Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our 2024/25 half-year earnings call. Today joining are Simon Michel, our CEO, and I'm also very pleased to welcome Samuel, our CFO, the very first time now as a part of our management team to discuss our financial performance of the last six months. Our press release, our report, the financial presentation is also available on our website in the investor relations section. First, maybe some housekeeping rules as of today. For the beginning, all participants are muted. After the presentation of Simon and Samuel, of course, we will open the lines for Q&A. And with this, the floor is yours, Simon.
Thank you very much, Thomas, for the introduction. Good morning, everybody here. I'm very thrilled to stream out of Solothurn and welcome you all to our half-year financial update. We will give you an in-depth operational update. I will cover the two business areas. Samuel will then deepen the figures. I will then get back on a strategic plan deep dive. We have delivered both operationally, and we have a very clear view also strategically, and we will cover those elements with you today. Ypsomed's vision, Ypsomed's mission, that's why we get up every morning, is to make self-care simpler and easier.
As you all know, our company profits from global trends, from global growth drivers, self-care leading therapies from hospitals to home, biologics, new drugs have to be injected, biosimilars, drugs are available all over the globe, and digitization giving better therapy, better adherence for people with chronic conditions. These growth drivers support our growth, our enormous growth that we see ahead of us in the coming 10 plus years. We have also continued on our very clear focus strategy, as you are all aware of it. We are on this trajectory. We have transformed our company on an organizational level. We have dismantled the matrix, now working in business areas. We have divested the DiaExpert trading business in Germany. We have discontinued contract manufacturing in 2023. The decision was clearly taken in 2024. We have completed the sale of the pen needle and BGM business.
This is now done. We are now still a contract manufacturer till roughly summer 2025, but it's all done. We have released room for our new tool shop here in Solothurn, and we have initiated the sale of the diabetes care business. That is very important. So the new Ypsomed that Samuel and me are going to discuss with you today is a pure play Ypsomed, a delivery systems Ypsomed company. So the review of strategic options for diabetes care has been completed, and we clearly decided in the board that we're going to divest the asset over the coming months. We see a finish here. We see here a closing in the course of the next business year.
We are convinced that diabetes care becoming a pure B2C company with a very clear patient orientation will make it much better standalone and frees Ypsomed to become the pure B2B company supplier for pharma biotech as a leader in this space in the self-injection therapies. That's why we are going to move all assets and all colleagues working in the diabetes care space in a couple of weeks on 1st of December into the new generated Ypsomed Diabetes Care AG. This company is a fully owned daughter company of the Ypsomed AG, the company that is listed. We have completed the market sounding over the past two months. We have a clear confirmation also from our families through TecMed, and the board has decided to now initiate the sale. We have hired an investment bank, and the process is now starting.
Let me give you an update operationally where we are, and I would like to start on the diabetes care side. As you know now, with our pen needles, with our BGM, we can really focus on the core, on our innovative AID offering. And as you know, this is best in class. We have this best algorithm out there, the mylife CamAPS FX algorithm. We work on a personal smartphone. We work for all ages. Newborns are on our product. We work with both sensors from Abbott and Dexcom, and we measure very, very high customer satisfaction. We have seen a tremendous growth of 64%, so we're really on track here. And we are very happy to announce that we can now lift our growth management. We need to break a bit, as you know, since we didn't have enough infusion sets in the first half.
We can release that now, leading us to an even steeper growth. We have basically added 2,000 plus patients per month, so reaching this very, very important figure of 60,000 patients because these 60,000 patients are the basis for our break even in a couple of months, and that's important. We now have it. We now have a profitable company here, diabetes care that we sell in next year. We have now a robust 30% market share in Germany, and that tells us a lot. If this German, complex market accepts our product, it shows it's really a product to stay and to grow.
We see this growth in Spain, where we have opened so many tenders last year, as you know, in Finland, where we have opened the big tender, in France, where we have started through the prestataire last year and now really accelerating, and the U.K. We have several markets that contribute to that growth. We are launching now in Norway. We are launching in New Zealand, and very happily so in Canada. We have received from Health Canada two weeks ago, finally, after four-year project, some of you know that, the approval that we can launch. We are launched as we speak. We have been ready. Everybody has been trained. We put the first patients on the product. As you know, Canada is an important market. There's very high reimbursement.
So we are going to add three, four, five hundred-ish patients per month there. So an important add-on. Over the coming days and weeks, we're going to expect the final feedback from the authority in America. We're very thrilled. I believe we have done all we could. The FDA has a couple of days and weeks to go to give us the final answers. I think we are ready. The app, as you know, is already approved. And we are going to, of course, start in America, but on a limited level. This whole investment will be the job of the new owner as of the next business year. Let me move with this into delivery systems, what we have achieved, where we are. Also here, we have overachieved our own targets. We have grown on the commercial level with almost 30%.
We see the growth coming from both main platforms, YpsoMate 1 and 2.25, and also UnoPen. On the disposable pen side, we have added many more volumes with the new Mikron machine in Schwerin and also filling capacity here in Solothurn. We have added more revenue on the project side. This shows us that we add new clients as we speak. We are now at 21 new projects in the first half. We're going to close 35-40 new projects during 2024, 2025. I'm going to deepen this a bit in a minute. Where is this growth coming from? These are, of course, deals that we have closed last business year and that have now received the approval and that are now showing revenues. These are very diverse products.
Here on the top left side, you see a PCSK9, so a Chinese company that launches a cholesterol-lowering drug, recombinant monoclonal antibody. On the right side, you see Novartis Xolair against severe asthma, against allergic reactions and hives. So a very important new drug here on the market. You see the beautiful Icelandic Reykjavik Alvotech auto injector on the bottom left that is distributed through STADA. It's a biosimilar from Humira. It's an adalimumab in the middle, the Medac device for methotrexate that you all know. And on the right side, South Korean Celltrion's Morbus Crohn monoclonal antibodies. So you see here a very diverse range that all contribute towards our growth. And this, of course, is only a selection that we can present to you today here. On the pen side, we see Pfizer's once weekly human growth hormone.
