PHC Holdings Corporation (6523) Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for joining today's PHC Holdings financial results briefing for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2026. I am [ Hirai ] from the IR and Public Relations Department. I will be moderating today's session. I will now explain how to participate in this call. Simultaneous interpretation in Japanese and English will be provided. You may select your preferred language for the presentation materials displayed. Instructions for setting this up are available in the Zoom chatbox. Please use it as needed. Please note that due to audio system settings, our presenters' personal microphones are muted. Audio will be streamed from a separate account. Now let me introduce today's presenters, President and CEO, Kyoko Deguchi; and Director, Senior Managing Executive Officer and CFO, Kaiju Yamaguchi. Following their presentations, we will have a Q&A session. Ms. Deguchi, floor is yours.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Deguchi, President and CEO. Today, I will outline the summary of FY '25 Q3 results and our full year forecast. I will cover the executive summary and our CFO, Yamaguchi will explain the Q3 results and full year forecast. These are the financial highlights for Q3. Revenue reached JPY 269.3 billion, while benefiting from favorable exchange rates due to weaker yen against the euro, revenue also increased year-on-year, excluding the FX impact. Overall, as in the first 2 quarters, BGM business did extremely well, maintaining strong performance, particularly in Europe and the United States despite ongoing market contraction, growing even excluding the FX impacts year-on-year. Diabetes Management revenue increased by 3.9% year-over-year, driven by CGM growth, offsetting the revenue decline in Diagnostics & Life Sciences, where demand for equipment in the U.S. remained sluggish. Operating profit was JPY 17.1 billion. Healthcare Solutions and Diagnostics & Life Sciences saw lower profits due to declining demand for e-prescriptions and tariff impacts. But BGM achieved a significant increase in profit driven by revenue growth in high-margin developed markets and cost improvement, resulting in consolidated results on par with last year. Results exceeded the underlying internal plan for the full year forecast, which had previously been revised upwards. However, due to the continued depreciation of the yen against the euro, unrealized FX losses were recognized as in the second quarter. FX losses for the first 3 quarters amounted to JPY 10.5 billion with profit attributable to owners of parent at JPY 700 million. Moving on to full year performance forecast. Revenue and operating profit forecast remain unchanged from the previous announcement. Although Q3 results exceeded expectations, for now, we have a conservative forecast for the future business environment. Profit attributable to owners of parent is forecast at JPY 2 billion, reflecting the FX loss recognized in Q3. Recognizing that this FX loss is an unrealized valuation loss and does not represent a cash outflow, the year-end dividend is planned at JPY 21 unchanged. This page provides a revised overview of the Diabetes Management domain's current year performance and forecast reflecting the transfer of the CGM business. Firstly, the CGM business transfer in the United States was completed, closed in January 2026. The associated one-off costs were recognized in Q3 results. In Europe, transactions will be closed sequentially in each target country as the Bayer, Senseonics gets its operations ready. Until then, we will support the transition period, but no PL (sic) [ P&L ] impact is expected from Q4 onwards. CGM will report an operating loss of JPY 6.4 billion for the full year. But from the start of the next fiscal year, from the beginning of the fiscal year, the negative impact of CGM will disappear. For BGM, the VCP aims to shrink the sales decline to a CAGR of minus 2.4%. Regarding the U.S., the key market, we outlined the fiscal year's measures during the first quarter results briefing. In addition to the progress of these initiatives, we will like to explain our global profit improvement efforts and the profitability we anticipate going forward. Our U.S. initiatives are currently progressing smoothly. And despite the ongoing contraction of the total U.S. market, in the first 9 months of the year, we have achieved double-digit growth on a local currency basis, excluding FX effects with expected full year growth in the high single digit. Regarding price measures, ASP has stopped declining, thanks to withdrawing from low-margin channels and introducing new competitively priced products. ASP has, in fact, increased by just