I would now like to introduce and hand the conference over to Jason Martinez, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Integral Diagnostics Limited. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning, everybody, and welcome. I am pleased to present the FY 2026 results for Integral Diagnostics. My name is Jason Martinez, and I commenced as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer on August 6, 2026. Joining me today is our Chief Financial Officer, Craig White. Before we begin, I would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Ian Kadish for his leadership of IDX over the past nine years as CEO. On behalf of the board, management team, and broader IDX community, I thank Ian for his contribution and wish him very well success in his future. While I have only recently joined IDX, I bring extensive experience in the radiology sector and have spent my first weeks listening, learning, and engaging with our people, customers, and stakeholders. In my most recent role, I managed a large portfolio at I-MED, the largest provider in Australia.
I have been a hands-on executive general manager. I led margin improvement, revenue growth, and cost out programs, productivity improvement initiatives across clinics and support services, to name a few. The lessons learned, skills developed, and disciplined actions are the things I bring to IDX. What has struck me most since joining IDX is the quality of our people, the strength of our clinical reputation, and the opportunities available to further improve patient access and shareholder returns. I am truly excited by the opportunities ahead and look forward to working closely with our team as we continue to build on IDX's strong foundations. Today, I will share some initial observations and priorities with further detail to come as we progress through FY 2027. I really look forward to meeting and working with everybody on the call.
I will begin by outlining our key highlights from our FY 2026 results and providing an update on the strategic priorities delivered during the year. I will then hand over to Craig, who will take you through our financial performance in more detail. Craig retires following these results, and I want to thank him for running finance through a significant period of growth and change. Jenny Martin joined us as CFO in October, and the handover is already progressing well. Following Craig's presentation, I will return to the call to discuss the industry and regulatory environment. I will touch on our FY 2027 strategy, priorities, and outlook, and conclude with Q&A. Let us move to page two and the key highlights for our FY 2026 performance. FY 2026 delivered against what the business set out to do. Capitol is integrated, synergies exceeded target levels, leverage came down, and margin improved.
Key highlights include revenue of AUD 788.7 million for the FY 2026 year versus FY 2025 year of AUD 628 million, up 25.6%, reflecting organic growth, strategic acquisitions, and ongoing demand for diagnostic imaging services. Operating EBITDA margin of 20.9%, up 80 basis points on FY 2025 and in line with our guidance, demonstrating disciplined cost management and the benefits of scale across the network. Operating diluted EPS increased 23.6% to AUD 0.126, supporting a fully franked final dividend of AUD 0.06 per share, a 50% increase on the prior corresponding period and representing a dividend payout ratio of 73% of operating NPAT. Our balance sheet continues to strengthen, with leverage reducing to 2.3 x EBITDA, down 0.3x. The business continues to have a strong cash conversion.
Patient experience remains a key differentiator for IDX, with our recent NPS or Net Promoter Score of + 81, maintaining our position as a leader in patient satisfaction across the sector. Importantly, IDX is well-positioned to continue supporting referring doctors, patients, and government healthcare priorities across Australia and New Zealand, leveraging our scale, clinical capability, and extensive network. Overall, these results demonstrate that the business is performing well, our fundamentals remain strong, and we are well-positioned to build on this momentum and improve on the return we can generate as we enter FY 2027. Turning to slide three. This slide outlines the progress made against our strategic priorities during FY 2026. The Capitol merger is now substantially complete and has been a significant success for our group. We have delivered annualized synergies in excess of AUD 14 million, exceeding our original target.
Any additional efficiencies identified moving forward will be captured through normal business operations. Importantly, we have maintained strong engagement across the workforce throughout the integration process. We have also seen increased participation from former Capitol Radiologists within the IDXt teleradiology network, further strengthening our ability to leverage our national radiology workforce. Overall, the transaction has strengthened the scale, capability, and operating effectiveness of the group. Our organic growth remains a core focus of IDX, and we continue to drive both volume growth and operational efficiency across the network. During FY 2026, we delivered solid revenue growth supported by increased patient volumes, Medicare indexation, and a favorable shift in examination mix towards high-end modalities, including MR, CT, and PET/CT. As with broader industry, the radiologist workforce shortages remains a key challenge. Accordingly, recruitment and retention continue to be a major priority for our business.
