Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Michael Sen. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I herewith open the Annual General Meeting 2026 of Fresenius AG, Fresenius Medical Care AG, and in accordance with the articles of association, take chair of this Annual General Meeting. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to you.
I would also like to welcome those who are following the publicly broadcast part of today's AGM on the internet. My introductory remarks, the speech of Mrs. Giza, the CEO, and personal introductions of the new members of the Management Board will be broadcast to the interested public via the internet. These parts of the annual general meeting will be recorded and made available later on the company's website.
I also cordially welcome the members of the Management Board and would like to introduce them personally. On my left, Helen Giza. She serves as the Chief Executive Officer and is also responsible for the Value-Based Care segment, which include value and risk-based care programs. Craig Cordola is responsible for the Care Delivery segment encompassing the global healthcare services business. Martin Fischer serves as Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Jörg Häring is responsible for law, compliance, and HR. Charles Hugh-Jones holds the position of Global Chief Medical Officer.
Joseph Turk is responsible for the Care Enablement segment, which combines our global business under a cohesive global medical technology framework. That all the members of the Management Board are attending in person here today. I will address later in more detail the personal changes on the executive board since the last AGM.
From the Supervisory Board, I would like to welcome the Deputy Chair, Stefanie Balling; the shareholder representatives, Sara Hennicken , Shervin Korangy, Dr. Marcus Kuhnert, and Gregory Sorensen; as well as the additional employee representatives, Ralf Erkens, Beate Haßdenteufel, Regina Karsch, Frank Michael Prescher, and Dr. Manuela Stauss-Grabo. From the Supervisory Board, I would also like to welcome Mrs. Pascale Witz. Mrs. Witz is unable to attend this meeting in person due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict and will therefore join us via video and audio link.
As you can see right now. I would also like to welcome the notaries, Dr. Carsten Angersbach and Jochen Rothmann. Dr. Angersbach, seated next to me on the left as seen from you, has been entrusted with the task of taking the minutes of this Annual General Meeting, and Mr. Rothmann is responsible for recording any statements, written questions, motions, or election nominations.
However, please note that written questions, motions or nominations can only be considered if they are again verbally presented during the meeting. Mr. Rothmann is seated at the speaker registration desk seen from you at the front right of this room. I would also like to welcome the proxies nominated by the company, as well as the representatives of our auditor. Dear shareholders, we are clearly living in new times defined by geopolitical uncertainty, transactional global relationships, and market volatility.
At the same time, artificial intelligence and digitalization are transforming whole industries at an unprecedented pace. For a global healthcare company such as Fresenius Medical Care, adaptability or flexibility is not optional. It is decisive. It is a must. The ability to recognize changes early on and anticipate them will be essential for success. The company laid the groundwork for this last year.
With the successful implementation of the multi-year FME25 turnaround and transformation program, the company has strengthened its operational foundation. Fresenius Medical Care is now more robust, more efficient, and more flexible or adaptable than it was just a few years ago. Building on that, Fresenius Medical Care extended the program under the name FME25+ for an additional two years. FME25+ is designed to further improve operational excellence and deliver additional sustainable cost savings beyond the original 2025 savings target.
Fresenius Medical Care looks back on a strong year. Financial performance and margins have improved. Leverage has been reduced. Organic revenue growth reached 8% at constant currency, driven by positive contributions from all our operating segments. Supported by a very strong fourth quarter, operating income before special items increased by 27% for the full year, reaching the upper end of the financial guidance. The operating margin rose to 11.3%.
With this, Fresenius Medical Care has delivered on its key commitments to strengthen its own competitiveness and become more resilient, and enables the company to embark on its new phase of development, FME Reignite. Reignite means to rekindle. In other words, to bring energy and momentum through a more efficient organization and the close integration of treatments, products, and innovation. Fresenius Medical Care aims to achieve above-average profitable growth, thereby creating value for patients, employees, partners, and the company.
