Coloplast A/S (COLOB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the Coloplast conference call. [Operator Instructions] Today, I'm pleased to present Kristian Villumsen, President and CEO; and Anders Lonning-Skovgaard, Executive Vice President and CFO. Please begin your meeting.

Thank you, operator. Hello, and thank you all for joining us today at short notice to discuss our agreement to acquire Atos Medical for EUR 2.155 billion. I'm Kristian Villumsen, I'm the CEO of Coloplast. I'm joined by our CFO, Anders Lonning-Skovgaard; and our Investor Relations team. We will start with a short presentation and then open up for questions. Could I ask you to please turn to Slide #3. Today marks a historic day at Coloplast. We've signed an agreement to acquire Atos Medical, the global market leader in laryngectomy. I'd like to start by telling the Atos Medical team just how excited we are that they'll be joining our Coloplast family. I would also like to voice my admiration for the journey that Atos Medical has been on for more than 30 years to set the standard of care for laryngectomy patients and to build a high-quality company. Under the leadership of CEO, Britt Meelby, and her extended leadership team, the company has achieved great things for patients worldwide through their very user-oriented focus and they've also delivered strong value creation. The addition of Atos Medical with their mission of making life easier for people living with a neck stoma by providing personalized care and innovative solutions is perfectly aligned with our mission of making life easier for people with intimate health care kinds. Together, I believe that we can accelerate the journey that Atos Medical has been on to the benefit of patients worldwide. Please turn to Slide #4. With the acquisition of Atos Medical, Coloplast adds a new growth category to our Chronic business. We're also entering the ear, nose and throat device market. I believe that the strategic and financial logic of the acquisition is compelling. First, I'd like to say a few words on the strategic logic. Atos Medical is a chronic business that fits into Coloplast's mission, vision and values. When you take a closer look at Atos Medical, you'll quickly see that there are many similarities between their business and our Chronic care businesses: Ostomy care and Continence Care. There are similarities from a patient perspective, but our commercial models are also similar and centered around category leadership through innovation, strong relationships with health care professionals and a direct-to-consumer setup. Atos Medical is a clear category leader in the laryngectomy market with a market share of more than 80%. However, in many parts of the world, the market is still underdeveloped. Outside of Northern Europe, the treatment penetration is low. This reminds me of what our Ostomy Care business looked like decades ago and of our Continence Care business today where many emerging markets remain underdeveloped offering opportunity for long-term growth. Hence, when I look at Atos Medical, I see a lot of what we might call white space in their existing markets, but also in emerging markets. This will make Atos Medical a very long-term growth compounder. We also firmly believe that Atos Medical as a part of Coloplast can accelerate the great path that they're already on. We see operational synergies from integrating Atos Medical into the Coloplast infrastructure, and I'll come back to these last 2 points later in the presentation. Now a few comments on the financial logic of the acquisition. Atos Medical has demonstrated a strong track record of high single-digit organic growth rates, solid EBITDA margins and high cash conversion. Anders will walk through the financials later. But high level, the transaction is expected to be increasingly EPS accretive from our financial year '22-'23. With that as a backdrop, I'd like to move to the next slide, which provides an overview of Atos Medical. Please turn to Slide #5. Atos Medical is the undisputed market leader and global pioneer within laryngectomy. For more than 30 years, the company has provided personalized care and innovative solutions for restoring speaking ability after the surgical removal of people's voice box most often as a result of cancer. Headquartered in Sweden, Atos Medical serves customers in more than 70 countries and has around 1,150 employees. The company has a direct presence in 30 countries across the world. Based on an understanding of the needs of both users and health care professionals, the company has a track record of launching innovative products and services. As an example, in 2020, Atos Medical began launching Provox Life, a new generation of products that support improved lung health through the usage of Heat and Moisture Exchangers, also known as HMEs. This enables people to breathe better whatever they do, be it while they're sleeping or, for example, exercising. Atos Medical has a track record of high single-digit organic growth. The growth has been driven by winning and retaining more new patients through innovative products and services. And a second source of growth has been increasing patient values through driving the consumption of HMEs and adhesives towards recommended usage