Ladies and gentlemen, while we are waiting to begin, may I just remind you that today's conference call is also being webcast live on the investor relations section of the Siemens Healthineers website. A recording of the webcast will be available shortly after the close of the call. Ladies and gentlemen, while we are waiting to begin, may I just remind you that today's conference call is also being webcast live on the investor relations section of the Siemens Healthineers website. A recording of the webcast will be available shortly after the close of the call. Ladies and gentlemen, while we are waiting to begin, may I just remind you that today's conference call is also being webcast live on the investor relations section of the Siemens Healthineers website. A recording of the webcast will be available shortly after the close of the call.
Ladies and gentlemen, while we are waiting to begin, may I just remind you that today's conference call is also being webcast live on the investor relations section of the Siemens Healthineers website. A recording of the webcast will be available shortly after the close of the call. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Siemens Healthineers conference call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Before we begin, I would like to draw your attention to the safe harbor statement on page two of the Siemens Healthineers presentation. This conference call may include forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the company's current expectations and certain assumptions and are therefore subject to certain risks and uncertainties. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to your host today, Mr. Marc Koebernick, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, operator. Good morning and welcome to our Q3 earnings call for fiscal 2026. I'd like to thank all of you for joining us today. This morning at 7:00 A.M., we published our Q3 2026 results. All related materials for today's results call and release are available on the IR section of the Siemens Healthineers webpage. Our CEO, Bernd Montag, and CFO, Jochen Schmitz, will be taking you through today's presentation as usual. This has been working out nicely in the past quarters, we kindly ask that all participants limit themselves to one question each with the option to get back into the queue for a follow-up. Additionally, please note that a full transcript and recording of today's call will be made available on our investor relations webpage shortly after the session ends.
Again, thank you for being here, and now I'll turn it over to our CEO, Bernd Montag.
Thanks, Marc, and also a warm welcome from my side. Let me start with a brief look at the key takeaways for today's call. This quarter, we had an outstanding equipment book-to-bill of 1.27, driven by our product strength and supported by new value partnerships. The latter includes two new sizable value partnerships with highly ranked healthcare institutions in the U.S., clearly underlining our market-leading position. Even excluding all value partnerships, our equipment book-to-bill was strong at about 1.17 in Q3, undoubtedly making up for the softness we saw in Q2. Operationally, our synergetic core of Imaging and Precision Therapy performed solidly, growing 5% in Q3. While Precision Therapy had a very strong growth with 9% this quarter, the Imaging growth was soft on tough comps of 12% in the prior year quarter and saw some revenue shifts into the next quarter.
This shift will only be temporary. We expect a clear acceleration in Q4 to get to decent mid-single digit growth in fiscal year 2026 in the Imaging segment, as guided in November last year. Diagnostics is still challenged by the structural market rebasing in China and revenue dilution from our legacy platforms. This does not come as a total surprise. The expected slowdown of the decline for Q3 has not materialized in the Diagnostics business. When it comes to profitability, the reported excellent margin level was boosted by tariff refunds that we received in Q3. Excluding tariffs, we saw a decent underlying margin level despite headwinds like FX and inflation. As a consequence of the continued top-line weakness in Diagnostics and due to the tariff refunds, we update our outlook for fiscal year 2026.
We are lowering the revenue outlook range from 4.5%-5% growth to now 3.5%-4%. In addition, we raised the lower and upper end of the EPS outlook range by EUR 0.15, which is exactly the impact of tariff refunds received in Q3. This shows that despite the lower revenue growth, the earnings are on track. Now let me briefly touch on two topics relevant for shaping our company of the future. Just this week, we are showing great developments at ADLM, the biggest trade show in the diagnostic space, with very promising customer feedback, paving the way for future growth. Let me share a brief update on the upcoming deconsolidation by Siemens. This deconsolidation is the final step in a journey that started with our legal separation 10 years ago.
We are well advanced with our preparations for this spin and in very constructive discussions with Siemens AG. We are on track with our refinancing preparations, as well as the discussions regarding remaining shared services and IT infrastructure. Having said that, now over to our latest value partnerships. We are very proud to announce that we have entered two large partnerships with highly renowned institutions in the U.S. Those partnerships are, in total, very sizable, altogether amounting to several hundred million euros in terms of equipment order intake. Let me start on the left-hand side of the chart. We are further strengthening our 35-year-long relationship with Cleveland Clinic, one of the leading healthcare systems in the U.S. We are moving to the next level of cooperation with a new 10-year strategic alliance.
