Earnings call transcript: Sandoz Q2 2025 sees strong sales growth, stock up 6.98%

Sandoz, a leading player in the generic and biosimilar medicines industry with a market capitalization of $24.2 billion, reported robust financial results for the second quarter of 2025. The company delivered a 4% sales growth and a significant 33% increase in core diluted earnings per share (EPS), reaching $1.46. These results were accompanied by a 6.98% rise in the company’s stock price, which closed at $48.40, up from its previous close of $45.24. The market reacted positively to the company’s expanded EBITDA margin and promising future outlook. According to InvestingPro data, the stock has delivered an impressive 24% return year-to-date and is currently trading near its 52-week high of $60.16.

Key Takeaways

• Sandoz achieved a 4% sales growth, with underlying growth at 6%.
• Core EBITDA margin increased by 2.5 percentage points to 20%.
• The company’s stock surged by 6.98% following the earnings release.
• Biosimilars now account for 29% of total net sales, up from 27% last year.
• Sandoz announced a proposed acquisition of Just Evotec Biologics for $300 million.

Company Performance

Sandoz demonstrated strong performance in the second quarter of 2025, with sales growth driven by its expanding biosimilars segment. The company saw a 6% growth in Europe and a 13% growth in international markets. North America also contributed to the positive results with a 5% sales increase. Sandoz continues to lead in the global market for generic and biosimilar medicines, holding a 35% market share in human growth hormone and maintaining a strong position in adalimumab.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: Increased by 4%, with underlying growth at 6%.
• Core EBITDA margin: Expanded by 2.5 percentage points to 20%.
• Core diluted EPS: Grew by 33% to $1.46.
• Management free cash flow: More than doubled to over $500 million.

Outlook & Guidance

Sandoz is optimistic about its future, expecting mid-single-digit net sales growth in 2025, aligning with analysts’ forecast of 5% revenue growth. The company aims for a core EBITDA margin of 21% for the year and targets a margin of 24-26% by 2028. Sandoz plans to continue investing in its biosimilars and generics pipeline, despite potential US tariff impacts of approximately $25 million in 2025. InvestingPro analysis reveals several positive indicators, including strong price momentum and good overall financial health, with analysts maintaining a consensus buy recommendation.

Executive Commentary

CEO Richard Seynor highlighted the company’s achievements, stating, "We delivered 4% sales growth, which on an underlying basis amounted to 6%." He also emphasized Sandoz’s strong pipeline, noting, "We have an industry-leading biosimilar pipeline of 27 assets covering around $200 billion of originator sales." Seynor reiterated the company’s commitment to rapid product delivery: "Our goal is to bring as many products to patients as quickly as possible."

Risks and Challenges

• Potential US tariff impacts of $25 million in 2025 could affect profitability.
• The €500 million separation costs anticipated for 2025 may impact financial flexibility.
• Continued investment in biosimilars and generics is essential to maintain market leadership.
• Expanding manufacturing capabilities and IT transformation pose operational challenges.
• Competitive pressures in the biosimilar market could influence future growth.

Sandoz’s second-quarter results demonstrate its strong market position and strategic focus on biosimilars and generics. The company’s robust performance and positive market reaction underscore investor confidence in its growth trajectory.

Full transcript - Sandoz Group AG (SDZ) Q2 2025:

Unidentified Operator, Sandoz: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Sandoz call today. I will now pass on to Craig Marks, Head of Investor Relations, for his opening remarks.

Craig Marks, Head of Investor Relations, Sandoz: Thank you, and welcome to the Sandoz h one twenty twenty five results call. Earlier today, we published a results announcement and an accompanying presentation on our website, which will follow today. You can find these documents at sandos.comstrokeinvestors. Joining me today are Richard Seynor, chief executive officer, and Remco Steenbergen, chief financial officer. Please turn to slide two.

Our results announcement presentation and discussion include forward looking statements. Please see our disclaimer here. Please turn to slide three. Richard will begin today’s presentation with a summary of the highlights in the first half of the year, followed by an update on the business. Remco will cover the financial performance as well as our full year guidance.

Following a wrap up of the presentation, we’ll be happy to take your questions. With that, I’ll now hand over to Richard. Please turn to slide four.

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: Thank you, Greg, and hello, everybody. It’s a pleasure to welcome you all to today’s call, and I’m looking forward to taking you through the strong progress we’re making as well as the significant opportunities that lie ahead of Sando. Please turn to slide five. I’m pleased to provide an update on our strong performance in the first half and the continued execution of our long term strategy. We delivered 4% sales growth, which on an underlying basis amounted to 6%.

The performance included accelerated sales growth in the second quarter, a period when 30% of our net sales came from biosimilars. Our core EBITDA margin in H1 expanded by 2.5 percentage points, reaching 20%, reflecting an improving sales mix and operating leverage. On the pipeline, we executed all launches successfully, including VyOS, Jubonti, and PeaceTiva in The US and the PEACECHIVA auto launch auto injector in Europe. We have an additional exciting launches planned for the second half of the year, further strengthening our portfolio and our long term growth potential. Also, we announced the expansion of our manufacturing capabilities in Slovenia, reinforcing our commitment to reliable, high quality supply for our global markets.

You’ve also seen the recent news of our planned acquisition of Just Evotec Biologics’ in house development and manufacturing capabilities in Toulouse, France. With these bold steps, we’re building a leading global end to end biosimilars platform from development through manufacturing and commercialization to fully capture the significant growth opportunities in the biosimilars space. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our midterm outlook and pleased to confirm our full year guidance, namely mid single digit net sales growth at constant currencies and a core EBITDA margin of around 21%. Now let’s move to more details of the business performance starting with slide six. Looking firstly at our biosimilar launches, we rolled out PEACETIVA in The U.

