Good afternoon or good morning to everyone, and welcome to El.En.'s Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. Today's call will be recorded, and so will be an opportunity for questions at the end of the conference call. With me on the call, Andrea Cangioli, El.En. CEO, and Enrico Romagnoli, El.En. Chief Financial Officer and Investor Relator. Before we begin, please note that there are remarks management makes on the conference call about future expectations, plans, and prospects, and forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this call, including those addressing the company's beliefs, plans, objectives, estimates, or expectations of possible future results or events, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known or unknown risks, including general economic and business conditions and conditions in the industry we operate in, and we may be affected should our assumption turn out to be inaccurate.
Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed, and the actual future results, performance, or achievements may vary materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation about the contents nor to update the forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date hereof. At the end of the presentation, if you need to ask a question, please post your question in the chat or raise your virtual hand. You will have the floor in order of request. But this time, I want to give the floor to Andrea Cangioli. Please go ahead, Andrea.
Thank you very much, Bianca. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining this call set up for the comments on the interim financial report we issued yesterday, as of September 30, 2024. I excuse myself for my low voice. I'll try to read and to talk as better as I can. We are pleased with the overall performance of the quarter, which marked a recovery in revenues and profitability, and is realigning the 2024 results, especially under the income from operation metrics, to the financial results of last year.
In the same period and in the last days, certain remarkable steps were being taken in order to provide our laser cutting division an opportunity of sustained growth, setting the grounds for the assignment of the division to a highly qualified subject that will take over the responsibility of the management of the division, also benefiting of our continued commitment to support the activities of our companies in our new role of minority stakeholder. This topic was deeply analyzed in the call we had early this week, and I will make further short comments later on in this call. Going back to the summary financial results that you're seeing on the presentation, we are still down 5% in revenues on 2023, but we are up 4% in the quarter.
EBIT in the quarter was close to 30% up from 2023, reaching after nine months EUR 50.8 million, which is down only 1.7% on the 2023 result of the same period. The medical business succeeded in making increasing revenues in the nine months, while revenue targets were missed in the industrial sector, down 16%. For what concerns EBIT, we are right on path to achieve the yearly increase that we guided you to. For what concerns the sector composition of 2024's EBIT compared to 2023, the improved profitability of the industrial sector and the effect of certain one-time events that impacted on the two sectors are making the industrial sector contribution more relevant than in 2023. We enjoyed a very strong performance in this quarter in certain business areas, which allowed us to offset in the consolidated results the weaker performance of other activities.
As for the first half of this year, market conditions were good in certain areas, but also in several geographical and application areas that were very far from being favorable. International markets were supportive to our business growth in most of the businesses, meaning application or geographical market combination, with three great exceptions. The U.S. market for medical devices turned out to be not as strong as we were expecting. Anyway, product innovation and strong partnerships with our valued distributor allowed us to achieve a moderately satisfying performance in this area.
The Italian market for industrial application was very weak in demand due to the unfavorable economic environment and to the specific impact of the inappropriately managed transition between certain expiring and other new tax incentives, namely the so-called Industry 4.0 and 5.0, that caused a real gap in order bookings and deliveries in the first six months of the year. Cutlite Penta in the laser cutting market and Lasit in the laser marking market had to register revenue shortages up to 40% with respect to 2023 in the year, well beyond the expectation of a year with mildly declining demand. Good news here is that the order booking seems to pick up quite smoothly after the new incentives have been clearly defined, removing the risk and uncertainties on the investment case of our customers.
Third area of difficulty was the Chinese market for laser cutting systems, again very weak, driving the domestic revenues of our subsidiaries to a 33% decline and preventing the subsidiaries from materially improving their profitability this year, as we had hoped and expected, planned and worked for with the robust cost-saving activities performed beginning the second half of the last year. Way more rewarding and promising was the market acceptance of our products on the international market. Sales outside of Italy for Cutlite increased by 50%, more or less, and sales outside mainland China for Penta Laser increased more or less by the same amount, and such sales, their higher profit margins than the domestic sales, there was a beneficial effect on our profitability, very evident in Cutlite Penta that, notwithstanding a 50% revenue decrease, was able to widely exceed 2023's EBIT on the nine months.
