Welcome to Vitrolife Q2 2025 earnings call. For the first part of the presentation, participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad. Please start by asking one question followed by a follow-up question. It's then fine to queue up again for more questions. Now, I will hand the conference over to CEO Bronwyn Brophy and CFO Helena Wennerström. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. I would like to welcome you to the Vitrolife Group Q2 2025 earnings report. As mentioned, my name is Bronwyn Brophy O'Connor. I'm the CEO of Vitrolife AB, and I'm joined by Helena Wennerström, our Acting CFO. I would like to now move you to the slide entitled "Q2 2025 Highlights." I would like to start by highlighting three key achievements during the quarter. The first highlight was the performance of our consumables business, delivering 9% organic growth in local currencies, excluding discontinued business. This growth rate is significantly above current market growth rates in the quarter, and there is no doubt that we are taking share from the competition across the portfolio. The second point I would like to highlight is the performance of our Americas region, delivering 5% organic growth in local currency.
This is despite the fact that market conditions were very challenging in the quarter due to a significant drop in cycle numbers in the U.S. following the signing of the IVF executive order on February 18th, 2025. The final highlight I would like to share is that we became the lead investor in AutoIVF, another key milestone as we advance our strategy of creating an end-to-end IVF platform for clinics. We will now move to the next slide, please. In addition to navigating an accelerating currency headwind in the quarter and the evolving tariff situation, this was a challenging quarter for the reproductive health industry as a whole.
Following the signing of the IVF executive order in the United States, we witnessed a significant drop in cycles versus quarter one and versus the same quarter last year as patients postponed their IVF treatment in anticipation of greater financial support. To date, we have no further details on what this support will entail. In Asia, we saw some small signs of recovery in China, but cycles have not returned to pre-Dragon levels. We see stronger recovery in Southeast Asia. EMEA is performing well despite the impact of the situation in the Middle East. Taking you through the numbers, sales in the quarter were SEK 871 million, - 7% in SEK, impacted by - 8% due to currency. Our CFO, Helena, will take you through the currency impact on the financials of our company in the next slide.
We delivered an organic growth in local currencies, excluding discontinued business, of + 3% despite the wider macro and industry-specific challenges that I have just mentioned. Gross margin decreased to 58%, also impacted by currency. EBITDA decreased to SEK 243 million, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 27.8%. The margin was heavily impacted by currency, and also the increased investment in sales and marketing in the U.S. played a role. Operating cash flow: SEK 151 million and earnings per share: SEK 0.74. If we then take a look at the first half year of 2025, sales were SEK 1.7 billion, that's -4% in SEK, impacted by - 4% due to currency. Organic growth: + 3% in local currencies, excluding discontinued business year to date. EBITDA, as you can see there on the slide, SEK 500 million and operating cash flow: SEK 220 million.
I'm now going to hand you over to Helena, who will take you through the specifics of the currency impact on the Vitrolife Group. Over to you, Helena.
Thank you, Bronwyn. We are now on page number five, where we provide a more detailed analysis of the currency situation in the first half of 2025, as developments accelerated significantly in Q2 2025. First, some words about what is reflected in translation and in transaction effects. Translation effects arise from the net investment in foreign subsidiaries; revaluation impacts the equity. Assets and liabilities translated at the closing date rate; revaluation impacts other operating items. Transaction effects attributable to income and expenses converted at the average rate for the period. However, transactions in foreign currency are measured in functional currency at the exchange rate that applies on the transaction date. Now, over to the impact that has been observed in this result for the period.
In Q1, if I could draw your attention to the arrow on the right-hand side, we can clearly see a significant strength in Swedish krona versus other currencies by the end of quarter one, which impacted the result with a translation effect of - SEK 13 million, but no major transaction effects in the period. In Q2, Swedish krona currency has been less volatile, and we can see less impact of the translation effect in the operating expenses amounted to - SEK 5 million for the quarter, but significant transaction effects in the result. Going to the currency effects in sales Q2 2025, it amounted to SEK 73 million, corresponding to - 8% for the quarter. Currency effects on the sales year to date 2025 total to - SEK 77 million, representing approximately - 4% for the period.
