AddLife AB (publ) ($ALIFB)

Good morning, everyone, and a warm welcome to the AddLife first quarter presentation. As usual, we will be going through the developments in the different parts of the business, as well as the financials, and after that, open up for questions. After the Q&A session, we have prepared a video from one of our subsidiaries, this time around, BonsaiLab. So we do encourage you to stay on to listen to that very interesting video. So let's move on to the highlights of the quarter. So in the first quarter, we're pleased to note that these high margins continue and at the same time, we are increasing the acquisition activity. The EBITA margin remained high at 12.5%, only slightly below the very high levels of Q1 in 2025. In Labtech, which had a really strong quarter, we saw an increase of 1 percentage point to 13.1% margin, very, very strong. On the Medtech side, we were able to retain almost 13% EBITA margin, even though it's slightly below the record level of 13.5% in Q1 of 2025. The underlying demand in all businesses is quite solid. And if we exclude the divested endoscopy business in the U.K., we saw an organic growth on a group level at 3%. It's also worth to note that we had a fantastic finish to 2025. So the start of the quarter was somewhat more cautious, but towards the end of the quarter, the demand picked up significantly. So we had a very strong month of March. We are going to talk quite a bit about advanced products in this quarter. We are seeing a fantastic development for a broad range of advanced products, both in Labtech as well as in Medtech. And we are pleased to note that since we have been able to reach and exceed our ambition level when it comes to the balance sheet, we are able to pick up the pace with acquisitions, and we have done that in the past few months. So we are going to talk today about 2 acquisitions, one in March, BioSpectrum in the U.K., and one in April, CoaChrom in Austria. So with that, I'm going to hand over to Christina, who will take us through the highlights of the financials. Welcome, Christina.

Thank you, Fredrik. In the first quarter, our companies delivered stable underlying growth. The growth was impacted by significant FX impact as well as divestment from the endoscopy business in the U.K. in the latter part of last year. If you adjust for the divested endoscopy business, organic and acquired revenue growth was 5%, organic being 3% and acquired growth contributing with additional 2%. Currency had a negative impact of 4%, and the divested endoscopy business impacted with negative 3%. The endoscopy business had a full year revenue of SEK 140 million last year. With this being a capital-intensive business, the majority of revenue was in the first quarter. It was about 40% of total year, meaning that for the coming quarters, the impact will not be as big as in this quarter. The organic and acquired EBITA growth was 1%. The organic growth of negative 2% was, of course, also impacted by the divested endoscopy business. Acquisitions contributed with 3%, and currency was negative 4% in the quarter. So total net sales was negative 2%, currency was negative 4% and the divestment was negative 3%. The underlying organic growth was 3% and acquired growth was 2%. The lower volumes was somewhat mitigated by a stronger gross margin, and the gross margin increased with almost 1%. This is due to higher prices in new tenders, also by diligent price management within the companies and the move towards more advanced high-margin products. Also, OpEx increased in the quarter, driven by growth investments for the future. The interest cost was significantly lower compared to the comparable quarter last year, and the profit before tax increased 7%. EBITA margin has definitely established at a higher level. If we look at the last 3 years, in 2023, full year EBITA margin was 10.5%. 2025, the full year EBITA margin was 12.1%. In this quarter, the Labtech margin was a clear improvement year-over-year. It improved to 13.1%, 1% more than last year's 12.1%. The Medtech margin was also at a high level, even though it was slightly lower compared to the all-time high last year. So in this quarter, it was 12.8% compared to 13.5% last year. Improving the EBITA margin remains our top priority. Operating cash flow in the quarter was seasonally weak. Cash conversion remained high at above 100%. This is slightly higher compared to where we should be. Looking ahead, probably, the level of 95% is more reasonable. Working capital efficiency, of course, continues to be a focus area. And the cash flow was negatively impacted by working capital, negative SEK 228 million, compared to approximately negative SEK 70 million last year. The main reason was that the year started a bit slow in revenue, but we had a very strong finish to the year, and that meant that accounts receivables was much higher compared to last year. Also, inventory increased. This is more a temporary impact due to timing and when we receive deliveries, et cetera. And looking at inventory towards sales, last year, we had 16% throughout the year. This year, we increased a bit to 17% inventory towards sales, and the ambition is to come down towards the 16% again during the year. Acquisitions of SEK 84 million, that relates to the acquisition of BioSpectrum and also earn-outs that has been paid for previous acquisitions. Net debt increased slightly with SEK 85 million in the quarter. With majority of the loans in euro, the main driver for the increase was FX. And net debt-to-EBITDA was 2.3, clearly below the ambition of being at 3 or below that we set up to ourselves back in 2023. Net debt-to-equity was 0.7, below the internal guidance of 1. So I think we can summarize that the balance sheet now supports both organic and acquired growth going forward. And with that, I hand over to Fredrik again.

