Navamedic ASA (NAVA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to Navamedic's quarterly report. We are pleased to present the report for quarter 2 and the first half of '26 today. My name is Lars Minor. I joined as the new CEO of Navamedic in mid-June. And together with Nils Ole, we will today take you through the report that was released this morning. While we have the usual disclaimer, allow me to use a couple of minutes or seconds to introduce myself. My name is Lars Minor. I am a Danish citizen. For that reason, I speak English today. I have a base in Oslo, working out of the Oslo office, and I'm really looking forward to work with the team in Navamedic to unfold the potential of Navamedic. I bring plus 30 years of experience from the pharmaceutical industry, having worked in numerous roles at LEO Pharma, leading Region International, leading Region Europe, leading Strategy & Transformation and have also been with a Swedish scale-up company as the CEO, building portfolio and launching products in the Nordics. So really looking forward to work with the Navamedic team. And when joining Navamedic, I feel it was a fantastic time to join Navamedic. It has an exciting future ahead of us. We have excellent products. We have excellent partnerships. and I'm looking forward to unfold that potential together with the team. Today, we'll present the quarter 2 results, and let me jump right into the highlights. And while remembering, we should also mention that there's possibilities to ask questions, please type in the questions in the chat so that we can answer the questions at the end of the presentation. The highlights for second quarter. Strong growth in EBITDA adjusted for CEO transition costs. It's driven by margin improvement and disciplined cost management. And we see that we have generated an adjusted EBITDA of NOK 15.9 million, which is a 57% increase compared to the same period last year. Revenue is NOK 140 million, plus 2.2% for this quarter compared to previous year, driven by numerous products, but what's very pleasing to see is that Mysimba has a revenue growth of 1.6%. We have had a couple of quarters where Mysimba has been declining. So it's really nice to see that Mysimba is stabilizing at least for 1 quarter with a growth of 1.6%. Gross margin is increasing also to 38.4 percentage points (sic) [ 38.4% ], and that despite some extraordinary inventory write-off of NOK 5.3 million this quarter, which, of course, impact the gross margins negatively by around 3.8 percentage points in this quarter. Yet with that included, still an improvement in gross margin compared to previous period. We are launching new products. I'll get back to how we are doing in the business update with product launches and other products. And the final EBITDA is NOK 7.8 million, taking, of course, into consideration the total sum of the transition cost of the CEO change. I joined in June, looking very much forward to working with the team. And so far, it's been very exciting to be with the company. Let me take you through a couple of the products and product categories that we work in. Within prescription drugs, we see an 8.9% growth in revenue compared to previous year, reaching NOK 74.3 million. It's attributed, of course, to Mysimba, which has grown 1.6%. Mysimba, you can see, is the largest product within this category. And then there are changes also within the category, of course. Imdur is declining, while we have the benefit of the Addiction portfolio that was acquired from dne Pharma, which is contributing by NOK 14.5 million in this quarter, altogether for the first half, NOK 28.8 million. And the Flexilev roll-out continues also, still limited revenue impact, but we'll get back to Flexilev in the business update and how we are working with the launches ahead of us. It should also be mentioned that we have 2 products that are not -- that have been withdrawn or discontinued, which, of course, compared to -- are included in the previous year. So with that included, we have actually compensated for the loss of those products with the addition of the dne Pharma portfolio. Gross margin, 45.4%, also an increase compared to the first half, and it's a solid result, I would say. The Hospital business is a steady business. We see steady revenue development and the gross margin has been impacted by one inventory write-off that we have done in this business. It's Antibiotics for Hospitals and Medical Nutrition, more or less 50-50 in terms of revenue. We see a small decline of 1.5% at this point, which is attributed to fluctuations in how hospitals are buying. So steady business. And importantly to mention that gross margin for the business was reduced by this inventory write-off, which actually would improve the gross margin by additionally 3% if that has not happened. Consumer Health, we had a challenging quarter and also a challenging first half. But what we also see is there's a lot of dynamic movements within the category of products that we have in Consumer Health. Modifast was declining 14%, which is due to changed market dynamics in the obesity area and increased competition in pharmacies for shelf space. And we are working hard on remedying that and finding solutions. And it's nice to see that other products then are stepping up and delivering growth. ThermaCare, a 50.3% (sic) [ 53% ] growth in the quarter. However, it is also extraordinary strong sales from Netherlands in this quarter. So be mindful of not doing statistics on 53.3% growth. Gross margin was also impacted by inventory write-off in the Consumer Healthcare business, which would actually improve the gross margin by 13.5 percentage points if that has not happened. So we are generating NOK 30.8 million in sales, a decline of 7%. It's a smaller decline compared to the first half of the year. However, it is a decline, and the inventory write-off, of course, has an impact on the gross margin. The financials, I would leave the word to Nils Olle for taking us through the financials. And afterwards, we'll dig into the business update and then last but not least, a Q&A session. Nils Ole?

