Full Year 2026 Ansell Ltd Earnings Call
Speaker #2: Good day, and welcome to the Ansell Limited FY26 full-year results briefing. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session.
Operator: Good day, and welcome to the Ansell Limited FY26 full-year results briefing. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star one again. For operator assistance throughout the call, please press star zero. I would like to advise all participants that this call is being recorded. Thank you. I would now like to welcome Nathalie Ahlström, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, to begin the conference. Nathalie, over to you.
Operator: Good day, and welcome to the Ansell Limited FY 2026 Full-Year Results Briefing. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star one again. For operator assistance throughout the call, please press star zero. I would like to advise all participants that this call is being recorded. Thank you. I would now like to welcome Nathalie Ahlström, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, to begin the conference. Nathalie, over to you.
Speaker #2: If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star, followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star 1 again.
Speaker #2: For operator assistance throughout the call, please press star zero. And finally, I would like to advise all participants that this call is being recorded.
Speaker #2: Thank you. I'd now like to welcome Natalie Ostrom, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, to begin the conference. Natalie, over to you.
Speaker #3: Thank you, Operator, and welcome, everybody. It's a privilege to be here today, together with Fred, and walk you through our fantastic, strong year financially—year 2026.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you, operator, and welcome, everybody. It's a privilege to be here today together with Fred and walk you through our fantastic strong year, financial year 2026. Equal also then talking about the outlook and then having the Q&A together with you. We will start with looking at the performance and then, as said, coming to the Q&A. Starting with the purpose. We have a really strong purpose. It's an emotional purpose. It's a powerful purpose. This leading the world to a safer future, this is who we are. This is our business. This is what it's all about. That's how we translated it then also to our financial year 2026, and that's how we are bridging then the strong momentum to financial year 2027. Let's start with the highlights of the year. As said, the highlight is a very strong delivery in quite dynamic market conditions.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you, operator, and welcome, everybody. It's a privilege to be here today together with Fred and walk you through our fantastic strong year, financial year 2026. Equal also then talking about the outlook and then having the Q&A together with you. We will start with looking at the performance and then, as said, coming to the Q&A. Starting with the purpose. We have a really strong purpose. It's an emotional purpose. It's a powerful purpose. This leading the world to a safer future, this is who we are. This is our business. This is what it's all about. That's how we translated it then also to our financial year 2026, and that's how we are bridging then the strong momentum to financial year 2027. Let's start with the highlights of the year. As said, the highlight is a very strong delivery in quite dynamic market conditions.
Speaker #3: Equally, after talking about the outlook, we'll then have the Q&A together with you. So we'll start with looking at the performance, and then, as said, come to the Q&A.
Speaker #3: Starting with the purpose—we have a really strong purpose. It's an emotional purpose. It's a powerful purpose. And this leading the world to a safer future—this is who we are.
Speaker #3: This is our business. This is what it's all about. And that's how we translated it, then also to our financial year 2026, and that's how we are bridging the strong momentum to financial year 2027.
Speaker #3: But let's start with the highlights of the year. As said, the highlights are a very strong delivery in quite dynamic market conditions. The world is—pretty much, a lot is happening.
Nathalie Ahlström: A lot is happening. As said it's a strong delivery, and we grew the net sales by 5.7%, adjusted, in this environment. Where I am especially proud is that our H2 growth momentum, 9.2% growth, really showed that we are also growing with volumes. So good, strong momentum here. On the sales growth, we also see that the momentum is in strategic areas. Areas to call out is our clean room, our scientific business grew by 10% for the full year, and also US, by far the largest market, grew by 10%. So improving the mix, growing in the future strategic areas has really helped us deliver a strong financial year 2026, and also a very strong H2, where also volumes came back. So strong net sales growth, of course, translates into a strong EBIT delivery.
Nathalie Ahlström: A lot is happening. As said it's a strong delivery, and we grew the net sales by 5.7%, adjusted, in this environment. Where I am especially proud is that our H2 growth momentum, 9.2% growth, really showed that we are also growing with volumes. So good, strong momentum here. On the sales growth, we also see that the momentum is in strategic areas. Areas to call out is our clean room, our scientific business grew by 10% for the full year, and also US, by far the largest market, grew by 10%. So improving the mix, growing in the future strategic areas has really helped us deliver a strong financial year 2026, and also a very strong H2, where also volumes came back. So strong net sales growth, of course, translates into a strong EBIT delivery.
Speaker #3: But as said, it's a strong delivery, and we grew the net sales by 5.7%, adjusted, in this environment. And where I'm especially proud is that our second half growth momentum—9.2% growth—really showed that we also are growing with volumes.
Speaker #3: So, good, strong momentum here. On the sales growth, we also see that the momentum is in strategic areas. An area to call out is our clean room and scientific business, which grew by 10% for the full year.
Speaker #3: And also, the US is by far the largest market, and it grew by 10%. So improving the mix and growing in the future strategic areas has really helped us deliver a strong financial year 2026, and also a very strong second half where volumes also came back.
Speaker #3: So, strong net sales growth, of course, translates into a strong EBIT delivery. EBIT margin was 15%, and we grew by 90 basis points versus last year.
Nathalie Ahlström: An EBIT margin of 15%, and we grew by 90 basis points versus last year. The star is, of course, healthcare, and I will come to that soon. You also see that our GPADE grew by 70 basis points, and that's again, thanks to this, that we are growing in the more strategic areas where we are having higher gross margins and our value addition to customers is higher. Also this financial year 2026, as said, it was a dynamic market, and our really decisive actions when it comes to US tariffs and Middle East crisis, things that are in our own hand on sourcing actions, and then also price increases helped to offset the impact of both US tariffs and Middle East crisis. So strong net sales growth, good EBIT margin, and that's then also supported by a very strong cash conversion. Cash conversion of 113%.
Nathalie Ahlström: An EBIT margin of 15%, and we grew by 90 basis points versus last year. The star is, of course, healthcare, and I will come to that soon. You also see that our GPADE grew by 70 basis points, and that's again, thanks to this, that we are growing in the more strategic areas where we are having higher gross margins and our value addition to customers is higher. Also this financial year 2026, as said, it was a dynamic market, and our really decisive actions when it comes to US tariffs and Middle East crisis, things that are in our own hand on sourcing actions, and then also price increases helped to offset the impact of both US tariffs and Middle East crisis. So strong net sales growth, good EBIT margin, and that's then also supported by a very strong cash conversion. Cash conversion of 113%.
Speaker #3: The star is, of course, Healthcare, and I'll come to that soon. But you also see that our GPAID grew by 70 basis points. And that's, again, thanks to the fact that we are growing in the more strategic areas where we are having higher gross margins and our value addition to customers is higher.
Speaker #3: Also, this financial year '26, as said, it was a dynamic market. And our really decisive actions when it comes to US tariffs and the Middle East crisis—things that are in our own hands, on sourcing actions and then also price increases—helped to offset the impacts of both US tariffs and the Middle East crisis.
Speaker #3: So, strong net sales growth, good EBIT margin, and that was also supported by a very strong cash conversion. Cash conversion was 113%. So, we have a strong balance sheet in place, compared to the financial year '25, when our cash conversion was 91%.
Nathalie Ahlström: We have a strong balance sheet in place compared to the financial year 2025, when our cash conversion was 91%. Why this really mattered was in the Middle East crisis, and I will talk about that a bit later. When Middle East crisis started, our focus was on enabling our customers to continue to serve, continue to ensure that we have availability, and that is where the strong balance sheet and strong cash conversion really supported us. Then finally, adjusted EPS, at the top range of USD 148.6 cents. That is a growth of 18.5% compared to last year, so we are very proud of it. That also then translates into a higher dividend. We increased the dividend by 35.7%, so the full year dividend is USD 68.1 cents. Strong on top line, EBIT, cash conversion, EPS.
Nathalie Ahlström: We have a strong balance sheet in place compared to the financial year 2025, when our cash conversion was 91%. Why this really mattered was in the Middle East crisis, and I will talk about that a bit later. When Middle East crisis started, our focus was on enabling our customers to continue to serve, continue to ensure that we have availability, and that is where the strong balance sheet and strong cash conversion really supported us. Then finally, adjusted EPS, at the top range of USD 148.6 cents. That is a growth of 18.5% compared to last year, so we are very proud of it. That also then translates into a higher dividend. We increased the dividend by 35.7%, so the full year dividend is USD 68.1 cents. Strong on top line, EBIT, cash conversion, EPS.
Speaker #3: Why this really mattered was in the Middle East crisis, and I'll talk about that a bit later. When the Middle East crisis started, our focus was on enabling our customers to continue to serve.
Speaker #3: We continued to ensure that we have the availability, and that's where the strong balance sheet and strong cash conversion really supported us. And then finally, adjusted EPS was at the top range of 148.6 cents.
Speaker #3: That's growth of 18.5% compared to last year, so we're very proud of it. And that also then translates into a higher dividend – we increased the dividend by 35.7%.
Speaker #3: So the full-year dividend is 68.1 cents. We saw strong performance on top line, EBIT, cash conversion, and EPS, and this is all thanks to our strong team that we have globally, and the strong partnerships we have with our customers and our partners.
Nathalie Ahlström: This all is thanks to our strong team that we are having globally and the strong partnerships we are having with our customers and our partners. That is the highlight of financial year 2026. Then going to Industrial. Industrial continued to perform on a high level. EBIT again grew, and we see that the EBIT margin grew to 9.7%, going from 17.3% to now to 18% EBIT margin. What we really see is that, of course, the net sales growth, especially mechanical, where you see the mechanical also grew much faster in H2, 7%. That supported the net sales growth, and then the overall higher growth in the H2.
Nathalie Ahlström: This all is thanks to our strong team that we are having globally and the strong partnerships we are having with our customers and our partners. That is the highlight of financial year 2026. Then going to Industrial. Industrial continued to perform on a high level. EBIT again grew, and we see that the EBIT margin grew to 9.7%, going from 17.3% to now to 18% EBIT margin. What we really see is that, of course, the net sales growth, especially mechanical, where you see the mechanical also grew much faster in H2, 7%. That supported the net sales growth, and then the overall higher growth in the H2.
Speaker #3: So that's the highlight of financial year '26. Then, going to Industrial. Industrial continued to perform at a high level. EBIT, again, grew, and we see that the EBIT margin grew to 9.7%, going from 17.3, and now to 18% EBIT margin.
Speaker #3: What we really see is that, of course, the net sales growth—especially mechanical—where you see mechanical also grew much faster in the second half, 7%.
Speaker #3: That supported the net sales growth, and then the overall higher growth in the second half. Moreover, what supported the continued improvement on EBIT is, again, what I'm talking about—this moving the portfolio upwards.
Nathalie Ahlström: Moreover, what supported the continued improvement on EBIT is, again, what I am talking about is moving the portfolio upwards, focusing on the strategic verticals, focusing on the strategic markets, and especially here in Industrial, it was, again, US, the strong performance in US and also the verticals, aerospace and defense, that helped us to move the portfolio upwards. Then going to Healthcare, and I must say, I am so proud of the team to deliver this improvement in Healthcare, where you see a step change in the EBIT margin from 12.8% to 14.3% EBIT margin improvement over one year. Of course, what helps is, again, the volumes. Volumes is always helping. Here you see the exceptionally strong growth in H2, and especially the star performer is clean room again. So it shows that where we have strong positions, where we have very strong brands, we also can grow.
Nathalie Ahlström: Moreover, what supported the continued improvement on EBIT is, again, what I am talking about is moving the portfolio upwards, focusing on the strategic verticals, focusing on the strategic markets, and especially here in Industrial, it was, again, US, the strong performance in US and also the verticals, aerospace and defense, that helped us to move the portfolio upwards. Then going to Healthcare, and I must say, I am so proud of the team to deliver this improvement in Healthcare, where you see a step change in the EBIT margin from 12.8% to 14.3% EBIT margin improvement over one year. Of course, what helps is, again, the volumes. Volumes is always helping. Here you see the exceptionally strong growth in H2, and especially the star performer is clean room again. So it shows that where we have strong positions, where we have very strong brands, we also can grow.
Speaker #3: Focus on the strategic verticals, focusing on the strategic markets. And especially here in Industrial, it was, again, the US—the strong performance in the US and also the verticals aerospace and defense—that helped us to move the portfolio upwards.
Speaker #3: Then, going to Healthcare—and I must say, I'm so proud of the team for delivering this improvement in Healthcare—where you see a step change in the EBIT margin from 12.8% to 14.3%. That's an EBIT margin improvement over one year.
Speaker #3: Of course, what helps is, again, the volumes. Volumes are always helping. And here you see the exceptionally strong growth in the second half. And especially, the star performer is clean room again.
Speaker #3: So it shows that where we have strong positions, where we have very strong brands, we also can grow. And, of course, the clean room that turbocharged the growth—the majority of that was from the US.
Nathalie Ahlström: Of course, the clean room that turbocharge the growth, majority of that was from the US. As said, in Healthcare, the H2 growth of 12.3% really helped us. Both Industrial, Healthcare delivering Healthcare at a total new level. Then the dynamic world we are living in, looking at the US tariffs. We have really offset the US tariffs by sourcing optimization, where do we source, how are we serving the US market, and then price adjustments. We also saw then in the H2 that our US growth momentum continues despite the price adjustments we have done to the market, and accelerated the growth in Industrial and Scientific, the clean room, as I have mentioned before. This success in the US tariff really has been enabled by the strong customer partnerships we are having in the US.
Nathalie Ahlström: Of course, the clean room that turbocharge the growth, majority of that was from the US. As said, in Healthcare, the H2 growth of 12.3% really helped us. Both Industrial, Healthcare delivering Healthcare at a total new level. Then the dynamic world we are living in, looking at the US tariffs. We have really offset the US tariffs by sourcing optimization, where do we source, how are we serving the US market, and then price adjustments. We also saw then in the H2 that our US growth momentum continues despite the price adjustments we have done to the market, and accelerated the growth in Industrial and Scientific, the clean room, as I have mentioned before. This success in the US tariff really has been enabled by the strong customer partnerships we are having in the US.
Speaker #3: So, and as said, in healthcare, the second half growth of 12.3% really helped us. So both industrial and healthcare delivering, healthcare at the total new level.
Speaker #3: In the dynamic world we are living in, looking at the US tariffs, we have really offset the US tariffs by sourcing optimization—where do we source, how are we serving the US market, and then price adjustments.
Speaker #3: We also saw then, in the second half, that our US growth momentum continues despite the price adjustments we've made to the market, and we accelerated the growth in Industrial and Scientific—the clean room segment—as I've mentioned before.
Speaker #3: So this success in the US tariff really has been enabled by the strong customer partnerships we are having in the US. I just came myself, with Fred, a few days ago from the US, and it's wonderful to see the good, strong partnerships we are having with our customers.
Nathalie Ahlström: I just came myself with Fred a few days ago from the US, and it is wonderful to see the good, strong partnerships we are having with our customers. At the same time, we are ready to respond to any further changes in the tariffs as we go forward. US tariffs are not the only thing. We also have Middle East crisis, and here I am really proud about the team. We went really decisive. We went quickly out to the market, to offset the impact of the Middle East crisis. First, as said, we focused on supply chain resilience. We wanted to ensure that we ensure availability to our customers. We have no disruptions in our production and serving the supply chain. As with the US tariffs, we also saw that the brand pricing power is significant with Ansell.