For Cleveland Clinic, we will not only be the provider of multiple imaging and therapeutic technologies, but also jointly develop a state-of-the-art theranostics cancer treatment program. We also signed a multi-year value partnership with Vanderbilt Health, a nationally recognized top-tier academic medical center. In this partnership, we will also serve as the provider of advanced technology for diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology. In addition, this close collaboration will empower healthcare innovation through scalable AI uses in radiology, personalized medicine, and workflow automation. In essence, both partnerships underscore two things. First, our unmatched relevance as a holistic partners for hospitals and healthcare systems, and second, the growing need for our unique capabilities of mastering patient winning, Precision Therapy, and healthcare AI. We are reinforcing this position by continuously innovating in each capability in patient winning, in Precision Therapy, and in healthcare AI.
The growth dynamics of our latest innovations are proof of that. We are gaining market share in CT based on our unique fleet of photon-counting CTs, now accounting for roughly 30% of our total CT equipment order volume. We have increased market shares of CT in the U.S. to levels we are used to from MRI. Another example is our DryCool technology in MR. This innovation now accounts for half of the units ordered in MR. It broadens the market for various use cases based on reduced total cost of ownership and a smaller footprint. With regards to the other half, we have a clear commitment to significantly expand the reach of DryCool technology in the midterm. Our radiopharmaceuticals business is also gaining further traction in the U.S. The business delivers double-digit growth rates and is surpassing the $1 billion U.S. mark this year.
Due to our broad distribution network and manufacturing capabilities, we are highly relevant for medical centers, but also for the IP holders. The next step is to drive this growth also in Europe. We have just announced a new 8X Radiopharmacy, the first in the U.K., delivering output at eight times the capacity of a single radiopharma facility today. In Precision Therapy, our all-new angiography portfolio is now delivering the expected acceleration in revenue growth following FDA approval. It covers all clinical needs in interventional radiology, cardiology, and neurointerventions, and is powered by OPTIQ AI, delivering a new level of image quality and reducing X-ray dose. Varian's position as a strong growth engine in Healthineers is unchanged. Key here is the continuous innovation momentum. The new platform, which will be launched at ASTRO, is expected to further contribute to this momentum.
Healthcare AI and the ability to scale this on a global level is another strong capability of ours and is highly relevant for our customers. Our Syngo.CT Coronary Cockpit has just received FDA approval. This AI-powered application helps our customers to bring critical CT information into the cath lab. The cockpit is designed to automatically segment and label coronaries. It visualizes and quantifies plaque types for the whole coronary tree or individual lesions. This makes treatment better and faster. Finally, we have strong traction for AI tools for radiation therapy planning. We can enhance our large installed base easily with tools like auto contourings of organs at risk. This enables dosimetrists and radiation oncologists to focus on review and fine-tuning, resulting in faster radiation treatment planning and higher patient throughput. To sum it up, we continue to strengthen our unique capabilities, fostering our leading market positions across modalities.
Our Diagnostics business has important innovations to showcase. At this year's ADLM, the biggest trade show in this space, Diagnostics launched Atellica Forte, an evolution of our proven Atellica solution chemistry and immunoassay platform. The Atellica Forte series represents meaningful innovation, reliability, and progress, while also reinforcing continuity, confidence, and investment protection across the Atellica systems portfolio. It comes with a new digital architecture, the integration of AI agents with new productivity features, and expands patients' access to care with diverse sample types, from venous blood to urine and even fecal samples. Now with innovative low-volume sampling options and integrated capillary workflows. Atellica Forte can run 24 assays with CE marked capillary claims, including a comprehensive metabolic panel using as little as a finger stick of blood, and industry's best. Adding capillary capability helps core lab scale testing offerings easily and using existing infrastructure.
This offers clinical labs greater patient reach and access to more testing volume without requiring expensive healthcare specialists. However, we are not only upgrading our analyzer, we are also focusing on clinical relevance by expanding our competitive Diagnostics menu in the area of brain health. Our blood-based Alzheimer's research assays and a CE marked NfL assay for multiple sclerosis now under FDA review. We are building a comprehensive biomarker portfolio to help advance earlier detection, monitoring, and understanding of neurological diseases. With the updated Atellica platform and the great set of brain health research assays, the Diagnostics team is clearly differentiating from peers and improving its competitiveness. Now let me briefly summarize the quarter before Jochen will run you through the financials in more depth. The revenue growth picture is broadly unchanged compared to the second quarter.
The synergetic core is performing well, especially having in mind strong comps in the prior year quarter, while Diagnostics suffers from the market rebasing in China and from revenue dilution from our legacy platforms. In terms of comparing quarters, the equipment book-to-bill in Q2 was clearly a weak spot. We committed to this recovery in Q3, and I am very happy that it did more than that. The outstanding equipment book-to-bill of 1.27 is a documentation of our continued strength in the market. The 5% growth in the synergetic core was driven by a strong Precision Therapy quarter, which itself saw the strong swing back to growth of Advanced Therapies as flagged. Imaging posted softer growth this quarter. However, this is not a fundamental topic, but a temporary topic of comps and shifts. The tariff refunds supported the very high profitability this quarter.
