusted EPS guidance, we continue to anticipate closing the strategic divestitures in the second half of 2026, with the OEM transaction expected to close in the third quarter. Taken together, we expect these factors will contribute to significantly higher adjusted EPS beginning in 2027. Additionally, for modeling purposes, you should consider the following. The impact of foreign exchange for 2026 is still expected to be approximately $14 million. We continue to expect our 2026 adjusted operating margin to be approximately 19%. which reflects the full impact of approximately 90 million in stranded costs associated with the separation activities and no offsetting benefit from the TSA and MSA arrangements during 2026. In addition, I would also note that our 2026 operating margin is inclusive of R&D investment of approximately 8% of sales. Of note, when taking into account the positive impacts of the TSA and MSA arrangements in terms of reducing the operating expense profile for continued operations, We estimate that our underlying steady state adjusted operating margin will be approximately 23%, which is 400 bps above our fully burdened adjusted operating margin guidance for 2026. Looking forward, we see opportunities over the next several years to improve adjusted operating margins through operating leverage from revenue growth and other cost savings initiatives above our steady state operating margin profile of approximately 23%. Moving to assumptions below the line. Net interest expense is expected to approximate $105 million for full year 2026. Our estimate reflects the refinancing over $500 million in four and five-eighths senior notes, which are due in November 2027. It does not assume any debt pay down associated with the after-tax proceeds from the strategic divestitures. Finally, we continue to expect our tax rate to be approximately 13.5% in 2026. That concludes my prepared remarks. I would now like to turn it back to Stu for closing commentary.

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, John. In closing, I will highlight our three key takeaways from the first quarter of 2026. First, Teleflex is in the midst of a transformation that optimizes our portfolio, creates a more focused medical technologies leader, and positions our company for meaningful value creation opportunities going forward. To continue to make progress on the pillars of our strategic plan, which are expected to catalyze a strong financial profile beginning in 2027. Second, we are pleased with the performance in the first quarter with pro forma adjusted constant currency revenue growth of 5.1% year-over-year, tracking towards our 2026 pro forma constant currency growth guidance of 4.5% to 5.5%. In addition, the first quarter performance is aligned with our mid-single-digit growth profile aspirations represents a strong reflection of the durable growth potential of our go-forward business. Third, we continue to expect our two strategic divestitures to close in the second half of 2026. We remain committed to return significant capital to shareholders for our $1 billion share repurchase program, while also reducing debt to enhance our financial flexibility and support future growth and value creation. We also remain focused on opportunities to offset the stranded costs from the separation, initially through the recognition of transition service and manufacturing service fees of at least $90 million on an annualized basis, and longer term through cost optimization. We have already initiated restructuring to drive approximately $50 million in after-tax savings and are actively assessing additional cost reduction programs. With a more streamlined portfolio and clear strategic priorities, we will be well positioned to drive durable performance and long-term value for shareholders. We expect our financial performance to improve through 2026 and more fully capture the benefits of our efforts in 2027 and beyond with meaningful increases and adjusted earnings per share. That concludes my prepared remarks. Now I'd like to turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press the star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. We ask that you limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. If you would like to ask additional questions, we invite you to add yourself to the queue again by pressing star one. Your first question comes from the line of Mike Mattson with Needham and Company. Please go ahead.

speaker
Mike Mattson
Analyst at Needham & Company

Yeah, thanks. So I wanted to ask one about the second quarter revenue growth expectations. I know you're not giving guidance, but there were a few things in the prepared remarks that seemed to indicate growth could be a bit slower than kind of the annual growth, including this recall issue, the instrument order timing, and then the interventional sales integration. So I don't know what you're willing or able to tell us on that, but are you comfortable with the consensus estimate of around $567 million?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

So, Mike, yeah, to your first point, we're not guiding quarterly revenue. But, yeah, your observations around those things are, you know, we did say we would see accelerated growth in the second half of 2026. We still believe that, so we will expect accelerated growth, so you can start doing the math through the P&L. Yeah, we do have these two recalls that could relate to some backorders, but it's really a bump in the road for us. For one of them, we already have product flowing for the larger one, and the other one is really small, to be honest. So I think that while there's always some level of risk and there's going to be puts and takes, I think those are not going to be problematic for us for the full year. Yeah, and we did see some instrument order timing for surgical. You know, we'll continue to see how that plays out throughout the year. You know, so it's hard to tell you exactly that that's going to be a Q2 adjustment that could come in Q3, but it's possible it'd be Q2 as well. But again, we're not guiding Q2 revenues, but that's all I can tell you on that.