S. This year. This was an important moment for millions of patients living with chronic autoimmune diseases and reinforces our commitment to broaden access to treatment options for patients while helping to build a more sustainable health care system in The US. Furthermore, I’m pleased that we launched the PISCHIVA auto injector in Europe. This was the first ustekinumab biosimilar in Europe commercially available in an auto injector.

The device supports a more comfortable self administration experience with an accurate automatic dose dosing and less frequent injection pain, offering the potential for improved adherence to patient treatment plans. I was also very excited about the launches of WiOS and Juvanti in The US in June. These were the first and only interchangeable denosumab biosimilars in The US, providing new affordable treatment options for over ten million patients suffering from conditions such as osteoporosis and cancer related skeletal events. In the second half, we look forward to contributions from several other exciting biosimilar launches, such as donosumab, leflibercept in Europe, and we also have continued ambition to launch rit anematolizumab in The US by the end of the year. Now let’s deep dive into the performance of PISTEVA on slide seven.

This important new medicine continued to make strong progress in the first half following the European launch in 2024. It’s now being launched in 24 markets, and we’ve achieved a leading position in Europe. The auto injector launch marked another important milestone as we strengthen our leadership in the immunology biosimilar space and reaffirm our commitment to pioneering access across Europe’s evolving health care landscape. We’re also pleased with the recent PISCHIVA launch in The US, which included private label. We look forward to updating you on the progress of this in the future as we move beyond the immediate launch phase.

Now please turn to slide eight. Turning to HYMEROS. Our global market share has been cemented by the ongoing progress of biosimilar penetration, which has now reached over 60%. It is important to note these data exclude private label, which means actual usage may be even higher. We’re seeing very strong momentum in Europe accompanied by growth in international markets.

And in The US, Sandoz is leading the biosimilar space driven by both private label HYMAROS and our own label adalunumab. We also benefit from having the broadest payer coverage in The U. S, a key advantage in such a competitive market. Together, these trends position HYMEROS as a cornerstone of our biosimilar portfolio. Now please turn to slide nine.

Let me now turn to TYRUCO, our biosimilar natalizumab, which continues to demonstrate encouraging momentum. Since we started rolling out TYRUCO across Europe, this important medication has been growing consistently, achieving a 20% market share. Both tender authorities and health care professionals alike appreciate a more affordable option in the multiple sclerosis space. Looking ahead, we have additional launches planned across Europe in the second half of the year, which we expect will further strengthen our position. As I said earlier, we continue to have the ambition of launching Tyruco in The US before the end of this year.

Now please turn to Slide 10. Finally, after almost twenty years since it was launched, we again delivered double digit growth from Nitrope, which continues to speak to the sustainability of biosimilars. The performance underlined our continued market leadership, driven by a particularly strong ongoing performance in the international region. Equally important, we have benefited from being a reliable supply partner, ensuring where we can consistently meet strong and growing demand. With a 35% global market share, Omnitrope continues to lead in the treatment of growth hormone related disorders, and it remains a core pillar of our biosimilar portfolio.

Please turn to slide 11. Moving now to our pipeline. We announced during the period a collaboration license agreement with Henleus, strengthening our position in oncology and underlining our purpose of pioneering access for patients. As the global leader in generic and biosimilar medicines, we are committed to innovation and dedicating to broadening access to more affordable biologics for patients globally by finding the right balance between leveraging internal capabilities and collaborations and partnerships. This agreement, providing access to ipilimumab, strengthens our leadership position in oncology even further.

Now please turn to slide 12. Today, we have an industry leading biosimilar pipeline of 27 assets, covering around $200,000,000,000 of originator sales. Through a combination of in house development and partnerships, we’ve been able to significantly increase the size of our pipeline over recent years. We plan to further increase it. We’re also encouraged by the recent movements with towards regulatory streamlining, such as the recent news on our development of pembrolizumab, ocrelizumab, and nivolumab biosimilars.

These dynamics have the potential to accelerate approval times and reduce complexity, ultimately benefiting patients and health care systems alike. At the same time, we continue to identify and pursue additional opportunities that will strengthen and expand our pipeline. Please turn to slide 13. This pipeline of 27 biosimilars is industry leading, both in the number of assets and the portfolio coverage of the addressable market value. It includes five near term launches and assets in clinical development, five assets in regulatory review, eight in technical development, and we have nine additional assets in early development, targeting around $56,000,000,000 of originator sales.

This is an incredibly exciting pipeline, and we won’t stand still. We aim to increase the number of assets even more, supported by the opportunities presented by regulatory streamlining and our growing in house development capabilities. Now let’s turn to slide 14. Biosimilars is the fastest growing segment of our pipeline as the needs of patients and health care systems for these critical medicines continues to grow rapidly. As the global leader in the field, we’re investing to meet rapidly growing patient demand.

We’re proud to significantly expand our biosimilar manufacturing capacity in Europe as Slovenia’s largest direct foreign investor. This is another major step that will position Sandoz uniquely to capitalize on the unprecedented biosimilars market opportunity over the next decade. We’ve talked before about our state of the art development center in Ljubljana and in Lendova, our high-tech drug substance production center. Last month, we also announced the start of the construction of a new state of the art biosimilars production center for sterile product manufacturing in Brinik. I’m delighted by our progress in Slovenia as we build internal capacity and drive biosimilar development.