Pleasingly, our IDXt teleradiology platform continues to grow strongly. The IDXt radiologist workforce increased by 29 radiologists to 143 at June 30, 2026. The flexibility offered through our combined clinic and teleradiology model is an important competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent, whilst also improving service delivery across our network. Greenfield and inorganic growth, we also continue to invest in all growth opportunities. During FY 2026, we opened new comprehensive clinics at Wangaratta and Eastwood Private Hospital, including new MRI capability. We relocated our Launceston clinic with additional MRI services offered. We supported the opening of Maroochy Private Hospital in Queensland, which commenced operation recently in August 2026. Looking forward, we remain on track to open a further comprehensive clinic in Armstrong Creek in Victoria during Q3 2027.
We continue to evaluate growth across greenfield developments, public and private hospital partnerships, and other opportunities where they are strategically and financially compelling. Turning to slide four, I would like to briefly touch on why we believe IDX is increasingly well-positioned for future growth. Over recent years, the business has built a strong reputational platform through investing in people, technology, network expansion, and the successful integration of acquisitions. Today, IDX benefits from a larger and more connected network, enhanced operational scale and capability, a stronger platform to support clinical outcomes and patient access, and importantly, ongoing opportunities for productivity and margin improvement. Importantly, our scale provides benefits for patients, referrers, radiologists, and shareholders. As one of the leading diagnostic imaging groups across Australia and New Zealand, we believe IDX is well-positioned to leverage its employee value proposition, clinical reputation, and network footprint to drive future growth.
This includes continuing to evaluate opportunities in attractive growth corridors across where we believe we can create value through both organic and inorganic expansion. Our focus remains on disciplined growth, operational excellence, and delivering sustainable returns for our shareholders. Turning to page five, whilst financial performance is important, long-term success is built on culture, clinical quality, and the way we serve our patients, people, and communities. These are our non-negotiables. During FY 2026, we continued to deliver a strong outcome across each of our value pillars. Some of the highlights include maintaining an exceptional patient Net Promoter Score of +81, reflecting the quality of care and service we provide across our network. Serving approximately 1.7 million patients and performing more than 4 million examinations during the year. Continuing to support regional and rural communities where access to specialist diagnostic imaging services remains critically important.
We continue to focus on quality diagnostics and provide a network that enables our radiologists to capitalize on their subspecialized expertise and provide them with tailored work. Maintaining strong employee engagement while continuing to build a one-team culture focused on performance, accountability, and continuous improvement. Further progressing our ESG and governance initiative to ensure we meet our obligations and continue to operate responsibly and sustainably. We are investing in technology and systems to improve the experience for both our patients and our staff, including ongoing rollout of Workday and continuing optimization of our RIS and PACS network platforms across our clinics. These outcomes reinforce our strength of our culture, our commitment to clinical excellence, and our ability to deliver high-quality healthcare services to the communities we serve. With that, I now hand over to Craig to take you through the FY 2026 financial results in more detail.
Thank you, Jason, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining the call this morning. Just turning to page seven, as Jason has mentioned, IDX's solid FY 2026 financial results reflect the inclusion of a full-year contribution from Capitol Health following the merger between IDX and Capitol Health on December 20, 2024. Revenue growth of 25.6% translated to stronger operating EBITDA growth of 30.3%, driving a higher operating EBITDA margin of 20.9%, being 80 basis points higher compared to FY 2025 of 20.1%, and in line with our guidance. Within that, the second half operating EBITDA margin was approximately 21.2%, 60 basis points above the first half. The operating EBITA margin of 12.3% was also 120 basis points higher compared to FY 2025 of 11.1%. Operating NPAT of AUD 47.4 million grew strongly by 50.1%, up from AUD 31.6 million in FY 2025.
Operating EPS of AUD 0.126 per share grew 23.6%, reflecting the impact of a full year's weighting of shares on issue. A fully franked FY 2026 final dividend of AUD 0.06 per share has been declared, representing a 50% increase on the prior comparable period, bringing the total fully franked FY 2026 dividend to AUD 0.093 per share. Operating free cash flow of AUD 106.4 million grew 30.7% compared to FY25, representing strong free cash flow conversion of 82%. As Jason mentioned, IDX's balance sheet strengthened further with reduced leverage of 2.3 x, down from 2.6x at June 30 2025, and again, in line with guidance. Turning to page eight. This page shows a pro forma P&L as if the merger had occurred on the July 1st 2024.