In the past fiscal year, the Management Board concentrated on optimizing core operations and further elevating quality of care and clinical outcomes. At the same time, the company continued to expand its Value-Based Care business. In kidney diseases, this business shifts incentives from treatment volume to measurable outcomes. Since the third quarter 2025, Value-Based Care is, alongside Care Delivery and Care Enablement, the third operating segment.
Previously, it was part of the Care Delivery segment. The shift of Value-Based Care to its own operating segment is meant to increase transparency in financial reporting. This allows you, dear shareholders, greater insight. The global stock markets recorded significant gains in the course of the past year. In the U.S., growth in the leading S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial indices were driven again by technology and AI companies.
However, uncertainties stemming from U.S. customs and healthcare policies have put particular pressure on companies in the U.S. healthcare sector. Against this backdrop, Fresenius Medical Care's share price ended the year modestly lower. At the same time, analyst valuations increased. Price targets rose. This shows growing recognition for the FME strategy and its implementation. Dear shareholders, your participation in Fresenius Medical Care should be worthwhile.
Fresenius Medical Care introduced a new and more stringent capital allocation framework in June last year. This framework reflects a continued disciplined and transparent approach to capital deployment. Due to the dividend policy and large-scale share buyback program, you can directly participate in the company's improved performance. For fiscal year 2025, the company's management proposes a dividend of EUR 1.49 per entitled share. This represents a 3% increase.
In 2025, the company initiated a EUR 1 billion share buyback program. The first tranche was completed early at the end of December, and in late April 2026 of this year, the second tranche of approximately EUR 450 million followed. The share buyback program was just concluded significantly quicker than originally planned in less than a year. Ladies and gentlemen, scaling innovation is essential for healthcare companies to remain relevant in the future and provide the best possible care to patients.
It is, and I am convinced, to be a key driver of the company's new strategy. One important example for innovation with measurable patient benefits is a new high-volume hemodiafiltration therapy and the market introduction of the 5008X CAREsystem in the U.S. Hemodiafiltration is the optimal in-center treatment for kidney failure, better cleaning a patient's blood. After clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, the company began rolling out its 5008X dialysis system across the U.S. in late 2025.
The nationwide commercialization began this year. Patients benefit from this new standard of care. For Fresenius Medical Care, this rollout of the 5008X represents the largest infrastructure upgrade in the company's history. Innovations are successful, and I'm convinced of that, when they benefit people and when, at the same time, they are scalable. In this respect, Fresenius Medical Care continues to invest in future technologies consistently, such as advances in membrane engineering for innovative new dialysis and medical devices for better therapies. The network of the company is a significant competitive edge.
Ladies and gentlemen, outstanding products, a motivated team, and strong leadership are essential for long-term success. The Supervisory Board sees itself as a committed partner and advisor to the Management Board and supports it in strategically developing the company. The Supervisory Board and the Management Board work together in a spirit of trust. At the beginning of this year, the Management Board evolved in line with the company's strategic priorities. Joseph E. Turk assumed his expanded role as CEO for Care Enablement, and Charles Hugh-Jones joined the Board as a Global Chief Medical Officer.
On behalf of the Supervisory Board, I wish Mr. Turk and Mr. Hugh-Jones every success in their new roles. At the same time, I would like to extend my deep gratitude to Dr. Katarzyna Mazur-Hofsäß and Franklin W. Maddux for their long and successful services to the company. I would also like to thank Martin Fischer for his reappointment as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Management Board. As announced yesterday, the Supervisory Board has renewed his office term by another five years until 2031. It shows a strong expression of trust in his leadership qualities and the important contribution to the long-term success of the company.
Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Supervisory Board, I thank the Management Board and above all 110,000 employees for their performance. 44 million dialysis treatments and supplying life-sustaining medical technology for patients in 140 countries are impressive figures. I would like to extend my special thanks to Helen Giza for her dedicated and successful work. Under her leadership, the global team has grown even closer and achieved great things. I would also like to thank my colleagues on the Supervisory Board for their excellent, respectful collaboration.