Thank you very much, Christina, for that comprehensive review of the financials. Now we will dig into the business area update, starting with Labtech, of course. Labtech had a very strong quarter in the first quarter of 2026. The currency adjusted growth was 3%, which is great, growing in line with or above market, I would say. EBITA margin improved 1 percentage point to 13.1%. So very strong margin development there. We have a few important drivers of this strong performance. One is the previously won tenders that continue to support growth and margin improvement. On top of that, we can see certain areas that are developing really well, the well-established area in blood gas and the more new and fast-growing areas of immunology and Alzheimer's disease diagnostic are developing very well also. Advanced products, including genomics, which we're going to talk about in more detail soon, are supporting growth and margin development as well. And it's great to note an improvement in demand in the European research arena. We have been seeing for a long time, a bit of a hesitation around future funding for research. In the previous quarter, we talked about signs of improvement. And I think in this quarter, we can see that those improvements are really taking shape and happening. So positive development in research spend across European markets. So that's good news. Something else that's also very good news is, of course, the acquisition of CoaChrom that we were able to conclude last week. We will get into the details of that very soon as well. So moving on to advanced technologies. And genomics and gene sequencing is an area that we're very excited about, and this is an important area for life science in general. It's become an indispensable tool in research, but also in diagnostics and health care guiding therapies. So it is not only gene sequencing. We're also talking about technologies like single cell technology and spatial transcriptomics that allow for an even more accurate definition of changes and localization of the problem. So very exciting technology there. And these things are really enabling precision medicine with examples such as cancer treatment, rare disease diagnostics, infectious disease diagnostics and prenatal diagnostics. AddLife companies are active in many markets with these technologies in Scandinavia, in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in Southern Europe. We are representing more than 10 leading suppliers in this area, and the sales are actually around SEK 400 million. So this is a substantial business for us in an area that's growing at least 10% to 15% per year. So all in all, a substantial business for AddLife with good margins, high growth and significant potential. So moving into Medtech. The revenue development was a little bit more slow, but the acquired growth was 2%, and organic growth, 3% when adjusting for the divestment of the U.K. endoscopy business. In the U.K., we saw a positive sales trend. Capital equipment developed well, and the fact that patient waiting lists are coming down are indication that the NHS efficiency measures are indeed, starting to take effect. So we are cautiously optimistic about the development in the U.K. In Spain, we had a solid underlying demand, but the growth was somewhat held back by doctor strikes in February and March. All in all, in the Medtech business area, we continue to focus on the work to lift margins in selected companies and increasing the share of advanced products, driving growth and margins. So in the Medtech business area, the majority of business is indeed within advanced products, and in this case, specialist devices and equipment. And these are advanced specialist products with high revenues per procedure and proprietary consumables and a substantial service revenue. So to be able to handle these products and make them work in the hands of the hospitals, you need training and technical support resources, oftentimes clinical and patient-specific support on site. This gives you the opportunity for a differentiated offering and high value proposition. So this represents around 70% of our products in the Medtech business area on average. And the medical supplies, which are more volume products with slightly lower margin that are used in volume during surgical procedures, that represents around 30%. And in this area, we try to have a substantial part of that business with own products. So advanced products represent the majority of the product portfolio within the Medtech business area. But I want to dig into one example, and this is Mediplast. Mediplast is one of the biggest companies within our