Earnings call transcript: Medios AG Q3 2025 sees strong EPS growth, stock up 5.23%

Medios AG reported robust financial results for Q3 2025, with significant growth in earnings per share (EPS) and revenue. The company's EPS surged by 84% to €0.79, while adjusted EPS rose by 26% to €1.50. Revenue increased by 9.2% to €1.5 billion. Following the earnings announcement, Medios AG's stock price climbed by 5.23%, reflecting positive investor sentiment.

Key Takeaways

• EPS increased by 84% to €0.79, while adjusted EPS grew by 26% to €1.50.
• Revenue rose by 9.2% to €1.5 billion.
• Stock price increased by 5.23% post-earnings announcement.
• Focus on advanced therapies, including personalized cancer vaccines.
• Full-year revenue guidance set at approximately €2 billion.

Company Performance

Medios AG demonstrated strong financial performance in Q3 2025, with significant growth in both EPS and revenue. The company's focus on advanced therapies and personalized medicine has positioned it well in the specialty pharma market. The completion of the CEMA acquisition and strategic divestments in the Netherlands have further strengthened its operations.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: €1.5 billion, up 9.2% year-over-year.
• EBITDA pre: €70.4 million, up 26.1%.
• EBITDA pre margin: 4.6%, up from 4.0%.
• EPS: €0.79, up 84%.
• Adjusted EPS: €1.50, up 26%.
• Operating cash flow: Increased by 90%.
• Free cash flow: Nearly doubled to €48 million.

Outlook & Guidance

Medios AG has projected full-year revenue of approximately €2 billion, representing a 6% growth. The company expects EBITDA pre to reach around €96 million, a 21.5% increase. The focus remains on organic growth in the mid-single-digit percentage range, with an EBITDA pre margin expected around 4.8%.

Executive Commentary

CEO Matthias Gärtner highlighted the company's expertise in small-batch drug manufacturing, stating, "We are the expert for batch size one, focusing on the patients." He also emphasized the potential of advanced therapies, noting, "Advanced therapies on the long run will replace the traditional therapies."

Risks and Challenges

• Supply chain disruptions could impact production timelines.
• Regulatory changes in pharmaceutical pricing may affect profitability.
• Increased competition in the specialty pharma market.
• Economic uncertainties in Europe could influence market dynamics.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about Medios AG's pharmacy sales strategy and potential international business synergies. The company explained its advanced therapies business model and addressed concerns regarding pharmaceutical pricing changes.

Medios AG's strong Q3 performance and strategic initiatives in advanced therapies have positioned it well for future growth, reflected in the positive market reaction.

Full transcript - Medios AG (ILM1) Q3 2025:

Conference Moderator: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the earnings call of Medios AG for the first nine months of 2025. At our customers' request, this conference will be recorded. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. If any participant has difficulties hearing the conference, please press 0 followed by the hash key for operator assistance. May I now hand you over to Claudia Nicolaus, Head of Investor Relations, Public Relations, and ESG Communications at Medios.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Please go ahead.

Claudia Nicolaus, Head of Investor Relations, Public Relations, and ESG Communications, Medios AG: Welcome everybody to our earnings call for the first nine months of 2025. As always, all relevant documents can also be downloaded from our investor relations website. Additionally, this presentation can be followed in parallel via the Internet link provided to you in the invitation today. With me is our CEO Matthias Gärtner and our CFO Falk Neukirch. Matthias will start with an executive summary followed by Falk who will then provide details on the financials of the first nine months and the guidance for 2025. After the presentation, we will begin the Q and A session. I would now like to hand over to Matthias.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Okay, thank you, Claudia. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our conference call. For the first nine months of 2025, we continue to see solid growth which is reflected in strong financials. For the first nine months of 2025, we posted record revenues for the third quarter as well as for the first nine months of 2025, driven by organic and inorganic growth. With Thomas Meyer, we could announce our new CEO as of February 2026. I'm very confident that he, together with my executive board colleagues and the entire team of Medios, will lead our company into the next decade of growth, success and market leadership. Back to the highlights and achievements in the first nine months of 2025. On slide 3. We had a very good year so far and I'm proud of the progress we made. Again, we posted very solid financials.

Revenue grew by 9.2% to EUR 1.5 billion. All segments contributed to revenue and earnings growth, meaning both organic and inorganic. EBITDA pre rose disproportionately by 26.1% to EUR 70.4 million. Consequently, EBITDA pre margin rose from 4.0% to 4.6%. I would especially like to highlight the solid organic earnings growth of 5.1%. This is in line with our guidance assumption of organic growth in the mid single digit percentage range. Furthermore, EPS increased by 84% to EUR 0.79 and EPS adjusted grew by almost 26% to EUR 1.5. Also, the operating cash flow was strong, up 90% compared to last year. All in all, we have once again succeeded in our ambition to increase our overall profitability. This confirms the operational strength of our company and our strategy which is focused on increasing margins while maintaining growth. Based on these results, we fully confirm our guidance for the year.

