Hello everyone, and welcome to the presentation of IBA's 2025 full year results. I'm Thomas Pevenage from Investor Relations. As usual, you will find this presentation on the investor relations page of our website. A Q&A session will follow the formal presentation. Moving to next page, let me draw your attention to the company's disclaimer for forward-looking statements, which, as you know, are based on our current assumptions and beliefs and subject to risks and uncertainties.
Today's speakers are Olivier Legrain, our Chief Executive Officer and IBA Clinical Lead, Henri de Romrée, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer and IBA Technologies Lead, and Catherine Vandenborre, our Chief Financial Officer and IBA Corporate Lead. Here is the agenda for today's presentation. We will start with our highlights for the periods, followed by a business review, where we will discuss the strategic progress and the financials of each business unit. Finally, we will cover our financial performance in more detail and give you an update on our guidance and outlook before opening the Q&A session.
Thank you, Thomas. I'm Olivier. Good afternoon, everybody. Let me start by sharing our key messages for today. Full year 2025 was a strong year for IBA. We deliver on our commitment. Our guidance has been met, and we progress as planned on the execution of our strategy while the group continues its transformation. This dynamic is reflected in our full year 2025 performance. Record revenue exceeding EUR 620 million, Adjusted EBIT, formerly known as EBIT, of EUR 27.4 million, and a return to profitability in proton therapy.
Our growth engine has also strengthened with a record backlog of EUR 1.6 billion, supported in particular by the scaling of service and nuclear medicine and a strong proton therapy order intake. Beyond this annual performance, 2025 marks the inflection point from an historically cyclical project-driven model towards a more consistently profitable platform. The 2024-2028 financial outlook is confirmed, and we are providing a full year 2026 guidance being an Adjusted EBIT of at least EUR 32 million. Let me now have a closer look at our commercial momentum.
In full year 2025, IBA recorded a very strong growth in order intake, bringing our backlog at an all-time high of EUR 1.6 billion and providing increased visibility for the future. Service backlog grew particularly strong, up 16% year-on-year, reflecting the continued expansion of our proton therapy install base, but also a sound contribution of technologies. On the equipment side, we posted an historic equipment order intake of EUR 452 million, representing an increase of around 40%.
Looking at our business unit, in proton therapy, we sold 12 rooms during the year, our second best year ever, reflecting strong commercial traction, particularly in the U.S. and in Asia. In IBA Technologies, 37 systems were sold, compared with 33, driven by strong demand in radiopharma, while industrial solution normalized following record high years. As a result, the two-year rolling book-to-bill ratio reached 1.0, as equipment order intake grew broadly in line with revenue recognized over the period at group level. I will now move to our key financial metrics.
In full year 2025, the group revenue reached a record level of EUR 620 million, an increase of EUR 122 million compared with full year 2024, thanks to well-executed backlog conversion and the growth in service activities. Adjusted EBIT amounted to EUR 27.4 million, exceeding our guidance, a profitability improvement of EUR 10 million year-on-year. The Adjusted EBIT margin increased to 4.4% compared with 3.5% in 2024, despite a decrease in gross margin driven by a temporarily less favorable equipment profitability mix. Net debt stood at EUR 58 million as of December 31st, as working capital continued to be impacted by the delivery of large proton therapy projects.
On a like-for-like basis, excluding the ORA acquisition, net debt would have been EUR 41 million. Our net leverage ratio at 0.83x Adjusted EBITDA remains healthy. Building on strong execution delivered in 2025 and the momentum across our businesses, we are setting full year 2026 guidance at a group Adjusted EBIT of at least EUR 32 million. Let's now move on to the review of our business performance. I will start with the progress of IBA Clinical.
In 2025, our clinical entity benefited from a strong commercial momentum, continued technological innovation, and a very significant improvement in proton therapy profitability. The year marks a clear turnaround for the business, supported by disciplined execution and a more favorable project mix. The year was marked by several important milestones in proton therapy. MD Anderson published the first ever level one clinical evidence from a phase III randomized trial confirming proton therapy as a standard of care. We also launched a minimum viable product of DynamicARC and obtained the Medical Device Regulation Certificate for Proteus 235 r einforcing the robustness and the regulatory maturity of our Proteus platform.