More accurate comments are also deserved by Lasit, engaged in the laser marking business, that following the possible sale to YOFC of El.En.'s laser cutting business will remain as the most significant business within our industrial sector. As we disclosed in previous releases and meetings, the profitability of this industrial business in terms both of sales margins and EBIT margin is more similar to the profitability profile of the medical sector, historically in our group, way higher than the industrial. Over the past nine months, Lasit's revenue grew by more than 12%, and the annual revenue projection is now estimated to be around EUR 30 million. We're excited about the growth opportunities in this market segment and are actively supporting its expansion through an aggressive internationalization strategy that includes the establishment of local distribution subsidiaries.
Subsidiaries have been set up already in Poland, Germany, Spain, and the U.K., and others are to come to complete the most effective coverage of the most interesting and promising outlet markets. Lasit's profitability over the first nine months was lower than expected due to, together with the weaker Italian market, to the ramping up of certain important deals that sit in our Q3 as work in progress and will contribute to sales and margins in Q4 only. After a slow start, the medical business displayed a progressive recovery and is now up to a strong close of the year. Certain general economic environment complexities are making this year less favorable in the medical market, especially the high interest rates that are always detrimental to the market's willingness to purchase capital equipment, together with the unrest of certain geographical areas.
We focused on traditional business levers, release of new innovative products always abundant, and marketing and commercial support to the expansion of the international footprint of our distributors. Notable positive trends were reported in the urology market with the continued success of Quanta System, both for new systems and for the consumable flow, and in the anti-aging application of the aesthetic business, where the DEKA products of the new line, namely the RedTouch PRO and the Onda PRO, the former for rejuvenation and pigmented lesions, and the latter for body contouring and skin and facial tightening, are encountering increasing market acceptance.
New products have been released for the hair removal market as well, like Again PRO by DEKA, MeDioStar Red Edition by Asclepion, Echo, and Suprema by Quanta System, and they are allowed to maintain a strong and leading competitive position in a market application segment, which lately has not displayed the same degree of vitality of the other segments of medical aesthetics. The innovative processes that enable the group to enhance its product range and provide customers with attractive and cutting-edge solutions remain central to the group's activities, strategic priorities, and investments. Medium-term forecasts regarding the growth of target markets remain positive, and the group continues to rely on their development. It considered it essential to sustain significant investment in research, development, and innovation to improve its competitiveness over time and capitalize on the growth opportunity that these markets present.
Throughout the year, the group continued its sustainability-oriented activities, adopting, among others, the new five-year plan for 2023-2027 that outlines specific and measurable sustainability activities and objectives, addressing sensitive issues such as climate change mitigation, circular economy, promotion of a responsible supply chain, enhancement of individual contribution, and community support. The group reaffirms its ongoing commitment to sustainable development, where environmental and social responsibility are increasingly integral to its business model. In the quarter and right after the end of the quarter, there were two significant events on which I would like to spend a few words before handing the call to Enrico.
At the end of August, Otlas repurchased 100% of the shares of Cutlite Penta, the shares that were held by Penta Laser (Zhejiang), by this means contributing to a more distinct identification of Cutlite Penta from its Chinese sister companies that, for the sole purpose of the possible IPO, had been allowed to control Cutlite Penta. Subsequently, Penta Laser (Zhejiang) proceeded to liquidate the private equity funds that had invested in its capital. According to the terms outlined in the original capital increase agreement, reimbursing to investors the invested capital plus interest for a total amount of CNY 151 million, equivalent to approximately EUR 19.4 million, clearing the shareholders' base of Penta Laser from the IPO-only oriented financial investors.
Subsequently, last week, we announced that we entered into a framework agreement with Yangtze Optical Fiber and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company, YOFC, based in Wuhan, for the potential sale of a majority stake in the companies within EL.En.'s laser cutting business, namely Cutlite Penta and Penta Laser (Zhejiang). In addition to the financial metrics that have already been shared with the press release and Monday's call comments, I would like to add just a bit of more color to how this proposed strategic transaction will impact the business of our sole companies. EL.En. moved in considering YOFC a valued partner for the assignment of the responsibility of running one of its technological and business jewels based on a set of significant values and capabilities that YOFC holds and represents.
As a large and financially very sound corporation looking for diversification of its business, with this proposed transaction, YOFC has the goal to diversify in the promising market of laser systems for manufacturing, but also to potentially integrate with its startup, Everfoton, engaged in the development and manufacturing of fiber laser high-power laser sources, sustaining the rapid expansion of the business unit and exploiting the intrinsic core values of the Italian and the Chinese companies. Under this light, the peculiar identity of Cutlite Penta, a market leader with strong brand identity tied to its fully Italian design, management, and manufacturing, played a key role in the stunning revenue growth that Cutlite was able to achieve in the very last year.
