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Alk-Abello As B Shs New
5/4/2026
Hello, everyone, and welcome to this presentation of ALK's Q1 results. Thank you all for joining us. Let's turn to slide number two with an introduction to the speakers and the agenda. My name is Peer Plotnikoff. I'm Head of Investor Relations, and with me are CEO Peter Helling and CFO Klaus Stiltsen, Sergio. Peter and Klaus will walk you through the highlights, markets, product trends, and financial. And after a strategic update where we'll focus on peanut allergy, our respiratory tablets, and the nephew rollout, we will turn to the full year outlook. As usual, we will end the call with a Q&A session. And to get started, I'll hand you over to Peter on slide three. Please go ahead, Peter.
Thank you, Peter. Thank you all for taking the time to listen to this call. ELK had a very solid start to the year with revenue and earnings constantly exceeding the upper end of the full year guidance range. EVA grew by 22% yielding a margin of 32% on the back of an 18% revenue growth to 1.8 billion DKK. For the first time ever, ELK's total tablet sales exceeded 1 billion DKK in a single quarter. The results were furthermore supported by an improved gross margin reflecting some seasonality in the sales mix with a relatively high proportion of European tablets which carry higher margins. As guided, we expect this to somewhat normalize over the year as partner-related revenue increases. On the strategic side, the pediatric tablets are now marketed in the majority of our key European and North American geographies. and they are increasingly contributing to the inflow of new patients. Anaphylaxis sales also performed well, especially supported by JAXT. It is still early days regarding the FE sales, but we continue to develop market access, and we have secured further regulatory approvals, starting with the 2 milligram approval in Canada, an important market going forward, and the 1 milligram version in the EU for younger children, also an important segment. Both we expect to have first launches in the second half of this year. On April 20th, we announced the long-awaited Phase 2 results for our peanut allergy tablet. The successful completion of the trial is very encouraging and a first proof of concept of our tablet technology in food allergies. Based on the strong start of the year, we have upgraded the full year outlook. All of this will be detailed further during the presentation, but first I'll hand it over to you, Klaus, for the regional trends on slide 4. Thanks, Peter.
Let's take a closer look at performance in the regions. In Europe, revenue was up 19%. Germany, Europe's largest AIT market, delivered a strong double-digit tablet growth, and tablet sales in France also grew by double digits, maintaining the positive trend of recent years. This is partly compensating for lower slip drops revenue in France. We also saw high double-digit growth in several Eastern European countries, and in the UK, where Kai Sachs and Etude Sachs were admitted to the NHS last year with general reimbursement. In the EU, sales of anaphylaxis and other products increased by 47%, with the anaphylaxis portfolio in isolation up 58%. The main driver was GEXT, benefiting from high replacement rates in the UK and earlier tender wins in Southern Europe. Europe netty revenue was still modest as we are building access in many markets, including the UK. We still expect to see increasing uptake over the course of the year. Revenue in North America increased by 16% in local currencies, driven by a double-digit growth in both the USA and Canada. This was fueled by a strong demand for tablets in Canada for all brands and age groups. In the USA, revenue benefited from the cost compensation arrangement with AIS Pharma related to the co-promotion of NIFI. In international markets, revenue grew by 17% in local currencies. The growth reflected the timing of product shipments to China and Japan. Skid shipments to China saw a substantial increase compared to Q1 2025, when these were on hold during the renewal of our import license. In Japan, we have been through a period of soft growth due to phasing of shipments, capacity constraints, and the new owner standstill during the completion of the takeover of Torii. But in-market tablet sales recorded by Shinobi grew by double digits, and we remain comfortable that our full-year tablet revenue growth from international markets will re-emerge with double digits, supported by Taurus' expansion of API manufacturing capacity. Let's continue on slide 5 for the product lines. As Peter mentioned, then we reached quite an impressive milestone in Q1. We are proud to have reached 1 billion DKK in tablet sales for a quarter for the very first time. In Europe, recent quarters have delivered approximately 20% growth in tablet sales, but Q1 saw 26% growth, mainly driven by higher volumes, linked to a continued strong inflow of new patients over the past year. Sales of all tablet brands grew by double digits, and the highest gross contribution came from Etrura Saks and Akai Saks, increasingly driven by the relatively new indications for children and adolescents. Tablet sales also grew by 26% in North America, while international markets by contrast saw a 17% decline following fewer product shipments to Japan, partly offset by the double-digit revenue growth in the minor tablet markets of Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Australia. Skid and slip drop sales were up 15%, so 566 million Danish kroner. Skid shipments to China resumed after being paused last year, and growth in European skid sales was mainly driven by Venom products. Conversely, slid drop sales were down in France, as mentioned. Sales of anaphylaxis and other products increased by 31%, with very strong growth in anaphylaxis-related revenue driven by Dext autoinjector. Nafi also contributed to this growth. Global growth in anaphylaxis alone sales was 84%. Now let's turn to slide 6 for the financials. Revenue increased by 18% in local currencies to nearly 1.8 billion Danish kroner on double-digit growth across sales regions and product lines. A gross profit of more than 1 billion Danish kroner yield a gross margin of 69% and improvement of 2 percentage points driven by higher sales volumes, changes to the product mix and production efficiencies. ALK branded products with higher margins accounted for a fairly high proportion of sales in Q1. However, for the rest of the year, the share of partner related revenue with lower margins is expected to increase. Capacity costs increased by 23% in local currencies to 658 million Danish kroner after significant investments in current and future growth initiatives, including additional sales resources, as we mentioned during the Q4 earnings call. The operating profit improved by 22% in local currencies to 570 million Danish kroner, raising the EBIT margin to 32% from 31%. Progress was linked to higher sales and improved gross margin, while the capacity cost-to-revenue ratio increased slightly to 37%, in line with our forecast for 2026. The net profit increased to 437 million Danish kroner. Cash flow from operating activities was 761 million Danish kroner, mainly driven by higher earnings and changes in working capital. Free cash flow was positive at 671 million bench kroner. All in all, a very strong set of results impacted by operation leverage and some seasonality, supporting a high gross margin versus the full year guidance. So now let's turn to slide 7 for the peanut allergy results and then to the status of other strategic initiatives. Please go ahead, Peter.
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