Ion Beam Applications SA

Hello everyone and welcome to the presentation of IBS results for the first half of 2026. I am Thomas Pevenal from Investor Relations. As usual, you will find this presentation on the Investor Relations page on our website. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Today's speakers are Olivier Legrain, our Chief Executive Officer, Henri de Romree, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and Catherine Vandenborre, our Chief Ventures and Corporates Officer. Here is the agenda for today's presentation. We will start with our highlights for the periods, followed by the business review, where we will discuss the strategic progress and the financials of each business unit. Finally, we will cover our financial performance in more detail, and give you an update on our guidance and outlook before opening the Q&A session. Thank you, Thomas.

Good afternoon, everybody. Let me start by sharing our key messages for today. H126 confirmed that IDA is on track with its improved profitability trajectory, progressing on the execution of our strategy. We deliver a solid first half performance with growing revenue exceeding 320 million euros and a substantial improvement in profitability reflected in an adjusted EBIT of 17.6 million and a positive net result of 9.3. Commercial momentum was strong with equipment order intake up 64% versus same period last year, keeping our backlog stable at 1.6 billion euros despite sustained conversions. Combined with our expanding install base and service activities, this reinforces our long-term growth engine. To support further this growth, our leadership team and board have been strengthened. Finally, we reiterate our 26 guidance of an adjusted EBIT of at least 32 million euros and we remain on track with the 24 to 28 outlook. Let us now have a closer look at the commercial dynamics behind these figures. On the equipment side, order intake reached 176 million, thanks to IBA Clinical, which more than doubled, driven by sustained adoption momentum in proton therapy, with five rooms sold over the period. In IBA Technologies, 10 systems were sold, reflecting a slower start in industrial solutions, offset by a solid radiopharma demand. This kept our total backlog stable at 1.6 billion euros, of which around half from services. The two-year rolling equipment book-to-bill stood at 0.9, down from 1 at year-end, given the sustained conversion into revenue as we progress into the different projects. On the financial side, the story is one of continued growth and improved profitability. Revenue increased to 324 million, thanks to well-executed backlog conversions across segments. Adjusted EBIT amounted to 17.6 million euros, a profitability improvement of 7 million euros year on year. The adjusted EBIT margin increased to 5.4% thanks to a gross margin improvement. We moved from 29.5% in H125 to 33.7% in H126, driven by a better equipment profitability mix and execution improvement in proton therapy. Importantly, the net result turned positive at 9.3 million euros. Net Depth stood at 81 million euros at the end of June, up 23 million versus year-end, mainly reflecting working capital movement and timing effects. Our Net Leverage Ratio closed at 1.14 times adjusted EBITDA, and the Group retains ample access to its committed credit lines. Before moving into the business review, let me briefly comment on the evolution of our leadership and governance. As IBA grows in scale and expands its activities, we have strengthened both the leadership team and the board to support execution of our strategy. Henri has now assumed strategic and operational responsibility across the group, including clinical, while Catherine leads our strategic partnerships and innovations. For my part, I am increasingly focused on the strategic steering of the group and was appointed vice chairman of the board. Lastly, we have also welcomed Joyce Hansen and Dr. Stephen Hahn to the board, bringing extremely valuable expertise in sterilization, oncology, regulatory affairs, and radiopharmaceuticals. Let us now move to the business review. I will hand over to Henri, who will take you through both IBA Clinical and IBA Technologies.

