Good afternoon. This is the Chorus Call conference operator. Welcome. Thank you for joining the Amplifon Second Quarter 2026 Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star n zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Francesca Rambaudi, Investor Relations and Sustainability Senior Director of Amplifon. Please go ahead, madam.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Welcome to Amplifon Conference Call on Second Quarter 2026 Results. Before we start, a few logistic comments. Earlier today, we issued a press release related to our results. This presentation is posted on our website in the investor section. The call can be accessed also via webcast. Dial-in details are on our website, as well as on the press release. I have to bring your attention to the disclaimer on slide two, as some of the statements made during this call may be considered as forward-looking statements. With that, I'm now pleased to turn the call over to Amplifon CEO, Enrico Vita.
Thank you, Francesca. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Today, I'm very pleased to share our Second Quarter Results, which reflect an excellent performance across the board. We delivered our strongest organic growth in the past two years, together with a significant improvement in profitability across all three of our regions. The most important takeaway from these results for me is that they validate the actions that we have taken and the investments that we have made over the past year. From advertising and communication to our in-store protocols, these initiatives are now translating into stronger performance, giving us confidence that the momentum we are building is sustainable. Let me begin with a brief overview of the global market environment, where we are also seeing encouraging developments in some of our key countries.
In fact, across Europe, market conditions continue to improve with our core markets, particularly in Southern Europe, showing clear signs of strengthening demand. On the other hand, as expected, the French market is now annualizing against last year exceptionally strong volume growth following the regulatory reform, resulting in a lower comparative growth rate. In the U.S., the market grew by approximately 1%, supported by a solid private pay segment up around 4%, which more than offset the continued softness in the insurance channel, down around 4% as well. In APAC, based on our estimates, market dynamics improved in Australia, with China also showing gradually strengthening trends. Overall, we estimated that the global hearing care market grew by around 2.53% in unit terms during the second quarter, broadly in line with our expectations.
In this backdrop, we outperformed across most of our key markets, with particularly strong performances in the U.S., Italy, Spain, Australia, and China. Turning to revenues, we delivered 4.7% organic growth, representing an excellent performance, especially because very well-balanced across the three regions. The impact of our Fit4Growth program on revenues during the quarter was approximately -3 .5%, mainly reflecting our portfolio optimization initiatives. M&A contributed 0.5%, primarily driven by the carryover effect of bolt-on acquisitions completed last year. Turning to profitability, we delivered a significant improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin, which increased by 90 basis points versus last year, driven by operating leverage and the continued execution of our Fit4Growth program. Importantly, all three regions contributed to this performance, each delivering a very meaningful improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin.
The improvement was even more pronounced at adjusted EBIT level, where margin expanded by 130 basis points versus last year, reflecting the strong operating leverage of the business and the impact of Fit4Growth. Finally, let me highlight our strong free cash flow generation, which improved by nearly EUR 30 million or + 70% versus H1 2025. As you can imagine, we are very pleased with these results. They reinforce our confidence that the momentum that we are building is both strong and sustainable and position us well to deliver on our objectives for the remainder of the year. With that, I will now hand over to Gabriele, who will take you through our results in more detail.
Thanks, Enrico, and good evening to everybody. Turning to slide four, we have a look at our financial performance in Q2 2026. Revenues were up 1.7% at constant FX versus Q2 2025, with a very strong organic growth of 4.7%. I am glad to say that this growth was well-balanced across all regions and outpaced the global hearing care market. The bolt-on M&A made primarily in 2025 contributed to top-line growth by 0.5%. Fit4Growth had an impact of -3.5% following the closure of over 200 non-performing clinics since the launch of the program, 15 of which during Q2 this year, the divesture of the U.K. business in early March, and the termination of a managed care agreement in the U.S. from January.