over 2% year-over-year. Furthermore, new product launches have significantly contributed to securing new private insurance contracts, leading to volume expansion, including effects from the competitive landscape. Within the OTC channel where our company holds high share and where prices and profit margins are higher compared to other channels, so-called cash segment, the national brand market grew by 6%. We continue to maintain our leading position with a share exceeding 30%. Ongoing cost cutting measures are yielding results. Specifically, we have internalized the packaging and labeling of meters equipment, previously outsourced and consolidated the packaging and labeling of sensors at the sites of our outsourcing partners. The low-cost products introduced in the United States have also contributed to reducing manufacturing costs for meters by limiting functionalities. Through measures such as procurement cost reductions via dual sourcing, logistic contract renegotiation, reductions in office and warehouse space and rationalization, we anticipate total savings of approximately JPY 900 million for the current fiscal year and another JPY 900 million also in the next fiscal year. The combined effect of maintained revenue and cost reduction has stabilized BGM margins and the OPM is projected to remain above 20% for the next fiscal year and beyond. Next is the business progress towards the achievement of value creation plan. I will explain the progress of the key initiatives under structural reform to strengthen the profit base, one of the priority measures in our value creation plan. Cost optimization is a key pillar of our profitability improvement efforts. We have established a group-wide procurement organization to drive company-wide cost optimization initiatives. We are implementing further cost reductions primarily in indirect purchasing expenses through measures such as establishing group procurement guidelines and conducting rigorous quotation reviews with early involvement of procurement departments. Regarding manufacturing site optimization, taking into account tariff responses, cost competitiveness and the need for localized production, we are advancing the optimization of manufactured items at each production site towards realizing the lowest cost and closest to customer production model. As an example, in the Pathology business, we are optimizing production basis by implementing tariff countermeasures, enhancing cost competitiveness and optimizing destination markets, including transferring some equipment manufacturing from China to the U.K. and shifting part of U.K. equipment production to Indonesia. In the Biomedical business, as a countermeasure to meet China's domestic production needs, we have transferred part of the CO2 incubator manufacturing from Indonesia to China, contributing to increased sales in China. In the Diagnostic Life Science (sic) [ Diagnostics & Life Sciences ] domain, one of our key focus areas, we first consolidated domestic sales operations at the start of this fiscal year. This has yielded benefits such as consolidation of sales offices and reducing outsourcing costs through the cross-departmental utilization of customer service resources. Additionally, measures to reduce working capital through improving accounts receivable and accounts payable terms and reducing inventory have also been successful. Today, I have briefly presented some of the initiatives and their effects as a progress update. But at the next earnings briefing, we plan to provide an overview of the entirety as a summary of the fiscal year of the value creation plan. Now moving to the right side of the page. LSI Medience has continued its efforts to address the precision control chart issue and to improve quality and restore trust. And on November 28, 2025, it reacquired ISO 15189 certification. With this, all major certifications related to the business have either been reacquired or had their validity renewed. We will continue to promote recurrence prevention activities as well as cross-departmental culture reform initiatives and we will strive to further earn trust. In the Biomedical division, we have launched a compact model of our mainstay product, the ultra-low temperature freezer. We aim to further expand sales with a lineup that meets a wide range of customer needs. As a sustainability initiative, in EcoVadis' 2025 Sustainability Assessment, we received the bronze medal, which places us in the top 35% of assessed companies worldwide. Receiving the bronze medal is one of the ESG targets set out in our value creation plan, and we were able to achieve it ahead of schedule in the very first year. That concludes my presentation. I will now hand over to CFO, Yamaguchi.