group. They were the foundation of the whole Medtech business area. And so they've been with us since the start of AddLife back in 2016. They have a very broad range of products. The majority of them today are in the specialist devices and equipment area. As you can see, a broad range of product groups here described in the slide. And -- but they also have a comprehensive portfolio of the more basic medical supplies. They have a high share of own brands, almost 40% of the product portfolio is actually own brands. And part of that is own manufacturing as well. This is way above the average of the group as a whole. The group as a whole has between 11% or 12% own products. So they are much more than that, and they are quite good as well. But I want to highlight the transition that Mediplast has gone through because that has been a very important and deliberate move to improve the business. Looking at the sales back in 2016, more than half of the business was indeed in the more basic product like medical supplies, 55%. But over the years, they have developed in line with customer demand, adding more and more advanced product to the portfolio. So as you can see now, the advanced products are actually representing almost 80% of the portfolio. This has been a long and deliberate activity to move the portfolio and build the competencies and customer relationships. It has worked very well. They have grown to become a much bigger company during this period of time. They have raised their margins from single digit into solid double-digit margins today. So a great example of a long-term effort to drive the change in portfolio towards more advanced products with higher margins. We're super happy to welcome BioSpectrum into the AddLife family. This is a fast-growing distributor of surgical solutions in the field of urology, gynecology and general surgery. These are hospitals and clinics across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland through framework contracts with the NHS. The portfolio includes single-use endoscopy, which is a very exciting technology, urology, gynecology, consumables, surgical staplers and capital equipment. They are just about -- just below SEK 100 million in terms of sales. They are certainly contributing to our ambition to improve margins. They are well above the average of 12%, and they have been acquired at a healthy multiple in the range of 7%. Moving on, we are very pleased to announce last week, the acquisition of CoaChrom. This is an Austrian niche company specializing in advanced coagulation diagnostics. They develop and supply highly specialized assays and reagents for primarily hemostasis diagnostics. The company has a really strong reputation for scientific expertise, quality and service and maintain long-standing relationships with leading hospitals as well as major industrial clients. So this will become a part of the Labtech business. Here, we also see a very healthy margin, significantly above the 12% average, and a healthy acquisition multiple also. So we're super happy to be able to welcome both CoaChrom and BioSpectrum to the AddLife family. Warm welcome to you all. And this takes us through analysis of the acquisition funnel and the acquisition activity. So over 2025 and 2026, we have acquired 5 companies. But as you can see, the activity has really picked up the pace because in the past 5 months, we have actually made 4 acquisitions. So this is a reflection of our increased activity. And we are also optimistic about the funnel for future acquisitions, even though we are picky, we are selective, but we are finding very healthy companies of the type that we have just seen. So with that, we can summarize the quarter and the outlook for the remainder of the year. We're pleased to note that the margins are continuing to stay at a high level with significant improvements in Labtech, continued high level in Medtech in spite of a slightly softer demand development. The gross margin has strengthened, which is also a very good sign. The adjusted organic growth was at 3%, even though doctor strikes in Spain temporarily reduced the growth, and we see positive underlying demand trends in multiple areas. Advanced products, which we have talked about quite a bit in this presentation, are very important for us, and they are relevant in multiple areas. They drive growth and higher margins. And this, together with a strong balance sheet, we can now feel very confident in our ability to improve margins, to grow organically, but also to pick up the pace further when it comes to acquisition. So with that, I want to wrap up this presentation and open up for the Q&A.