Thank you, Olivier. In the first half of 2026, IBA Clinical combined strong commercial momentum Continued Technological Innovation and Further Operational Improvements. On Innovation, Conformal Flash obtained Investigational Device Exemption Approval from the FDA in June, opening the way for our first in-human trial at the University of Pennsylvania. We also launched AdaptInsight XR, an emerging upgrade for the Proteus platform available for both installed and future systems. and in China all three IBA sponsored studies met their primary endpoints and are progressing towards an MBA submission. We also continue to improve operational efficiency across our growing install base. System availability remains close to 97% despite increasing workload reflecting the benefits of standardization, AI-enabled troubleshooting and our investment in remote support. In dosimetry, market conditions remain challenging, particularly in the US, weighing on the revenue and profitability. Nevertheless, order intake remains solid, supported by recent portfolio launches such as MyQ and StarTrack, and continued momentum in proton therapy quality assurance. Our global footprint in proton therapy will now expand towards 93 sites after completion of all installations. and 11% increase year on year. At the end of June, IBA had 47 operational sites well distributed across regions with strong visibility on future expansions as 46 additional systems are in production and installation. 11 installations were running simultaneously at period ends or highest level to date. In Spain, two systems are currently under installation and two additional projects are expected to start installation later in 2026. In China, we progress further on major Proteus Post projects with installation activities now completed both in Chengdu and in Shenzhen. The proton therapy adoption showed strong momentum in the first half with 16 rooms sold globally compared to two in the same period last year. Together with our partner CGN in China, IBS-EQ, a 50% market share in this expanding market. More specifically, the five rooms sold by IBA, including two national first projects, one in Brazil and one in Portugal, as well as two room projects with Duke University Health System, one of the leading academic healthcare system in the US. We continue to have the largest installed base in the market. This provides significant operational leverage and supports our efforts to further promote in collaboration with our clinical partners. Increasing clinical evidence continues to be a key long-term growth driver for proton therapy. The pipeline keeps growing with 35 major phase three trials now covering more than 10,000 patients across a broad range of indications. In parallel, we signed a sponsored research agreement with MD Anderson in Texas on the health economics of proton therapy. to strengthen the evidence base that supports reimbursement discussions and patients' access. Despite the continued conversion into revenue, IBA clinical backlog was stable at 1.37 billion euros. This was supported by the strong product therapy order intake with a two-year equipment book-to-bill ratio of 1.2. Service represented more than 800 million of this total, not yet including the service contracts related to the 10 Spanish PT projects and to the three systems sold to MDM itself. Let me now focus on Croton Therapy continued profitability turnaround adjusted EBIT REACH 12.3 million euros in whole compared with a loss of 2 million in the first half last year. This reflects sustained revenue growth, improved execution, and the increased scale of our installed base while we continue to invest in key products innovation such as Splash and Dynamic App. Commercial momentum was equally encouraging with equipment order intake increasing to 112 million. Turning now to dosimetry, the first half remained challenging. With an adjusted EBIT of minus 0.5 million euros, this reflects persistent pressure in conventional radiotherapy and Medical Imaging, particularly in the US, which waited on the top line with net sales down 11% combined with a slower backlog conversion. Encouragingly, order intake increased to 36 million, supported by recent portfolio launches and continued momentum in proton therapy QA. Revenue generation from these orders is, however, more back-loaded, therefore does not immediately offset and the current revenue pressure. In parallel, the cost reduction measures announced earlier this year started to be implemented and are expected to progressively support profitability during the second half. Let me now comment IVA technologies. I will start with the strategic progress over the period, covering industrial first and then radiopharma solutions. Industrial solutions continue to progress along its roadmap, advancing accelerator-based sterilization and advanced irradiation solutions. Order intake had a slower start as the market continues to