Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference call of Medios AG. At a customer's request, this conference will be recorded. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If any participant has difficulties hearing the conference, please press zero, followed by the hash key for operator assistance. May I now hand you over to Claudia Nickolaus, Head of Investor and Public Relations and ESG Communications at Medios.
Welcome, everybody, to our earnings call for the first half, 2024. As always, all relevant documents can also be downloaded from our investor relations website. Additionally, this presentation can be followed in parallel via the Internet link provided to you in the invitation. Today, with me is our CEO, Matthias Gärtner, our CFO, Falk Neukirch, and our CIM, Constantijn van Rietschoten. Matthias will start with an executive summary, followed by Falk, who will then provide details on the financials for the first half year, 2024, and the guidance for 2024 as well. Finally, Matthias will comment on Medios' growth story, and after the presentations, we will begin the Q&A session. I would now like to hand over to Matthias.
Thank you, Claudia. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our conference call for the first half year of 2024. Overall, we continue the solid business performance of the first quarter and are proud to include Ceban for the first time for one month, June 2024. The main highlights of the first six months, 2024, are shown on slide 3. Let's start with the financials on group level. We achieved revenue growth of more than 6% to EUR 907 million, with a disproportionate EBITDA pre increase of around 7% to EUR 31 million. We posted a strong operating cash flow of EUR 34 million compared to EUR -75 million, same period last year. We consolidated Ceban in our new business segment, International, for the month of June. Initially, we had planned to include Ceban already in May, but anyway, we are very happy with Ceban.
The June results were excellent, and we confirm our guidance 2024. Falk will provide more insights on the financials later. The acquisition of Ceban was an outstanding event for Medios and the highlight of H1 2024. This is a milestone on our mission to create the European specialty pharma platform. But there were also other important events in the first half of the year. As announced at our last conference call in May, Constantijn van Rietschoten was appointed Chief International Markets, and so a further member to the executive board, effective on 1st May . Furthermore, the executive board contracts of Chief Operating Officer, Mi-Young Miehler, Chief Innovation Officer, Christoph Prußeit, were extended ahead of schedule. And I'm happy that most recently, also, my contract was extended as well.
Looking forward very much to continue working together as part of this experienced and successful executive team and as part of the whole Medios team. Regarding our ESG activities, we continue to work on the implementation of the CSRD and EU Taxonomy requirements. We have completed our double materiality analysis, which is now under auditor review. Consequently, our non-financial reporting 2024 will be fully in line with these new standards. A further review of Medios' MSCI rating was carried out in the first half of the year. Our rating remains stable at an impressive double A on the triple C to triple A scale. This demonstrates our continued commitment to ESG performance. We are pleased to welcome Luxempart as a new major and strategic shareholder.
In June, they acquired 14.9% stake in Medios from the Medios founder and former CEO, Manfred Schneider, as part of a private placement. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Manfred on behalf of the whole Medios team for his many years of commitment to Medios. As founder and former CEO, he has had a strong influence on our company. With his clear vision and the right strategic decisions, he laid the foundation for the dynamic growth and ongoing success of the Medios group. We believe that Luxempart is a great partner, not only to support the internationalization of our company, which has just begun. As a solid, internationally experienced strategic investor with a well-founded network and know-how, Luxempart can support us very well on our journey. Furthermore, we appointed Dr.
Andreas Schmiede as Vice President, Advanced Therapies, to drive the business forward in this new field. Andreas holds a PhD in biochemistry and has more than 25 years of professional experience in the field of diagnostics, biotechnology, and biopharma. Most recently, he was Senior Director and Head of Strategic Business Development, Cell and Gene Therapies at Lonza. We are excited to be a member of the SDAX index again since July fifteenth. Finally, a few words on the acquisition of Ceban Pharmaceuticals, the Dutch market leader with activities in Belgium and Spain as well. On slide four, you can see an executive summary of Ceban. This acquisition is the first milestone in our journey and vision to build the leading European specialty pharma, pharma platform. In addition, we get immediate market access to three European countries.
The new Medios Group now has a leading position in compounding of specialty pharma in Europe. I will not comment further on Ceban's operational activities, as we already presented this and additional information on the acquisition in our prior- conference calls. Regarding the integration of Ceban, we only closed the transaction by the beginning of June, so we are only two months underway, but integration is well on track and performance looks promising. Our priority was on integrating Ceban's financials into our systems and in the field of compliance and formal procedures. We have made significant progress there. When we look at synergies, we are mostly focusing on the cross-selling opportunities and best practices and knowledge sharing. Plus, of course, the economies of scale, that the combination will benefit from.