FY 2026 operating EBITDA margin of 20.9% was 70 basis points higher than FY 2025 pro forma adjusted operating EBITDA margin of 20.2%, after making several pro forma adjustments to present the results on a like-for-like basis. FY 2026 operating EBITDA growth was 9.8%, based on pro forma adjusted operating EBITDA. Turning to page nine and looking at each of the P&L line items in a bit more detail. Starting with revenue. At the group level, solid revenue growth of 7% on a constant currency basis, excluding closed or sold sites, was driven by growth in patient volumes, Medicare indexation of 2.4% effective July 1 2025, and continued favorable mix impact. In Australia, organic revenue from all sources grew 7.4% compared to Medicare growth of 9.4%, adjusted for working days.
Growth for the legacy IDX business in Australia was 8.9%, reflecting solid growth supported by MRI deregulation and the National Lung Cancer Screening Program, and further closing the gap to Medicare growth to 0.5%, down from 1% versus the prior comparable period. We believe this gap is due to the high growth of our patients going through the emergency departments public hospitals driven by cost of living pressures. Growth for the legacy Capitol Australian business was 5.4%, reflecting lower growth of GP attendances and referrals. Average fees per exam, including reporting contracts in Australia, increased by 6.5% in FY 2026, mainly reflective of Medicare indexation and an ongoing shift to the higher-end CT, MRI, and PET scan modalities. In New Zealand, organic revenue grew 2.1% on a constant currency basis.
While growth was below our Australian operations in FY 2026, we expect an improvement in FY 2027, supported by volume, pricing, and modality mix initiatives. Turning to page 10 and operating expenditure. FY 2026 operating expenditure as a percentage of revenue reduced by 70 basis points compared to FY 2025 on a pro forma basis, principally driven by labor costs, which were 40 basis points lower, reflecting the benefits of synergies realized across the group following the integration of Capitol and IDX workforces, together with increased use of teleradiology through IDXt. Other expenses were also 40 basis points lower, reflecting operational leverage, procurement savings, and a decrease in doubtful debt provision driven by improved collections across the group, offset by consumables, which were 40 basis points higher, reflecting modality mix towards higher-end modalities as well as price increases for radiopharmaceuticals in contrast. Turning to page 11 and cash flow and cash conversion.
As I mentioned previously, operating free cash flow of AUD 106.4 million grew 30.7% compared to FY 2025, representing strong free cash flow conversion of 82%. Turning to page 12 and capital expenditure. CapEx investment of AUD 49.8 million represented the midpoint of guidance of AUD 45 million to AUD 55 million and was aligned with IDX's strategy, both enhancing and expanding the equipment fleet for the benefit of patients. In particular, growth CapEx of AUD 21 million represents both new brownfield and greenfield investments, as you can see on the map graphic on this page. Finally, turning to page 13 and the balance sheet. As I noted previously, IDX's balance sheet strengthened further with reduced leverage of 2.3 x, down from 2.6 x at June 30 2025, and in line with guidance. IDX also has significant liquidity headroom of AUD 117 million available under group committed debt facilities.
As at June 30 2026, 51.2% of gross debt was hedged, providing protection against interest rate volatility at rates favorable relative to prevailing BBSY levels. I will now hand you back to Jason. Thank you.
Thank you, Craig. Turning to slide 15, I thought it would be useful to briefly step back and look at the broader industry fundamentals. The key takeaway is that the structural drivers supporting diagnostic imaging remain very positive, and we believe they position IDX well for continued growth. Demand continues to be underpinned by an aging population, increasing chronic disease, and a greater focus on early detection and preventative healthcare. As a result, Medicare-funded diagnostic imaging services and benefits have continued to grow above their long-term averages. We are also seeing a continued shift towards higher-end modalities such as MRI, CT, and PET/CT. Recent MRI deregulation is improving patient access and supporting growth opportunities across the sector. For IDX, our licensed MRI fleet increased from 23 to 42 units from July 2025, which has further strengthened our position. The commencement of the National Lung Cancer Screening Program is another important development.
Not only does it provide support for increased CT activities, but it should also drive follow-on demand for interventional and PET/CT services over time. Technology also continues to play an increasing and important role. AI and teleradiology are helping improve productivity, support clinical quality, and make better use of scarce radiologist resources, particularly in regional and rural locations. Finally, recent government initiatives around GP access and radiologist workforce pathways are encouraging developments that should support both demand and workforce supply over the medium term. Overall, we believe these industry fundamentals remain highly supportive and reinforce our confidence in the long-term outlook for both diagnostic imaging sector and IDX. Turning to slide 16, this chart highlights the strength and consistency of industry growth over time. As you can see, both Medicare-funded diagnostic imaging services and benefits have been tracking above their long-term growth averages since late 2023.