Finally, I would like to say thanks to you, our shareholders, for your continued trust. Fresenius Medical Care did a lot of things right last year and is now well-positioned. The company is more innovative and resilient. With FME Reignite, the company has a compelling strategy and a team that is successfully implementing it. I am therefore confident that Fresenius Medical Care will continue to provide top-tier kidney care in the future while also achieving financial success. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, before we proceed to the agenda, I would like to point out some necessary formalities.
In the interest of streamlining the proceedings of the AGM in a practical and appropriate manner, I will limit myself to announcing the essential points. For more organizational details, please refer to the information sheet you received at the entrance when presenting your admission tickets. Copies of the information sheet are also available at the information desk in the foyer. Since the invitation to the annual general meeting, all required documents and information have been accessible on the company's website.
They can also be inspected today at the information desk. As announced in the invitation to the Annual General Meeting, the administration's resolution proposal regarding agenda Item II has been amended as the number of shares entitled to dividends has further decreased due to the share buyback program that was carried out. The proposed dividend remains unchanged at EUR 1.49 per share entitled to dividend.
The amended solution proposal is also available on the company's website and can be inspected at the information desk. As meeting room, I exclusively designate this large room, namely the Harmony Room. I would like to point out already now that voting will only be possible here in this room. Requests to speak and motions are also possible only in this room. The attendance area of this AGM in the meeting of the Stock Corporation Act includes the entire C2 upper floor of the Congress Center Frankfurt, which is delimited by the registration desk on the ground floor, as well as the C0 foyer on the ground floor, including the adjacent rooms accessible to the shareholders.
You leave the attendance area, and therefore the AGM, when you pass the registration desk on floor C0. If you wish to leave the AGM prematurely, please sign out at the registration desk. Even if you only temporarily leave the AGM, please check in at the registration desk so that attendance can be accurately recorded. At the registration desk, your admission tickets were scanned for determining attendance. The part of the admission ticket that was returned to you at the registration desk is your voting card. If you possess more than one admission ticket and have not presented all of them, please do so at the registration desk in good time before voting starts.
This is necessary to ensure that all shares you represent are included in the attendance list and considered in the votes. The Annual General Meeting will be transmitted acoustically to the designated upper floor, C2, and the adjoining rooms accessible to the shareholders. In this area, you can also follow the simultaneous translation using the receivers which were handed over to you when entering the meeting room.
This acoustic transmission is a voluntary service so that you can follow the Annual General Meeting at any time. Supplies also do the simultaneous translation into English. However, the company does not guarantee that the acoustic transmission outside the meeting room will always work perfectly. Neither can the company guarantee for the correctness of the content or for the continuous technical availability of the simultaneous translation.
Please also note that the reception range of the receivers may be limited in some adjoining rooms. The company offers its shareholders the option to be represented by proxies nominated by the company to exercise their voting rights. They will exercise the voting rights exclusively in accordance with the instructions given to them. Without clear instructions, the proxies appointed by the company cannot act on your behalf.
To grant a proxy authorization to the company-appointed proxies, please use the corresponding section on your voting card. There you can provide instructions according to your voting preferences. Please submit the voting card with your instructions at the registration desk. Voting instructions can only be given until voting starts. Our staff at the registration desks are happy to assist you with any questions regarding registration, as well as granting proxy authorizations and giving instructions. I would like to ask those shareholders or shareholder representatives who wish to speak to submit their request to speak at the speaker registration desk as early as possible.
You can obtain the relevant forms at the speaker registration desk located here at the front on your right. To ensure the orderly proceeding of the meeting, I will only give the floor to those shareholders, shareholder representatives who have submitted a request to speak form at the speaker registration desk. If you wish to raise procedural motions or motions regarding the conduct of the meeting, please note on the request to speak form an appropriate keyword relating to the subject of your motion.
This will support us in handling the motion, especially whether the speaker should be given priority in speaking. During the debate on the agenda items, I will ask those who have submitted a request to speak to come to the lectern for making their comments. The lectern is located to the right of the podium, close to the speaker's registration desk.
For the benefit of all shareholders and to facilitate the efficient conduct of today's AGM, I would like to point out that only speeches relating to today's agenda are permitted. Please bear this in mind when requesting to speak. I would also like to point out that for the contributions made during this AGM, German is the official language. Therefore, if you wish to speak, you must do so in German. Contributions made in languages other than German cannot be included in the minutes.