digest the overcapacity created by the post-COVID investment cycle. Nevertheless, the commercial pipeline remains active, with encouraging signs of conversion of ETO and gamma volumes into E-beam and X-ray. On execution, two important milestones were reached. The start of operations of our large-scale X-Ray installation and the acceptance of the world's largest E-Beam installation. We also launched Rodotron Live, which extends our X-Ray portfolio into the lower capacity segment. In new applications, Polymer development is progressing with the first installation at customer site, expected to start by the end. And on PFAS, we continued testing on ID Concentrated Matrices. Turning now to radiopharma solutions, commercial tractions remain solid, supported by deeper penetration in core markets and expansion into high potential geographies. This was illustrated by four cyclotron contracts with Frigili in India to expand their pet radiopharmaceutical production. More generally, thanks to the strong demand for cyclotron tube or cyclotron installed base that's grown by an amazing 75% since 2016. RPS also continued to extend its position along the radiopharmaceutical value chain, following the OHA acquisition interfaces between our cyclotron and OHA synthesizers are now aligned and available to our customers, giving us an integrating offering from isotope production through labeling. We are now accelerating the next phase of integration including portfolio optimization and scale-up. Finally, RPS launched Cyclone IQ for industrial scale Astatine 211 production, which I will discuss on the next slides. Let me maybe say a few words about Rodotron Light. This launch extends our established Rodotron X-ray platform into lower capacity segments. It is designed for customers that do not need the larger system. It provides a reliable alternative to gamma irradiation. The product addresses both medical device sterilization and food irradiation applications targeting either existing gamma operators, new entrants, or manufacturers considering in-house sterilization. Early market interest since launch confirms the attractiveness of this segment notably in Asia and Latin America. Before going further, I'd like to spend a few minutes on what we mean by overcapacity in the sterilization market. This chart is based on our internal estimate and is shown for illustration purposes only. As presented at our Capital Markets Day, the underlying demand for accelerator-based sterilization is broadly steady and predictable, growing at 6-8% per year, driven by GDP growth and rising medical care needs and standards. But the COVID period created an unusual demand spike, given that conventional ETO and gamma capacity could not be expanded quickly enough to absorb customers turned into then our technology. That led customers to invest ahead of the underlying trends. And because the system order today takes around three years to reach the market, that capacity is still being absorbed. This explains the slower order intake we currently experience. Our view remains that this reflects a temporary imbalance between capacity and demand, rather than a structural change in market fundamentals. A more balanced situation is expected around 2028 to 2029, as utilization catches up with installed capacity, driving the normalization of order. Turning to radiopharma solutions, we launched Cyclone i2, at the SNMMI Annual Meeting in June, a cyclotron dedicated to industrial-scale astatine-211 production. As you can see on this slide, it complements the cyclotron portfolio that we have built over time, expanding to diagnostic application to therapeutic alpha isotope production. Astatine-211 is one of the two alpha-emitting isotopes we selected as strategic plays alongside Actinium-225. With IQ, we are reinforcing Our commitment to accelerate the bench-to-bedside adoption of Astatine 211 labor drugs. The IBA technologies backlog decreased over the period, reflecting sustained conversion into revenues, while industrial order retakes are not yet picked up this year. As discussed earlier, this reflects the expected temporary overcapacity in the sterilization market, which was not fully compensated by the great commercial momentum in Radio Pharma, the two-year equipment book-to-bill ratio therefore closed at 0.7. Finally, looking at the financial results, net sales increased to 127 million euros, representing close to 40% of the total group sales, thanks to well-executed equipment backlog conversion and growing in stock-based supporting services. Adjusted EBIT contribution eased compared to last year, driven by a less favorable product mix during the period, continuous R&D investment in radiochemistry and radioligand therapies within RPS, as well as in PFAS and polymer projects within Industria. Nevertheless, EBIT margin landed at 6.5%. I now hand over to Catherine for the corporate section and the group financial review.