Excluding tariffs, we had a decent margin level, despite low absolute conversion and year-over-year headwinds from FX and inflation. The contribution from tariff refunds was 490 basis points in Imaging and 350 basis points in Precision Therapy, respectively. In Diagnostics, the continued year-over-year decline was expected and well flagged. The extent of the decline, however, higher than expected. Nevertheless, Diagnostics achieved sequential margin improvement, quite decent, especially considering the missing conversion. Jochen will now guide you through the financials, and with this, over to you.
Thank you, Bernd, and good morning. Let us start with the financial performance of the Imaging segment in Q3. Imaging posted soft growth this quarter due to tough comps of 12% in the prior year quarter and due to some revenue shifts into Q4. Consequently, we expect a clear acceleration of the Imaging growth in Q4. I will give you more color on the sequential acceleration of the Imaging growth later in the call. The Imaging margin benefited from tariff refunds in Q3. Before refunds, the Imaging margin was at 21.6%, below a very strong prior year quarter with 23.7% margin. Last year's margin was additionally lifted by the shift of a government grant last year from Q4 to Q3. Considering the low absolute conversion from softer growth in this quarter, the Imaging margin shows a decent profitability level in Q3. Now, over to Precision Therapy.
Our Precision Therapy segment showed growth in all its businesses, Varian, Advanced Therapies, and also Ultrasound, led obviously by Advanced Therapies. As expected, Advanced Therapies showed strong momentum due to the launch of the entire angio platforms, which started to ramp up throughout Q3. On the bottom line, the Precision Therapy margin benefited also from tariff refunds. Before tariff refund, the Q3 margin was at 14.1%. Looking back, similar to Imaging, we saw very strong margins in the prior year quarter based on a very favorable mix. Year-over-year foreign exchange was an additional headwind, yet the Precision Therapy margin declined only slightly after the strong prior year quarter due to conversion from strong growth. Now let's complete the segment run-through with Diagnostics. In Diagnostics in Q3, we saw a continuation of the year-over-year revenue and margin decline.
Due to the structural market rebasing in China and the revenue dilution from the tailing off of our legacy platforms, especially in North America, where the installed base of our legacy is particularly large. Looking at the bottom line, prior year's strong margin of 9.2% benefited from a positive one-off from a release of pension liabilities related to prior year periods. Excluding the positive one-off, the year-over-year margin decline is still material. It was driven by negative conversion from the significant revenue decline and additionally by headwind from foreign exchange. While margin ex refunds of tariffs of 3% is still low in Q3, we saw slight sequential margin improvement as laid out last quarter. Let us now have a look at how this all adds up to the group numbers. Let's start with the top line.
Revenue growth this quarter was against tough comps of 7.6%, which obviously is also visible in certain regions. Americas and Asia Pacific were going against very strong comps, especially in the Americas of 14%. EMEA returned to growth after being flattish on a high absolute level in the fiscal year. EMEA was the growth driver in the regions this quarter. China was down by 10% this quarter. On the one hand, Diagnostics in China continues to decline due to the structural market rebasing in China, on the other hand, the synergetic core in China declined against very tough comps of mid-teens growth in the prior year quarter. In absolute terms, the revenue in the synergetic core is over the years sequentially flat, in line with our assessment that the Chinese equipment market is currently muted, yet relatively stable at a low level.
Now let's have a look at the earnings momentum in Q3. Earnings this quarter benefited from the tariff refunds. Excluding the refunds, we saw decent profitability of 15.4% despite soft growth in the quarter and despite ongoing headwinds from foreign exchange and first impacts from inflation in the supply chain. In the year-over-year comparison, next to the tough comps in revenue, we also had very good segment margins in the prior year quarter. In Imaging and Varian from very good mix and in Imaging and Diagnostics from positive one-offs in the prior year. Finally, the valuation of share-based payments linked to Siemens AG shares had a negative year-over-year effect on this quarter. However, this quarter is the very last time we see an effect from this as we have changed the mechanism now. On EPS, there are two significant distortions in the year-over-year view.
First, the refunds impacted this quarter by around EUR 0.15 positive. Second, the positive impact from equity income in last year's Q3 of around EUR 0.05. Highlight, cash in absolute terms amounting to over EUR 1 billion, also benefiting from the tariff refunds. The cash conversion rate was very good with 1.12, driven by strong cash collection and not by the refunds. The tariff refunds have a cash conversion rate of, so to say, only one based on the cash-based accounting treatment of the matter. This means the cash conversion rate of 1.12 was even diluted by the tariff refunds. Consequently, we reduced the net debt compared to Q2 by around EUR 800 million to around EUR 12 billion and reduced leverage from 3.1 in Q2 to 2.8 times in Q3.
