Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, here in Zurich and online, wherever you are joining from. Welcome to our full year 2025 results presentation. I am especially pleased to moderate today's session. Joining us on stage as well is our CFO, Alain Schaffter. My name is Barbora Blaha, and I am responsible for investor relations. Let's start with some remarks on housekeeping. There will be sufficient time for questions after the presentation. You can either type your question into the Q&A box on Zoom, or raise your hand if you’re here in Zurich.
Also, as always, this call is being recorded, and the recording will be uploaded on our webpage later today or tomorrow. A few words on the agenda. First, Anne will provide a review of the year 2025, then Alain will walk us through the financial results, and Anne will close the presentation with an update on the market environment and business priorities for the current year. We expect this event to take about 60 minutes, and after the presentation, we will host an apéro riche here in this room, and everyone attending in person is warmly invited to join. With that, I am happy to hand over to Anne.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Barbora. Good morning, everyone. A very warm welcome also from me to everybody here in Zurich and, of course, also to everybody joining us online. It's my great pleasure and honor to be here today and talk about the 2025 year results and also the outlook for 2026. Let's start by looking a little bit back, 2025. It was a very good year. Our sales grew to CHF 695.1 million, which is a growth of 14.8% or 19.2% in local currencies. Also, our EBITDA increased to CHF 214.7 million, which is an EBITDA margin of 30.9%, and Alain will talk a little bit more about the effects behind that.
As you are all aware, we are in a phase of strong growth, strong market growth, and also growth for Bachem, which means we are also investing a lot of money into our sites. In 2025, we invested CHF 332.6 million, and we also grew in terms of personnel. We added more than 300 people to our workforce, and we ended the year with 2,511 FTE. If we look into our sales in a little bit more of a historic context, you see that we have been very consistently growing year-over-year, and this growth was even more emphasized, more pronounced, growing from 2024 to 2025. What is behind that growth?
Looking at sales by our top five and top ten customers, the share of our top five customers increased from 10% in 2024 to 2025. However, these are customers, not products—many customers have multiple products. We have three product categories: Research & Specialties, CMC Development, and Commercial API. In 2025, all three contributed to growth, with CMC Development growing the most. On the next slide, I will discuss each category and the drivers behind their growth.
Commercial API primarily produces in campaigns. In 2025, we had more, longer, and larger campaigns, improving production planning and equipment utilization. We launched a comprehensive operational excellence program, focusing on Bubendorf last year, which produced positive effects. We also extended shift work at our sites. Regarding CMC Development, our project portfolio is maturing.
We also saw strong effects from late-stage projects, where customers requested us to build inventory for pre-launch activities. Some of these projects will likely shift to the Commercial API category in the future. For Research & Specialties, growth is primarily driven by peptides for diagnostic or cosmetic applications. I’ve also discussed our project pipeline and CMC Development.
While we have more projects in later phases, the absolute number of projects decreased slightly due to careful project selection. Our main driver is the quality of projects, not quantity. We are very happy with our portfolio, which is balanced. Regarding CapEx, over CHF 300 million was invested, starting with our Swiss sites in Bubendorf.
Building K made significant progress, with a successful Swissmedic inspection in 2025 resulting in a manufacturing license for its first phase. Beyond Building K, we invested in Bubendorf, improving certain unit operations and adding equipment to address bottlenecks. In Vienna, we invested in producing precursors for peptide manufacturing, including amino acid derivatives and di- or tripeptides.
This Vienna site strengthens our supply chain, especially in current times. Progress was also made at Sisslerfeld, with acquisition of all five plots, the establishment of Bachem Sisslerfeld AG, and submission of a permit application to build a utilities tunnel. In California, Vista site capacity expansion is on track.
We acquired a third building at Vista adjacent to the current two. At Torrance, we are modernizing and investing in automation for small-scale manufacturing. Capacity expansion projects are not our only focus; operational excellence and standardization remain central, particularly at Bubendorf.
Across our network of sites, we aim to use the same business processes and chemistry processes, and manufacture on the same type of equipment. We are already seeing first results from these efforts. Communication, especially on the manufacturing shop floor, is a key focus to ensure efficiency and rapid resolution of challenges. In recent years, we have emphasized our network approach, carefully evaluating each site and balancing our portfolio based on the individual strengths of each location.