Thank you Henri, and let's start with an update of our new ventures, beginning with Pantera, which continues to make strong progress. The company obtained recognition as a CGMP producer of Actinium-225, following audits by its largest clients. This is important because it supports the use of Pantera's supply for clinical trials. Pantera's regulatory documentation is already being referenced in clinical trials applications across the US and Europe. demonstrating early adoption of its supply platform and facilitating the integration of its isotopes into multiple development programs. In parallel, Pantera announced in May this year an expansion of its collaboration with TerraPower Isotopes supported by the Institut des Radio-Elements. TPI will provide additional raw material while AIRI will host and operate a new production line expected to be fully operational by end of 2027. Together with a 30% increase in weekly outputs at the existing facility in Molle, these initiatives will triple Pantera's total Actinium-225 capacity while distributing production across two Belgian sites to strengthen supply resilience. The company also continues to build strong commercial traction with more than 25 active customers across the value chain with several master supply agreements. From a financial standpoint, Pantera generated in the first half of this year 13.7 million of revenue and 6.7 million of EBITDA. The fourth and final trench of the Series A is now expected in the second half of 26 which will further dilute IBA's ownership to 31% and generate an expected revaluation gain of 5.5 million. Zooming in on the demands behind these figures, the Actinium-225 pipeline continues to extend with more than 40 active clinical trials currently ongoing across several indications including prostate and neuroendocrine cancers. Three of These have now reached phase 3, with first results expected as from 2028. Obviously, the outcome of these trials will be a key driver of future demands for Actinium 225, depending on what they show in terms of efficacy, toxicity profile, and the range of tumors that can be targeted. For Pantera, this is precisely why reliable regulatory grade supply matters, as these programs progress. Let's now have a look at the other ventures, starting with MI2 Factory. Following the equipment contract executed with IBA, development of the demo machine is progressing a key milestone as it will enable the system for semiconductor applications. The project is also supported by favorable market trends in silicon carbide power devices, particularly for electric vehicles, and AI Data Center Applications. Second, NHG received positive feedback from the Particle Therapy Community following its presentation at Piticoat in June. In parallel, it secured a $8 million loan from its first customer, Siglad, as part of a third-term refinancing effort, while technical development remains ongoing. Finally, on Astatin 211, Discussions with Framatome are progressing regarding the joint development of production infrastructure in Europe and the US, and Framatome has applied for the permit related to the construction of the first site in Nantes. Let's now close the business review section and move to the financials in more detail, starting with the improvements in profitability. The step-up in gross margin was the main driver of the profitability improvement, increasing from 29.5% to 33.7% year-on-year. Combined with top-line growth, this resulted in additional 18.9 million in gross margin. Operating expenses increased in nominal terms while remaining at 28.7% of sales. This reflects selected investment to support IBIS growth, including key R&D projects which we haven't capitalized, and the reinforcement of communication and digital functions with GMA, as well as recognition of 2 million bad debts following a prudent application of our risk policy. This semester was also marked by a one-off 1.5 million gain related to the resolution of two specific business claims in IBA clinical. Below adjusted EBIT, Lower financial expenses and Pantera's positive contribution through the equity method further supported the improvements, which I will detail on the next slide. Starting with Pantera's positive contribution to IBA group earnings, the equity method result amounted to 2.1 million, based on IBA's 35.8% ownership. Other operating expenses were mainly impacted by the ERP implementation project that went live in April and by dosimetry reorganization. This was partially offset by lower financing expenses, which narrowed to 2.6 million, as the adverse foreign exchange loss reduced to 1 million from 4 million last year, and the impact of hyperinflation in Argentina also eased. Tax was slightly lower than last year, mainly due to the absence of withholding taxes on intergroup dividends recorded in the first semester of 2025. If we turn to the cash evolution, you will note that we generated 18 million of positive operating cash flows before working capital over each one, in line with the profitability of our activities. However, the reversal of the working capital cycle continued to impact our cash position. And I will come back to the working capital dynamics and prospects in more details over the next slides. Investing cash flow mainly reflects capital expenditure and the price of adjustment paid on your acquisition based on the actual December 25 cash and working capital positions. New borrowings reflect the drawdown in May under the remaining tranche of our term loan, bringing the total to 50 million, plus the 50 million acquisition term loan. The payments are related to movements in revolving credit facilities and leasing reimbursements. The movement in treasury shares includes our 400,000 shares buyback program over each one, partially compensated by exercises of stock options, or in all, A group cash position decreased to 44 million. Before detailing the working capital evolution, let me briefly explain the accounting impact linked to the ERP migration. The move to SAP for HANA changes the timing of how certain balance sheet items are recognized during project execution. This updated approach does not impact the underlying economics of our project, as project profitability and cash generation remain unchanged. Two effects on working capital are worth highlighting. First, equipment now remains in stock for longer and is transferred later in the project lifecycle, which mechanically increases reported inventories. Second, the related project accruals are recognized earlier, which increases trade payable during project execution. Overall, Those are temporary differences and both approach reconcile as project progress towards shipment. Turning now to working capital with this new approach in mind. Overall, the working capital requirements has over the last three years sharply reversed from a strongly negative position to a slightly positive one at six million, resulting in a negative impact on our financial position. The main drivers for these trends are contract assets and liabilities, contract in progress and advance billing, that increased by 52 million on a net basis. They continue to be impacted mostly by two elements. First, a few large contracts with unusually back-ended payment terms, most notably our Pronton Therapy project in Spain. Those alone accounted for a 19 million impact over each one. and a cumulative 54 million over time. Second, the currently slow order intake in industrial, which used to be a meaningful, positive contributor to the working capital cycle. Then, on a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact from the updated ERP-driven approach, inventories have decreased by 18 million, driven by backlog execution, Payables have increased by 23 million again on a comparable basis and note that the ERP migration disrupted processing of payments but also customer invoicing during the April-June transition period. Now in terms of prospects, As previously indicated, we expect the working capital situation to normalize as invoicing and cash collection catch up with project execution and order intake, pointing to an improvement of our cash and net financial position over 2017. So we confirm these positive trends. You can nonetheless still expect volatility in the meantime, given the sensitivity of our operating model to a relatively limited number of large milestones collections. H227 remains our target for a marked improvement and stabilization as 6 out of the 10 Spanish proton therapy projects will have been delivered by then. We remind that each delivery triggers a 10 million payment followed by an 8 million payment after final acceptance. In view of the first-half performance and the momentum across businesses, we reiterate our 26 guidance of at least 32 million of group-adjusted EBIT, supporting our long-term profitability trajectory. Lastly, as you know, IFRS 18 will become applicable as from 27, introducing changing years to the presentation of certain financial performance measures. We will provide further details in future financial and I will now hand over to Olivier for his concluding remarks.