Growth in Q3 was slower than anticipated, primarily to the continued decline of Diagnostics, but also due to softer growth in Imaging. In Imaging, we had already anticipated and flagged softer Imaging growth due to the very tough comps in Imaging with 12% in the prior year quarter. What we did not anticipate was that, for example, the site readiness in Q3 for installations in the field did not keep up with the very high factory output in Q3, driven by the very high demand for our DryCool portfolio. This is only a temporary topic. Hence, we expect revenue to shift from Q3 into Q4. Additionally, we expect very good growth momentum in CT. In Q3, growth accretion from photon-counting was a bit muted due to a very tough comps.
In last year's Q3, the two new photon-counting CTs, Prime and Pro, caused a step change in revenue after their FDA approval. Now, in Q4 this year, these two photon-counting CT platforms are also available in China. This is just one driver of many for the accretion to growth from our photon-counting CT business to continue. Together with continued strong momentum in Advanced Therapies, we expect growth in the synergetic core to clearly accelerate in Q4 compared to Q3. Exceptional growth in our procedure business, our continuously nicely growing service business, and the strong order book backing our equipment business are the building blocks for the expected revenue acceleration in Q4. In Diagnostics, the rebasing of the Chinese market and the revenue dilution driven by the decline in legacy platforms continues.
What did not materialize this quarter was a relapse of the OEM volume, particularly out of China, although the year-over-year decline in the legacy platforms continues. Sequentially, though, the quarter of this fiscal year, we're on a stable yet low level in terms of absolute revenue, and we expect this level to slightly increase only in Q4. Hence, we expect a mid-single-digit percentage decline also in Q4, similar to what we have seen so far this fiscal year. Despite the weak year for the Diagnostics business, the group is on track for underlying earnings growth this fiscal year. On the left side, slightly faded, you see the same EPS bridge from Q2, which is unchanged. Operational improvement in EPS is on track despite the continued weakness from Diagnostics, and the headwind from FX and tariffs are as expected. All as expected.
Inflation in the supply chain, notable from memory chips, raw materials, and logistics, started to come in with around EUR 0.01 headwind only in Q3. We expect the P&L impacts from inflation to intensify, obviously, in Q4. With this, our assumption of around EUR 0.05 headwinds in the second half from inflation in the supply chain is also unchanged. The only change in our 2026 EPS bridge is the tariff refunds, which are roughly equivalent to EUR 0.15 EPS. Therefore, we raise our EPS guidance for fiscal year 2026 by exactly the amount of the tariff refunds. This brings me to the next slide, the outlook slide. We update our outlook for fiscal year 2026. We lower the revenue growth guide to 3.5%-4%, primarily due to Diagnostics revenue not recovering in the second half of this fiscal year.
As outlined before, the slower-than-expected revenue performance in Diagnostics is due to the rebasing of the Chinese market and the revenue dilution of the decline in legacy platforms. For adjusted EPS, we raised the guide to be between EUR 2.35 and EUR 2.45. The EPS range is raised by the tariff refunds, sorry, which amount to around EUR 0.15 in EPS. Thereby, the underlying EPS range remains unchanged due to the fact that the synergetic core is well on track. The downgrade in the Diagnostics revenue does not have a material impact on earnings due to the currently low profitability in Diagnostics. As outlined before, we expect the tax rate to be close to 23%, coming from the initial assumption of 24%-26%. In financial income net, we expect around EUR -330 million in fiscal year 2026, including a one-off tailwind from interest for the tariff refund.
Let me also update you with our latest view on Q4. As outlined before, we expect a clear acceleration of revenue growth in the synergetic core. With Imaging accelerating into the higher single digits and Precision Therapy continuing growth in the higher single digits, maybe not fully at the 9% level of the current quarter. In Diagnostics, we expect a continuous decline at a mid-single-digit percentage level also in Q4. On margins, we expect in Imaging sequential margin expansion compared to the Q3 margin ex refunds from the accelerated growth. In Precision Therapy, year-over-year margin expansion will be tough against the very high prior year quarter of 17%, but we expect a good sequential improvement with the 14% margin ex tariff refunds from Q3 this quarter. In Diagnostics, we continue to expect a significant year-over-year margin decline at least sequentially flat compared to the Q3 margin ex refunds.
Consequently, we expect for the full year the Diagnostics margin ex refunds to approach the full year assumption from below, which is a mid-triple digit basis points decline. Now that we have updated you for fiscal year 2026 and our upcoming Q4, let me now share some of our current expectations regarding already known impacts for the next fiscal year 2027. As we come closer to fiscal year's end and being in the midst of our budget planning phase for 2027, we want to provide you with some thoughts on the 2027 EPS drivers. Baseline for 2027 is our 2026 adjusted EPS guide without the tariff refund, i.e., a midpoint of EUR 2.25 as the baseline in 2026. On our last Capital Markets Day, we committed to double-digit EPS growth year-over-year over the midterm.