Of course, this was all complemented by our announcement from last week. Please turn to slide 15. The news of the proposed acquisition of Just Evotec Biologics in house development and the manufacturing capabilities in Toulouse, France marks a significant leap in our biosimilar future. The acquisition, totaling around $300,000,000, would seamlessly align with our strategic objective of capitalizing on the biosimilar market opportunity. Just Evotec Biologics has been a key strategic partner for Sandoz since 2023.

The proposed acquisition would complement previously announced investments in Sandoz biosimilar manufacturing and development sites and will be fully in line with our strategy to reinforce in house biosimilar capabilities whilst, at the same time, create additional strategic flexibility. Following a successful completion, the site will be used to develop and match manufacture our biosimilars. Just Evotec’s fully automated and high throughput technology platform will help us move faster, scale smarter and maintain high quality while keeping costs under control. And I look forward to updating you on the progress of this proposed acquisition. Now let’s turn to Slide 16.

Turning to our generics business. It continues to be a cornerstone of our company with over 180 launches across markets in the first half of this year from around about 90 different medicines. For example, our generic ferric carboxymaltose is a first to market launch in Europe, and we target over $500,000,000 of originator sales. Generics, at around 70% of our sales, ensures continuous scale in the market with limited capital deployment and generation of significant cash flows. In the first half, our generics performance benefited from volume growth that partly reflected recent launches such as paclitaxel.

Looking ahead, our second half program is ambitious as we expect more than three individual market launches over the full year. Over the longer term, we continue to have an ambitious generics pipeline with more than 400 assets targeting around $220,000,000,000 of originated sales over the next decade. And with that, I’ll hand over to Remco. Please move to Slide 17.

Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer, Sandoz: Thank you, Richard, and hello, everyone. Please move to Slide 18. I’m very pleased to share our strong financial performance in the first half, which reflects momentum and disciplined execution across our business. Firstly, we delivered underlying sales growth of 6%, with accelerate sales growth in the second quarter. Next, our relentless focus on operational efficiency is paying off, and to leverage down the P and L drove a core EBITDA margin expansion of 2.5 percentage points, bringing the H1 margin to 20%, we believe a meaningful improvement.

Thirdly, core diluted earnings per share reached $1.46 representing growth of 33% at constant currency. Finally, we delivered a strong improvement in cash generation, which management cash flow more than doubling to over $500,000,000 significant milestone that further enhances our financial flexibility. Overall, these results position us very well for the second half of the year. Please turn to Slide 19. We produced a strong performance in the first half, and we’re gaining momentum with further launches to come in h two.

While generics provide a strong foundation for our business, the overall performance reflected the increasing contribution from biosimilars and strong execution across our organization. As a result, biosimilars increased as a proportion of total net sales to 29% compared to 27% in the 2024. When looking at the q two performance itself, we hit the 30% target, the milestone that we have achieved earlier than expected. Our regional sales mix has remained broadly unchanged with over half of our business in Europe, where we hold strong leading position. International represents a quarter of net sales with 21% coming from North America.

Now let’s dive into the performance of the business on Slide 20. Generic sales increased by an underlying 2% in the first half and by 3% in Q2, reflecting the impact of recent launches, including paclitaxel in North America. Biosimilars delivered very strong underlying growth of 20% in the second quarter and of 70% for the first half. We were very pleased with this performance and the strong progress that we are making with our biosimilars overall. Now let’s have a look at the performance of our three regions on Slide 21.

Europe sales grew by 6% in the quarter and in the half year. Strong growth in biosimilars continued, partly reflecting the successful launches of Bischiva and Tyruco. Generics momentum also accelerated in the second quarter. International sales grew by an underlying 13% in the quarter and by 8% for the half year due to strong contributions from Hiramis and Omnitro. North America sales grew by 5% in the quarter and by 4% in the half year on an underlying basis.

The region benefited from the strong generics performance, and we look forward to the impact of recent launches on the performance in h two, including denosumab. Please turn to slide 22. In breaking down the sales performance for h one, you can see that volumes contributed seven percentage points, while price erosion returned to a more familiar three percentage points. Foreign exchange had no impact during the period. Let’s now move to the P and L overview on Slide 23.

I’m particularly pleased with the leverage we drove down the P and L in H1, producing strong profitability. Starting from net sales growth of 4% at constant currency, we delivered a 33% increase in core diluted earnings per share. The core gross profit margin of 49.2 represented a decline of around one percentage points, reflecting price erosion and some cost inflation, which were partly offset by an improved mix. This combined with the impact of operating leverage resulted in a core EBITDA margin of 20%, which represented a 20% year on year improvement in core EBITDA. Core EBITDA adjustment in H 1 amounted to $176,000,000.

This compares well to the $309,000,000 in core adjustment in H 1 last year. This year, adjustments were driven by anticipated one off costs related to the separation from our former parent and the rationalization of internal manufacturing sites. For the full year, we’re still expecting one off costs of around $500,000,000 Please turn to slide 24. Moving to the core EBITDA margin performance, we drove an increase of 2.5 percentage points from 17.5% to 20%. We delivered a favorable product mix that was partly offset by the impact of price erosion.

Focus on cost leverage and discipline meant a positive impact on the margin from SG and A and E and R expenses, while foreign exchange movement had only a marginal adverse impact in the period. Please turn to Slide 25. It’s worth noting that we anticipated that the core EBITDA margin will further progress in the second half, partly reflecting continued improvements in the sales mix. We also see operating leverage continuing to deliver with OpEx inflation set to remain below net sales growth. The year on year uplift in D and R expenses in the second half is expected, however, as we invest in the long term growth of our pipeline.