If necessary, and if it makes sense, we shift products between sites to allow extra space and capacity, or because it is more suitable for that project. This helped us in 2025. Beyond business and capacity expansion efforts, sustainability remains a core focus. I’m pleased to report that we have worked with EcoVadis for many years. In 2025, we received a gold medal, placing us in the top 5% of all companies ranked and the top 2% in our specific category of pharmaceutical manufacturing.
We also joined the Science Based Targets initiative and submitted our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. We continue various projects to advance sustainability. That concludes my 2025 look back, and I’m happy to hand over to Alain to discuss the financial background.
From my side, a financial review of 2025: Anne mentioned sales of CHF 695 million and EBITDA growth. Net income was CHF 148.8 million, yielding earnings per share of nearly CHF 2. Cash flow from operating activities ended at CHF 271.6 million. The strong Swiss franc heavily impacted our 2025 numbers. On a local currency basis, last year’s 29.1% margin saw a slight 20 bps dilution from COGS due to investments for future growth, primarily labor costs.
This sets the stage for 2026 growth plans. Marketing and sales costs were kept under proportional, positively impacting margin. R&D spending was 1.5% of sales to maintain our leadership in peptide innovation, slightly below last year but within our 1.5%-2% target range. G&A investment continued for additional functions required by our growing company, which also contributed slightly positively to the margin.
With all that in local currency and underlying business, the margin was 30.2% in 2025, up 110 bps versus 2024. The strong Swiss franc reduced reported margin below 29%. Two special items increased reported EBITDA to 30.9%: sale of an old building in the San Francisco area, rented for several years, and contributions from external parties to the Sisslerfeld project, which are reflected in other income rather than revenue.
Regarding cash flow, starting from CHF 214.7 million, almost CHF 38 million higher than the previous year, we paid CHF 10 million in taxes. Accounts receivable positively impacted cash flow due to more evenly distributed sales in late 2025. Inventory increased, including raw materials, work in progress, and semi-finished goods, partially prepaid by customers to support working capital for 2026 production. Customer prepayments, for both CapEx and working capital, resulted in a net inflow of CHF 85.4 million in 2025. Payables and accruals also increased due to business growth.
Cash out for CapEx totaled CHF 329.4 million. The building sale contributed CHF 3.5 million, resulting in CHF 325 million net investing cash flow. Dividends from 2024 were CHF 63.7 million, with CHF 33 million retained as a loan from our main shareholder, Ingro Finanz AG. Additional bank loans of CHF 24.3 million were drawn. Overall, net cash decreased CHF 64.1 million in 2025.
Thereof, we spent, so cash out for our CapEx was CHF 329.4 million. We mentioned the sale of the building that brought cash in of CHF 3.5 million in 2025. Overall, CHF 325 million in the investing cash flow. On the financing part, we had the dividend from 2024 distributed, CHF 63.7 million. A part of that, CHF 33 million, has been kept in-house in the company as a loan from our main shareholder, Ingro Finanz AG. In addition, we have drawn down loans from the banks of CHF 24.3 million in 2025. Overall, we see a net decrease of CHF 64.1 million in the last year. Some key figures on the balance sheet, one on the left side where we start net debt. As mentioned, we have drawn down loans during 2025.
Net debt at year-end was CHF 26 million, including loans from our majority shareholder and banks. Prepayments from customers totaled CHF 369 million, with CHF 182 million non-current, to be settled through product supply over the next 12 months. The balance sheet grew beyond CHF 2 billion, a 10% increase. Equity rose to CHF 1.5 billion, with a slight decrease in ratio to 69%. CapEx in 2025 totaled CHF 332.6 million, with CHF 295 million for capacity expansion, representing 48% of sales. For 2026, CapEx is expected to exceed CHF 400 million.
It's an increase of 10%. The equity also increased, but not that much, to CHF 1.5 billion. There was a slight decrease in the ratio to 69% for 2025. On CapEx, as Anne mentioned, we will continue to invest. We invested CHF 332.6 million in 2025, of which CHF 295 million went into capacity expansion—buildings or equipment. Overall, 48% of our total sales were invested in this area. For 2026, we currently see investments exceeding CHF 400 million to follow our growth strategy.
To preempt a question, last year we mentioned CHF 400 million as CapEx. We ended up lower for two reasons: first, we had contingencies in the plan that fortunately weren’t needed; second, some projects can shift to the next year. So no worries—large projects are not delayed. Back to the future: 2026.