Thank you, Catherine. Thank you, Henri. During the first half of the year, we continue to execute with discipline, converting backlog, capturing new commercial opportunities and advancing our strategic priorities to further strengthen the group's positioning. A few highlights turned out. Proton Therapy confirmed its return to sustainable profitability. building on a strong 2025 and positive market dynamics. Technology has reinforced its competitive position through the launch of new products in strategic market segments and applications, as innovation remains at the core of IBM. We are also particularly pleased with the progress of Pantera, one of the most promising assets within our venture portfolio. As a leader in the rapidly emerging terranostic market, Pantera is expanding access to innovative cancer treatments while creating significant long-term value potential fully aligned with IBA's mission. At the same time, we stay focused on navigating a challenging market environment in dosimetry and managing the current phase of our working capital cycle. Overall, these results reinforce our conviction in strength and resilience of IBA's business model The diversity of our equipment and services portfolio, our leadership in attractive growth markets and the strategic optionalities provided by new applications and ventures position us well for the year ahead.

Thank you, Olivier. Before moving to Q&A, let me remind you of the key upcoming dates in our financial calendar. Let me also remind you that this presentation contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on ideas, current assumptions and beliefs and are subject to risks and uncertainties as described in this disclaimer. We will now move to the Q&A session. If you are joining by phone and would like to ask a question, please press star nine to raise your hand. You will hear a message when it is your turn to speak and you can then press star six to unmute. If then you are joining via the webcast, please raise your virtual hand using the button in the toolbar. Once we invite you to speak, please unmute yourself and briefly introduce you before asking your question. You can also use the Q&A panel to submit a written question. Thank you very much for listening to our results presentation. We now open the Q&A session. and I see a few hands already raised, so we will let you, David, start by asking your questions.

Hello, good afternoon everyone. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Fantastic. It's a new system, so I was a bit confused. So thanks for taking my question. Maybe coming back on the margin evolution for proton therapy and technologies, if you can explain a little bit more the sort of evolution for each one and what, let's say, the reiteration of the 2026 guidance implies, basically, and let's say as a direct follow-up to that. So how structural are the improvements that we've seen in P&T? So that we've seen how structural are they? So the current profit margin, should it be seen as a floor going forward, moving to 2028? Same question, but let's say for the lower profitability in technologies. So given your comments on the overcapacity issues in industrial, so you expect it to, let's say, rebasing a bit of the profitability there. And then as a question on the net debt evolution, I think, Catherine, you provided us with some guidance. If you can clarify a bit what you expect for H2 and then for 2027. And if you can please repeat by when you expect to have this sixth Spanish contract, let's say, delivered and installed. Was it in 2027? And so should we kind of expect like this inflow of six times, let's say, roughly 18 million euros coming in? So yeah, if you can give us some color on the net debt evolution. Thank you.

Okay, I will start with your last question on the Spanish contract. It's a very straightforward question. So we expect this year, in 2026, still to ship two machines, then two other machines in 2027, and there the four remaining machines in 2028. And like you mentioned, each time that there is a shipment, there is a bond payment of 10 million euros. Then on the question regarding the margin and the guidance that we gave for 2026. First, in terms of improvement of the margin, it's mainly driven by a more favorable equipment mix in proton therapy. It's linked to the fact that the legacy contracts are slightly decreasing in the total portfolio that we have and we, like you have seen with the order intake, we have a new contract in the portfolio in total. We have also improved the project execution and we see our services and especially the services in proton therapy, but not only, contributing also to the improvement in gross margin that we have mentioned. In total, for the guidance that we gave for 2026, we didn't revisit the guidance, so we confirm at least 32 million. So that's the first answer to your question. It's at least, it's a kind of floor to the guidance. At this stage, we believe that it's not appropriate to be more precise than that. and if there are a number of elements to be rather positive, namely the improvement, the turnaround that we have seen in proton therapy, especially at the level of the margin, the very good commercial momentum we have in RPS, radiopharma, at the same time we see that dosimetry is a little bit lagging behind and that the order intake in industrial solutions especially has been a little bit For the second half of the year, we expect to have more balanced H2 versus H1 than we had in 2025. And what does it mean? It means that especially on industrial solutions, so part of technologies, we expect the order intake to be better than what we had in the first half of the year. Of course, you know that all the projects, and especially the project that we have in proton therapy, They are negotiated over a very long period of time and we might have some volatility on the precise months during which we finally close the contract with the customers. Does it answer your question on the margin and guidance? And then I am left with a question over Net Depth that I will pose here.