We stated that we will be mitigating the EUR 400 million tariff impact by 2028, with seeing positive contributions starting in 2027. The mitigation measures, as indicated, will not ramp up in a straight line. The EUR 400 million mitigation will be somewhat back-end loaded. What changed since the Capital Markets Day is that additional inflation in the supply chain became a material macroeconomic headwind, especially in memory chips and certain raw materials, and also in logistic costs. Currently, we would assume that the inflation headwind in fiscal year 2027 will be roughly offset by the mitigation ramp for tariffs in 2027. While we are at the topic of headwinds in 2027, let me point out some other more technical effect that we already know today. The tax rate this fiscal year is expected to be closer to 23%, coming from our initial assumption of 24%-26%.
We do not expect this low level to be sustainable, so we expect a normalization towards the normal tax rate of 24%-26%. In financial income net, we previously pointed to EUR -340 million in fiscal year 2026. With the tariff refund, we also received a refund for interest, so we now expect around minus EUR 330 million for this year. From this 2026 level, we see three main effects next year. The refinancing at higher rates that we did in March 2026 will annualize next year. Early next year, another loan is due to be refinanced at higher rates. The higher financing costs from higher rates will be partly be offset by a decreasing loan volume from organic deleveraging.
In total, we would currently expect financial income net to decrease, meaning becoming more negative, by a mid- to high double-digit million euro number next year from the basis of the EUR -330 million this year. The refinancing is expected a normal course of business. This is not related to the deconsolidation by Siemens AG. As said, we do not expect a material impact from the deconsolidation on our financial income net, and from what we know now, this also holds for fiscal year 2027. What we see next year related to the deconsolidation by Siemens AG are other recurring separation costs. We pointed to a mid-double-digit million number for this topic. With the deconsolidation happening earliest in April next year, the cost will not reach the full fiscal year level in the next year. And with this, back to you, Marc.
Yes. Thank you, Jochen. Let's go to the Q&A. As stated earlier, we would like to ask you to limit yourselves to one question each. If you wish to ask a question, please press the star key, followed by the digit five on your telephone keypad. Again, ladies and gentlemen, please press star five on the keypad. For transparency reasons, I will just now give you the order of appearance of the first three callers. First, I have Graham, then I have Veronica, and then I have Hassan on the line. Let me now first go to Graham Doyle from UBS. Graham, the line is yours.
Morning. Morning, guys. Thanks a lot for taking my question. Jochen, just to the slide you ran through there on slide 15, where you're plotting the sort of EPS path for 2027. Is it fair to contextualize that and say with all the information you have today in terms of inflation and the macro, that you'd consider this to be a kind of a prudent or conservative view on terms of what you can deliver? Maybe just push that slightly further. Are we looking at that chart and thinking mid-single digit EPS growth from the sort of clean base is a sensible starting point for next year? Thank you.
Yeah, Graham, thanks for your question. Obviously, we try to be as transparent as we can based on the current planning status we are in. Therefore, we provide this slide. When I look at it, I think this is, I would say, a very complete picture based on what we know today. That is always, I would say, the disclaimer. We don't know what we don't know. I would see it the following. If you really want to base it out, I would say we start with EUR 2.25 as the baseline for 2026. I would consider us to be in the position to show net net of all the effects, growth from the EUR 2.25. How much? We need to see as we walk our way through the planning phase. This is really, I would say, base, baseline. We expect from today growth to the EUR 2.25.
How much is difficult to say, and I see this as a prudent assessment.
That is really helpful. Thanks a lot, Jochen.
Thanks, Graham. Over to Veronica. Veronica, the floor is yours.
Thank you so much. I am going to just follow up on that fiscal 2027 bridge, if that is okay, Jochen. I think one of the things that comes up a lot in discussions is obviously still the question of the separation cost, in particular, the branding fee. I am just curious if you can share some preliminary thoughts on whether that is included in that bridge that you have presented. Obviously also as you work towards the Diagnostics separation, any cost related to that, is that included in that bridge as well? If you can give us some color on those two items, that would be super helpful. Thank you.
Yeah. Obviously, both topics were not mentioned. That is a signal on the bridge. When we talked about the separation cost from Siemens, we talked about recurring costs. In the ballpark of EUR 50 or mid double digit, EUR 50 million. This does obviously not include any branding fees. Based on the current assumptions, and the discussions we have with Siemens, which are very constructive, we do not expect to have a branding fee in the coming years. Just to say this clearly. On the potential separation cost for Diagnostics, they are not built into that bridge, because if and when they would occur, we would also adjust for them. Because that would be then a portfolio measure, and I think that as we also adjust potential gains and losses from portfolio transactions, we also adjust the related cost of it. Therefore, this is not in, but would be adjusted. Okay.