These are the cornerstone of YOFC's strategy, as they are firmly committed to see the Italian Cutlite stronger in its market effectiveness and Italian identity, elevating its technical and commercial position to excellence on the global stage. I will be back for the guys, and I hand the call to Enrico Romagnoli.
Thank you. Good morning, everybody. I'm going to give a brief comment on the nine-month financial result. In the first nine months of 2024, the group revenues closed at EUR 466.2 million, with a decrease of 5.4% compared to the corresponding period of 2023. In the period, we recorded a decrease in sales in the industrial sector, -16%, while we have an increase in the medical sector of 2.1%, closing the gap with the previous year present until last June.
months EUR 190.3 million, up EUR 187.2 million of 2023, with a recovery in sales margin from 38%-40.8%. The improvement in the gross margin is due EUR 1.9 million, equal to 0.4 percentage points on turnover, from the proceeds for insurance and government reimbursement relating to the damage caused by the flood in Campi Bisenzio in November 2023. Net of these proceeds, the period margin still improved by 2.4 percentage points compared to 2023, due to a more favorable composition of sales, both in terms of product type and destination market within each sector, and due to the greater relative weight of the medical sector.
Operating expenses increased and the impact on sales up from 9%-9.7%, and the main reason are the sales and marketing expenses for trade fairs and congress incurred by both medical and industrial companies. Staff cost increased in value for EUR 2.2 million plus 2.7%, and has impact on sales from 16.4%-17.8%. The non-cash cost for stock option plans in favor of employees amounted to EUR 2.1 million in the period, against EUR 2.5 million in the first half of 2024. EBITDA was EUR 61.9 million, in line with the last year, the impact on revenue up from 12.6%-13.3%. Cost for depreciation and provision increased from EUR 10.1 million to EUR 11.1 million, and the impact on turnover increased from 2%-2.4%.
The increase in this cost item was determined by the increase in provisions for credit risk, both in general and especially for the specific provision of EUR 2 million set aside by the sudden financial crisis of an important customer of our Japanese subsidiaries with us. The less unfavorable guarantee condition granted on the sales of a laser cutting system in China allowed to partially release the product warranty provision, while the risk provision was reduced following the positive resolution of some disputes by Asclepion. EBIT showed a positive balance EUR 50.8 million, down 1.7% from EUR 51.8 million registered in the last year, with a margin on sales at 10.9%, improving on last year's figure.
We recorded a net financial loss of EUR 1.6 million compared to the loss of EUR 0.9 million recorded in the same period of the last financial year because of higher negative exchange difference in the period and a greater amount of interest paid on loans mainly obtained by the companies operating in the industrial laser cutting sector and interest paid on the capital increase of venture capital payback by Penta Wenzhou in September 2024. The exit of private equity funds from the capital of Penta Zhejiang has established the impossibility of completing the company IPO on the Chinese market.
Among the clauses of the contract with which, in 2019, the group acquired the shares of Penta Zhejiang held by the minority partner of the JV, the listing by November 2024 was the condition for the payment of an earn-out of EUR 5 million to the liquidated partner. The management, based on the IFRS 9 standard, therefore remeasured the financial liability with recognition of a non-operating other income of EUR 5 million in profit or loss. So, the income before taxes showed a positive balance of EUR 53.8 million, EUR 50.8 million of last year. In the period, the net financial position increased for EUR 19 million at EUR 73.8 million at the end of September.
In the third quarter, we had an overall growth in revenues because of a growth recorded in the medical sector of over 10% and a decrease of 6% in the industrial sector, minus 10% for the cutting division. Margins are improving in line with the nine months. Looking to the cash flow, the group's net financial position, as I said, recorded an increase of EUR 19 million during the nine months, and the group generated cash also in the Q3 for EUR 5 million. The net income flow from operating activities, together with depreciation and allowance, exceeded EUR 44 million, which were used for increasing working capital for EUR 19 million to pay dividend for EUR 17 million and for CapEx EUR 11 million.