FX was a tailwind of 0.5%, mainly driven by the Australian dollar, which was partially offset by the euro appreciation versus the U.S. and the New Zealand dollars. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 156 million, with the margin improving by 90 basis points compared to Q2 2025. This improvement was driven by the excellent improvement seen across all the regions, also thanks to the strong results of the Fit4Growth program, and after ongoing investments to further strengthen the company's distinctive assets. Moving to slide five, we have a look at our financial performance in H1 2026. Revenues were up 1.3% at constant FX versus last year, with a strong organic growth at 3.5%, significantly accelerating throughout the period and here again, well balanced across the regions. The bolt-on M&A made primarily in 2025 contributed to top-line growth by 0.8%.
Fit4Growth had an impact of -3% for the reasons just mentioned. FX was a headwind of 0.9%, even if reversed in Q2. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 298 million, with a 70 basis point margin improvement compared to last year, thanks to improvement in all regions due to Fit4Growth, even after ongoing investment in our distinctive assets. Turning to slide six, we have a look at EMEA performance. In the quarter, revenue growth was 2% at constant FX, thanks to a very strong acceleration in organic growth, which came at 4.5%, also thanks to the excellent performance in Southern Europe and despite the expected normalization of the French market following the annualization of the RAC zéro reform. The bolt-on M&A made primarily in 2025 contributed 0.2% to top-line growth.
Fit4Growth had an impact of -2.7% following the closure of around 90 clinics since the launch of the program and the divestiture of the U.K. business in early March, impacting the entire quarter. FX was a slight tailwind of +0.2%. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 120 million with margin at 30.7%, 180 basis points above Q2 2025, thanks to operating leverage and the strong results of Fit4Growth even after the ongoing investment in our distinctive assets. In H1, revenue growth was 1% at constant FX, with organic performance at +2.4%, Fit4Growth at -1.9%, and M&A at +0.5%. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 237 million, with margin at 30.5%, 140 basis points above last year. Moving to slide seven, we have a look at the performance in Americas. Revenue performance in the quarter was -1.3% at constant FX, while FX headwind was for 2.1%.
Organic growth was a super positive, well above market, 6%, thanks to the strong performance recorded in all the markets and businesses in the region. The bolt-on M&A, made primarily in 2025, contributed 1.2% to top-line growth. Fit4Growth had an impact of -8.5% following the termination of a managed care agreement in the U.S. from January 1st and the closure of around four clinics since the launch of the program. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 31.6 million, with margin up 180 basis points to 26.2%. Versus 24.4% last year, thanks to operating leverage and the strong results of Fit4Growth. In H1, revenue was flat at constant FX, with organic performance at +6.3%, Fit4Growth at -8%, and M&A at +1.6%. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 57 million, with margin of 24.8%, 130 basis points above last year.
Moving to slide eight, we have a look at Asia- Pac performance. In the quarter, revenue performance was +4.6% at constant FX, driven by a strong organic growth of 4.3%, thanks to the excellent performance of Australia and China. The bolt-on M&A made primarily in 2025 contributed 0.7% top-line growth. Fit4Growth had an impact of -0.4% following the closure of around 80 clinics since the launch of the program, while the closing of the divestiture of the Indian business is expected in Q3. Adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 23.5 million, with a margin of 25%, 130 basis points higher than the 23.7% recorded in Q2 2025, thanks to operating leverage and Fit4Growth, even after the fast growth in China and the ongoing investment in our core assets.
In H1, revenue growth was 4.5% at constant FX, with organic performance at +4.6%, Fit4Growth at -0.8%, and M&A at +0.7%. Adjusted EBITDA was circa EUR 48 million, with margin of 26.3%, 80 basis points above last year. Moving to slide nine, we appreciate the Q2 income statement. In Q2, total revenues came in at EUR 606 million, with an increase of 2.2% or 1.7% at constant FX versus prior- year. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 156 million, with a margin of 25.8%, 90 basis points above 25%, also thanks to the strong results of Fit4Growth. D&A, excluding PPA, were at EUR 64 million, decreasing by around 1 million, versus EUR 65 million in Q2 2025. This led the adjusted EBIT to EUR 77 million, with a strong improvement of EUR 11 million or 17% versus last year.