I will first explain the results of the third quarter, followed by revised full year earnings forecast. I will start with the overview of the Q3. Revenue for the first 9 months increased year-over-year, even excluding favorable euro FX impact. Operating profit was flat. Progress towards the full year forecast, which was previously revised upwards is exceeding our internal plan. Details by segment will follow later, but similar to the second quarter, driven by the strong performance of BGM, overall business performance was good. Financial expenses included interest payments of JPY 4.2 billion and cumulative FX losses of JPY 10.5 billion, resulting in pretax profit of JPY 2.5 billion. The FX losses were primarily due to the valuation losses from weaker yen against the euro with the exchange rate at the end of the period reaching JPY 184 compared to JPY 161 at the end of the previous period. This point will be explained with further details later on. Affected by the FX losses, profit attributable to the owners of parent was JPY 700 million. But excluding FX impact, OP was strong, exceeding both the plan announced in the start of the period as well as the previous year's results. Excluding FX impact, pretax profit was estimated at JPY 13 billion, a 3% increase Y-o-Y, while profit attributable to the owners of parent is estimated at JPY 8.5 billion, 11% increase. EBITDA was down by JPY 900 million year-over-year. The difference from the operating profit is attributable to smaller depreciation. Adjusted EBITDA decreased by JPY 200 million and the adjustment items are explained on Page 17. Exchange rates applied to the first 9 months for the PL (sic) [ P&L ] was JPY 172 to the euro and JPY 149 to the dollar. While the dollar appreciated against the yen year-over-year, but the euro depreciated significantly against the yen, positively impacting the revenue. Next, I would like to explain more about the FX losses. Please turn to Page 26. In accordance to accounting standards, FX gains and losses arising from the settlement or valuation of foreign currency-denominated receivables and payables held by the company and its subsidiaries are recognized as financial income or expenses. This time, the cumulative amount reached JPY 10.5 billion. In our global business operations, we manage funds by aggregating cash generated outside of Japan into a company through dividends from subsidiaries and intercompany loans. This valuation loss was caused by the change in the exchange rate for euro-denominated loan from subsidiaries from JPY 161 to JPY 184 per euro from the previous year to the current fiscal year-end. Since these valuations fluctuate with FX, valuation gains are recorded when the yen appreciates. These gains and losses remain unrealized until settled and have no impact on cash, excluding cash -- excluding tax, excuse me. As this transaction as an intergroup loan, even when payment is made, no cash outflow to external parties would occur apart from some related expenses. Should a loss arise from the valuation of loans held by the company in the P&L, the gain arises from the conversion difference of the loans held by the counterparty subsidiary, and this gain is recognized through other comprehensive income in the consolidated financial statements and that pushes up the equity on the balance sheet. Consequently, the numbers offset each other. The valuation loss in the P&L does not directly constitute reduction in equity. Although the impact on cash outflow and capital is minimum -- equity is minimum, we will continue to explore measures to reduce volatility in the P&L. Returning to the presentation now. This page shows the quarterly trends in revenue and operating profit. Due to the nature of our business, revenue tends to grow towards the second half of the fiscal year. But in Q3, revenue increased compared to Q2 across all segments. In particular, BGM, which has continued to perform strongly and Biomedical, which saw an increase in demand in Q3 contributed. Year-on-year, revenue increased also aided by the favorable foreign exchange impact, but operating profit declined due to market conditions in Diagnostics & Life Sciences, tariff impacts and the decrease in electronic prescription revenue, which carries a high profit margin. Next, I will explain revenue by segment. Diabetes Management recorded a 3.9% year-on-year revenue increase and 2.1% even excluding currency effects. Strong BGM sales in Europe and the U.S. continued and CGM also achieved revenue growth year-on-year. For BGM, while market contraction continues mainly in developed countries where our market share is high, the fact that we have been able to secure revenue growth is, we believe, important progress towards stabilizing BGM, which is a key element of the value creation plan. Healthcare Solutions saw a decline in e-prescriptions, but this was offset by sales related to electronic medical records and medical receipt system. Healthcare IT Solutions and LSIM business compensated for the decrease in revenue from the CRO business. Diagnostics & Life Sciences revenue was minus 3.8% year-on-year given the high proportion of the U.S. revenue. The favorable impact of yen depreciation against the euro was almost entirely offset by the impact of the yen appreciation against the dollar. The Pathology business and Biomedical was