Falk will provide more insights into the financials later. Our international activities strongly support our European platform and make us a leading player in the specialty pharma compounding in Europe. This network is an excellent basis for our further international expansion, the realization of synergies and cross selling opportunities. Furthermore, it will support the development of our activities in the field of advanced therapies. The future of individualized medicine as outlined at our last earnings call, we successfully conducted a share buyback of 1 million shares representing 3.92% of our current share capital. Another good news was that since October 16th we are back in the ESTACS. Also in October we welcomed Janus Henderson as a new major shareholder in Medios with a stake of around 6.4%.

They bought all the shares from Benzis Capital and since November 4th we have a new analyst coverage by Montega with a buy recommendation and the target price of EUR 24. Slide 4 shows the quarter on quarter development of our two KPIs revenue and EBITDA pre. There are fluctuations between the various quarters. In 2023 and 2024 we saw very strong third quarters due to the special effects, the inflation related price increases. Even without this effect, Q3 2025 revenue was on a record level. EBITDA pre however was slightly below Q3 2024. Falk will come back to this later. Now the same illustration for the first nine months shown on slide 5. Whereas revenue for the first nine months 2025 increased by 9.2%, EBITDA pre grew even stronger by more than 26% compared to the first nine months of 2024.

As already mentioned, this is in line with our strategy to further focus on profitability. Let's move to slide 6 with some comments on our activities in the field of advanced therapies. We are establishing a stronger presence in this new field of activities that is predicted to reach a double-digit growth rate in the future. Currently our focus is on the subfield of personalized cancer vaccines. These vaccines have the potential to replace conventional cancer therapies and even to cure cancer. Manufacturing these new vaccines requires high expertise in the area of small-scale fill and finish. This expertise already exists within the Medios network. Before I hand over to Falk, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the perception study conducted in September. We received valuable feedback that we will consider in particular with regard to our investor relations work.

This is all for now from my side. Now Falk will provide more details on the financials for the first nine months of 2025 and the guidance for 2025.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Thank you, Matthias. Welcome. Also from my side, I will give you a more detailed overview of the financials for the first nine months of 2025. You can of course find the full financial statement on our website. Let's go to slide 8. All in all, we had strong first nine months. In 2025, revenues rose by EUR 129.5 million to 1 point, which is an increase of 9.2%. Of this increase, EUR 65.3 million are attributable to inorganic growth of segment IB. The inorganic growth mainly comprises the 9 versus 4 months effect as CEMA was initially consolidated as of June 2024, rest an amount of EUR 64.2 million. 4.5% is attributable to organic growth, thereof EUR 48.3 million to PS segment, EUR 4.5 million to PST, and EUR 11.6 million to IB segment.

Gross profit of Medios group improved significantly by EUR 44.3 million to EUR 151.5 million, an increase by 41.3%. This improvement is mainly due to segment IB which contributed EUR 34.1 million gross profit thereof due to inorganic growth approximately EUR 32 million. Beside the nine versus four months effect, has the income from divestments of smaller CEMA entities, mainly pharmacies, in the amount of EUR 2.1 million contributed to the inorganic gross profit of PST segment rose by EUR 7.5 million to EUR 42.2 million due to organic revenue growth. A better product mix but also the elimination of performance based payments for compounding orders in the amount of EUR 4.8 million, gross profit of PS segment increased again organically by EUR 2.8 million, a gross profit margin of 3.8% which is unchanged compared to previous year.

All of this contributed to a higher Medios Group gross profit margin which rose by 2.2 percentage points to 9.9%. Personnel costs rose by EUR 15.9 million to EUR 51.7 million. The essential part of the increase amounting to EUR 13.2 million is attributable to the IB segment, fully caused by inorganic effects because of the initial consolidation of CEMA in June 2024. In addition, an amount of EUR 1 million is caused by modest personnel cost increases in PS and PST segment services. Personnel costs increased by EUR 1.7 million, thereof EUR 1.2 million attributable to changes in the Executive Board. Non-cash expenses for stock options amounted to EUR 0.6 million versus EUR 1.1 million in the previous year. Other operating expenses rose from EUR 27.4 million to EUR 36.2 million, an increase of EUR 8.8 million.