The partial disposal of investments in liquidity recorded in non-current assets during the Q2 contributed for EUR 16.3 million to the net financial position during the period. The residual fair value of liquidity investments still recorded in non-current assets is EUR 7.5 million. The remeasurement on the net financial position debt due to the expected expiration of the earn-out clause, which was obligating Otlas to pay EUR 5 million to the previous partner of the Chinese JV in the event of the successful IPO of Penta Laser (Zhejiang) by the end of 2024, had a positive impact also on the net financial position for EUR 5 million, as this amount was accounted as financial liability in previous net financial position. For revenue breakdown by business, the sales in the medical sector increased of 2.1% in 2024, thanks to the good performance achieved in Q3 2024.
Opposite is the trend in industrial sales, with a decrease of 16%, mainly due to the cutting division. In the third quarter, in the medical, we recorded growth in all the medical segments except dental. This allowed us to record an overall growth in the nine months too. The increase of medical sales is particularly driven by post-sales revenue, which reached EUR 59 million, plus 13%. Revenue from systems remained in line with the previous year, with esthetic generating EUR 165.7 million, the same value of last year, and surgery generating EUR 56.4 million compared to the EUR 55.9 million in the same period of 2023. A strong contribution to sales was provided by optical fiber used as consumable in urological surgery and representing 40% of sales in the segment of goods and after-sales services.
In the industrial application sector, revenue recorded a decline, primarily due to the unfavorable market condition in the cutting sector in key markets, namely China and Italy. The laser cutting segment generated revenue of EUR 130.5 million versus EUR 166.2 million in the first nine months of 2023. The revenue and the order acquisition trends in Italy were very weak in the first half of the year. The revenue growth for services remained strong, directly reflecting the significant increase in the number of systems installed in the past years. Sales of laser sources remained stable as the laser market segment. In terms of geography, the most significant growth was achieved in Europe in both sectors. In the medical sector in Europe, we had a growth of 6%, while sales in the rest of the world are in line with those of the previous year.
In the industrial sector, there was evident strong performance in the international market, with robust growth in Europe, plus 16%, while the rest of the world saw a slight decline, primarily due to a significant reduction in China and a rapid development across all other markets, particularly in the USA. The Italian market continued to be weak, particularly in the industrial sector, which saw a 42% drop in sales. However, there was a slight recovery in Italy's medical sector, which showed a minimal decrease compared to the previous year. Andrea, please go ahead with the guidance.
Okay. So the financial results for Q3 2024 and of nine months are in line with the current guidance, with a recovery in profitability that places the EBIT for the first nine months of 2024 very close to that of the corresponding period in 2023.
We committed to share with you how the reporting representation of our financial results may vary as an effect of the proposed laser cutting business unit sale and the effects that this different representation on our guidance. The net financial results of the activities available for sale, this is the appropriate definition according to financial reporting, will stay with us until the definitive final share purchase agreement, if and when they will be executed and registered in the respective jurisdictions. Until then, revenues and costs related to such activities for the whole year 2024 will be reclassified in a single reporting line in the P&L, located below the EBIT line. Therefore, in the presence of the possible sale of the cutting business, 2024 consolidated revenues and EBIT will include the medical sector and the remaining part of the industrial sector only.
To make it easy, avoiding unnecessary and complicated additions and subtraction, to make the initial guidance comparable to the new representation of our financials, we elected to maintain the reference for such guidance to our current consolidation perimeter. For 2025, we will tailor the guidance to the new perimeter, but as long as the net results of the sold companies will be contributing to our net consolidated results for the end of 2024, our guidance will continue to make reference to the original aggregate. In order to allow for the assessment of the achievement of the guidance target, we will provide an appropriate pro forma representation. Within this frame, we confirm that we expect to increase our operating profit for 2024 compared to 2023, while the decline in the cutting sector will prevent consolidated revenue from aligning with the record results of 2023.
This is the end of our prepared comments, and so now we are ready for the Q&A session.
Andrea.
Hello. Yes, I can hear.
We open the Q&A session.
Okay. Can I start?
The first question comes from Giovanni Selvetti from Berenberg. Go on, Giovanni.
Hi, Giovanni.
H ello, Andrea. Hello, Enrico. Congratulations for the results. I have a couple of questions. Some are very short. The first one is that I was wondering if you'd give us an update on Accure Acne and the treatment of acne. This has been like not very much discussed as of lately. So I was wondering, where are we here?