affected by the stagnation of market conditions centered on the U.S., and the Diagnostics business recorded a revenue decline due to a decrease in sales of digital injector and the effect of onetime gains recorded in the same period of the previous year. And the bridge chart on Page 12 shows the breakdown of year-on-year changes. The upper chart shows revenue. Although there was a negative impact from yen appreciation against the U.S. dollar, the yen depreciation in Western Europe was large, resulting in a positive foreign exchange impact of JPY 1.2 billion. Excluding currency effects, growth was 0.4%. In addition to sales growth of Diabetes Management, LSIM and Healthcare IT Solutions, contract manufacturing related revenue and our innovation at [indiscernible] has continued to grow and the Other segment recorded revenue growth. The lower chart shows operating profit. Strong performance of BGM, the high-margin Europe and the U.S., along with significant profit growth in Diabetes Management driven by the revenue improvement measures offset the decline in Diagnostics & Life Sciences, resulting in year-on-year flat performance. The JPY 4.4 billion decrease in Diagnostics & Life Sciences includes JPY 1.5 billion from tariff impacts and JPY 0.8 billion from the impact of headquarters function restructuring. Regarding the reorganization of headquarters functions, details are described on Page 25. But since some roles were transferred to individual business divisions this fiscal year, headquarters and other expenses have decreased year-on-year. While expenses in each business have increased, the relevant impact amounts are reflected in this chart as plus JPY 1.1 billion for headquarters and other, minus JPY 0.8 billion for Diagnostics & Life Sciences. Now about each segment. First, Diabetes Management. Revenue increased 3.9% and operating profit increased significantly by 39.8%. The profit margin was 19.1%, an improvement of 4.9 percentage points year-on-year. For BGM, while there are no major changes in the market environment, including the continued market contraction in developed countries and the shift toward lower-priced channels, sales in Europe continued to be firm, and we are gaining market share in the U.S. As I explained earlier, both unit price and volume are growing and both U.S. and Europe performed extremely well. CGM achieved revenue growth year-on-year, driven by strong performance of the 365-day product. Operating profit recorded a significant increase as the effects of profitability improvement measures in the U.S. and the strong performance in developed markets are significantly boosting overall profit margins, supplemented by the effects of the cost reduction measures being implemented globally and the decrease in amortization expenses. Please note that JPY 0.4 billion in onetime costs related to the CGM transfer was recorded in Q3 and from Q4 onwards, there is essentially expected to be no P&L impact from CGM. Next, Healthcare Solutions. Revenue was a slight increase year-on-year, but operating profit declined by JPY 1 billion. And also the profit margin improved from Q2. It remained at 5.2%. LSIM was partially affected by the revenue decline due to the precision control chart issue. But general testing demand has been stable and revenue growth was achieved through increased sales in the genetics field, which is a focus area for growth. Healthcare IT Solutions saw revenue increase by JPY 1.3 billion with core businesses related to EMR and medical receipt systems maintaining strong performance despite a decline in demand for e-prescriptions offsetting a decrease in CRO business revenue. The CRO business has seen a decrease in orders, particularly for clinical trials due to the impact of LSI Medience's ISO certification being reported last year. But as I mentioned earlier, LSI Medience was able to reacquire ISO certification in November. So we are now strengthening our sales activities again to expand orders. Operating profit decreased by JPY 1 billion, although revenue increased from LSIM and Healthcare IT. This was offset by decreased revenue from e-prescription sales, reduced revenue from the CRO business, rising procurement costs and increased amortization expenses associated with new product launches. Finally, Diagnostics & Life Sciences, the revenue was down by 3.8% Pathology business, robust revenue in Europe, including slide glass and consumables. Revenue in Asia was also strong, driven by expanded local production in China, price revision in the U.S. also had a positive effect. However, overall, it was insufficient to offset the impact of the stagnant demand for equipment in the United States, resulting in a decrease in revenue. Biomedical saw recovery in Japanese and European markets. In the United States, demand for midsized business increased year-over-year with the pharmaceutical companies' business beginning to move forward. However, stagnant demand for equipment impacted by budget cuts from government agencies and academia persisted. The Diagnostics revenue declined due to lower testing volumes in China, weaker reagent sales in Russia and weaker demand for digital injectors, which was stronger last year. Operating profit was down by JPY 4.4 billion. This includes JPY 2.3 billion of one-offs compared to the last year, such as JPY 1.5 billion tariff