All right. Well, thanks for listening, and I think we are now ready for the questions. So if we can start with Albin.

So maybe you answered this question already, but one on the working capital tie up. You mentioned it reflecting higher trade receivables here, following a stronger end to the quarter. So maybe if you can comment on what exactly you saw in the end of the quarter, and also how that has developed through April?

Sure. I can start, and maybe Christina can fill in. So that's correct. We did see a clear strengthening in sales in the month of March. So that was great. And maybe to be expected after the strong finish to 2025 that we'll have a slightly slower sales in January and February, but March picked up, clearly. And that is, as you correctly state, it drove not only inventory in terms of we're building up some inventory to be able to deliver, but also, of course, accounts receivables. So that clearly impacted cash flow in the quarter. But it should be noted that cash flow in Q1, seasonally, it tends to be relatively weak. So nothing out of the ordinary there, really. Is there something you'd like to add to that, Christina?

No, I absolutely agree. And we can also looking at the amount of accounts receivables, we can conclude that, that amount is less in comparison to total accounts receivables end of Q1 compared to end of the year. So it's really due to an increased revenue, end of the quarter.

And then have you seen a pickup in April, or can you comment on that?

We can't really comment on April sales just yet, but I think we have seen and we have also described a few quite positive trends when it comes to demand that we are observing both in Medtech and Labtech. So we see no reason to believe that, that would not be continued. And then, of course, we'll have to keep an eye on the strikes in Spain and hopefully, that will be resolved. That will also have a positive impact, no doubt.

And then also just the last one on that question, the pickup in March, can you split that between geographies?

I think it was pretty much across the board, to be frank, both in terms of geography and when it comes to the companies and business areas.

Thanks. I will jump back in the queue.

Great questions. So -- and then we go further with [ Philip ]. Are you ready for us?

Let's start with capital goods sales in the U.K. So positive signs here. Could you elaborate a bit on the broad base? So how broad-based was this? And is the order book supporting a continued positive trend into Q2 and perhaps into the rest of the year?

Well, I think we have seen an increased activity. That is clear. I mean, that's clear from data generally available as well. The number of procedures did increase substantially over pre-COVID levels. So that's clear. So activity picking up. We did see a reduction in the waiting list, which is a positive. So we are cautiously optimistic, I would say, about this being the first signs of all these things that have been discussed for a long time, how the NHS can and will and need to pick up the pace, and we are hopeful that this is actually the first sign of that actually starting to happen. So I think we're cautiously optimistic about a continued positive development. When it comes to capital spend, I would like to also clarify that, as many of you know, the endoscopy business was relatively capital heavy. So when we say capital-intense sales in Q1, it was much less in absolute terms than it was in the previous year because endoscopy is no longer there. But there is other -- there are other products like various type of imaging products that we do sell. And so those were -- the sales of those went well, and we saw an increased activity there. So I think cautious optimism about further reduced waiting list and more surgical activity. And these are activities that support the product portfolio we have, the type of products that can actually help in terms of efficiency in the hospital, in terms of better clinical outcomes, in terms of being able to send the patient back home quicker and so on. So that aligns super well with our product portfolio. So we're cautiously optimistic. I hope that was an answer to your question.

Yes, it was, Fredrik. And then perhaps on the divested business, how should we think about the impact for the rest of the year? So SEK 63 million in Q1 impact. Is the rest, so to say, distributed throughout Q2, Q3, Q4? Or how should we think about the seasonality of the impact?

Yes. It's pretty much the same distribution throughout the rest of the quarters.

Yes. So evenly distributed after this. But again, you are very correct. So we have communicated earlier that this is around SEK 140 million sales per annum, but we actually saw SEK 63 million in the first quarter. So around 43% of the annual sales happened in 1 quarter. So that may be a little bit of a surprise to some that it was such heavy first quarter, way above the 1/4 that should be logical in some ways. So less of an impact going forward is the conclusion.

And then perhaps two more, if I may. You cited potential cost pressure from the Middle East [ restriction ], and I understand this will be difficult to answer. But how much is realistically -- or how much do you realistically believe you can push through price increase? And what time frame do we talk about here?