The AGM, except for my introductory remarks, Mrs. Giza's speech, and the personal introduction of the new members of the Management Board, will not be recorded. The cameras set up are used only to transmit the event to the screen and to the back office, where staff supporting us in conducting the general meeting are located. The respective speaker will be prominently displayed on the screen during their speech. If you do not wish to be displayed in this manner, please let us know briefly. I trust on your understanding that participants of the AGM are not permitted to make video or audio recordings.
This applies also to video and audio recordings made with mobile phones. I would like to ask you to mute your mobile phones while you are here in the meeting room. These were my organizational remarks. Ladies and gentlemen, we now proceed to the agenda. The agenda has been available on the company's website since the convening of the AGM. You also received information on this via your custodian banks.
I assume that the agenda is known. You can also find the amended resolution proposal regarding Item II of the agenda on the company's website, the speaker's registration desk, and the information desk. Prior to the Annual General Meeting, the company did not receive any countermotions or election nominations to be made accessible with regard to any of the items on the agenda. I now call upon Item I of the agenda and invite Miss Helen Giza to explain the relevant documents and also discuss the outlook for the current fiscal year. Please, Mrs. Giza.
Thank you, Michael. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, colleagues, and guests. I am very pleased to welcome you to the 2026 Annual General Meeting of Fresenius Medical Care. It is always a privilege to speak with you, and especially so today as we reflect on a year that marked an inflection point in our FME25 program and the start of a new chapter for our company. Fresenius Medical Care has the aspiration to lead kidney care through exceptional patient care and innovation. One year ago, I stood before you at the AGM speaking about momentum.
Today I stand before you speaking about delivery, acceleration, and confidence in what comes next. This is a pivotal moment for Fresenius Medical Care and for the future of kidney care. The burden of kidney disease is rising, driven by an aging population and the rise of chronic disease. As more patients progress to advanced stages of kidney disease, healthcare systems around the world are adapting to respond to this challenge. Improvements in therapy, earlier engagement in care, and evolving clinical expectations are also changing how kidney disease is treated and how its impact is understood across health systems.
We can already see this shift underway in the healthcare environment in which we operate. Chronic kidney disease is receiving increased attention as a major public health challenge across healthcare systems worldwide. Patients are reengaging with nephrology care as new therapies extend life into later stages of disease. Advanced therapies such as high volume hemodiafiltration, or HDF, are raising clinical expectations for the standard of care. Health authorities are increasingly factoring the clinical, public health, and economic impact of kidney disease into national planning.
Fresenius Medical Care is and will continue to be an important contributor to kidney care's future. We operate a highly trusted leading global dialysis network. Our technologies support more than half of the world's dialysis patients. We bring the rich data, clinical expertise, and vertically integrated platform that the healthcare system increasingly needs, and that few others can match at global scale. This is why the pace of execution matters, and it is only because of what we delivered in 2025 that we are positioned to lead with confidence today, operationally, strategically, and culturally.
Let me turn now to what we delivered in 2025. 2025 marked the culmination of our FME25 turnaround and transformation, a multi-year effort to fundamentally strengthen Fresenius Medical Care. Despite a challenging external environment, we set out to make this company healthier, more resilient, and more disciplined, and I am proud to say we delivered. In 2025, we achieved meaningful progress across our global business. We supplied life-sustaining medical technology for patients in 140 countries, and we delivered more than 44 million dialysis treatments worldwide.
We strengthened the operational and financial foundation of this company. We closed the year at the upper end of our outlook with solid revenue results and strong operating income growth. Our group operating margin increased to 11.3%, up from just 7.9% just three years ago, firmly within our midterm target range of 10%-14%. This improvement reflects strong execution, accelerated efficiency gains under FME25, and positive regulatory and reimbursement effects, with contributions from all three operating segments. Equally important, we strengthened our balance sheet.