On the right side, you see FSH from Ferring, the Menopur, so a follicle-stimulating hormone, a biosimilar, a very important drug that is supporting families with the wish to get children. On top left, finally, after four years, we launched a glargine, the first disposable glargine pen with Dongbao, our long, long-time partner in mainland China, so a glargine biosimilar. On the right side, we have a liraglutide, also from an important new client in China. As you know, we are closing almost one client per month in mainland China. It's a very growing, motivating field of action where we are basically alone. SHL and BD are not present. It's our market. This is where we can profit now from our strong situation. And of course, all of those new deals and all of those volumes that we require, that we need to deliver, require additional capacity.
We have added, over the course of the past six months alone, 99 million additional volume. This is about the pace that we're going to see over the next year. We're going to add every year roughly 100 million, plus minus, of additional capacity in order to reach that 1 billion capacity by end of the decade. We are now roughly at 270 million. We have commissioned new assembly lines. We are now at 14 fully automated assembly lines in the group. We have added new injection molding machines, and we are at, as we speak, every year, additionally, 40, 50 injection molding machines. So this is showing very clearly in what direction we are growing. And where are we doing that, obviously? This needs space. We have opened in Schwerin our new Hall D here on the top right.
That's a 4,000 sq m additional floor capacity for 100 million auto injectors, mainly for our main client here in Denmark, but also other clients, so it's an important addition to our site. But as you know, this is not the final word here in Schwerin. We have decided to start our mega factory Schwerin 2. Schwerin 2 is going to be a reality. We do it in two phases, so we grow in a phase one, 25,000 sq m production capacity, so we almost double the existing footprint, and then we add an additional 17,000 sq m. We are going to start construction work in January. We are well on track. We have a very good relationship with the local government, with the government of the country, and also good support and fine people now up there, which is important.
We're going to add only in Schwerin here until 2028, additional 700 shops in the area, so we'll be an important contributor in that area as well. This shows China. Incredible, 11 months from the groundbreaking ceremony when we have been in Changzhou. Now, 11 months later, this factory is up. We are moving the machine, the molding machines in as we speak, and we will do a formal opening in spring. And there is the grass and the plants and the flags. Everything is nice. We are going to invite the authorities and open this site. It's basically full already. We have enough orders now to fill the whole plant within two years. We have now also secured the land to the left, so if you see on the left side here, we can double our factory.
We haven't decided yet when we are doing it, but we have secured the land a couple of weeks ago. We have very strong support of the local government. They want MedTech. They love us, so it's important for us, China, for China, and we are going to stay and going to grow that space. I'm convinced it was a very good, very important decision in this geopolitical field to become local. In Solothurn, I've mentioned it. You know that we are moving the contract manufacturing in. We are replacing it with auto injectors. That's quite the big project. Very well prepared now. We are starting with it in fall 2025 and then finish it early 2026, so we will be then here a pure auto injector site. Very important also. Gives us also safety over the coming 10, 12, 15 years. We have enough work here in Solothurn.
Also very important for our colleagues here in Solothurn. Moving out pen needles gives us space, important space that we need. We are doubling our tool shop. As you know, in Burgdorf, we have roughly capacity for 50 molds per year. We want to double it to 80, 90, 100 molds per year, being a bit less dependent from our mold partners in southern Germany. So this tool shop is ramping up. We have hired the first 30 toolmakers. We find them. We are very lucky. It was a good decision to come to Solothurn. We have this valley here from Solothurn to Biel, where we have great resources on the people side. We have also decided to ramp up our apprenticeship pool from 80 apprenticeships to over 160. So we double the school where we educate new people and then hopefully keep them after their education.
Last but not least, America. We have started this project roughly one year ago. We have made a very broad analysis of different sites. We don't want to share with you the site yet. We are still under final negotiation, but we are going to close it in Q1, Q1 of next calendar year. It's important for Ypsomed to be in America under the new administration. I'm sure it's important to be local. We will be able to deliver the first devices out of our American site in early 2027. This will give us security on the supply chain. This also supports our sustainability goals. Don't have to ship our containers over the Atlantic. We can really be locally and deliver local to local, the same thing we do in Europe, in Germany for Europe, in China. For China, we will do in America for the Americas.
Well on track. The company in Delaware is founded. Now we just will finally negotiate with the landlord and the government to support in the respective state. It's East Coast, a bit more to the south. This will be the footprint that we will see as of 2026, 2027. We will really be coming a global company from a manufacturing footprint. And this is what we're all up to. We have to deliver the volumes for our clients. And this is not possible just by building factories. It's not just possible by adding lines and machinery. It also requires people. And we are very happy to find staff. We have a good brand. We have a strong brand, both in Switzerland as well in Germany. We find good people. We have created over 200 new jobs.
We are well on track to create over 400 new positions in the financial years. You see here where these jobs happen. At the moment, we will reach in Burgdorf the magic figure of 1,000, so we will almost overtake the local hospital, Solothurn, close to 800, and of course, manufacturing abroad. You see here this tremendous growth in Schwerin, where we have added 19 new positions in six months. Only, of course, a management task, an important challenging management task, but something that we can achieve. I am very pleased with this. With that, I would like to hand over the word to Samuel, who will give you insights on the figures, where we have landed, what we invest, and then I will come back to you.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Simon. Welcome from my side.
I do give you, within the next 10 to 15 minutes, I will show you the impact of growth and focus on our semi-annual financial statement. I do start with the P&L, with the top line. As you heard from Simon, our transformation is ongoing. We divested the needle and BGM business. So when you look now at this waterfall, starting from the left, you see that last year, we reported sales of CHF 255 million, corrected by the discontinued business of pen needles and BGMS. We have a comparison as a base, CHF 237 million. We heard about the growth in YDS in the delivery systems, mainly driven by the auto injector business. And we heard about the huge growth also in the YDC, in the diabetes care business. So we see now, on a continuing operation base, a top line of CHF 308 million.