Notably, only - SEK 4 million of this impact relates to the transaction effects from Q1 2025. A large part of the transaction effect was visible already in the gross result, but when it comes to operating costs, there is a counteract effect of foreign costs and their currency impact. Still, we have a large part of the operating costs in Swedish krona. As a reference, in 2024, changing the Swedish krona exchange rate against the Vitrolife Group all top currencies of ± 10% would have an effect on income before tax of ± SEK 141 million for the full year. We are short in Danish krona and in Swedish krona, long in all other currencies, as shown in the annual and sustainability report for 2024 in note two. By that, I will hand over to you, Bronwyn, again.
Thank you, Helena. We can now move to the next slide, titled "Sales and Growth for Geographical Segment." Sales in the Americas region increased by +5% despite the very challenging IVF climate in the United States post the IVF executive order that I have previously mentioned. The growth that we delivered was primarily driven by share gains in genetic services in North America. The comparables and technologies were exceptionally challenging as we grew 174% in technologies in Q2 2024 due to closing a large EmbryoScope deal with the clinic chain. Even with these very high comps, technologies Americas were only -1% behind the previous year. A strong performance in our largest region, EMEA, driven by what has to be said, an exceptional performance in our consumables business across the region, delivering 17% growth in local currencies, excluding discontinued business. We most definitely took share from competitors in several categories.
This region also had substantial comparable challenges in technologies as we grew +50% in Q2 2024. Sales in APAC were flat with continued market weakness in China, although we saw a more robust recovery in Southeast Asia. The overall cost of raising a child in APAC appears to be impacting cycle numbers in the wider region. If I can draw your attention then to the share of total sales, you can see that EMEA continues to be our largest region with 33% share of total sales, followed by Americas with 34%. Okay, I'll now move on and we'll take a deeper look at market region EMEA. As I said, a strong performance by our largest region driven by Europe, a Vitrolife AB Group stronghold, it has to be said, where we continue to expand our market leadership position in several key markets and parts of the portfolio.
In the region, our total growth was -8%, impacted by -5% in currency and -8% in discontinued business in the quarter. To repeat, our organic growth in local currency, excluding discontinued business, was +5%. Sales in consumables were +17% in local currencies, excluding discontinued business, and I want to thank the team for the fantastic job that they did taking share across the portfolio in all markets. Sales in genetics in this region were impacted by the situation in the Middle East, but we did see steady growth across the portfolio in other markets, which was encouraging to see. A tough quarter here for technologies in the region, as I previously mentioned. However, what is very encouraging to see here is that the revenue per installed EmbryoScope is increasing steadily. Okay, we will now move to market region Americas.
Tough market conditions, as I mentioned, in parts of the Americas region, and this is as a result of the IVF executive order, which started to impact cycle levels as we moved into Q2. In the Vitrolife Group, we conducted a patient survey across the high-volume IVF states in the Americas, and it confirmed that couples were delaying their IVF treatment while awaiting clarity on financial support. The statement from the White House, just for those of you who haven't had a chance to read it, the statement from the White House, and I will quote, was to aggressively reduce out-of-pocket costs for IVF. Clearly, when this materializes, this will be good for patients, but we are still in a holding pattern, awaiting further news from the U.S. administration. Total growth of -6% impacted by -11% currency factor here. An organic growth in local currencies of +5%.
As I mentioned before, an exceptionally strong comparable quarter last year for technologies due to a large purchase from one of the biggest clinic chains, cross-border clinic chain, in fact. What I would say, despite the drop in cycles and the very strong comps in technologies, we still managed to deliver growth, and this is due to share gains in our genetic services business, which is performing very strongly this year across the entire portfolio. Some good strong share gains and momentum in genetic services. Okay, I'd now like to move on and take a deeper look at market region APAC. Market conditions in APAC are quite mixed from one market to another. Cycles have not returned to pre-Dragon levels in China, and Australasia is flat and even negative in certain parts, but Southeast Asia is showing good signs of recovery.
What we are seeing across the region is the delaying of capital purchases as chains and individual clinics, in fact, manage their cash. Total growth of -8% impacted by -7% due to currency fluctuations, so a flat organic growth in local currencies. Negative growth in technologies despite a healthy sales funnel of EmbryoScopes because we are impacted by these delayed capital purchases, especially in the larger markets. The shining light here is again our consumables business, which is performing well due to share gains from competitors as opposed to cycle growth. In fact, consumables performed well in all markets, even those impacted by lower cycle growth rates. I will hand you back over to Helena, who will take us through the geographical segments.