levels. These usage levels vary greatly across existing markets. A third source of growth has been opening new markets. Atos has seen a few recent key wins in countries like South Korea, Brazil and Japan. The company has also made promising advancements towards building a presence in China. Around 50% of the company's revenue are through their direct-to-consumer sales, meaning that products are delivered directly to the patient store. In October, Atos completed the acquisition of TRACOE medical and Kapitex Healthcare LTD headquartered in Germany. Together with the already established tracheostomy category in Atos Medical, the acquisitions make Atos Medical a larger player in the tracheostomy market with around 5% to 10% market share. Tracheostomy is a medical procedure, which consists of creating an opening in the neck for direct access to the wind pipe to facilitate breathing. There are around 1 million tracheostomy procedures every year. And today, the market mainly consists of the tubes that are used for breathing. However, the penetration of HMEs and accessories is very low. Pro forma revenues for the year ended December 2020, including the recent acquisitions amount to SEK 2.2 billion. The pro forma adjusted EBITDA margin was around 35%. From a product perspective, around 2/3 of the pro forma revenues for 2020 are in laryngectomy and about 1/3 is in tracheostomy and ENT. From a geographical perspective, the business is concentrated in Europe, where around 70% of the revenues are. North America accounts for 20% and the remaining 10% are in new markets. Now let's talk about the patient pathway for laryngectomy patients. Please turn to Slide 6. A total laryngectomy is a nonelective surgery performed in the advanced stages of cancer. In the procedure, a patient's voice box is fully removed. The upper and lower airways are also permanently disconnected, which leads to the loss of the upper airway functions. After surgery, a voice prosthesis is inserted by a health care professional so that the patient is able to speak again. After the patient is discharged, they go home and take care of themselves and use HMEs that are attached using adhesives. HMEs are recommended for use and proven to improve quality of life because they are the only pulmonary rehabilitation solution that heats and humidifies the ear. Using HME quickly leads to a reduction in coughing and mucus. And patients, in addition to HMEs, also use a range of accessories to support the use of HMEs, adhesives and voice prosthesis. Once patients enter the installed base, they become recurring customers establishing the chronic care model. The average lifespan of patients after surgery is 8 to 10 years and increasing in existing markets. There's good reimbursement for voice prosthesis, HMEs and supporting products across Atos Medical's main markets. This leads me to our next slide, which addresses the laryngectomy market and the voice base that I mentioned earlier. Please turn to Slide 7. The laryngectomy market has grown at a CAGR of around 10% from 2015 to 2020. Today, the market size is around DKK 1 billion to DKK 1.5 billion. The laryngectomy market is projected to grow high single digit through a stable inflow of new patients and increasing patient base through longer life expectancy and large whitespace. Laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancer cases, which are mainly due to smoking and alcohol, have grown at around 1% historically due to the growing and aging population. There's an estimated 250,000 people globally living with a total laryngectomy. A significant share of these people are not receiving proper care and are not being served with products. Hence, white space is really defined as patients not being served or not being served adequately with products in existing markets. It's also defined as entering new markets, for example, markets like Brazil, South Korea and China, where Coloplast today has a significant established presence. Now a few words on the strategic fit between Coloplast and Atos Medical. Please turn to Slide 8. In 2020, Atos Medical launched a new strategy for 2025 called Living Well. The strategy is patient-centric and focuses on 5 key topics, which are: number one, expand leadership in laryngectomy in existing markets; number two, grow presence in future markets and establish a position in China; number three, establish a leading position in tracheostomy; number four, leverage personalized care setup in adjacent segments; number five, digitalizing how we serve customers. We believe that Coloplast is the right owner to accelerate Atos' strategy by leveraging our global scale and commercial footprint and market development capabilities. At Coloplast, we have a long track record of opening and building markets most recently in a number of emerging markets, including China. We also believe that Atos Medical can benefit from utilizing Coloplast infrastructure. Finally, Coloplast can support Atos Medical's growth journey through investments in organic and inorganic growth opportunities. Atos Medical will be run as a separate strategic business unit operating on shared Coloplast infrastructure and reporting into myself. Now I will hand over to Anders to talk about the financial outlook. Please turn to Slide #9.