In dosimetry, we continue to innovate with the launch of the QUASAR phantom for MR simulation in the radiotherapy market and the release of myQA Blue Phantom. We further strengthen our product portfolio positioning through the acquisition of PhantomX, enabling AI-based quality assurance. Turning now to our global footprint in proton therapy. At the end of the year, IBA had 45 operational sites, well-distributed across regions with strong visibility on future expansion as 43 systems are in production and installation.
At year-end, we had eight sites under installation and reached a peak of 10 installations running simultaneously in 2025, a new high that demonstrate our execution capabilities. These include the ongoing installation of the first Proteus ONE in Spain as part of the 10-system order. The installation of three additional projects is expected to start in 2026, subject to building construction timelines. In China, we made strong progress on major ProteusPLUS installations with the first live treatment rooms in Chengdu and Shenzhen, and final acceptance expected by year-end 2026. 2025 also allowed us to further consolidate our market leadership in proton therapy.
T hanks to the 12 rooms sold, we accounted for 63% of the total sold globally during the year. IBA continues to have the largest install base in the market, which provides significant operational leverage and represent a robust platform to further promote proton therapy in close collaboration with our clinical partners. Increasing clinical evidence continues to be a key driver of proton therapy sustained momentum. In December 2025, The Lancet published the first ever level one clinical evidence, the most robust level of clinical data for a phase III randomized trial led by MD Anderson.
This study establishes proton therapy as a new standard of care in head and neck cancer, demonstrating superior overall survival rates and significantly reduced side effects compared with conventional radiation therapy. In addition, early results from the RadComp phase III breast cancer trial presented at ASCO showed significantly improved patient-reported quality of life with proton therapy in breast cancer, one of the most prevalent cancer types. Lastly, new studies have been recently added to pipeline of upcoming clinical evidence. We will continue to report on results.
Despite an accelerated conversion into revenue, IBA Clinical continued to build backlogs solidly in 2025. Equipment backlog reached EUR 564 million, while the two-year equipment book-to-bill ratio stood at 1.1, providing a sound platform for the future. Service backlog grew even faster, now exceeding EUR 800 million. Zooming in on proton therapy services, the increase in service backlog was supported by new orders and seven renewed contracts with existing customers. These contracts more than offset the amount of service revenue converted into P&L during 2025.
As a result, proton therapy services continue to strengthen visibility, recurrence, and long-term value creation within IBA Clinical. Let me now focus on proton therapy's performance and profitability turnaround. In 2025, proton therapy returned to profitability, delivering a positive Adjusted EBIT contribution of EUR 10.2 million, compared with a negative contribution of EUR 12 million in 2024. This improvement was driven by, firstly, top-line growth as equipment sales more than doubled and service expanded. Secondly, profitability improvement with the scaling of our install base.
At Adjusted EBIT level, this improvement was partially offset by continued investment in critical product innovations, including DynamicARC and FLASH, and by the prudent application of our internal credit risk management policy with a recognition of EUR 8.7 million in bad debt within G&A. These are isolated problematic situations that we were willing to reflect while the overall quality of our credit exposure remains sound. Turning to dosimetry in 2025, dosimetry delivered a stable top line in a challenging environment, as already communicated throughout our trading updates. However, profitability continued to be negatively impacted by these competitive and regional dynamics in the U.S. and China.
This effect was further amplified by the absence of last year's one-off subsidy grant of EUR 800,000, which overall contributed to a decrease in Adjusted EBIT. These market dynamics also impacted commercial activity with order intake decreasing by 9%. As a result, cost optimization measures have been defined and will be rolled out in 2026, ensuring a sharper focus on core activities and a realignment of the cost base with current market condition. I will now hand over to Henri to comment on the performance of IBA Technologies.
Thank you, Olivier, and hello, everyone. Let me walk you through the strategic progress achieved in IBA Technologies, starting with industrial and then going to our RadioPharma Solutions. Our industrial solution continued to progress along its roadmap, advancing accelerator-based sterilization and advanced irradiation solution. Ongoing market dynamics continue to support the long-term shift towards X-ray and E-beam technologies as regulatory and environmental pressure on ethylene oxide increases. At the same time, the sterilization market is somewhat digesting temporary overcapacity after a peak in order intake in early 2020, partly linked to the COVID-driven investments.
