Hello everybody out there. We had a decent quarter in our core business again, offset by a weak diagnostics result. We spoke to many investors in a focused virtual roadshow with our management team and saw many investors at several conferences in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. As usual, we try to distill the key points of discussion and deliver to you a compact summary of what we believe you need to know if you did not get a chance to meet us, or if you simply want to remind yourself ahead of our next discussion involving Siemens Healthineers. Let's kick it off, Bernd. What were the highlights of the Q2 fiscal year 2026 reporting from your point of view?
Thank you, Marc. We delivered a solid performance in our synergistic core with good momentum in Imaging and Varian, with in particular, continued strong growth in molecular imaging, particularly driven by PETNET. All in all, the business in the synergistic core remains very well-positioned structurally. The book-to-bill of 1.02 for the equipment business was a bit lower than usual. We see a bit of a phasing here and expect a much stronger Q3 performance and continue to expect a full year book-to-bill in the 1.1 territory. At the same time, diagnostics clearly was a drag on the Q2 performance, mainly driven by the structural market changes in China.
Speaking of the diagnostics Q2 performance, this was unsurprisingly a key topic of most of our meetings. People wanted to understand what drove the weakness and also why we didn't see it to that extent.
First of all, we guided for a weak Q2. I would say the quarter really saw a perfect storm in diagnostics, the ongoing volume-based procurement activities in China, additional reimbursement cuts, and the unbundling of test panels, meaning not only lower prices but also fewer assays are run per patient in some cases, and importantly, destocking by our OEM partners, which was actually also a double whammy in the year-over-year comparison with China, as China was growing last year, still in our Q2. Also, reporting of other diagnostics players, they also portrayed that the situation was more severe in China this quarter than previously thought.
Thanks, Jochen. Bernd, we also got several questions on diagnostics with regards to the business's ability to recover. How do you think diagnostics will get back on track, and is this the last round of China downgrades?
In Q2, we have seen a combination of several effects leading to a 40%-50% decline in China. Looking forward, we expect around two more quarters until full normalization there, and by the end of the fiscal year, we should reach a new and lower baseline structurally. The China diagnostics has reduced from about 12% of revenue of that business pre-pandemic to around 6% today. The key takeaway of this statement is the China risk, one can say, has largely materialized and is significantly reduced. At the same time, looking outside China, the core of diagnostics is improving. Atellica migration is largely completed, and the legacy exposure is further reduced.
Okay. Exactly. Looking ahead, can you maybe update us on where we stand in terms of creating strategic optionality for the diagnostics business?
Operationally, diagnostics is already largely separated in terms of sales, service, and manufacturing. The next step is the legal entity carve-out, which we are now preparing, and importantly, this is not a sequential process. We can start engaging in discussions for the full spectrum of pathways in parallel. Overall, we are moving decisively by making sure we do this in a value-maximizing and financially responsible way without working against an artificial deadline. Focus will be on creating shareholder value. Proceeds will be potentially used for deleveraging and/or share buybacks, since diagnostics is ultimately owned by our shareholders.
Now, back to the synergistic core. Could you maybe enlarge a bit more on the book-to-bill? What exactly makes us so optimistic that there will be the stronger second half?
The most important point is that order and order growth and book-to-bill is always, in general, a bit more volatile than revenue. Just to put that up front. The most important point in this order development in Q2 is that it was primarily driven by the volatility, or you can also say, if you want to have a nicer word, by phasing. Total orders declined low single digit against a very strong last year of +13%, driven by large Value Partnerships. You remember the Alberta deal, for example. This year, we saw some shifts of Value Partnerships into Q3. We have large deals in the pipeline and some already close to finalization. If you look at the equipment book-to-bill, although Q2 was below the average equipment book-to-bill we are used to, we also grew with the book-to-bill of 1.02 backlog.
From today's perspective, we expect a stronger Q3 book-to-bill versus Q2. For the full year, as Bernd already highlighted, we expect a book-to-bill in the range of 1.1. Consistent, I would say, more with historical level. Overall, this is timing, not a structural issue.
Thanks, Jochen. With regards to the dynamics in the second half. Next to the diagnostics business declining less strongly, we have called out a much stronger second half from advanced therapies. Could you explain to the audience how this will come to play?
What we are seeing in AT is a material product transition cycle as a material for AT. We announced new products, as usual, there is a six- to eight-month period before we can deliver in large quantities, primarily due to also regulatory approvals of the new platforms. This leads to lower revenue contribution in the first half and significant shift into the second half. The current softness is, first, fully expected. It's not driven by demand or market dynamics. Looking ahead, we received in May, FDA approval for the six new angiography systems, the backlog for AT supports a clear acceleration in the second half. The factories are full, as you know, we only build to order in that business. For the full year, we expect growth with strong momentum returning. This is a timing effect due to innovation cycles. Not a structural concern.