Yes. I think this is something we need to be aware of, and that's true for every business, I would imagine. We're talking about freight costs here and perhaps raw material cost that is related to oil and gas prices. So I would say nothing that we have been feeling or seeing happening just yet. But of course, if this conflict continues, I think we need to be prepared for a little bit of a cost increase related to those things. I would not be enormously worried about it because I think in many ways, it resembles the situation we had in connection with COVID when prices came up due to inflation and so on. So -- and during that period of time, I think our companies proved that they were able to handle that type of adjustment very well in close collaborations with the customers. So I wouldn't make too big a thing of it yet. It's more that we are aware of it. We are prepared for it. I think we have high confidence in the ability to handle it.

Great. And then a final one for me. Both BioSpectrum and CoaChrom, both came in above margins, or so you say in the report. Are you seeing multiples staying around the historical 6x to 8x EBITA that you get -- that you pay for? Or is competition pushing prices up? What do you see in the pipe right now for what you paid?

Great question. I think that you're correct. We have communicated around the multiple range of 6x to 8x. I think these are clearly in the lower end of that range. We're very pleased with that. So these are fantastic companies, well performing, high margins, and quite a reasonable and fair price tag. I think in these cases, they're both exclusive. So we cannot say that prices have increased through competition or whatnot, absolutely not in these instances. I wouldn't worry too much about it. We have a good ability to find targets individually or on our own, so to speak. We don't feel an enormous competition here. I think we also have a benefit of being at home in around 30 countries in Europe. Our hunting ground is bigger than for others. And there are many companies that we talk to that see the value of becoming part of AddLife based on our presence and our relationships with both customers and suppliers. And being part of a bigger group with very, very strong product knowledge in-house is a benefit as well. So I'm not super worried about competition, to be frank, and I think multiples are very reasonable.

All right. Thank you very much. I'll get back into the queue and leave room for the others.

All right. Let's continue. We have Zino, right?

Yes, just starting off with a follow-up question on the U.K. Medtech side. You mentioned the positive statistics, which are pointing in the right direction. Can you elaborate if you can provide some color on why now that we're seeing these positive signs?

Well, I think maybe there was an expectation that this would have happened much earlier. I mean, there has been a very clearly stated intent and direction from the current government in the U.K., so it's been somewhat delayed. But of course, it's -- the NHS is a big organization, changing that takes time. Now in the quarter, we did see -- not an enormous, but still a noticeable drop in the waiting list. So that was positive. We also have data indicating that the number of procedures is increasing by around 5% compared to pre-COVID levels. So there are some solid data supporting what we are also feeling in the organization. So -- and then, of course, discussions with our teams as well as representatives from the NHS do seem to confirm the same conclusion. However, it's not everything at once. It's a gradual increase. It's a step-wise approach. So we are -- but we do remain cautiously optimistic based on both official statistics as well as behaviors that we are noticing.

And moving over to Labtech with a strong margin there. You point to tenders and [indiscernible]. Can you help us with seeing when we're looking at this ahead, have these new tenders, are they structurally different to how they were in previous years? And should we expect them to continue with giving good support ahead as well?

I think we can expect them to continue to be supportive. We have won over the past few quarters, a number of big and important tenders, some new ones, of course, bringing new business to the companies. Others, an update or a prolongation of previously won tenders with updated pricing and so on. So I think it reflects our strong service organization. I think we are very much a trusted partner to the health care systems. It reflects the value that the customers attach to that, and it's not only around the price of the product. And I think that's very rational in some ways because the cost of having challenges when it comes to these types of diagnostics is way above the cost of the actual product. So there is clearly a value to reliability of product and reliability of support and service. So I think that's one thing. So stable and well-developing business within diagnostics. Some very well established technologies, but also some that are more recently added and in more of a growth phase like immunology and Alzheimer's disease diagnostics that I also mentioned in the report. And then, of course, quite excited about genomics in general, which we're kind of highlighting here. So all of these things contribute with advanced products with high margins with an important service component. And then finally, the research field, which has been a bit of a drag for a number of quarters. Research funding in Europe has been a little bit subdued, a bit of hesitancy around it now. We talked about it in the last quarter that it looks to be improving. And I think that improvement trend we clearly saw strengthening in multiple countries in the first quarter. So I think a lot of contributing factors. And I think in many of the companies, we have a great habit of cost consciousness, continuous development of the product portfolio, continuous improvement of how we work and efficiency internally and fantastic focus on customer service. All of these things contribute. So I hope that was an answer.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much. So we have Jakob, right? Are you ready for us?