That's very clear. Can I just quickly check? On my math, it's EUR 0.05 from tax, EUR 0.05 from the net interest expense, and EUR 0.02-EUR 0.03 from separation. Does the headwind sort of EUR 0.10-EUR 0.15 seem reasonable to you, or I guess EUR 0.15 maybe?
Say that again. Sorry, it was difficult to hear in the beginning.
I was just double-checking my math. From what you said, it's about EUR 0.05 headwind from the tax rate, EUR 0.05 headwind from the higher interest expense, and somewhere less than EUR 0.05 headwind from the separation. I was just trying to quantify that. Is it a fair assumption that.
That makes a lot of sense. I didn't hear you at the beginning. That makes a lot of sense. I think these are meaningful ranges.
Perfect.
Yep. Absolutely.
Yeah. Brilliant. Thank you so much.
Great. Thanks, Veronica. Next one would be Hassan from Barclays. Go ahead, Hassan.
Thank you. Good morning. Another follow-up on the helpful bridge. Can you quantify the impact from inflation as it relates to tungsten and memory costs into FY 2027 at current spots? If the lower end that you're pointing to of what I think we're interpreting as mid-single-digit, whether that assumes any deterioration in inflation from here, and then what drives the acceleration beyond 2027 back to double-digit and beyond, given the midterms? Thank you.
Yeah. On the tungsten side, I think that is also a volatile topic. We have seen it peaking to six times, I would say, the prices, then it came down again to, I don't know, two to three times the pricing. We need to see what it does. That's maybe also more the reason why I would say this bridging item is also a bit fading. Because we don't know exactly, and before we go out with a concrete guide, we take every second we get in additional information about the future to quantify that more clearly. Just to say this on the thing. The question is on memory chips. We expect to see this topic on an ongoing basis now for this year, 2026 and 2027. Question is how long will that last and will then create additional year-over-year effects?
From our standpoint, at some point in time, that should be over because otherwise you can make also so much money with that stuff that people will start using their capacity also for this. You could at least argue like this. When this starts to normalizing and again, then we should not have this headwind anymore on a year-over-year basis. We should see, I would say, the operational, the underlying profitability improvement in the business showing up as the net EPS growth. That's why we feel still good about our midterm ambition. Again, we don't know what we don't know.
Thank you.
Is that clear, Hassan?
It is. Thank you.
Next three people on the line would be first Julien Dormois, then Julien Ouaddour, and then Oliver Reinberg. I'll starting with Julien from Jefferies.
Yes. Hi, good morning, Bernd. Good morning, Jochen. Good morning, Marc. Thanks for taking my question. Probably more of a high-level question, you obviously signed to high-profile partnerships this quarter. We also had some mixed messages, I would say, from hospitals in the U.S. about procedure trends and that sort of stuff. Just curious how your conversations are going with U.S. hospitals these days. Do they seem a little bit cautious for the second half and maybe for 2027. The question would also extend to Europe. We start to hear a bit more about potential healthcare reforms, also hitting hospitals at some stage. Just curious how your conversations are going with your customers. Thank you.
Thank you, Julien. First message is certainly that when health systems like Vanderbilt and Cleveland Clinic commit to such substantial partnerships, it shows that they feel very comfortable with where healthcare is going and how central the piece, the role of Imaging, of interventional techniques, of radiation oncology in cancer treatment are, and to what extent what we do helps them to make their systems more efficient also. The debate is also very much about how can we support them doing more with less, how to live in a world with staff shortage, in a world also where it's clear that productivity is to some extent, even if that is not a very medical term, is the name of the game. That is why also the demand for our equipment is so robust. Because you came from the procedure angle.
The other angle is the productivity angle, which is needed. Our systems help to exactly make a system deliver high-quality care in the most efficient way. When it comes to procedures in terms of direct, how much Imaging is there and/or how much interventional oncology is being done, we continue to see very good growth also when you talk to these institutions. We also see as, to some extent, when looking at the businesses we have, which are procedure related directly, because otherwise, we are more in that investment good time situation. When you look at the procedure-dependent businesses we have, which is PETNET and also the ultrasound catheter business, they deliver, as you know, quite significant growth. We are very positive that the momentum, or the momentum sounds so temporary, but that the continued growth and demand for our solutions in the U.S. remains.
The topic of productivity is also what more and more governs the discussion in Europe, which is a good topic for us.
Great. Thanks, Julien. Moving over to the next Julien from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Bernd, I just wanted to come back on a comment you made about the CT market share in the U.S. now matching your MRI level. I only know your global market share, so 55% for CT and 50% for MRI. Does it mean that you increased CT share to 50% in the U.S. already? Do you expect the same kind of development in other regions as well?