Thank you, Bronwyn. We are now on page number 10, where I will provide a more detailed analysis of the geographical segments: Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Starting on the right-hand side, as Bronwyn mentioned earlier, total sales amounted to SEK 871 million with a gross margin of 58%. In comparison with the previous year, sales were SEK 941 million with a gross margin of 59.9%. The market contribution was SEK 302 million with a contribution margin of 34.7%. In the same quarter last year, it was SEK 369 million with a contribution margin of 39.2%. A decrease of 4.5 percentage points, primarily driven by currency fluctuation changes and slightly increased supply chain costs. Let us now take a closer look at the geographic segments.
On the left-hand side, in the Americas, sales totaled SEK 295 million, reflecting 5% organic growth in local currencies, but a decline of 6% in SEK, negatively impacted by currency of - 11%. As Bronwyn mentioned earlier, we had solid growth despite a significant drop in cycles following the U.S. IVF executive order. Gross income totaled SEK 160 million with a gross margin of 54.2%. This compares to last year's gross income of SEK 181 million and a margin of 57.3%. A decline primarily driven by currency fluctuations; however, an improvement by 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. Selling expenses for the quarter rose from SEK 63 million to SEK 75 million, reflecting ongoing investments in sales and marketing in the U.S., as previously announced. The market contribution margin for the quarter was 29%, representing an improvement of 3.7 percentage points compared to the previous quarter.
Sales in EMEA declined by 3% in local currencies and by 8% in SEK, totaling SEK 326 million. The sales were negatively impacted by currency of - 5%. Excluding discontinued business, sales increased by 5% in local currencies. Gross income was SEK 195 million with a gross margin of 59.9%, compared to SEK 250 million and a margin of 60.5% last year. The decrease was mainly due to currency effects and product mix. Selling expenses decreased from SEK 90 million to SEK 81 million. The market contribution margin for the quarter was 35%, slightly down from 31.5%, affected by currency fluctuation, product mix, and lower selling expenses. In APAC, the sales amounted to SEK 250 million, reflecting flat organic growth in local currencies, but an 8% decrease in SEK, primarily due to - 7% currency impact.
Gross income was SEK 150 million with a gross margin of 59.8%, which is lower than previous year's gross income of SEK 169 million and a gross margin of 61.6%. However, there was an improvement of 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. Selling expenses increased from SEK 42 million to SEK 47 million, and the market contribution margin for the quarter was 41%, down from 46.7% last year. Let's move on to slide number 11. On this slide, I will comment on Q2 financial highlights. As earlier mentioned, the sales amounted to SEK 871 million compared to the previous year, with the sales of SEK 941 million corresponding to a flat growth in local currencies, a 7% decrease in SEK and 3% in local currencies, excluding discontinued business.
As part of our ongoing risk assessment procedure and to ensure we continue to comply with all applicable international sanctions, we decided to discontinue activities in certain markets in EMEA, as we announced in the Q4 2024 report, representing less than 3% of our annual revenue effects from January 1, 2025. The gross income amounted to SEK 505 million compared to SEK 564 million previous year, corresponding to a gross margin of 58%, down from 59.9% previous year, negatively impacted by currency fluctuations and slightly increased supply chain. In the second quarter, operating expenses increased primarily attributable to the previously communicated investment in expanding sales and marketing capabilities in the U.S., as well as increased administrative expenses driven by ongoing activities within the company, and part of it is to be considered as one-off costs.
Operating expenses were also impacted by - SEK 5 million when revaluating assets and liabilities at the closing rate by the end of the quarter. All in all, this gives us an EBITDA of SEK 243 million compared to SEK 327 million previous year, which consequently gives us an EBITDA margin of 27.8% compared to 34.7% last year. The decrease in margin is heavily impacted by transaction and translation effects driven by strengthened SEK against other currencies. Furthermore, the margin was also affected by increased selling expenses, mainly in the U.S., combined with the impact of product and market mix. Let's move on to slide number 12. Some comments about our operating expenses. As previously communicated, we continue to invest in sales and marketing capabilities in key markets, resulting in an increase in selling expenses from SEK 196 million to SEK 203 million.
R&D expenses have risen slightly year- over- year by SEK 2 million. Administrative expenses are higher and related to ongoing activities within the company, and part of it is to be considered as one-off costs. Other operating expenses totaled SEK 6 million, remaining flat compared to the same quarter last year. However, the operating expenses are mainly affected by translation effects of - SEK 5 million in the quarter versus - SEK 3 million in the comparable quarter, related to revaluation of assets and liabilities at the closing rate. Let's move on to slide number 13. Let us now look at some key financials. Here I will focus on the year-to-date numbers, and sales for the first half year amounted to SEK 1.7 billion, corresponding to a flat growth in local currencies, a decrease of 4% in SEK, and a 3% decrease in local currencies, excluding discontinued business.