Nathalie Ahlström: I just came myself with Fred a few days ago from the US, and it is wonderful to see the good, strong partnerships we are having with our customers. At the same time, we are ready to respond to any further changes in the tariffs as we go forward. US tariffs are not the only thing. We also have Middle East crisis, and here I am really proud about the team. We went really decisive. We went quickly out to the market, to offset the impact of the Middle East crisis. First, as said, we focused on supply chain resilience. We wanted to ensure that we ensure availability to our customers. We have no disruptions in our production and serving the supply chain. As with the US tariffs, we also saw that the brand pricing power is significant with Ansell.
Speaker #3: And at the same time, we are ready to respond to any further changes in the tariffs as we go forward. US tariffs—not the only thing.
Speaker #3: We also have the Middle East crisis. And here, I'm really proud of the team. We acted decisively and quickly went out to the market to offset the impact of the Middle East crisis.
Speaker #3: First, as said, we focused on supply chain resilience. We wanted to ensure that we ensure availability to our customers, that we have no disruptions in our production, and that we are serving the supply chain.
Speaker #3: As with the US tariffs, we also saw that the brand pricing power is significant with Ansell. And I'm going to talk more about our brands because these really show that we have the power of the brands and we are really delivering added-value services.
Nathalie Ahlström: I am going to talk more about our brands because this really shows that we have the power of the brands and we are really delivering added value services. Thanks to our brands, we were able to do the price adjustments and could offset one-to-one the cost of the Middle East crisis, and we will continue to be flexible with the pricing as the Middle East crisis evolves. Finally, on balance sheet strength, as I mentioned, this was important because as prices were going up and down in March, April, May, we wanted to ensure that we have a strong balance sheet, that we can serve our customers no matter what, and we are the trusted partner now and in the future to our customers, that they can serve then going forward. That is US, Middle East. It is in our hands. We reacted decisively to this.
Nathalie Ahlström: I am going to talk more about our brands because this really shows that we have the power of the brands and we are really delivering added value services. Thanks to our brands, we were able to do the price adjustments and could offset one-to-one the cost of the Middle East crisis, and we will continue to be flexible with the pricing as the Middle East crisis evolves. Finally, on balance sheet strength, as I mentioned, this was important because as prices were going up and down in March, April, May, we wanted to ensure that we have a strong balance sheet, that we can serve our customers no matter what, and we are the trusted partner now and in the future to our customers, that they can serve then going forward. That is US, Middle East. It is in our hands. We reacted decisively to this.
Speaker #3: So, thanks to our brands, we were able to do the price adjustments and could offset one-to-one the cost of the Middle East crisis. And we will continue to be flexible with the pricing as the Middle East crisis evolves.
Speaker #3: And then finally, on balance sheet strength, as I mentioned, this was important because as prices were going up and down in March, April, and May, we wanted to ensure that we have a strong balance sheet, that we can serve our customers no matter what. We are the trusted partner now and in the future to our customers, so they can rely on us going forward.
Speaker #3: So that's US, Middle East. It's in our hands. We reacted decisively to this. And finally, on sustainability, I'm really proud of how we are improving on many fronts in sustainability. Here are a few examples.
Nathalie Ahlström: Finally, on sustainability, I am really proud how we are improving on many fronts in sustainability. As a few examples, our safety, we reduced our accidents by 32% during the year. Another example is that today, of the sourced energy, 58% is renewable energy. That is of course a huge asset for us that we have 58% of our energy is renewable, so that also of course translates then into a financial impact that we, especially during the Middle East crisis, saw benefit from. A more customer consumer-facing area is that today more than 90% of all our packaging is recyclable, reusable, or compostable. So, proud to be here to talk about the strong financial year 2026 and what all the team and together with our customer partners we have been able to accomplish. Now I will hand over to Fred to talk more about the financial performance in detail.
Nathalie Ahlström: Finally, on sustainability, I am really proud how we are improving on many fronts in sustainability. As a few examples, our safety, we reduced our accidents by 32% during the year. Another example is that today, of the sourced energy, 58% is renewable energy. That is of course a huge asset for us that we have 58% of our energy is renewable, so that also of course translates then into a financial impact that we, especially during the Middle East crisis, saw benefit from. A more customer consumer-facing area is that today more than 90% of all our packaging is recyclable, reusable, or compostable. So, proud to be here to talk about the strong financial year 2026 and what all the team and together with our customer partners we have been able to accomplish. Now I will hand over to Fred to talk more about the financial performance in detail.
Speaker #3: Regarding our safety, we reduced our accidents by 32% during the year. Another example is that today, of our sourced energy, 58% is renewable energy. And that's, of course, a huge asset for us—having 58% of our energy as renewable.
Speaker #3: So that also, of course, translates then into a financial impact that we, especially during the Middle East crisis, saw benefit from. Then, a more customer–consumer-facing area is that today, more than 90% of all our packaging is recyclable, reusable, or compostable.
Speaker #3: So proud to be here to talk about the strong financial year '26 and what all the team and, together with our customer partners, we've been able to accomplish.
Speaker #3: Now I'll hand over to Fred to talk more about the financial performance in detail. Over to you, Fred.
Nathalie Ahlström: Over to you, Fred.
Nathalie Ahlström: Over to you, Fred.
Speaker #2: Thanks, Natalie. And good morning, everyone. It's great to be speaking with you today. I'll spend the next few minutes talking through our financial performance for fiscal year 2026, expanding on Natalie's earlier comments.
Fred Marx: Thanks, Nathalie, and good morning, everyone. It's great to be speaking with you today. I will spend the next few minutes talking through our financial performance for fiscal year 2026, expanding on Nathalie's earlier comments. Firstly, on sales, we were pleased with the adjusted sales growth of 5.7%, which excludes the effects of foreign exchange and some minor product exits, as well as the benefits we received from temporary order pattern favorability in both F25 and F26. In the H2 of this year, we had $15 million in extra sales of exam single-use products as customers increased purchases in response to the Middle East crisis. These sales will unwind in F27, so we have excluded them from the adjusted sales growth calculation. Pricing was a key driver of sales growth for the year, particularly in the US, where we successfully offset the effects of higher tariffs.
Fred Marx: Thanks, Nathalie, and good morning, everyone. It's great to be speaking with you today. I will spend the next few minutes talking through our financial performance for fiscal year 2026, expanding on Nathalie's earlier comments. Firstly, on sales, we were pleased with the adjusted sales growth of 5.7%, which excludes the effects of foreign exchange and some minor product exits, as well as the benefits we received from temporary order pattern favorability in both F25 and F26. In the H2 of this year, we had $15 million in extra sales of exam single-use products as customers increased purchases in response to the Middle East crisis. These sales will unwind in F27, so we have excluded them from the adjusted sales growth calculation. Pricing was a key driver of sales growth for the year, particularly in the US, where we successfully offset the effects of higher tariffs.
Speaker #2: Firstly, on sales, we were pleased with the adjusted sales growth of 5.7%, which excludes the effects of foreign exchange and some minor product exits.
Speaker #2: As well as the benefits we received from temporary order pattern favorability in both FY25 and FY26. In the second half of this year, we had $15 million in extra sales of exam single-use products as customers increased purchases in response to the Middle East crisis.
Speaker #2: These sales will unwind in FY27, so we have excluded them from the adjusted sales growth calculation. Pricing was a key driver of sales growth for the year, particularly in the US, where we successfully offset the effects of higher tariffs.
Speaker #2: We also increased prices in the final months of the year to offset higher costs resulting from the Middle East crisis. Pleasingly, as Natalie had mentioned before, we saw sales really accelerate in the second half of the year, supported by improved volume trends.
Fred Marx: We also increased prices in the final months of the year to offset higher costs resulting from the Middle East crisis. Pleasingly, as Nathalie had mentioned before, we saw sales really accelerate in the H2 of the year, supported by improved volume trends. Our GPADE margin improved by 70 basis points versus F25, a great effort given the significant cost headwinds we faced throughout the year. We spoke at the half-year results about margins being supported by sourcing productivity efforts and lower freight cost. We also saw benefits across the year from improved sales mix, particularly in healthcare, with accelerated sales growth in our higher margin clean room products. The net price and cost effects of US tariffs and the Middle East conflict were moderately dilutive to our overall GPADE margin percentage.
Fred Marx: We also increased prices in the final months of the year to offset higher costs resulting from the Middle East crisis. Pleasingly, as Nathalie had mentioned before, we saw sales really accelerate in the H2 of the year, supported by improved volume trends. Our GPADE margin improved by 70 basis points versus F25, a great effort given the significant cost headwinds we faced throughout the year. We spoke at the half-year results about margins being supported by sourcing productivity efforts and lower freight cost. We also saw benefits across the year from improved sales mix, particularly in healthcare, with accelerated sales growth in our higher margin clean room products. The net price and cost effects of US tariffs and the Middle East conflict were moderately dilutive to our overall GPADE margin percentage.
Speaker #2: Our G-paid margin improved by 70 basis points versus FY25, a great effort given the significant cost headwinds we faced throughout the year. We spoke at the half-year results about margins being supported by sourcing productivity efforts and lower freight costs.
Speaker #2: We also saw benefits throughout the year from an improved sales mix, particularly in healthcare, with accelerated sales growth in our higher-margin clean room products.
Speaker #2: The net price and cost effects of US tariffs and the Middle East conflict were moderately dilutive to our overall GPAD margin percentage. Moving down the P&L to SG&A, this was well controlled with growth of 2.7% on an organic basis.
Fred Marx: Moving down the P&L to SG&A, this was well controlled with growth of 2.7% on an organic basis. Higher employee costs from both wage inflation and strategic hires were partially offset by improved SG&A productivity and the KBU cost synergies we mentioned before, which are tracking in line with our business case. On FX, while exchange rates were favorable on an underlying basis, we had a loss of $13.8 million on our hedge book, which meant that the currency was a headwind to EBIT of $4.3 million this year. When you put all this together, we achieved organic EBIT growth of 14.9% versus F25, and a 90 basis point improvement in EBIT margin growing to 15%, which is really great to see. Below EBIT, we booked $1.4 million in significant items.
Fred Marx: Moving down the P&L to SG&A, this was well controlled with growth of 2.7% on an organic basis. Higher employee costs from both wage inflation and strategic hires were partially offset by improved SG&A productivity and the KBU cost synergies we mentioned before, which are tracking in line with our business case. On FX, while exchange rates were favorable on an underlying basis, we had a loss of $13.8 million on our hedge book, which meant that the currency was a headwind to EBIT of $4.3 million this year. When you put all this together, we achieved organic EBIT growth of 14.9% versus F25, and a 90 basis point improvement in EBIT margin growing to 15%, which is really great to see. Below EBIT, we booked $1.4 million in significant items.
Speaker #2: Higher employee costs, from both wage inflation and strategic hires, were partially offset by improved SG&A productivity and the KBU cost synergies we mentioned before, which are tracking in line with our business case.
Speaker #2: On FX, while exchange rates were favorable on an underlying basis, we had a loss of $13.8 million on our hedge book, which meant that currency was a headwind to EBIT of $4.3 million this year.
Speaker #2: So, when you put all this together, we achieved organic EBIT growth of 14.9% versus FY25, and a 90-basis-point improvement in EBIT margin, growing to 15%, which is really great to see.
Speaker #2: Below EBIT, we booked $1.4 million in significant items. This includes the APIP costs related to the upcoming ERP upgrades, largely offset by an initial refund of tariffs paid in the US prior to the February Supreme Court ruling.
Fred Marx: This includes the APIP costs related to the upcoming ERP upgrades, largely offset by an initial refund of tariffs paid in the US prior to the February Supreme Court ruling. The interest line was broadly the same as F25, and our effective tax rate came in as guided at 24.1%. This all contributed to adjusted earnings per share of 148.60 cents, an 18.5% increase versus last year on an organic basis, and a result we are very happy with given the external challenges we had managed over the course of the year. Included in the adjusted EPS was a non-recurring benefit of 3.37 cents, which was largely due to the timing difference throughout the year between the cost that we have seen coming in through the P&L and the timing of when prices were adjusted in relation to the US tariffs and the cost inflation from the Middle East.
Fred Marx: This includes the APIP costs related to the upcoming ERP upgrades, largely offset by an initial refund of tariffs paid in the US prior to the February Supreme Court ruling. The interest line was broadly the same as F25, and our effective tax rate came in as guided at 24.1%. This all contributed to adjusted earnings per share of 148.60 cents, an 18.5% increase versus last year on an organic basis, and a result we are very happy with given the external challenges we had managed over the course of the year. Included in the adjusted EPS was a non-recurring benefit of 3.37 cents, which was largely due to the timing difference throughout the year between the cost that we have seen coming in through the P&L and the timing of when prices were adjusted in relation to the US tariffs and the cost inflation from the Middle East.
Speaker #2: The interest line was broadly the same as FY25, and our effective tax rate came in as guided at 24.1%. This all contributed to adjusted earnings per share of 148.6 cents, an 18.5% increase versus last year on an organic basis, and a result we're very happy with given the external challenges we managed over the course of the year.
Speaker #2: Included in the adjusted EPS was a non-recurring benefit of 3.3 cents, which was largely due to the timing difference throughout the year between the cost that we've seen coming in through the P&L and the timing of when prices were adjusted in relation to the US tariffs and the cost inflation from the Middle East.
Speaker #2: Now let's move to the balance sheet, which is in great shape. Working capital was lower than June 2025, largely driven by a reduction in inventory in the second half as sales accelerated, and we also made targeted reductions in safety stocks in response to the Middle East crisis.
Fred Marx: Now let's move to the balance sheet, which is in great shape. Working capital was lower than June 2025, largely driven by a reduction in inventory in the H2 as sales accelerated, and we also made targeted reductions in safety stocks in response to the Middle East crisis. Debtors were higher, largely due to the higher sales, and payables fell with purchases from outsourced finished goods suppliers lower than at the same time last year. Looking at returns, we delivered return on capital employed or ROCE of 12.7% and return of equity of 10.6%. As we pointed out in the H1 results, the nominal reduction in ROCE versus F25 is due to the partial inclusion of KBU capital employed in the denominator in the F25 calculation, noting that we calculate ROCE based on the average capital employed on a trailing 12-month basis.
Fred Marx: Now let's move to the balance sheet, which is in great shape. Working capital was lower than June 2025, largely driven by a reduction in inventory in the H2 as sales accelerated, and we also made targeted reductions in safety stocks in response to the Middle East crisis. Debtors were higher, largely due to the higher sales, and payables fell with purchases from outsourced finished goods suppliers lower than at the same time last year. Looking at returns, we delivered return on capital employed or ROCE of 12.7% and return of equity of 10.6%. As we pointed out in the H1 results, the nominal reduction in ROCE versus F25 is due to the partial inclusion of KBU capital employed in the denominator in the F25 calculation, noting that we calculate ROCE based on the average capital employed on a trailing 12-month basis.
Speaker #2: Debtors were higher, largely due to the higher sales, and payables fell, with purchases from outsourced finished goods suppliers lower than at the same time last year.
Speaker #2: Looking at returns, we delivered return on capital employed, or ROCE, of 12.7%, and return on equity of 10.6%. As we pointed out in the half-year results, the nominal reduction in ROCE versus FY25 is due to the partial inclusion of KBU capital employed in the denominator in the FY25 calculation, noting that we calculate ROCE based on the average capital employed on a trailing 12-month basis.
Speaker #2: If you normalize for this KBU in the denominator, the FY25 ROCE would have been 11.2%, translating to a 150 basis point improvement in FY26 on a like-for-like basis.