Thank you, Kristian. Before I dive into the numbers, I would also like to say thanks. I'm truly excited to welcome the employees at Atos Medical into the Coloplast family. Now a few words on the financial outlook towards 2025 for Atos Medical. The outlook for revenue growth at Atos Medical is 8% to 10% organic growth. We expect Atos Medical to deliver an EBITDA margin in the mid-30s. The leverage that is generated by growth is expected to be reinvested into the business to secure future growth. With this outlook, we expect Atos Medical to contribute nicely to Coloplast's Strive25 long-term financial guidance of 7% to 9% organic growth and an EBIT margin of more than 30%. Please turn to Slide 10. On this slide, we provide a summary of the planned acquisition of Atos Medical for EUR 2.155 million (sic) [ EUR 2.155 billion ], which will be funded through debt financing. With Atos Medical's high single-digit organic growth rate, gross margin rates above Coloplast corporate leverage and EBITDA margin in the mid-30s, the financial profile of Atos Medical is highly attractive. We have estimated a run rate operational synergies of up to DKK 100 million with full effect estimated from year 3. Synergies are expected from clicking Atos on to Coloplast infrastructure and utilizing Coloplast's shared services. The acquisition is expected to be EPS accretive starting from our financial year '22-'23, and it is expected to be increasingly accretive the year after. We will focus on deleveraging the balance sheet and our target is to be within the 1 to 2x net interest-bearing-debt-to-EBITDA by the end of Strive25 period. There are no changes to our capital allocation policy to return excess liquidity through dividends and share buybacks. We are targeting a continued increase in absolute dividend and a payout ratio of 60% to 80% of net profit. The acquisition is expected to close in our Q2 '21-'22. With that, I will turn back to Kristian. Please turn to Page 11.

Thank you very much, Anders. With this presentation, I hope that we're able to express just how excited we are about the opportunity provided to us that will be realized with the acquisition of Atos Medical. This deal is strategically aligned with our goals and Coloplast's investment case that is summarized on this slide. The acquisition of Atos Medical secures a future growth option that will help Coloplast drive continued above-market growth and industry-leading margin and it fits our mission perfectly. With the accretion outlined today, we're well positioned to realize leverage earnings gains, and combined, we believe these actions are aligned with our capital allocation strategy and will help optimize shareholder returns. Thank you very much. Operator, we are now ready to take some questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Oliver Metzger from ODDO.

One question I have is about the historic growth of TRACOE because you talked only on Atos directly, but TRACOE was added to that business. And also one question for this -- for TRACOE's about major competitors. You mentioned the market share for them is only somewhere 8% to 10%. So who are the major competitors for them.

Thanks, Oliver. The growth profile -- historical growth profile of TRACOE is about mid-single-digit growth. The most prominent competitors are Medtronic, Smiths Medical and Teleflex.

Our next question comes from the line of Veronika Dubajova from Goldman Sachs.

A couple of questions for me, please, if I can. One, just bigger picture, strategic, Kristian. Just kind of wondering what means for your appetite to pursue more M&A in urology? Should we expect that to be on the back burner for now? And just kind of more broadly speaking, I hate to be the person asking you, well, what's the next deal after you've just done a deal. But just kind of trying to understand what you think, one, the capacity of the organization and the appetite for further transactions are. Two, I just want to confirm that you are not changing your Strive25 guidance in spite of the acquisition. And I guess related to that, I think there is a fair amount of amortization on -- within the P&L when one looks at the Atos statements and I suspect there will be more just as a result of the intangibles that will be created post deal. So just a kind of conceptual question, are you guys going to switch to sort of a core EBIT margin or your intention is to still report a fully loaded IFRS EBIT margin in that context? Just kind of surprised to see you talk about 30%-plus profitability for Atos. And I'll let you ask those 2 -- answer those 2, then I might have a quick third follow-up, depending. So I'll leave those 2.

Anything else would be atypical Veronika, but thank you for the questions. So listen, of course, with something of this magnitude for us, all focus is to make sure that this transaction becomes successful. We do have appetite for more tuck-ins for IU. We have done a couple of things on IU, but my expectation is still that we could do more in the Strive25 period. We're not changing the Strive25 guidance as a result of this transaction, and I'll let Anders talk to amortization.

Veronika, it's Anders. Thanks for your question. So in terms of amortization as a result of the acquisition, the way we are looking at it currently is at around 25% of the purchase price will be amortized over a 10- to 15-year period. So that's our current view on the amortization cost, yes, in the coming years.