What you see in our report is a number of CHF 324 million. Again, we closed the pen needle and BGM business only in July 2024. So this CHF 16 million of sales, we see also in this semi-annual report. Now, let us look at how these sales are distributed between our segments. We heard our main focus will be the delivery system. So the blue world, CHF 220 million out of the CHF 308 million. So more than 70% is coming from that business. So when I look now also at the profitability, I will focus on that business area. The profitability had this two strong drivers. One was the focus. So we divested the pen needle and BGM business. We divested the loss-making business.
You see, when you're here also start to look from the left to the right, the reported EBIT in the previous year, in the first half year, was CHF 40 million. If you take out this loss of roughly CHF 6 million, the comparison, the basis is CHF 45 million Swiss francs EBIT.
Then the main business, that was the profitability was driven by the growth. So by scaling our business, we created much additional gross margin. And of course, our SG&A did not proportionally grow. So our SG&A in percentage of sales, they diluted. So we managed to grow our EBIT from continuing business to CHF 65 million, which is an EBIT margin of 21.2% compared to an EBIT margin in the previous year of 19.2%. So we see 200 basis points improvement in the EBIT margin. Then even looking further forward, again, first we look at the reported EBIT.
Due to the sale of this loss-making business, we had a negative one-off of CHF 25 million. I come to that a little later. And if we also take away the profitability, the loss of the diabetes care business, you see that without the diabetes care business, in this focused remaining Ypsomed, the EBIT is CHF 78 million. So north of 30% EBIT margin. Now, an additional comment to this loss on the pen needle and BGMS business. You see here on the very right side that in the financial year 2023, 2024, that business had roughly CHF 40 million sales and more than CHF 10 million loss on EBIT level. So when you sell such a business, it's not uncommon that you have to do certain write-offs and that you also have still a loss from the running business. We already mentioned that we had to recycle a goodwill.
In Swiss GAAP, you deduct the goodwill in the equity. Nevertheless, when you sell a business, you recycle that goodwill. This is CHF 10 million. Then we had to write off certain assets. That was an additional CHF 8 million plus CHF 7 million from the running loss from April to July.
The good message here, most of those items are non-cash items. So goodwill and as well write-off, this has no liquidity impact. Now, talking about liquidity, I come to the cash flow statement. How does the cash flow statement of a very profitable, fast-growing, and capital-intensive business look like? And this is what we see here. The operating cash flow, the CHF 67 million in the first half year, this was mainly driven by the very high EBITDA from continuing operations. We had slightly more than CHF 100 million EBITDA from continuing operations. Then yes, we invested a lot.
We invested nearly CHF 130 million into the CapEx. We will deep dive here further. What is important to note is our depreciation and amortization for this first half year. That was less than CHF 40 million. So this gives us an indication how much growth CapEx is in there. So this is mainly growth CapEx, which drives this negative cash flow from investing activities. Without that growth CapEx, our free cash flow would be clearly positive. Now let's look at these investments. Where did we invest? We invest there where we see is the value in our business and where the magic is in our business. And these are two areas. That's fixed assets. So that's operations. So by investing in the future platforms for UnoPen and also YpsoMate, especially the 1.0 milliliter, our high runners, we can differentiate ourselves also long-term from our competition.
The second point Simon mentioned, we now build a global production footprint. That is very crucial as well to differentiate us in the long term from our competition. The second pillar of our competitive advantage is R&D, what we see here in these intangibles. We invest in future platforms for pen auto injectors, but as well in the diabetes care business, where we also have more digital areas where we invest. This gives us this CHF 132 million investment. Now, when you invest, you need also always to know your balance sheet very well. When you have a capital-intensive business, your balance sheet is a crucial thing. We have an equity ratio of 52.7% and a net debt EBITDA of 1.4. Our balance sheet is rock solid. We are able to finance this organic growth in the coming years from our own resources.
For that, we increased our bilateral credit lines with our relationship banks, and we will also launch a promissory note, a Schuldschein, to further diversify our finance structure, but as well to align the majority better. That is our balance sheet. Now, having analyzed those three main financial statements, we finally look forward and come to our guidance. You saw that in both business areas, we grew well above the 20% in the first half year. So we are very convinced that we also can confirm this top line growth, which we guided already in May, this 25% growth. This does not take into account the pen needle and the BGMS business. And on a profitability level, the number you should compare here are the CHF 65 million EBIT from continuing business, which I showed before. So you see we confirm the CHF 140 million for the full year.
You see, we expect a slightly better second half year. We saw that already in the previous years. With that, I close the financial section, and I hand over to Simon for the GLP-1 deep dive.
Thank you very much, Samuel, for this very clear view and a very clear update on the figures. Rock solid balance sheet, clear view on continued operations, met our targets, confirming our outlook. So Ypsomed is on track. Let me take this couple, five, six more slides, and then we open the floor to deepen a bit on the GLP-1. Some of you know us as the diabetes care company, and now we become a GLP-1 company. I want to reflect a bit on that and also maybe show you that this is not all we do. But we should spend some time on this global disease.
A huge amount of adult people suffer from obesity, and we know now that there are treatments out there that really relieve, but Ypsomed is not a one GLP-1 customer company. We have secured over the past two years over 40 GLP-1 deals worldwide. There are over 100 such molecules out there, and we are by far, we have closed by far the most, and we're going to close roughly one per month over the coming years as well. So this gives us a very stable situation, and we are going to launch assets in 2025-2030, 2031 in the space of GLP-1, in the space of obesity, but also some of them, of course, obviously in the space of diabetes type 2, and obesity is not the only thing out there. Yes, GLP-1 will deliver CHF 9-100 billion alone in the space of obesity.
But if you look at the complete overall market, health care for injectable drugs, drugs for chronic conditions, obesity, the red part stays relevant, but there's many, many more to come. And it's important if you look at the Ypsomed case. Furthermore, orals, yes, orals are important, but injectables are now clearly overtaking also in the oral space. Of the 70 new assets that have been approved in America alone, 50 are sub-Q indications, a couple of them IV. So that's important to understand that the sub-Q space in the injectable space is continuing to grow as we speak. And for that purpose, we have the perfect portfolio available. All the injectors on the left, pen devices on the right, and our patch injector for larger volumes in the middle. We are going to add two or three more platforms over the next year.