Fred Marx: If you normalize for this KBU in the denominator, the F25 ROCE would've been 11.2%, translating to a 150 basis point improvement in F26 on a like-for-like basis. Turning next to cash flow, which was really strong in F26. The biggest increase you see in statutory EBITDA was driven by our double-digit earnings growth, helped further by a large reduction in significant items, noting that we were booking KBU transactions and integration costs last year. Net receipts were significantly higher than F25, driven by statutory earnings growth and the improvement in working capital I outlined on the previous page. With growth in net receipts outpacing EBITDA, our cash conversion came in at 113%, compared to 91% in F25, as Nathalie Ahlström noted before. Net CapEx was USD 48.6 million, lower than F25 following the completion of construction of our greenfield India surgical facility.
Fred Marx: If you normalize for this KBU in the denominator, the F25 ROCE would've been 11.2%, translating to a 150 basis point improvement in F26 on a like-for-like basis. Turning next to cash flow, which was really strong in F26. The biggest increase you see in statutory EBITDA was driven by our double-digit earnings growth, helped further by a large reduction in significant items, noting that we were booking KBU transactions and integration costs last year. Net receipts were significantly higher than F25, driven by statutory earnings growth and the improvement in working capital I outlined on the previous page. With growth in net receipts outpacing EBITDA, our cash conversion came in at 113%, compared to 91% in F25, as Nathalie noted before. Net CapEx was USD 48.6 million, lower than F25 following the completion of construction of our greenfield India surgical facility.
Speaker #2: Turning next to cash flow, which was really strong in FY26, the biggest increase you see in statutory EBITDA was driven by our double-digit earnings growth, helped further by a large reduction in significant items, noting that we were booking KBU transactions and integration costs last year.
Speaker #2: Net receipts were significantly higher than F25, driven by statutory earnings growth and the improvement in working capital I outlined on the previous page.
Speaker #2: With growth in net receipts outpacing EBITDA, our cash conversion came in at 113% compared to 91% in FY25, as Natalie noted before. Net capex was $48.6 million, lower than FY25, following the completion of construction of our Greenfield India Surgical Facility.
Speaker #2: We also took the decision to prioritize only our most strategic capital projects while we were navigating through the effects of the Middle East crisis in the latter part of the year.
Fred Marx: We also took the decision to prioritize only our most strategic capital projects while we were navigating through the effects of the Middle East crisis in the latter part of the year. With the strong growth in net receipts and a reduction in CapEx, we were able to deliver a substantial year-on-year increase in our operating cash flow. This gave us the ability to fund the on-market share buyback program to the tune of USD 118.4 million, while also reducing net interest-bearing debt by USD 52.3 million as well. Let me wrap up by saying a few words on our funding profile. Our net debt to EBITDA was 1.3x at the end of this year, compared to 1.6 this time 12 months ago. And we have significant liquidity with USD 752 million of cash and undrawn bank facilities.
Fred Marx: We also took the decision to prioritize only our most strategic capital projects while we were navigating through the effects of the Middle East crisis in the latter part of the year. With the strong growth in net receipts and a reduction in CapEx, we were able to deliver a substantial year-on-year increase in our operating cash flow. This gave us the ability to fund the on-market share buyback program to the tune of USD 118.4 million, while also reducing net interest-bearing debt by USD 52.3 million as well. Let me wrap up by saying a few words on our funding profile. Our net debt to EBITDA was 1.3x at the end of this year, compared to 1.6 this time 12 months ago. And we have significant liquidity with USD 752 million of cash and undrawn bank facilities.
Speaker #2: So, with the strong growth in net receipts and a reduction in capex, we were able to deliver a substantial year-on-year increase in our operating cash flow.
Speaker #2: This gave us the ability to fund the on-market share buyback program to the tune of $118.4 million, while also reducing net interest-bearing debt by $52.3 million as well.
Speaker #2: So let me wrap up by saying a few words on our funding profile. Our net debt to EBITDA was 1.3x at the end of this year, compared to 1.6x this time 12 months ago.
Speaker #2: And we have significant liquidity, with $752 million of cash and undrawn bank facilities. Furthermore, the maturities of our debt are relatively long-dated, and we have approximately two-thirds of our facilities at fixed rates.
Fred Marx: Furthermore, the maturities of our debt are relatively long-dated, and we have approximately two-thirds of our facilities at fixed rates. You can see that our funding position is healthy, our maturity profile is well-balanced, which gives us flexibility to continue to pursue value accretive growth opportunities in addition to capital management initiatives. With that, I'll hand it back to Nathalie Ahlström to talk about our strategic priorities and our outlook for F27.
Fred Marx: Furthermore, the maturities of our debt are relatively long-dated, and we have approximately two-thirds of our facilities at fixed rates. You can see that our funding position is healthy, our maturity profile is well-balanced, which gives us flexibility to continue to pursue value accretive growth opportunities in addition to capital management initiatives. With that, I'll hand it back to Nathalie to talk about our strategic priorities and our outlook for F27.
Speaker #2: So you could see that our funding position is healthy, our maturity profile is well balanced, which gives us flexibility to continue to pursue value-accretive growth opportunities in addition to capital management initiatives.
Speaker #2: With that, I'll hand it back to Natalie to talk about our strategic priorities and our outlook for FY27.
Speaker #1: Thank you, Fred. So now, talking about the strategic priorities—and this is really important for us—how do we drive higher growth? How do we drive higher profitability?
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you, Fred. Talking about the strategic priorities, this is really important for us, how do we drive higher growth? How do we drive higher profitability? Also, what is the capital allocation to it? When we look at our strategic priorities, our focus is really how do we increase customer centricity and accelerate profitable growth? To this, we have three levers. Two of them are growth levers, and the final one is funding the growth lever. We are starting with commercial excellence. Commercial excellence, how can we enhance the value we are driving to customers? I will on all these levers also come back to you and show an example and a proof point what we delivered in financial year 2026. Commercial excellence. Secondly, the growth lever, really looking at focus on our strategic markets.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you, Fred. Talking about the strategic priorities, this is really important for us, how do we drive higher growth? How do we drive higher profitability? Also, what is the capital allocation to it? When we look at our strategic priorities, our focus is really how do we increase customer centricity and accelerate profitable growth? To this, we have three levers. Two of them are growth levers, and the final one is funding the growth lever. We are starting with commercial excellence. Commercial excellence, how can we enhance the value we are driving to customers? I will on all these levers also come back to you and show an example and a proof point what we delivered in financial year 2026. Commercial excellence. Secondly, the growth lever, really looking at focus on our strategic markets.
Speaker #1: And then also, what's the capital allocation to it? When we look at our strategic priorities, our focus is really on how we increase customers' interest and accelerate profitable growth.
Speaker #1: To this, we have three levers. Two of them are growth levers, and the final one is funding the growth lever. We're starting with commercial excellence.
Speaker #1: Commercial excellence—how can we enhance the value we are driving to customers? I will own all these levers, and I will also come back to you and show an example and a proof point of what we delivered in financial year 2026.
Speaker #1: So, commercial excellence. Secondly, the growth lever—really looking at a focus on our strategic markets. So, which are the key markets and verticals where we have higher margins?
Nathalie Ahlström: Which are the key markets and verticals where we have higher margins, we have higher profitability, and we see the verticals are also having organically better growth. We are focusing on this and also the capital allocation on this. So better returns. Finally, funding the growth lever, where we talk about operational excellence, and I will give a few examples about that. That how can we increase our return of capital employed and at the same time ensure that we are closer to customers, we are serving our customers much better because we are true believer that the better we have our supply, the more intimate we are to customers, the more our demand and growth will be. Good. Then going to the commercial excellence. It is an area where we have a lot of opportunities going forward and a few proof points already from financial year 2026.
Nathalie Ahlström: Which are the key markets and verticals where we have higher margins, we have higher profitability, and we see the verticals are also having organically better growth. We are focusing on this and also the capital allocation on this. So better returns. Finally, funding the growth lever, where we talk about operational excellence, and I will give a few examples about that. That how can we increase our return of capital employed and at the same time ensure that we are closer to customers, we are serving our customers much better because we are true believer that the better we have our supply, the more intimate we are to customers, the more our demand and growth will be. Good. Then going to the commercial excellence. It is an area where we have a lot of opportunities going forward and a few proof points already from financial year 2026.
Speaker #1: We have higher profitability, and we see the verticals are also having organically better growth. We are focusing on these, and also the capital allocation on these.
Speaker #1: So, better returns. And finally, funding the growth lever, where we talk about operational excellence—and I'll give a few examples of that. How can we increase our return on capital employed?
Speaker #1: And at the same time, ensure that we are closer to customers, we are serving our customers much better, because we are true believers that the better we have our supply, the more intimate we are with the customer, the more our demand and growth will be.
Speaker #1: Good. Then, moving on to commercial excellence. It's an area where we have a lot of opportunities going forward, and we already have a few proof points from fiscal year 2026.
Speaker #1: When we look at our top five, only five, brands that we have in the company, they account for 58% of net sales.
Nathalie Ahlström: When we look at our top 5, only 5 brands that we are having in the company, they account for 58% of the net sales. We really are a brand-driven safety company, where our brands do deliver value. We also see that, of course, thanks to the pricing adjustments we have had to make in US tariffs and also in Middle East, that the brands do count. These 5 brands, in total, they grew 1.2x faster than the whole company. So they are really delivering value. Secondly, the top 5 brands, the gross margin is 220 basis points higher than Ansell average. So growing faster and accretive to our profitability as we go forward.
Nathalie Ahlström: When we look at our top 5, only 5 brands that we are having in the company, they account for 58% of the net sales. We really are a brand-driven safety company, where our brands do deliver value. We also see that, of course, thanks to the pricing adjustments we have had to make in US tariffs and also in Middle East, that the brands do count. These 5 brands, in total, they grew 1.2x faster than the whole company. So they are really delivering value. Secondly, the top 5 brands, the gross margin is 220 basis points higher than Ansell average. So growing faster and accretive to our profitability as we go forward.
Speaker #1: So, we really are a brand-driven safety company, where our brands do deliver value. We also see that, of course, thanks to the pricing adjustments we have had to make in US tariffs and also in the Middle East, that the brands do count.
Speaker #1: So these five brands, in total, grew 1.2x faster than the whole company. So they are really delivering value. Secondly, the top five brands' gross margin is 220 basis points higher than the Ansell average.
Speaker #1: So, growing faster and accretive to our profitability as we go forward. And, of course, as we go forward, we will focus on how we can generate more value for our customers, and how we can also make the big brands bigger, because that's where we get the scale benefit of our large portfolio.
Nathalie Ahlström: Of course, as we go forward, we will focus on how can we generate more value to our customers and how can we also make the big brands bigger, because that is where we get the scale benefit of our large portfolio. It is not only about the brands, we are also having our AnsellGUARDIAN tool that we have spoken about in the past. With the AnsellGUARDIAN tool, that is our main global sales tool where we can show the safety benefits, the safety impact our products are having our end customer sites. We see that when we use the AnsellGUARDIAN, we have 50% higher sales on newly converted accounts. Not only AnsellGUARDIAN, then of course, innovation. Innovation is hugely important for us and will continue to be so. Now when we talk about the strategic verticals and strategic markets, it is easier also to target the focus on the innovation.
Nathalie Ahlström: Of course, as we go forward, we will focus on how can we generate more value to our customers and how can we also make the big brands bigger, because that is where we get the scale benefit of our large portfolio. It is not only about the brands, we are also having our AnsellGUARDIAN tool that we have spoken about in the past. With the AnsellGUARDIAN tool, that is our main global sales tool where we can show the safety benefits, the safety impact our products are having our end customer sites. We see that when we use the AnsellGUARDIAN, we have 50% higher sales on newly converted accounts. Not only AnsellGUARDIAN, then of course, innovation. Innovation is hugely important for us and will continue to be so. Now when we talk about the strategic verticals and strategic markets, it is easier also to target the focus on the innovation.
Speaker #1: So it's not only about the brands. We also have our Guardian tool that we've spoken about in the past. And with the Guardian tool, that's our main global sales tool, where we can show the safety benefits, the safety impact our products are having at our customers' end-customer sites.
Speaker #1: And we see that when we use the Guardian, we have 50% higher sales on newly converted accounts. Not only Guardian, then of course, innovation.
Speaker #1: Innovation is hugely important for us, and will continue to be so. Now, when we talk about the strategic verticals and strategic markets, it's also easier to target the focus on innovation.
Speaker #1: And as an example, we see that in Mechanical, you know, gloves and products in Mechanical, we had 18% of the sales last year come from new products launched only in the last five years.
Nathalie Ahlström: As an example, we see that in mechanical, in our gloves and products in mechanical, we had 18% of the sales last year came from new products launched only in the last five years. Innovation does matter. Commercial excellence continue to drive value for the customers. Secondly, focus on strategic markets. I mentioned US many times during this call, and I will continue to do that in the years to come. Today, US is 43% of our total net sales. It is, of course, the most dynamic, booming market in the world if you look at the totality. By focusing on the US and also our other in total top five countries, we see that we are going to be able to allocate capital and drive growth much better and being closer to customers.
Nathalie Ahlström: As an example, we see that in mechanical, in our gloves and products in mechanical, we had 18% of the sales last year came from new products launched only in the last five years. Innovation does matter. Commercial excellence continue to drive value for the customers. Secondly, focus on strategic markets. I mentioned US many times during this call, and I will continue to do that in the years to come. Today, US is 43% of our total net sales. It is, of course, the most dynamic, booming market in the world if you look at the totality. By focusing on the US and also our other in total top five countries, we see that we are going to be able to allocate capital and drive growth much better and being closer to customers.
Speaker #1: So, innovation does matter. So, commercial excellence—continue to drive value for the customers. Then secondly, focus on strategic markets. And I mentioned the US many times during this call, and I will continue to do that in the years to come.
Speaker #1: Today, the US is 43% of our total net sales. It's, of course, the most dynamic, booming market in the world if you look at the totality.
Speaker #1: And by focusing on the US, and also our other, in total, top five countries, we see that we are going to be able to allocate capital and drive growth much better, and be closer to customers.
Speaker #1: So, in total, the US grew 1.8 times faster than the whole company, Ansell. And that's really driven by our strong brand presence and our strong end-user partnerships, like I spoke about, that we are having in the US.
Nathalie Ahlström: In total, US grew 1.8 times faster than the whole company, Ansell. That is really driven by our strong brand presence and our strong end user partnerships like I spoke about that we are having in the US. Of course, the prime example is Amazon, a huge end user customers for us. We are very proud of the innovation and the very close cooperation we are having with Amazon to continuously develop new solutions, not only product solutions, but many other solutions to ensure that we have a structurally made partnership with Amazon going forward. With this, in the last year, thanks to the good cooperation, we helped to reduce 65% of all hand injuries that Amazon had in their warehouses, in their sites.
Nathalie Ahlström: In total, US grew 1.8 times faster than the whole company, Ansell. That is really driven by our strong brand presence and our strong end user partnerships like I spoke about that we are having in the US. Of course, the prime example is Amazon, a huge end user customers for us. We are very proud of the innovation and the very close cooperation we are having with Amazon to continuously develop new solutions, not only product solutions, but many other solutions to ensure that we have a structurally made partnership with Amazon going forward. With this, in the last year, thanks to the good cooperation, we helped to reduce 65% of all hand injuries that Amazon had in their warehouses, in their sites.
Speaker #1: And of course, the prime example is Amazon, a huge end-user customer for us. We are very proud of the innovation and the very close cooperation we are having with Amazon to continuously develop new solutions—not only product solutions, but many other solutions—to ensure that we have a structurally made partnership with Amazon going forward.