As far as I remember, the company was starting some trials in the U.S., but I was wondering if the company is generating any revenue now, and if not, when is it expected to start contributing to the business? The second one is on net financial charges. I was wondering, out of this EUR 1.1 million of negative charges in Q3, how much is FX related and mainly dollar related? So how much we, in a way, we can expect this to reverse in Q4? The third question is maybe about Industry 5.0. I know that, you know, the cutting division is now potentially for sale, but I was just wondering if you can give us an update here. In the last call, you mentioned that you started to see in the early days of September the order book piling up.
So if you see any continuation of these trends. And I have other two, but maybe I'll just ask later on if there's no other questions.
Okay, Giovanni. Thank you for your questions. Accure Acne is alive and is struggling with the fact that it wasn't able to collect the capital that he wanted to collect in order to develop its business. Therefore, they are starting to sell a product which needs, in order to be sold, a huge marketing effort, or which, better said, would need a huge marketing expense and effort, and also very risky. And therefore, for the moment, they are selling, but they are not selling the volumes that could have expected a few years ago. I believe that at the end of the year, we will have a few millions of revenue in Accure Acne and accordingly Quanta System that, as you know, is providing the product.
Ironically, the fact that Accure Acne wasn't able to explode on the market as we had planned is due to the action of our competitor of us, which was very, very active and very successful in anticipating release on the of Accure Acne by introducing on the market a competitor system called AviClear. I'm talking of Cutera, a U.S.-based company, which placed a substantial bet on this product, offering it at basically no financial charge to the market, investing a huge amount of money, again, bet on the success of this product.
I say ironically because it doesn't look like that this strategy, at least today, has paid any advantage to Cutera, that in the last two years has seen its capital, its market capitalization reduced from over $1 billion to $7 million at today's value, due to the fact that this very aggressive policy didn't bring them any cash. It brought them a lot of losses. The availability of a supposedly equivalent system on the market at a much lower cost actually procured a great damage to Accure Acne. We'll see how this Cutera development phase will continue. For the moment, we are continuing to support the of Accure also internationally. Today, there's a meeting in where Accure is presented within a small congress to a few tens of doctors.
We are promoting it, but we are not expecting any transformation from the volumes of of Accure also in 2025. For the interest, I believe that they are mostly due to the Chinese payment to the private equity funds, but maybe on the interest, Enrico can answer better than me.
Yeah, because in the forex impact on the nine months is a negative impact of EUR 0.4 million in terms of forex exchange loss. One in the nine months of last year, there was a positive effect of EUR 0.2 million. And moreover, in the nine months of 2024, there was a one-time cost referring to the venture capital that signed a waiver for what concerned the buyback of the capital increase in Penta Laser Wenzhou. And there is a one-time cost of EUR 0.6 million not previously accounted in the P&L of the Penta Laser Zhejiang.
And also, you asked Giovanni what we expect in the future concerning foreign exchange accounting, given the strong reinforcement of the U.S. dollars in these last weeks, and given the fact that we are usually showing a fairly large amount of receivables for the good business we're having in the United States. I expect, if nothing changed abruptly, foreign exchange to be positive. Foreign exchange effects to be positive. Per piacere. Forse voi, come host, potete escludere la voce. No, ma infatti io ce l'ho tutti spenti, non capisco quale sia. Lui si chiama Michele Campagnoli. Going back to your question, Giovanni. 5.0, yes. We are seeing improved traction on the Italian market after during the summer. There were the ministerial explanation on how 5.0 could be applied, and they cleared the table of all the doubts. This, as I already said in other meetings, has a double effect.
Not only it clears the scope and the amount of incentives that, and therefore it allows several customers of ours to take advantage of the incentive, but also it avoids and removes all the doubts that since nobody knew how this would have worked, nobody was daring to place an order before the explanation were broadcast because they feared that if they place an order too early, they would have risked to miss the opportunity. Now, either if they do, now they know, and they place order, some with the 5.0, some without, but there's no more the risk of not being eligible because of a procedural mistake. This is the reason why I confirm we, in this moment, we are seeing together with the fast international sales expansion that is characterized in Cutlite Penta, and Lasit in this moment, also a return in order bookings in Italy.
Okay, thank you. We'll just maybe wait for the other two questions after all the others. Thank you.
Okay. The second question comes from Matteo Ghilotti from Equita. Go on, Matteo.