Yeah, maybe very quickly on the margin evolution. So because you discussed overcapacity, should we think now that because of this overcapacity, there is significant pricing pressure in industrial, which will last for a couple of years before it improves?

No, but maybe I will let Henri go.

So David, first, you know that for us, it's becoming a bit of a religion, 40%, 30%, 10%. You know that in our plan, PT was supposed to catch up, and Technologies was already at that level. The first semester is rather on the low side in terms of overall margin contribution because we had an unusually unfavorable product mix. So you should not take the first semester of 26 as the benchmark for the margins going forward. We stick to what we see is the overall margin plan for technology and there is no reason to deviate. The capacity question for me does not put pressure necessarily on pricing because you know that in our technology we are clear leaders, but that means simply that the single unit events in terms of orders, there are probably fewer opportunities this year to convert than what it was Thanks Henri, thanks Catherine. And then on a net debt, so what we expect is let's say a relative stability over 2026 and then start of improvements but

Let's say light improvements in the beginning of 2027 with a marked improvement in the second half of 2027. So that's how we see the evolution of the net debt over the next months.

Okay, thanks very much. I'll move back to the queue.

Thank you, David. So we move then to Frank Claassen from DeGroof. Peter Kahn for the next set of questions.

Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yes. All right. First of all, my question is on the symmetry. You've implemented some cost savings there. Could you help us remind how could you quantify these cost savings and what do you expect for the second half? Do you expect to return to profitability there? That's my first question. And then also the second question on the costs line. So looking at your operational expenditures, they moved up quite a bit, 17% from 79 to 93 million, driven, for instance, by the R&D. Is this 93 million, is this a sort of new run rate also for the second half? Or were there some temporary effects which inflated the cost line? Thank you.

I think the first one. So the effect of dosimetry, you understood that it's market linked. I can further comment. To go directly to your question, we said 1.6. It's mostly people-related restructuring savings. They will start to kick in in the second semester in terms of full impact. And we expect a return to profitability of dosimetry in the second semester.

That's clear. And the cost line?

Yeah, so the cost line, like you pointed out, we have an increase in specific elements and I would only name two because they are the biggest contributor is R&D, like you mentioned yourself, but also G&A that increased a little bit due to IT costs, licenses, but also some specific elements that I mentioned during the call. The way we look at it is, let's say, more in terms of percentage towards the revenue. So you mentioned the target that we have and during the first half of the year, The percentage was 28.7%, which was more or less the same as during the year 2025, so last year. So our targets over the long run is, like Henri mentioned, 40% gross margin, 30% OPEX, and then 10% of REBIT. Of course, during some years you might have a fluctuation, and more specifically for 2026, because we are not yet at the 40% gross margin, we expect indeed not to be at the 30% of X and to remain closer of the percentage we had in H1 of this year.

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you very much, Franck, for the questions. Now we move to Mihiel De Clercq from KBC Securities. Hi, Mihiel. You are muted, I think, Mihiel.

Thank you. Michel Leclerc from KVC Securities. A couple of questions though. The first one is maybe a bit of a technical one on the solar accelerator or the IBA technologies equipment revenue. So if we look a bit, the order intake for equipment was down a bit. So it was 28 million. The backlog was also down about 28 million, if I'm not mistaken. So there is a bit of a big gap between the new order intake, the decrease in the backlog, and the revenues that were booked. So I'm just trying to understand where the big delta is here, where there may be some Upgrades or something that I'm missing here. That would be my first question. And then, secondly, I missed part of the earlier question of David on the overcapacity in industrial. Can you tell us a bit what you are seeing in the market today? Are customers or is interest coming back already, given that you mentioned that it takes about three years before this capacity is filled? What have you been seeing here and how are your new applications? Are you seeing interest in that for polymers with irradiation? So any comment on that would be useful. And then lastly, also, if I look at the proton therapy systems that have been sold so far this year, I've seen two from TGN. Can you elaborate a bit on this? which systems these are and have you received or will you receive royalties on these that we should take into account in our forecasts?