Speaker #1: And with this, in the last year, thanks to the good cooperation, we helped to reduce 65%—65%—of all hand injuries that Amazon had in their warehouses, in their sites.
Speaker #1: So this is a true example of where we double down on customers. We focus on the strategic markets, we focus on strategic verticals, we grow faster than the company, and we deliver value to our end customers.
Nathalie Ahlström: This is a true example of where we double down on customers, we focus on the strategic markets, we focus on strategic verticals, we grow faster than the company, and we deliver value to our end customers. Commercial excellence, focus on end use, selected strategic markets. Finally, operational excellence. This is the funding the growth lever that I was talking about earlier. The funding the growth lever, we are looking at three building blocks. This is three building blocks, how can we simplify Ansell, and that way, serve our customers faster and be more agile and also, of course, always be competitive. These three building blocks in operational excellence are, how can we simplify our product portfolio and brands? I spoke earlier about make the big brands bigger. How can we simplify our supply chain, and how can we simplify ways of working?
Nathalie Ahlström: This is a true example of where we double down on customers, we focus on the strategic markets, we focus on strategic verticals, we grow faster than the company, and we deliver value to our end customers. Commercial excellence, focus on end use, selected strategic markets. Finally, operational excellence. This is the funding the growth lever that I was talking about earlier. The funding the growth lever, we are looking at three building blocks. This is three building blocks, how can we simplify Ansell, and that way, serve our customers faster and be more agile and also, of course, always be competitive. These three building blocks in operational excellence are, how can we simplify our product portfolio and brands? I spoke earlier about make the big brands bigger. How can we simplify our supply chain, and how can we simplify ways of working?
Speaker #1: So, commercial excellence, focus on end-user selected strategic markets, and finally, operational excellence. This is the funding—the growth lever that I was talking about earlier.
Speaker #1: So, the funding, the growth lever, we are looking at three building blocks. And these are the three building blocks: How can we simplify Ansell and, in that way, serve our customers faster, be more agile, and also, of course, always be competitive?
Speaker #1: And these three building blocks in operational excellence are: how can we simplify our product portfolio and brands? I spoke earlier about making the big brands bigger.
Speaker #1: How can we simplify our supply chain? And how can we simplify ways of working? These are areas we are going to continue to work on, and I'll continue to talk about these with you as we go forward in the months and years to come.
Nathalie Ahlström: These are areas we are going to continue to work on, and I will continue to talk about this to you as we go forward in the months and years to come. Look at a few examples on the next slide. We had APIP that we have delivered, and delivered the USD 50 million reoccurring savings that are already achieved. Now with these three building blocks on operational excellence to fund the future growth with a simplified product portfolio and brands with a supply chain and ways of working, where we will continue this really good work. I will give just a few examples that we already executed now in the H2 of the year.
Nathalie Ahlström: These are areas we are going to continue to work on, and I will continue to talk about this to you as we go forward in the months and years to come. Look at a few examples on the next slide. We had APIP that we have delivered, and delivered the USD 50 million reoccurring savings that are already achieved. Now with these three building blocks on operational excellence to fund the future growth with a simplified product portfolio and brands with a supply chain and ways of working, where we will continue this really good work. I will give just a few examples that we already executed now in the H2 of the year.
Speaker #1: Then look at a few examples on the next slide. We had APIP, that we have delivered, and that's delivered and delivered the $50 million recurring savings that are already achieved.
Speaker #1: Now, with these three building blocks on operational excellence to fund future growth—with the simplified product portfolio and brands, with supply chain improvements and new ways of working—we will continue this really good work.
Speaker #1: And I'll give just a few examples that we already executed now in the second half of the year. As an example, our TouchNTuff product—we've reduced the areas of touch points between our sites and also how we produce it, making it in a more streamlined, simplified way.
Nathalie Ahlström: As an example, our TouchNTuff product, we have reduced the areas of touch points between our sites and also how we produce it and make it in a more streamlined, simplified way, and that has led to a 66% reduction in lead time to our customers. Another area is HyFlex. Doing a bit opposite, instead of simplifying to one place, HyFlex, we have instead of only producing in one place, we are now producing in three places to be closer to the customers, and that has reduced our lead times by more than 90%. Again, customer centricity is at the key of everything we do. Another one where we are talking not only about lead times, but of course also on cost competitiveness, is in Kimtech, in our clean room space where our goggles, we used to have four suppliers, and we are moving to one supplier.
Nathalie Ahlström: As an example, our TouchNTuff product, we have reduced the areas of touch points between our sites and also how we produce it and make it in a more streamlined, simplified way, and that has led to a 66% reduction in lead time to our customers. Another area is HyFlex. Doing a bit opposite, instead of simplifying to one place, HyFlex, we have instead of only producing in one place, we are now producing in three places to be closer to the customers, and that has reduced our lead times by more than 90%. Again, customer centricity is at the key of everything we do. Another one where we are talking not only about lead times, but of course also on cost competitiveness, is in Kimtech, in our clean room space where our goggles, we used to have four suppliers, and we are moving to one supplier.
Speaker #1: And that has led to a 66% reduction in lead time to our customers. Another area is high flex, doing a bit opposite. Instead of simplifying to one place, high flex—we have, instead of only producing in one place, we are now producing in three places to be closer to the customers. And that has reduced our lead times by more than 90%.
Speaker #1: So again, customer centricity is at the core of everything we do. Then another area where we're talking not only about lead times, but of course also about cost competitiveness, is in Kimtech.
Speaker #1: In our cleanroom space, where our goggles are used, we used to have four suppliers, and we are moving to one supplier, and that again is with the scale.
Nathalie Ahlström: That, again, with the scale, reduces our lead time by more than 68%. We will continue to work on this, to ensure that we are able to serve and able to be close to our customers. As I said, in this dynamic world, it is really about supply and availability, and supply creates demand. On the strategic priorities, really to sum up, we have three levers. Two are growth, commercial excellence, selected markets and verticals that we are focused on, and then the funding the growth lever, operational excellence. We will continue to talk about this. We will continue to bring you up to speed and bring you examples of how we are advancing so that you can see the impact that we are driving through the strategic priorities. Of course, there is a capital allocation element to it as well.
Nathalie Ahlström: That, again, with the scale, reduces our lead time by more than 68%. We will continue to work on this, to ensure that we are able to serve and able to be close to our customers. As I said, in this dynamic world, it is really about supply and availability, and supply creates demand. On the strategic priorities, really to sum up, we have three levers. Two are growth, commercial excellence, selected markets and verticals that we are focused on, and then the funding the growth lever, operational excellence. We will continue to talk about this. We will continue to bring you up to speed and bring you examples of how we are advancing so that you can see the impact that we are driving through the strategic priorities. Of course, there is a capital allocation element to it as well.
Speaker #1: Reduces our lead time by more than 68%. So we'll continue to work on this to ensure that we are able to serve and able to be close to our customers.
Speaker #1: And as I said, in this dynamic world, it's really about supply and availability, and supply creates demand. So, on the strategic priorities, really to sum up, we have three levers.
Speaker #1: Two are growth, commercial excellence, selected markets, and verticals that we are focused on. And then the funding, the growth lever, operational excellence. And we'll continue to talk about this.
Speaker #1: We'll continue to bring you up to speed and bring you examples of how we are advancing, so that you can see the impact that we are driving through the strategic priorities.
Speaker #1: And of course, there's a capital allocation element to it as well. So, with the strong financial year '26, I think it's a good segue to go to the outlook.
Nathalie Ahlström: With a strong financial year 2026, I think it is a good segue to go to the outlook. Our outlook adjusted EPS for the year, financial year 2027, is in the range of USD 1.58 to USD 1.70. This outlook, really the assumptions behind it is that we are seeing that our sales, the sales momentum will continue both from a volume and value point of view, the strong momentum we had in H2. Secondly, our strategic priorities, where we are focusing on the more higher value-added products, the faster-growing verticals and markets, will also support the sales growth going forward. On the negative side, of course, we cannot ignore the very dynamic macroeconomic market we have around us, the macroeconomic uncertainty. That is always a downside that we will have to navigate as we go forward.
Nathalie Ahlström: With a strong financial year 2026, I think it is a good segue to go to the outlook. Our outlook adjusted EPS for the year, financial year 2027, is in the range of USD 1.58 to USD 1.70. This outlook, really the assumptions behind it is that we are seeing that our sales, the sales momentum will continue both from a volume and value point of view, the strong momentum we had in H2. Secondly, our strategic priorities, where we are focusing on the more higher value-added products, the faster-growing verticals and markets, will also support the sales growth going forward. On the negative side, of course, we cannot ignore the very dynamic macroeconomic market we have around us, the macroeconomic uncertainty. That is always a downside that we will have to navigate as we go forward.
Speaker #1: So our ur outlook adjusted EPS for the year financial year 27 is in the range of 158 to 170 cents. And this outlook really the assumptions behind it is that we are seeing that our sales the sales momentum will continue both from a volume and value point of view.
Speaker #1: The strong momentum we had in the second half. Secondly, our strategic priorities, where we're focusing on the higher value-added products and the faster growing verticals and markets, will also support the sales growth going forward.
Speaker #1: On the negative side, of course, we can't ignore the very dynamic macroeconomic market we have around us—the macroeconomic uncertainty. So that's always a downside that we will have to navigate as we go forward.
Speaker #1: Assumptions then on earnings are that the commercial excellence will continue to drive profitable sales growth. And as I said also, this is how we focus on moving the portfolio upwards towards higher gross margin products.
Nathalie Ahlström: Assumptions then on earnings is that the commercial excellence will continue to drive profitable sales growth. As I said also, this how do we focus on moving the portfolio upwards towards higher gross margin product. Operational excellence will enhance productivity, and as said, we will bring more examples as we go forward. In addition, we assume a USD 9 million FX benefit versus financial year 2025. On capital allocation, as Fred was saying, we came down in financial year 2026, and we are continuing this level, this much lower level in financial year 2027. We are continuing to invest in growth. However, what we have now layered in is a strategic capital allocation in the areas that matter to drive growth in the selected markets, the selected verticals, and also in the innovation related to this. Then we will continue to do the existing share buy program.
Nathalie Ahlström: Assumptions then on earnings is that the commercial excellence will continue to drive profitable sales growth. As I said also, this how do we focus on moving the portfolio upwards towards higher gross margin product. Operational excellence will enhance productivity, and as said, we will bring more examples as we go forward. In addition, we assume a USD 9 million FX benefit versus financial year 2025. On capital allocation, as Fred was saying, we came down in financial year 2026, and we are continuing this level, this much lower level in financial year 2027. We are continuing to invest in growth. However, what we have now layered in is a strategic capital allocation in the areas that matter to drive growth in the selected markets, the selected verticals, and also in the innovation related to this. Then we will continue to do the existing share buy program.
Speaker #1: Operational excellence will enhance productivity. As mentioned, we'll bring more examples as we go forward. In addition, we assume a $9 million FX benefit versus financial year '25.
Speaker #1: Then on capital allocation, as Fred was saying, we came down in financial year '26, and we are continuing on this much lower level in financial year '27.
Speaker #1: We are continuing to invest in growth. However, what we have now layered in is a strategic capital allocation in the areas that matter to drive growth in the selected markets and the selected verticals.
Speaker #1: And also in the innovation related to this. And then we'll continue to do the existing share buyback program. So, very excited for financial year '26.
Nathalie Ahlström: Very excited of financial year 2026, and at the same time, we have to be realistic. We live in a very dynamic world, and we will continue to tackle it as we go forward. With that, I hand over to Q&A. Thank you.
Nathalie Ahlström: Very excited of financial year 2026, and at the same time, we have to be realistic. We live in a very dynamic world, and we will continue to tackle it as we go forward. With that, I hand over to Q&A. Thank you.
Speaker #1: And at the same time, we have to be realistic. We live in a very dynamic world, and we'll continue to tackle it as we go forward.
Speaker #1: With that, I hand over to Q&A. Thank you.
Speaker #2: If you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. That is star one if you wish to ask a question.
Operator: If you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. That is star 1 if you wish to ask a question. Your first question comes to line of Dan Hurren from MST Financial. Your line is open.
Operator: If you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. That is star 1 if you wish to ask a question. Your first question comes to line of Dan Hurren from MST. Your line is open.
Speaker #2: And your first question comes to the line of Dan Heron from MST. Your line is open.
Speaker #3: Oh, good morning. Thanks very much. Look, if we sort of look at sales outside of the US and sort of adjust that a little bit, it looks like you've done low single-digit ex-US.
Dan Hurren: Good morning. Thanks very much. Look, if we look at sales outside of the US and adjust that a little bit, it looks like you have done low single digit ex-US. I was just hoping you could talk about your experience in markets that may have seen some competitor product directed away from the US into those other countries and what the experience has been.
Dan Hurren: Good morning. Thanks very much. Look, if we look at sales outside of the US and adjust that a little bit, it looks like you have done low single digit ex-US. I was just hoping you could talk about your experience in markets that may have seen some competitor product directed away from the US into those other countries and what the experience has been.
Speaker #3: So I was just hoping you could talk about your experience in markets that may have seen some competitor product directed away from the U.S. and into those other countries, and what the experience has been.
Speaker #1: Thanks, Dan. And I will say, as we mentioned so many times on this call, it has been the highlight of the second half and the whole financial year.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thanks, Dan. I would say US, as we mentioned so many times on this call, has been the highlight of the H2 and the whole financial year. I would say that also comes back not only our focus on the products and our customer relationships there, but it is also the underlying economy. We also see a strong growth in clean room in other markets and in Europe in our selected focus areas. When I talk about these top five countries, the ones that really move the needle, the rest of the countries are in Europe. At the same time, we know that the industrial or macroeconomic situation in Europe and the rest of the world is not as booming as it is in the US. That is why the US really stands out.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thanks, Dan. I would say US, as we mentioned so many times on this call, has been the highlight of the H2 and the whole financial year. I would say that also comes back not only our focus on the products and our customer relationships there, but it is also the underlying economy. We also see a strong growth in clean room in other markets and in Europe in our selected focus areas. When I talk about these top five countries, the ones that really move the needle, the rest of the countries are in Europe. At the same time, we know that the industrial or macroeconomic situation in Europe and the rest of the world is not as booming as it is in the US. That is why the US really stands out.
Speaker #1: And I would say that also comes back not only to our focus on the products and our customer relationships there, but it's also the underlying economy.
Speaker #1: And we also see strong growth in cleanroom in other markets and in Europe, in our selected focus areas. And when I talk about this top five countries—the ones that really move the needle—the rest of the countries are in Europe.
Speaker #1: But at the same time, we know that the industrial or macroeconomic situation in Europe and the rest of the world is not as booming as it is in the US.
Speaker #1: So that's why the US really stands out. The good news about that is, of course, that we continue to see strong macroeconomic momentum in the US.
Nathalie Ahlström: The good news about that is, of course, that we continue to see strong macroeconomic momentum in the US, and we are well-positioned to be there and benefit from our scale of 43% of our net sales in US already today. Fred, anything you want to add?
Nathalie Ahlström: The good news about that is, of course, that we continue to see strong macroeconomic momentum in the US, and we are well-positioned to be there and benefit from our scale of 43% of our net sales in US already today. Fred, anything you want to add?
Speaker #1: And we're well positioned to be there and benefit from our scale, with 43% of our net sales in the US already today. Fred, anything you want to add?