Okay, Anders. And you will report a fully loaded IFRS EBIT margin? You're not going to strip that amortization figure out going forward?

No. So we will continue to report on our EBIT margin as we have done historically.

Okay, okay. And so the target that you have for Atos to reach a 30%-plus margin, that includes the amortization that you're going to incur as a result of the deal or that's excluding that?

No. So that's including -- so when I -- when we speak about the total business, including Atos Medical, we still believe we are going to deliver within the Strive25 guidance as we just mentioned. So in total.

Okay. And then just a quick follow-up. Any expectations for the cost of debt? Apologies if it's in the slides and I missed it, but just what your expectations are there?

Yes. So it's currently something we are working on, but it's going to be something like up to 1%.

Okay. Fabulous. Sorry, go ahead.

No. Go ahead.

No, no. That was all for me. I was going to say. That's all I needed.

And the next question comes from the line of Maja Pataki from Kepler Cheuvreux.

Kristian, you made a comment during the call that the penetration rates are varying quite significantly across the various regions for Atos. I was wondering if you could give us a couple of numbers attached to some countries. And then also talk to why you think there is this big difference in penetration rate? Is it due to reimbursement -- different reimbursement or is it lack of visibility? It would be interesting to see where we're standing within the different regions and how you intend to address that going forward.

Right. Well, Maja, you have an analogy here actually to , for example our Continence Care business, which has a little bit of a similar profile. I would probably argue that we're a little further ahead in driving penetration for our IC business. But conceptually, if you look to the Northern European region, for Atos Medical, if you take a country like Germany, you take Scandinavia, most people -- so you're talking about an 80% to 100% penetration rate of treatment people get on product. They get on -- on a good treatment regime and are allowed to use new technology and the appropriate volume. You go to Southern Europe, this figure will probably drop to something that looks like 50% of penetration compared to Northern Europe. There is reimbursement. So this is tied to developing clinical standards and continuing that effort. The treatment rates -- or the penetration rates are even a little lower when you go to North America. And then once you go to emerging markets, they are very low. They are very low. And so when you go to a place like China, people are not getting on voice prosthesis. So they will, in theory, lose the ability to speak after the removal of their voice box or they will use some of the poorer technologies that are available, but the penetration rates are very, very low when you get to EM. So it is a -- in my mind, Maja, a very, very long growth outlook much like I view, as you know, the work that we do, both for ostomy and continence. A combination of offering strong products, commit yourself to building clinical standards together with health care professionals in the markets that you're in and serving consumers directly. So you make sure that once people get on product that they also get a good treatment. So those are, I think, directionally, the kinds of numbers that you can work with.

And the next question comes from the line of Mattias Häggblom from Handelsbanken.

I have 2, please. Can you help me think about how much of sales Atos Medical have invested in R&D over the years to give us insight to the innovation profile here. And then, secondly, the assets have shifted hands a number of times over the history. Most recently in 2016 and before that 2011. So curious if you could comment whether Coloplast have looked at the asset the previous round? Or if there is something in particular that makes Atos Medical a more compelling acquisition a bit for Coloplast this time.

Thank you, Mattias. I'll start with that last question first. We have not participated in previous rounds. But I can say I have, on the sidelines, myself followed the company for some years and been interested in the company and the work of the company. And then our interest has increased during this latest ownership period. We followed them quite closely. We -- I have to say I'm a sucker for good work and the work that I've seen coming out of Atos Medical is just strong. So this is a strong model, is a strong track record on innovation and strong financial results. And really, across the board, I think the current team has done an extraordinary job, which is also a part of why we've been, if you will, on the front foot here. When it comes to your question on R&D as a percent of sales, it is low single digit, around 4%.

And the next question comes from the line of Scott Bardo from Berenberg.

Congratulations on the deal today. So first question, please. Just wondered if you could give us a little bit more in terms of the laryngectomy and tracheostomy market. It's my understanding that laryngectomy is largely a European market, but tracheostomy largely a U.S. market. So wonder if you can help us understand these differences in sort of surgical process that limits one market from the other and perhaps further extend that into thoughts about future penetration in tracheostomy. You're a relatively small player. Is this quite a competitive market? Is this something you intend on being more aggressive in? Just some thoughts there, please. The second question, please, and I'll pause for a follow-up after that. I think you mentioned, correct me if I'm wrong, that the lary market in terms of procedures are only growing about 1% annually. Yet the market is growing double digit or high single digit. I just wonder if you could help square that really. There seems to be a significant disconnect between the procedural growth from the end market growth.