As a result, we expect our full year 2025 core EBITDA margin to be around 21%, reflecting our ability to drive profitable growth while managing costs. Now let’s move to cash generation on Slide 26. To provide more insights on our underlying free cash flow, we exclude one off items when focusing on management’s free cash flow. As Richard mentioned, we have continued to invest in our future. CapEx included ongoing investments in our biosimilar facilities in Slovenia, and there were also investments in facilities and technology.

Importantly, we have not changed our view of midterm CapEx commitments. We have been able to keep our inventory flat in constant currency and limit increase in other working capital items. This led to the doubling in management free cash flow, which also reflected the increase in core EBITDA. Free cash flow of $2.00 $7,000,000 compared to $21,000,000 generated in the comparative period last year. The improvement was mainly due to increased net cash flow from operating activities, partly offset by higher cash flows used for CapEx.

Please turn to Slide 27. Now let’s have a look at our balance sheet. Early in the year, we successfully strengthened our balance sheet and improved our maturity profile by issuing new bonds to repay the spin off term loans. At the same time, we signed a new $2,000,000,000 revolving credit facility. Both transactions give us continued financial leeway going forward, with the annual interest rates on gross debt expected to fall below 4%.

A substantial weakening US dollar against the euro and the Swiss franc adds an impact on net debt, which ended the period at $3,900,000,000. When excluding the impact of foreign exchange, however, net debt was broadly unchanged. Our strong balance sheet and investment grade credit ratings have placed our company in a very good financial position to support our ambitions. Please turn to Slide 28. I’m pleased to say that we have reiterated our full year guidance today.

We continue to expect net sales to grow by mid single digit percentage points in constant currencies this year, with the core EBITDA margin set to increase this year to around 21%. The guidance is based on two key assumptions. Firstly, we continue to expect to return to more normalized levels of price erosion of a low to mid single digit percentage. Secondly, we prudently assume that the announced US tariffs of the EU of 15% will be confirmed as applicable to generics and biosimilars. That would take the total impact this year to around $25,000,000 Given the anticipated shape of the business in 2026, we would expect an additional $45,000,000 of impact over full year 2026, taking the total impact next year to around $70,000,000 Out of guidance, we anticipate that if the latest spot rates were to prevail for the rest of the year, we would see a two percentage points tailwind to net sales over the full year.

The core EBITDA margin would continue to face a limited adverse impact of less than 50 basis points, which will be in line with what we had in 2024. If you look at currency movements based on average rates in the first half, we won’t anticipate an immaterial impact on both net sales and on the core EBITDA margin. And with that, I will hand back to Richard. Please turn to slide 29.

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: Thank you so much, Remco. I’d now like to wrap up the presentation before we go on to questions. Please move to Slide 13. In summary, we’ve delivered strong results in the first half of the year, driven by great execution, our focused strategy and our commitment of our teams across the board. I would like to thank all our colleagues at Sandoz for their fantastic efforts so far this year.

As we look to the second half, we’re excited about the momentum we’ve built and the opportunities ahead. With several key launches planned, h two is shaping up well. In short, we’re fully on track to deliver our full year commitment. Looking ahead, we’ll also continue to invest in long term opportunities that will shape our future growth even further, centering on biosimilars. For this, please turn to slide 31.

I’d like to conclude our presentation with a reminder of a huge number of opportunities that lie ahead, and these are at the heart of the Sandoz investment case. Today, we have an industry leading biosimilar pipeline of 27 assets covering around $200,000,000,000 of originated sales. Through a combination of in house development and partnerships, we’ve been able to triple the size of our pipeline over recent years. Our investment in and focus on expanding the pipeline is now accompanied by the exciting momentums in regulatory streamlining and the enhancement of our development and supply capabilities. Our generics pipeline has more than 400 assets in development, covering around $220,000,000,000 of originator sales.

No one single medicine makes up a material amount of our generic sales, so a large scale and robust infrastructure allows us to continually bring new generic medicines to market. And longer term, we also have the significant prospects from GLP-1s. We’re placed to take a leading position of all of these opportunities, and I look forward to updating you on our progress. With this, please turn to slide 32, and I will ask the operator to open the line for q and a.

James Gordon, Analyst, JPMorgan: Ladies

Conference Moderator: and gentlemen, we will now begin our q and a session. If you have a question, we ask that you please use the raise hand function at the bottom of your Zoom screen. Or if you have dialed in, please press 9 to enter the queue. Once your name has been announced, you can ask a question. If you want to withdraw your question, please lower your hand using the raise hand function in the Zoom app or via telephone, press 9.

Thank you. And a moment for the first question, please. Our first question comes from James Gordon with JPMorgan. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

James Gordon, Analyst, JPMorgan: Hello. James Gordon, JPMorgan. Thanks for taking the questions. First question was semaglutide. So hopefully now less than twelve months from a Canadian launch.

So can you provide an update on on timing and, you have a device, what device you can use capacity? And are you also on track for Brazil next year, and and when might that launch be as well, please? Second question was just biosimilars in North America was a little bit softer, at least, versus consensus for the quarter. But how are you thinking about that into h two? Should we see an acceleration already in h two, or is it more at late in the year we get the acceleration?

And is there a bit of a pipeline gap for North America, or or does does next year look good for US biosimilars? And if I could just squeeze in a clarification, other income looked a bit better today even on a core basis and other expense a bit lower. Was But there anything one off there, or is the H1 number a good guide for H2?