Net financial expenses amounted to EUR 15 million, below the EUR 16.3 million in Q2 2025. Tax- rate decreased slightly year-on-year from 26.2%-26.1% this year, leading to a strong increase of over 17% in adjusted net profit, from EUR 48.8 million last year to over EUR 57 million this year. Moving to slide 10, we see the H1 profit and loss evolution. Total revenues increased by 1.3% at constant exchange rate to EUR 1.19 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 298 million, with margin at 25.1%, 70 basis points above H1 2025. D&A, excluding PPA, decreased by around 3 million, leading the adjusted EBIT to around EUR 170 million, with margin at 14.3%, with an improvement of around 90 basis points versus last year. Net financial expenses decreased by EUR 1.6 million to EUR 29.8 million, leading profit before tax to around EUR 140 million.
Trade ended at 27.4%, leading to a strong 12.3% increase in adjusted net profit versus last year, from EUR 90 million to EUR 102 million. Moving to slide 11, we appreciate the cash flow evolution. Adjusted operating cash flow after lease liabilities was in the period equal to EUR 114 million, versus EUR 105 million last year. Net CapEx decreased by around EUR 19 million to EUR 46 million, also thanks to the Fit4Growth program, leading adjusted free cash flow to EUR 68 million, versus EUR 40 million in H1 last year, with an outstanding increase of around 70%. In H1 2026, we had net proceed from divestiture, including the U.K. distributive business, for around EUR 7 million versus cash outs for acquisition for EUR 55 million last year.
This, together with no share buybacks in the period, led the pro forma net cash flow for the period, excluding the net proceed from the ABB completed in May, to - EUR 7 million, with an improvement of over EUR 130 million versus a - EUR 139 million in H1 2025. Pro forma NFP came to EUR 1.049 billion versus EUR 1.045 billion at the end of 2025. Including the EUR 449 million proceeds from the ABB, the net cash flow for the period was for +EUR 442 million, and the NFP was at EUR 600 million. Moving to slide 12, we have a look at the debt profile trend and the key financial ratios. As mentioned, the net financial debt ended slightly above EUR 1 billion, with liquidity accounting for EUR 263 million, short-term debt accounting for around EUR 738 million, and medium long-term debt accounting for around EUR 569 million.
Following the IFRS 16 application, lease liabilities were around EUR 484 million, leading the sum of net financial debt and lease liabilities to EUR 1.53 billion. Equity ended at around EUR 1.5 billion. Looking at financial ratios, pro forma net debt over EBITDA improved despite the business seasonality to 1.87 x versus 1.92x in December 2025, in line with our target to deleverage the company in light of the prospective acquisition of January. Including the proceeds from the ABB, the net debt over EBITDA ratio was 1.07 x. To this regard, please let me give you an update on the financing. We have successfully placed a EUR 453 million primary ABB last year. It was the second-largest ever primary ABB in Italy in terms of portion of share capital offered, also including the pre-commitment from our core shareholder for EUR 130 million.
The book was multiple times oversubscribed, thanks to the strong interest from new high-quality international and Italian investors, as well as substantial support from current shareholder. We have now also signed a EUR 1.35 billion senior loan with 24-month tenor up to June 2028, allowing for high flexibility of execution of the takeout via bond or bank financing. With that, I'm glad to hand over to Enrico for the outlook and final remarks.
Thank you, Gabriele. We have come to the end of today's presentation. As I mentioned, throughout 2025, we executed a series of meaningful initiatives and made significant and targeted investments aiming at accelerating future revenue growth and structurally improving the profitability. In the first half of 2026, we saw the benefits of this tremendous work carried out by the team materialize, both in terms of organic growth and profitability. Importantly, momentum built progressively throughout the first half with a clear acceleration in the second quarter. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2026, we continue to expect a global market demand to grow by around 3%. In this backdrop, we are confident in our ability to continue outperforming in most of our key countries and markets, driving further market share gains. In fact, the positive momentum we experienced throughout the first half continued into the beginning of the third quarter.