impact and JPY 0.82 billion of corporate functional transfer. So without this variance, on a apple-to-apple basis, OP decline was approximately JPY 2 billion or approximately 30%. Although cost was down in Pathology from optimized manufacturing sites and price revisions due to U.S. tariff impacts, and it could not really offset the revenue decline in the Biomedical and Diagnostics. Page 16 shows sales by region. In Japan, growth in LSIM and Healthcare IT Solutions offset declines in CRO and Diagnostics, resulting in flat revenue. Europe saw a 6.9% increase in revenue driven by strong performance in BGM and Pathology, even excluding FX impact. North America saw a decline in revenue despite growth in Diabetes Management due to the impact of the stronger yen and the stagnation in sales for Diagnostics & Life Sciences equipment. Other regions saw a slight increase in revenue in BGM, Diagnostics & Life Science, offset by increased sales in Indonesia. Page 17 shows the adjustments to OP to arrive at the adjustment EBITDA such as depreciation as well as one-off income and expenses. Depreciation increased in Healthcare Solutions due to startup amortization associated with product launches, but decreased by JPY 1.1 billion year-over-year due to the completion of amortization of certain intangibles in Diabetes Management. Reconciliation from EBITDA to adjusted EBITDA includes restructuring cost of JPY 900 million, including JPY 400 million one-off expense related to CGM transfer. And last year, we earned JPY 600 million related to the conclusion of the agency agreement. This year, we have JPY 300 million with office relocation. Next, the consolidated BS. To briefly explain the major assets and liabilities, the goodwill balance is JPY 220.3 billion, an increase of JPY 13.8 billion from the end of the previous fiscal year. This is mainly due to the impact of yen depreciation against the euro with no change on a local currency basis. As for interest-bearing debt, we repaid JPY 16.8 billion on a net basis. The balance decreased by JPY 8.8 billion to JPY 246.5 billion due to currency effects. From the end of Q1 of the current fiscal year, existing borrowings maturing in June 2026 have been reclassified to current liabilities, but refinancing was the premise from the onset -- outset, and we are currently in discussions with financial institutions. ROE calculated based on profits over the most recent 12 months was 2.3% due to decrease in profit attributable to the owners of the parent in the third quarter, resulting from the recognition of foreign exchange valuation losses and other factors. Cumulative cash flow -- operating cash flow reached JPY 27.2 billion, driven by the reduction in working capital. Capital expenditures totaled JPY 6.2 billion and financial cash flow, including borrowings and dividend payments, resulting in an outflow of JPY 22.6 billion. However, due to foreign exchange effect, cash and deposit increased by JPY 5.3 billion compared to the end of the previous fiscal year. The effects of our efforts to improve capital efficiency, enhanced working capital efficiency and the strength in total cash generation as outlined in our value creation plan are becoming evident. We will continue to drive these improvements forward. That concludes the explanation of the actual results. Next is about the full year forecast. Revenue and operating profit forecast remain unchanged from the previous forecast. While third quarter results exceeded internal plans, we maintain a conservative outlook for the fourth quarter business environment. This includes factoring in deterioration in gross profit in Diagnostics & Life Sciences due to inventory reduction. The U.S. market is showing signs of year-on-year recovery, primarily driven by pharmaceutical companies, where we anticipate a certain level of market recovery next fiscal year. We will maintain a flexible structure to respond to market trend with agility from the perspectives of asset efficiency and cash flow. The impact from the CGM transfer remains unchanged. The onetime expenses was recorded in third quarter results as expected, and we don't anticipate any future impact on earnings. Pretax profit is revised downward (sic) [ upward ] by [ JPY 3.6 billion to JPY 4.4 billion ] and the profit attributable to owners of the parent is revised downward by JPY 2.4 billion to JPY 2 billion. This revision reflects the incorporation of the actual foreign exchange losses into the outlook as explained. Although profit attributable to the owners of the parent is being revised downward, given the majority of the foreign exchange losses is an unrealized valuation loss with no cash impact, we are maintaining our dividend forecast. Page 22 contains a breakdown by segment for revenue, operating profit and adjusted EBITDA. There are no changes from the previous forecast. Finally, an update on tariff impacts. The cumulative impact on the PL (sic) [ P&L ] for the first 3 quarters was approximately JPY 1.5 billion. Well, this represents the upper limit of our initial forecast. For the fourth quarter, the price increase effect from mitigation measures is expected to offset the additional cost from tariffs. Consequently, the full year impact is also projected to remain around the initial forecast of JPY 1.5 billion. This concludes my presentation. Thank you.