Thereof EUR 7.7 million attributable to the IB segment, of which approximately EUR 7 million have an inorganic character. Because of the initial consolidation of the in June 2024 the EBITDA pre increased to EUR 70.4 million compared to EUR 55.8 million in the previous year. The EBITDA pre margin increased to 4.6% compared to 4% in the previous year. This was supported by an EBITDA contribution of segment IB with higher EBITDA margins and the organic growth of Ps and PST also focusing on higher margin products. Excuse me, EBITDA pre was adjusted by extraordinary expenses in the amount of EUR 6.7 million compared to EUR 11.7 million last year. These expenses consist of EUR 3.8 million for ERP system implementation, EUR 1.4 million one offs related to changes in the Executive Board, EUR 0.9 million other M&A expenses and EUR 0.6 million expenses for stock options.

The decline in overall adjustments is mainly attributable to the discontinuation of performance-based payments for increased compounding volumes and lower MA expenses compared to previous year. When Sevan was acquired, depreciation amortization increased significantly by EUR 6.6 million to EUR 28.4 million largely due to the acquisition of the CEMA Group. Of the total amount for depreciation and amortization, EUR 18.2 million are attributed to the amortization of customer base, EUR 4 million are attributable to leases, and the remaining amount of almost EUR 6.2 million belongs to operational depreciation. The financial result of minus EUR 7.3 million decreased by EUR 1.4 million mainly due to higher interest expenses for the syndicated loan. The tax expenses rose from EUR 6 million to EUR 8 million reflecting a tax rate of 29.7% compared to 36.2% in the previous year.

The tax rate in the previous year was impacted by non tax deductible expenses for M and A activities. Due to the strong performance of all operational segments and the expanded consolidation scope plus the described reduction in extraordinary expenses, the net result almost doubled to EUR 19.9 million. Also, depreciation, amortization and financing costs increased significantly, so earnings per share rose from EUR 0.43 to EUR 0.79, an increase of 84%. The adjusted earnings per share increased to EUR 1.50 compared to EUR 1.19 last year. This figure is based on the net results after tax adjusted for extraordinary expenses, PPA depreciation and amortization as well as corresponding tax expense adjustments. Operating cash flow rose significantly by 91.1%, now amounting to EUR 52.2 million. This has been achieved by an increased cash generating operational performance and lower tax payments due to the very good operational cash flow.

Also, the free cash flow of EUR 48 million almost doubled compared to last year. Please note that quarterly fluctuations in the operating cash flow are by no means unusual as has been the case in the past. The investing cash flow of EUR -2.3 million mainly reflects CapEx of EUR -4.7 million and subsequent accrued purchase price payments for the acquisition of CEMA of EUR -2.3 million as well as cash inflows of EUR 3.4 million from divestments mainly due to the sale of smaller pharmacies in the Netherlands. Financing cash flow of EUR -63 million primarily resulted from scheduled termination, loan repayments of EUR 18.8 million and net repayments of the RCF of EUR 20 million, interest payments for loans EUR 6.4 million, and payments for lease liabilities EUR 3.8 million, and a repurchase of treasury shares of EUR 12.6 million.

For more details on the repurchase of shares, you will find a summary in the appendix of this presentation. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to EUR 93.4 million at the end of the reporting period. The equity ratio was nearly unchanged at 55.2% at the end of September 25th compared to 54.6% on December 31st, 2024. On slides 9 and 10 we have provided again a breakdown of the organic and inorganic growth. Slide 9 shows that inorganic revenue growth amounted to EUR 65.3 million or 4.7% fully dedicated to IB segment. Organically revenue increased EUR 64.2 million or 4.5% resulting from operational segments from all operational segments but mainly from Segment Yes. Slide 10 shows the organic and inorganic EBITDA pre breakdown by segment. EBITDA pre increased inorganically by EUR 11.7 million or 21% fully dedicated to IB segment. All three operational segments have delivered organic earnings growth.

The EBITDA pre development in segment services reflects mainly intensified activities for the new strategic segment advanced therapies but also increased board remunerations. Let's go to slide 11 providing the nine months overview of all segments compared to the previous year. As already mentioned, the 9.2% increase in group revenue is mainly driven by IB and to a lower extent by PS and PSD. The external revenue of PS segment increased by 4.1% to EUR 1.24 billion and revenue of PST segment by 2.7% to EUR 166 million. The IB segment contributed EUR 124.2 million external revenues for the first month 2025 which is an increase of EUR 76.9 million. Thereof EUR 65.3 million inorganically. EBITDA pre for the PS segment amounted to EUR 38.8 million, a plus of 4.7%, and for the PSD segment to EUR 18.1 million, a plus of 8.4%.

This organic earnings growth was boosted by a targeted focus on higher margin sales. IB contributed with an EBITDA pre of EUR 22 million for the first nine months of 2025, share of EUR 11.7 million inorganically, and an EBITDA pre margin of 17.7%. EBITDA pre of IB segment includes an income of EUR 2.1 million from divestments. Slide 12 provides status information on the recent financing structure. In November 2025, the debt finance of Medios was replaced by a syndicated loan facility in the total amount of EUR 225 million consisting of two tranches, a term loan facility of EUR 125 million with a term of five years. Repayment has started in March 2025 and for the first nine months of 2025 we repaid EUR 18.8 million and a revolving credit facility RCF of EUR 100 million also with a term of five years.