By the end of 2025, we reduced our net leverage ratio to 2.5x , the low end of our target range, down from 3.4x in 2022. This reflects a clear commitment to financial discipline, capital efficiency, and long-term resilience. Our ambition did not stop at the original FME25 targets. In 2025, we expanded this program to FME25+ , extending both its scope and ambition. I am pleased to share that FME25+ is on track to deliver EUR 1.2 billion in sustainable savings by 2027. By the end of 2025, we had already achieved EUR 804 million in savings, significantly exceeding the original target of EUR 500 million.
With the transformation complete, we now turn our focus to the future. At our Capital Markets Day in June of 2025, we introduced FME Reignite, our five-year strategy through 2030. Our ambition is clear. We strive to deliver industry-leading outcomes, generate margins with above-market growth, and drive value creation. FME Reignite is built on three pillars. First, reignite the core through continued operational excellence.
Second, reignite growth and innovation by enhancing clinical outcomes and patient safety through our products. Third, reignite our culture by empowering our people and strengthening accountability. Across Fresenius Medical Care, this strategy is already taking shape. In Care Delivery, we remain focused on quality, patient outcomes, and productivity, improving survival, reducing mistreatments, and enhancing the patient experience through innovative therapies and more efficient clinic operations.
In Value-Based Care, we continue to take responsibility for integrated Care Delivery. We are making progress across key quality metrics, including optimal starts for patients transitioning to end-stage renal disease. In Care Enablement, we are accelerating profitable growth through commercial excellence, operational efficiency, and innovation. This brings me to one of the most important milestones of the year. Fresenius Medical Care operates at the intersection of essential care and med tech innovation.
Few areas of healthcare are shaped more strongly by demographic forces or carry greater responsibility than kidney care. Few companies are as uniquely positioned as we are to deliver innovation at scale to patients who need it most. In 2025, we reached a major milestone with the U.S. FDA approval of our HDF-capable 5008X CAREsystem. This approval enabled the introduction of high-volume HDF therapy in select U.S. clinics, laying the groundwork for the full commercial launch that is currently underway in 2026.
HDF is already the standard of dialysis care in many countries across Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. This therapy builds on robust clinical evidence, including the EU-funded CONVINCE study, showing meaningful improvements in survival, reduced hospitalization, and better quality of life for patients compared to conventional dialysis. Early feedback from U.S. patients and clinic teams has been highly encouraging.
Patients report higher energy, better sleep, and faster recovery. Staff describe quieter, more efficient workflows enabled by automation and smarter systems. We are launching this therapy in the U.S. from an already strong foundation. In the United States, nearly 90% of in-center dialysis machines are Fresenius Medical Care devices. The transition to the 5008X will be the largest infrastructure upgrade in our company's history and a defining moment for kidney care in the United States. Disciplined strategy requires disciplined capital allocation.
Under FME Reignite, we introduced a new framework focused on stable and predictable shareholder returns. In 2025, we started the execution of our EUR 1 billion share buyback program, and in late April 2026, we concluded the second tranche on an accelerated timeline with a repurchase volume of approximately EUR 415 million.
In total, we repurchased more than 24.8 million of our shares, or around 8.5% of our share capital, all based on the authorization granted by the 2021 Annual General Meeting. We intend to cancel the repurchased shares, thereby increasing our shareholders' stake in our company. For the 2025 financial year, the Management Board and Supervisory Board propose a dividend of EUR 1.49 per share entitled to a dividend.
A 3% increase year-over-year, representing a payout ratio well within our stated target range. This reflects both confidence in our performance and commitment to you, our shareholders. Looking ahead, our 2026 outlook reflects a disciplined focus on sustaining our higher performance baseline. While we expect growth in Care Delivery and Care Enablement, we are planning for broadly flat revenue, largely due to changes in Value-Based Care risk contracting.
Operating income is expected to remain stable, with a mid-single-digit range up or down as we balance enhanced profitability with investments and regulatory headwinds. At the group level, this translates into a margin range of 10.5%-12%. 2026 is an important year as we position the company for sustained value creation. As outlined at our Capital Markets Day last June, margin improvement in Care Delivery is weighted towards the later stages of our strategy program. While Care Enablement shows steady progress.