We will now open up for questions. We also have COO, CSO, Koichiro Sato, participating in the Q&A in addition to the 2 presenters so far. [Operator Instructions] Mr. Seiji Wakao, please unmute yourself and ask your question.

This is Wakao, JPMorgan. Can you hear me?

Yes.

My first question is you have not revised the full year plan. Why not? That does management is strong? And the fourth quarter business environment, you applying a conservative view, but Diagnostics & Life Sciences also, I think you're applying a conservative view. Can you please explain why? I think you talked about suppressing the inventory level as well. Can you provide some more details about that as well?

Up to the third quarter, BGM business has been quite strong, outperforming the internal plan. But looking at the fourth quarter, there are some risks. And this is why the forecast up to the OP line is unchanged. For Diagnostics & Life Sciences, the North American market, academia, government still weak. And also pharmaceuticals is moving -- started to move forward. There are signs of recovery there. But still overall, from the second half of last year but -- of this year, the revenue has been trending a little bit on the weaker side. So this year, we have decided to lower the level of inventory as well. And in preparation for the market dynamics next year, we will be deploying our business flexibly. So there are certain negative factors that we have to take into account for. This is what we have reflected in the forecast. With regard to Healthcare Solutions, Healthcare IT Solutions, EODx -- medical Dx excuse me, is a little bit weaker than we had expected. And we have incorporated such risks when we look at Q4. But as Deguchi has mentioned, we are applying a slightly conservative perspective. So the situation in the North American region and BGM, the result could be better than what we expect, in which case we -- perhaps we could expect some upside.

That's very clear. My second question is about BGM. BGM is doing very well. Starting from the second quarter, it's been quite strong. How long do you think the situation will continue? And to what extent do you think BGM will grow? What is your outlook on this?

Thank you for your question. As we said in the previous quarter, as far as the profit is concerned, there is depreciation and also see improvement and also gross profit improvement. These are basically all balanced in terms of improvement. BGM is doing well in terms of gaining share in the United States, of course. But also we have strong share in some of the European markets, and we are gaining more in those markets as well. That's another positive factor.

How do we see the market dynamics going forward?

Well, 4% to 5% decline for the overall market. This is still the same kind of forecast. But still, we will continue to gain market share. And by doing so, we want to reduce the rate of decline to minus 2.4%. So this is basically the same as the plan that we had for the value creation plan.

Right. So in that case, you are maintaining the outlook you had in VCP, next year, you will no longer have CGM and the overall revenue will be smaller in the next fiscal year. Is that the correct understanding? I'm talking about Diabetes Management on a stand-alone basis.

Right. As far as this fiscal year is concerned, we are seeing a revenue increase year-over-year. But as we said in VCP, the overall market environment has not really changed very much, but we will be gaining share. So 2.4% CAGR. In that time -- and this outlook has not really changed. In this fiscal year -- current fiscal year, the United States is doing well, even better than our prediction. But we believe that this is going to be flat. This is successful. In Europe, the business environment was actually a [ hero ] for us in the current fiscal year, but the market will continue to decline. This is our read and that will have an impact next fiscal year. CGM revenue will shrink accordingly, and we are still working on the numbers for the next fiscal year. But yes, there will be an impact.

Last but not least, I think you are going to summarize the first year of VCP at the end of the fiscal year earnings call. But you're not really talking about reformulating your strategy.

Last November, we announced the VCP, and we are progressing according to plan. So please do not expect a major change in the strategy. When we provide the overall summary -- or today, we are talking about the various measures from the qualitative perspective. So at the end of the fiscal year, we want to talk about how they're producing specific numbers. That's what we want to share and present to you at the next earnings call.

Next is Ms. Masao Yoshida, please.

I am Yoshida from Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Lab. My first question is kind of a follow-up question of the previous question. You haven't changed full year plan, but there are potentially several risks you mentioned. And I'm sorry to ask you in more details. But talking about restructuring cost for the second half, your plan hasn't been much realized in the third quarter. And there is an item, other adjustments, which is minus JPY 9.3 billion. What is this breakdown? And in case you have any negative factors as a risk, you may make adjustment. So please elucidate on this point.

Thank you for your question. As you said in this adjustment items, actually Q3, it's not much spend as we expected. Therefore, that has positive impact, but toward Q4, as we implement our measures, certain spending -- expenses will be necessary. And therefore, we keep our forecast. But depending upon the business conditions, of course, there is a possibility that we may adjust our policy, but we'd like to do what we should do steadily.

And talking about Diabetes Management, in Q3, I think performance was good. I'm talking about the BGM. And there have been in the past some accelerated shipments in high volume. Did you experience the same this time? And I think last time there was such shipment, but it's just comparing to the third quarter of previous year. So can you just simply compare this Q3 with the previous Q3 or how much favorable it was the performance of the current Q3?

You may be on mute.

Excuse me. On a quarterly basis, in each country, there are some accelerations or decelerations. But talking about this Q3, it's more or less stable. There wasn't any big variances. And talking about full year this fiscal year, I think we'll be able to maintain those fluctuations and performing well.

And then [indiscernible] input and coverage increased to JPY 80 million. Could you give us more quantitative degree comparing the coverage, how many users or patient numbers increasing? Please give us more details.