Thank you, Alain. Let's look at 2026, starting with the peptide and oligonucleotide market. We see continued strong demand for chemically synthesized peptides and oligonucleotides. Several drivers fuel this growth. Molecules are becoming more complex—cyclic peptides, constrained peptides, conjugated peptides with unnatural amino acids. Oligonucleotides show similar increasing complexity.
Chemical synthesis is extremely versatile, allowing us to address complex modifications. Demand is growing across indications, including rare diseases and large patient populations, and from new administration routes such as oral, which requires more API. Pipeline growth is strong, primarily driven by oncology and metabolic indications.
About 1,000 peptides are in development, roughly half in clinical phases. Phase 3 projects are increasing, consistent with Bachem's pipeline. Strong interest in metabolic indications has renewed overall interest in peptides as drug targets.
Peptides are increasingly complex, enabling better druggability, longer half-lives, and optimized dosing. The oligonucleotide market is also growing rapidly, contributing to CMC development and broader market trends.
Oligonucleotides in development are slightly fewer than peptides; 30% are in clinical development. Cardiovascular indications are a significant part of the pipeline. Initially, oligonucleotide approvals focused on orphan diseases, but now larger indications and metabolic projects are emerging.
Extrahepatic delivery is a prominent trend—previous targets were liver-specific. Broader indications increase product demand and drive innovation in manufacturing peptides and oligonucleotides.
AI is increasingly influencing drug discovery in oligonucleotides. Bachem has three operating modes: the trailblazing CDMO, the classical CDMO, and commercial manufacturing.
The trailblazing CDMO focuses on technology development and applying new methods to peptides. Successful technologies progress to the classical CDMO for clinical development support, including analytical, regulatory, and process development services.
Lessons from technology innovation are applied to clinical projects, eventually moving to commercial manufacturing of approved APIs. Innovation across all three areas is critical and now yielding results.
What we primarily will focus on is, of course, a very reliable execution on our manufacturing with respect to existing contracts and fulfilling what our customers need from us. We will also ramp up production in Building K, which is a very strong focus area for this year. At the same time, looking beyond Building K, we are working on partnerships for the Sisslerfeld site. We also want to look at Bachem overall—what and where do we go as a company? What is our next chapter? We work on that together with the executive team and the board and look forward to presenting the results at our Capital Markets Day in November.
Looking at some numbers, this is where we expect to be in 2026. We expect our sales to grow 35%-45% in local currencies and our profitability, meaning our EBITDA margin, to be in the low 30s%, again in local currencies. That concludes the outlook for 2026, and we are happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, Anne. Let's move on to the Q&A. If you would like to ask a question, please type it into the Q&A box on Zoom. Please use the Q&A box and not the chat. If you’re here in the room, simply raise your hand. The first question comes from Sybille.
Thank you very much for the presentation. I have a question about the outlook: you were hit quite heavily by currencies in 2025. Could you give us any hint about the impact on the top line and the margin? My second question is regarding Sisslerfeld: you had an extraordinary positive inflow. Can we expect another CHF 13 million in 2026, or is the outlook without extraordinary effects?
I can answer the first question. With the actual rates we see compared to last year, I would expect CHF low 30s million on the top line and CHF low 20s million on EBITDA. About CHF 70 million from the top line is impacting EBITDA. On the second question, I would not expect a similar effect in 2026.
Okay. Next question, Tanya.
Hi. For the 2026 guidance, can you provide the building blocks for the lower and upper end of the range and the contribution from Building K and the base business? Also, does the US ramp contribute? My second question is on customer ramp-up: when do you expect commercial deliveries? This helps to understand the phasing for H1 and H2. .
For the 2026 guidance, Building K and its ramp-up have a very strong contribution. We don’t disclose specific numbers, but the ramp-up will appear in phases. Currently, we are on target. The primary contribution from this ramp-up will be seen in revenues in H2 2026. We expect a much stronger second half than the first half.
Okay. Estelle?
Hello, Estelle Bétrise from Berenberg. On Sisslerfeld, can you elaborate on the partnerships? Originium was more of a one-off client. What are your expectations now, and where do you stand? Regarding financing, can you elaborate on third-party financing?
Regarding Sisslerfeld, we are in negotiations with several parties. As long as they are ongoing, we cannot comment on details. On financing, I would defer to Alain.
We took out loans in 2025 and currently have sufficient credit lines. No equity-linked instruments are planned; financing will be through third-party loans. We are evaluating the best options and are confident in funding growth in the coming years.
Okay. Dani?