The gross margins decreased from 58.6% to 57.7%, and the EBITDA amounted to SEK 500 million compared to SEK 600 million, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 29.2% versus 33.6% previous year. The decrease in margin is heavily impacted by transaction and translation currency effects, driven by strengthened SEK against other currencies, but the margin was also affected by increased selling expenses, mainly in the U.S. and the product and market mix. The financial net amounted to - SEK 15 million compared to - SEK 48 million previous year, primarily positively impacted by foreign exchange gain by SEK 8 million compared to - SEK 4 million previous year. Interest expense amounted to SEK 31 million compared to SEK 48 million previous year.
Net income amounted to SEK 198 million compared to SEK 258 million previous year, heavily impacted by currency fluctuations, which gives earnings per share of SEK 0.74 compared to SEK 1.06 previous year. Taxes amounted to - SEK 73 million compared to - SEK 77 million previous year, and the effective tax rate was 26.9% for the first half year compared to 23% same period previous year. The increase this year is driven by restructuring activities, withholding taxes, and geographical market mix, main part effective in Q1 2025. Historically, the normalized average tax rate amounted to approximately 23% to 25% depending on the geographical market mix. Operating cash flow amounted to SEK 220 million for the first half year compared to SEK 434 million previous year.
Changes in the working capital had a negative effect of SEK 134 million this year compared to SEK 62 million previous year, affecting all working capital items. The tax paid with a year-over-year increase of SEK 81 million is a timing matter. We have a strong balance sheet with an equity ratio of 78.8% and a net debt of 2 EBITDA on 2.8% compared to 1.0% previous year by the end of the quarter. Additionally, in the beginning of July, we also have signed a EUR 300 million loan agreement consisting of the return loan to refinance the existing debt and a revolving facility for general workload purposes. I will now hand over to you again, Bronwyn.
Thank you, Helena. The focus for the rest of the year is growth. Number one is to continue to drive share gain in key markets, leveraging the full breadth of the portfolio. I think particularly on the consumables side, we've been doing this really well for several quarters now. The second imperative is to accelerate penetration of our combined EmbryoScope and lab control solutions. At the recent ESHRE Congress, we showcased new additional features on our lab control and also the integration of EmbryoScope and our e-witness, which was very well received by our customers. It is very important to deliver best-in-class quality and customer service, both of which are synonymous with our company and help to differentiate us from our competitors. In relation to innovation, we have prioritized those programs that deliver solutions to help clinics automate, scale, and improve outcomes.
Essentially, what we're doing is prioritizing the platform-related R&D programs. We've also strengthened our market access capabilities, particularly to help us with some of the U.S. approvals. In relation to operational excellence, the key point I would like to highlight here is automating our manufacturing to increase capacity of key growth drivers. This has been really critical to meet the demand forecast in our consumables business, in particular where we have been gaining share for several quarters across the portfolio. In relation to the macroeconomic environment, it is clearly quite volatile. Additionally, we need to stay very close to the evolving situation with tariffs and the U.S. IVF executive order in the U.S. We can clearly see that a majority of patients have postponed, not canceled, have postponed their IVF treatments in the U.S.
There is only so long that you can do this for because the window for successful IVF is very small. I guess we will see as the months progress, first of all, how soon we can get an update from the U.S. administration and then for how much longer our patients are going to postpone. Very importantly as well for our EMEA region, our largest region, which is performing very well, is to be ready to rescale activities in the Middle East in the event that certain markets reopen there. With that, I'd like to thank you for your attention, and we'll now hand over to the moderator to open up for Q&A.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. Please start by asking one question followed by a follow-up question. It's then fine to queue up again for more questions. The next question comes from Ulrich Trattner from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. My question would be on your impression on the underlying growth for respective markets in Q2, both mainly for EMEA and Americas, and potentially specifically for the U.S., and what is driving your market share gains in EMEA consumables as well as in Americas genetics?
Thank you for the question, Ulrich. I think part one is what do I think the underlying growth is in EMEA and Americas, correct?
Yes, yes, that's correct.