Those will be my questions, please.

Michael, on the relationship between order intake and revenues, you know that it has to do with the pace of backlog conversion, so it's indeed ironic that we have been quite performing in terms of backlog conversion, generating top-line growth, whereas the order intake spot in the first semester was a bit on the low side you know that it could can quickly be turned around with a few projects being booked and that in general the order intake would book in a given semester would be converted further further down the road so so nothing specific to read in the numbers except that indeed the the book to build ratio decreases because we have been converting a lot whereas we have not replenished in the first semester to the same extent that what we have been able to conduct. If I look at your question, which is what do I see in the market? So you understand that the volume that is being irradiated or treated or sterilized, I should say, moves in a quite linear way. It was the purpose of the page that we have added in the document. So somehow we are not concerned about the evolution of the underlying market for sterilization. To the contrary, we see medical equipment being very much present, but we see new opportunities, as you've mentioned, in other applications. And I can list a few. So we are completely at ease with the underlying market evolution. What we noticed, though, is that with three available technologies in the market, ethylene oxide, gamma, and accelerator-based technologies, and with the COVID time, A lot of players have installed a lot of capacity, so similarly to what you could see in petrol refineries or in paper mills, there is a lot of capacity that has been installed and therefore we see that the conversations with clients with regards to launching new projects have been slower tracked. That being said, we have a very active pipeline. as I mentioned we have a very active pipeline with the Rodolite which is our new product which taps into new segments of clients that are looking for smaller volumes installations and facilities and as you see as well on the graph in IBA time which is always long cycles we are completely convinced and reassured on the fact that The volume to be treated will catch up with the capacity and it's going to fuel further demand for our equipment. The key underlying question was for me, you know, how relevant is our value proposition compared to other technologies? We continue to see clients who are now wanting to convert from ETO to X3 Beam and that's a first because they see continued pressure from a regulatory point of view on ETO and we continue to have conversation with clients about gamma cobalt 60 supply that is being constrained in many regions of the world, again creating an appeal for the IBA solutions.

And then on your question on CGN, the consequences of the agreement with CGN and the sales that they have done is already included in the guidance that we have given to the markets.

Okay, I assume that the guidance excluded any potential sales in China?

I mean, during the capital market day? No, it was in the guidance.

Okay, clear. Thank you. Thank you.

For the time being, there are no other hands raised for asking questions.

Yes, can you hear me?

Yeah.

Okay, perfect. Yes, an additional question on Pantera, and thanks very much for all the disclosure. So is it today too early to ask you for, let's say, a rough three to five years guidance on a kind of high-level business plan for Pantera, given you've started to give quite some color on the sales, on the EBITDA, on the net profit?

I think the answer is already in your question, David. Yes, it is.

Oh, sure.

So we give some information today because we see Pantera being quite active in the early supply. On the commercial traction that might possibly come once the results of the clinical trials are known, it's a different world and that's something on which we can't comment today.

Okay, no, thanks. And maybe a quick one on the 2 million euros of higher bad debts. I think you disclosed on the order operating cost, if I'm correct. Can you comment a little bit? So you say higher bad debts or anything specific?

No, I think that the higher bad debt might be a little bit misleading. So the goal was just to give the amount of bad debts that we booked during the year. That's 2 million. I think last year we had 4 million at the same period. So basically there was nothing more than last year. And that's the application of our bad debt policy. We thought that there was anything special behind it.

Okay, so the right way to understand it, it is 2 million euros of bad debt, and last year you had 4.

Exactly.

Okay, okay, okay, that's clear. Thanks.

Thank you, David. At this point, we do not see any remaining questions, so... We would like to thank all of you for attending this call and hope it was helpful to shed some more light on our business and financials. So we wish all of you a good afternoon or a good day, depending on where you are based, and we look forward to the next opportunity.