Importantly, the growth in benefits at 9% has outpaced growth in services at 3.5%, reflecting the continued shift towards higher acuity and higher value modalities such as MR, CT, and PET/CT. While Medicare indexation has continued to grow, the underlying drivers remain structural in nature, including population growth, aging population, increased chronic disease, and greater utilization of imaging in patient management and early diagnosis. Looking ahead, we expect industry growth to continue to be supported by MRI deregulation and the National Lung Cancer Screening Program, both of which should provide additional growth opportunities over the near to medium term. Overall, this data reinforces our view that diagnostic imaging remains an attractive sector with favorable long-term demand fundamentals, and one where IDX is well-positioned to participate in that growth. Turning to slide 18, I would like to outline our priorities for FY 2027 and beyond.
Having spent my first few weeks in the business, my view is IDX has strong foundations, attractive industry tailwinds, and significant opportunities ahead. While it is still early days for me, I have spent considerable time meeting our people, radiologists, leadership teams, and key stakeholders across the business. What has become clear is IDX has an outstanding platform, a strong clinical reputation, and a team that is highly committed to delivering quality patient outcomes. Against that backdrop, our focus for FY 2027 will be centered on four key areas. First, we will continue to drive core growth and operational performance through increasing volumes, optimizing modality mix, and maintaining a disciplined focus on productivity and margin improvement. With the final deregulation occurring on July 1 2027, we will ensure we are tight on execution in relation to new license opportunities and protection at sites where new licenses are expected with our competition.
Our immediate priority is to maximize the value of our existing platform and execute on opportunities already within the business. At the same time, we will continue to pursue disciplined network expansion opportunities where they are strategically and financially compelling. This includes greenfield developments, brownfield expansion, hospital partnership, and the continued scale of our IDXt teleradiology platform. Growth for growth's sake is not the objective. I do want to emphasize that maximizing our existing platform will take priority over network expansion. Third, our success ultimately depends on our people. Healthcare is a business, it is a people business. Attracting and retaining highly qualified radiologists and key staff remain absolutely critical to our future success. Accordingly, strengthening our leadership capability across all levels of the organization, fostering a high-performance culture, and continuing to build a strong one IDX culture will remain priorities.
We want IDX to be the employer of choice for radiologists and healthcare professionals, and to provide an environment where our people can do their best work, and continue to develop their careers. Finally, we see significant opportunities through transformation and innovation, including enhancing the patient and referrer experience, expanding our digital capabilities, and leveraging emerging technologies, including AI, to improve productivity, clinical outcomes, and ultimately, service delivery. Technology is changing healthcare rapidly, and we believe IDX is well-positioned to benefit from those changes. Whether that is through AI, workflow optimization, the digital patient pathways, or improved referrer connectivity. We see meaningful opportunities to improve both efficiency and overall experience of our patients and our clinicians. Across all four priorities, our objective is simple: to improve patient access, deliver sustainable growth, and enhance returns, and create long-term value for our shareholders.
Turning to our final slide 19, I would like to spend a few minutes on how we intend to translate those strategic priorities into execution during FY 2027. One of my immediate observations is that IDX has a strong platform, attractive industry tailwinds, and a highly capable team. Our focus in FY 2027 is therefore not to reinvent the business, but rather sharpen our execution, drive accountability, and ensure we maximize the value of the assets and capabilities already within the group. To support this approach, we have identified three areas of priorities in FY 2027: revenue management, margin improvement, and capital management. Each area has clear commitments and measurable outcomes. Our first priority is revenue management. Our objective is straightforward. Continue to optimize revenue through a combination of volume growth, average fee improvements, and a continued shift towards high-value modalities.
MRI deregulation also presents an attractive opportunity to improve patient access and support growth across our network. Our success in this area will ultimately be measured by our ability to deliver sustainable revenue growth and convert that growth into EBITDA growth. Our second priority is margin improvement. While we have made good progress in recent years, FY 2027 operating EBITDA margin is expected to be above 21.0%. I believe there remains further opportunity to improve productivity and operating leverage across the business. Commencing in quarter two 2027, we will review remuneration settings, productivity measures, labor alignment to activity levels, organizational structure, and the performance of lower-margin clinics. We will also undertake a broader review of our cost base to ensure we are appropriately positioned for our next phase of growth. Importantly, this is not simply a cost-reduction exercise.