Yeah, cycles are down. Cycles are down in the U.S., but of course for us, Americas is U.S., Canada, and South America. Cycles specifically in the U.S. are down versus the previous quarter. Q1, they were tracking healthily, I would say, and they are down versus Q1 and down versus last year. It's not cancelling of cycles per se, it's postponement. Obviously that statement came out from the White House on the 18th of February. It was a very strong statement. IVF is expensive in the U.S., so you can completely understand why patients would pause. Cycles are down, which to me highlights that our consumables performance and our genetics performance more specifically in North America is very strong. That's down to share gains.
We've been taking share in genetic services, not genomics so much, but in genetic services in North America for several quarters now, and that really drove the growth in the Americas region. EMEA, cycles are positive, cycles are growing, but they're not growing to the level of our consumables gains. Really where we're taking share is it's across the consumables portfolio, Ulrich. As you know, we have been taking share on the media side for quite a while, but we're now taking share in other parts of the consumables portfolio. Disposable devices, pipettes, needles, basically everywhere. To have the growth of 17% excluding discontinued business is significantly double-digit above what the cycle growths are in the region. Hopefully I've answered your question the way you intended it.
Yes, absolutely. Just a follow-up question on genetics in the U.S. What specific tests are driving growth? I also note that you submitted for a dismissal of the class action litigation, the PDTA class action litigation during June. The first question would be which tests are driving growth? Secondly, have you seen any material impact from this on PDTA sales for the U.S. isolated?
I can answer the second part first because it makes the first part easier. There's no impact because the PDTA family of tests is what's driving the growth. It's the largest part of the revenue and it's driving the growth. It's significant. If we look at our 12-month rolling by test, obviously we don't divulge this information. I'm sure we have plenty of competitors listening in this morning, so we don't divulge that by test. It is the largest part of the revenue in North America, and it's performing well, and it has not been impacted in any shape or form by the class actions.
Great, thank you, Bronwyn, and I'll get back into the queue.
Sure, far too good. Thank you, Ulrich.
The next question comes from Sten Gustafsson from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. A question on the cycle growth in the U.S. during the quarter. Can you comment anything about if there were any differences in the start of the quarter compared to the end of the quarter? If the growth rate picked up by the end of the quarter or if it's similar growth month over month?
Excellent question, Sten, thank you. The cycles got slightly better as the quarter advanced. The biggest drop was at the start of the quarter. It was a little bit less in April, May, June. Essentially, April was bad, May a little bit less bad, and then slightly better in June. It would appear, I never like guessing when it comes to the executive order, to be honest, but it would appear based on our data that patients had waited the 90 days. When they saw that nothing was coming out, obviously the big beautiful bill was going through the House, and that was the focus of the administration. I think as patients saw that there was no update coming on the IVF executive order, they slowly started to return to the clinics.
Excellent, thank you.
The phasing was. Yeah, you're welcome.
If I may squeeze in some sort of a follow-up there, on the broader growth for the company, it's been relatively muted now for the first half. What do you see near term for the coming two quarters in terms of do you expect growth to improve or can you give any guidance on the outlook for the second half? That would be helpful.
Typically, we don't guide, but I'll try to give you my, based on what we see, it's quite region specific, Sten. EMEA is looking very solid, actually. That's looking good. Europe across the board is looking pretty good. For us as a company, I don't know what it's like for our competitors, but for us as a company, we're performing well in all markets, with the exception of the Middle East, which we all know the reasons why that has been impacted. Asia is very much a mixed bag. Cycles have not recovered in China. They're better than the levels that they were at in quarter one, but they have not returned to pre-dragon levels. China's looking soft. Southeast Asia's looking a lot better. It's a little bit of a mixed bag in APAC.
The biggest question is obviously the Americas because North America is the largest part of that market by quite a distance. Cycles had been trending very nicely. It's the largest IVF market in the world, and it also had, in the context of being a large market, it also had, prior to the executive order being signed, one of the healthiest growth rates globally. The postponement or, I guess, the delay in providing clarity to couples on what that additional financial support will mean, that's making it very difficult to make a call on North American growth. What we do know for sure is that this pent-up demand, because, speaking to our clinics and to the clinic chains, but also to some of the smaller clinics, they're not seeing patients canceling cycles. They're seeing them postpone them, which is completely understandable.