Thank you for your question. Regarding this particular point in the U.S. so far, multifunctional products were put in the market. But regarding this particular item by introducing products with limited functions, we are actually gaining the cost reduction benefit. And in almost all the countries, this meter itself is distributed for free. But regarding the U.S., this meter is sold. It is not distributed for free. So these 2 are beneficial for us. And conventionally, for annual outlook, this meter portion is about 400,000 units, and that's the incremental increase.

I see. My last question is that on 23rd January from MHLW, there was a list announced for the each individual reviewing items. And there are some newly added items that you are requested to make a notification for data production premium. And is it like providing any beneficial impact to the meters? Is it to promote the electronic medical record usage?

Regarding insurance points, every 2 years, it is revised. And talking about this particular point, if there's any quantitative impact, we think that it will be limited. So in our business, we don't incorporate any big number expectation from that. Whereas for new customer acquisition, we launched a cloud-based new electronic medical record. So far, it's mainly on-premise. But in terms of additional customer acquisition, I think we are expanding our business by introducing a cloud-based e-chart. So this data production, I don't know specifically what's meant by that. But this is not going to promote the dissemination of e medical record or not. Well, this particular list you are talking about, well, this is a part of policy promoting the medical or Dx and ex verifications toward 100%. And the way that the insurance point is given, I think that's in accordance with that policy. Therefore, with just one initiative, I don't believe that there will be a major acceleration of some part of our business. But including some financial aid, well, I believe that overall, there is a Dx -- medical Dx promotion flow, and including this 100% and the e-chart, there are business opportunities that's unchanged for us. And we have done some hearings with medical institutions. And this is to provide the data from medical institutions, hospitals and clinics to MHLW. Therefore, we are building the cloud data or the e-chart providing the system. But that itself wouldn't make any big changes, but how to promote the utilization of the users of those systems. Therefore, for that end, this is created. Therefore, we don't think that this premium system, that will be one of our business opportunities, but not much drastically changing or beneficial for our businesses.

Next, Mr. Hidemaru Yamaguchi, please ask your question.

Yes, this is Yamaguchi from Citi. Can you hear me?

Yes.

I may have asked the same question before about FX impact. I understand it doesn't affect the fundamentals, but it seems to have a big impact on the surface. FX conversion method and also combining overseas subsidiaries and the head office. By combining, you cannot eliminate the whole thing. You always have to have some kind of FX impact. Is that the correct understanding? And do you have countermeasures that you are discussing?

We borrow money from the subsidiary denominated in euro, and that is the source of this. So as long as we have a balance of the loan yes, this situation will keep happening. And the countermeasure is to reduce the balance or another thing we can do is maybe owning euro-denominated bonds and that would be helping to offset and minimize the impact. This is an intercompany loan, which means that the cash will not flow out of the group to an external entity. But if we try to hedge against this, we have to pay the hedging cost. And if we settle right now, then yen is quite weak. So the cumulative losses cannot be regained. So including these aspects, we are considering the timing internally as well. Now BGM is quite strong right now. We are earning our cash outside of Japan through this business and have to repatriate this cash to Japan. The overall cash management in that sense will have to be looked into. So we will not be touching the loan balance immediately. However, we do understand the impact is bigger now. So we will continue to think about the countermeasure.

Another question about Biomedical. U.S. pharmaceutical, you said there are signs of improvements. And all the pharmaceutical companies are building things in the United States or they're trying to, and we are beginning to see the impact of that change. Is that the correct interpretation? And also, do you think you will see more improvements going forward?

As you have mentioned, in North America, Biomedical market, well, there are basically 2 big segments that we focus on. One is academia and the government research institutions. We have -- we are quite strong there. But the demand is stagnant in this particular segment. Biotech and big pharma investing into the United States according to the reports that we see. Some companies have already done that. And starting from the third quarter, we have seen some specific orders coming in from that scenario. And based on that situation, we do apply a conservative view for the [ first ] quarter. But if the trend continues in Q4 and in FY '26, the North American market should recover, and we should be able to capture the upside. So rather than just focusing on the government customer with our strength, not just there, but we also want to expand our channels into biotech and pharma as well. We started doing this in the second quarter, and we are now beginning to see the results, little by little.

We still have some time. If you have any questions, please raise your hand. Thank you. Thank you very much for all of you asking your questions. There seems to be no more questions. So with this, we would like to conclude this briefing. Thank you for your participation despite your busy schedule. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]