We remain very confident in the underlying market that is growing steadily and expect industrial order intake to normalize as utilization catches up with the installed capacity. In China, despite slower pipeline conversion with some project shiftings in the coming years, we made substantial headway, still signing two additional high-power X-ray contracts, tripling the current local capacity. In terms of new application, we advanced our PFAS-Blaster project progressing through technical trials and studies. In polymers, another area with promising long-term potential, research continues to show potential with pilot progress remaining on track.
Turning to our RadioPharma Solutions, we saw solid commercial traction with the highest order intake to date, supported by deeper penetration in our core markets and an expansion into high-potential geographies. This was illustrated by the sale of a high-energy Cyclone IKON contract to PET Pharm Bio to install a PET and SPECT isotope production center in Taiwan.
More recently, post-period close, we also signed two strategic multi-site contracts in the U.S., one with SpectronRx and another one with RS TheraX. Finally, we continued significant efforts to expand our position in the radiopharmaceutical value chain, which I will detail on the next slide. As you know, IBA strategy in nuclear medicine is leveraging on our accelerator technology leadership to expand along the value chain and build a next-generation oncology platform.
A key building block of this platform is ORA, a recognized trailblazer in radiochemistry, which we acquired in December. Another element in diagnostics, sorry, where we are making good progress. I will now cover these strategic initiatives in more details. Let me first come back to the ORA acquisition, which represents an important strategic step for IBA in nuclear medicine. Completed at the end of 2025, the acquisition of ORA brings into IBA a Belgian-based radiochemistry company with a highly skilled team of around 15 employees, including senior radiochemists, a strong record in automated PET radiopharmaceutical synthesizers, and established relationship with leading pharmaceutical partners.
By combining IBA's leadership in cyclotron technologies with ORA's cutting-edge expertise in radiopharmaceutical synthesizers, we are creating one of the most competitive integrated solution available for hospital and global radiopharmacy networks. This new integrated offering addresses the full radiopharmacy workflow, from isotope production to purification, labeling, and delivery, and is designed to support customers seeking higher productivity and access to advanced radioisotopes. Importantly, the ORA acquisition is immediately accretive to IBA's Technologies, revenues, and profits.
I'm now moving to diagnostics, which is, as you know, a strategic pillar for RadioPharma Solutions. It is indeed a fast-growing segment within nuclear medicine, sorry, with a projected market size of $20 billion by 2030 based on a 35% growth rate on a yearly basis, as presented in our last year's Capital Markets Day. As you can read on the slide, several isotopes are emerging in this field, out of which we are highlighting the four most mature ones. Within this landscape, IBA decided to focus on Actinium-225 and on Astatine-211 as strategic plays based on clinical developments as well as our technological and industrial edge.
You already know our subsidiary PanTera, paving the way to making Actinium-225 treatment widely accessible. Catherine will update you on their progress in the corporate section of this presentation. Besides, we are increasing momentum for Astatine-211. We are positioning ourselves on this emerging market. Firstly, on the technology front, we are developing a dedicated high-throughput cyclotron. Secondly, on the clinical side, we are one of the co-leader of the Accelerate.EU program funded by the European Union. This ambitious platform combines industrial, clinical, and pharma players around a bench-to-bedside ecosystem to accelerate Astatine-211 constellation into a clinical setting.
Lastly, with respect to production infrastructure, we continue to make good progress with our partner, Framatome, on our joint ambition to enable the Astatine-211 market through the deployment of a full-fledged production network across Europe and the U.S. Turning now to the technologies backlog, you will notice a decrease over the period reflecting stronger conversion into revenues. Industrial solution order intake has not yet picked up as market absorbs the temporary overcapacity, as this was not fully compensated by the strong market momentum in radiopharma. It led to a two-year equipment book-to-bill ratio of 0.8 below reconstitution level.
As far as services are concerned, backlog now includes upgrades. Nevertheless, IBA Technologies' contributions remain limited as our scope mostly relates to short-term one-year maintenance contract with no permanent presence of an IBA team on site. Finally, looking at the financial results, net sales remain stable at EUR 225 million, representing more than 35% of total group sales. This is a solid achievement following 2024 strong growth. Adjusted EBIT contribution is comparable to prior record year. This is driven by two elements.
A less favorable project mix, most notably a higher share of radiopharma integrated projects where we collect lower margin on our third-party equipment. Two, intensified R&D investment in the radiochemistry and radioligand therapies within radiopharma, as well as in PFAS and polymers within industrial. Nevertheless, EBIT margin landed at 8.9%. Let's move on to IBA Corporate. I will now give the floor to Catherine, who orchestrates the corporate activities besides our Goup CFO role.