To increase transparency, we have added a 2025- 2028 aspiration. We see a clear path to operating income growth with a 3%-7% compound annual growth rate through 2028. This will be driven by disciplined execution of our FME Reignite strategy. Most notably, the U.S. rollout of the 5008X, our quality initiatives to reduce mistreatments and improve survival, continued gains in revenue cycle management, and growing sustainable savings from our FME25 program. We expect low to mid-single-digit revenue growth in Care Delivery and mid-single-digit growth in Care Enablement. Across the group, our ambition remains clear. Industry-leading margins in every segment.
This translates to a mid-teens operating margin at the group level, with similar performance ambitions for Care Delivery and Care Enablement and low single-digit margins in Value-Based Care, reflecting its earlier-stage economics. Taken together, these priorities position us well to improve patient lives around the world, while at the same time showing continued sustainable value creation in the years ahead. None of this progress is possible without exceptional talent and leadership. At the beginning of this year, we welcomed two leaders to the Fresenius Medical Care Management Board.
Joe Turk, who was elevated to the role of CEO for Care Enablement, and Charles Hugh-Jones, who joined the company as our Global Chief Medical Officer. Just yesterday, the Supervisory Board reappointed Martin Fischer as Chief Financial Officer and Management Board member for a five-year term until 2031. Martin has been a trusted partner in driving performance and discipline across the company, and I look forward to continuing our close collaboration as we execute our strategy. I also want to thank the entire Management Board for their continued leadership, discipline, and constructive partnership in delivering on our commitments.
All of this is made possible by the trust and support of an actively engaged Chairman and Supervisory Board. I thank you. We continue to strengthen our high-performance culture rooted in accountability, empowerment, and collaboration, brought to life by how we care, how we connect, and how we commit. Reigniting our culture means being clear about expectations and equally clear about purpose. Every day, around 110,000 colleagues worldwide bring that purpose to life. They care by delivering high-quality treatment with skill, compassion, and professionalism, often under challenging conditions.
They connect patients, families, and each other to build trust and continuity of care. They commit with a deep sense of responsibility for the lives that depend on us. Together, we have built a Fresenius Medical Care that is stronger, more focused, and better equipped to navigate complexity than at any point in recent history. In 2025, we proved that we can deliver, that we can execute a complex transformation, strengthen our foundation, and restore performance with discipline and reliability. Under FME Reignite, and particularly through Reignite the Core, we are executing from that position of strength. We have a clear strategy. We have strong financial foundations.
We have the science, the systems, and the people to deliver. Ultimately, everything we do must serve the people who depend on us. At Fresenius Medical Care, patients are not a segment or a statistic. They are the reason this company exists. Every decision we make about quality, innovation, capital allocation, and growth is guided by a simple question: Does this improve the lives of people living with kidney disease? To our shareholders, thank you for your continued trust and support. It enables us to execute our strategy, advance innovation, and create sustainable long-term value.
We do not take trust lightly because earning the trust of patients who rely on us for life-sustaining care is the responsibility that comes with the scale we have built. That is the standard we hold ourselves to. That is how Fresenius Medical Care will continue to deliver for patients and their loved ones, for partners, and for shareholders. For creating a future worth living for patients worldwide, every day. Thank you.
Yeah. [Non-English content ] Thank you very much, Ms. Giza. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to briefly address the changes to the company's Management Board. The Supervisory Board appointed Charles Hugh-Jones as the new Global Chief Medical Officer and Member of the Management Board effective January 1st, 2026. Charles Hugh-Jones. Charles Hugh-Jones has thus taken over as the planned successor to Frank Maddux, who stepped down from the Management Board and retired at the end of the fiscal year 2025. We have here Hugh-Jones. Mr. Hugh-Jones, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you once again. Since this is the first time for you here on the podium, I would like to ask you to briefly introduce yourself to the shareholders.