Yeah. Okay. Thank you for the question. Maybe we were really a little bit mysterious. I think you are guessing not very wrong. Why this is a topic? When it comes to the U.S. market, when we look at our market share Olympics, MR stands out traditionally, followed by molecular imaging and CT. Why CT now has a boost is basically the following aspect here. We had the discussion now and then that the spread of price points in CT is the most pronounced. There's a factor of 10 between entry level and the high-end photon-counting CT. Being a clear market, a super strong market share is basically only possible when you really have super strong differentiation across the entire product line, which is the case in MR, where it's from the nature of the technology a bit easier.
While in CT, it is a testament to what extent our unique position in the high end with the photon-counting CT, the new opportunities we open up, to what extent this is changing the CT market. That is why we have now, even from that point of view, sometimes more of a street fight in the CT space now also significantly uplifted our market share because of the rollout and all the excitement and market resonance in more and more segments for photon-counting CT.
Great. Thanks. Moving over to you, Oli Reinberg from Kepler. Oli.
Yeah, good morning, guys. I just wanted to discuss a bit more in detail the kind of Imaging performance. I mean, Q3 was softer. You don't see any kind of change to the full-year guide. Can you just give us a bit of a feeling like how significant has been this kind of shift from Q3 into Q4? Also, what is your visibility on the kind of Q4 performance? Probably if you allow any kind of chance for a sneak preview on next year, can you just talk about the pull and pushes that we have to consider when thinking about Imaging growth for 2027? Thank you.
Oli, thanks for the question. I think it's a justifiable question, fully. First of all, when we talked about the Q3 at the end of Q2, or when we announced Q2, we said we were referring to the tough comms. We were also in the podcast referring to a mid-single digit and deliberately said four to six. It was clear that this will not necessarily be a quarter where we can think about the 6% we have shown in the first two quarter. That was clear. When you look at the shift, we ended up now with about 2.5% growth in Imaging. I think it was 2.3 to be precise. This is 1.5% below four. That is maybe also what you could envision as the shift. 1.5 is EUR 75 million, or a bit more, EUR 75 million to EUR 80 million.
It's a big number, but also not a big number considering, so say, the big numbers of Imaging in general. Again, looking back to how we guided Imaging for the year, we said mid-single digit. I got a bit pushed on, does it really entail a four? I think we clarified and said decent mid-single digit. Said, okay, that means it's 5%+ . That's what we said, and we feel well on track to get there. I think I don't see necessarily a change in the growth trajectory for Imaging also in the coming years. Full stop.
Thank you.
Clear, Oli?
Yeah. Thank you.
Good. Thanks. The next three in the line would be then David Adlington, Aisyah, and Hugo. David Adlington, from JP Morgan, please go ahead.
Morning, guys. Thanks for the question. Maybe I'll just give the opportunity to touch on China and what you're seeing there, both from a Diagnostics side, but also Imaging, given the latest discussions around centralized procurement.
Yeah. Thank you, David. I've dissected into the two segments here. In Diagnostics, we go through this rebasing. It is a bit of a different topic for also when you look at how and when competitors have been hit by this, because it goes with the sequence of introduction of reimbursement changes/introduction of volume-based procurement, depending on certain test types. This is why we are seeing the current development and also why we are cautious when it comes to the next quarter. At some point, we have, and we call it rebasing. We are approaching this new base. If you look at the numbers, compared to two years ago, for us, and that's not different to other competitors. The market volume in China is down by about 40% or so.
This is now then at some point, the level it will slowly start to stabilize, with procedure growth as additional tailwind coming. It also means, I think that is also an important topic when assessing the importance and materiality of Chinese developments for the overall company, that now the China revenue is in the 10% or so range for the company in total, probably below that in Diagnostics, which also means that changes in China are also, let's say, a bit of quote, unquote "diluted" with the now lower importance and ratio of that market to the overall revenue. When it comes to Imaging, I want to first of all really distinguish between the terms volume-based procurement and central bidding, which is a very different mechanism.
Sometimes I'm a little bit nervous whether people kind of look at, oh, here's VBP, you will see VBP in a capital good type of business. What we are seeing in China is a refinement of the centralized bidding policies, which very often is a provincial central-bidding.
It's not a surprise for us. It is a topic we are very well prepared for. There are also some positive aspects in there because there is a better balance between quality and price, while driving the expansion of the central-biddings. There is also the fear of a destructive price war, which led to "weird companies" winning some tenders in some of the provinces. Also the topic that in a business like ours, one cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach, like in a pharma industry or for certain diagnostic tests. We will see the amount of central-biddings increase and the percentage of that market slowly and steadily, we also believe that we are well prepared for it, we have changed our go-to market.