Speaker #3: No, I think you've summed it up really well. The only thing I would add to that is that competition has clearly intensified through the Middle East crisis.
Fred Marx: No, I think you have summed it up really well. The only thing I would add to that is that competition is clearly intensified through the Middle East crisis. However, our strong brands have really come through loud and clear, and our differentiation of those stronger brands have come through loud and clear, in this pricing power. Not only that, but also in the volume growth we are seeing in the H2.
Fred Marx: No, I think you have summed it up really well. The only thing I would add to that is that competition is clearly intensified through the Middle East crisis. However, our strong brands have really come through loud and clear, and our differentiation of those stronger brands have come through loud and clear, in this pricing power. Not only that, but also in the volume growth we are seeing in the H2.
Speaker #3: However, our strong brands have really come through loud and clear. And our differentiation of those stronger brands has come through loud and clear—both in this pricing power and, not only that, but also in the volume growth we're seeing in the second half.
Speaker #3: Thanks very much. Look, perhaps a question for Fred. We're still getting to the bottom of it, but it looks like in the accounts, the $25 million impairment is associated with the Indian plant.
Dan Hurren: Thanks very much. Look, perhaps a question for Fred. We are still getting to the bottom of it, but it looks like in the accounts there is a USD 25 million impairment that is associated with the Indian plant. Can you give us any details on that? And if this is within underlying earnings? Of course, I am only asking because the impairments were excluded from underlying earnings in 2025, and just to understand if that has been a consistent treatment.
Dan Hurren: Thanks very much. Look, perhaps a question for Fred. We are still getting to the bottom of it, but it looks like in the accounts there is a USD 25 million impairment that is associated with the Indian plant. Can you give us any details on that? And if this is within underlying earnings? Of course, I am only asking because the impairments were excluded from underlying earnings in 2025, and just to understand if that has been a consistent treatment.
Speaker #3: Can you give us any details on that? And is this within underlying earnings? Of course, I'm only asking because the impairments were excluded from underlying earnings in '25.
Speaker #3: So, I'm just trying to understand if that's been a consistent treatment.
Speaker #1: Yep, good question, Dan. So we did have selected lines that we impaired as we look to optimize our supply chain and optimize the supply in our network to drive our costs down. Especially with the Middle East crisis, having a better cost position is really, really important here.
Fred Marx: Yep. Good question, Dan. We did have selected lines that we impaired as we look to optimize our supply chain and optimize the supply in our network to drive our costs down, especially with the Middle East crisis. Having a better cost position is really important here. We did take a non-cash write-off of some selected manufacturing lines. The Indian plant had one as well.
Fred Marx: Yep. Good question, Dan. We did have selected lines that we impaired as we look to optimize our supply chain and optimize the supply in our network to drive our costs down, especially with the Middle East crisis. Having a better cost position is really important here. We did take a non-cash write-off of some selected manufacturing lines. The Indian plant had one as well.
Speaker #1: And so, we did take a non-cash write-off of some selected manufacturing lines, and the Indian plant had one as well.
Speaker #3: But just to straighten that out, I mean, you pulled impairments out from last year, but they appear to be included this year. Is that correct?
Dan Hurren: But just the treatment of that, you pulled impairments out from last year, but they appear to be included this year. Is that correct?
Dan Hurren: But just the treatment of that, you pulled impairments out from last year, but they appear to be included this year. Is that correct?
Speaker #1: No, so the impairments—so I talked about the $0.033 of one-time, non-recurring EPS in FY26. Those non-cash impairments were sitting in that $0.033 of EPS.
Fred Marx: No. The impairment, so I talked about the 3.3 cents of one-time non-recurring EPS in F26. Those non-cash impairments were sitting in that 3.3 cents of EPS.
Fred Marx: No. The impairment, so I talked about the 3.3 cents of one-time non-recurring EPS in F26. Those non-cash impairments were sitting in that 3.3 cents of EPS.
Speaker #3: Oh, understood. Okay, that's great. Thank you very much.
Dan Hurren: Oh, understood. Okay. That's great. Thank you very much.
Dan Hurren: Oh, understood. Okay. That's great. Thank you very much.
Speaker #1: Yep.
Fred Marx: Yep.
Fred Marx: Yep.
Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Sal Hodgson from Baron Joey. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Saul Hadassin from Barrenjoey. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Saul Hadassin from Barrenjoey. Your line is open.
Speaker #3: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering about the second half growth within the cleanroom gloves segment, and that 17% growth.
Saul Hadassin: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering about the H2 growth within the clean room gloves segment, and that 17% growth. I wonder if you could talk to how much of that was volume versus price. As a follow-up, clearly there has been some favorable timing as it relates to price increases in the back end of fiscal 2026. As we look into FY27, do you still get favorable pricing coming through relative to what is happening in the Middle East? Or will you temper some of that pricing based on what has happened to, say, input costs in the last month or so? Thank you.
Saul Hadassin: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I was wondering about the H2 growth within the clean room gloves segment, and that 17% growth. I wonder if you could talk to how much of that was volume versus price. As a follow-up, clearly there has been some favorable timing as it relates to price increases in the back end of fiscal 2026. As we look into FY 2027, do you still get favorable pricing coming through relative to what is happening in the Middle East? Or will you temper some of that pricing based on what has happened to, say, input costs in the last month or so? Thank you.
Speaker #3: I wonder if you could talk to how much of that was volume versus price. And then, as a follow-up, clearly there's been some favorable timing as it relates to price increases in the back end of fiscal '26.
Speaker #3: As we look before '27, do you still get favorable pricing coming through relative to what's happening in the Middle East, or were you 10% of that pricing based on what's happened to, say, input costs in the last month or so?
Speaker #3: Thank you.
Speaker #1: Thank you. I can start and then hand over to Fred. Thanks for the question. I would start with the Middle East pricing question. What we have promised to the customers—and we speak about this a lot—is that the cost inflation we saw in the Middle East crisis, we passed on to customers. But when cost inflation is coming down, we're also going to adjust our prices.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you. I can start and then hand over to Fred. Thanks for the question. I would start with the Middle East pricing question. What we promised to the customers, and we speak about this a lot, is that the cost inflation we saw in Middle East crisis, we passed on to customers. When cost inflation is coming down, we are also going to adjust our prices. So we are going to be very flexible here and just reflect the cost inflation that we are having. Then your question about the clean room growth, and as you said, it was very strong in H2. That kind of very strong growth you do not only get by pricing and value, there is volume as well. This total financial year growth of 10%, majority of that came from the US. Fred, do you want to add?
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you. I can start and then hand over to Fred. Thanks for the question. I would start with the Middle East pricing question. What we promised to the customers, and we speak about this a lot, is that the cost inflation we saw in Middle East crisis, we passed on to customers. When cost inflation is coming down, we are also going to adjust our prices. So we are going to be very flexible here and just reflect the cost inflation that we are having. Then your question about the clean room growth, and as you said, it was very strong in H2. That kind of very strong growth you do not only get by pricing and value, there is volume as well. This total financial year growth of 10%, majority of that came from the US. Fred, do you want to add?
Speaker #1: So, we are going to be very flexible here and just reflect the cost inflation that we are having. Then, your question about the clean room growth—and as you said, it was very strong in the second half.
Speaker #1: And that kind of very strong growth, you don't only get by pricing and value; there's volume as well. And this total financial year growth of 10%—the majority of that came from the US.
Speaker #1: Fred, how would you like to add?
Fred Marx: Yep. Just to expand on the Middle East pricing. We did start to price into the market in that May-June timeframe. So you will see the impacts as we move into F27 of that full-year effect of pricing in the Middle East. On the clean room, Nathalie is exactly right. There were strong volumes being seen. I think this speaks volumes to the KBU acquisition we had done almost two years ago now, where we are seeing the power of that brand, the power of the Ansell brand together, really unlocking a lot of opportunities in the marketplace.
Fred Marx: Yep. Just to expand on the Middle East pricing. We did start to price into the market in that May-June timeframe. So you will see the impacts as we move into F27 of that full-year effect of pricing in the Middle East. On the clean room, Nathalie is exactly right. There were strong volumes being seen. I think this speaks volumes to the KBU acquisition we had done almost two years ago now, where we are seeing the power of that brand, the power of the Ansell brand together, really unlocking a lot of opportunities in the marketplace.
Speaker #3: Yeah, just to expand on the Middle East pricing—so, we did start to price into the market in that May-June timeframe. So, you will see the impacts as we move into FY27, with the full-year effect of pricing in the Middle East.
Speaker #3: And on the clean room, Natalie is exactly right. There were strong volumes being seen. And I think this speaks volumes to the KBU acquisition we had done over two years ago—almost two years ago now—where we're seeing the power of that brand, the power of the Ansell brand together, really unlocking a lot of opportunities in the marketplace.
Speaker #2: And sorry, can I just follow up on that 10% clean room growth? Are you willing to split out what was volume versus price?
Saul Hadassin: Sorry, can I just follow up with that 10% clean room growth? Are you willing to split out what was volume versus price?
Saul Hadassin: Sorry, can I just follow up with that 10% clean room growth? Are you willing to split out what was volume versus price?
Speaker #1: Yeah, we won't talk to exact numbers, but I can tell you that there were strong volumes, probably to the tune of almost half of that being volume impacts.
Fred Marx: Yeah, we won't talk to exact numbers, but I can tell you that there were strong volumes, probably to the tune of almost half of that being volume impacts.
Fred Marx: Yeah, we won't talk to exact numbers, but I can tell you that there were strong volumes, probably to the tune of almost half of that being volume impacts.
Speaker #2: Great, thanks very much. That's all I had. Your next question comes from the line of David Bailey from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.
Saul Hadassin: Great. Thanks very much. That's all I had.
Saul Hadassin: Great. Thanks very much. That's all I had.
Operator: Your next question comes line of David Bailey from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes line of David Bailey from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.
Speaker #4: Yeah, thanks. Good morning. I'm sort of interested in that top five accounting for 58% of revenues. Just strategically, how do you think about growing that going forward?
David Bailey: Yeah, thanks. Good morning. Interested in the top 5 accounting for 58% of revenues. Just strategically, how you think about growing that going forward? Obviously, there's a gross margin benefit associated with that. But in terms of thinking about growing those brands further, what's the strategy here, and do you think that will continue to grow over the coming years?
David Bailey: Yeah, thanks. Good morning. Interested in the top 5 accounting for 58% of revenues. Just strategically, how you think about growing that going forward? Obviously, there's a gross margin benefit associated with that. But in terms of thinking about growing those brands further, what's the strategy here, and do you think that will continue to grow over the coming years?
Speaker #4: Obviously, there's a gross margin benefit associated with that, but in terms of thinking about growing those brands further, what's the strategy here, and do you think that will continue to grow over the coming years?
Speaker #1: Thank you. Very good question. And that ties to the strategic priorities. With the top five being 58% of our net sales, and as we continue in what I said, the operational excellence to simplify our product portfolio and brand portfolio, that means that we are focusing on these big brands and making them bigger.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you. Very good question, and that ties to the strategic priorities. With the top 5 being 58% of our net sales, as we continue in the, what I said, the operational excellence to simplify our product portfolio and brand portfolio, that means that we are focusing on these big brands and making them bigger. Because then we are just much more efficient. We also make our life much easier to our customers when we have certain big brands that matter and support our customers. Now I talk about the distributor customers as they go and represent us forward. Also, the innovation investments will be into these big brands. So again, focus on scale, make the big brands bigger, and also enhance the value they are delivering to the customer. So yes, we will see that they are going to drive growth faster than the rest of the company.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you. Very good question, and that ties to the strategic priorities. With the top 5 being 58% of our net sales, as we continue in the, what I said, the operational excellence to simplify our product portfolio and brand portfolio, that means that we are focusing on these big brands and making them bigger. Because then we are just much more efficient. We also make our life much easier to our customers when we have certain big brands that matter and support our customers. Now I talk about the distributor customers as they go and represent us forward. Also, the innovation investments will be into these big brands. So again, focus on scale, make the big brands bigger, and also enhance the value they are delivering to the customer. So yes, we will see that they are going to drive growth faster than the rest of the company.
Speaker #1: Because then we are just much more efficient, and we also make life much easier for our customers when we have certain big brands that matter and support our customers.
Speaker #1: Now I talk about the distributor customers as they go and represent us forward. Also, the innovation investments will be into these big brands. So again, focus on scale, make the big brands bigger, and also enhance the value they are delivering to the customer.
Speaker #1: So yes, we will see that they're going to drive growth faster than the rest of the company. And that is the key—being very strict on strategic priorities and capital allocation—to really drive the growth, profitable growth momentum.
Nathalie Ahlström: That is the key of being very strict on strategic priorities and capital allocation to really drive the profitable growth momentum. As I promised, I am going to come back to these kind of examples every time we meet.
Nathalie Ahlström: That is the key of being very strict on strategic priorities and capital allocation to really drive the profitable growth momentum. As I promised, I am going to come back to these kind of examples every time we meet.
Speaker #1: And as I promised, I'm going to come back to these kinds of examples every time we meet.
Speaker #4: Yep, understood. Just in terms of the guidance, I mean, it looks relatively clean. There's a $9 million of FX benefit coming through. Is there anything else to sort of call out in relation to the guidance range of 158 to 170?
David Bailey: Yep, understood. Just in terms of the guidance, it looks relatively clean. There is a USD 9 million of FX benefit coming through. Is there anything else to sort of call out in relation to the guidance range of USD 158 to 170, in terms of movements within particular lines to think about?
David Bailey: Yep, understood. Just in terms of the guidance, it looks relatively clean. There is a USD 9 million of FX benefit coming through. Is there anything else to sort of call out in relation to the guidance range of USD 158 to 170, in terms of movements within particular lines to think about?
Speaker #4: In terms of movements within particular lines to think about?
Speaker #1: No. No, it's just execution.
Nathalie Ahlström: No. It is just execution.
Nathalie Ahlström: No. It is just execution.
Speaker #4: Understood. Thank you.
David Bailey: Understood. Thank you.
David Bailey: Understood. Thank you.
Speaker #1: Thank you.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you.
Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of David Phillips and Nathan from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of David Fiddes from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Dave Thillainathan from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.
Speaker #3: Thanks. Hi, Natalie. Hi, Fred. Thanks for the presentation. I just wanted to touch on your guidance. If we sort of think about the FX movements and also the share buyback, I mean, to '27, I think my numbers would suggest the NPAD grows about mid-single digits.
David Fiddes: Thanks. Hi, Nelly. Hi, Fred. Thanks for the presentation. I just wanted to touch on your guidance. If we sort of think about the FX movements and also the share buyback into 2027, I think my numbers would suggest the NPAT grows about mid-single digits, at the midpoint that is. If I then think about the composition between sales and margin, also considering that, I guess, the 2026 period had a sort of a one-off benefit that you are calling that is timing related. If you think about the 2027 split between sales and margin, could you give us a sense then of what is happening? Do you sort of expect margins to stay flat? Does it grow? That will be pretty helpful to think about your sales performance.
Dave Thillainathan: Thanks. Hi, Nathalie. Hi, Fred. Thanks for the presentation. I just wanted to touch on your guidance. If we sort of think about the FX movements and also the share buyback into 2027, I think my numbers would suggest the NPAT grows about mid-single digits, at the midpoint that is. If I then think about the composition between sales and margin, also considering that, I guess, the 2026 period had a sort of a one-off benefit that you are calling that is timing related. If you think about the 2027 split between sales and margin, could you give us a sense then of what is happening? Do you sort of expect margins to stay flat? Does it grow? That will be pretty helpful to think about your sales performance.