Thank you, Henri. Let's start with an update of our new ventures, beginning with PanTera, our joint venture launched with the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre. In June, PanTera started the production and the supply of Actinium-225 for clinical trials and compassionate use, reaching full-scale weekly production in October. The year 2025 also saw the start of the construction of a large production plant located in northern Belgium. Of course, all required permits were obtained ahead of the start of the construction. Operations are expected to start in 2028, with first commercial scale supply targeted for 2029.
Finally, it is worth noting that PanTera continues to build strong commercial traction with more than 20 active customers across the value chain, including pharma and biotech players, as well as key reference hospitals and research institutes. Multiple clinical trials are ongoing, spread across different phases, with first results expected as from 2028. We will keep you posted on further development. From a financial standpoint, PanTera generated EUR 13 million of revenues in 2025 and became EBIT positive in Q4. In terms of funding, PanTera called the third tranche of its Series A for IBA. This resulted in a EUR 7.2 million revaluation gain and dilution to around 35%.
A fourth and final capital increase tranche is expected in the first semester 2026, which will further dilute IBA shareholding to 31% while generating an expected revaluation gain of EUR 5.5 million. We remind you that PanTera was valued at about EUR 290 million post-money in September 2024. Let's now have a look at our other new ventures. First, Mi2-factory in the field of semiconductors achieved a very important milestone with the finalization of the demo system specifications for its first machine based on updated market requirements. Post-period, an equipment development and purchase contract was executed with IBA for a value of EUR 15 million, covering the accelerator component of Mi2-factory's end-to-end solution.
ARCHADE, our carbon therapy project launched in collaboration with the Normandy region, reached an important de-risking milestone with the installation of the cyclotron superconductive coil on site. Cooling activities are in progress and generation of the first magnetic field is expected over the summer. In parallel, efforts are ongoing to secure short-term and long-term financing. Post-closing, ARCHADE secured the first tranches of the anticipated bridge funding from its funders and other preferential holders.
Turning to our sustainability agenda, 2025 delivered concrete progress that reinforces our ability to deliver sustainable growth and long-term value creation. We maintained strong momentum on decarbonization, remaining on track towards our Scope 1 and 2 reduction targets. More than 90% of our electricity now comes from renewable sources, supported by the continued rollout of our low-impact mobility policy. We also advanced the sustainability of our installed base.
In the U.S., the full system restoration at MGH is underway, upgrading the proton therapy system to modern standards while avoiding a carbon-intensive decommissioning and rebuild. Beyond environmental actions, we expanded our contribution to patient support. Through the Oncia Community, patients across Belgium, Spain, and France benefited from human-centered supportive care. Governance and value chain initiatives also progressed. We are proud to see our B Corp score increasing to 118 from 114 in 2024, and we published our first CSRD report.
Let's now close the business review section and move to the financials in more detail, and let's start with the commercial traction behind our performance in 2025. As mentioned earlier, we saw strong growth in equipment order intake, mainly driven by proton therapy, with order intake up 137%, achieving the second-best year ever in terms of rooms sold. From a regional perspective, overall commercial traction in 2025 was mainly driven by the APAC region, including seven out of the 12 PT rooms sold over the year. This contrasts with 2022, where growth was mainly driven by EMEA, boosted by the Spanish PT project.
The Americas have remained a solid core market for IBA across the years. Turning now to profitability, 2025 is driven by a record high top line, up 44% year-over-year, partially offset by a reduction in gross margin down to 32.2%, mainly new product and project mix. This resulted in a combined effect of additional EUR 31.5 million in gross margin. Operating expenses increased in nominal terms but progressed less than proportionally to revenue at 28% of sales compared with 30% in 2024. Within OpEx, the increase in G&A reflects selected investments to support business growth, including digital and organizational initiatives, but also the one-off impact of higher bad debt in IBA Clinical at around EUR 9 million following a prudent application of our risk policy.
Finally, R&D increased as we progress on key projects strengthening IBA's growth platform, including proton therapy imaging, DynamicARC, radiochemistry, and forever chemicals PFAS destruction. Let me now comment on the main items below Adjusted EBIT. They were mainly impacted by a project to migrate to SAP S/4HANA, which is expected to be completed in the first semester of 2026, and by a foreign exchange loss due to unfavorable currency fluctuations, in particular the U.S. dollar, which is largely non-cash.