We're going to talk about them in the full year. We are going to continue to innovate, of course. But very important, if you look at the Ypsomed case and reflect again on this GLP-1 topic, we have roughly 40 GLP-1 deals out of 200 projects at the moment within Ypsomed. Please remember, we have 70 projects, 70 products active in the market together with our pharma biotech customers, 70, 70, and we have 200 to come. Now, not all of them will survive, but 80%-85% of them will survive. And it's a very diverse range of clients, as you see here on the slide. In many different areas, there are over 70 projects at the moment in the space of autoimmune diseases, as well as insulin, diabetes, still very important. So there's much more to come. And this gives us this stability. This gives us this independency.
This gives us this stability that we are not dependent from one or two big clients, from one or two big disease areas, and this gives us a clear, strong growth trajectory over the coming years. With this, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to close here. I would like to reflect again and thank you together with Samuel here for listening, and I hand over to Thomas to open for the Q&A.
Simon, Samuel, thanks for your explanations. I think it's a really interesting time. Maybe to wrap it up, Simon, what are the three or four major key takeaways from the last semester for you personally on a strategic operational level?
Personally, I'm not talking about my national mandate.
As you like, as you like.
I mean, both business areas have really performed. I mean, we have achieved this important figure in diabetes care.
Diabetes care is now an asset that we can really position in the market, number one. Number two, when I see what we deliver on operational level in the operational execution, in initialization, when I see how the teams perform, 90 million additional capacity in six months, it's enormous, and it gives me the relief that we can do it and we'll also be able to do it in the next years. That's important because this company is going to build factories, and we have proven now in six months that we can do it. On a strategic level, of course, being ready to divest diabetes care is important. It was an emotional topic, as you can think. I mean, 800 people are going to leave Ypsomed, but we are well on track. We have a fluctuation rate as low as never.
We are below 6%, and that also gives me a lot of relief and positive feeling that we are doing it correctly.
Excellent. Thanks. And with this, ladies and gentlemen, Ypsomed is transforming healthcare. Ypsomed is transforming itself. So after 40 years of history, this is the very first time that we make this call in English only. So maybe for me, this is the major challenge in my 10 years with Ypsomed, but I look forward to very lively discussions. And we are now going ahead to open the lines for your questions. As you know, the usual procedure, please raise your hand and flag yourself that I can see, and I will ask you to unmute your line. And I see plenty of questions, plenty of hands up in the air. And I would like to start with the ladies.
Please, Sandra, may I ask you to unmute your line? We are looking forward to your question.
Yes, good morning, gentlemen, and thank you for taking my questions. I have two, both on the YDS segment. The first one is on the margin for YDS, which reported a 35% EBIT margin for H1 for the core business. Now, could you elaborate on the margin levels we might expect from the YDS business in the midterm? There is currently still the dilutive impact from the contract manufacturing, which should phase out over the next years. On the other hand, you have also some larger contracts with lower margins starting. Now, giving these factors, is the current 35% level also a reasonable level for midterm assumption? And then the second question is on China, where you highlighted that the current capacity is already sold out.
Now, are you also considering partnering with contract manufacturers to meet the strong demand in this region, or is the strategy to keep all the production in-house? And just an update on the competitive dynamics in the Chinese market would be very helpful as well.
Thank you. Good. I would start with the first one and then hand over for the second one to Simon. So the YDS margin on the midterm, you correctly pointed out, we will phase out the contract manufacturing, so that will have a positive impact on our margin. As you know, contract manufacturing is rather a cost-plus business. When it comes then to the fact that we can then increase the business with our own IP, that has a positive impact, but the negative impact will come, or the margin pressure will come with the bigger contracts. Will they put pressure on EBIT margin?
Overall, I think in the mid-term, it's reasonable to assume the 35% that we have now as a mid-term EBITDA margin indication on EBIT level. That on the first question.
Thank you. Thank you, Samuel. No, absolutely. I mean, maybe adding to that, the reason that we are also closing small deals, this is very different to SHL. They try to get only mid and large deals because we also close small deals. So, of course, very high margins on those small deals. And together with the larger deals, we can actually, we feel quite comfortable in that space, as you mentioned, Sandra. Now, contract manufacturing. Contract manufacturing in, sorry, Chinese manufacturing. In China, your question was on whether we will stay independent or not on the manufacturing footprint. We have signed, we haven't communicated it, but I can share it with you. It's no secret.
We have signed that one deal already with a global contract manufacturer in China in order to be ready. We believe that this growth we have ahead of us, we need to put on different shoulders. And we talk about maximum 10% of our global manufacturing. We kind of outsource. It's a great relationship we are building up here with a company that knows how to manufacture devices, a company that understands how to industrialize devices. And we will deliver out of their factory mainly for mainland China, but maybe in the future also into other markets. It just gives me a bit of, it gives us a bit of insurance in the case we grow even stronger than expected, and there's still enough margin there not to dilute too much. On the Chinese market, obviously, it is a field so broad.
We are now putting a lot of effort into more and more intelligent. We grow our team locally. There are over 100 pharma biotech companies locally, and for us at the moment, it's not so easy to identify who will be the winners. That's why my order is very clear to the team. We close every deal. On the competition side, it is the honeypot, and you see local companies coming there, but we still achieve to close the large deals. I mean, Ypsomed is working with Dongbao. Ypsomed is working with Innovent. If you look at Innovent, one of the major players moving into also more assets I cannot share with you, these are the large, large players there that we work together with.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Sandra, for your questions. Curtis, may I ask you to unmute your line?
Hi, good morning.
And thank you for coming.
Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off there, but yes, thank you for taking my questions. I just have a few, please. The first one, I just wanted to start off on the full-year guidance. As I look at kind of what it implies for the second half of the year, it looks like a little bit of a slowing in the growth rate from what I'm seeing. I just wanted to know, is that maybe some conservative, being a little bit conservative with the guide, or maybe is there a reason for that in the numbers? And also just to bridge that gap from continuing businesses to reported revenue, can you maybe give us an idea of what to expect from pen needles and blood glucose monitoring in the second half of the year?