First steps have been taken here, and we clearly see the potential benefits, but it is too soon to already see them reflected in the H1 results. But we can say that Ceban is performing in line with our expectations. We implemented a third operational business segment, international, and we fully consolidated Ceban for one month. During our last call, I stressed that the transaction is immediately EBITDA pre-accretive and will increase our earnings margin from the very beginning. This is definitely the case, as reflected in our half-year figures. Falk will provide more information later on. Briefly, on slide 5, you can see our German-wide network of around 850 specialized pharmacies that is now enlarged internationally by Ceban's network of around 3,300 partner pharmacies and more than 200 hospitals, as well as our 23 own pharmacies in the Netherlands.
This is an excellent basis for our further European expansion and the realization of synergies and cross-selling opportunities. Furthermore, it will support the development of our activities in the field of advanced therapies. More information on the Ceban transaction is provided in the appendix of the presentation. Now, some comments on the financials for the first half year of 2024, as illustrated on slides 6 and 7. Slide 6 shows the quarter-on-quarter development of our two KPIs, revenue and EBITDA pre, whereas Q2 revenue was almost flat compared to the level of Q1 2024, EBITDA pre and the respective margin grew disproportionately. This was already a result of Ceban's contribution for 1 month, and despite ongoing regulatory price adjustments in Germany, that further impacted our PST business. Moreover, H1 2023 revenue included EUR 6 million coming from Kölsche Blister, that was sold in June 2023.
Overall revenue in H1 2024 grew by more than 6%, and EBITDA pre was even stronger, with 7% growth compared to the first half year of 2023, as shown on slide 7. This growth was mainly attributable to inorganic growth represented by Ceban. This is all from my side for the moment. I now hand over to Falk to provide more details on the financials for the first half year of 2024 and the guidance for 2024 as well. Falk?
Thank you, Matthias. Also welcome from my side. I will give you a more detailed overview on the financials for the first half year of 2024. The full financial statement can be found at, as always, on our website. As already said by Matthias, the Ceban Group has been fully consolidated since first of June and forms the new segment, International, which is the third operational segment of Medios Group, beside Pharmaceutical Supply and Patient-Specific Therapies. Segment Services mainly comprises our central functions. Against this background, the first six months and the second part of financial are characterized by Ceban's strong contribution for one month. Let's start with slide 9. All in all, we had a solid first half year, 2024. Revenues increased by 6.3% to EUR 907.3 million, mainly driven by the operational segment, Pharmaceutical Supply and International.
Gross profit increased to EUR 60.4 million, with a higher gross profit margin of 6.7%, compared to 6.4% in the previous year. The increase in gross profit was mainly contributed by PS segment and segment International. PST gross profit decreased due to the already mentioned deconsolidation of Kölsche Blister, regulatory headwinds, and higher performance-based payments for additional compounding orders. The increase of personnel costs by EUR 2.6 million, a plus of 14.9% to EUR 20.4 million, results from the consolidation of Ceban, plus EUR 2.2 million, as well as provisions for bonuses for the successful completion of the Ceban acquisition.... Other operating expenses increased by EUR 4.7 million to EUR 15.4 million. Of this increase, EUR 1.3 million were caused by Ceban.
The remaining amount was mainly due to higher legal and consulting costs, largely attributable to the acquisition process of Ceban, EUR 2.1 million, and ERP implementation cost, EUR 0.5 million, both extraordinary expenses, expenses, which were adjusted under EBITDA pre. The disproportionately higher EBITDA pre of EUR 31.1 million compared to EUR 29 million resulted in an EBITDA pre margin of 3.4%. As previously stated, the margin was burdened by various items such as re-regulatory price adjustments in Germany, as well as the increased contribution of the PS segment. It was positively affected by the very good EBITDA pre margin of the new segment International, but only for one month.
EBITDA pre was adjusted by extraordinary expenses in the amount of EUR 6.6 million, compared to EUR 3.1 million last year. This consists of EUR 4.6 million for stock options, EUR 2.1 million for M&A transaction costs due to the Ceban acquisition, EUR 3.3 million for performance-based payments for the acquisition of compounding volumes, and 0.5 million euro for ERP system implementation. Depreciation and amortization rose to EUR 11.9 million. The increase of EUR 1.4 million compared to previous year is attributable to the Ceban Group. The financial result of EUR -2.5 million is EUR 1.5 million below previous year, and mainly includes accrued interest and costs for the financing of Ceban acquisition.
We generated a strong operating cash flow of EUR 34 million compared to previous year period. This development mainly resulted from the positive operating results and actively managed working capital at the reporting date. Consequently, we posted a strong free cash flow before M&A cost expenditure of EUR 32.3 million. Investing cash flow of around EUR -220 million reflects primarily payments for the acquisition of Ceban and the repayment of Ceban loans totaling at EUR 225.1 million, less cash of EUR 6.2 million from Ceban. Financing cash flow of EUR 196.3 million reflects the drawing of the EUR 200 million bridge loan for the Ceban acquisition, less interest payments and payments for rental agreements.