The RCF has a term extension option of up to two years and a step up option for further EUR 50 million to finance future growth. There is net debt amounted to around EUR 100 million at the end of September 25th. That leads to a leverage ratio of approximately 1.1. An estimated free cash flow of EUR 40-50 million enables Medios to repay the term loan and to finance further pros at the end of the reporting period. The total loan amount drawn under syndicated loan agreement amounted to EUR 161.3 million, EUR 106.3 million under the term facility and EUR 55 million under the RCF facility. Overall, we are confident about the business development for the fourth quarter and confirm our guidance for the full year 2025. As shown on slide 14, our guidance parameters are revenue and EBITDA pre for 2025.

We expect revenues to reach approximately EUR 2 billion, reflecting growth of around 6%. EBITDA pre is expected to grow by around 21.5% to around EUR 96 million. Organic growth should be in the mid single digit percentage range. Both parameters reflect an EBITDA pre margin of approximately 4.8%. The EBITDA pre guidance is adjusted for extraordinary expenses like M&A, related expenses for stock option programs and implementation costs for ERP systems, and for one off expenses due to the change in the Executive Board as explained before. Thank you for your attention. I'll now hand over to Matthias.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Thank you, Falk. Dear investors and analysts, today is my last analyst call for Matthias. After more than 10 years serving as CFO and CEO, I will be stepping down from the Management Board at the end of this year. It's been an unforgettable decade, truly the professional experience of my life, and I have to admit this isn't an easy step for me. There are so many things I'm grateful for and just as many that I will really miss. It's been a privilege to work for so many years alongside some of the smartest and most talented colleagues in the specialty pharma sector and to build together with our entire team what Medios stands for today. Germany's leading specialty pharma company and one of the key players in Europe. A healthy, solid, growth business ready to take on the challenges of the future.

Together with our 1,000 colleagues, we now produce more than 1 million individualized medicines every year across Europe. In doing so, we help ease the suffering of patients, slow or even stop the progression of diseases, and in some cases achieve complete cures. That is something I am particularly proud of. To everyone I have had the pleasure of working with over the past 10 years, and especially to all of you on this call today, our valued investors and analysts, I want to say a sincere thank you. Thank you for your trust, your support, and yes, also for your critical questions and comments. I have learned a lot from them, both professionally and personally. It has been an honor and I truly appreciate it. Now feels like the right moment to move on, to make room for new minds, new ideas, and fresh energy.

I am confident that my colleagues on the Management Board, Christoph and Constantine, together with my successor, Thomas Meyer, and all of our 1,000 colleagues, will continue to do an outstanding job. I'm sure they will take Medios to the next level, making it an even more profitable and globally recognized leader in specialty pharma. Thank you once again for your partnership, for your engagement, and for being part of this incredible journey. With that, I would now hand back to the moderator to start the Q and A session. Falk and I are glad to answer your questions.

Conference Moderator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press 9 and the star key on your telephone keypad. In case you wish to cancel your question, please press 3 and the star key. Please press 9 and the star key now to state your question. The first question goes to Michael Haider of Berenberg Bank.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Please go ahead.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: Hi, everybody. Yeah, Matthias, congratulations to your successful journey at Medios and really thanks for the exciting time we had together. Yeah, I'm sure you will see us. I will continue with some questions so that you don't get bored here. First of all, you mentioned that you have sold some pharmacies in the Netherlands. Can you elaborate a little bit more? Is this the start of the exit of the pharmacy business or was it just like opportunistically maybe?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Yeah. Thank you, Michael. We are happy that you are back as our analyst and we missed you as the first one asking all of these questions. Thank you for the first question. Yeah, you're right. You and most of you remember, we talked about the pharmacy. When we acquired CEMA, indeed, we acquired 23 pharmacies we own in the Netherlands. From the very beginning, we knew that this is not our core business. Because of that, if there is an opportunity, the goal is not to sell the pharmacies, you know, but if there's a good opportunity, meaning that we get a higher multiple when we sell the pharmacies than when we bought them, plus some additional business. The Netherlands is different than Germany. As you know, in the Netherlands, corporates are allowed to own pharmacies.

There are some chains, and of course, they are very interested in buying more pharmacies and also interested in our pharmacies. That means that on the other hand, we can ask for some support for our business as well, that we cooperate in the future, for example, that we do business for a limited time in the future together and things like that. If we can achieve both, so hire multiple plus additional business, then we consider selling pharmacies. This is exactly what happened.