IVF is very expensive in the United States, and any financial assistance is going to go a long way. In many ways in relation to the U.S., if we could just get clarity either way, it would be good for growth. Either financial assistance is coming, that's fantastic, or financial assistance is not coming, and we can get back to the healthy growth rates that we've had in the market for several years. It really depends by regions, Sten. The sooner we get clarity in the United States, the sooner we can get the growth up.
Excellent. Thank you very much for your comments.
Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you for your questions.
The next question comes from Jakob Lembke from SEB. Please go ahead.
Hi, and good morning. A question on technologies. In Q2 here, you talked about a bit of a weaker quarter in APAC. Americas seems to be more of a stronger quarter. Just in general, what is your outlook and sort of how is the pipeline for technologies here the coming quarters across the regions?
Thank you for your question, Jakob. The pipeline is good. Even in APAC, the pipeline is pretty good for EmbryoScopes. We are seeing, again, I'm going to take you through the three regions because the dynamics are quite different by region. In APAC, good funnel, very good funnel, even in the markets where cycles are, you know, haven't recovered to historic levels. We're seeing continued delays in capital purchases. It's not like the EmbryoScope orders are being canceled. It's delaying as clinic chains and individual clinics, you know, I guess hold on to their cash in volatile times. EMEA is our most penetrated region for EmbryoScope. EmbryoScope has been performing well there. The other thing we need to think about here, Jakob, is the consumable revenue per EmbryoScope. We don't divulge exactly what that is, but it's becoming a healthier proportion. That's trending very nicely in EMEA.
In Americas, we've really been focusing on EmbryoScope. We've been getting some very nice traction there. The funnel has been building. There we have a little bit of a holding pattern, less than APAC, it has to be said. We have a little bit of a holding pattern on technologies, just with the whole executive order, I guess, sort of impacting confidence a little bit. The funnel overall for EmbryoScope is healthy. It's the timing of when the systems come in. We do see the time to order, which we measure, the time to order is taking longer. It's increasing. Consumables revenue per EmbryoScope across the globe is increasing nicely. Hopefully that gives you a bit of a flavor, Jakob.
Yeah, just on APAC, when do you think this sort of caution from the clinics will move away and they can start to execute their orders?
Yeah, it depends on the markets in APAC. If we just take China as an example, as I mentioned, cycles haven't returned to sort of historic or pre-dragon levels. I guess the clinics in general would like to see, there are some green, we have seen some green shoots, nothing to get too excited about. I guess the clinics are waiting for a little bit more confidence on the cycle side. Reimbursement has been improved. It hasn't had an impact yet. Are governments going to become more aggressive on the reimbursement side? If we look at what's happened in South Korea, the government's gone very aggressive on financial support, and it has helped. The Chinas and Japans of this world are likely going to have to do the same if they really want to move the needle. All of that sort of helps confidence in investing in an EmbryoScope.
Jakob, was there a second part to your second question that I missed or have I clarified?
No, you clarified. Maybe if I can just shoot in a more general question before getting back in line. You know, I guess 2025 has been a sort of tougher year for many of your key markets. When you now look into 2026, what are you seeing there? Also, do you think it's possible to get back to your sort of growth target of 10% next year?
Yeah, so again, it comes back to the three-part story. We think EMEA is good and steady, particularly Europe. Europe is better than good and steady. That's for the Vitrolife Group. We're doing very well in EMEA. If financial support comes in the U.S., then we will see an uptick in cycles. That would be expected. It won't be explosive because the capacity is not in the system right now. It would take time for that to filter through. Any financial support in the U.S. will help the Americas region. I guess where I would be more cautious is on APAC because we do have several large markets there. When I say large, I mean large in absolute numbers of IVF cycles. We see that, despite improved reimbursement, the cycles quarter over quarter, you can have snakes, dragons, and all these sorts of things.
If you look at the rolling 12, 24-month cycles, it's not very exciting. APAC seems to have more endemic challenges, one of which is the cost of raising, the overall cost of raising a child. I think that's why you're starting to see some of the governments step in. I think, again, EMEA is steady, more optimistic for Americas, but more conservative outlook for APAC.
Okay, thanks. I'll get back in line.
You're welcome. Thank you, Jakob.
The next question comes from Johan Underis from Redeye. Please go ahead.
Great, thanks for taking our questions. The first one on the U.S. side, clearly the consumers or the clients are hesitant and postponing. Is there an element of that the administration budget or certainty also affects the clinic in terms of activity and perhaps encouraging patients to go further?