Speaker #3: At the midpoint, that is. If I then think about the composition between sales and margin—also considering that, I guess, your FY26 period had a sort of one-off benefit that you're calling out that's timing-related.
Speaker #3: So, if you think about the FY27 split between sales and margin, could you give us a sense then of what's happening? You sort of expect margins to stay flat.
Speaker #3: Does it grow? That'll be pretty helpful to think about your sales performance.
Speaker #1: Yeah, thanks, Dave. I'll start and then hand over to Dave—not Dave, Fred. Sorry. Sorry, Dave. Yeah, of course, healthy growth and the momentum we've had in the second half of this year supports it.
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah. Thanks, Dave. I will start and then hand over to Fred. Sorry, Dave. Yeah, of course, a healthy growth and the momentum we have had in H2 of this year support it. At the same time, we have to be realistic, I think, that it is a very uncertain dynamic world around us. But with our focus on the strategic markets, the strategic verticals, where we see underlying faster growth and where we also see that our brands are having a stronger power, by focusing on that, we will see a continued growth momentum. Then, of course, that translates into continued margin enhancement. Like I said on that assumption slide, it is really the commercial excellence that how do we make the big brands bigger? How do we translate the value we are driving to the customers and talk about that?
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah. Thanks, Dave. I will start and then hand over to Fred. Sorry, Dave. Yeah, of course, a healthy growth and the momentum we have had in H2 of this year support it. At the same time, we have to be realistic, I think, that it is a very uncertain dynamic world around us. But with our focus on the strategic markets, the strategic verticals, where we see underlying faster growth and where we also see that our brands are having a stronger power, by focusing on that, we will see a continued growth momentum. Then, of course, that translates into continued margin enhancement. Like I said on that assumption slide, it is really the commercial excellence that how do we make the big brands bigger? How do we translate the value we are driving to the customers and talk about that?
Speaker #1: At the same time, we have to be realistic and think that it's a very uncertain dynamic world around us. But with our focus on the strategic markets, the strategic verticals, where we see underlying faster growth and where we also see that our brands are having a stronger power, by focusing on that, we will see a continued growth momentum.
Speaker #1: Then, of course, that translates into continued margin enhancement. And like I said on that assumption slide, it's really the commercial excellence—the question of how do we make the big brands bigger?
Speaker #1: How do we translate the value we're driving to the customers and talk about that? And then, the operational efficiencies that we are going to get in our focus on the funding—the growth lever.
Nathalie Ahlström: The operational efficiencies that we are going to get in our focus on the funding the growth lever on simplifying the portfolio, supply chain simplifications, and ways of working.
Nathalie Ahlström: The operational efficiencies that we are going to get in our focus on the funding the growth lever on simplifying the portfolio, supply chain simplifications, and ways of working.
Speaker #1: On simplifying the portfolios, supply chain simplifications, and ways of working.
Fred Marx: Yep. Maybe I can add, on the SG&A line, we are continuing to look at productivity initiatives within that line. We grew 2.7% year-on-year in F26. We are looking to even be around that same level in F27 because we know that it is really going to be important to leverage the scale that we are seeing on the top line, both in SG&A. Then we also have on the GPADE line a lot of productivity initiatives, both in the supply chain and also in the commercial networks that are going to help drive that GPADE percentage faster up.
Fred Marx: Yep. Maybe I can add, on the SG&A line, we are continuing to look at productivity initiatives within that line. We grew 2.7% year-on-year in F26. We are looking to even be around that same level in F27 because we know that it is really going to be important to leverage the scale that we are seeing on the top line, both in SG&A. Then we also have on the GPADE line a lot of productivity initiatives, both in the supply chain and also in the commercial networks that are going to help drive that GPADE percentage faster up.
Speaker #3: And maybe I can add, on the SG&A line, we're continuing to look at productivity initiatives within that line. We grew 2.7% year on year in FY26.
Speaker #3: We're looking to even be around that same level in FY27 because we know that it's really going to be important to leverage the scale that we're seeing on the top line, both in SG&A, and then we also have on the GPA line a lot of productivity initiatives, both in the supply chain and also in the commercial networks, that are going to help drive that GPA percentage faster up.
Speaker #2: Yep. Okay. No, thank you. That's useful. And then on the Healthcare segment, I would say the Exam and Single-Use sort of part of the portfolio did really well in the second half period, even if you exclude the stocking that you called out.
David Fiddes: Yep. Okay. No, thank you. That is useful. On the healthcare segment, I would say the exam single-use part of the portfolio did really well in that H2 period, even if you exclude the stocking that you called out. Could you give us a sense of what has been driving that? Is it largely just price increases or is there any volume dynamics or market share implications we should be considering as well, please?
Dave Thillainathan: Yep. Okay. No, thank you. That is useful. On the healthcare segment, I would say the exam single-use part of the portfolio did really well in that H2 period, even if you exclude the stocking that you called out. Could you give us a sense of what has been driving that? Is it largely just price increases or is there any volume dynamics or market share implications we should be considering as well, please?
Speaker #2: Could you give us a sense of what's been driving that? Is it largely just price increases, or are there any volume dynamics or market share implications we should be considering as well, please?
Speaker #1: Yeah, thanks. That's a really good question. I have myself been intimately involved in the customer meetings when we did the Middle East price adjustments.
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah, thanks. That's a really good question. I have myself been intimately involved in the customer meetings when we did the Middle East price adjustments. I would say what really resonates with our customers, our distributor, and end users is that in this time of global disturbances, when you are a strong player, you have a strong balance sheet, and you say, "We are here to focus, to serve you, and we are here to ensure availability," that goes a long way. I would say that's behind the faster volume growth in exam and single-use, that we had the financial strength to buy the raw materials even when they were higher cost and ensure that our customers all the time had their products. Again, supply equals demand.
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah, thanks. That's a really good question. I have myself been intimately involved in the customer meetings when we did the Middle East price adjustments. I would say what really resonates with our customers, our distributor, and end users is that in this time of global disturbances, when you are a strong player, you have a strong balance sheet, and you say, "We are here to focus, to serve you, and we are here to ensure availability," that goes a long way. I would say that's behind the faster volume growth in exam and single-use, that we had the financial strength to buy the raw materials even when they were higher cost and ensure that our customers all the time had their products. Again, supply equals demand.
Speaker #1: And I would say what really resonates with our customers, our distributors, and end users is that, in this kind of global disturbance, when you are a strong player, you have a strong balance sheet.
Speaker #1: And you say, we are here to focus, to serve you, and we are here to ensure availability. That goes a long way. And I would say that's behind the faster volume growth in exam and single-use.
Speaker #1: But we had the financial strength to buy the raw materials, even when they were higher cost, and ensure that our customers always had their products.
Speaker #1: So again, supply equals demand.
Speaker #2: Great, thanks, Natalie. Can I just follow up on a point on that? Do you feel the share gains that you made in that part of the business are sustainable into '27?
David Fiddes: Great. Thanks, Nelly. Can I just follow up on a point on that. Do you feel the share gains that you made in that part of the business is sustainable into 2027?
Dave Thillainathan: Great. Thanks, Nathalie. Can I just follow up on a point on that. Do you feel the share gains that you made in that part of the business is sustainable into 2027?
Speaker #1: I would say it's too early to say—too early to say. And we are very focused on looking at the point-of-sales data, how they are moving both in Industrial and Healthcare, to see how we are doing.
Nathalie Ahlström: I would say it's too early to say. Too early to say, and we are very focused on looking at the point of sales data, that how are they moving both in industrial and healthcare to see how we are doing. At times of crisis, customers tend to lean to the ones who can deliver security, like we did with availability. I think it's too early to tell what is the stickiness, and then also what is the next crisis around the corner.
Nathalie Ahlström: I would say it's too early to say. Too early to say, and we are very focused on looking at the point of sales data, that how are they moving both in industrial and healthcare to see how we are doing. At times of crisis, customers tend to lean to the ones who can deliver security, like we did with availability. I think it's too early to tell what is the stickiness, and then also what is the next crisis around the corner.
Speaker #1: And at times of crisis, customers tend to lean towards the ones who can deliver security, like we did with availability. But I think it's too early to tell what the stickiness is, and also what the next crisis around the corner might be.
Speaker #2: Okay. Thanks, team.
David Fiddes: Okay. Thanks, team.
Dave Thillainathan: Okay. Thanks, team.
Speaker #1: Thank you.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you.
Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Laura Suncliff from CC. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes to line of Laura Sutcliffe from Citi. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes to line of Laura Sutcliffe from Citi. Your line is open.
Speaker #5: Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. Could you talk a little bit about the significance of your biggest customers? I know you probably can't give us a lot of detail about the Amazon contracts specifically, but maybe if you could just talk in general about those big contracts.
Laura Sutcliffe: Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. Could you talk a little bit about the significance of your biggest customers? I know you probably can't give us a lot of detail about the Amazon contract specifically, but maybe if you could just talk in general about those big contracts. You talked about your biggest brands, but how much overlap is there between your biggest customers and your biggest brands?
Laura Sutcliffe: Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. Could you talk a little bit about the significance of your biggest customers? I know you probably can't give us a lot of detail about the Amazon contract specifically, but maybe if you could just talk in general about those big contracts. You talked about your biggest brands, but how much overlap is there between your biggest customers and your biggest brands?
Speaker #5: And you've talked about your biggest brands, but how much overlap is there between your biggest customers and your biggest brands?
Speaker #1: Yeah. Amazon is a huge customer for us. And where we are focused—I actually just came out of an Amazon working meeting last week in the U.S.—where we are focused is not just selling a product, but selling an innovation.
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah. Amazon is a huge customer for us. Where we are focused, I actually just came out of Amazon working meeting last week in the US. Where we are focusing on is not just selling a product, selling an innovation. We're really looking at how can we systematically, in a partnership, tie ourselves together for the long term. It's not only about the said, just moving the product forward. It's about much bigger solutions that we are looking to ensure that Amazon can drive their safety culture and their needs going forward. As you said, I can't tell too much about it, but maybe in the future, I can also continue to give examples about the Amazon partnership, which is fantastic.
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah. Amazon is a huge customer for us. Where we are focused, I actually just came out of Amazon working meeting last week in the US. Where we are focusing on is not just selling a product, selling an innovation. We're really looking at how can we systematically, in a partnership, tie ourselves together for the long term. It's not only about the said, just moving the product forward. It's about much bigger solutions that we are looking to ensure that Amazon can drive their safety culture and their needs going forward. As you said, I can't tell too much about it, but maybe in the future, I can also continue to give examples about the Amazon partnership, which is fantastic.
Speaker #1: We're really looking at how we can systematically, in a partnership, tie ourselves together for the long term—oops, long term. And it's not only about, as I said, just moving the product forward.
Speaker #1: It's about much bigger solutions that we are looking to ensure that Amazon can drive their safety culture and their needs going forward. So, as you said, I can't tell too much about it, but maybe in the future, I can also continue to give examples about the Amazon partnership, which is fantastic.
Speaker #1: So as I said, it's not only product-based, it's not only innovation-based. It's really about looking at the total go-to-market, looking at the total solutions, how we can partner together, and make that infrastructure set up so that we are together.
Nathalie Ahlström: As I said, it is not only product based, it is not only innovation based, it is really about looking at the total go-to-market, looking at the total solutions, how we can partner together and make that into structural setup that we have together. When you asked about the brands, they only buy one brand from us.
Nathalie Ahlström: As I said, it is not only product based, it is not only innovation based, it is really about looking at the total go-to-market, looking at the total solutions, how we can partner together and make that into structural setup that we have together. When you asked about the brands, they only buy one brand from us.
Speaker #1: When you asked about the brands, they only buy one brand from us.
Speaker #5: Very helpful, thank you. And then, second question: I'm sorry if this was mentioned earlier and I missed it, but did you have to buy in much product over the course of the year just gone, to smooth the effects of raw materials cost, availability, inventory bouncing around?
Laura Sutcliffe: Very helpful. Thank you. Second question, I am sorry if this was mentioned earlier and I missed it, but did you have to buy in much product over the course of the year just gone to smooth the effects of raw material cost, availability, inventory bouncing around?
Laura Sutcliffe: Very helpful. Thank you. Second question, I am sorry if this was mentioned earlier and I missed it, but did you have to buy in much product over the course of the year just gone to smooth the effects of raw material cost, availability, inventory bouncing around?
Speaker #1: You mean in the Middle East crisis?
Nathalie Ahlström: You mean in the Middle East crisis?
Nathalie Ahlström: You mean in the Middle East crisis?
Speaker #5: Just in general, but yes, I suppose I was thinking about it being rooted in the Middle East, yeah.
Laura Sutcliffe: Just in general. Yes, I suppose I was thinking about it being rooted in the Middle East. Yeah.
Laura Sutcliffe: Just in general. Yes, I suppose I was thinking about it being rooted in the Middle East. Yeah.
Speaker #1: Yeah. As it's been such a dynamic world, our operations team have done a fantastic job, actually being daily in meetings with our biggest suppliers to ensure that we get the right quality product—not only that we get the right raw materials, but that we get the right quality product.
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah. As it has been such a dynamic world, our operations team have done a fantastic job in actually being daily in meetings with our biggest suppliers to ensure that we get the right quality product. Not only that we get the right raw materials, but we get the right quality product, and also that financially we have the balance sheet strength to get it. But Fred, do you want to build?
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah. As it has been such a dynamic world, our operations team have done a fantastic job in actually being daily in meetings with our biggest suppliers to ensure that we get the right quality product. Not only that we get the right raw materials, but we get the right quality product, and also that financially we have the balance sheet strength to get it. But Fred, do you want to build?
Speaker #1: And also, financially, we have the balance sheet strength to get it. But Fred, do you want to build?
Fred Marx: Yeah. Over the last few years, we have really invested behind a much stronger supply chain, and part of that is the partnerships that we have built with our vendors, particularly on the NBR side, which is obviously the most volatile right now in terms of not only cost but supply. And that partnership has really given us the opportunity to make sure that we can supply the market with no disruptions, and it has worked out brilliantly at this point.
Fred Marx: Yeah. Over the last few years, we have really invested behind a much stronger supply chain, and part of that is the partnerships that we have built with our vendors, particularly on the NBR side, which is obviously the most volatile right now in terms of not only cost but supply. And that partnership has really given us the opportunity to make sure that we can supply the market with no disruptions, and it has worked out brilliantly at this point.
Speaker #3: Over the last few years, we've really invested behind a much stronger supply chain, and part of that is the partnerships that we've built with our vendors, particularly on the MBR side, which is obviously the most volatile right now in terms of not only cost but supply.
Speaker #3: And that partnership has really given us the opportunity to make sure that we could supply the market with no disruptions. And it's worked out brilliantly at this point.
Speaker #1: Maybe I can add in what you said about the operational excellence. Where I also said that we are going to simplify the supply chain, that of course means that not only—like we are doing with the brand, let's make the big brands bigger—also, how can we, in the supply chain, ensure that we partner with the big ones and we make the partnerships bigger, so that when we have these disruptions—global disruptions—that we are there, and we have the joint muscles to breathe through it.
Nathalie Ahlström: Maybe I can add.
Nathalie Ahlström: Maybe I can add.
Laura Sutcliffe: Okay
Laura Sutcliffe: Okay.
Nathalie Ahlström: In what you said about the operational excellence, where I also said that we are going to simplify the supply chain. That of course means it is not only like we are doing with the brand, let us make the big brands bigger. Also, how can we in the supply chain ensure that we partner with the big ones and we make the partnerships bigger, so that when we have these disruptions, global disruptions, that we are there and we have the joint muscles to breathe through it.