Tim Cruiser, Analyst, Montega AG: Okay.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: Related to this, when I look at the international business and the margin which stood at 18.6% adjusted EBITDA after nine months, when looking at a prominent competitor of yours, one has the impression that there's more upside to this. What do you think? Is this maybe also related to selling pharmacies? Because that's probably a lower margin business than the rest. Where do you think the margin of Seban can go?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Talking about our competitor, I know whom you mean. There's only one in Europe. As you know and all the others listening to this call know, they are very active in the U.S. They have a huge U.S. business where they have even higher margins than they have in Europe as far as I know. You cannot fully compare this kind of business because we are limited to Europe, so far only a few countries in Europe, and margin is now 17.7. Coming from roughly 20. Buying from a private equity, you know that they look a little bit different at the beginning. If you buy something from private equity, they do what they can do to make the pouch hoops and they have done very good. Now we have the 17.7. The truth is somewhere between 17-20.

Of course our goal is to bring it up. We are working on that. What you can see now is I think it's typical if you buy a company from private equity.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: I would say maybe also on the international business.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: I was very positively surprised by the.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: Strong growth in the third quarter. Is there anything specific to mention here? What drove the growth?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: We already talked about it. At the beginning we have been focused very much on integration, on coming back from acquiring a company. Cost of money and a lot of time as well, and involves a lot of people. That not only at Medios, also at CEMA. We could finish that. We proceeded very much with the integration of CEMA. Now people can go back to work and focus on business and sales. I think the figures are exactly reflecting this.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: Okay, and what do you think how much more synergies are possible in the combination with the CEMA business?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: We also talked about that. There are synergies possible. You know the game, the API business, which we will bring to Germany and things like that. We are working on that. There will be some more synergies in the future. As you know, we also depend very much on regulation and lawmaking here. Some things are changing within Europe, but that looks good. We have positive signs that there will be some good changes in the future which will support our business and the synergies. We expect more synergies coming out of that. Same than last call. Really hard to quantify those synergies. There will be some more.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: I've seen that there was more one-offs relating to M&A in the third quarter. Is there something cooking? Are you looking for the next deal or was this in relation to the divestment you mentioned?

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: In fact, it goes back to before the acquisition of CEMA. It is a tax aspect, VAT deductible or not on transaction costs. The Bahn group had to make the power trips in the past to take up this slogan from Matthias. The VAT was unfortunately denied, the VAT deductibility was denied by the tax authority in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, we had this aspect now as a cost item in the P and L. We are always cooking something, but this is not related to the cooking process for the future.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Nice try.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: Nothing really shortly ahead of something.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Right?

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: I mean that's what on the M&A side.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: If that would be the case, we would have to release it, you know.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Okay.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: Okay, then maybe two more. The growth, or let's say free cash flow was super strong. Congratulations. Very nice. As you have already mentioned, it's a bit lumpy. For the full year I do not have to really increase the assumption.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Right? I mean, it could be, could be.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: Also a slightly negative fourth quarter on the cash side.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: I still stick to 50 to the operational, to the operational cash flow, no increase. The free cash flow, as I mentioned, is EUR 10 million down, which is EUR 40-50 million. Of course, we are very close to the upper end. We were quite successful, as Matthias said, we had a very successful nine months. It was of course very positively influenced by the operational performance. We are lucky we had no negative working capital impact. We are learning how to deal with it. In our expectation, there was also a tax payment we expect for the previous years, but this did not come yet. This is difficult to calculate. I would stick to what I said in the past because I am not a tax authority. I cannot tell you when the tax payment will come. Please stick to.

If it's more. You don't. You probably don't get angry. I don't think it will be significant. We will perform also in the fourth quarter, and the big question mark. We will also try not to have a big working capital impact in the fourth quarter. If we are lucky on that, the only question mark is the taxpayer payment. I cannot answer that question.

Michael Haider, Analyst, Berenberg Bank: Okay, many thanks.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Thank you, Michael.

Claudia Nicolaus, Head of Investor Relations, Public Relations, and ESG Communications, Medios AG: Next question, please.

Conference Moderator: Yes, yes, the next question goes to Michael Kuhn of Deutsche Bank.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Please go ahead.

Michael Kuhn, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I'll start with a quick one on Q3.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: EBITDA.

Michael Kuhn, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: In pharmaceutical supply there was an organic decline. Obviously you had the price markup effect in Q3 last year. Is that entirely explaining the year-over-year decline in the third quarter or were there other effects included as well?

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: No, this is 100% what remains I would say because of course we performed also quite well in the BS segment in the third quarter 2025 but the impact of the price adjustments in 2024 was quite huge and this part we were not able to offset by the operational performance in 2025.