As a result, we remain very confident in achieving our goal of an organic revenue growth above 3%, reestablishing a solid and sustainable growth trajectory. At the same time, we remain on track to achieve our profitability target with an expected improvement in adjusted EBITDA margin in the region of 100 basis points. Last but not least, as we continue to progress through the customary regulatory review process, I am pleased to provide a brief update on the proposed acquisition of GN Hearing. Our integration planning continues to progress very well. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure day one readiness, in full compliance with all the regulatory requirements, while focusing on positioning the combined business to unlock the substantial value creation opportunities we see ahead.
The more we advance in our planning and preparation, the more excited we become of the compelling strategic rationale of the transaction, and its ability to create a significant long-term value for our customers, employees, and shareholders. We therefore look forward with great confidence and enthusiasm to completing the transaction and beginning on the next phase of our growth journey. With this, Francesca, over to you.
Thanks, Enrico. I kindly ask operators to open today's Q&A session. I kindly ask everyone to limit their participation to a maximum of two questions to ensure that all participants have the opportunity to engage. In the interest of time, please keep to a single question format so that all analysts have a fair chance to ask their questions. Thank you. Now I turn the call over to Alexia to open the line.
Thank you. This is the conference call operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. We will pause for a moment as participants are joining the queue. First question is from Hassan Al-Wakeel, Barclays.
Good evening. Thank you for taking my questions.
Good evening, yes.
Hey, I have a couple on organic growth, and the improvement that you're seeing in the second quarter. Firstly, if you can talk to the strength in the Americas business, particularly given your commentary of 1% growth in the reference market, unpack what is driving share gains to your mind and the softness in the overall market. Secondly, on EMEA, particularly the Southern European strength that you call out, and what you're seeing in some of the other markets, and how you view the trajectory into against tougher comps, and what you put the improvement down to? Is this pent-up demand coming back? Thank you.
Thank you for the questions. With, of course, we are very pleased with our organic growth, which was very strong in all the three regions. Starting with your question about Americas and the U.S. What we have seen with regards to the market growth in the U.S. is a market going at two different speeds. What I mean is that the market overall was up about 1%, but we also saw a very solid growth in the private market, which grew by more than 4%. As you know, the private market is very important for us. Whilst on the other side, we saw an insurance market down by a similar amount, by about 4%. What is, in my opinion, encouraging about the market growth in the U.S. is the fact that we saw a solid growth in the private channel.
Also, what I would like to mention is that Q2 of last year was the strongest of 2025, and therefore, the comparison base was the most challenging for the U.S. market. With regards to our performance, I'm very pleased with our organic growth in the U.S. We outperforming clearly the market in all the three business units, starting from franchise, direct retail, but also in the managed care business units. We also posted a very good growth in LATAM. In general, I would say that I'm very pleased by the work done by the team there because we delivered a strong growth across all the different businesses. With regards to Europe, your question about Southern Europe, I would say this. This year we see a more normalized mix of markets.
As you may recall, last year, the growth of the European market, especially in unit terms, was driven mainly by France, while we mentioned a few times the softness in Southern Europe. This year, we see a more balanced growth. South Europe, Italy, Spain, Portugal, performing in a solid way. We see France Instead of coming back to normal level, let me say that clearly since we are anniversarying the strong growth of last year, now we see France coming back to a normalized level of market demand. Let me say that we see this year a more normalized market development across all the different markets in Europe. I'm very pleased also about our performance in Europe because we have outperformed the market almost everywhere. Of course, this is something very important to us.
Perfect. Thank you.
Next question is from Veronika Dubajova of Citi.