Thank you, Scott. Great questions. So if you look at the current business and the footprint of the current business, it is, for lary, this is mostly today a European business for the company. But the market is global in the sense that the procedures are also done in North America, but the penetration rates are lower like I explained to Maja just in the previous questions. You see the procedure is also done in EM, but there, the penetration rates are even lower. Tracheostomies, I mean this is a market where if you look at the number of surgeries every year, it's, of course, much, much higher. So where the lary market is about 50,000 procedures every year, you're talking maybe in the order of 20-plus times more procedures in the tracheostomy market, right? And the idea that the team in Atos Medical has around the tracheostomy market is one thing is taking a position in the hospital segment, Scott, where you pick up, if you will, a share of the procedures that are done. Really, the promise is to basically serve the patients who will live permanently with a tracheostomy. And so there are a number of subsegments within the tracheostomized patients that are discharged from a hospital and we'll have to live with their trach on a permanent basis and who are not really getting served well today, who are not really using an HMEs and who have all the complications that follow from basically having a silver valve set in your neck, right? But that part of the category has to be developed. And our view is that the Atos team is uniquely positioned to do that with their model and their product portfolio. The procedural growth and the end market growth is really driven by, one, penetration; two, actually getting people on a product to begin with, to get people on the right amount of product; and then product mix, right? So the end market is a very different story than the underlying procedural market. And because the penetration rates are as low as they are, our view is that the company will be a very, very long-term growth compounder.

Understood. And maybe just help us understand impressive amount of business going to direct-to-consumer. Does it make sense to fold that into Coloplast -- broader Coloplast Care direct-to-consumer channels? Or does this need to be kept separately? And perhaps, lastly, there seems to be some quite significant margin volatility for Atos over the last 4 or 5 years, which is a bit surprising given the rather predictable nature of its growth. Can you help us understand why there's been several hundred basis points margin improvement over the last 4 years for this business?

So my strong view is that this needs to be run as its own strategic business unit. This is a logic that has served us well with other categories, Scott. This is a different customer segment. And of course, there are similarities when it comes to channel. But the -- I think the synergies are really mostly on the infrastructure, more than anything. We will run it as stand-alone and with dedicated teams and not fold it into the Chronic Care organization.

And Scott, on your second question around the volatility on the margin, historically, there has been a number of one-offs in the Atos Medical that has impacted their margin development and there has also been impact from the COVID situation. So there has been a number of different things impacting the margin development.

Thanks, Anders. But you would say this margin is the more representative one, the more -- latest fiscal year.

Yes. So what we are talking to today, so the mid-30s pro forma 2020. That's how we see it.

And the next question comes from the line of Christian Ryom Nordea Markets.

Kristian and Anderson, congrats on the announcement today. My questions are somewhat along the same lines as Scott's. But when we look at the split of 2/3 laryngectomy-1/3 tracheostomy as it is today, should we expect that split to remain roughly stable? Or do you foresee significantly faster growth in one area of the business? And then my question is whether you could put some -- second question is whether you could put some comments to, say, the development in patient -- new patient inflow here throughout the last 1.5 years during COVID and also the traction of sort of continued market expansion and improving utilization during the pandemic period.

So thank you, Christian. Good questions. I'd say for the short, medium term, the bulk of the growth will continue to come from lary. And this -- the company has a strong momentum, strong position in lary, a great new platform that's being rolled out. Lots of efforts going on in opening up new markets. So we expect that category to continue to compound at high growth rates and even faster growth rates in the consumer channel. The opportunity on the tracheostomy side, what I was trying to put words to with the question Scott had earlier, one thing is, if you will, the current hospital nature or acute nature of the category, where, of course, there is work to be done. But the promise is also to develop the category and the clinical standards in a way that the patients who are discharged with a permanent tracheostomy will get good service and also be allowed to use accessories that are already now going to help people who are laryngectomized. So there is a, if you will, a longer term -- medium and longer term, you would expect the tracheostomy category to gradually increase its contribution in terms of growth. To your question on patient inflow, the underlying procedural growth. So if you look at the surgery levels that have been relatively stable also through COVID, these are procedures that are nonelective and they get done because you really have to. And what has seen some slowdown is the change of voice prosthesis. So if you go through a full laryngectomy, you will a few times every year come back to hospital to get your voice prosthesis changed. And there, the prevailing guidelines have been, across many markets, that patients should stay at home and not get themselves infected. We are seeing and the company is seeing a normalization also of this. And then you'll have to remind me what your third question was, Christian, I forgot.