It is about creating a more productive and scalable operating model that allows us to continue investing in patients, people, and growth opportunity whilst improving our returns. Our key measures here will be labor as a percentage of income and continued margin expansion. The third priority is capital management. We will undertake a strategic review of our New Zealand operations. We are looking at both improvement opportunities and divestment opportunities, which would unlock capital. We will also continue to focus on disciplined capital utilization across the group. We want to ensure we expand capacity to meet referrer and patient demands. As I mentioned earlier, our immediate priority is to maximize the value of our existing platform. We will continue to assess opportunities for growth, but we will do it through a lens of disciplined capital allocation and shareholder value creation.
Our measure of success will include both leverage and return on capital invested, ensuring that we remain focused on the quality of growth rather than growth for growth's sake. Finally, we have also outlined several strategic guardrails that will support decision-making through FY 2027. These include reviewing and adjusting our structure where necessary to support clinic performance and operating leverage, prioritizing utilization of our existing assets before significant new investment, and continuing to improve the experience of our patients, referrers, and our employees through technology and AI-enabled solutions.
Taken together, these priorities reflect a disciplined and pragmatic approach to FY 2027. Our focus is on execution, improving productivity, enhancing returns, and ensuring that IDX continues to build on strong foundation that already exists within the business. With that, Craig and I would be happy to take your questions. I will now hand back to the operator to facilitate that. Thank you.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to answer your question. Please limit yourselves to two questions in the interest of time. Your first question today comes from David Stanton with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Good morning, team, and thanks very much for taking my questions. I wonder if you could give us your near and medium-term plans for higher revenue growth inside the Capitol business, which grew less quickly than the IDX legacy business. How do you get it to grow in line with Medicare over the near to medium term, please?
Thank you for your question. Look, I do want to stress, this is not a turnaround story. I think the business as a whole operates in an attractive and growing segment across the healthcare market. I think what's important is revenue growth is absolutely important, and I know Medicare benefits is one of the benchmarks that's public available, and you have. I appreciate you're operating off incomplete information. We definitely are looking to close the gap and secure a pathway that's more sustainable. But I think it's also important to point out that Medicare benefits is not necessarily a fair hurdle. There's been an upward trend in GP bulk billing, driven by Medicare's AUD 8 billion GP Bulk Billing Incentive. I think this is really good news for our Capitol business, which is predominantly bulk billing practices, and clearly rely on GP referrals.
However, the increased bulk billing should also bring, I think, more private sector growth as in line with Medicare, as patients no longer really need to go to public hospitals to be bulk billed. I think, given that, I'm expecting the Capitol business to be a beneficiary of that.
Dave, I would probably just add to also what Jason's saying, and that is that Capitol has nine MRIs that were partially licensed, now fully licensed. The opportunity uplift in those machines, we haven't really yet seen, given Capitol is historically a GP referrer-led business. The business is now looking to build out the specialist referrer network. I think as we build that out, we'll find increased utilization of those now fully licensed machines, of which there are nine, and that'll help also supplement the growth that Jason's referring to.
Understood. Thank you very much. I guess sort of a follow-up to that then. Are there plans for price increases across the Australian business in 2027? If so, can you give us some color as to what modalities you might look to take price or perhaps on a regional basis as well? Thank you.
Yeah, great question. I think when we're looking at revenue, there's a number of levers that we look at. We look at volume, we look at capacity, we look at ability to service capacity, and clearly price is a lever that we look at. I think to answer your question, price is a lever that we're looking at. We look at all levers when we're trying to grow our revenue and our margin. Specifically, I can't give you any specific details on the call. However, to just express that we are looking at price as a lever. Our aim is to maintain as much affordable and accessible healthcare as we can. But price is always a lever that we need to review.
Understood. Thank you.
Your next question today comes from Saul Hadassin with Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to ask. You mentioned synergy delivery, ahead of expectations. Can I just check, was AUD 14 million the synergy figure estimated to have been delivered in FY 2026? And the reason I ask is that if it was, if we look at the pro forma EBITDA from FY 2025, effectively there is no underlying EBITDA growth across the business. And I am keen to understand, outside of those synergies, why was there not better operating leverage? What was the drag to EBITDA for FY 2026? Thanks.