Nathalie Ahlström: In what you said about the operational excellence, where I also said that we are going to simplify the supply chain. That of course means it is not only like we are doing with the brand, let us make the big brands bigger. Also, how can we in the supply chain ensure that we partner with the big ones and we make the partnerships bigger, so that when we have these disruptions, global disruptions, that we are there and we have the joint muscles to breathe through it.
Speaker #5: Thank you very much.
Laura Sutcliffe: Thank you very much.
Laura Sutcliffe: Thank you very much.
Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Craig Wong Pan from RBC. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Craig Wong-Pan from RBC. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Craig Wong-Pan from RBC. Your line is open.
Speaker #4: Thank you. I just wanted to ask about the industrial margin. For the full year, there was improvement year-on-year, but if we look from the first half to the second half, there wasn’t much expansion like we’ve traditionally seen.
Craig Wong-Pan: Thank you. Just wanted to ask about the industrial margins. For the full year, there was improvement year-on-year, but if we look from H1 to H2, there wasn't much expansion like we've traditionally seen. I guess if you look for H2 2026 on H2 2025, it did decline. Just wanted to understand if you could explain what happened there and how we should think about that margin going forward, if there is typically going to be the usual seasonality or not.
Craig Wong-Pan: Thank you. Just wanted to ask about the industrial margins. For the full year, there was improvement year-on-year, but if we look from H1 to H2, there wasn't much expansion like we've traditionally seen. I guess if you look for H2 2026 on H2 2025, it did decline. Just wanted to understand if you could explain what happened there and how we should think about that margin going forward, if there is typically going to be the usual seasonality or not.
Speaker #4: And I guess if you look for the second half, '26 on second half, '25, it did decline. So I just wanted to understand if you could, yeah, explain what happened there and how we should think about that margin going forward—if there is typically going to be the usual seasonality or not.
Speaker #3: Yeah, so great question. On the industrial margins, you're right— we did have a dip in the second half. But if you look at the full year, we did see the margins improve year on year.
Fred Marx: Yeah. So great question. On the industrial margins, you're right, we did have a dip in H2, but if you looked at the full year, we did see the margins improve year-on-year. So there is a little bit of seasonality and timing within those margins H1 to H2. To really answer the question going into F27, we will be sustaining the full year margins that we saw in F26 going forward and looking to expand them as well.
Fred Marx: Yeah. So great question. On the industrial margins, you're right, we did have a dip in H2, but if you looked at the full year, we did see the margins improve year-on-year. So there is a little bit of seasonality and timing within those margins H1 to H2. To really answer the question going into F27, we will be sustaining the full year margins that we saw in F26 going forward and looking to expand them as well.
Speaker #3: So there is a little bit of seasonality and timing within those margins, first half to second. But to really answer the question, going into FY27, we will be sustaining the full-year margins that we saw in FY26 going forward and looking to expand them as well.
Speaker #4: Okay, next question just on the portfolio. So, Natalie, you talked about making the big brands bigger, and you kind of alluded to simplifying the portfolio.
Craig Wong-Pan: Okay. Next question, just on the portfolio. Natalie, you talked about making the big brands bigger, and you kind of alluded to simplifying the portfolio. If there are product lines shrunk or kind of exited from, I guess my question is, does that lead to kind of impairments around the brands there or kind of manufacturing lines or equipment?
Craig Wong-Pan: Okay. Next question, just on the portfolio. Nathalie, you talked about making the big brands bigger, and you kind of alluded to simplifying the portfolio. If there are product lines shrunk or kind of exited from, I guess my question is, does that lead to kind of impairments around the brands there or kind of manufacturing lines or equipment?
Speaker #4: So, if there are product lines that are shrunk or exited from, I guess my question is, does that lead to impairments around the brands there, or the manufacturing lines or equipment?
Speaker #1: Yeah. That's a good question. When we are talking about the operational excellence and the simplification, we are doing we're still working on the details.
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah, that's a good question. When we are talking about the operational excellence and the simplification we are doing, we are still working on the details. I would say we are now focused on areas that will really quickly deliver value to the business. But of course, we need to work out the details.
Nathalie Ahlström: Yeah, that's a good question. When we are talking about the operational excellence and the simplification we are doing, we are still working on the details. I would say we are now focused on areas that will really quickly deliver value to the business. But of course, we need to work out the details.
Speaker #1: And I would say we are now focused on that area, as we've really quickly delivered value to the business. But of course, we need to work out the details.
Speaker #4: Okay. And then my last question, just on the ERP investments, have you come to any estimate around the size or quantum of that?
Craig Wong-Pan: Okay. My last question, just on the ERP investments. Have you come to any estimate around the size or quantum of that?
Craig Wong-Pan: Okay. My last question, just on the ERP investments. Have you come to any estimate around the size or quantum of that?
Speaker #3: Yeah, we have not come to the dollar amount of what the savings would be. We want to make sure that we can implement across the globe.
Fred Marx: Yeah, we have not come to the dollar amount of what the savings would be. We want to make sure that we can implement across the globe, and that's when you will start to unlock the savings benefit, when the full systems are in place globally. That will be in about two years from now, and that's when we will have a better estimate of what that savings unlock will be.
Fred Marx: Yeah, we have not come to the dollar amount of what the savings would be. We want to make sure that we can implement across the globe, and that's when you will start to unlock the savings benefit, when the full systems are in place globally. That will be in about two years from now, and that's when we will have a better estimate of what that savings unlock will be.
Speaker #3: And that's when you'll start to unlock the savings benefit, when the full systems are in place globally. And so, that'll be in about two years from now.
Speaker #3: And that's when we'll have a better estimate of what that savings unlock will be.
Nathalie Ahlström: On one ERP, I can also add
Nathalie Ahlström: On one ERP, I can also add
Speaker #1: On one ERP, I can also add on one ERP, I can also add that our priority has been to be flexible on the Middle East cost inflation and the pricing needs.
Craig Wong-Pan: Okay
Craig Wong-Pan: Okay.
Nathalie Ahlström: on one ERP, I can also add that our priority has been to be flexible on the Middle East cost inflation and the pricing needs, and that's been our number one priority. We wanted to do that well, and therefore, one ERP has been delayed.
Nathalie Ahlström: On one ERP, I can also add that our priority has been to be flexible on the Middle East cost inflation and the pricing needs, and that's been our number one priority. We wanted to do that well, and therefore, one ERP has been delayed.
Speaker #1: And that's been our number one priority. We wanted to do that well, and therefore, one ERP has been delayed.
Speaker #4: Okay. Thank you.
Craig Wong-Pan: Okay. Thank you.
Craig Wong-Pan: Okay. Thank you.
Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Payne from CLSA. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Paine from CLSA. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Paine from CLSA. Your line is open.
Speaker #4: Yeah, morning. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on the result. Just one on the liquidity—you've obviously highlighted the liquidity available here. Just would be good to know what your medium-term outlook is.
Andrew Paine: Yeah, morning. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on the result. Just one on the liquidity. You've obviously highlighted the liquidity available here. Just be good to know what your medium-term outlook for this. Just really wanting to get an understanding around the mix of priorities around internal investments, M&A, and capital management that you called out, and also just to get an understanding of where your net debt to adjusted EBITDA target is over the long term.
Andrew Paine: Yeah, morning. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on the result. Just one on the liquidity. You've obviously highlighted the liquidity available here. Just be good to know what your medium-term outlook for this. Just really wanting to get an understanding around the mix of priorities around internal investments, M&A, and capital management that you called out, and also just to get an understanding of where your net debt to adjusted EBITDA target is over the long term.
Speaker #4: I'm just really wanting to get an understanding around the mix of priorities regarding internal investments, M&A, and capital management that you called out. And also, just to get an understanding of where your net debt to adjusted EBITDA target is over the long term.
Speaker #3: Yeah, so let me answer that. A couple of things. One is, on the latter part of your question, we are still targeting 1.5 to 2.5 net debt to EBITDA as our target range.
Fred Marx: Yeah. So let me answer that. Couple of things. One is on the latter part of your question, we are still targeting 1.5 to 2.5 net debt to EBITDA as our target range. We're slightly below that at this point, but that gives us a tremendous amount of agility, especially in these tough times with Middle East crisis. We do have the agility to really react. More importantly, it also gives us the ability to look for the highest growing, highest returning type initiatives that we can put capital against. In terms of that liquidity, obviously, we're always looking at M&A opportunities, but they come as often as they come. So we're constantly looking at those opportunities, but there's nothing at this point that we would like to disclose at this time.
Fred Marx: Yeah. So let me answer that. Couple of things. One is on the latter part of your question, we are still targeting 1.5 to 2.5 net debt to EBITDA as our target range. We're slightly below that at this point, but that gives us a tremendous amount of agility, especially in these tough times with Middle East crisis. We do have the agility to really react. More importantly, it also gives us the ability to look for the highest growing, highest returning type initiatives that we can put capital against. In terms of that liquidity, obviously, we're always looking at M&A opportunities, but they come as often as they come. So we're constantly looking at those opportunities, but there's nothing at this point that we would like to disclose at this time.
Speaker #3: We're slightly below that at this point, but that gives us a tremendous amount of agility, especially in these tough times with the Middle East crisis.
Speaker #3: We do have the agility to really react and, more importantly, it also gives us the ability to look for the highest-growing, highest-returning type initiatives that we can put capital against.
Speaker #3: In terms of that liquidity, obviously we're always looking at M&A opportunities, but they come as often as they come. So we're constantly looking at those opportunities, but there's nothing at this point that we would like to disclose at this time.
Speaker #1: And on M&A, I would just add that a healthy company needs to deliver sustainable, organic top-line growth. So, full focus now on the strategic priorities—full focus on delivering the organic top-line growth.
Nathalie Ahlström: On M&A, I would just add that a healthy company needs to deliver sustainable organic top-line growth. So full focus now on the strategic priorities, full focus on delivering the organic top-line growth. Only then do we deserve to do the next M&A. So focus priority organic growth at the moment.
Nathalie Ahlström: On M&A, I would just add that a healthy company needs to deliver sustainable organic top-line growth. So full focus now on the strategic priorities, full focus on delivering the organic top-line growth. Only then do we deserve to do the next M&A. So focus priority organic growth at the moment.
Speaker #1: Only then do we deserve to do the next M&A. So, the priority is to focus on organic growth at the moment.
Speaker #4: Okay, that's great, thanks. And then just coming back, I know you've mentioned the foreign exchange benefit of $9 million in FY27, but you're also just talking about the expected reduction in hedge book losses there.
Andrew Paine: Okay, that's great. Thanks. Just coming back, I know you've mentioned the foreign exchange benefit of 9 million in FY27, but you're also just talking about the expected reduction in hedge book losses there. Can you just run us through what that is and have a look at that?
Andrew Paine: Okay, that's great. Thanks. Just coming back, I know you've mentioned the foreign exchange benefit of 9 million in FY 2027, but you're also just talking about the expected reduction in hedge book losses there. Can you just run us through what that is and have a look at that?
Speaker #4: Can you just run us through what that is, and how to look at that?
Speaker #3: Yes, as you mentioned, we had $13.8 million of hedge losses in FY26. We expect $9 million of that to unwind into FY27.
Fred Marx: Yep. As you'd mentioned, we had USD 13.8 million of hedge losses in F26. We expect 9 million of that to unwind into F27. And we expect that the currencies, which were bouncing around, if you remember in the H1, they've typically stabilized in the H2. We expect that stabilization to continue from a translation standpoint.
Fred Marx: Yep. As you'd mentioned, we had USD 13.8 million of hedge losses in F26. We expect 9 million of that to unwind into F27. And we expect that the currencies, which were bouncing around, if you remember in the H1, they've typically stabilized in the H2. We expect that stabilization to continue from a translation standpoint.
Speaker #3: And we expect that the currencies, which were bouncing around if you remember in the first half, have typically stabilized in the second half. We expect that stabilization to continue from a translation standpoint.
Speaker #4: Okay, that's great. That's all I had. Thanks.
Andrew Paine: Okay, that's great. That's all I had. Thanks.
Andrew Paine: Okay, that's great. That's all I had. Thanks.
Speaker #3: Yep.
Fred Marx: Yep.
Fred Marx: Yep.
Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Vanessa Thompson from Jefferies. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Vanessa Thomson from Jefferies. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Vanessa Thomson from Jefferies. Your line is open.
Speaker #5: Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to ask you—you mentioned just then that you were aiming to keep flexible pricing, given the Middle East disruption.
Vanessa Thomson: Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to ask you mentioned just then that you were aiming to keep flexible pricing given the Middle East disruption. I just wondered what that meant. Is price neutrality the goal? Thank you. Just a bit more color there.
Vanessa Thomson: Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to ask you mentioned just then that you were aiming to keep flexible pricing given the Middle East disruption. I just wondered what that meant. Is price neutrality the goal? Thank you. Just a bit more color there.
Speaker #5: I just wondered what that meant, and is price neutrality the goal, or...? Thank you. Just a bit more color there.
Speaker #3: Yeah, so as we had said before, we were looking to offset any kind of tariff and, in this case, Middle East increased costs to pricing.
Fred Marx: Yeah. As we had said before, we were looking to offset any kind of tariff and in this case, Middle East increased cost to pricing, and we've accomplished that at this point. There was a timing difference between the actual cost increases and the timing of when we brought the pricing into the marketplace. It was a net benefit to us, and that was built into that non-recurring 3.3 cents of EPS. We basically, at the end of the day, covered outside of that timing difference, the cost with price.
Fred Marx: Yeah. As we had said before, we were looking to offset any kind of tariff and in this case, Middle East increased cost to pricing, and we've accomplished that at this point. There was a timing difference between the actual cost increases and the timing of when we brought the pricing into the marketplace. It was a net benefit to us, and that was built into that non-recurring 3.3 cents of EPS. We basically, at the end of the day, covered outside of that timing difference, the cost with price.
Speaker #3: And we've accomplished that at this point. There was a timing difference between the actual cost increases and the timing of when we brought the pricing into the marketplace.
Speaker #3: And it was a net benefit to us. And that was built into that non-recurring 3.3 cents of EPS. So we basically, at the end of the day, covered—outside of that timing difference—the cost with price.
Speaker #5: Thank you. Thank you. Also, there was discussion of organic top-line growth being the primary focus for now. In the past, that’s been flagged as 3% to 5% organic growth?
Vanessa Thomson: Thank you. Also, there was discussion of organic top-line growth being the primary focus for now. In the past that's been flagged as 3% to 5% organic growth. Is that still what we should be thinking?
Vanessa Thomson: Thank you. Also, there was discussion of organic top-line growth being the primary focus for now. In the past that's been flagged as 3% to 5% organic growth. Is that still what we should be thinking?
Speaker #5: Is that still what we should be thinking?
Nathalie Ahlström: Well, I think we have to come back to that, what is our financial targets as we go forward. But as said, we have the financial strategic priorities to look at the commercial excellence and then the selected markets that we know are structurally growing faster and also the selected verticals that we know are structurally growing faster. But down the line, we owe you as we look at the financial targets.
Nathalie Ahlström: Well, I think we have to come back to that, what is our financial targets as we go forward. But as said, we have the financial strategic priorities to look at the commercial excellence and then the selected markets that we know are structurally growing faster and also the selected verticals that we know are structurally growing faster. But down the line, we owe you as we look at the financial targets.