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: Okay. Thank you so much. Good morning, James. So semaglutide, I mean, look, we’ve filed we would anticipate to launch a market formation, again, reminding everybody for the diabetes indication, not for the weight loss indication. We’ve not given details about the device or volumes.

Again, I’ve always said, look, I see Canada as a bit of an experiment. We’ll see how the market evolves. We’ve got no idea how as prices come down, market expands. And so we’ll we’ll see as we get there. I mean, clearly, we we wouldn’t expect to launch a market formation at some point during 2026, but we’ll see when we get there.

And similarly with Brazil and a number of other emerging markets, again, we would anticipate to launch probably late twenty six, early twenty seven and see how that evolves again, how elastic this market is going to be depending on pricing, we will see. U. S. Biosimilars, yes, I think, look, again, we would expect much stronger growth in the second half. Underlying growth actually is very strong.

If you strip out the similar impact, I think we were growing about 9% in The U. S. And about 17% in total. So very strong underlying performance. And then clearly, would give more detail in the Deno and Ostokinimab launches as we get into the second half of the year.

Again, I would sort of caution when we launched adalunumab, it took about nine months before we started to see an inflection, so these things don’t happen quickly. Again, I think we’re well positioned. We’re pleased with the coverage that we’ve got, and I think we’re well positioned for the second half of the year. And sorry, your third question, I was just making notes.

Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer, Sandoz: Yes. I can take that. James Remco here. It was around the other income. Let me answer.

And then if you have another question, Richard will pick up again. The other income in H1 was around €20,000,000 There were different kind of one offs in there. Last year, So the year on year comparison is an improvement. Yes, that other income could be a couple tens of millions plus or minus depending on the half year, nothing special to be mentioned here.

James Gordon, Analyst, JPMorgan: Thank you. So it sounds like the Did you have any In h one, there wasn’t anything exceptional that was one off, and h one is roughly a guide for what you do in h two for this line of the p and l?

Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer, Sandoz: At this point in time, yes, something. But what I said, it could be 10,000,020 million euros plus $1,020,000,000 euros in the minus depending on the smaller items going on, but nothing special here. Thank you.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Harry Sefton with UBS. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

Harry Sefton, Analyst, UBS: Brilliant. Thanks very much for taking my questions. So my first one is on the sequential biosimilar performance. Can you say if there were any significant stocking or destocking dynamics in biosimilars across the first quarter and second quarter, especially in some of those new launch markets in Europe? And my second question is on the Evotec proposed acquisition.

Now their press release stated that the divestment would be immediately accretive to short, mid, and long term revenue mix, profit margins, and capital efficiency. So I’d like to get your view on why you will be the better owner of this asset and whether it will have any near term dilutive effects. And then if I can quickly have a third question, just on a clarification. Can you just remind us on how much more you’re expecting in terms of separation costs? And are the last of these still expected this year?

Thank you.

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: Perfect. Okay. Thank you, Harry. Good morning. I’ll take the first question and then perhaps Remco, I’ll let you pick up Evotec and the separation costs.

No. I mean, look, clearly, we had a number of launches in a number of markets, but I don’t think anything material in terms of stocking or stock in trade that was unusual given those launches. So I wouldn’t see any impact H1, H2 from that going forward. Evotec? Yeah.

Harry,

Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer, Sandoz: good morning to you. With regard to Evotec, what we have said is that our guidance for 2025 and also our midterm guidance is unchanged, correct? At this point in time, what we see if that if the non binding comes to a binding agreement. What we believe is that clearly the site would be mostly allocated for us anyway. So it’s probably better if we run it and we get all the capabilities internally and therefore also have the flexibility when we talk on the mid longer term to really capitalize on the capabilities.

So it’s the capabilities on the development side and the capabilities on manufacturing. And we believe we can handle that all within our current guidance as it stands now. Of course, it’s an additional activity. We take bone on our shoulders, but we believe we will be definitely a very good owner in order to drive this forward as largest bio player already now. With regard to the last question, the separation cost, we had €176,000,000 of cost in H1.

We still expect around €500,000,000 for the full year. The majority of the €176,000,000 relates to still the IT disentanglement. We continue we expect that to continue in H2. We still have transformation costs and also some manufacturing related restructuring we expect in H2. But also to be mentioned that in H1, we had actually some positive legal benefit coming in.

Normally, that’s negative. Also to mention that also when it’s positive, it comes in that line item. So many thanks to our legal team here in Sandoz. I hope that answers your questions, Harry.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Simon Baker with Rothschild and Co. Redburn. Unmute your line and ask your question.

Simon Baker, Analyst, Rothschild and Co. Redburn: Thank you for taking my questions. Three quick ones, if I may. Just going back to James’ question on obesity, but rather broadening it out. It it’s clearly been a a fairly eventful market recently. So I just wonder how your view of the opportunity has changed in light of what we’ve seen in terms of the demand, the growth trends in The US, issues in international markets, the the clear power of prices we see from the compounders in The US?

Just a sort of an update on how you frame the opportunity from a Sandoz perspective. And secondly, on the regulatory streamlining, you cited the impact on biosimilar pembro, oculizumab and nivolumab. Longer term, you’ve said it will effectively allow you to do more for the same amount of investment. So in the near term, how quickly can you do more if you’re spending less on those assets? I’m just trying to think how the costs of development are gonna evolve over the coming years, whether you can immediately take advantage of that or whether there’s a dip in spend before before that manifests itself.