In addition, hyperinflation in Argentina continued to negatively impact our proton therapy project in Buenos Aires for EUR 1.9 million in 2025. Impact was however reduced versus 2024 and will wane in 2026 as the project nears completion. Turning to PanTera, you will note a negative contribution under the equity method linked to a negative result and a EUR 7.2 million revaluation gain as already mentioned. If we turn to cash evolution, you can see that operating cash flows were negative over EUR 25 due to cyclical working capital movements. While inventories decreased compared to 2024, contract progress increased substantially, reflecting the high volume of project activity in 2025, with cost and revenue recognition progressing ahead of invoicing and cash collection.
This trend is expected to start improving over the second semester of 2026, partly thanks to the delivery of proton therapy projects in Spain and China, as outlined by Olivier, before accelerating in 2027. Investing cash flows include the ORA acquisition. As already announced in our Q3 2025 trading update, we closed a EUR 135 million refinancing package in November to strengthen our balance sheet structure and capture strategic opportunities. We have indeed in December partially financed the accretive ORA acquisition by drawing entirely our EUR 50 million acquisition term loan.
Building on the strong execution in 2025, we provide one-year guidance for 2026 of at least EUR 32 million of group Adjusted EBIT. With backlog at an all-time high and services contributing to growing recurring income, we reiterate our confidence in IBA's profitability trajectory while being mindful of the current macro and geopolitical environment. As a result, we reiterate the 2024-2028 outlook announced at last year's Capital Market Day. I will now hand over to Olivier for his concluding remarks.
Thank you very much, Catherine. To conclude, I would say that 2025 represents a key milestone for IBA. We delivered record high revenue and strong order intake, clearly reflecting the robustness of our commercial momentum across our businesses. Profitability improved meaningfully, supported in particular by the scale-up of proton therapy, driving the turnaround of our largest business unit back to profitability. At the same time, we continue to make disciplined and targeted strategic investments to support IBA's long-term growth.
Throughout the year, we also actively managed our financial position and funding, strengthening the group resilience in a volatile environment. Finally, full year 2025 guidance has been delivered, confirming the execution capabilities of our teams and the solid foundation of our transformation. With a strong backlog, clear growth drivers, and improved visibility, we enter 2026 with confidence and a clear trajectory ahead.
Thank you very much to the audience for listening to our results presentation. For information, you will find on this presentation the key dates from our financial calendar. We will now move on to the Q&A session. Please raise your virtual hands using the button at the bottom of your screen if you have a question, and unmute when we invite you to do so, starting with a brief introduction of yourself. I see already two raised hands, and we'll start with Frank Claassen. So you should be able to speak, Frank. Frank, we cannot hear you, or maybe we can start with David. He was the second in line.
Hello? Hello, this is Frank Claassen speaking. Can you hear me?
Yes. Yes, we can.
This is Frank Claassen of Degroof Petercam. I have two questions. First of all, on our gross margin, it declined in 2025 because of the low margin legacy contracts. What can we expect in 2026? Is that the legacy contracts, will that roll off? And hence, can we expect some gross margin improvement in 2026? That's my first question. And then secondly, on dosimetry, you're taking cost measures here. Can you elaborate what kind of cost measures, and will we already see the benefits in 2026 h ence, can we see margin improvement in 2026 already? Thank you.
I will take your first question and leave for Olivier the second question that you raised. Maybe to give a little bit more of color on the 25% gross margin, I would start by saying that indeed it was impacted, like we said in the past, by a project in proton therapy, where margins were lower than the typically targeted margin. It was also impacted by an unfavorable project mix in radiopharma. Compared to, let's say other years, we had those two effects. Dosimetry declined a little bit as well. Industrial solutions improved and proton therapy, and that's quite interesting.
Even if it's still impacted by those contracts that we signed with low margin, proton therapy improved compared to 2024. That's also a way to signal the trends over 2026. We expect indeed an improvement of gross margin in 2026 compared to 2025. This is led by three major trends. The first one is a kind of more healthy competitive dynamics in the proton therapy market.
Of course, it will take time before those contracts signed, especially in 2022, will be fully realized. The more we progress, the less important is the relative share of those contracts. Second element that you already mentioned is the scaling effect in proton therapy services, where we really improve general margin thanks to different efficiency measures that we implement. The last one is a more favorable mix in radiopharma with high-end applications.