Thanks, Barbora. Regarding the Sisslerfeld milestone: is this based on an anchor client? You’ve previously said Sisslerfeld is built only with an anchor customer. Is that correct?
It doesn’t have to be one anchor customer. There can be several. The payment was based on a contractual milestone that was reached.
There's no anchor customer site right now.
Okay. You also cannot say which indication this is, obviously with GLP-1 cooling down.
Well, I think we.
Until the end of the decade, it’s difficult to interpret as an outsider.
The Sisslerfeld site will be for large-scale manufacturing, primarily for products requiring production at this scale. The majority, not all, are in the obesity or metabolic area.
On the slide, oncology drugs in phase three appear more numerous than metabolic. Volume in oncology is smaller, but probably more profitable compared to large GLP-1 contracts. If “customer B” is not as successful as expected, can you repurpose part of Building K to oncology? Or will that happen elsewhere in Torrance or Vista?
Maybe to start with the first part, I would not say that oncology products per se have a lower margin. The volumes, I fully agree, are lower, but these products across all indications still make a very nice contribution to our margin. Regarding the second part of the question, the equipment we built is generally multipurpose, so we can manufacture peptides on it. That doesn’t mean we can only manufacture peptides for certain indications. However, the equipment has a certain size, which means the product that goes into it also needs a certain batch size. I briefly mentioned our network strategy.
Within Bachem, we have a network of sites ranging from smaller scale, for example at the Torrance site, to large scale, now in Building K, and in the future in Sisslerfeld. We try to be very deliberate about where a project fits and which site is the optimal fit. Good. Let’s take some questions from the other side. Laura?
I’m Laura Pfeifer-Rossi from Octavian. Thanks for taking my question. I’d like to come back first on the sales guidance. I understand you don’t give an exact split, but maybe you can indicate how much growth could come from the base business? Excluding Building K, could this be around 10%-15%? Then I guess the rest depends on Building K. A little more color here would be appreciated. Also, is there potential for upside if things go really well in the ramp-up phase? Secondly, on the margin guidance, you say low-thirties EBITDA margin in local currencies. This compares to 30.2%, the clean base from 2025. Can you clarify what “low-thirties” means—32%-33%?
Also, why are you so confident given that you still have the dilution from new capacity? Just a bit more clarity on margin drivers. Very quickly, maybe some first feedback from the ramp-up of the first line—how is that progressing and what are you learning so far?
I hope I still remember the first question correctly. Yes, the majority of growth will have to come from Building K. We don’t provide specific numbers, but it’s a mixture of the base business and ramp-up in other facilities. The majority comes from Building K. Current ramp-up and manufacturing plans are going according to plan, and any upside or downside is currently reflected in our guidance.
On the margin
a question.
Yeah, on the margin, we say low 30s percent. This can be between 30% and 33%. We have a broader top-line range of 35%-45%, and depending on where this goes, it can impact the margin. That’s why we leave this range at low 30s. There’s always a possibility of variations in ramp-up, not only top-line but also cost-wise, so we keep this range, but we don’t want to be lower than this year.
Good. Any other question? Yeah.
Yeah. For Building K and the ramp-up, sometimes you say it will take place. Does this mean there’s no commercial production right now, or what is the current stage?
We have started production. The ramp-up is going according to plan, so we are manufacturing in the first lines. Okay, let’s take some questions online. Amit Thakkar is asking, “Can you update us on the capacity outlook for Sisslerfeld, specifically your ability and timing to fill the site, and how you’re thinking about demand sustainably given recent softer GLP-1 related data and potential pricing implications?” The Sisslerfeld site is very large, and once fully built out, it will have several buildings. We will grow into the site gradually, as we did in Bubendorf, coordinating closely with our customers.
We will build the site at the pace required by the market. We still see strong demand, specifically for metabolic indications, so this site will bring great benefit to both Bachem and our customers and their patients. Maybe a related question from Zain Ebrahim: “How much of Building K is currently booked and what is your confidence in filling it?” A large portion is already fully booked. Announcements over the last few years confirm customer contracts, so we are very confident about utilization.
You plan to invest over CHF 400 million in CapEx. Could you remind us how much is maintenance CapEx versus growth CapEx, and how much was it in 2025? Additionally, how much customer financing is expected this year?
Of the CHF 332 million in 2025, CHF 295 million was capacity expansion. The remaining part follows a similar ratio as the previous year. The majority goes into global capacity. In the first months of 2026, we already had a positive inflow from contractually agreed customer prepayments. I don’t expect additional large inflows in 2026. Regarding non-current liabilities, I expect cash outflows from prepayments.