And then finally, just a quick one. I know it’s been on the slide for a couple of presentations, but but Enhertu as a as a development target. Astra have said that they expect biosimilar penetration for ADCs to be to be limited because of the sheer complexity of them. I just wonder what what your perspective was, Richard, on the the competitive dynamics in ADCs. Do you see this as being a market with far fewer players than the traditional biosimilar?

Thanks so much.

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: Thank you, Hans. I’ll start with the last question first. I mean, they would say that, wouldn’t they? I mean, originator industry has been saying that since I started in this business. They said that about biosimilars.

They said that about pretty much every product that we’ve launched. I think we are strong in this therapy area. We have the relationships. Payers want the product. I’m very confident that when we bring this product to the market, we will open that market up and serve patients well.

Obesity growth trends, look, I think your guess is as good as mine. I think clearly, this is a highly attractive product. As I said before, in my many years in the industry, I’ve never known a product where the originators can’t actually meet the demand at a different price point. So I think really the question behind the question is what is the available capacity? How quickly can that come on stream and how rapidly that market opens up?

And I think that’s going be very dependent by individual markets. Some markets like Brazil are very much out of pocket and I think has a rapid potential to expand. Other markets will be driven more by government payer frameworks who want to see more whole population treatment patterns going on. It really it’s too early to say. Originally, when we put I think the first Capital Markets Day, we didn’t even talk about GLP-1s.

I think now every meeting I have, I talk about GLP-1s. Clearly, it’s evolving. Our focus is clearly to bring to Canada for the diabetes indication, as I say, use that as a test case and then think about how we expand that. And then Europe doesn’t really start opening up until 2031 and then The U. S.

Till the mid-two thousand and thirty. So this is a long game, and clearly, going be interesting how that plays out. Your question on regulatory, John, but yes, mean, clearly, look, we see opportunities very rapidly. I mean, I think we said it I said in my presentation, I’m very keen that we build on a world class pipeline already. We have 27 assets.

As we see savings and certainly in some of the reduced requirements in Phase III trials, we would look to reinvest that as aggressively as possible to expand our pipeline. We see a significant opportunity to continue to leverage and grow and bring and expand our pipeline over the next few quarters.

Charlie Haywood, Analyst, Bank of America: Great. Thanks so much.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Florent Cespedes with Bernstein. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

Florent Cespedes, Analyst, Bernstein: Good morning, everyone. Florent Cespedes speaking from Bernstein. Two big picture questions, please. On biosimilars, pipeline, when we look at the, at the slides, we see that for the future, you have a a lot of, partnerships, not much less in house. So maybe could you elaborate on what could be the impact, on the margins on medium term?

That’s my first question. And second question, another big picture question on biosimilars. When you look at the penetration market shares, it’s kind of plateauing, over time. So is it, what could be done to increase your market shares, or is it fair to assume that you will grow first with the further penetration of the biosimilars? So any color on that would helpful.

Thank you.

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: No. Look, two important questions. Thank you, Florence. In house, I mean, we’re already as we separated from Novartis, we’re investing heavily in our own in house capability, both in Slovenia and clearly with the proposed acquisition of just Evotec. That means that then we can continue to expand what we develop in house because clearly in house products in the medium and long term are much more accretive.

That said, what’s becoming very clear is the leader in this space, more and more companies want to work with us. And so it’s much more can be capital efficient to bring in other assets that we can continue to leverage. If you look at our performance with ustakinumab, which we partnered with Samsung, already now we’ve taken the leadership position in Europe, growing very strongly. And now other companies are seeing the benefits that we can come given our scale and capabilities. So still highly attractive.

Our job is to bring as many products to patients as as quickly as possible. And clearly, by doing that as a combination of in house and partnership and in licensing, and a mix of all three is important. In terms of market shares, I think there’s two dimensions. I mean, clearly, as as other entrants come in, market share dynamics change. But also don’t forget the market itself is growing substantially.

If you look at the adalimumab market today in Europe, I think it’s now more than twice the size and number of patients than it was at market formation. So don’t just look at the absolute percentage markets, but also look at the size of that market because it’s continuing to grow. If you look at back at Omnitrope, we launched human growth hormone twenty years ago. Now we have a 35% market share still growing, and we’re the world’s largest supplier of human growth hormone, which, again, I think we’ve said before, really shows the strength and depth and value creation that biologics bring over a much longer cycle compared to traditional small molecule generics.

Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer, Sandoz: Thank you very much.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Thibault Bufferin with Morgan Stanley. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

Craig Marks, Head of Investor Relations, Sandoz0: Thank you. First question is just on the from a strategic standpoint, the balance of geographies. At the time of spin off, The US was framed as a clear growth driver. I think it was framed as being half of the growth opportunities. I think since maybe we we saw a bit less growth in The US, a bit more ex US.

Though ex US is closer to 80% of sales. So, you know, since these initial plans, have things changed? And do you no no more expect the growth to be balanced between US and X-ray? So should we think basically about the outlook a bit differently from a geographic perspective? That’s the first question.

And second question, I just want to broaden a bit the previous question on the adjustments and, you know, about earnings quality and and basically the free cash flow as well. So you talked about the expectation for second half of the year, but when we think about 2026 and onwards, you know, how should we think about the pace of reduction of adjustments in the future and transitioning from the management adjusted free cash flow measure to a more standardized measure of free cash flow, so basically, pace of normalization going forward? Thank you.

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: I’ll let Renko pick up also. Thank you so much, Thibault.

Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer, Sandoz: Thibault, good morning. Yes, first of all, at the moment of spin, we had a lot of assumptions with regard to the bio growth, the generics growth, the regional growth. This year, clearly, we see that Europe is doing fantastically. So Europe at 50% of the overall is actually contributing 50 of the total. We have now to see what will happen in the coming years.