I think you addressed my questions.

And the next question comes from the line of Niels Leth from Carnegie.

Congratulations with the acquisition. So as far as I understand, there is a substantial untapped potential in China for Atos Medical. And there is potentially a decision coming within the next 3, 4 years in terms of reimbursement for their products. Is this potentially something that could have a spillover effect on your ostomy bags as well since it belongs to kind of the same Chronic Care kind of business?

Thanks, Niels. Good question. So I don't think so. Honestly, I think the reimbursement question that you're referring to is really around the voice prosthesis and in the acute setting. It's not for accessories and HME use in the outpatient setting, where I would be highly surprised if this would not be an out-of-pocket category. Right now, in China, there is really no precedent for reimbursement of medical consumables outside of the acute setting. But of course, it will be a significant milestone to get the reimbursement and registrations in place for the voice prosthesis. So basically, in effect, open the market for Atos Medical for China. But I don't see it have a spillover effect into the outpatient setting and neither for Atos nor for Coloplast.

Great. And then just a quick second question here on your synergies. You mentioned, as far as I remember, DKK 100 million of synergies. Could you just break that number down? So is it entirely -- is it only cost synergies? Or would that include sales synergies as well?

So thanks, Niels, for that question. So we are estimating synergies up to DKK 100 million with full effect in year 3. And what we've included here is cost synergies only from utilizing the Coloplast infrastructure and shared service.

And the next question comes from the line of Hassan Al-Wakeel from Barclays.

I have a couple, please. So firstly, can you talk about the profile of historic reimbursement across some of the key markets and whether we should expect a similar decline to that of your Chronic Care business over the medium term. And what opportunities do you have for higher reimbursement based on innovation as we've seen in your Chronic Care markets? And secondly, when you think about capital allocation going forward, can you talk about investment requirements into this business and whether we should expect the upper end of the 2% commercial investments going forward? And whether the mix of that investment is likely to substantially change over the Strive25 period?

Thanks, Hassan. Good questions. So listen, a very strong reimbursement across all of the major markets for Atos Medical's products. The company has done a great job of actually building access and also building good reimbursement levels such that if you compare patient values to our Ostomy business, they're probably 40%, 50% higher than what we see on Ostomy when it comes to patient value. The reimbursement levels have been stable and I would also expect them to continue to be stable. This is not a large category. It's a niche category. It's people who have really, really strong needs. And I would not expect this to be a focus of the authorities going forward. I would say the company has also shown pretty good track record of working on pricing and reimbursement. The most recent product platform that's being introduced is introduced with a premium across market. So there's good effect also from product mix. And the company has shown, I think, really pragmatic, clinically relevant work in the innovation and the authorities have been willing to basically reward them on that. When it comes to your question on investments, listen, Anders and I are pragmatists. So if we see good business cases and we have room within our up to 2% frame, we will invest. But it has to make sense. And we allocate capital also in a way where if we grant you your business case, we'd like to see that get done or at least good traction with it before we start plowing more money into the next thing. So we think you can come quite far just with the leverage that is in this business when it comes to investment capacity. But of course, if there are investment opportunities in there that will require more, that's what we have our up to 2% guidance for.

And the next question comes from the line of Yiwei Zhou from SEB.

I have 3 here. Firstly, a follow-up question regarding China. Would you please put a bit more color on the time lines for Atos product approval and launch and maybe also a little bit more on the sales strategic investment you will have in the region. And I do one at a time.