Okay, follow-up question from Tanya, please. In the back.
Regarding the U.S. expansion, CHF 250 million is planned. How much is backed by customer prepayments or minimum commitments? When should we expect first revenue contributions from the capacity expansions? I have a second question.
Also, a second question on oligonucleotides: You mentioned the market potential on your slides. Can you give an update on Bachem’s exposure and what we can expect medium term?
We are very pleased with the oligonucleotides pipeline. We see strong growth, which we expect to continue, but it’s still a smaller part compared to peptides. On the U.S. side, first output from the ongoing capacity project in Vista is expected in 2027.
Thank you. Maybe one question here in front, Andy.
Could you give us some insight into how much FX did cost since you gave us the CHF 1 billion guidance a few years back?
Yes, I can. I did that calculation and it hurt a bit. When we gave the guidance and calculate today’s numbers in local currency from that day, it’s about CHF 80–90 million lost on top line, and about two-thirds of that on EBITDA.
Let’s take some more online questions. Falko Friedrichs from Deutsche Bank is asking about customers A and B: how flexible are your contract volumes? For example, if one drug does much better and one worse than expected, have the forecasts you received from your customer changed recently?
No, they have not. We still have contracts with long-term forecasts from customers and a certain binding period. Right now, we don’t see any changes.
A question from Christopher Richardson from Jefferies: what are the phases of the ramp for building K? Is it separate lines or something else?
Yeah, we talk about phases, not lines, because one line can consist, one phase can consist of several lines. We are now ramping up phase, the phase one lines, and then later in the year, we expect the ramp up from the phase two.
Another question from Chris Richardson: what is your timeline for signing an anchor customer for Sisslerfeld to hit the end-of-decade target?
We hope to make announcements on Sisslerfeld partnerships still this year.
Continuing with Chris’ questions: could you clarify the contributing factors for the 35% growth in CMC development in FY 2025? Was it new capacity, price, or higher efficiency?
A very large driver was the build-up of inventory for pre-launch activities. The strongest driver is more campaign mode, larger-scale manufacturing, and larger volumes in that category.
Good. A question from Charles Weston, RBC: when might you negotiate a customer A contract expansion? Your peer announced an extension this morning.
Contract negotiations will happen in time for renewal. As long as nothing is signed, we cannot comment on ongoing negotiations.
Thank you. Any more questions in the room? Yes, in the front, please.
I have an understanding question. You mentioned rising complexity. Could you elaborate on competitive advantages, with Bachem’s 52 years of experience? How should we expect market shares to develop over 5–10 years?
Absolutely. Bachem has the longest market experience and a strong focus on innovation. We manufacture very complex molecules and have distinct competitive advantages—customers come to us for products other companies could not successfully produce.
Is it fair to assume the current 40% market share will remain stable or increase due to factors like geopolitics?
We must distinguish the number of projects. Yes, we have advantages and may see more complex molecule projects. Market share in sales is mainly driven by large-volume projects; some complex molecules are in smaller niche indications.
..
Any other questions here in the room? Daniel Jelovcan in the front.
Merci. On EBITDA margin target: starting base is 28.5%, you say low 30s, e.g., 32%. FX shifts may occur. How confident are you despite ramp-up effects and next customer scale-up in 2027?
Yeah.
So...
There are two points. One: COGS slightly dilutes gross profit due to ramp-up costs included in the guidance. Two: if we keep G&A, marketing, sales, and R&D stable, there’s a positive margin contribution from higher sales. So mathematically, the margin should increase.
Related question online from Peter Testa: phasing for Bubendorf utilization as building K ramps? Will there be underutilization?
I don’t expect that. Free capacity from transfers to building K will be filled by maturing pipeline projects.I don’t expect that. Free capacity from transfers to building K will be filled by maturing pipeline projects.
Last question from Zain Ebrahim, J.P. Morgan: margin development in 2027 and beyond? Exposure to energy costs and pass-through?
We expect a slight yearly margin increase from growth—economies of scale. Base is 30%. Energy costs are mid-single-digit CHF millions, not substantial. Many contracts allow cost pass-through.
No further online questions. Last chance for questions here. Before closing, upcoming events: AGM April 29, half-year results July 30, Capital Markets Day November 26. Mandatory legal disclaimer applies. Thank you all.