It might be that Europe is continuing on this very, very strong growth. And certainly, that’s we hope for. That would mean that perhaps the mix in the overall growth over the coming years will change a bit. For us, it’s important that the overall company can grow the mid single digit growth and of course, we will try to do better than that. And, yeah, if that’s in a different mix, it’s it’s fantastic.

If you’re a little bit less dependent on The United States considering the current geopolitical situation and the tariffs, I would say that’s not even a bad thing. That’s actually a good thing. But it’s too early to call that we already changed the overall growth. But certainly, we believe we’re in a very good position. With regard to the one off cost, what we said before is around €500,000,000 this year then going to around €100,000,000 next year and then it should stop.

We’re still in that position. We still expect some of the IT changes still to take place next year with regard to SAP systems in our factories and that will carry some cost. And then after it’s gone. And then of course, the managerial free cash flow and the reported free cash flow and the same on the margin would much more convert to a closer number. So no changes for what we said before.

We are on track with this. Thank you, Thibault. Next question.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Zimmerman with Octavian. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

Craig Marks, Head of Investor Relations, Sandoz1: Yes. Hi, this is Joris Zimmerman from Octavian. Richard, Remco and team, congratulations on this set of numbers, and thank you for taking my questions. Two, if I may. One on The US biosimilars performance here, if you could share a bit more flavor to the launch product.

So, similarly, you said this is on a temporary halt. Is it still the plan to relaunch early next year? And then on the Hyramos, if I remember correctly, you mentioned increased pricing pressure in the last call. So here, I would be interested in understanding how this has developed. And then the last one on The US biosimilars is concerning TISCHIVA.

Can you share a bit more details about the private label deals with which partners you’ve closed those deals? And then the last question would be on the manufacturing expansion, so to say, and your your announced plans with the additional site in Slovenia and the acquisition of the site from just Evotec. If you could just help us understand the difference of the four sites a little bit more and how that integrates into your broader plans, also including the Novartis manufacturing capacities capacities that you currently use. Thank you very much.

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: Thank you. And thank you for the comments around our performance. Yes, we’re clearly delighted, so thank you. U. S.

Biosimilar, yes, I mean similarly, obviously, we’re on a pause. Actually, the underlying growth in the business is pretty strong, but that clearly at a headline level distorts the numbers a little bit. We would anticipate to reintroduce that product probably late this year, early next year and then slowly build that up. Haimaroz, yes, I think look, clearly this is a highly competitive market. That said, we by far have by far the best payer coverage.

We have the leading position in terms of market share with our own product both branded and unbranded ADA. And then clearly, have the partnership deal, which again clearly is subject to price renegotiation. So it’s a mixture of those things. We don’t break out individual product or individual market pricing, but clearly this is a competitive market. But I’m pleased in terms of the position that we’ve built in.

And similarly with PISCHIVA, we’ve we’ve not disclosed the details, but clearly, this is structurally a different product. This is an in licensed product from Samsung. So we’ve it’s a partnership deal rather than a vertically integrated product. In this case, we don’t actually book the top line, we only book the income. And then clearly, we have our own product.

Again, it’s too early to share in terms of market share assumptions and performance. But again, early indications are we’re pleased with the coverage that we have and would expect that to build in the following quarters. So again, I hope to give you a little bit more color in that on the next earnings call. In terms of market manufacturing capacity, I think with the investment in Slovenia, I mean, have a long history in Slovenia anyway. We have a very good relationship.

I think it’s a high quality, relatively low cost location in Europe. Our ambition there is to build both drug substance, and that was the initial announcement in terms of that development capability, which we’ve also built there. And then most recent addition was was drug product, I. E. Fillfinish, which can be clearly used for other products as well, potentially GLP ones in the future as well.

So really really thinking about a vertically integrated capability, colocating development, and manufacturing in one location to make it as efficient as possible. Our goal there originally was to put potentially a JPOD in from just Evotec, transfer a number of assets which were currently supplied from Novartis as well as using that approved development. Obviously, with the potential acquisition of Just Evotec, that means we then also get additional development capability and all and also additional manufacturing capacity, particularly centered around the J Pod and continuous manufacturing. I mean, that then positions us extremely well both in terms of existing portfolio, but more importantly for our future portfolio. And in terms of our relationship with Novartis, clearly, we have a long standing supply agreement with them.

If we wish to, we may choose to continue to leverage that capacity in various forms beyond the sites our sites coming on stream. I think I’ve always said I wanna build security of supply and flexibility of supply. Novartis have been a good partner, and potentially, we would continue to look at that. But I think we’ll have that conversation when we get nearer to to the time. But that, in in essence, is our is our manufacturing strategy.

Thank you so much for your question.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Charlie Haywood with BoA.

Charlie Haywood, Analyst, Bank of America: Charlie here with Bank of America. Thank you for taking my questions. First one, guide implies second half sales acceleration to a sort of 6% constant exchange rate, in line with your first half underlying. Could you talk to the push and pull for that sales growth into 26%? I guess, it’s the second half, 6% year sales rate, a good exit rate proxy to think of that ’26 growth rate?

Or could we even see an acceleration from annualizing biosimilar launches, CEMA and your Smerdy relaunch? And then the second one, obviously, percent first half margin, 21% for full year. How should we think of your annual cadence to your midterm 24%, 26% margin guide by 28%? And how much of that margin progression is still driven by post spin efficiencies versus underlying mix and operating leverage? Thank you.

Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer, Sandoz: Yes. Good morning, Charlie. The line was not 100% correct, but I think I understood your question. So I will take them Remco here. So indeed, we had in H1 around 4% sales growth for the full year.

We guide mid single digits. So depending that is then 5% or 6% because we expect a step up in H2. You talk indeed in the range from 6% to 8% in H2. H2 that would be mathematically correct. We don’t give guidance yet on 2026, so I don’t comment.

But clearly, the midterm guidance is mid single digit growth. So that is still what we’re striving over the years through 2028. And for 2026, you have to wait a little bit later in the year. With regard to the profitability in H2, yes indeed, we expect a step up in H2 versus H1 to come to the 21%. What is important to keep in mind that in H2 we will step up our D and R expenses versus H2 last year.

So also for the others on the call that and then I’m talking not only in amount, I’m talking also in percentage because we want to make sure that not only we handle the short term, but we also really invest in the longer term. And we have a little bit of impact on the margin of the FX because of the U. S. Dollar euro impact. So that’s also a little bit of step up versus H2 last year.

That corresponds that with around 21% for the full year and we have to see how that then further develops because we have some fantastic launches planning.

Florent Cespedes, Analyst, Bernstein: But we

Remco Steenbergen, Chief Financial Officer, Sandoz: are very confident with the H1 results under our belt that we can meet our full year guidance. Further out for 2026 or 2027, ’28, we expect a progressive growth on the margin to come to the 24% to 26%. Again, it’s too early to say anything on the individual years, but we are really, really confident that we can meet those targets and well on track. So I hope that answered your questions, Charlie, and I stood them well.

Charlie Haywood, Analyst, Bank of America: That does. Many thanks.

Conference Moderator: Our next question comes from Victor Flock with BNP Paribas. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

Florent Cespedes, Analyst, Bernstein: Hi. Thanks a lot for taking my question. Victor Fabreza, Pareva. So two questions on GLP-one, actually. So first of all, which has recently added to the fact that Canada, being the second largest market in the world, likely reflects some cross border business dynamics.

So in this context, I was wondering if you expect that the Florida’s drug importation program could be extended to GLP one at some point, and is that it is that it could potentially pave the way for more US space to apply? And my second question is still on GLP one. I’m interested to know if you can confirm if ever the semaglutide API that you source is manufactured through chemical synthesis or same way as the originator through yeast cell production? Thanks so much.

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: Thank you so much, Victor. I mean, we’ve not commented on the manufacturing process in terms of API. So we actually have a couple of partners on that. And again, we can discuss that closer to launch. Your question on I mean, again, I mean, I think I try to be super cautious in terms of how I view GLP-1s in Canada.

A, we were only focusing on the diabetes indication. B, we’ve got no assumption that we would be shipping cross border. I have no intention of getting injuncted by by anybody. So in in all our planning assumptions, it’s very much diabetes and very much for Canadian use only. As I said, this is an experiment.

We’ve not put any guidance in terms of numbers, expectation. This is a whole new category and opportunity. I would much rather have a modest expectation in terms of how we view this and then build on it rather than see this as as transformational for the business. So I think it’s important. I know I get a lot of questions on GLP ones, but, we see this just very much opportunistically at this point.

We’ll see how Canada evolves. Clearly, it’s a unique set of circumstances given the the lack of patent or the failure of the patent there. And then as the various data exclusivity on the on on weight loss and diabetes fall, but, again, a focus diabetes for the Canadian market. You so much for your question. I think our last question one Our

Conference Moderator: final question is from Sudhath Modi with Barclays. Please unmute your line and ask your question.

Craig Marks, Head of Investor Relations, Sandoz2: Hi there. Thanks thanks for taking my question. Sundarth Modi from Barclays. Two, if I may. The first one is on Vioste and Jibonte, which you have launched in in The US.

Obviously, the discounted branded products is much lower compared to what we have seen for Pisteva and Hyramoz. But then this space is very, very competitive and you a lot of, you know, new your new entrants would come into the market in the second half. How do you expect the price erosion, and how would you position yourself to defend a large share of market share? That’s my first question. And second, like, recently, a lot of manufacturers, branded manufacturers have been talking about d t d DTC sales.

How does that impact Sandoz? And, you know, what are your takes on DTC sales from branded manufacturers in The US?

Richard Seynor, Chief Executive Officer, Sandoz: So first of all, thank you for your questions. I mean, look, we we are at the moment with Weiser and Jubonte. We’re the only one with a q code. We’re the only product that technically can be reimbursed. None of our competitors yet have yet got a Q code.

I would point to our performance in other biologics if you look at how we perform both with ustekinumab and as an in licensed product and adalunumab, which is a vertically integrated product as is denosumab. Think we’re extremely well positioned to leverage the commercial capabilities and channel capabilities. Yes. It’s a competitive market. We’re used to competition.

And so but in terms of how I expect price erosion, really, we’ll see how that evolves in in the latter part of this year. But certainly, we’re in a position, a, to compete in terms of our cost of goods and, b, to execute in terms of our commercial footprint. DTC, it’s a fascinating subject. I think, clearly, I’m watching with interest to see how other competitors look at exploring this space. Clearly, I think one of the issues in The US is the middleman and any mechanism that potentially changes that is interesting.

Certainly, it’s something we’ve not explored at the moment, but certainly, it is something that I would watch with interest. Thank you so much for all your questions. Thank you for your time today. I apologize if we started a little bit late. Very unswiss of us, but thank you so much for your time.

Conference Moderator: This concludes today’s call. Thank you everyone for joining. You may now disconnect.

This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.