So that would kind of be the first one on the outlook. And then secondly, I just wanted to touch base on diabetes care with the sale that's ongoing. I just wanted to double-check. Can you give an idea of what kind of a price you're looking for for this asset? Would it maybe be safe to assume something like two-to-three times sales would be a reasonable sale price, or any more guidance would be helpful? And then, sorry, last but not least, one more. In China, I just wanted to double-check, is maybe now or in the mid-to-long term, would you expect China VBP to be a topic for you? And that's it. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Curtis. I'm taking the last two questions and then give the word for the first question back to Samuel. I start with VBP.
Ypsomed is a VBP winner because Ypsomed is selling products in China to Chinese companies, and this volume-based procurement program of the national Chinese government supports local Chinese manufacturing. And since Ypsomed is manufacturing locally, we are part of this local manufacturing. So we profit. Ypsomed is a winner in this VBP environment. That's very important to consider, and that's different to other medtech that have to take hard cuts. Number one, diabetes care, obviously, we cannot give you any guidance here. We also have not a clear viSibylleity yet on the diabetes care asset. In the end of the day, it's important to us only to find a good home.
I mean, we hire, we talk about 800 people, roughly 400 people here in Switzerland, and we want to find a good solution for our people here in Switzerland, in Burgdorf and in Solothurn, and we will not accept offers that will close our sites down. To the first question on the outlook, before I give the word to Samuel for a couple of details, I can tell you this is not a slowing. It is not at all a slowing down. We might be a bit more conservative here right now because we will have some cost coming, extra cost on the divestment, but it is not a slowing down. Maybe a couple of inputs from your side on the detail level.
Yeah. So the sales trajectory stays.
We see that what you saw now in the first half year that with YDS, top line growth overall, the 25%-30%, of course, depending on the area. We have a good viSibylleity now on this supply chain, and we feel comfortable that this stays, so no slowdown at all. Have in mind, part of our business is the project business, which is a little bit less plannable than the commercial sales. So that's why, yeah, it's fair sometimes to assume a little bit more conservative top line. But we don't see any effect like other industries for destocking or something. We don't see that in our commercial sales. So the top line is fine.
Yeah, to your second question regarding price indication, there, Simon mentioned the sale is initiated, so at the moment, we do not comment on that price level and therefore have to leave it to your professional judgment what the value is of that business.
Awesome. Thank you very much. If I could just follow up super quickly on the guidance again, are you able to maybe give an idea of what we might expect from pen needle and blood glucose monitoring in the second half of the year? Is it going to be a very small number there?
Yeah, indeed, a very small number because since July, we handed over, we had the closing, so it's a minor sales level for contract manufacturing. So not significant.
Helpful. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
So thanks, Curtis. And again, best greetings to London.
So coming back to Zürich, Urs, may I ask you to open the line?
Yes. Hello and thanks for taking my questions. I have several. First of all, maybe coming back to the pen needle business, just a short question. From now on and second half and so on, we can expect no EBIT impact from that. Then the second question, can you talk a little bit about how much assets you have in the pump business that you're going to divest? How much is the asset base? Third question is, I saw that SHL Medical is bringing a new reusable auto injector, Elexy, to the market. What do you think about that? Do you have something like that in your pipeline as well? And then maybe the last question on contract manufacturer, the Sanofi.
Am I right that about the sales were about the same like last half year in this half year? Thanks a lot.
Good. Should I start off with the Lilly question maybe, so the pen needle and the BGMS question on the EBIT impact, you correctly assume so there will be no EBIT impact from now on. So everything was booked with the closing of the transaction, so there you don't have to assume something. For the diabetes care, so the pump business, the asset base, the second question, there we can give you an indication since you can see that also in our balance sheet. You see roughly how much there is. It's mainly a business where you have R&D, so intangibles is mainly the asset which is going there. It's less capital intensive, so it's less the fixed assets.
Of course, a certain amount of net working capital, but in our balance sheet, you could roughly assume it's around CHF 200 million of assets, which will leave the balance sheet with a potential sale of that diabetes care business. Then I hand over to you, Simon.
Sure. Yes. So I mean, very good question on the platform level. I mean, Ypsomed has presented a reusable electronic auto injector one year ahead of SHL. We have presented it at PDA one year ago. Now SHL is following. We have eight new platforms in our pipeline. This is sustainable platforms, platforms out of one or two plastic components, so we can recycle them in the future. We have semi-disposable ones on the reusable side. We have also on the pen side new innovation, really GLP-1 focused solution.
We are going to decide in the course of next business year which platforms you're really going to boost, which platforms you're really going to develop. But from now on, I believe we have an excellent innovation pipeline here to deliver new solutions to our clients.
The fourth question regarding the sales from contract manufacturing, yes, it's fair to assume that they were on a similar level like in the previous year half year.
Thanks.
Thanks. So please, Daniel, may I ask you to open your line to unmute yourself?
Yes. Good morning. You hear me? Yes. Clear and loud. Very good. So you have provided us with a lot of capacity numbers for the pens and injectors, disposable devices. I mean, more big picture, when will you reach, let's say, one billion device capacity or whatever number you would like to provide? That's the first question.
The second question, I totally agree with you on China. What I hear from other companies is that China is clearly to totally nationalize. And you are there locally, China for China, which is good, but you also provide pens or auto injectors to Innovent, for instance, and they sell to the U.S. and Europe. So what makes you so sure that this will also be a success in the future with all the Biosecure Act and all the complicated deglobalized world nowadays? And the last question, I mean, you provided the UnoPen growth with 71%, I think, but the total pen growth, 13%. So obviously, the legacy business seems to be slower, but in the end, I don't really care as long as the total growth remains strong.
So that's, I mean, in the end, does it matter if the pen business grows below auto injectors or your big picture? Thanks so much.