Michael Kuhn, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: The inventory effect was probably something like EUR 2 million in Q3 last year.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Yeah.

Michael Kuhn, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Let's say on a normalized basis looking few years down the road, would you expect, let's say, occasionally those inventory effects to reoccur or was that rather like a non-recurring thing over the past two years and we shouldn't bake in those effects going forward anymore?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Mike, that's hard to predict because as you know that depends on inflation. If inflation would come back we could expect those effects because then as inflation gives the pharmaceutical companies the chance to adjust prices and usually they do it. Yeah, that really depends on the development of the inflation we will have here in Germany.

Michael Kuhn, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Understood, thank you. Then also one on free cash flow and not particularly on this year, but let's say also looking over the next two to three years I guess you will try to achieve further organic earnings growth which should be supportive for the cash flow. We are already on the way towards the upper end of the EUR 40 million-EUR 50 million free cash flow bandwidth and probably the inventory management will also continue to be disciplined. Is there a chance to let's say increase that bandwidth at some point and thereby also let's say your financial flexibility both in terms of paying down debt and also doing CapEx and M&A.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Yeah, I mean of course as we would like to grow the operational result and we keep going on this and I expect. This is actually the question for March in March 2026, not now. Of course we try to increase the operational cash flow and the free cash flow and as you said, investment or CapEx is something which will also maybe slightly increase in the future but now we are still not CapEx intensified, we will remain on that level. The EUR 10 million is a good amount but operational I would say. If I say this year 50-60, next year everything I'm saying now is a little more. Yeah, definitely we will, looking at the numbers we will end up at more than 60. This is very realistic.

As I said we have and this is a little bit not the showstopper, but it's reducing the function. We have some tax payments which are related to the previous years and it goes back really to 2023, 2022 and even before. The question is when this will kick in. Actually I hope this will be finalized in 2025 already. Now it could have an impact on 2026 as well. Unfortunately these tax payments are part of the operational cash flow. Fundamentally I see this figure increasing as we would like to increase EBITDA and EBITDA pre.

Michael Kuhn, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: Understood, thank you. One on EBITDA in Q4, looking at the EUR 96 million figure, you would need some sequential improvement in Q4 with Q3. Have you identified yet which segment will grow, will drive that development?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: If you look at the figure, EUR 24 million in Q3. Today I already got the question. Q4 is always weaker than Q3, right, if you look at the past two years. That was your first question, Michael. We had the inflation-adjusted price effect, which we will not have this year. You will not see that sharp decline from Q3 to Q4. We have a good run rate, EUR 24 million, business is increasing. If you look at the EBITDA, you can see a slight increase every quarter. We expect this to continue. If you have a little bit on top of the EUR 24 million, then we are approaching the EUR 96 million, and this is still our goal. We are working very hard for that. It is challenging, of course, but we believe that we can achieve it and we work for that.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Thank you.

Michael Kuhn, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: One last question on the future CEO, Mr. Meyer. Obviously joining from a market cap wise, much bigger company, almost like 15 times. Not absolutely straightforward for that move. Interested to know, let's say, what is the key kind of skill sets and capabilities he brings in that made him, let's say, the right candidate ultimately? And let's say, what do you think is his personal challenge with that particular move?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: That would be the perfect question for Dr. Samson, for the Head of the Supervisory Board. I try to give you some indications. As you just said, he's coming out of the industry, he's working at the polymer industry, which, so the know-how will be helpful for Medios, especially for the future field of advanced therapies. They do manufacturing, they sell in, as far as I know, I don't know how many countries around the world, including the U.S. He's very well connected. He has done this job from scratch, coming to CEO, being CEO for six years at his company and at Bahram, and within that time he almost doubled the revenue. He knows how to manage companies, how to grow companies. They have a much higher EBITDA margin than we have.

I think all of this is know-how that will help. As I just mentioned in my speech, open for new ideas now. We need fresh ideas and things like that. Also, from my side, what I can tell you, I met him several times. I think he's a good guy, he's capable enough, has the knowledge and will be able to continue our business doing a good job. I would say maybe as Falk just mentioned, postpone that into March and then you can ask him directly. I'm sure many of you will meet him personally as well. I can tell you that I have a good feeling and that I think that he's a really capable and a good guy. He has done a good job and he will do a good job at Medios as well.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Thank you very much.

Michael Kuhn, Analyst, Deutsche Bank: I would also like to use the opportunity to thank you for the great collaboration over the past few years and also link that to the hope that our paths might cross again at some point. Thank you.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Likewise. Thank you, Michael. Thank you.

Conference Moderator: The next question goes to Tim Cruiser of Montega AG.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Please go ahead.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Yes, thank you.