Yeah. Thanks, Saul. Look, I will take that one. Yes, I think as you have observed, the pro forma EBITDA for FY 2025 was AUD 150 million. Bear in mind that embedded in that AUD 150 million was only AUD 7 million of synergies, given that that was effectively only had a half year's worth of synergies in there. So if you then take the fact that we then had a further AUD 7 million of synergies in the first half of FY 2026, then really your AUD 150 million lifts to lifts to AUD 157 million against the reported result of AUD 164.8 million. So effectively, there is about AUD 8 million of incremental EBITDA growth over and above synergies.
Got it. That makes sense. Thanks, Craig. There is a commentary about additional synergies ongoing in terms of, say, for example, procurement. Just wondering, I think at the half you gave some color as to how much additional synergy could be achieved in terms of dollars. Are you able to provide any update to what you are thinking to FY 2027 as it relates to incremental synergies above the AUD 14 million?
Yeah. I think at the half I would have talked about an additional AUD 1 million to AUD 2 million on top of the AUD 14 million. I think probably post this result we will stop perhaps talking about synergies, because I think it will just become part of the BAU procurement and leveraging our scale across the business. But when we say AUD 14 million plus in FY 2026, it is really that extra AUD 1 million to AUD 2 million. I think the reality is, and I have talked earlier about the fact that it was only really post the merge that we set up a group procurement function. I think that there are clearly further procurement opportunities going forward, and I am sure Jason will be looking at those. Jason, maybe you would like to just add some comments.
Yeah. Thanks, Craig. I think absolutely we will continue to assess our procurement opportunities. I think with our increased scale and leverage gives us additional opportunities to lean on our scale and size with our vendors and our procurement functions. It is absolutely an area of focus for our business. I think there is further opportunities, but as I mentioned, and as Craig has mentioned, those kind of savings will be built into our normal operating rhythm as we go forward.
Thanks. If I could just ask one more question. As relates to the dividends, the final dividend stepped up quite significantly versus first half. The payout ratio was close to 100%. I think it is around 90%. Just wondering, in FY 2027, is there a target payout ratio we should be considering? What is the outlook for another significant increase in dividend into 2027?
Yeah. Look, probably a little cheeky with a third question, but I am going to answer it. I think the target payout ratio in the group historically has been in that sort of 65%-75% of operating NPAT. There has obviously been a bit of a delta between operating NPAT and stat NPAT historically, just given some of the transaction integration costs. But I think at the end of the day, the dividend is a sign of confidence about the future. I think the intent would be to maintain that payout ratio of operating NPAT, but obviously a matter for the board and Jason going forward.
Right. Thanks, Craig.
Your next question comes from Lyanne Harrison with BofA. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Jason. Good morning, Craig. Can I start with your New Zealand strategic review? Can you give us a little bit of sense on timeframe and what that might entail? Also you mentioned potential divestment. Would that include all or part of your New Zealand operations?
Yes. Thank you for your question. I think what we'll be doing is running a strategic review of the New Zealand business to assess where it generates the most value. The same stands for our Australian clinical site base. We're not running a competitive process, but if there was compelling offer, we would absolutely consider it. I think importantly, I'm not afraid to take action to streamline the operations where it's relevant, but I just want to avoid making a move in haste without a full set or an incomplete set of information. Importantly for New Zealand and all of our Australian clinics, we need to continue to review our growth options. We need to prioritize how we grow that business. And importantly, focus on those initiatives that will shift the needle. That's our priority.
Okay. Just coming back, the timing of your strategic review for New Zealand?
We will be commencing it pretty shortly.
Okay. In terms of, this is probably a question for Craig, if I am looking at your operating cash flow conversion, can you talk about the changes in working capital there? Obviously, some of that relates to transaction costs, which we would think would cycle out as we go into FY 2027. So can we expect an improvement in free cash flow conversion going into FY 2027?
Sure, Lyanne. Look, first of all, I think in terms of cash flow conversion, we feel like it is pretty strong at 82%. The prior year was a little bit higher. What are the drivers of that working capital movement? It is really across each of the working capital lines. So a little bit of an increase in receivables by AUD 1.8 million due to growth in the business. A little bit of increase in inventory, AUD 0.9 million, again, driven by growth in the business. A bit of an increase in accrued income. There is also a payable in there relating to the contingent consideration for IOP. So really that movement of r oughly AUD 9 million in working capital is fundamentally related just to the growth in the business. There's nothing particularly unusual in there.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Your next question comes from Steve Wheen with Jarden. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, Jason and Craig. The question for you, Jason, just given your experience at I-MED, I just wonder now that you've had a little bit of a look at IDX, whether there's some quick wins that you think you can focus on, whether it's related to procurement with some of the contracts you've seen with suppliers at I-MED, or public hospital contracts, or even geographic locations where you think greenfield opportunities might lie.