When it comes to dosimetry, we have implemented actually a number of cost reduction measure, productivity measure to adjust to the vision we have on the market development while preserving the sustainability to continue R&D investment. The short answer to your question is yes, we can expect to see profitability improvement in dosimetry already in 2026.
Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We can now move to, David.
David Vagman.
Hello, David. Yep, we hear you, David.
Now it works.
Okay, cool. New systems, I'm not completely used to it. Thanks. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for taking my questions. First, a little bit on the question of Frank. On the 2026 guidance, I heard you comment on the gross margin. Can you also comment on the top line and the OpEx growth or additional OpEx investments that you're planning for 2026? Also related to 2026, could you explain to us what could be the impact of FX moves on the top line and also the gross margin if that plays a role? My third question on the bad debts, so y ou've mentioned in the press release that risk management played a role. Could you explain how you've changed your credit risk analysis? Thank you.
Okay. I will take your question on the evolution of the top line, OpEx and I think guidance overall in 2026. First, in terms of top line, you might remember that we realized the growth of the top line of 7% in 2024. We have now 24% in 2025. We mentioned in the Capital Market Day last year that we expected a front-loaded growth. In total, on 2024-2028, a trajectory that was announced with a range 5%-7% growth per annum overall. What we can say is that we confirm the range, but we expect also to land at the high end of this range.
We need to have in mind that 2025 was particularly strong in terms of revenue. Each year over the periods may not be as solid top-line wise. Of course, what we will focus on is to improve the profitability overall versus a very aggressive top-line growth. It brings me to your question more generally on the guidance gross margin and OpEx. Like already stated, we can expect an improvement of the gross margin in 2026 versus 2025. OpEx are expected to grow a little bit as well, but quite reasonably. You might remember that in terms of OpEx, we took the commitment to maintain them at maximum 30% of the sales.
That's the reason why, if you have in mind the 28% of this year, it will remain relatively moderate as a whole. In terms of overall guidance, I think that we can say that we have been, at this stage, relatively cautious for 2026. The guidance that we give is like in 2025, one to beat and not necessarily to meet. I think we need to have in mind that the macroeconomic environment is uncertain. In this context, we remain cautious at this stage and give a guidance that underwrites those uncertainties. As we continue to progress in execution over the year, we might update the guidance. All in all, 2026 guidance is on track to achieve an EBIT margin of around 10% in 2028.
Regarding the bad debt, which was your other question. So in terms of management of the bad debt, the first element I would like to stress is that we, of course, have a policy based on which we try to secure payment through a number of elements like letters of credit risk insurance, bank payments, guarantees and other instruments, b ut in 2025, we booked close to EUR 9 million, EUR 8.7 million, a little bit in an exceptional way. It's primarily linked to two PT customers in China, in the U.S. We are still in discussion with those customers, so we don't exclude to recover part of the amount later. We believed at this stage it was more cautious to book those bad debts.
Thank you. A follow-up on my question on FX, or it could be the more underpinning cost margin.
Yeah. FX is of course quite difficult to predict the evolution. You know that we have a hedging policy, but which tends to hedge the cash exposure and not the P&L exposure. We might remain exposed to a fluctuation, especially versus the dollar, which are of course quite difficult to predict.
Is it more of a negative with your cost in euro and your revenues in dollar, or is it?
It depends on the type of activities we have. If you look at the services, taking into account that the vast majority of the activities are local, there we have a kind of natural hedge between the cost and the revenues. For equipment there, we still have a supplier base which is in Europe and in Belgium. We tend to do our acquisition or purchase in euro. Then we sell in different currencies. In all negotiations with the customers, we always try to sell in euros, but you can imagine that sometimes it's not accepted by the customer, and there we hedge the position from a cash perspective.
Okay. Thank you very much.
There could be no more questions. No one else raising their or his hands.
Otherwise, I have another question.
Thank you.
Yes. On the net debt evolution. If you could comment, and also, okay, on 2026, but also maybe give us some perspective on 2028.
Yeah.
Thank you.
On the net debt evolution, first you saw the figures on 2025. I will repeat them for the sake of clarity. We ended at a financial net debt position of EUR 58, but like- for- like, it would have been EUR 41 if we don't take into account the acquisition of ORA, which was, of course, liquidated at the end of 2025 and fully funded with debt. Now, going forward, that was your question. 2026 will still be impacted by the low margin contract that we have signed mainly in 2022.