Good evening, Enrico, Gabriele, and Francesca. Thank you for taking my questions. I'm going to keep it to two, please. One, I just want to see if you felt there was any impact from the weather, either in towards the tail end of Q2 or if you're seeing any disruption related to the third quarter that we should be sort of thinking about as we look at the comms, look at the momentum, if there is anything there that is worrying you on that front. Then looking at the full- year guidance on the EBITDA margin, you've delivered 80 basis points of margin improvement in the first half of the year. Presumably, as we move into the back half of the year, obviously we have more acceleration from Fit4Growth from some of the divestitures.
Just curious what your confidence is in the 100 basis points and whether there might be some room for upside surprise relative to that as we progress through the rest of the year. Thank you, guys.
Thank you, Veronika. Yes, we saw some impact from the weather, in particular in the last 10 days of June, in particular, I would say in countries like France and Germany. Let me say that our performance could be even better if we did not experience this kind of phenomena, which unfortunately, I think we must get used to. Yes, definitely we saw some impact, and therefore the result could have been even better. I think that at the end of the day, we managed it well and, of course, we are very satisfied about the overall growth. With regards to the second question and therefore, EBITDA margin outlook, I think it's important to underline and highlight two things. The first one is that we will have a more favorable comparison in H2 and this definitely will help.
For once, let me also underline our performance at EBIT level, which was very strong, 130 basis points better than last year, which is also a reflection of operating leverage, of course, but it's also the result of our Fit4Growth program because as you know, also as effects of the closure of the non-performing stores, we are also making savings in rents, which are definitely helping the EBIT margin. Also, we are very pleased about what is coming from Fit4Growth below EBITDA margin because also we are saving on rents and this has already delivered an impact on EBIT margin.
That's very clear, Enrico. Do you think you can quantify the weather impact or it's very hard to do at this stage? Just curious if you're willing to put a number on it.
It's very difficult. The impact that we saw was more in France and Germany than in South Europe because South Europe last year was exactly the same. Let's say we were annualizing the heat wave of last year. While it was particularly, I would say different and harsh in France and Germany. There, the impact was bigger.
Got it. Thanks, guys, so much.
Thank you.
Next question is from [Antiela Buzi] of BNP Paribas.
Hi, good afternoon, and thank you for taking my questions.
Good afternoon.
I also have two. The first one is on the guidance. I was wondering after the two quarters in, can you quantify a bit more your guidance on the organic growth part? What does about 3% market growth mean? Just having in mind what you have delivered in the past two quarters. The second one is on your comment on the current trading. Can you give us a bit more detail? What are you seeing in different regions and if the Q3 is acceleration versus Q2? Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you for the questions. With regards to our guidance regarding organic growth, today, we stick to what we said after the Q1 results, which means that we are envisaging an organic growth above 3%. Clearly, as of today, we are ahead of that, because in the first half, we delivered 3.5%. There is the opportunity, of course, to do well in terms of organic growth. Now we are in the third quarter. We have started well. There are some months still ahead of us. September is a big month. Let me say that definitely we are very confident in our ability to deliver this organic growth above 3%. Let us finish third quarter before giving you a more, let's say, precise indication about that. We feel very confident on organic growth.
With regards to current trading, we saw the momentum that we saw in Q2 to continue also in this beginning of Q3. This is, of course, very encouraging. I can't give you a target for Q3, of course, but I think that the kind of trend that we are seeing is confirming that all the actions, initiatives, sometimes even painful initiatives that we had to take last year, are delivering what they were supposed to deliver. This makes us very confident also in our confidence for the entire 2026.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next question is from Julien Ouaddour, Bank of America.
Hi. Good evening. I hope you can hear me okay.
Yes.
Thanks. It worked perfect. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. I have a couple as well. The first one is on inflation. I was just wondering, what is the scenario for inflation in H2 and for 2027? I know that in the past you've been, let's say, strictly not impacted by that on a pure cost efficient for the COGS. What about rents? What about salaries? What have you baked, basically, in your base case? That's the first question. The second one is, what feedback are you receiving from independent wholesale customers of GN Hearing about being supplied by a manufacturer, potentially, in the future, owned by the largest global retail competitor?