speaker
Mike Mattson
Analyst at Needham & Company

Yeah. Okay. I understand. And then just on the, on the interventional sales integration that kind of kicked off in the first quarter, how much that is being caused, the disruption being caused by headcount reduction versus just reshuffling of territories or is it a combination of both of those things?

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

So it's a, there's a, do you want to hit it? I'll take it. It's primarily your latter point on the restructuring of territories. So as we integrated the two sales forces, you know, there's territory realignment, and that's the primary cause of that disruption.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Jason Bedford with Raymond James.

speaker
Jason Bedford
Analyst at Raymond James

Please go ahead. Good morning. Maybe just a somewhat unoriginal question, but you beat consensus estimates by about 17 cents in the first quarter. no change to the annual guidance. I appreciate there's a lot of factors going into guidance setting, but is the EPS guidance factoring in any new costs you're seeing in the business?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

No, I mean, Jason, it is early in the year. You know, again, lots of puts and takes throughout the quarters. We're really happy about the performance in Q1, and so we've decided we will maintain our guidance for the full year right now. We'll have better information as we go through the second quarter, and we'll be able to update as appropriate then.

speaker
Jason Bedford
Analyst at Raymond James

Okay. Maybe just on the top line, growth across the three segments was fairly balanced. Surgical is obviously the outlier. I'm guessing comps were a factor. And obviously, there was a few puts and takes here on the surgical side. Within the 4.5% to 5.5% growth guidance, can you just give us an idea of which segments lag, which segments drive the growth, and then maybe touch on some of the segment drivers here?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah. So, look, I mean, I think we're happy with all of the segments, you know, vascular, CVCs, and hemostatics did really well. surgical. It's really around our hemlocks and the instrument orders, as we noted. Interventional is doing really well with complex catheters, drug, the DCBs as well. So I think we're really happy with what we're seeing across the portfolio. Again, we don't guide by product portfolio, so I'm not going to get too into that. You know, we do see in the long term, interventional will be the larger grower. I can't, I won't, you know, signal that yet for 2026, but I think that that is our expectation. We're putting a lot behind the interventional product space. We're spending most of our R&D dollars there, and we think there's the opportunity for the most innovation there as well.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Matthew Taylor with Jeffrey Spieska Head.

speaker
Matthew Taylor
Analyst at Jefferies

Hi, good morning. Maybe in terms of what you're expecting from costs for the year, can you help us maybe frame the impact of any cost inflation across manufacturing and freight? Maybe help us understand, like, is there any margin headwind you're seeing today or something you expect in guidance for the year?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

So, you know, nothing significant, honestly. Obviously, we have seen an increase in L&D costs as the uh, Iran conflict, uh, moves on. You know, we had a lot of, uh, contract locked in place when it started. So, you know, it kept our L and D, uh, cost down in the beginning of the year. We, we, we have started to see that inflation as we got to the end of the quarter. Um, and we think we have a lot of opportunities to offset it. So we've actively have a number of continuing, um, continuing improvement process, uh, programs in place to offset that. So right now, We think the risks that we see are within the guidance range we have given on operating margins.

speaker
Matthew Taylor
Analyst at Jefferies

That's helpful. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Ravi Misra, which is security. Please go ahead.

speaker
Ravi Misra
Analyst

Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. So I'll just ask my question and follow up up front. First, can you provide a little bit more detail on kind of what the role of the new board committee that you announced was, the growth and operations, and kind of how that's going to be constructed in terms of who's on it? And then second, with Freesol, it sounds like, you know, you commented to faster than expected enrollment in Europe. On Biomag 3 in 2026, You know, can you maybe level set expectations in terms of what you see based on those learnings on how long that will take to fill and maybe when we can get a readout there if everything goes well. Thanks.