Excellent. Daniel, I tried to answer your question. I'm starting with the first one. On the volume, we see 29. So in five years from now, we will be at the 1 billion. So we are adding roughly 100 million, 120, 150 million per year. As I mentioned in my speech, it doesn't mean that they will all be fully up and running. We might sell roughly in the space of 800. So we always will have some 100 million safety in order to be able to react and to ramp up the next line. These are now large lines. We moved from the 25 million lines to the 60-70 million lines. So larger lines, they have a 220 parts per minute.
Just to give you a figure, what it means, as of next year, Ypsomed is manufacturing 1 million devices per day. And we will do 2-3 million devices per day end of this decade. This to the volume feeling on China, you're absolutely right. I mean, China is nationalizing. That's part of their five-year plan. And we are absolutely on the top right corner on their matrix. If we do not deliver out of China, we will no longer deliver. But this gives us a huge benefit versus SHL. They manufacture in Taiwan. They have huge difficulties. BD out of America is not present anymore. So our competition is locally. No, we played the game. And the Biosecure Act, of course, we are very, very aware of it. And for instance, the molecules that we are at the moment discussing with companies like Innovent, they stay domestic.
But we are aware of it, of course. And we will see now with the administration how this will be continued on the other side. On the other side, America requires some of those drugs. And it will be a Swiss cheese. I know, I'm convinced that many of those drugs will reach American soil without too high taxes. But Ypsomed is really focusing on the domestic level. If I look at the PCSK9, for instance, that we have launched, if you look at the Zhongme i product, these are domestic products. And they are now also moving slowly onto the device. Overall, on the margin level, maybe Samuel, if you want to add something on it, but in general, obviously, we still have SoloStar. Don't forget, we still have 40 million SoloStar pens on the platform. Of course, it's a much, much higher growth.
I mean, you have to see the Genotropin, the old Pfizer pen, which is flat. You have the SoloStar, which is flat. And then obviously, this is diluting a bit, but SoloStar is leaving us. Genotropin, the old one, is going to be ended in one and a half years from now. So then this will also be out of all those slow growth pens will be out of the P&L as of 2026.
S o from that perspective, you really have to understand what happens on the platforms. Exactly. So Simon said it correctly. So that the pens overall only had this 10%-20% growth is really triggered because we had certain categories with clearly lower growth rates, as Simon mentioned. And the UnoPen as a high runner had a really good growth rate.
That's why we mentioned this number, but the pens overall had this 10%-20% growth.
Thank you.
So Peter, please. Hi, Mr. Kunz.
Yes. Hi, good morning. Can you hear me? Okay, great.
Clear and loud. T hanks.
Very good. Thank you. Big questions, please. And I'll go one at a time to save you writing them all down. The first is just a quick number question on the intangible investment, the tangible depreciation. If you could give some idea how much that relates to the diabetes care business.
Yeah, so you can assume half of it, roughly.
Half of the intangibles we have in our balance sheet and also on the depreciation rate, roughly half.
And in the cash flow this time, roughly half as well still because of the U.S. project? As well. As well.
Of course, I have in mind the cash flow is always depending on capitalization decisions. So I have in mind, according to Swiss GAAP FER, we can capitalize intangibles. Yeah, when something is marketable, when it's a real development, then we capitalize. The first half year was slightly more intangible capitalized on the diabetes care business than on the delivery system business.
Thank you. You've announced a partnership with BD. BD has been historically a competitor as well, has now become a partner. I'm really interested in understanding what you see the opportunity that you're starting here and maybe how that opportunity can develop if you get on very well.
No, sure. I mean, I think it's an important, a very important point. BD is by far the leader in glass in prefilled syringes.
We see here a lot of opportunities to make life easier for our clients by developing solutions where clients are faster on the product. What we do together is merging new syringes together with new auto injectors and make it much quicker for our clients to be in clinical trials. It's a win-win for both sides. Then BD is moving out of their own device business. They have given their Intevia platform IP on their auto injector back to, I'm not sure if I am allowed to say that, to the company they got it from. They are no longer investing in auto injectors and in pen devices. You see some small efforts in pen devices, but we talk about a figure much below CHF 50 million, maybe even CHF 40 million revenue per year. I think it's very clear.
As West is manufacturing rubbers, BD is manufacturing glass, we are manufacturing devices. I think that's the world order. And we are partnering really, really well with this company and also others. I mean, we also have our partnership with Schott, where we have a very strong relation also on YpsoDose, for instance, where we make it easier for our customers to be quicker on the product.
Thank you. And then the third question is just on the diabetes sale process. I was wondering if you could give some sort of update on how you see the calendar going forward and maybe the sense of third-party interest that has been inbound since you announced earlier this year.
So on the interest from outside, we have mainly on the sounding perspective, we have received over a dozen, almost 2,000 interests, but this has now to translate into real offers.
From a timing perspective, we see my goal is to give you all the details in the full year figure. So it's really the goal to sign in April latest. And then we have time over summer to close and then hand it over into the new hands. And that's our calendar. And I'm quite positive that we achieve. We have a very good partner on the investment bank side and are well prepared here to conduct this project.
That's great. No, thank you very much. Thanks, Simon. Good figures. Thank you.
Thanks, Peter, for your questions. So I have to apologize. Sibylle, please, may I ask you to unmute? And I apologize for taking you so late. Sibylle? Yeah. We can't hear you. I think Sibylle needs to accept the fact that we record and then she is allowed to speak.
Maybe before she does that, we take Sandra again and then we get back to Sibylle. Otherwise, Sibylle, you're able to write your questions to the chat. Maybe Thomas, you check the chat and we take Sandra in between. I'm prepared. I have my glasses. I can read. So, Sandra, please.
Thank you. I just have a quick clarification if I understood that correctly. Simon, you mentioned something when asked on the guidance. You mentioned something on extra costs from the divestments coming. I think you referred to the divestment of the YpsoPump business. And if you can elaborate on that, what we should expect, and I assume that would be booked into next year. Or what were you referring to?
Thank you. What was the second part? I was just chatting with Samuel, sorry.
That this would not be booked into 2024, 2025, but rather next year. It's a question.