Thank you. Good afternoon. The first question is on the sharp acceleration of the service line in the medical business. If I understood well, it's a kind of one-off because it was up 6% in the first six months, and now it's up 13%, which is very, very, very good. If I understood well, we don't have to project that. It's more a one-off or not. And the second question is, sorry, a very trivial one regarding 2025. Just on the basis of your experience, your gut feeling, if you believe it can be a year in which your business is able to expand. Too early to say, just a qualitative answer is perfect. Thank you.
Service is improving.
This always happens when they, as an effect of the installed base, we have another effect here, which is the increase of the consumables, so maybe we won't be able to keep this growth rate very long, but for sure, we are working to keep it. Just to give you an example, during the first nine months of this year, we bought a portion of a building nearby Quanta System where we are moving a white room of increased size in order to enhance and increase the production capacity of optical fibers, and optical fibers are representing around 40% of the service sales and are representing the share of the service sales that is increasing more rapidly.
Therefore, it's difficult to predict this kind of aggregate, but we're working in order to make it, to have it continue to be a growing and still an important and increasing part of the business. Concerning 2025, what I can say is that we knew we were forecasting a trend in 2024, which was providing for an increase in order bookings and in revenues towards the second half of the year, which is actually going on, so this is what's going on. I mean, to what we can see as of today, our forecasts have been met. We are now entering the budget season, and so we are now having the first formal talks about what 2025 will be, and there are mixed feelings, of course. We know that something will continue the recovery trend, so we are very positive. We know that something will be weaker.
We know that some businesses will probably stay the same. So I can share with you an overall optimism on the trend of our markets, but I am not able to give you anything more precise in this moment.
Sure. Fair enough. Thank you.
You're welcome.
The third question comes from Andrea Bonfà from Banca Akros. Go on, Andrea, please.
Hi, good afternoon to everybody. Hope you can hear me. Actually, most of my questions have been already answered, but maybe if you can expand the performance of urology within the medical division, which traditionally is a double-digit growth business. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Andrea. Yes, urology is traditionally a double-digit growing market. It's not easy to double-digit for four years in a row or three years in a row. If we go, you see that surgical is growing by 1% only, but you're right.
I don't remember by heart now how much urology has been growing. I believe the growth of urology within the surgical is still within the single digits. We didn't get double digits, but the 1% result is the result of a growth in the segment where there was a decrease in other segments like Monalisa Touch and surgical CO2s in these nine months. So we are still very bullish on urology, also based on innovation. You know that Quanta System released for sale in 2025 a new product called Magneto, which has improved characteristics in the stone treatment. And of course, the increase of the installed base of urology system is also what makes the flow of fiber optic consumable increase, as we discussed in the previous question.
And if I may, Andrea, the expansion in the production of fiber optics consumables, is that essentially related to the consumables for urology or what?
Yes, yes, sure. 100%. Well, let's say the facility for manufacturing fiber optics is fully dedicated to urology. Because urology, together with other surgical specialties, but we sell mostly in urology, needs either a single use or one of the uses of a multi-use fiber for each and every surgery that is performed. And therefore, since the application is very popular, we sell many lasers because the application is very popular. So each laser is used for tens of surgeries per day or per week. The fiber optic consumption is high as well. And fiber optics are contributing very well at revenues and also due to certain cost savings that we placed in the production line of fibers, also in terms of margins.
Thank you very much indeed.
Andrea, one more question comes from Carlo Maritano from Intermonte. Go on, Carlo, please.
Good afternoon, everyone. I just have a quick question. On Monday, you provided us with an idea of the EBIT of the first half of the cutting business. I was wondering if you have an idea of the nine months of this business just to help us with the analysis of the perimeter after the deal. Thank you.
We know too. As I said, it's increasing from last year, but it's in the order of magnitude. It's lower than 2 million.
Thank you.
Andrea, we have no more questions registered at this moment in our list.
Giovanni wanted to make more questions.
Go on, Giovanni.
I still have a few.
Maybe on optical fibers, I was wondering if all the optical fibers you sell are just for Quanta or, let's say, El.En. products, or you can sell them also for, let's say, Olympus laser systems or whatever competitors are. It's like if there's a chance to do that, because in this way, you will be able to sell even if, let's say, the installed base doesn't expand. The second one is like an update. I remember that at the beginning of the year, you flagged a legal dispute in China for the delivery of a laser system, and probably I missed it, but I was wondering if there's an update there, and maybe the last one is on Asclepion that historically, well, at least in the last year, had more problems than the other companies in the group to source some materials.