I'm sorry, Johan, I'm struggling to hear you a little bit. I think your question, and correct, maybe could you repeat the question?
Yeah, yeah.
If you could, great.
Let's see, I can change perhaps the code directly. Maybe my iPhone was strange. Is that better?
Yeah, that's much better. Thank you.
I'm sorry for the confusion. Now it's sealed so it doesn't pop over automatically. Your message regarding the U.S. in terms of patient behavior is pretty clear. It seems to be that a lot of patients are postponing and not canceling. What in terms of there is, of course, the changes in budgets and administration, is that having an impact perhaps in how the centers are incentivizing their patients to go further? There could be an element of that as well, I suspect.
We're not the industry, not Vitrolife Group. Reproductive health as a whole isn't so impacted by some of the central government cuts or cuts to things like NIH funding. We're not completely immune to it, but most of the clinics in the U.S. are part of a chain, 60%, and most of those chains are privately owned. There are some clinics that are linked to academic centers, you know, the Columbians and Cornells of this world. So far, the sort of funding on that reproductive health side hasn't been impacted. The administration has been pretty clear, not just President Trump, but the wider administration has been very clear that they want Americans having more babies. They're very pro-providing support for couples to do that or for individuals to do that. We haven't really, to date, I couldn't say we've been impacted by that in any material way.
Great. A similar question related to APAC then.
Go ahead, Johan.
Sorry.
I was going to say our other healthcare, which would be significantly impacted, but not really our space. Yeah.
In the APAC region, the sort of more regional approach doesn't seem to work very well, or at least it's causing friction, to put it mildly. At the same time, the reimbursement seemed to improve. What should we expect here? Should we expect more reimbursement to try to kickstart the market from a central perspective, or should we expect the regional approach to start to be backtracked to some extent?
Difficult to predict, but I think the green shoots that we're seeing in countries like Korea, where the decline has halted and from a very low base, it has to be said. I think that's going to become a proxy for how aggressive governments are going to go. What I would say is what we're hearing much more of in APAC is not just IVF reimbursement and coverage, but improved support for the cost of raising the child. Things like tax breaks or payments for having children. I think where we're going to see more support is on the sort of additional cost of raising a child as well as reimbursement costs for IVF. Are they going to do this or are they not? I don't think they're going to have any choice if you look at the declining birth rates. This is only going in one direction.
The biggest factor here is people are having less children. They're delaying having the children that they do have, which means they inevitably, or a lot of them are going to need IVF support. Population decline is very stark now globally. There was a recent UN report published in April. Governments will have no choice but to step in. I don't see them standing by and watching their populations fall off a cliff. APAC in general, Asia in general, is going to have to get more aggressive on helping couples in the case of APAC to have a child and child raising costs.
That of course sounds very realistic and likely, but indirect incentives and support may of course take some time to get traction and go through parliament and the like.
Yeah, exactly. I think you're right. I think in the shorter term, that's going to take time for sure. Yeah.
Okay, thank you.
You're welcome, Johan.
The next question comes from Ludvig Lundgren from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi. Two questions from me on costs. OpEx to sales was 42% here in Q2, the highest level in quite a while for Vitrolife . I wonder if there was any sort of one-off costs in the quarter, and how we should think about OpEx to sales moving into H2?
Yeah, Helena?
As we said earlier, there are ongoing activities within the company that have actually increased the cost for this quarter. Part of it is considered to be one-off costs. Some of it will continue, but part of it will be one-off for this quarter.
Okay, thank you. On the OpEx side, I suppose that has also affected margins quite a bit here in Q2. I wonder if you could share the organic OpEx growth for the group in Q2.
As I said earlier, it has been offsetting a little bit of the costs in it, but the major part is on the gross income part. We have still quite a major part in SEK in our OpEx.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Ludvig.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Susanna Quackborne from SHB. Please go ahead.
Hello and thank you for taking my question. I just wanted to follow up on Ludvig's question. Regarding the margin declines that we saw in the Q2 report, should we think of that as a one-off or is it fair to continue assuming the financial targets in terms of the EBITDA? As a follow-up question, I wanted to just sort of get a better grasp of Japan because historically, their contribution in APAC and specifically the benefits that you've seen in sales as a consequence of reimbursement. Maybe you can give us a little bit of granularity on that. Thank you.
I'll hand over to Helena to take your first question, and I'll take your Japan one if that's okay, Susanna. Thank you for your questions.