Tim Cruiser, Analyst, Montega AG: Yeah, Mr. Gärtner, sorry, it's our first and our final earnings call together but I already wish you all the best. A lot of questions already asked, but two follow ups from my side, maybe one on the question Michael already raised on the growth of the international business. Just to clarify, excluding the positive one off effect from the sale of the pharmacies, that would imply roughly 14-15% organic growth. That is something you feel comfortable with looking forward for the CEMA business, for the international business?

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Not quarterly I would say, but yeah, sure, we very much appreciate what's developing in the segment international. Yes, I think this reflects what we have strived for in the last months and tried to get things in line, find or establish new business activities and develop new products, and the fruits or the results are kicking in now. First time in the third quarter, and we expect a similar development in the fourth quarter. Yes, we are very confident about this.

Tim Cruiser, Analyst, Montega AG: Okay. Could you maybe comment if there was already the RP sales to the German market already realized in Q3, or is that something which is still going to come up in the next quarter?

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: This started, but this is not the main driver for the result. This is something which is still to come.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Yeah.

Tim Cruiser, Analyst, Montega AG: Okay, interesting. Maybe just one final question on the advanced therapies. I know this is, you see a lot of potential in that, but maybe you could outline for me as a newcomer to the company, sort of what kind of impact that already has on your business and how you expect that to scale up and what that also means in terms of maybe additional CapEx and, yeah, kind of growth momentum. That would be really interesting.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Yeah. The idea of advanced therapies is we are, if you look at all the Lonsas and Co, they do batch sizes of 100 thousands of millions of products. If you look at Medios, we are the expert for batch size one. We are considered and we are the expert for doing really individualized drugs, always batch size one, focusing on the patients. This is a very high expertise we have. We have the infrastructure for that. We run ten GMP labs over Europe. Now if you look at the advanced therapies, where we talk about mRNA or gene and cell therapies, this is where you exactly need this kind of know-how because to bring those therapies to the patients, you need very close labs and know-how to provide those therapies to bring it to the hospitals and to the patients.

This is what we can do within our, or with our, using our platform within our labs and what we are doing. We employed first employees, we have a good management team already. We started setting up the know-how within two of our labs. There are some investments, there are no major investments. This is included in the EUR 10 million Falk talked about. There is no major additional investment needed for that. It is more important to really train our people, our employees, to set up the management for that. This we are doing. These costs are included in the figures you can see as well. We already signed the first contract, we are very proud of that. We already signed two contracts.

We produce mRNA products already for biotechnological companies coming out of our labs, going into the hospitals to the patients, where we also can support that. What I mentioned before, I'm very proud on that as well. You will see no contribution this year, but we expect in the coming years that it will kick in. There will be some, maybe some six in the six-digit area, but that will increase mid to long term because advanced therapies on the long run will replace the traditional therapies. For that we are prepared and we will be the partner of the pharmaceutical industry. We are ready for that. As you know, we only have a guidance at the moment for this year and next year. We will have one for next year. Of course I give you this idea.

Now we talk maybe about six single digits. But in the future I'm sure that advanced therapies will replace the traditional therapies. And yeah, we are ready for that.

Tim Cruiser, Analyst, Montega AG: Yeah, that's very, very helpful. Can you just maybe comment on the reimbursement structure and his tax mechanism for these therapies? Does that fall under the same kind of mechanisms or do you expect also other kind of opportunities there for you?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Completely different. That's a good question because that really makes it different. There we do not talk about the Hilfstaxe. There, usually we have direct contracts with the pharmaceutical industry. It is between Matthias and the pharmaceutical industry. No Hilfstaxe involved, no middle price involved. We do the contracts, we get paid for our work, for our input. Of course, that makes it really interesting and more flexible.

Tim Cruiser, Analyst, Montega AG: Okay, very good.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Many details. If you're interested we can have one on one about that.

Tim Cruiser, Analyst, Montega AG: Yeah. So boring.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: For all the other parties.

Tim Cruiser, Analyst, Montega AG: Thanks a lot.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Welcome.

Conference Moderator: The next question goes to Olaf Price of okconsult Private Equity.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Please go ahead.

Olaf Price, Analyst, okconsult Private Equity: Thank you very much for taking my question and also as it's your last call, all the best for the future and I think you did a great job in growing Medios. Two questions from my side and maybe one follow up depending on your answer. In one of the last quarterly calls you, Matthias, said that you didn't believe Donald Trump would succeed in his like most favored nation narrowing of prices in between the U.S. and Europe. If he would, it would not hurt Medios, but it would benefit from it as margin contributions narrow in the U.S. and expand in Western Europe. Can you see any positive effects as Donald Trump succeeded as opposed to your judgment? Is that not only not hurting Medios, but are you benefiting from that? That is the first question.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Thank you, Olaf. Also thank you for your wishes. Yeah, we all know if we like Donald Trump or not, but we know that usually he is doing what he is saying. You are right, he has done that as well with Trump RX and all the things with the goal to bring pharmaceutical prices down in the U.S. and on the other hand.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Up.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: In other countries that there's not such a huge difference, we can see at the moment for truck prices between the U.S. and other countries. That would mean that prices should come down in the U.S. and on the other end go up in other countries. This is what I cannot see and do not expect. If it happens, that would be good for Medios, of course, because as you know, our trading business is regulated partly by the truck price, by the term truck price regulation, fixing the prices. If prices would go up, that would mean that our revenue would go up and that our earnings would go up as well. I still can't see that.