And so if all these issues are solved and Asclepion is up and running again, thank you.
Thank you, Giovanni. Three answers. Fibers. We sell the fibers to our customers and also to our OEM customers, including Olympus, which became a competitor when they started working also with another OEM manufacturer. In principle, each manufacturer tries to provide optical fiber to its own customers and tries to protect its own customers from buying fibers, not from competitors. It's not usual, but from pure fiber manufacturers. Because, I mean, there are fiber manufacturers which could be able to develop a product which is compatible with us. Against this, we also have protection on certain products and certain product lines. We have RFID protection on the fibers, which keep our customer completely captive. The dispute in China.
The dispute in China, even though they said that the Chinese court would have resolved the issue in three months, as Chinese are very effective, and it's still up. It's a long dispute. We didn't get any resolution from the judge yet, even though there has been an assessment, a technical assessment on the ability of the system we provided to effectively fulfill the specification that we had problems. But we don't know how this assessment will be read and understood and turned into a ruling by the judge. Since this deal is included in the cutting division being sold, this is one of the points of indemnity that we are discussing with the potential buyer, meaning that we have a certain financial representation of this issue on our financials, and should the outcome be different, this would lead to an adjustment in the selling price of the companies.
Asclepion, it's a good question because Asclepion, unfortunately, wasn't able to profit of the very good years, 2022 and 2023 in full, due to the continuing shortage problems that affected much more Germany than Italy. I would say that the scenario in Germany today is completely different. Today, Asclepion is doing very well and has no production problem. We are more concerned about the overall situation of Germany that is a very important market for Asclepion and about the whole management of the country and of the company itself, which need to have a rapid improvement in performance. Since the performance of Asclepion was okay in these months, but wasn't at par with the other companies in the medical business.
Andrea, we have a few more questions. The first one comes from Jonas Liegl from Lupus alpha. Go on, Jonas, please.
Yeah, thank you very much, Andrea.
I was wondering how you look at potential implications from U.S. import duties from the new government we have in place? Are there any plans to prepare in terms of local presence in the U.S.? Maybe some thoughts in general on that topic and also if you can remind us on your current sales exposure to the U.S. and whether any direct competitors would have an advantage over you in case of new import duties?
Hello. It's a very articulated answer to this question because it's different from the various sectors. The United States has several local manufacturers of medical laser systems, but it's also relying on a large quantity of imports of medical devices. Therefore, I believe that there would be, in case of increased tariffs, a big advantage for the local manufacturers, which are now covering a small part of the market.
Also because the manufacturing base of several brands selling a lot in the USA is outside. Manufacturing takes place in Israel, takes place in Korea, takes place in Europe, also takes place in the United States, but not everywhere. So we would have a negative effect on that for sure. But we wouldn't be, I mean, I believe the market couldn't be supported in full by local manufacturing in the United States. Concerning the industrial as a system, and another thing, of course, should we set up a subsidiary in the United States for selling our products? It would be a distribution subsidiary. It would make sense for us to manufacture anything in the United States in the medical business because costs are so high that we would save.
We would be better off, of course, depends to the extent of the tariffs, but we'd be better off to swallow the tariffs than to manufacture in a highly expensive country complex devices like the one we hardly manage sometimes to manufacture here because the product is really complex and difficult to manufacture. In the industrial business, in the business where we are proposing the sale, I mean, the cutting business, we are very active in the United States, and most of the international growth of Cutlite Penta, the Italian Cutlite Penta, comes from the United States. And therefore, and also we have a related company selling, it's not a subsidiary, but with ours in the United States. And so we're looking to reinforce our position in the market.
On this, I believe that should tariffs be imposed, especially on the Chinese manufacturers, this would impact on our Chinese manufacturing base, but would be, since I would expect, I don't know, tariffs to be higher on Chinese products than on European products, would give a differential advantage to the European product. Good news here is that for what concerns laser cutting business, excuse me, laser cutting systems, there's a negligible manufacturing base in the United States. So all the products are imported. So if a tariff will be imposed, it will be eventually a burden for the U.S. market, but it will not create any advantage to local manufacturers because local manufacturers are not present at all. Third area of interest is the marking business, which following the proposed sales would remain the most significant business in the industrial sector within the El.En. Group.