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

This is Stu. I'll take the growth and operating committee. We've got a board meeting next week where we will put together the outline for that committee as well as the members. I think it's fair to say it will focus more specifically or in a little more detail on the operations of the company and specifically how we put our Our growth plans in place, and how we monitor the execution of those plans.

speaker
Lawrence Kirsch
Vice President of Investor Relations and Strategy Development

And then Robbie, it's Larry just on the bio mag trials. Yes, we on bio mag 2 in Europe. Have been a role enrolling patients ahead of our expected schedule. and we are approaching the end of that enrollment period. We'll obviously let everyone know when we get that wrapped up. It is a 12-month follow-up from the last patient in, so that should give you some feel as to when we will see the conclusion of that study, and then obviously there will be the analysis of the data, and we still expect that data to read out In 2027, you know, in the latter portion of the year, relative to the US, as we have indicated biomag 3 will initiate in 2020, 2026. it is a study protocol that is very similar to biomag 2. so you should think about it in similar numbers of patients. You know, we'll see how enrollment goes. You know, different geographies can be different. But I would anticipate that, you know, we'll see that data reading out probably sometime in, you know, something like 2030.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Anthony Petrone with the DeZulo Group. Please go ahead. Anthony, you might be on mute. We'll take our next question coming from the line of Shagan Singh with RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

speaker
Shagan Singh
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

Great. Thank you so much. So I believe Jason is starting June 8th. Just ahead of his arrival, can you just talk about, you know, why he was the best fit for the company? And once he does take on the role, you know, when can we expect to hear about the company's strategic vision and is there a plan for an investor day? And then I have a quick follow-up.

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Sure. Thanks for the question. So we're super excited to have Jason start. As we noted, he's going to start on the 8th. Prior to that, he's got some obligations with Medtronic, but he's clearly going to be actively involved with the company prior to officially starting. You know, why did we pick him? Really, there were kind of three or four things. First, alignment with our culture and our values, those being really focused on ethics, integrity, and accountability. Secondly, we wanted someone who's a proven growth leader. Jason clearly demonstrated that growth when he managed the stent portfolio at Medtronic. Thirdly, we wanted someone who could manage through significant complexity. As you know, we're integrating Biotronic and working on the sales of our businesses. And clearly someone who's worked in Medtronic, which as you know, is a giant, highly complex matrix organization. He's had a super successful career there. So he's obviously seen and managed through that complexity. And lastly, global perspective. He's operated with a very broad product portfolio throughout his career on a global basis. So those are kind of the key reasons we brought him here. I talk to him almost every day. He's excited to get started, and we're looking forward to having him. Relative to an investor day, we don't have anything planned at the moment. We will certainly keep you informed of that after Jason gets on board and gets, you know, gets comfortable with the organization. It's something that was spoken about, and we will plan for some time in the future.

speaker
Shagan Singh
Analyst at RBC Capital Markets

Great, thank you. And then just as a follow-up, you know, I think last quarter you provided some directional outlook into 2027, and I was just wondering if you could touch on that. You know, on sales, you know, the midpoint of this 5% growth, is that a good base case to use, you know, going forward? And then, you know, on operating margins, I think X standard cost you had indicated mid-20s, and you also indicated on your comments today that This year, there's about a 400 basis point on the board and operating margin. So any direction outlook would be helpful. Thank you.

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yes, we did not provide, you know, any guidance on 2027. I think what we did provide, though, to your point around a normalized operating margin was more than that 23% level once, you know, we account for the stranded costs. And we think we have a lot of opportunity to go above that as we continue to grow and we get some more leverage out of the P&L going forward. But I think that's the only thing we really guided to for 2027. Obviously, you know, we've given you the components to think about in terms of buyback and interest expense and the benefits we'll be seeing in 2027. So, for your own models, but yeah, as far as top line goes, we're not prepared to start guiding top line until we get a little more into 2026.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

And the next question comes from the line of Matthew O'Ryan with Piper Sandler. Please go ahead.

speaker
Matthew O'Ryan
Analyst at Piper Sandler

Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. You know, for starters, just maybe just bigger picture, you know, there is a rumor about, you know, some interest in Teleflex either strategically or from a private equity perspective, and I'm not sure what you can share, but heard that, you know, seeing two board members not standing for reelection. So I'm just wondering if the company was approached about, you know, a transaction, you looked at it as a board said, no, it's not something that we're interested in, and hence the hiring of Jason, or if those two pathways or factors are completely independent of each other. And then I do a follow-up.