Again, a balance topic, there is also an advantage of being more direct in this topic, because the whole topic of having to work with business partners and so on is, in this purchasing theme on a provincial level, not as necessary anymore. I hope this helped a little bit.
Thanks, David. Moving on to Aisyah from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, Bernd and Jochen. Thanks for taking my question. Thanks for providing the color on the Imaging growth outlook for, I guess, 2027. I would love to know the equipment order growth for the quarter, how that trended, and the mix between Imaging and Precision Therapy. If you could provide a similar outlook on the Varian business for 2027, given the new innovation coming into that portfolio. Thank you.
First of all, let me start with order growth. As you know, we don't talk about the growth number, not directly, but with a book-to-bill of 1.27, you can envision that this was also a very good order growth quarter. As you can see, we don't talk about the growth number independent if it's not good or good. It's not that we don't want it. We don't feel that a quarter number is not a good indicator of what the markets do, because it's, to a certain extent, always also a bit disturbed by large deals, by certain dynamics. We also don't want to push this topic too aggressively, also internally not, to not create, I would say, behaviors which we don't want ultimately. Just as a general explanation.
When we look at the book-to-bill ratio, I think it was, as normal, from a book-to-bill ratio, a bit more pronounced towards Precision Therapy than to Imaging. Imaging was also well above 1.1 in it. A very good Imaging quarter. Also book-to-bill and a very strong Precision Therapy quarter. You ask about Varian prediction for next fiscal year, and also, I would say, the new platform, or new treatment system, or treatment technology, or whatever we bring to market. I think in general, we see Varian as, and I think Bernd even used the word in his speech, as the growth engine or so, something like this, for Siemens Healthineers, and I believe that this will also stay intact in the coming years.
We expect Varian to be able to grow in the high single digits in general based on a very solid set of products, very stable service business, a nice addition from a smaller procedure-based business in interventional oncology. This combination, supported by a new platform where we have high hopes for and high expectations should be, I would say, a good testament to that this being stable on a high single-digit level. Bernd?
Maybe to add on, because I think we have quite well-substantiated hopes when it comes to this new, what Jochen is saying, new platform/new treatment technology, because actually that is the exciting aspect of it, that it is not just a new system but something which will change also the role radiation therapy can play in treatment of important cancer types. Yes, this platform will also contribute to the top line, but we will, of course, also see that in a situation like this, it takes also a little bit of time until the whole production is ramped up. We pretty much know how many systems we can deliver. That will definitely be less than the market demand on the one hand. On the other hand, we have a very good order backlog and good order momentum.
We'll then have the further ramp-up of the new system with new opportunities for radiation therapies in the years to come.
Good.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
We move on to, I think, probably the last caller because we're almost on time. Hugo from Exane, please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my question. Hi, guys. Just wrapping up on the China and 2027 topic, following up on Graham's question earlier on what's reflected in that 2027 EPS bridge based on what you know or not at the moment. Have you reflected centralized procurement programs for imaging in your 2027 assumptions? Thank you.
Should I start? Okay. First of all, the announcement we saw, and we were very clear about this also to the markets, we saw a few weeks ago, I would say, was fully anticipated by us. Actually, our anticipation for this year was that the central bidding in imaging would accelerate quicker than it did. Obviously the government was still organizing it well, and therefore it took a bit longer. The percentage of orders which go via central bidding was lower than our initial assumption. Everything which is mentioned in the announcement which came out is not a surprise. Only, I would say, the particular statement that they want to find the right balance between, I say it now in easy words, between quality and price.
Yeah.
Is a positive, let me phrase it. That was not necessarily assumed that this will show up in an official announcement, which I think is a positive. Therefore, we have baked into our plans for next year, the central bidding as laid out there, so that's not a surprise. I think we will also not deviate when we go out with a concrete guide for next year. We will not bank our guide based on a recovery in China, which we have not seen clear signals for. We will keep that strategy in place. That does not mean that we deviate also from our general assumption that over the midterm, we should see this market come back to more mid-single digit growth rates over time. Maybe not next year, as long as we have not seen a shift here. Okay.
Thank you very much.
Good. That brings us to the end of our call today. I'm totally aware there were a few people more in the queue. We'll make sure that either team gets back to you quickly or you get a premium spot on Monday's sell-side breakfast for your question. Just to close it up and get your heads to some events coming up. We'll be at ASTRO, we'll be facilitating investor meetings as far as we have slots. Also obviously at RSNA in December, we will be there and facilitating management meetings and booth tours. If you want to take part in this, either go via a broker of your choice who's already there or directly to us, we'll try and make it happen. Beyond that, of course, we have our IR program coming up with virtual roadshows and some conference participations in September.
Hope to see you then or hear you. Bye bye. Stay safe.
That will conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, ladies and gentlemen. A recording of this conference call will be available on the investor relations section of the Siemens Healthineers website.