Yes. So absolutely. Of course, we talked before about timing. So depending when you have a signing and when you have closing, you know that the effect, the win, the loss from that sale, you have only at closing. And also a big chunk of the transaction costs, as you know, is paid when you have the closing. So what you have in the first phase until a potential signing are rather carve-out costs. We described how this carve-out process is ongoing. These are minor costs and they belong to that whole deal. So that is a minor cost for you to assume on the full year, 2024, 2025, and in that guidance, yeah. Yeah, I think the effect on 2024, 2025 is not really relevant.
And then if you look at the overall of next year, obviously, the actual cost will be part of the deal minus the assets that we hand over. And then you will see this extra profit. I think we focus, Samuel, maybe focus more on the cash that we get and then the actual one-time EBIT effect. We want to show you our operational EBIT out of continuing operations. I think that's what we need to deliver to you and to us. But the cash is important. So of course, obviously, we are trying to get a good result there.
Absolutely. Sure. Thank you. That was very clear. Thanks.
So thanks, Sandra. Give her again. So let's try Sibylle again. Sibylle. We have received a sign, Sibylle, that you didn't accept the fact that we are going to record this. So maybe you try again to accept this pop-up.
If not, Thomas will open the chat tool and take your question via chat. In between, let's give the word back to Urs Kunz.
Yes, hello again. I have just some clarification questions about you talked about this 40 GLP-1 deals that are in the pipeline. Can you tell us how many of them are obesity-based, based on obesity? And then the second question in the Novo deal, is it still the intention that about half of the auto injectors that will be given to Novo will be produced by third-party manufacturers in a license agreement?
So on the first question on the GLP-1 split, the vast majority, over 90%, are both for diabetes and obesity. But the main focus of many of those mid-size and smaller players is obesity. And there's a few, like let's take Innovent. They're Liraglutide.
They launched; they received NMPA, so Chinese FDA registration in March 2024 for diabetes type 2, and in June 2024 for obesity. So most of those molecules are actually moving into both areas. On your question on Novo, I don't want to comment on it in more details. I think the deal, how we work is clear, but the details will show. In the end effect, we try to deliver the volumes as they require. And yes, of course, there is a selection of manufacturers that will also provide devices. Thanks.
So next, Stefan, please, our broker in Frankfurt. Welcome.
Yeah. Thanks, Thomas. Good morning to all. In your slide deck, you have a very interesting slide 41 where you show your well-diversified portfolio for the 200 projects. You give your information regarding the accounts, number of accounts, and number of projects.
Could you give just a very broad overview also in terms of sales would be highly appreciated?
It's quite difficult. I mean, and we cannot give you a five, 10-year guidance. But obviously, this is showing you, I mean, the main goal of this slide was to show you this is a well-diversified company. Number one. Number two, not only on the product side, indication side, but also on the client side. Now, SHL has half the amount of clients than we have. We focus also on smaller and mid-sized customers, which is important because these are very relevant and very profitable assets out there. Number one. Number two, on the overall sales, obviously, we have a diversified spectrum of clients. We have large accounts and we have mid and small accounts.
About two years ago, we tried to explain this to you that a small account is somebody below CHF 5 million revenue, a mid-size 5-20, and the large 20 above. But having 50, 60 small players together leads to two, three big ones. So these are very, very interesting, important customers to win. I'm not sure if you can give any more guidance on the sales.
I think for you, it's crucial to understand now we don't have really this clump risk, as Simon mentioned, that somebody makes whatever 30%. So this is rather the biggest customers they make around 10% in that area, 10%-20% of the total sales. So it's well-diversified and not a risk also as an investor to consider at the moment.
Okay. Understood. Thanks a lot. And maybe if I may, one question, same questions on your investments.
I think your guidance for the entire fiscal year was CHF 250 million. You had more of 50% of that after six months, taking into account maybe some inflation effects on current investment programs. Do you feel still comfortable with your previous guidance?
Actually, our overall guidance, the high-level guidance is roughly CHF 300 million in average over the next five years. So it is CHF 1.5 billion. And we might overshoot a bit on the 250 that you mentioned, but it has nothing to do with inflation. On the contrary, we are actually getting much better deals as we speak. At the moment when we build, we are 15% below the projected cost here in Solothurn. We are almost 20% below the projected cost in Germany. I mean, this downturn a bit in Germany helps us a lot. When I remember, we were in one, we had two builders offering.
Now we have 14. It was a totally different space for negotiation. Nothing to do with inflation. No, it's really we add. When we can get slots for lines, we order them. When we are in Canada and Switzerland with our strategic partners, we get the slots and we order the lines. I think take as a figure CHF 300 million, CHF 1.5 billion. Two-thirds of them is paid by us. One-third of it, of the 1.5, is paid by our clients. That's a bit the big figures that you may take with you. But maybe you want to add something, Samuel? \
Yeah. Just to add, the 250, they really concern the fixed assets. As Simon correctly said, when you deduct from the CHF 1.5 billion the 450 million, you end up on CHF 1 billion really investment on fixed asset on our side.
So that is this roughly CHF 250 million. And fixed assets in the first half year, that was only roughly CHF 100 million. So you see we are even slightly behind that CapEx plan. And as Simon mentioned, we see that we don't have any inflation pressure in those CapEx projects. So we are on track in that regard.
Yeah. Thank you very much.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks a lot. Sure. Stefan, thanks for your question. So once again, Sibylle. Sibylle? Unfortunately, we can't hear you. I'm very sorry.
So while you read the question, Thomas and Peter, we take Daniel again. Maybe you can ask a question on something. So Daniel, please.
Okay. One last thing. Just a slight concern I often hear from investors is that your carve-out of the pump business is complex.
With these 800 people you said leaving, they're often, let's say, quite tight to both segments according to my knowledge. It's not easy to strip that out. I don't question your expertise, but you have never done that at such a big scale. How can you make sure that there is no delay or I think you got my question?