Thanks, Steve. Look, just to set the scene, I've been here three weeks at this point, so it is limited. I've prioritized meeting people, our doctors, and stakeholders as much as I can. So as much as I'd love to be deep into the weeds, that hasn't been practical as yet. What I can comment is, my views on the current business is I am impressed. We have a lot of passionate people who are deeply invested and care about the service we offer. I think in terms of the priorities for the business, I outlined them in the FY 2027 outlook. I think when you look at procurement, the way we support our clinic offering, I think there's opportunities across the board.
I need, and the team needs, a little bit of time to be able to delve a little bit deeper into those, and that is what we plan on doing.
Okay. That is fair enough. Second question I have got is just with regards to the new sites that are opening up in Wangaratta, Eastwood, Maroochydore, and Armstrong Creek. Just trying to understand or put into context what sort of margin drag that might have on FY 2027 that you are going to be able to offset and still grow EBITDA margins to above 21%.
Yeah. Thanks, Steve. I will take that one. Look, I think, first of all, we expect all these sites to perform strongly. I think at the EBITDA line, I would expect them to contribute. Yes, there is probably a ramp-up period for greenfields. But when you think we are only talking three or four sites, I would not see them being a material drag on EBITDA margin in FY 2027. They are all, I think, strong sites. But I think what I would call out is, if you look below EBITDA, there will be some impact from the application AASB 16 on both depreciation and interest that will obviously impact those lines. So yeah. Hopefully, that gives you a bit of a sense of the shape. But overall, I think all the sites are indicating that they are going to be very strong performers over time.
Do not think they will be a major drag on EBITDA margin, but just need to take into account the AASB 16 impact on depreciation and interest.
If I can just add to that, Steve. I think the key there operationally is making sure our labor is matched to the volumes coming in. If we are doing a good job on matching labor to volume, then we are in the best place to be able to improve our margin.
Got it. Quick follow-up, if I could, just on those sites. Is there going to be any one-off costs that will be associated with their ramp? Can you go so far as to quantify that?
Yeah, Steve. In terms of one-offs, once they are open, not aware of any. If you look at page 23 of the investor presentation, we do call out some new site costs for total FY 2026. They amount to AUD 1.9 million. Not hugely material in the context of the wider group.
Okay. Thanks, guys.
Thanks, Steve.
Your next question comes from Andrew Paine with CLSA. Please go ahead.
Yeah, morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just coming back to the Capitol performance. Look, I get this is GP-led. But can you break this out in terms of volume so we can get an understanding of the price mix impact for that business, and also views around how long you think it will take to build out the specialist network?
Yeah, sure, Andrew. When you think about it, Capitol is fundamentally, as I said earlier, GP referral-led business, bulk billing. It's obviously benefited from Medicare indexation of 2.4%. And there has been some favorable mix impact. I think volume growth overall has been reasonably muted. But again, I think that's linked to GP attendances.
Which for a good part of the year have been pretty low. I think since the GP Bulk Billing Incentive was introduced on November 1 2025, there's certainly been some indication of a lift in bulk billing and GP attendances, but we're really yet to see a significant shift there. So I might just hand over to Jason for any comments he might want to make.
Yeah. In relation, Andrew, to the question around specialist network, that takes time. It's a relationship-based movement, where our Capitol business is predominantly GP-focused with additional licenses. That unlocks our ability to provide Medicare-funded MRIs, which are highly attractive to specialists. Our focus continues to be on providing outstanding healthcare services to all of our referrers, but also being able to continue to offer an alternative to current providers where we do not capture specialist referrals. That does take a bit of time. And it's about relationships and being easy to deal with. I think having our IDXt teleradiology service in addition to our onsite service will also support our ability to service our referring doctors, including specialists.
Okay. The reason I ask is just trying to understand the volume coming through and the fact that it doesn't sound like it's benefiting from the mix as much as IDX and the rest of the market. Looking forward and specialist network's going to take time. That growth that you're seeing at the moment, Capitol, it sounds like that's not necessarily a bad outcome in your view, and incrementally, you look to get better off that, but that looks like a base growth rate at the moment.
Yeah. If you were to actually put some numbers to it, I think you'd say price roughly 2.4%, mix probably 2%, and say 1% volume. That would be a breakdown of the 5.4%.