All right. So what I know is that, currently, there are clinical trials being conducted in 3 large hospitals in China. That clinical trials, they will be completed, I think, within the next 6 to 12 months' time frame. And on the basis of that, the authorities will make a decision on whether to grant permission to market the products and reimburse the products in the acute channel. I would be highly surprised would they decide not to. These are products that are very well established in Western markets. They provide human beings the ability to restore their voice once it's been removed from them. So I'd say my own expectation is that this will happen. But from then on, of course, the market-building activity will start. Where you have to build clinical standards and a good service model for patients in China is something that we have been doing for quite a long time in our own company and we have a lot of respect for, but it's also a fantastic long-term growth opportunity.

Great. And my second question is regarding the new product category. The -- sorry, the next generation, it's called Provox Life. So what is your expectation for this new product category? And how should we see the price point compared to the previous version?

Well, I am not as close to this new addition to the family, as I am to the rest of our company. But what I know is that this product portfolio is off to a great start. More than 4,000 patients have begun using the products. They get, I think, very, very strong feedback across all markets. And the company has taken its time launching it, so they make sure that people know how to use the new portfolio. That you -- that clinicians know how to use the new portfolio and that you make sure that your service organization can follow up with patients appropriately. They are about, if you will, halfway done when it comes to the rollout of the new platform and will probably be done, I think, with the remaining markets by 2022.

Okay. And finally, a question on the TRACOE. When Atos acquired this TRACOE, entering to a new -- a larger segment with more competition, should we see this area as where Coloplast can add more value to Atos in the longer term? Maybe you can put a bit more color on.

I have to say, I think -- so Atos Medical has significantly more expertise here and capability than we do. I think that the move makes a ton of sense and that there are there's some analogies to how we've also developed our Continence Care business, for example. So I can tell you that if you thought of the intermittent catheter market just as a hospital market, and that was your business model, it would be a fraction of the work that we do in Continence Care today. And I think it's -- that analogy actually holds true for tracheostomy. If you think of it only as a hospital market, which what I am seeing is apparently what everybody who is participating in the category today actually does, you're missing the opportunity and you're missing the patient need from the people who are discharged with permanent trachs who need much better service, much better follow-up and a different product mix than what's being offered in hospital. So I think that's the opportunity. But again, that's a standard of care and a service that has to be built. And with the acquisition of TRACOE, Atos has added just a great product portfolio and brand and good hospital access, which is, of course, also a prerequisite for doing great work in the outpatient setting. You have to win share in the hospital, but a lot of the value will also be post discharge and the relevant services post discharge.

And the next question comes from the line of Martin Parkhøi from Danske Bank.

Martin Parkhøi, Danske Bank. Also a couple of questions. Of course, you say that the company will be run as a separate business unit in Coloplast. What about key personnel, which have been behind this growth journey for the past many years, will you keep the current top management on board in Coloplast? Second question is, as I understand it, there has been an IPO process running on Atos. So my question is the targets that you are offering on Atos today, is it the targets that they were using for the IPO? Or is these targets developed by Coloplast? I'm thinking, of course, on the growth and on the margins. And then, thirdly, on the CapEx IT of up to DKK 200 million, it sounds like it's sounds like a pretty big investment in light of the only DKK 100 million in synergies, which is not only IT. So maybe you can talk a little bit, Anders, to what exactly this IT investment is that is so badly needed in Atos.

Thanks, Martin. Good questions. I mean, we like the company. We like the results. We also really like the team. And our hope is that the team stays on board, that's definitely what we're planning for. We know the team well also outside of just this transaction, and that's our base assumption. When it comes to the IPO process and the numbers from the IPO process, I think you're probably better positioned asking somebody who was involved on that side of the process. We don't have a full visibility to the targets from the IPO process, Martin. What we're basically saying today is our best view of the company. Anders, you want to comment on CapEx?

Yes. So Martin, in terms of the integration costs, yes, we estimate up to DKK 200 million over the next 2 to 3 years. The majority of that will be around IT and IT development costs. And we will -- or the investment here is to bring Atos into our infrastructure. So we will try to utilize our setup in terms of 1 ERP solution, 1 business intelligence, 1 HR, et cetera, and that has some investments. And that's also to make sure that Atos Medical is having a scalable setup for future growth.

The next question comes from the line of Odysseas Manesiotis from Berenberg.

Congrats on the deal. Just a small one on the deal size and financing details on Atos' acquisition of TRACOE and Kapitex just to have an idea of how to integrate your financials together.