Yes. First on the EBITA margin in Medtech was down, obviously. But I know there was a tough comp, there's probably some mix effect and the divestment. So my question is really, do you still see that sort of underlying trend among subsidiaries, that you are improving efficiency and margins? And also when we look into Q2, for example, do you think that we can see margin expansion again in Medtech?

The quick answer is yes. I think, of course, we are down from 13.5%, but we have to remember that not long ago, we were around 8% to 10% margin in Medtech. So now down a little bit to 12.8% from 13.5%. I mean, it's not to be seen as a drop. It's more of a -- I would see it rather us keeping a very high margin level in the Medtech business. Then, of course, we had an impact of this divestment. And as we talked about earlier in the call, a big chunk of that impact did come in the first quarter, and less would be in the coming quarters. Then apart from that, we are driving a number of improvement initiatives which we haven't talked that much about in this quarter, but they remain on track and in a positive direction. And then I'm talking about a number of companies, but the big ones are, of course, within the area of eye surgery and Homecare, where we do see a lot of improvement potential still, and we are seeing a positive trend in those activities. So that's great. Another thing is, of course, the continuous addition of new products. In the U.K., we're adding a range of new products that will, over time, compensate for the drop in revenues linked to the endoscopy business. And so that will be a positive. And then we are adding a number of highly advanced products. And a great example of that is, of course, robotics, which has picked up the pace, I must say, faster than I had expected. And the companies are doing an excellent job here and a meaningful business has already been established. So in combination, the effect of the endoscopy divestment will fade away. We are working on improvement programs in multiple companies that are moving nicely in a good direction. A number of new products are being added to the portfolio. And then of course, on top of that, acquisitions as well. So I think we are optimistic about the profitability in the Medtech business for sure.

Sounds promising. Then another question on the instrument sales in Medtech, which is also down, and that's probably also the part. But I'm wondering a bit on what you're seeing now in Q1, so if it's more normal levels or still subdued? Yes, what do you see?

Yes, I think you're right. The endoscopy business did represent a big chunk of the instrument sales in the U.K., and that's now out of the numbers. So that was a big thing. The other types of capital investments are doing well. And I think we're -- it looks healthy and a positive development. I don't know if there's something you'd like to add to that, Christina?

No, the underlying instrument business actually grew in this quarter. So if we exclude the endoscopy, then we actually had an increase. So moving in the right direction.

Great. Thank you, Christina. So maybe that answers the question. And now we move on to Ulrik, right?

Great. And I'm actually just sort of tagging along on previous questions here. And a bit of sort of the strong development in Labtech, and you talked about higher-margin tenders. And I just recall that we talked about this a year ago, when you actually started to leverage and get more high-margin tenders. Is this a continuation of those tenders? Or have you been awarded further tenders which have further increased your margins?

Great question. I think in general, it's the continuation of -- we won in -- during a few quarters, we won a number of tenders sequentially, so to speak, and they are still contributing to improvement. And then, of course, we are also winning smaller ones, but there were a few substantial ones that we won, and they continue to contribute.

So by that fact, the margins that we've seen in Q1, which were really, really high should be able to be somewhat sustained throughout the rest of the year?

Well, we don't see a reason why they would come down. And we are always, as you know, cautious about making forecasts or predictions, but I think there is no big one-off or unique sale that went through in the quarter that would indicate that it should come down. So I think there's a huge level of stability in general in Labtech and even more so in the area of diagnostics, of course. And now when we see that the research is rebounding and a number of companies have been successful in their improvement programs as well in the area of Labtech, both big and small companies have really picked up the pace when it comes to margins, which we are pleased with. So I think we are optimistic about the development there.

And also sort of [ impact ] that you talked about previously in sort of the introduction about lower volume balanced by higher gross margin. One part was the higher margin tender and the higher advanced products, but one part was also increased pricing. So if you can just sort of talk a little bit about what type of price measurement has been done here?