I'm just wondering if you already have a sense about what the customers think, and if I can try as well, have you just quantified the mix of GN Hearing, which is tied to these independent clinics, and any risk for that? Thank you.
Sorry, the mix of GN Hearing related to what, please?
The independent clinics, everything which is not tied to large groups.
Okay. No. Well, on this second question, Julien, I can't give you an answer. What I mean is that we are still in the process between signing and closing, of course. I can't really give this kind of information for now. Of course, I will be very happy to deep dive as soon as we get to the closing. That, as we said many times, we expect by the year- end, and this is, as of today, confirmed. With regards instead to the question regarding inflation, we do not expect this time material impacts from inflation. For sure, not on direct procurement, not even from indirect, not from rent. Not even something particular in terms of labor cost. I would say that so far we are not concerned about inflationary pressures.
Perfect. Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Next question is from Olivier Metzger, Oddo BHF.
Yeah. Good evening. Thanks a lot.
Good evening.
Taking my questions. First question is on Fit4Growth and also the magnitude for the next quarters. You mentioned Q3, India closure will come. Where do we stand with regards to the Fit4Growth headwind? To which extent it will intensify? Second quarter is about your performance in China, which you described as pretty strong. That's in contrast to all the comments we heard over last quarters where China was very tough environment. Do you see now with Q2 a fundamental return to the better, or is it just driven by low base, et cetera?
Yeah.
Thank you.
I will start with the second one. With regards to China, no, I think that we are performing similarly well there. We have grown in a very solid way. I think that organic growth in China was high- single-digit for the quarter. Very strong performance in China. We are very happy. I think that the team there is working very well. I assume, in China, it's very difficult to estimate the market. We assume that also the market is showing improved trends. Again, this is really according to our estimates. With regard instead to the first question, Fit4Growth. Yes, of course, first of all, we are very happy about our execution of all the initiatives that you know very well. They are going even ahead of our plan. We have also announced the divestiture from India.
The impact of Fit4Growth will be a bit more, I would say, this is of course positive news. It will be more or less in the region of 3%-3.5%. More towards the 3.5%, I would say. Of course, this is something that it's positive. It's demonstrating also our ability to deliver the initiatives that we indicated in our Fit4Growth program.
Okay, great. Thank you.
Next question is from Martinien Rula, Jefferies.
Hi. Good evening, everyone. I hope that you can hear me okay. It's Martinien from Jefferies. I would ask two, if that's okay with you.
Very well.
Amazing. First one. First of all, congrats on the print. I would appreciate to push you a bit further, on the margin guide, especially. I would love to hear your feedback on the rationale for not, let's say, probably having trimmed up the margin guide, given you've already delivered an impressive 90 basis points margin improvement in H1, while arguably the H2 margin comp is easier, and that you will have also the Fit4Growth contribution likely to be ramping- up further. The second question, we could tackle that one after, but that will relate basically to the performance you've made and where you've gained the most share and so on.
The most, sorry, say again?
For the second one, sorry. It's about the organic sales growth performance that you've made. You've commented on having gain share almost across the board, with the only exception of some European markets. I'd like to have some feedback on that, please.
Okay. Well, with regards to the second question, our market share gains, we are confident, also because we have posted a very strong organic growth. We are very confident that we have gained market share in the markets that I mentioned earlier on. Including U.S. and Europe, Italy, Spain, definitely we have grown share. In Asia- Pacific, definitely we did a fantastic performance also in Australia, we are confident that we have grown share. With regards to the other two main markets in Europe, it's difficult to say about France because France now is a market that is not very easy to predict. We do not have the final numbers for Q2. In France, I would say that most probably we have performed in line with the market, not losing, not gaining share.