Cash and cash equivalents for roughly EUR 82 million consisted mainly of unrestricted bank deposits. The equity ratio decreased from 78.8% by end of 2023, to 53.9% by the end of the first half of 2024, mainly caused by new debt for the acquisition of Ceban. On slides 10 and 11, we provide a breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth by segment for the first six months of 2024. Inorganic growth reflects the contribution of Ceban for one month, fully allocated to the new segment, international. Let's go to slide 10. Revenue grew organically by EUR 42.2 million, or +4.9%, entirely in the PS segment. Inorganic revenue growth amounted to EUR 11.6 million or +1.4%, due to the acquisition of Ceban.
Slide 11 shows the organic and inorganic EBITDA pre-breakdown by segment for the first six months of 2024. EBITDA pre increased inorganically by EUR 2.7 million, or +9.3%, fully dedicated to Ceban. The decline of organic growth was compensated by the strong contribution of the segment International. Increased personnel and other operating costs for central functions are re-reflected in the segment Services. Let's go to Slide 12, providing an overview on the segments. The 6.3% increase of group revenue is mainly driven by PS, and to a lower extent by International, for one month. The external revenue of the PS segment rose by 7.3% to around EUR 788 million.
External revenue generated by the PST segment decreased by 9.6% to EUR 107.5 million, a decline of EUR 11.4 million. Around EUR 6 million of this decline are attributable to the sale of Kölsche Blister. In addition, as already mentioned, regulatory price adjustments, as well as higher per-performance related payments for the acquisition of compounding volumes, had also a negative impact on revenue in the first six months. The international segment contributed EUR 11.6 million. EBITDA pre for the PS segment amounted to EUR 22.9 million, a plus of EUR 3 million, or a plus of 15%. The EBITDA pre for the PST segment declined by EUR 1.6 million to EUR 10.9 million, 13.1% below previous year, mainly due to the described effects, as I already mentioned.
Ceban contributed with a very strong EBITDA pre of EUR 2.6 million for June 2024, and a margin of 23.2%. Slide 13 provides the status information on the debt financing. We financed the main part of the cash component for the Ceban acquisition in the amount of EUR 235.3 million by a bridge facility of EUR 200 million. The bridge facility has common market interest rates. Furthermore, the syndicate loan over EUR 75 million would be available for financing further costs, e.g., working capital requirements restricted by a maximum net leverage. Adding other debt items and considering the cash of around EUR 80 million, the net debt amounts to approximately EUR 150 million on 30 June 2024. The syndicate loan was not drawn on 30 June 2024.
The bridge facility is planned to be replaced by a long-term debt facility based on an estimated future free cash flow, less interest payments, an amount of EUR 30 - 40 million would be annually available for repayment of debt starting in 2025. Let's go to slide 15, providing our guidance for the full year 2024 for the Medios group, including Ceban. We confirm our guidance for 2024, first announced on the 18th March, 2024. For 2024, we expect revenues to reach the range of EUR 1.9 - 2.1 billion, and an EBITDA pre expected to be in the range of EUR 82 - 91 million. The EBITDA pre forecast is negatively impacted by the one month later than originally planned Ceban transfer of control on 1st June 2024, and regulatory price adjustments in Germany.
We expect EBITDA pre- growth to be at least 35%, with a substantially higher EBITDA pre margin of around 4.3%. The EBITDA pre- guidance includes integration costs, but it's adjusted for extraordinary expenses like M&A transaction costs, expenses for stock option programs, performance-based payments for compounding volumes, and implementation costs for an ERP system. A summary of our strategic priorities is outlined on slide 16. For this, I hand back to Matthias.
Thank you, Falk. Our growth strategy strongly advanced with Ceban. Its three pillars are outlined on this slide. In addition to strengthening our core business in Germany, Ceban will enable us to expand our operations into other European countries, again, illustrated on slide 17. Also, we intend to further diversify our business model by entering the production of advanced therapies, meaning medicines based on genes, tissues, or cells, all expensive and complex therapies shown on slide 18. This is a very good fit for Medios, as we are already a trusted partner for high-value drugs in Germany, and we will be one in our new European markets as well. Medios aims to exploit the enormous potential of cutting-edge healthcare technologies in the field of advanced therapies, and thus generate additional added value for society.
Just to mention, the number of clinical trials currently going on in the field of advanced therapies, more than 1,600. We will use our state-of-the-art GMP labs in Germany and Europe, as well as our expertise in compounding to make high-quality, personalized therapies available to patients. To do so, we plan to collaborate with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, CMOs, CMNOs, developers, patient organizations, and health insurers, the payers. We are blessed to support the German government's national strategy for gene and cell-based therapies that aims to make innovative treatments methods for rare and serious diseases more readily available in Germany as a business location. This initiative offers opportunities for us as the leading provider of specialty pharma solutions in Germany and improves patients' access to advanced therapies. This shows that there's a lot of potential ahead for Medios. Our growth story is well on track.
Thank you very much for your attention. Falk, Constantijn, and I am now available to answer your questions.