Thank you, Lars, and good morning, everyone. I look at the financials in more detail. We have had a growth of 2.2% quarter-over-quarter with Q2 '26 delivering NOK 140.3 million in revenue. We see a relatively stable development in revenue if we see the last few quarters aside from a particularly strong fourth quarter last year. Gross profit, it's on the reported figure here, of course, showing a higher number than same quarter last year, but a negative development compared to the last 2 quarters, and that has to do with the inventory write-off of NOK 5.3 million in the quarter, as Lars mentioned in his introduction. We are working diligently to have a disciplined cost management, and we have reduced operating expenses by 7.7% in the quarter compared to the same quarter last year. And this is primarily marketing expenses that are lower in the second quarter. This combined gives a good development for adjusted EBITDA, which is 11.3% in the second quarter '26 compared to 7.4% in the same quarter last year. Reported EBITDA, as Lars mentioned, impacted by CEO transition costs in the second quarter and of course, also the inventory write-off, but that is also included in the adjusted EBITDA, so it's not adjusted for. Looking at the EBITDA development, the main contributor to the increase in adjusted EBITDA in this quarter compared to the same quarter last year is increased gross margins. So we have separated the effect from gross margin expansion, which is 6.7% in the quarter and the effect of increased revenue, which is 1.1% in the quarter. In addition, as I mentioned, we've reduced operating expenses by NOK 3.2 million if you adjust for the CEO transition costs. And when you include the extraordinary inventory write-off provision for obsolescence that we have in the quarter, we arrive at the adjusted EBITDA of NOK 15.9 million. And then the difference between adjusted EBITDA and the reported EBITDA in the quarter is the change of CEO costs. Quarterly development by business area. We see that Prescription Drugs had an increase of 8.9%. That includes the addition of the acquired Addiction portfolio, but also the discontinuation of a couple of products that Lars mentioned in his introduction. So -- and they also had a particularly strong fourth quarter last year for certain products. Hospital, very steady business, fluctuating demand between the quarters, but fairly stable. And Consumer Health has a decline from the same quarter last year of 7.4%. Cash flow, we have had positive cash flow from operating activities. We have had some buildup of inventory in the quarter. We have sold shares in Observe Medical, which contributed positively on investing activities. And then we have reduced our debt in both the quarter and first half. And we arrived at a cash position of NOK 53 million at the end of the quarter. Then I'll leave the floor to Lars for a business update.