So that question relates to Atos' acquisition of the TRACOE. Yes, so they will be consolidated and then we will consolidate that into our financials.

Yes. And whether you have any details on the actual deal size and the financing on Atos' side?

No. We don't have a lot of details around that if that's what you asked.

And the next question comes from the line of Lisa Clive from Bernstein.

Just one question on the interface of patients. So you did mention, I think, that one of Atos' long-term strategies is more digital. Was this -- should we think of this sort of in relation to what you do through your Coloplast Cares platform? I'm just trying to understand how much of a direct relationship they have with their patients today and if this is an area of particular focus. And whether on the back of that, that could be kind of a market share opportunity as a sort of differentiated platform amongst providers.

So Atos has done some work on, if you will, digital engagement with their consumers. But they have I think also, like we have, a quite high-touch direct service model with human beings on the phone. We're thinking with these types of investments that, of course, there'll be investments on -- in e-comm so for anything that relates to transactions. And then what Anders is really referring to mostly is around core infrastructure of getting the company onto our group's very effective platform, and there is an investment associated with that.

Okay. And also I'm just a bit confused on reimbursement. Are there, I guess, in developed market companies -- or countries that do not adequately reimburse for the various accessories? And is this a sort of potentially easy win because you've had good success in improving reimbursement in, say, intermittent catheters? Or is it actually pretty well covered today?

I'd say for the developed markets, in general, it's pretty well covered. It's pretty well covered.

And we have a follow-up question from Scott Bardo from Berenberg.

Yes. Just really trying to understand a little bit more about the business here. So we can see that Atos then has about 1,150 employees. It seems quite a large number for the size of the business. Can you maybe just give us a sense of how many of those are in manufacturing, R&D, selling and marketing just to get a sense of the cost allocation, that would be helpful. And second question, please. You kind of gave some product breakdowns for the lary market, from HMEs, adhesives and so forth. Can you give us some flavor as to the rough percentage of revenues across those categories and whether one of those buckets is the more significant driver of growth, that would be helpful.

Scott, could you just repeat that second question? I had a poor sound quality at my end.

I'm sorry, Kristian. Yes. So of the major categories in lary, HME, adhesives and so forth, can you give us a rough segmentation of the revenue split? And just let us know whether any one of those product groups is the principal driver of growth or whether it's widely dispersed across those products?

Yes. So if you just look at it from a revenue distribution point of view, the Heat and Moisture Exchangers are roughly 20% of revenue and they are, of course, very important to growth. The adhesives are also around 20% of revenue and are also, as consumables, quite important to growth. You should think of both as products that you basically exchange on a daily basis multiple times. Then the voice prosthesis, this is a more expensive product and that will be changed, depending on market, 2 to 4x per year. It will be changed in the acute setting. That's about 12%, 13% type of growth. And then there are a number of accessories beyond that, that will be different types of products that are of a similar revenue share as the voice prosthesis. And then the final third 1/3 of our products are tracheotomy and ENT, third-party products, something like that. But core growth drivers will be HMEs, adhesives mostly.

And we have one final follow-up question from Yiwei Zhou from SEB.

I have one last question here. You have kept the long-term financial target on the organic growth and EBIT margin. But I also realized the Atos has a very different profile than Coloplast on the return on invested capital ratios. So would the acquisition change your expectation for your ROIC profile going forward? Or where do you see the room to improve ROIC as the combined company?

Yes. Thanks for that question, Wei. So as a consequence of this acquisition, the ROIC for the combined companies will be changed. And the way we look at it currently is that the ROIC will probably be something mid-20s by the end of the strategic period as a consequence of the acquisition.

Okay. And then could you give us an indication on your long-term expectation on the ROIC?

Yes. So it will increase year-over-year. So -- but it will take a hit as a consequence of the acquisition and we estimate it to be in the mid-20s by the end of the strategic period and then it will increase from there.

And as there are no further audio questions, I will hand it back to the speakers.

Well, nothing much further from our side. This is a historic day for our company. We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the process that we've had, and look forward to working with all of the new colleagues that we have in Atos Medical. And thank you to all of you for your questions related to the transaction. Have a nice day.

This concludes our conference call. Thank you all for attending. You may now disconnect your lines.