What we expect is that as from the second semester of 2026, mainly the second semester, with more devices shipped and expected payments linked to the shipment of those devices, the cash situation is expected to improve over the second semester compared to the situation at the end of 2025, but still remaining negative in the sense of net financial debt position at the end of 2026. We will need to wait 2027 to see an improvement with, let's say, a reversal in our working capital cycle, and end the year on a positive situation rather than a net financial debt. This positive trend is expected to continue in 2028. Of course, all this is based on the assumption that we have payment from the customers like we had in the past, so based on a historical type of payment.
Okay. Thanks very much.
Okay. It's the time to raise your hands if you want to ask the last questions. That mean no one is in the queue. Okay. Hello. So Mathias Maenhaut, you should have the floor open. I think you have to click on unmute to make sure we can hear you. Okay.
He will have to go.
Okay. I think Mathias was having a technical issue and left the call. Danny? Danny, you can unmute yourself and ask the question.
Does it work now?
Yes.
Yeah, it does. Hello, Danny.
It's a strange technology for an old guy like me. Just, on dosimetry, I thought, I don't know if I heard from someone that, you would be thinking about exiting this business again, or was that a false rumor? Profitability there is really, really disappointing. What's the future of this division?
For dosimetry, we confirm that we continue to see it as a valuable activities well anchored into IBA's portfolio of activities and notably with a very strong connection to the proton therapy market. Yes, it was a fake news that you've heard.
Okay. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
Maybe an additional question from my side. I saw that there were three PT contracts for which the services contracts were discontinued. Three PT rooms for which the contracts were discontinued on the services side. Do you see more of your portfolio of existing PT systems at risk where the maintenance could be discontinued?
I think one of them is one in Russia. We don't have any additional site in Russia, so we had to indeed discontinue service in Russia even though the site is still operating. The other one was one of the first site that we have installed. It was in China and we proposed the customer to either upgrade the site like MGH did or we could not ensure regulatory compliance anymore, and we had to discontinue. Back to your question, no, I don't expect more of this kind of situation.
The third one, to be very precise, is MGH. We temporarily stop. It's because we are doing the refurbishment of the site there.
Mm-hmm.
Of course, we expect to renew the contract.
Yes.
Once the refurbishment is done.
Exactly.
Okay. Thank you.
Danny, I think you have another question.
Yes. On proton therapy, since you have around 65% of new market share, can you comment on your pricing power? Do you use your strength to have better pricing and margins, et cetera? Because there's still a long way to go, I guess.
Well, I think on new contracts we are where we want to be in terms of pricing. All of them remain competitive. There is not one single deal where we are alone, so we need to remain within the industry benchmark. In all new contracts, we are on industry benchmark. We're back to where we want to be in terms of gross margin.
Yeah. Well, for us, it's a bit hard to understand if you have such a high market share, why you say that you have to remain within industry benchmark. That seems hard to understand for me as an outsider. One would think that you would have stronger pricing power then if the market is so competitive, then it means that you're not so unique or maybe I understand wrongly.
I think it is all. We have a dominant market share, but market is competitive. I think we have a genuine competitive advantage that makes us win and not win on price. There's a limit to that. You know, once again, it's not that we don't have competitor. We have competitor, and they are credible enough, let's say, but we are more credible to win more deals with some kind of not on price, but on genuine value of our proposal.
Oh, okay. Thanks. Now I understand. Just another rumor I heard was that the PFAS Project wasn't going that well, but Catherine explained it. It seems to be progressing. Perhaps could you say a little bit more on the prospects of the PFAS Project?
Maybe you should tell us where all these rumors are coming from.
Well, I think it comes from a discussion I had. In terms of PFAS, there are different applications or solutions that we were looking for in water, but also in, let's say, solid elements. On solid elements, I think from a scientific point, we didn't see a solution that would lead to a satisfactory business case. On water, the tests are positive from a scientific point of view, and we are now working on a positive business case together with partner.
[Non-English content]. That's why rumors are good. Now I understand. This is precisely the right context. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Danny. Okay. Anyone else or follow-on questions? Okay. It seems we have answered all questions that were raised. Many thanks again for attending the call and supporting IBA throughout our journey. We wish you a good end of day or start of day, depending on where you are, and happy to maintain a dialogue going forward. Many thanks.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
Thank you.