Siemens Healthineers Adr

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Siemens Healthineers Conference Call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the safe harbor statement on page two of the Siemens Healthineers presentation. This conference call may include forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the company's current expectations and certain assumptions and are therefore subject to certain risks and uncertainties. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to your host today, Mr. Mark Kubanek, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to our Q2 earnings call for fiscal 2026. I'd like to thank each of you for joining us today. This morning at 7 a.m., we published our Q2 2026 results. All related materials for today's results release are available on the IR section of the Siemens Healthineers webpage. In a moment, we'll hear directly from our CEO, Bernd Montag, and our CFO, Jochen Schmitz. And after their presentations, as usual, we have a Q&A session. As we have only one hour scheduled for this call, and in order to ensure everyone gets the opportunity to engage, we kindly ask that each participant limit themselves to one question each, and you will have a chance to get back into the queue if needed. Additionally, please note that a full transcript and recording of today's call will be made available on our investor relations webpage shortly after the session ends. Again, thank you for being here. And now I'll turn the word over to our CEO, Bernd Montag.

Thanks, Mark, and also a warm welcome from my side. Let me start with a brief look at the key takeaways of today's call. Firstly, the synergetic core of our portfolio with imaging and precision therapy continues to show strong underlying operational performance and is fully on track after the first half of fiscal 2026, especially in light. of substantial headwinds from tariffs and FX. However, diagnostics continues to face the structural market rebasing in China, substantially impacting its growth and margin in the first half. Partially reflecting this temporary harsh dip in diagnostics growth and also reflecting the more inflationary macroeconomic and the geopolitical environment, we update our outlook for fiscal 2026. But now let me focus on fundamental decisions shaping the future of our company. We continue to create further optionality for the future pathway of diagnostics by preparing the carve-out of this business. Also, we are implementing a carefully prepared comprehensive generational change in our leadership team, paving the way for the next phase of health and use. And finally, as you might already know, Siemens announced last month that our spin-off from Siemens will be put to vote by the shareholders of both companies at the next regular general meetings in early 2027. While this may not be as quick as could be hoped for, it finally makes the timeline concrete. The upcoming deconsolidation of Siemens Healthineers from Siemens marks a new phase in the evolution of our company. Shareholders of both companies will decide on the direct spin-off at the respective upcoming ordinary AGMs early 2027. We are very well on track with our preparations for the spin-off. For example, we have our banking consortium for debt-free financing in place. Also, in terms of managing the liquidity event triggered by the spin, we are very well set up. The two banks involved in the post-Q2 roadshow activity for us this quarter will be the ones to stay in touch with when the spin takes place. In November last year, at our CMD, we announced that our diagnostics business will have its own strategy and own setup. Hence, preparing to carve out the diagnostics division is the logical step to create full flexibility for a wide range of possible development paths. This group-wide project has been kicked off now and Jochen will accompany the carve-out process. For diagnostics, this quarter is a bit of a perfect storm in terms of the China headwinds peaking plus intended transformation effects taking a toll at the same time. Nevertheless, we are convinced that the business will improve its performance in the second half of the year and return to a positive growth trajectory thereafter. And finally, we are announcing a well-prepared, comprehensive generational change at the Health and Youth Leadership Team. We bring highly talented employees to the forefront to ensure our continued success, while at the same time doubling down on healthcare AI. Four highly deserving colleagues are making way. André Hartung, the previous head of diagnostic imaging. Carsten Bertram, the previous head of the advanced therapies business, Bernd Unesorge, the previous head of the EMEA region, and Peter Schardt, the previous chief technology officer. For decades, André, Carsten, Bernd and Peter have made significant contributions to expanding our leading market position and to global healthcare. through pioneering technological developments, through being role models shaping our culture, as well as through building trusting relationships with our customers and scientific collaboration partners. The next generation of leaders brings a rich diversity of perspectives and experiences. It will build on what we have achieved so far while bringing in new perspectives and challenging established paradigms to serve patients and customers even better and to make us even more successful. I look forward to each one of them. Starting from the left, Andrea Schneck will take over as Head of Diagnostic Imaging. Andreas has been head of Magnetic Resonance, the biggest business within the imaging segment, and he is a dedicated health engineer with nearly two decades of experience. He has held multiple leadership roles across the company and brings international experience, including leading the MRI business in Shenzhen, China. Philip Fischer will become head of advanced therapies. Philip is a trained physician and combines medical, scientific, and business expertise. Since joining Siemens Healthineers in 2009, he has held several leadership roles in the cardiovascular domain. He has been responsible for the computer tomography business line since 2019, where he has been instrumental to the very successful launch and ramp of the photon counting business. Sonja Wesely will take over responsibility for the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. She joined us nearly a decade ago after a distinguished career in politics and public health care in Austria. With Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia, she currently leads one of the largest and most complex zones in EMEA, overseeing business activities in 30 countries. And finally, Martin Stumpe will become our new Chief Technology Officer. Martin has deep expertise in software development and AI in the healthcare space and has been with leading technology-driven companies, including Danaher, NASA, Google, and Tempus Labs. He will significantly contribute to increasing our impact and leadership in healthcare AI, an essential connector to our strategic strength in patient training and precision therapy. To sum it up, we are strengthening our frontline leadership with top talent to sustain success and deepen our focus on healthcare AI. Now let me briefly summarize the quarter before Jochen will run you through the financials in more depth. Similar to Q1, the synergetic part of our portfolio, imaging and precision therapy, is performing very well. Fundamentals are fully intact. Strong 6% growth. Equipment order book continues to grow with a book-to-bill of 1.02. Being slightly lower than an average quarter is just the result of phasing between quarters, and we expect a significant stronger number in Q3. and strong underlying operational margin expansion stood against the FX and tariff headwinds of around 200 base points. As flagged in our last call, Q2 was expected to be especially difficult for diagnostics, particularly when looking at the year-on-year comparison. Indeed, we recorded a revenue decline of 6% as the diagnostic business in China is challenged by a structural market rebasing against a comparably strong growth in China last year. Having said that, now over to you, Jochen.