I think that is actually part of our business model always working with price. So diligent price management is something that we do on a regular basis. So that's probably more down to normal day-to-day work that our company is doing in a great way.

Absolutely. And that means various ways of continuous uptake of pricing, not just once a year list price update, but a more detailed and more thoughtful way of doing it.

And just last question on my end. Obviously, the last few acquisitions you've done are margin accretive to the group. And it sounds like a lot of your segments are on the higher end of the margin spectrum as group margins. So that sort of comes down to what is sort of the current margin development? And I know you talked a little bit about sort of favorable trends for Homecare and eye care, but at what level are we today at? And what should we expect for '26?

Yes. I think it's like you correctly stated, it's a mix of new acquisitions with clearly high margins. It's addition -- continuous addition of new products with high margins. Then it is true, both in Medtech and Labtech, that we do have a few companies that are pulling down the averages. And you highlighted 2 areas that are -- that do pull down the margins, but they are in a positive development trend. And then on top of that, we have a number of companies that are doing reasonably well but can do better, and we have improvement initiatives in those. And then we have a group of small companies mostly that are -- absolutely not at the level where we think they should be. And in those cases, a handful of companies, perhaps we have clear initiatives in place. And we are pleased to note that these are -- these initiatives are really starting to show results, even though we are not where we want them to be long term, but we're very pleased with the fact that improvement measures are starting to show in the numbers. So I think there's a lot to work with, both in terms of areas of the business that are kind of pulling down the average and then constant addition of businesses that are raising the average.

That will be all on my end. I'll get back in the queue.

Thank you. Great question. So we move on to Charles. I think you have raised your hand. So let's see if we can hear you now. Yes, we probably can.

It's Charles Weston from RBC. I've got three, please. First question on European research improvements. You've been talking about the stronger funding environment. Just wondering if you could give us a little bit more color around why you think that's happening now, where it's coming -- where the funding is coming from and what it's going into?

Yes. I think this is a great question. I think there hasn't been in the European market, a strong reduction of funding. I think there has never been, but there has been a concern about future funding, and that has held back some of the researchers in maybe ordering new instruments, uncertain about the next project that they're going to apply for, is that going to be funded or not. I think that uncertainty has come down a little bit. So we see an increased activity again, we see picking up a little bit in terms of confidence to order new instruments and whatnot. So I think that's clear. It's -- maybe not tons of new money being poured into it, but rather an increased confidence and the researchers feel that our next project is going to be funded. In the U.S., the situation is different. We're not that exposed, but we have some exposure. And there, funding has been withdrawn, clearly. And so there, for the few companies that sell into that market, that's a clear reduction and a clear drop in sales from that. But in multiple countries, I would say, Central and Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, in particular, we see a pickup in research spend, so to speak. So -- and that's consistent across multiple companies.

Just following up on the previous question around pricing. Can you comment perhaps a little bit more on like-for-like pricing levels across your portfolio?

Yes, sure. I mean, I wouldn't say that there have been any dramatic changes in pricing during the quarter. No, we work on that continuously, but there's nothing dramatic that has happened in the quarter. In some ways, we are preparing for the potential risk of price increase coming from suppliers based on the crisis in the Middle East. So we haven't seen it in a meaningful way just yet, but we are somewhat prepared just like we were in the time around COVID, where we saw price increases coming. And I think we feel confident based on that experience and the good discussions we've had internally and with customers with a great understanding of the need to have a good dialogue around this and adjust as needed. So I wouldn't say price increases was a major driver in the quarter, but we are prepared in case we need to use that if prices do increase a lot. You have another one? Yes, go ahead.

Yes, sorry. We'll have one more, please. You commented that March improved nicely off the back of a weaker first couple of months, which you said perhaps wasn't surprising given the strong ending to 2025. But if I could just challenge you a little bit on that. In your fourth quarter report, you didn't expect -- you didn't call out any expectation that there would be a weaker month or 2. So can you just sort of provide a bit more color on perhaps how much of a surprise this was to you?