Also, with regards to the other market, Germany, maybe there we have performed slightly below our estimates regarding the market, nothing that is of concern for us. Sometimes it happens.
Next question is from David Adlington, JP Morgan.
Thanks for taking the questions. It would be great if you could just help us to break down the margin improvement contributed from Fit4Growth and how much was from operating leverage. I'm not sure if you'll be able to do that or not. The second one is the U.S. private market. I just wondered if you thought that was benefiting from the slowdown in the insured, where the uninsured patients who people had insurance were now coming back into the private market.
Well, with regards to the second question, the market growth in the U.S., clearly we see a trend which is consolidating, which is about the insurance channel declining, whilst we see a positive, and I would say even strong growth in the private market. Since the beginning of this trend, we mentioned that we would expect some patients going from insurance to private. I think that there is some kind of shift from one channel to the other. To quantify it is very difficult. Also, it's pretty difficult to quantify which was the contribution of the 90 basis points from a Fit4Growth and from leverage. I can't really give you numbers attached to that.
Next please.
Next question is from Davide Marchesin, Equita.
Hi, good evening, everybody.
Good evening.
Hi. I have a follow-up question on the U.S. insurance market. I would understand if the market is still contracting sequentially or if after maybe a sharp drop in 2025, the insurance market stabilize, then we should expect a kind of improvement in the second part of the year. The second question regarding the third quarter evolution, you mentioned a quite reassuring start to the quarter, so I assume July was good. How much is typically the mix between the three months of the quarter? I assume September is the most important, but just if you could help us to quantify a little bit, month- by- month. Thank you.
Yeah. Well, I don't have in my mind, unfortunately, the exact, let's say, percentage of the contribution of individual months to the quarter. You are absolutely right, September is the biggest month in the quarter, then July, and then, of course, August is the smallest. Anyway, July is a meaningful month, but September is even bigger than July. With regards to the first question, and for the performance of the insurance market. In 2025, the insurance channel declined by 3%. In Q1, was particularly soft with a - 6%. In Q2, as I mentioned during my introduction, the decline was about 4%. It's difficult to see a trend there. I would say that this is not necessarily a negative news because, as I mentioned before, some of the patients are moving to private.
I would expect the insurance market maybe improve a bit in the second half because of the comparison base, but not so much. I still expect the private market to lead the growth of the U.S. also in the second half.
Thank you.
Next question is from Niels Leth, DNB Carnegie.
Good evening, thank you for taking my questions. Two questions related to your Fit4Growth program. Firstly, can you elaborate on the expected number of store closures during the second half of this year? Will second half of this year end the store closure program included in the Fit4Growth program? What are the prospects of you ending the Fit4Growth program before time, before the end of 2027?
With regards to Fit4Growth, as I mentioned, we are ahead of our plan. As of H1, including, of course, the actions we have taken last year, we have closed a group level about 200 stores. Let me say, for the completion of the Fit4Growth program, we envisage a number of store in the region of 250. Let me say that we are almost there. These are the numbers at group level. I don't have in my mind for Europe. As you know, this is an initiative which is pretty widespread across all the three regions.
What would be the prospects of you ending the Fit4Growth program before the end of 2027?
Of course. I think that by the year-end, we will have completed, let me say, the extraordinary part of Fit4Growth. We will continue, of course, to optimize our network, this will be on a more normalized activity and levels.
The number of restructuring costs related to Fit4Growth in 2027 should be very minimal?
Oh, yes, absolutely. Very minimal.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next question is from Susannah Ludwig, Bernstein.
Hi, good evening, thanks for taking my questions.
Good evening.
I have two, please. The first, I guess you've helpfully quantified your expectations for the impact for Fit4Growth. I think previously you had talked about an M&A contribution of 0.5%-1%, and just wanted to know if that was still your expectation. Then second, on the U.S., I guess, could you remind us what your exposure is to managed care versus private pay now that you've exited the large M&A contract at the beginning of the year?