Absolutely. I appreciate a lot, Daniel. We take huge effort here to do it properly. I believe we do much more than other companies would do in such situation. We have split the Mercury program in three phases. Mercury One is the actual operational split. Mercury Two is the sales of the asset. Mercury Three is then a transition after the closing. Now, Mercury One, you're absolutely right. We have identified roughly 75 people who you need to double.
Of those 75, you have decided to hire 20 now, already on our cost. So this is a figure of roughly CHF 2.5-3 million that we take now for the remaining time until closing because without those 20, the standalone diabetes care could not be operational. And then together with the buyer, we will negotiate as of the signing to the closing to add to recruit the additional 50 people to be fully operational when they take over. For now, the people, yes, they are having a new contract as of 1st of December, but they still work in their function. They still work. It's still one Ypsomed. We don't have two IT help desks as of 1st of December. So the job continues, but it's clearly split. And we have 14 streams, 14 project streams, and one of it is people.
I believe this, we manage very well down to every single person. As we have other projects like building facility, like regulatory pass. And this is managed by different units. And I'm very convinced that as of 1st of December, we can continue to ship. We have doubled the SAP. We have doubled the R/3. We have doubled the ERP. This is all in place. And 1st of December, we will push the button and the packages towards our patients, our hospitals, our tender partners. They will be shipped from Ypsomed Diabetes Care AG account. And we are positive that we can achieve. And then we have a really carved-out asset that is much easier to divest and we have done a lot of the work already now and not later. So the transition will be lean. We will have a transition phase with some IT support maximum.
It gives us the freedom to focus on growing Ypsomed.
That sounds like a clear plan.
Thanks so much. Thanks. Thanks, Daniel. Now, I pick up the question of Sibylle. I will read. It's concerning the outlook for this financial year. In our EBIT target of CHF 140 million, is there any more extraordinary effect to be expected in the second half of the year?
No. Besides what we already mentioned, that we have now the carve-out going on and depending on that timeline, that there is something. But other than that, we don't expect other one-offs.
Subsequently, what about the next year?
One-offs on EBIT level?
Yes, please.
Again, I come up, of course, with the closing.
What comes to mind, what Simon mentioned, if the timeline is there is a closing in the next business year, then there will be a one-time profit loss, whatever it is from that transaction, there will be a one-off cost. And yes, we also said clearly we focus on the blue world. So at a certain point, yeah, we clean up our portfolio.
Yeah.
But I mean, of course, I mean, we clean up the portfolio. But in the end of the day, Sibylle, it's positive. I mean, you know what I mean? If in the end of the day, we get a price, we have some assets and some cleanup plus project cost of the Mercury program, in the end, you will have a positive effect, a positive one-off, so.
Exactly. That is very fair to assume, yeah?
Very fair to assume.
Yeah. Definitely.
Okay. Thanks. I think we keep with the finance. We have a question about the bookkeeping. In the CHF 300 million CapEx we mentioned in this amount, how much will be booked in our books and which part is booked or paid by our customers? And how does it happen? Do we book first and then remove?
So the CHF 300 million, when we had the CapEx discussion, is really what stays overall, fixed and intangible asset with us. When customers pay us this amount we just mentioned, when we have the CHF 1.5 billion overall and they pay us whatever, CHF 400 million, then this is for the customer-specific assets. And this is the cash flows are more or less parallel to the real cash flows. So that is going in parallel.
And have in mind, those assets for customers. You find them when they are in construction and we have the advances. You find them in our balance sheet on the asset and on the liability side. And at the moment, this machine, this equipment is taken over, goes into production, then it goes out of the balance sheet. So you don't see it then anymore on our balance sheet. So that is important to understand when you also make the simulation of our midterm balance sheet. Hope it was understandable. Thanks. Thanks.
Sibylle, I hope this was helpful. Of course, please feel free to add a question or, of course, we can reach out after this call bilateral. Of course. And oh, thanks. Excellent. It was helpful. And finally, Mark is in the line. Mark, may I ask you, Mark Possa to unmute your line?
Yes. Good morning, gentlemen.
I hope you hear me. I would have an understanding question concerning, I mean, your clear leadership in terms of volumes and scale. Could you maybe allude on the difference in pricing or costs per unit that you already have today with the larger volume contracts compared to the small volume contracts? And where you would assess competition to be in terms of cost structure compared to your structure, i.e., how much lead way or lead you have on the cost advantages?
I think the second question is very, very relevant, and we are able to achieve every year roughly 2% margin enhancements through implementing larger lines, larger tools, and of course, our ongoing lean programs. It's very important, so we see this operating leverage also by filling the existing lines, by filling the buildings very clearly on the gross margin. Maybe then Samuel can add a bit.
On the margin for clients, in the end, I really, really don't want to be too precise, but it's in the range from 20%-40%-ish. Then you somehow get to the 35%-ish in the middle. In the end of the day, of course, the small high-margin businesses, they are important for us, and they contribute very positively to a margin clearly above 30% also midterm.
Yeah. Simon absolutely clearly said it, and allow me one comment on when you just look at margins. You should always also look at how capital-intensive a product is. We mentioned some customers partially pay the CapEx. So naturally, such a customer has a little bit lower EBIT, but when you look then on return on invested capital or capital employed, such a customer is much more attractive, so my first comment, don't focus purely on the EBIT margin.
Look also what capital employed is needed to serve that customer with those volumes. And then Simon correctly said, it's fair to assume that for the big volumes, of course, you can use that leverage. So you basically have a gross serial production and you have a lower EBIT margin than on smaller projects where you have more customization and a bigger pricing power. That is to say, and the cost advantage, I think it's very important to understand that we are in a market with a few players. So the pricing power we have for our product, for the device, that we have a good pricing power, that is very crucial. So it's a very vital product for our customers, this device. And therefore, we are very comfortable with our positioning in the market.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Good. Okay. Excellent. So thanks. Thanks a lot. So as you see, it's interesting, like always with Ypsomed. So if there are no further questions, I think we can close this call. Simon, thanks for this excellent presentation and discussion. And of course, if you have any further questions, please reach out. I'm here to support you. Okay. Thanks a lot, ladies and gentlemen. Have a nice day. See you. Bye.