Thank you, Nils Ole, for taking us through the numbers. And now we can dig a little bit deeper into the activities that we are doing and how we are working with the products and how we are building the business for the future. The first product I would like to talk about is Virono. We have recently launched Virono and Virono is successfully launched in Sweden and in Finland during May. We have achieved high press coverage across Sweden, both in national print and in online media coverage, radio coverage and so on. And we have also secured strong market access by securing that availability is actually achieved in the pharmacies throughout Sweden and Finland. We have also listed the product with the 4 major pharmacy wholesalers in the Netherlands, which is lining up for a launch in the Netherlands. And we have secured basically that the product is available at pharmacies. We're working a lot with digital launch campaigns, making sure that we have visibility across online pharmacy channels and that we have consumer digital media campaigns to support the drive of an uptake of the product. I believe we have established a strong commercial and digital presence across the launch markets, which is creating a very solid foundation for continued growth. Still too early to say anything about the numbers. It's launched in May, and we need to see uptake not only sell into the pharmacies, but also uptake from consumers, of course. But a strong campaign and a strong product that we believe will generate future growth. The Addiction portfolio, which was acquired 12 months ago is giving a steady performance and an opportunity for international growth. I would like to say it's been -- I witnessed what has been done with the integration of the products from dne Pharma, and it's remarkable to see how it has been integrated in 12 months and is actually delivering sales, and we have maintained sales throughout the markets that was already available. And we are working hard on getting products out to new markets as well. The integration is not 100% complete. There are still some marketing authorizations that needs to be transferred. So once we have done that, we believe that integration costs will be reduced. And then we'll see the benefits of the integration of the products, together with further increase in sales through international expansion and of course, nurturing the products in the markets where they're already is established. But very nice to see. It's Ventizolve that we believe is the driver, and that's the one on the picture that you see here, a nasal spray for reversal of opioid overdose, something that I believe is very important in times of strong misuse of opioids. So we believe very much in this acquisition, and it's been a remarkable good job to see the integration done in 12 months. Flexilev; we continue the launch of Flexilev. Focus has been on the shift from the old MyFID to the OraFID medical device, which you see on the picture. That is still running, but we expect to complete it by the end of the year. We have started a clinical study in June '26, a clinical study where we will generate medical data and scientific data that we can support the product with and have interactions with physicians. And we are working very hard on the tech transfer to make sure that we can actually support the scale-up of future launches, making sure that we actually can honor the production facility -- production capabilities and capacity needed for the future launches. And we are focusing on realizing the international potential through partnerships. We are working with Orion in Europe and have a strong and good dialogue with Orion on the future launches that we anticipate will happen in '27, and we work to make sure that the scale-up of production is ready to honor those future launches. So still early days in terms of sales numbers, but a very nice preparation and good work of the team to make sure that we continue the launch and rollout of Flexilev in more markets. So, looking at how we would like to grow going forward. This is not a new strategy, but how we look at making sure that we drive sustainable growth through products, partnerships and expansion. We need to make sure that we grow the core. We need to realize the potential of existing products and partnerships. And of course, also the acquisitions that have been done unlocking that potential, not only in our domestic markets, but also international potential has to be unlocked with the products that we have beyond our territory, so working with new distributors and partners in new markets. Thirdly, we would like to continue building the future portfolio of Navamedic, attracting products with growth potential, generating economies of scale, strategic fit and sustainable profits. And last but not least, we are focusing on execution and alliance management. We are a company that is built on partnerships, and we would like to be seen as the partner of choice for -- within our territories for our existing and future partners, but also the partner of choice when we out-license and work with licensees or distributors for the products that we bring to market internationally. And then, of course, we need to be able to manage multiple product categories, and we can do that with the strong platform that is built in Navamedic. So we are positive for the future and are working hard on realizing and unlocking the potential of our products and our partnerships. Looking at the expectations for 2026, we are looking at a revenue which is expected to be maintained around the same level as '25. But profitability will be improved with improved gross margins driven by more favorable product mix, combined with continued operational efficiencies, it is expected to result in an improved EBITDA compared to 2025. So we are working hard on realizing those numbers. Kudos to the team for what has been achieved for the first half, and I'm looking forward to work with the team to realize the second half and the future potential of Navamedic. And with that, I invite for questions. And Nils Ole, would you join me?

I will start with the first question. Could you elaborate on what is driving cost reductions? It looks like personnel costs are relatively stable, while the reduction is mainly in other operating expenses.

That is correct. Yes, as I mentioned during my presentation, it's primarily marketing costs that are reduced compared to the same quarter last year and first half of last year.

The adjusted EBITDA margin was above 10% in the quarter. How much of the margin improvement do you see as structural? And what are the key factors that could either support or constrain further margin expansion from here?

Yes. It's -- as we mentioned, it's mainly attributable to a more favorable product mix. So we have a very -- a fairly wide mix of margins on our products. So depending on which products grow and which products decline, margins are impacted by that. So the product mix is the primary driver. And of course, if we're talking EBITDA, we will have a strong focus on cost discipline, and that will, of course, also be structural in its sense. So it's -- but part of it is definitely product mix and that will fluctuate a bit.

Maybe I can add with product mix, of course, comes also a focus. And we see that our own products, Flexilev, dne portfolio are generating higher profitability than some of our distribution products. So we need to make sure that we, of course, focus on driving the most profitable products, but also making sure that we are working hard on understanding the mechanisms of the business, the dynamics of the business to ensure that the rebates that we give, especially in the Consumer Healthcare business are matching our expectations in terms of profitability and making sure that we drive profitable growth rather than top line growth.

Are the inventory write-offs related to hospital tender products now behind us? Or -- and could you provide a bit more detail on the inventory write-off in Consumer Health and what drove it?