Good morning, members of the Supervisory Board, members of the Management Board, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. My name is Charles Hugh-Jones, and thank you for the opportunity to speak today at an important moment for Fresenius Medical Care. I'd also like to start by thanking Michael Sen, Helen Giza, and the members of the Supervisory Board for the trust that they've placed in me in taking on the role of Global Chief Medical Officer for the company. I'm a physician by training. I began my medical career in the United Kingdom.
I specialized in internal medicine and radiology, and I had an early interest that went beyond individual patient care to include how systems, how evidence, and governance improve patient outcomes at scale. This perspective led me into global medical leadership roles across healthcare, international pharmaceutical organizations, including Pfizer, Sanofi, and Allergan. Later into an entrepreneurial environment as a Biotech Chief Executive Officer, where innovation, risk and accountability are closely linked.
Across all those roles, one principle has remained constant, that the strongest healthcare organizations combine patient focus, scientific rigor with careful strategy, and responsible leadership. I was excited to join Fresenius Medical Care for several reasons. Firstly, we have a unique position in global healthcare. We have global scale, we're clinically complex in a highly regulated environment, and we have a direct impact on patients' lives every day. Secondly, we're at a moment of strategic transformation. We have the opportunity not only to respond to change but to actively shape the future of kidney care.
Thirdly, we have a purpose-driven culture. We have a strong and consistent commitment to putting the patient first. I've seen a deep employee identification with the company's mission, and that culture is rare, and it's a true strategic asset for us. This is a culture that needs to be protected and strengthened as the company evolves. Now, the Global Medical Office exists to ensure that patient outcomes are absolutely central to how Fresenius Medical Care operates and strategically evolves.
It requires medical judgment, scientific evidence. In the GMO, we have three focus areas. The first is patient safety, quality, and consistency. Everything begins and ends with the patient, and it's the GMO's responsibility to define high standards of quality and safety in patient care, and then apply them consistently across regions to continuously improve outcomes at scale. The second focus area for the Global Medical Organization is evidence and scientific credibility.
Long-term value in healthcare depends on trust. It's trust from patients, it's trust from clinicians, from regulators, from partners, and society at large. Trust is built on strong evidence. GMO's role is to ensure that evidence is generated and disseminated responsibly and used to inform sound clinical and business decisions. The third area for the Global Medical Office, GMO, is future-focused medical strategy.
We all know healthcare is evolving rapidly. New therapies that are helping patients, new technology. We're seeing a changing regulatory expectation. We're seeing shifting patient needs. The Global Medical Organization must lead in anticipating and defining what is coming next in Care Delivery, in Value-Based Care, in Care Enablement. Seeing opportunities to improve patient outcomes, but at the same time support the business to position Fresenius Medical Care to lead responsibly, these priorities ultimately will support better patient outcomes and build sustainable long-term value creation.
I joined Fresenius Medical Care because of its mission for patients, its people, and its potential to shape the future of kidney and critical care worldwide. I look forward to working closely with the management board, the supervisory board, colleagues across the organization, and thank you to your trust in helping me do so. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Hugh-Jones. Mr. Hugh-Jones, we are delighted to have you on board for this important role and wish you every success at Fresenius Medical Care. In addition, the Supervisory Board appointed Joseph Turk, a member of the Management Board effective January 1st, 2026. Joseph Turk is responsible for the Care Enablement segment and has taken over as the planned successor to Dr. Katarzyna Mazur-Hofsäß, who also stepped down from the Management Board and retired at the end of the 2025 fiscal year. We are very pleased that we've been able to recruit Joseph Turk for this important role. Since today is also the first time that the shareholders see you on the podium, Mr. Turk, I'd also like you to briefly introduce yourself to them as well.
[Non-English content] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, and esteemed members of the Fresenius Medical Care Supervisory Board, my name is Joe Turk, and it is a great honor to address you today as Chief Executive Officer of Care Enablement. I have spent my entire professional career in medical technology and healthcare-related industries, always with a consistent focus on innovation and patient-centered care.
Earlier in my career, I held roles at Deloitte, at McKinsey & Company, and Boston Scientific. These experiences gave me a strong foundation in strategy, operations, and business development and shaped the way I think about advancing innovation, building organizations, and creating value in dynamic healthcare environments. A defining chapter of my career was my time at NxStage Medical, where I had the privilege of serving as President.