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, this is Stu. We don't comment on any market rumors and speculation. We made comments regarding these activities in our March 27th press release, so I just refer you to that for our comments.

speaker
Matthew O'Ryan
Analyst at Piper Sandler

Okay, fair enough. And then maybe a question for John, and I know timing of repurchases is difficult to fully understand, but is it And it's a big number, you know, a billion dollars of repurchases here. But is this something that we think we could be done with by the end of this calendar year? Or do you think it'll bleed into 27? Thanks so much.

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

So given the size, first of all, as a reminder, we are going to start doing some open market purchases in Q2, given where the stock price is out. We think there's an opportunity to do that. That's, of course, ahead of the proceeds. So no commitment as to how much we're going to buy back in the second quarter until we're able to close at least the first sale of which we expect to be the OEM transaction. But given the size of the buyback, you know, there is a good chance that that purchases will continue into 2027. So if we just think about how the two sales will likely lay out and if you only thought about the proceeds from the sales, Yeah, you'd likely be buying into the first quarter of 2027, just given the volume limits that we would have.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

The next question comes from the line of Ross Osborne with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

speaker
Ross Osborne
Analyst at Wells Fargo

Good morning. Thanks for taking our questions. Starting out, how much of the $90 million in stranded costs has already flowed through during the first quarter, and is the quarterly cadence linear or back-up weighted?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

I apologize. Your second part of your question again, if you could.

speaker
Ross Osborne
Analyst at Wells Fargo

Just in terms of the cadence for the remaining stranded cost, should we expect a linear run rate or is it back half weighted?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Think of it as a linear run rate. So stranded costs, right, there's not a great science to this. It's a concept, right? It's the overhead cost that we still maintain for all of Teleflex that we'll be able to know we believe we'll be able to fully mitigate uh as we as once we separate the company uh you know when you get into 2027 or even the back half you know back end of this year once we have the tsa's and msa's in place um they'll offset the stranded costs entirely and then it's really about how these restructuring programs take care of them permanently so um you can Think about the stranded cost being around for likely the better part of this year until the fourth quarter once the TSAs and MSAs come into play. They will not be an issue for 2027, and then we have to continue to work through to make sure they don't become an issue after 2027, 2028. But they are in the numbers today, and they are in the comparative numbers, if you will, as we've restated everything for 2025.

speaker
Ross Osborne
Analyst at Wells Fargo

Okay, and confirming the $90 million and how much was hit during the first quarter?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

I'm sorry?

speaker
Ross Osborne
Analyst at Wells Fargo

Confirming your guidance of $90 million of stranded cost and then how much flowed through during the first quarter.

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Well, again, these are – stranded costs are conceptual. They are part of your overhead, your corporate overhead and the like, so they're not specific identified costs in that sense, right? Right. Think about them radically, I guess I would say, right, as you go through the year.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

The next question comes from the line of Michael Pollard with Wolf Research. Please go ahead.

speaker
Michael Pollard
Analyst at Wolfe Research

Hey.

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Good morning.

speaker
Michael Pollard
Analyst at Wolfe Research

Follow-up on interventional 3% pro forma constant currency growth in the quarter. That's below target of mid-single digits plus. I heard some puts and takes. I just want to understand the quarter specifically being slightly below target growth, is that the, Salesforce integration disruption? Is that the third-party supplier recall, or is there something else you'd have us consider?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

No, it's, you know, so we have already, we expected the first half of the year to be slower than the back half for interventional, specifically due to, there's two things. One, we did a major restructure, and we announced a major restructuring at the end of Q4 related to the VI acquisitions. that starts taking place obviously in Q1. So the actions were taking place as well as some of the disruption that Stu has already mentioned. So those really are the items I can talk about. And so we view them as transient in the Q1, you know, going in a little into Q2, and then we expect the back half of the year to recover nicely after we get kind of get through that transition.

speaker
Michael Pollard
Analyst at Wolfe Research

My follow-up on Surgical, the upside growth in the quarter timing of orders for instruments, heard that loud and clear. Are you launching new products there? Do you think that's share gain, or is it truly timing? And the second piece of that is, does the comment include orders for the bariatric stapler? If it doesn't, I'm curious just for an update on how that product is performing given the market challenges.