Okay. That's great. Thanks. Just looking at IDXt, just be good to get an update on the performance here and how that's being integrated with Capitol and also how much that's boosting the IDX legacy business growth at the moment.
Yeah, I can answer that one, Andrew. Overall, we've said that IDXt is reporting about 15% of group volumes. We have added, you can see a number of doctors to the IDXt reporting network. There's 143 effectively now signed up. But if you were to break that down between IDX and Capitol, IDX would be sitting at around 20%, Capitol around 6%. That gets you to around the 15% overall for the group. But certainly, the use of teleradiology in the Capitol business continues to grow, and there's no reason to think that it won't catch up to where IDX is at around 20% and probably more over time as we're able to bring more doctors on.
Yeah. I think strategically, IDXt is an important pillar of our business from both a service perspective, where we can offer remote reporting, particularly in rural and regional locations where we may not have daily radiologists on site for many reasons. But it also provides us with a retention and recruitment opportunity where clinicians can mix onsite and offsite reporting, which often is quite attractive to radiologists.
Okay. That's great. Thanks. That's all I had.
The next question comes from Craig Wong-Pan with RBC. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Jason, at the start, you mentioned your experience in delivering margin improvement at other companies. Could you talk more about what you were able to achieve, and are there lessons learned there that can be applied at IDX, or are there different opportunities for margin improvement at IDX?
Yes. Thanks, Craig. So I do have 15 years experience in the industry, last 10 at I-MED, which you would know is Australia's largest provider. In terms of how we improved margin there, it was a number of factors. Taking cost out of procurement at scale. We did restructure doctor reporting arrangements where we started to incentivize our radiologists with a percentage of revenue arrangement. Importantly, it was around aligning clinic costs and labor costs to the volumes coming in. That was a critical part, because the work in radiology is not a straight line. It fluctuates week to week, month to month, and actually day to day. So having some very clear and robust guardrails to align our labor costs was very important, and being able to incentivize our doctors to move their productivity was also important. So there was a number of factors.
We also took, been exposed in taking out costs in procurement, which always helps in terms of the way you procure equipment, you maintain equipment and your services. I think that's an important part. In terms of what I've seen, it's still early days. I think we need to take a deep dive into some of those operational areas. I think in terms of focus, the focus is absolutely on our core, having a look at how we optimize our revenue, how do we optimize and utilize our assets that we currently have in our business, including what we do with the final hurdle of MRI deregulation. But importantly, we do need to match our labor to our volumes, improve our productivity, and have a good look at some of our low-margin clinics and what we can do to support turnarounds of those.
Thanks. That's helpful. That kind of leads me on to my second question, which is around MRI deregulation. There has been some thoughts around what happens post full deregulation, I guess, with some fears that that becomes more competitive. I just wanted to get your thoughts on how you prepare for that and your general views on what happens post the July 1st 2027.
Yeah. My view is, look, the majority of deregulation, in my opinion, has already occurred. Regional and rural deregulation of MRI happened a number of years ago. Recently, in 2025, the partial licenses moved to full. There is only one element left, and that is the metro unfunded machines. I think when you look at the scale of deregulation, a majority of it has already occurred. What we've seen is that move across from low-end modalities to that higher-end modalities. That has definitely supported that. From an IDX perspective, with the last deregulation happening next year on July 1 2027, we've got two elements we need to address. Firstly, there is a defense strategy.
We have a number of sites where we have a fully funded license where competition may or may not enter the market, or they are existing competitors where they will gain an MRI license. We need to be crisp and clear on our execution to retain particularly our specialist referrals there. On the second arm is an opportunity where our clinics are getting a license where it's been unfunded. That's a real opportunity for our organization, where we can start to win away work due to our outstanding quality of service away from some of the competition who have had a competitive advantage that they no longer have.
Okay. Sorry, just to follow up to that. On a net basis, is there more opportunities there, or is there more of a risk given your footprint?
There is more opportunities for our business.
Okay. Thank you.
There are no further phone questions at this time. I will now hand back to Jason Martinez for closing remarks.
Okay. Thank you. I just want to summarize the call. Our focus is on execution, improving productivity, and enhancing returns, and ensuring that IDX continues to build on strong foundations that already exist within our business. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank our people, our radiologists, our referrers, our shareholders for their ongoing support. I look forward to updating the market on our progress throughout FY 2027. Thank you everybody for joining the call. Thank you.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.