Speaker #1: I think we have to come back to that. That’s what our financial targets are as we go forward. But as said, we have the financial strategic priorities to look at—the commercial excellence, and then the selected markets that we know are structurally growing faster, and also the selected verticals that we know are structurally growing faster.
Speaker #1: But down the line, we owe you as we look at the financial targets.
Speaker #5: Okay, thank you. And then my last question was just around—you mentioned that HyperX now is being manufactured in three locations. To improve speed to market, are there other products that are under consideration for that? And there we are.
Vanessa Thomson: Okay. Thank you. My last question was just around, you mentioned that HyFlex now is being manufactured in three locations to improve speed to market. Are there other products that that's under consideration for? Dare we ask, would that ever lead to onshoring production within the US? Thank you.
Vanessa Thomson: Okay. Thank you. My last question was just around, you mentioned that HyFlex now is being manufactured in three locations to improve speed to market. Are there other products that that's under consideration for? Dare we ask, would that ever lead to onshoring production within the US? Thank you.
Speaker #5: Would that ever lead to onshoring production within the US? Thank you.
Speaker #1: Thank you. When there’s so much happening in the world all the time, we have to be very agile, and from a customer-centricity point of view, I think: how do we serve our customers the best?
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you. When there is so much happening in the world all the time, we have to be very agile, and from a customer centricity point of view, think how do we serve our customers the best? I have spoken a lot about this, ensuring availability at the right time and reducing lead times. Yes, we are looking at different options and also how to ensure for the US market that we are TAA compliant. Today, we have two factories that are TAA compliant, but what are the other needs as we go forward? Yes, we are always looking at different solutions.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you. When there is so much happening in the world all the time, we have to be very agile, and from a customer centricity point of view, think how do we serve our customers the best? I have spoken a lot about this, ensuring availability at the right time and reducing lead times. Yes, we are looking at different options and also how to ensure for the US market that we are TAA compliant. Today, we have two factories that are TAA compliant, but what are the other needs as we go forward? Yes, we are always looking at different solutions.
Speaker #1: And I've spoken a lot about this—the ensuring availability at the right time and reducing lead times. So yes, we are looking at different options and also how to ensure, for the US market, that we are TAA compliant.
Speaker #1: Today, we have two factories that are TAA compliant. But what are the other needs as we go forward? So yes, we are always looking at different solutions.
Vanessa Thomson: Thank you. That is all I had.
Vanessa Thomson: Thank you. That is all I had.
Speaker #5: Thank you. That's all I had.
Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of David Lowe from UBS. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes to the line of David Low from UBS. Your line is open.
Operator: Your next question comes to the line of David Low from UBS. Your line is open.
Speaker #4: Thank you. Thanks for taking my questions. Could we just come back to the price issue? There has been a lot of price movement with tariffs and then the Middle East.
David Low: Thank you. Thanks for taking my questions. Could we just come back to the price issue? There has been a lot of price movement with tariffs and then the Middle East. Could I get you to break down roughly what the split is between price and volume for the business in 2026 and what the likely benefit is as we move into 2027, please?
David Low: Thank you. Thanks for taking my questions. Could we just come back to the price issue? There has been a lot of price movement with tariffs and then the Middle East. Could I get you to break down roughly what the split is between price and volume for the business in 2026 and what the likely benefit is as we move into 2027, please?
Speaker #4: Could I get you to break down roughly what the split is between price and volume for the business in '26, and what the likely benefit is as we move into '27, please?
Speaker #3: Yeah, so David, good question. As I mentioned, in F26, the sales growth of 5.7% can be viewed as predominantly pricing. If you remember, in the first half, we had much lower volumes.
Fred Marx: Yeah. David, good question. As I mentioned, in F26, the sales growth of 5.7%, you can look at as predominantly pricing. If you remember in the H1, we had much lower volumes. We did see that turn around very nicely in the H2. But when you combine the two halves together, we're slightly down in volume for the year. But the key message here is the H2, that acceleration of volume growth was seen, and it was really important for us to see that as we move into F27 as well. So it's predominantly pricing with volumes being slightly down.
Fred Marx: Yeah. Dave, good question. As I mentioned, in F26, the sales growth of 5.7%, you can look at as predominantly pricing. If you remember in the H1, we had much lower volumes. We did see that turn around very nicely in the H2. But when you combine the two halves together, we're slightly down in volume for the year. But the key message here is the H2, that acceleration of volume growth was seen, and it was really important for us to see that as we move into F27 as well. So it's predominantly pricing with volumes being slightly down.
Speaker #3: We did see that turnaround very nicely in the second half. But when you combine the two halves together, we're slightly down in volume for the year.
Speaker #3: But the key message here is the second half: that acceleration of volume growth was seen, and it was really important for us to see that as we move into FY27 as well.
Speaker #3: So, it's predominantly pricing, with volumes being slightly down.
Speaker #4: And as we think about FY27, how much price benefit is given where your starting point is and what the plans are, is likely to come through in '27, assuming input prices don't move from here?
David Low: As we think about FY27, how much price benefit given where your starting point is and what the plans are, is likely to come through in 2027, assuming input prices don't move from here?
David Low: As we think about FY 2027, how much price benefit given where your starting point is and what the plans are, is likely to come through in 2027, assuming input prices don't move from here?
Speaker #3: Yes, so we believe there will be a healthy mix of both volume and pricing as we move into FY27. We won't, obviously, give a specific number, but we do believe the volume growth will continue.
Fred Marx: Yep. We believe there'll be a healthy mix, both of volume and pricing as we move into F27. We won't obviously tell a specific number, but we do believe the volume growth will continue. Obviously, with the markets the way they're reacting and the dynamic and volatile markets we're in, that could change on the volume side, but we do see a path to a healthy mix.
Fred Marx: Yep. We believe there'll be a healthy mix, both of volume and pricing as we move into F27. We won't obviously tell a specific number, but we do believe the volume growth will continue. Obviously, with the markets the way they're reacting and the dynamic and volatile markets we're in, that could change on the volume side, but we do see a path to a healthy mix.
Speaker #3: Obviously, with the markets and the way they're reacting, and the dynamic and volatile markets we're in, that could change on the volume side. But we do see a path to a healthy mix.
Speaker #1: And I would add, also, with the strategic priorities, when we're looking at the attractive verticals—the key markets—we will also see that not all volume is good volume.
Nathalie Ahlström: I would add also with the strategic priorities, when we're looking at the attractive verticals, the key markets, we will also see that all volume is not good volume. That's key of commercial excellence, is where do we allocate our focus, and it might be that from a commercial excellence, there's business that is not so attractive. That's part also of the simplifying the portfolio and the brands. Again, moving with the portfolio.
Nathalie Ahlström: I would add also with the strategic priorities, when we're looking at the attractive verticals, the key markets, we will also see that all volume is not good volume. That's key of commercial excellence, is where do we allocate our focus, and it might be that from a commercial excellence, there's business that is not so attractive. That's part also of the simplifying the portfolio and the brands. Again, moving with the portfolio.
Speaker #1: And that's a key part of commercial excellence. Where do we allocate our focus? It might be that, from a commercial excellence perspective, there is business that is not so attractive.
Speaker #1: And that's part also of simplifying the portfolio and the brands. So again, working with the portfolio, working on the portfolio roles as we go forward.
David Low: All right
David Low: All right.
Nathalie Ahlström: working on the portfolio roles as we go forward.
Nathalie Ahlström: Working on the portfolio roles as we go forward.
Speaker #4: Great, thanks. And, look, my other question—it's not been lost on anyone that data centers are a huge area of investment in the US, and even back here in Australia.
David Low: Great. Thanks. My other question, it's not been lost on anyone that data centers are a huge level area of investment in the US and even back here in Australia, but how much exposure does Ansell have to that dynamic?
David Low: Great. Thanks. My other question, it's not been lost on anyone that data centers are a huge level area of investment in the US and even back here in Australia, but how much exposure does Ansell have to that dynamic?
Speaker #4: But how much exposure does Ansell have to that dynamic?
Speaker #1: We do have exposure to data centers in the US and globally. However, once they are built, you don't need a lot of PPE in the factories or in the centers.
Nathalie Ahlström: We do have exposure to data centers in US and globally. However, once they're built, you don't need a lot of PPE in the factories or in the centers. But while you build them, there's massive investment going into a lot of different areas in the supply chain. Yes, this is something where we are really focused on what are the hazards, what are the safety hazards, and how can we serve it the best going forward, not only in the US, but globally.
Nathalie Ahlström: We do have exposure to data centers in US and globally. However, once they're built, you don't need a lot of PPE in the factories or in the centers. But while you build them, there's massive investment going into a lot of different areas in the supply chain. Yes, this is something where we are really focused on what are the hazards, what are the safety hazards, and how can we serve it the best going forward, not only in the US, but globally.
Speaker #1: But while you build them, there are massive investments going into a lot of different areas in the supply chain. So yes, this is something where we are really focused.
Speaker #1: What are the hazards? What are the safety hazards? And how can we serve it best going forward—not only in the US, but globally?
David Low: All right. Thank you very much.
David Low: All right. Thank you very much.
Speaker #1: Thank you.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you.
Speaker #2: As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced.
Operator: As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes to the line of Christina Tring from Macquarie Capital. Your line is open.
Operator: As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes to the line of Christine Trinh from Macquarie Capital. Your line is open.
Speaker #2: And your next question comes from the line of Christine Tring from Macquarie Capital. Your line is open.
Speaker #5: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just changing tack a little bit on raw materials. We saw that inflation was up about 100% earlier this calendar year.
Christina Tring: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just changing tact a little bit on raw materials. We saw that inflation up about 100% earlier this calendar year, and the oil price is just continuing to bounce around, but still pretty high. How are you seeing raw materials trending now, and what are you assuming into the FY27 outlook, please?
Christine Trinh: Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just changing tact a little bit on raw materials. We saw that inflation up about 100% earlier this calendar year, and the oil price is just continuing to bounce around, but still pretty high. How are you seeing raw materials trending now, and what are you assuming into the FY 2027 outlook, please?
Speaker #5: And the oil price is just continuing to bounce around, but still pretty high. How are you seeing kind of raw materials trending now, and what are you assuming into the FY27 outlook, please?
Speaker #3: Hi Christine, good question. So, let me step back and talk a little bit about what we saw in the second half. If you remember, in the first half, we saw our biggest commodities were most volatile on the latex side.
Fred Marx: Hi, Christine. Good question. Let me step back and talk a little bit about what we saw in the H2. If you remember in the H1, we saw our biggest commodities are most volatile on the latex side. They actually were coming down in the H1. Then we started the H2, and we started to see them increase. Then in around the April, May, June timeframe, they started to accelerate with the Middle East crisis. They've now come down a little bit over that next period of time, and we've seen a stabilization at this point. We believe as we move into F27, those costs will have stabilized, and those are the ones that are mostly tied to the oil types of products.
Fred Marx: Hi, Christine. Good question. Let me step back and talk a little bit about what we saw in the H2. If you remember in the H1, we saw our biggest commodities are most volatile on the latex side. They actually were coming down in the H1. Then we started the H2, and we started to see them increase. Then in around the April, May, June timeframe, they started to accelerate with the Middle East crisis. They've now come down a little bit over that next period of time, and we've seen a stabilization at this point. We believe as we move into F27, those costs will have stabilized, and those are the ones that are mostly tied to the oil types of products.
Speaker #3: They actually were coming down in the first half. Then we started the second half and we started to see them increase. And then in the April, May, June timeframe, they started to accelerate with the Middle East crisis.
Speaker #3: They've now come down a little bit over that next period of time, and we're seeing a stabilization at this point. So we believe as we move into fiscal '27, those costs will have stabilized.
Speaker #3: And those are the ones that are mostly tied to the oil types of products. Now, the caveat to that is that, obviously, the Middle East crisis is dynamic and these things could turn on a dime.
Fred Marx: Now, the caveat to that is that obviously Middle East crisis is dynamic and these things could turn on a dime. We're going to be prepared, and we're monitoring this almost daily. As these commodity costs shift, we're prepared to do the appropriate pricing actions in the marketplace to offset those costs dollar for dollar, as we've been doing all along, not only with tariffs two years ago and into this year, but also, on the commodity cost side on Middle East.
Fred Marx: Now, the caveat to that is that obviously Middle East crisis is dynamic and these things could turn on a dime. We're going to be prepared, and we're monitoring this almost daily. As these commodity costs shift, we're prepared to do the appropriate pricing actions in the marketplace to offset those costs dollar for dollar, as we've been doing all along, not only with tariffs two years ago and into this year, but also, on the commodity cost side on Middle East.
Speaker #3: So we're going to be prepared and we're monitoring this almost daily. As these commodity costs shift, we're prepared to do the appropriate pricing actions in the marketplace to offset those cost dollars, as we've been doing all along—not only with tariffs two years ago and into this year, but also on the commodity cost side, on Middle East.
Speaker #5: Perfect. Thank you.
Christina Tring: Perfect. Thank you.
Christine Trinh: Perfect. Thank you.
Speaker #2: There are no further questions at this time, so I'd like to hand back.
Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand back.
Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand back.
Speaker #1: Thank you. Thank you, everybody. And thank you for the good questions. Just as a summary, we had a strong financial year 2026. We are really proud of what the team delivered.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you. Thank you, everybody, and thank you for the good questions. Just as a summary, we had a strong financial year 2026. We are really proud of what the team delivered in this dynamic market environment with US tariffs, Middle East crisis, and at the same time being able to grow the top line and the profitability and a strong cash conversion in the year. Now with the strategic priorities being started to be outlined, it will make it much easier for us to focus on where it really matters, focus on innovation, focus on our talents, focus capital investments in these areas to continue to deliver strong performance. That, of course, first translates then into our guidance for financial year 2027, with the outlook of delivering 158 to 170 cents EPS as we go forward.
Nathalie Ahlström: Thank you. Thank you, everybody, and thank you for the good questions. Just as a summary, we had a strong financial year 2026. We are really proud of what the team delivered in this dynamic market environment with US tariffs, Middle East crisis, and at the same time being able to grow the top line and the profitability and a strong cash conversion in the year. Now with the strategic priorities being started to be outlined, it will make it much easier for us to focus on where it really matters, focus on innovation, focus on our talents, focus capital investments in these areas to continue to deliver strong performance. That, of course, first translates then into our guidance for financial year 2027, with the outlook of delivering 158 to 170 cents EPS as we go forward.
Speaker #1: And in this dynamic market environment—with the US tariffs, the Middle East crisis, and at the same time being able to grow the top line and the profitability, and a strong cash conversion in the year.
Speaker #1: Now, with the strategic priorities starting to be outlined, it will make it much easier for us to focus on where it really matters—focus on innovation, focus on our talents, and focus capital investments in these areas to continue to deliver strong performance.
Speaker #1: And that, of course, first translates then into our guidance for financial year '26—sorry, financial year '27—with the outlook of delivering 158 to 170 cents EPS as we go forward.
Speaker #1: This is a team effort, and I really want to thank all of our team internally and all our strong customers. I mean, it's heavy lifting in this kind of changing world, and there's a lot of customer intimacy here, and also all our supply partners.
Nathalie Ahlström: This is a team effort, and I really want to thank all of our team internally and all our strong customers. It's heavy lifting in this kind of changing world, and a lot of customer intimacy here and also all our supply partners. Thank you.
Nathalie Ahlström: This is a team effort, and I really want to thank all of our team internally and all our strong customers. It's heavy lifting in this kind of changing world, and a lot of customer intimacy here and also all our supply partners. Thank you.