Well, I think we did notice a strong finish to the quarter in Q4, absolutely. That kind of -- that's a very normal pattern. And in some cases, it's -- oftentimes, it's driven by the customer. But -- and then it can be that we kind of sell a lot that's in the order book in December. And then we kind of need to get started again with building a new order book in January or February. These things are -- we are -- as you know, we're a quite decentralized company. We don't control it in detail. We don't have access to the specific of each customer and whatnot. So these things, we know and see the magnitude of relatively late. So -- but of course, noticing a big bump in sales in December can indicate that we might have a bit of a slow pickup in January, and that was the case this time around. It has happened before, and we did expect a gradual pickup in February and March, and we did have that. So nothing too dramatic, nothing that we have been pushing very hard. But I think it's a very natural cycle of the business mostly driven by customers with budgets and so on, I would say. So it's a little bit hard to predict, I would say, yes.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you. So we have one more question from Jakob here, right? So sorry if we cut you off earlier, but you're back again.

Yes. I have two quick things. First, if you can comment a bit on the sort of dynamic when your -- the OEMs distribute for raise prices that you purchase for and how you sort of mitigate that or push that forward to your customers? So I guess, are the price sort of fixed for your customers and the delay effect, or is it sort of an ability for you to compensate directly?

Great question. So this is -- there are many factors to keep in mind here. And again, we haven't seen this happening in a big way at all at this point in time. But we can draw some learnings from the time around COVID. Then, price increases came in. And sometimes we also go back and challenge them and say, this is too much. We can't deal with this. We have to think about this again, be a supplier. And that usually works, a good and respectful dialogue around what is reasonable. So that's one aspect of it. Another is then, of course, the dialogue with the customer. And sometimes, you are correct. Sometimes the prices do not have inflation or currency clause in there. And then it's more down to a negotiation and a dialogue. And in that context, we can -- we could conclude that in most cases, the customers, they read the papers too. They understand what's going on in the world. So we can very often come to a reasonable way of handling this since we are indeed in a good partnership and they value the products and the services that we provide. So that's the, I would say, the normal outcome of a dialogue with suppliers, dialogue with customers. And then, of course, we can always shift pricing as well. We can always maybe agree with the customer on less frequent delivery so we can save some money and time relating to transport costs. We can have a good dialogue around various pieces of the cost and price situation. So -- and we have, I think, a very good and -- good experience from the time of COVID, where this was handled in a good way. But there will be instances where we cannot increase price, and then we'll have to deal with it. But in most of the cases, we can. So not a big concern for us, but we also want to highlight that we are seeing it, and we are preparing in the event that we would need to.

Very good answer. Then finally, I noticed it was other operating income that was a bit larger than usual, and also, the tax rate is a bit higher in the quarter. So if you can comment on that?

The tax rate was 30%, same as last -- Q1 last year. And it can go a little bit up and down. It's a little bit tricky to [ set an exact one ] quarter-by-quarter. But I think that we had around 30% last year as well as a rolling 12. So probably, that is approximately where we should be this year as well. Hopefully, going down a bit further on that. But I think it's approximately in line with what we saw last year. And then operating income and costs, that also goes up and down a little bit quarter-by-quarter. So just a few pieces from different companies to summarize.

All right. Thank you, Jakob. I hope that was the answers you were looking for. Let's see if we have any more questions coming up. It doesn't look that way. So let's see. No more questions, right? Or did you have the final one, Jakob? No? Okay. Then I think we will wrap up here. And as always, please feel free to call or e-mail Christina and myself after the call if you have any follow-up questions you want to make. But now again, do stay on to look at the BonsaiLab video. It's a great video, relatively recently acquired BonsaiLab. We acquired that in 2024, a fantastic company with advanced technology. And here, you will hear more about the technologies provided and also get some insights from a very important customer of ours at a leading cancer research center. So you'll get some perspectives of these technologies and how they can contribute to [ albino ] patients in cases of serious disease. So please stay on to watch the video. [Presentation]