Thank you, Susanna. The margin then, part of it is coming from the currency, as we have already mentioned. Also, some of it now, tariffs coming into play, it's not major costs, but it is coming in in our cost for supply chain here during Q2. As you know, that is still on the plates going forward as well. We have also some minor effects from product mix and one-offs also in the margin.
Okay. Yeah, Japan, Susanna, that's an interesting one. It's nice to get a question about Japan. Japan is a very large IVF market, really good or comparatively good reimbursement system. The reimbursement system has been gradually improving and including things like wider genetic testing. What we see in Japan is we see some signs of pickup on the consumables side of the portfolio, which is good. What I can't give you is a breakdown of how much of that is coming from cycle growth and how much of it is coming from share gain. We estimate internally that our Japan consumables growth is mainly coming from share gain. It's good to see it. What I would say is Japan is also impacted by the delaying on the capital purchases. That's not just, it's across APAC, even in the markets that are showing some green shoots like South Korea and Japan.
You're correct, it's a sizable market. It has good reimbursement. I think in fairness to the Ministry of Health in Japan, they are increasingly trying to find ways to support couples on the reimbursement and on the financial side. Maybe some of those green shoots are starting to come through. Hopefully that answers your question, Susanna.
Yes, thank you.
Welcome.
Next question comes from Ulrich Trattner from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much for taking some additional questions. Also, on the OpEx side, I understand the rationale behind you increasing your selling expenses, especially in the Americas. However, admin expenses are up more than 10% year- over- year, and you referred to ongoing activities. What are these ongoing activities? I think, Helena, you mentioned that there would be some one-off in these. If you can explain what these one-offs are, that would be very helpful.
We have more that we have working with legal support here in relating to the class action litigation in the U.S., as well as we have some costs as well in relation to insurances connected to this as well in the U.S.
What is ongoing activities that would sort of make up the rest of this?
Yes, I would say that the major part of it is really one-offs in the quarter, but some of it will continue. That is part of the plan.
Okay, we should see it as these ongoing activities and one-offs being mostly related to the class action litigation in the U.S. on different cost posts.
Yeah, what I would say, Ulrich, is sorry, Helena, to jump in on your turf. We've been very tightly controlling everything from headcount, T&E, custom, and obviously that's the responsible thing to do. It's not a sort of a blow-up in any areas. A couple of small items, I think Helena is correct. It's not the majority, but a significant proportion of it in this quarter comes from defense costs for the PDTA legal action, which you can see is starting to advance slowly, and then insurance costs related to the PDTA class action. That's maybe not the majority of it, but a significant proportion of that. Some of that is one-off. Not all of it, but some of it is one-off cost. For example, on a specific legal defense, that's going to be one-off. On insurance, that tends to be a little bit longer term.
Hopefully that's a little bit more clarity for you on that one.
Yeah, absolutely.
It's not like we have any particular line that's sort of blowing up. We've been on top of it.
We've been very much on top of the cost.
Oh, no, that's great. Thanks for the granularity. I have an additional question here on my end, and I'll get back. It's on the discontinued markets. If there's any, do you estimate any sort of dramatic changes in H2 versus H1 in terms of those markets' contribution to both top line and bottom line? Or are they just kind of the same?
Yeah, the biggest impact from the discontinued business was in this quarter. This was the biggest one, actually, in EMEA. We get back more into the range that Helena talked about, which was 3.2%. It doesn't get lumpier, Ulrich, as the quarters have been. This is the biggest one. This was the strongest quarter in that market in 2024. It gave our EMEA additional headwind this quarter.
Perfect. Helpful. Thank you very much.
Maybe your backup question, because I know how you think. I know partially how you think. Do we see additional activity in countries close to that discontinued market? No, we don't. We don't see that. So yeah.
That's great. The same on profitability as well, not only top line, I guess. Sorry, did you catch my last follow-up there?
No, I think we were disconnected. Please.
Did you have another question?
Sorry, it was just a clarification that it was not only on the strongest on top line, but also on bottom line.
Yeah.
Discontinued markets.
Yeah, exactly. This quarter was strongest on top and bottom. It gets to more...
Great.
Yeah, it gets to more normalized discontinued levels in Q3 and Q4. This was the quarter where it had the greatest negative impact, I guess, is the simplest way to put it.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Okay, there are no more questions at this time. I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
I would just like to thank you all for your time this morning. Thank you for your questions. I wish you all a very nice summer vacation on behalf of myself and Helena.