Thanks. Since we brought this topic of inflation influencing our profitability in the second half up, we were unsurprisingly asked about our ability to mitigate inflation should it turn out to be more sticky and broad-based than currently assumed. Maybe, Jochen, could you maybe speak to this and explain to the audience how we are positioned there?
Marc, we have, I would say, two main levers to mitigate inflation. One is pricing. Marc, we are fully lined up to counteract with price management, which we are currently running already to mitigate tariffs. Therefore, the organization is on its toes with regard to the topic, and depending on how inflation is playing out, we will dial it up if necessary, as we did with the last inflationary situation. There we needed, I would say, a longer runway to get started. This runway is behind us. Secondly, it's productivity, it's cost savings. We have also started a cost savings program for mitigating the tariff situation, and this is running extremely well. We see also here the opportunity to dial this up if need be.
A third topic, which is not a lever, I think it's also the characteristic of our business, is that our business is meanwhile more and more a recurring business also in the synergistic core. More than 50% of the revenue is recurring. We have built a strong pricing capability since 2022. I'm very sure that we can react faster than in the previous cycle. There's always a time lag between order intake and revenue. In general, between three and 18 months. It depends a bit on the modality, it depends a bit on the customer readiness and other things. Even with the current headwinds, the ambition we have laid out at the Capital Markets Day to be able to show an operational EPS improvement in the double digits is still intact.
Great. Speaking of the future growth potential, a lot of this is probably predicated on our ability to continuously innovate and therefore further gain market share. Unsurprisingly, we received several questions with regards to topics like photon-counting CT, and our new LINAC that we softly pre-announced at the Capital Market Day. How do you feel about that, Bernd?
I mean, we see one pattern in all the businesses I'm going to talk about, and there is, on the one hand, a very good potential for further market share gains, but that the innovations also create new markets and new demand. Starting with CT, we are the only company with a full fleet of photon-counting CT scanners, which are alive and kicking and doing great things at customers. A big success was, by the way, also the launch of photon-counting CT for radiation therapy planning and in oncology for at the ESTRO just a couple of days ago, which also shows that the technology now is going into this space. Here we continue to gain market share, but we also expand the addressable market for CT.
Talking about the new LINAC, what I find exciting is here, that it will be, on the one hand, the world best LINAC which is to some extent also our duty as market and innovation leader. It would be a problem if it's not. That in addition, you can look at it as a new way of treating certain cancers which couldn't be treated before with radiation therapy, and where the only option for the patient has been systemic treatment. Again, a way to expand the market in advanced therapies. Jochen already alluded to the broad platform, which is addressing so many different interventional specialties and is getting a lot of traction.
In molecular imaging, we see in a way as another make-market move, the continuous growth of PETNET at or above 20%, which is now approaching about EUR 1 billion in annualized revenue, supported by all the exciting developments in diagnostics. Overall, innovation is a market share driver and in addition, a market growth driver and helps also to further improve our margin quality.
Great. Thanks a lot for that, Bernd. Maybe now last but not least, Jochen. Siemens announced that the vote for the spin will happen next year at the two ordinary AGMs of two companies involved. We received a lot of questions with regards to the connected topics. What about the brand fee, separation costs? Maybe you could help the audience to understand the key buckets that they need to know about.
Yeah, I would say there are generally three buckets. Let me start first with brand. We have talked about the brand at several occasions. I think we are in constructive talks with Siemens AG on the topic. Of course, Siemens is a strong brand. On the other hand, we have built the Healthineers brand over the last 10 years as a strong part of the brand we are currently running under. In any case, you should not expect a material recurring burden from brand licensing going forward. On second bucket financing, obviously, we can assume, and I mentioned that also at the Capital Markets Day and reiterated the message at the Q2 disclosure day. We are prepared in case Siemens terminates the term loans, the existing term loans at the deconsolidation date. A grace period starts, and then we have the standard steps in place.
We have a bridge financing. We will then, during the bridge period, refinance over time. This is a longer process. During this process, we still believe that we will be in the position at the current interest rate environment to not let the interest expense line grow negatively above the EUR -380 to EUR -420 as explained. Therefore, the year-over-year impact from currently a bit lower run rate will be definitely manageable. The third bucket, last bucket, other costs, recurring costs, dis-synergies from final carve-out. This is also clearly manageable. We guided here for mid-double- digit million euro amount. This is most likely also a conservative assessment. Also, again, very well manageable over time.
Thanks, Jochen. Very helpful. Speaking of Siemens, let me briefly touch on the longer timeline for the spin. We will make sure that we use this time to give investors and analysts a solid update on what we said at the Capital Markets Day. They then can complete their due diligence ahead of a more in-depth, in-person management roadshow likely to take place in March next year. In the meantime, we are continuing with our more normal IR activities, involving also many conference participations in Europe and in the U.S. As always, you find our upcoming activities listed on our IR website if you're interested to take part. For me, it remains to say thank you, Bernd and Jochen, for doing this again. Thank you also to our listeners for listening in and for their interest in Siemens Healthineers. Stay safe and healthy. Bye-bye.