I cannot believe, because you know that the health systems, health insurance systems all over the world, in all civilized countries, it's under huge pressure and I cannot see that prices just will go up in those countries. I do not expect that. I think no impact and if impact a positive one. I think to summarize that that's still my opinion.

Olaf Price, Analyst, okconsult Private Equity: Okay, thanks a lot for that. Second topic as to the sale of Benzis to Janus. I mean the big picture is of course it's great, it's great for the shareholders. It's great for the company to have such a renowned long term investor, also known for his proper due diligence before investing as opposed to a private equity, which business is not to hold listed equities. A share overhang is removed. Of course it's kind of a great title for you leaving to have acquired them as a long term investor. I also understood that the board put a waiver on the lockup of the Benzis shares. However, it has been seen that there is a difference in between those 6.67% of Benzis and the 6.39% of Janus, which is roughly 70,000 shares.

Did they have a waiver in the past with the share repurchase, or did they short before they acquired the Benzis shares, which are? Or is there any other possible solution which I did not think of.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: A, B or C. Olaf, thank you, great investigation. If you purely look at these figures and this is what the companies release, you are right, but the truth is that Benzis sold all of their shares completely to Janus Henderson. It was, I think, 6.7%. Within Janus Henderson, you know, companies like Janus Henderson, they have several different funds and we do not exactly know in which funds they do the shares finally and how the funds are related together, if they have to see it as one unit or not. I can assure you that all the shares moved from Benzis to Janus Henderson. There is not even one single share going through in the market, and that is just a technical thing. I think you can be relaxed, fully relaxed there.

Olaf Price, Analyst, okconsult Private Equity: Okay, thanks very much. Then one last follow up regarding the index. I mean personally I think Medios was very lucky to return to the SDAX twice because somebody else was taken over, to Synlab. Now's economy now with the share price drops, which actually surprised me after the entry of Janus Henderson. It surprised me a lot to be quite honest. Is there any possibility to keep Medios from dropping out of the SDAX for a second time in the last year? Especially given the free cash flow, which is quite pleasing right now as I understand your call. Can you do anything kind of to keep Medios from exiting a second time? Do you have the legal and financial possibility to do so?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Yeah, so the only thing we can do so you can help us. The more shares you buy and your colleagues attending this call, the higher the price will go and that will assure our position at the estacation. For that we do, we run the business. I think we do a good business. We will support this. You know, there's a ranking and this is free float shares times share price. It's the so-called free float market cap. I think this counts, nothing else, we cannot influence it. If the share price goes up, days like today can help. This is interesting coming back to your last question.

It's always the question is how the Deutsche Börse considers the shares as free float or not, and that could be different between Benzis where we had a different ISIN and now Henderson. I cannot tell you 100%, but that might help. Increasing free float, increasing share price, this is what helps. There's no legal way or something like that to influence that. We as a management, we work on doing a good job and running the business and trying to convince you as investors to invest into our share. If you do so, that would help.

Olaf Price, Analyst, okconsult Private Equity: Yeah, personally we've been asking for the legal possibility. I ask if there is a legal possibility right now to repurchase more than that 1 million shares that you already have repurchased at EUR 12.50.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: It would be counterproductive because that would reduce free floating.

Olaf Price, Analyst, okconsult Private Equity: Okay, okay. Are you confident on staying in the index this time or rather not?

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: I can't tell you that. As mentioned, that depends on the share price and it's really hard to predict not only our in general share prices. I hope so.

Olaf Price, Analyst, okconsult Private Equity: My understanding is more ETFs are focusing the European indexes than the N Stacks index. Do you have any knowledge about the situation there?

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Nope.

Olaf Price, Analyst, okconsult Private Equity: Okay, thanks for everything and have a good day.

Falk Neukirch, CFO, Medios AG: Bye.

Matthias Gärtner, CEO, Medios AG: Thank you to everyone. This time we fully use the one hour, which is the first time I think. We are happy that you have so many questions, that you are so highly interested in Medios, and thank you very much for that. I wish you all the best and wishes from Berlin and bye bye from Berlin and see you soon maybe in the future. Bye bye.

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