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, Surgical did very, very well. And, you know, I think they'll continue to do well. We did well across the product portfolio. Hemlock did well. The bariatric stapler did well. It's on a much lower base. The instrument orders have done well throughout the year. That's really the only timing issue in the quarter. Everything else was really strong performance for surgical. So we've been really pleased with the quarter, and we see some nice opportunities as the year plays out.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

The next question comes from the line of Bradley Bowers with Mizzou. Please go ahead.

speaker
Bradley Bowers
Analyst at Mizuho

Great. Thanks for taking our questions, Aman, for Anthony. Maybe a two-parter here. Just wanted to double-click on interventional. You know, obviously, modeling is a little choppy, but it was the only one that was a little bit short of our model, but obviously, the ramp is expected. So I wanted to share that line of sight on the integration and how you expect that to ramp and exit 2027. You know, admittedly, this is a little bit picky, but, you know, hear about, you know, a new CEO coming in, you know, experiencing complex businesses. But, you know, the recent Teleflex transactions are about making, you know, you guys more streamlined. So I wanted to hear about, you know, what's in takes. Obviously, the skills translate, but just wanted to kind of hear about the mindset and go forward with Teleflex. Thank you.

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Okay. Well, I'll let Stu handle the CEO comment, but I think – At the end of the day, it's consistent with what I've said previously. The first half of the year, we expected to be a little lower in growth because of the transition and the restructurings that we talked about. And again, we expect accelerated growth in the back half of the year. It's the best I can give you. Again, we're not guiding by quarter, and we're not guiding by business. With that, I'll ask Stu to answer the other question.

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I think with Jason coming on board again, we're very excited to have him. You know, what I didn't say earlier, we really like the breadth of his experience of Medtronic, you know, both in the cath lab and the peripheral business. So he's had experience in stents, drug coated balloons, coronary catheters, peripheral catheters. So we like that product experience and the growth he demonstrated at Medtronic in all of those positions, you know, makes us really comfortable that he's going to be helpful in helping us drive accelerated growth as we go forward.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

The next question comes from the line of Travis Steed with BFA Securities. Please go ahead.

speaker
Travis Steed
Analyst at BFA Securities

Hey, everybody. Thanks for the question. Maybe at a higher level, just curious how you think about considering all avenues for shareholder value creation and kind of balanced risk-adjusted shareholder returns versus going to kind of your longer-term strategic plan. Just would love to kind of hear high-level thoughts on that.

speaker
Stuart Randall
Interim President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes, Stu, I think, you know, I'll again refer back to our previous public statements, particularly regarding, you know, we have said publicly we'll thoroughly and thoughtfully consider any bona fide acquisition proposal. We're looking at all long-term value creation and how we can best deliver that. So the board is open and considering and, you know, has been very thoughtful in that approach.

speaker
Travis Steed
Analyst at BFA Securities

Great. Thank you. That's fair. And maybe on tariffs, what's assumed – on tariffs and the guidance? And if you get refunds, is that upside for the guidance?

speaker
John Darin
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, refunds would be upside for the guidance. I think we're where most players are right now with what I would call is like a contingent gain model. So waiting for the tariff actually to or get confirmation that we will get the tariffs when we apply for them. So there is definitely upside. Right now, we have about $33 million of tariffs in the full year guidance. So there would definitely be some upside for those refunds. Keep in mind, some of the refunds would be for 2025, what we paid. And then because it gets capitalized and enrolled into 2026, there'd be a clear benefit in 2026 for the first two quarters.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

And that concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn it back to Mr. Lawrence Gersh for closing remarks.

speaker
Lawrence Kirsch
Vice President of Investor Relations and Strategy Development

Thank you, Prima, and thank you to everyone that joined us on the call today. This concludes the Teleflex Incorporated first quarter 2026 earnings conference call.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

You may now disconnect your lines.

Disclaimer

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