Together with a dedicated team, we helped pioneer innovation in home dialysis and expanded access to therapies that truly enable patients to live more independently. That experience had a very lasting impact on me. It showed me how powerful innovation can be when it's closely connected to the real needs of patients. That perspective continues to shape how I look at our opportunities today. I joined Fresenius Medical Care in 2019 following the acquisition of NxStage.
Since then, I've had a number of responsibilities, leadership responsibilities across Care Enablement and Care Delivery, including our global home and critical care business, as well as U.S. commercial operations. These roles have given me a broad perspective on our portfolio, our customers, and our opportunities across regions and healthcare systems worldwide. They've also strengthened my belief that Fresenius Medical Care is uniquely positioned to lead kidney care through the combination of technology, clinical expertise, and global scale.
Academically, I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Wabash College and a Master of Management degree in Marketing, Finance, and Operations from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Before turning to the future, I'd like to express my sincere thanks to Michael Sen, Helen Giza, and the members of the Supervisory Board for the trust they've placed in me on taking on this responsibility.
I am grateful for that confidence, and I accept it with a strong sense of commitment to our patients, our employees, our customers, and you, our shareholders. As we move forward, the direction for Care Enablement is clear. It's focused, and it's grounded in execution. It's anchored in four strategic priorities: advancing commercial excellence globally, improving productivity across manufacturing and supply chain, stabilizing and adapting in key markets, particularly China, and arguably most important for the future, delivering leading innovations to patients with speed and discipline.
This is the key to growth and increasing value capture in our next era. Clearly, we must do all of this while strengthening our market-leading quality and patient safety across markets. This is one of the most important reasons customers trust us with their business, patients trust us or trust our technologies with their care, and we differentiate ourselves from the competition. These priorities define how we intend to deliver sustainable growth and long-term value.
Neither operational excellence nor innovation in isolation are sufficient. We will deliver both. We are committed to translating these into reliable performance, increased outcomes, and tangible value for patients, providers, and shareholders alike. At the same time, we're realistic about the environment we're operating in. We need to navigate significant headwinds, continued pricing and reimbursement pressure, geopolitical challenges, and regulatory dynamics, such as in China. Our focus is to manage these challenges with discipline while continuing to strengthen performance and support long-term value creation.
That said, we're entering a time of significant opportunity. Our innovation pipeline is strong and highly relevant to the needs of the markets we serve. This includes the continued rollout of the 5008X CAREsystem and making high-volume hemodiafiltration the standard of care for in-center dialysis globally. It also includes advancements in acute renal care with our unique and transformative anticoagulation technology, and it includes the next generation of home and digital solutions.
These developments expand our capabilities while strengthening our ability to shape the future of kidney care in ways that are clinically meaningful and economically sustainable. We're also in a strong position as a company. Few organizations can match our reach, our expertise, and our presence across the continuum of care. The combined strengths of Care Enablement, Care Delivery, Value-Based Care, and our Global Medical Office, together with the insights created through our vertically integrated model, give us a differentiated foundation from which to serve patients, to support healthcare systems, and to build enduring competitive advantage.
Without question, we remain focused on what matters most, improving the lives of our patients. That purpose is the foundation of our work, connecting our innovation, our strategy, and our performance. When we execute well, we do more than grow our business. We help improve the quality of life for people who depend on us every day.
I am confident that we're well-positioned to lead the next era of kidney care technology and deliver sustainable, profitable growth. With focus, discipline, and collaboration, we can continue to strengthen our market position and create long-term value for all of our stakeholders. I look forward to working with all of you as we continue to advance our mission. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you very much, Mr. Turk. We wish you every success in your new role as well. I would like to say that Martin Fischer was appointed as the new and existing CFO for the next five years. He has made a large contribution to really shaping the transformation of Fresenius Medical Care, and we are very happy that he will be staying with us for another five years. I would now like to say goodbye to those of you following the AGM online. Thank you for your interest in our company, and I wish you all the best. Goodbye. The live stream will end now.