We have been selling small amounts, below 1% of laser sales to the United States, but we have plans to expand our footprint in terms of subsidiaries also in the United States. Following the incorporation in the Western European subsidiaries in Europe, in the European subsidiaries, Poland, Germany, U.K., and Spain, I believe that I know there's a plan to move on and move to the United States. But if we look to the tariffs, never for manufacturing. So we would have the increase of a lower transfer price since you sell the product not to the end user, but you sell it to the distributor that then sells with a markup to the end user. Therefore, the tariffs at the customs would be lower. But we are not looking for any circle around the tariffs because it wouldn't be appropriate.
Okay, thank you.
And can you remind us in terms the share of U.S. for medical segment in terms of sales share?
It's about an amount. I don't remember off the top of my head, but in the nine months, over the years, something that doesn't get to EUR 40 million. Just maybe I can, maybe I know it. I mean, we never disclosed in detail those figures, but from time to time, we just give small hints about it in terms of amounts. But no, it's just, yeah, in the medical business, yes, it's going to be to EUR 80 million this year.
Okay, perfect. Thank you.
Andrea, we have one more question from Giuseppe Mapelli from Equita. Go on. After that, Emmanuel.
Thank you very much. Just a clarification on Monday's conference call.
Maybe I'm wrong, but if I understood correctly, you stated that after the transformation of El.En., almost pure medical business with the sale of the cutting business, let's say there are some opportunities that will be surfacing that, let's say, the size in some case could be considered an enabler. I understood correctly that statement, or I'm wrong?
Excuse me. No, no, I believe I said something which could be interpreted this way. But I'm saying that in the past, people that looked to our company, both for evaluation and for potential aggregation, faced the obstacle of a company that had two businesses, which are difficult to aggregate because either you aggregate one, either the other one. And so once we are more concentrated on a single business, potential aggregation could be easier.
I also added a statement that says that we are not looking forward to any specific M&A activity following the increase of our net financial position, which would be the effect of the transaction, and that we continue to be focused on the internal growth of our activity that we believe represents for us a great opportunity of growth by investing in the activities themselves, and this holds true for our medical business, which are mainly the three engaged in medical aesthetics and surgery, DEKA, Quanta, and Asclepion, and the one engaged in therapy, but holds true also for laser. As I just said, we are looking forward to investing in order to make this business unit continue to grow within the industrial sector.
Thank you. One more question from Emmanuel de Figueiredo from LBV. Go on, Emmanuel.
Good afternoon to all.
It's just really a clarification or just a little bit more explanation on the possible U.S. tariffs. My understanding in the U.S. from a lot of industries, but I don't know the medical supply side so well, and that's why I'm asking this question, is that a lot of the domestic production is actually based in Mexico. And it's still not very clear with Trump what's going to happen, what he's going to do with Mexico. So my question is, do some of your competitors have production base in Mexico, some of the U.S. ones? And if Trump does not put tariffs on Mexico, would you consider opening something in Mexico? Thank you.
First, we've got to see the amount of these tariffs because unless they are huge, installing production capacity for a product in a site which is different from the site where we have always manufactured, would probably be extremely complex and costly. As I said before, this manufacturing needs a lot of qualified manpower, and we couldn't reproduce our lines. Unfortunately, our products are very articulated, and they change quickly. So we need a highly qualified manufacturing floor to be able to manufacture. And this to say that I don't see us moving to manufacture in Mexico. I believe there are some competitors of us which rely on Mexican manufacturing. I'm not 100% sure, but I believe, for instance, that Cynosure does. I believe, though, that the widest portion of medical devices sold on the U.S. territory is manufactured in Europe, Israel, and Korea.
And so those are the areas that will compete with us, co-located, or that will suffer with us the introduction of tariffs. The local manufacturing, the American manufacturing of products is relevant today, but in the U.S. market, I believe it doesn't reach even 50% of the volume of products sold.
That's very clear. Thank you very much.
Thank you for the question, Emmanuel.
Andrea, we have no more questions registered at the moment in our list. I would like to ask investors still connected if there are any further questions. No more questions, then ladies and gentlemen, the conference is over. If you have some questions to investigate in the future, please do not hesitate to contact Enrico Romagnoli. He will be happy to answer your question. Thank you for attending this conference, and we hope to have you all again next time. Good afternoon to everybody. Goodbye.
Goodbye to everybody.
Bye-bye. Bye. Bye. Have a nice weekend.
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