Yeah. You asked for our exposure to the insurance channel, right? In the U.S.
Yeah, exactly.
Okay. With regards to the first question and for the contribution from M&A to our sales growth, it will be exactly what you said. In the region of 0.5%-1%. Whilst now our exposure to managed insurance channel, of course, is much lower than before. It's in the region of 10%.
Great. Thank you.
Of course, of the U.S. and not of the entire region.
Yes, exactly. Okay, thanks.
Next question is from Giorgio Tavolini, Intermonte.
Hi. Good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. I have a couple of questions, please.
Ciao, Giorgio. Good evening.
Ciao. The first one is on customer trends. I was wondering, behind the impressive level of organic growth in EMEA, if you could provide any color on the mix between returning customers and new customers. If you are seeing, in that sense, with the existing customers, a normalization of the replacement cycle in the hearing aids. In the past you talked about an extension of the cycles. The second question is on the planned reorganization of the non-EU activities that you mentioned in the press release. I was wondering if this is a technical step to facilitate the GN Hearing acquisition, to ensure compliance, I don't know, with local regulation, or if it's something that basically provide you greater flexibility for future expansion partnerships in EMEA and Europe. Thank you.
Thank you. Of course, I'm very happy to answer the first question, and even more happy to ask Gabriele to answer the second question, because it's a very technical thing. No, with regards to the first question and for the mix of customers, I think that now we are seeing a more normalized level of customers between, let's say, returning customers and new customers. I would say that both segments were very strong in the second quarter, therefore, I would say that now we see a more normalized market. With regards instead to the second part of the question, I would ask Gabriele to give you some additional information.
Absolutely. No, Giorgio, as you said, it means exactly that really we wanted to start the reorganization of the group by a pure company point of view, in order to better prepare for the prospective acquisition of GN. The group today has a very simple organization at one level. We really want to operate some sort of segmentation of the different participation of the group. But again, it is meant to better organize it by several point of view, not to prepare for strategic partnership, as you were pointing out in the second part of your question.
Thank you very much, Enrico and Gabriele.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next question is from Veronika Dubajova, Citi.
Hey, guys. Thank you for squeezing me in for a follow-up. I just wanted to clarify your comment about the Q3 momentum, because I think in your prepared remarks, Enrico, you said it was consistent with the H1 momentum, but I think in one of the questions you said it was consistent with the Q2 momentum. Just wanted to understand whether it's tracking more towards the 3.5 or the 4.5 to 5 that you're seeing in July. Thanks.
Well, I can't give you a number. Of course, my indication was a qualitative indication, and what I said is that the kind of trend that we see is showing positive momentum. I can't tell you if it was more in relation to H1 or Q2. Let me say, what we see is positive. It's positive, and this is of course, very encouraging. Of course, as I said, Q3 is also a strong quarter. September is strong month. I wanted to see also this consolidating throughout the quarter. It was more a qualitative comment about the fact that we are happy about how the quarter started.
Got it. Thanks so much. I thought I'd try.
Thank you.
We have a last question. Operator?
Last question is from Martinien Rula, Jefferies.
Yes. Thank you for the follow-up question. I would just love to get a sense of whether you could comment or not actually on the Fit4Growth contribution, I'm talking about it from a margins perspective in H1. If you could also comment on the differences in terms of trading day for Q3, that would be amazing. Thank you.
Yeah. Trading days will be similar. I mean, zero. It was the case in Q2, and it will be the case in Q3, and it will be the case, as far as I remember, also in Q4. Trading days are not going to have either a positive or negative impact going forward. With regards to the impact, the contribution of the Fit4Growth to our margin improvement, as I said, I can't really give a quantification of that. Of course, we have had definitely a good contribution coming from that already in Q2, and also we expect the same in Q3 and Q4.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you, everyone. Thank you.
Thank you. I kindly ask Alexia to disconnect, thank you everybody for the interest and the attendance.
Thank you.
Thank you. Bye.
Bye-bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.