Terveystalo Oy Class A

Terveystalo Oy Class A

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Q1 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptApril 24, 2026

Kati Kaksonen

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Terveystalo's first quarter 2026 results call and webcast. My name is Kati Kaksonen, and responsible for investor relations and sustainability here at Terveystalo.

As usual, we'll go through the results with our CEO, Ville Iho, and our CFO, Juuso Pajunen, and after the presentation, you'll have time for your questions. Without further ado, over to you, Ville.

Ville Iho

Thank you, Kati, and good morning. Let's dive into it.

Terveystalo first quarter, during the first quarter, the market was even more negative than than we expected going into the year. That was then clearly reflected in into our revenue line, which came clearly down, and despite the adjustment measures that we did, especially in our operations, to adjust the ops to lower demand, there was drop-through to our adjusted EBIT, which was at €34 million.

Quality across the operations and services high as per standard, even improving, which is of course a a positive sign of a very professional and and robust organization delivering in in any circumstances. If one then dives a little bit deeper in in what's happening in in healthcare services market, it is the market that that is exceptionally negative this time around.

We have not not seen this type of a dip since the start of COVID, and and basically all of the segments, regardless of what data data you look, all of the segments and and services are roughly -5 to -10% down. The positive positive thing and and silver lining with this one is is that we are seeing market bottoming out.

According to our judgment, and that's reflected also in in our plans and and actions, the the bottom has has been passed, and now the market shall start gradually, slowly but steadily, grow from low low level. In our own operations, we have been, as we have reported earlier, we have been suffering from a lower connected employees number, and that one as well, we we see bottoming out.

Going forward, now now the number has been as stable throughout the quarter, and and now looking at sales funnel activities, looking at renewals, looking at new opportunities, looking at win rates, we can with confidence say that we we start turning this one in into positive going into H2. Of course, the the progress will will not be rapid because this is B2B business, and and turning agreements around will take take a while, but anyways, market and our own own portfolio has bottomed out, and and now we can can start developing on on on on from from this new new base.

The negative market environment was present in in all of our three P&Ls: Healthcare Services, Portfolio Business, and and Sweden, a little bit different reasons and and different levers in in into that one, but the bottom line was was that market conditions were were very very tough during quarter quarter 1 26. Despite that one, of course, the absolute result level and profitability we achieved was was high, and and and we can be pleased with our own ops, but now the eyes eyes need to be fixed on on growth going forward.

Market will not give, even though it starts gradually improving, it will not give anything for for free. We still focus and concentrate on on our own agenda, which is very much geared to to boost growth in all of our segments.

In Healthcare Services, we'll concentrate in occupational healthcare turnaround program and transforming that one to to higher value for our customers and and growth. We are renewing our offering for for insurance customers and and companies, and and intensifying cooperation with with the insurance companies.

We are focusing in in segments that are growing in in our traditional integrated care. One one prime example is is seniors where where we have captured big market share in Kela 65, and and Kela 65 continues developing positively for for us.

Of course, on on top of this one, we are seeking drastic improvements in in efficiency with with our digital agenda in traditional operations, in in digital 10X, and also in in prevention. In Portfolio Business, of course, positive move from our side is is dental growth.

Actually dental has been sort of a light or positive glimpse during quarter 1. It has the market conditions have have been fairly fairly good, and and the team has done very good work in in improving the business.

With Hohde deal, the platform will be ever ever stronger, and and integration of of that that platform, Juuso will comment on on on the phasing and and timing timing of that one later in the presentation. We are actively engaging with healthcare counties.

It is evident that they they are very low with their purchases still, but at one one point, that market will will activate, and and we want to capture our fair share, and and even more, from from that one. In Sweden, market conditions have been tough.

Now the efficiency is there, and we are operationally improving. Now now the focus in is in commercial actions, and and getting the revenue line in with the higher operating leverage, and and improving through that one profitability.

Cycle is cycle, and it's it's clearly very, very negative at at present, but we need to look beyond this cycle. As I said, market will start gradually improving, but every time a a strong cycle goes through a industry, some things change permanently.

That that one, coupled with accelerating speed of technology development, will mean that we need to be even even speedier than than the than than the transformation of of this industry, and we need to invest in in all of the three modalities in in healthcare services delivery. In integrated care, we are investing in Ella.

We are making the life of our professionals easier, smoother, more efficient, and and we are giving more time for for professionals with with with the patients. In digital healthcare retail, we are improving the the customer engagement, call centers.

We are investing in in digital 10X and and AI-assisted appointments, and efficiency potential in in this modality is huge. We are also starting to invest in prevent- prevention at scale, digital engagement through through digital and based on data, proactive, active engagement with with our customers, being relevant when when they need, actively guiding them through their their life lifelong health journey, and and looking for new growth in in in this emerging new new market.

We have the dry powder. We we have the agenda, and and we have the speed in in executing on in in all of these three three buckets.

Two landmark milestones in in this development during Q1: Terveystalo launched its new novel occupational healthcare digital platform for its first clients. This this one is next next level compared to current platforms in the marketplace.

It's developed jointly with our joint venture, Medhelp, and it's now live, and and it's it's used by the first paying customers. Early feedback from the market is is very positive.

We continue scaling this this one rapidly throughout the year, and and and as said, this is next level, this is future, and and this will give way more value for for our customers and and better insights in in their own own personnel than than before. This is a big step in our main business.

In digital 10X, we have introduced AI-assisted appointments, and we are scaling that one also during the year. The efficiency potential in in this modality modality is is huge.

We are also scaling volumes so that we can, with our intelligent steering engines, can steer more volumes in into digital modalities. At the same time, we are improving traditional physician-led integrated care, and there, the the prime tool is is Ella, which we have launched launched.

It's it's the user interface for for our physicians, and already now, we have gained some 30% efficiency improvement in with with the with the new platform, and at the same time, we have been able to to give more time to to to physicians and and patients. As said, continue to scale scale this one up during the year.

Within next 12 months, this this is going to bypass any present platforms in the marketplace, and and will be a a clear and and powerful asset for for Terveystalo. Market has been negative, it has bottomed out, we have agenda for growth, we continue investing, we continue accelerating our our technology journey, and with that one, over to Juuso.

Juuso Pajunen

Thank you, Ville. Good morning all.

I'm Juuso Pajunen, CFO of Terveystalo, and let's go to the topic, numbers. If we look the key numbers from first quarter, it is clear to say that relative numbers are weak.

We see negative on everything else excluding the NPS of appointments, which is improving and is Stella 88, but outside of that one, each and every number is negative, and the market has been weaker than anticipated. Let's go through then number by number, what we are talking about.

Before we go to that one, it is good to know that if we look the absolute numbers, these are still quite robust figures. Our Q1 is materially above our average Q1 if we come to relative profitability.

If we look in absolute EBITDA terms, this is the third-best quarter ever in absolute EBITDA or EBIT, either way you want to look it. In absolute terms, we are fairly strong, but relative terms, we are absolutely disappointed and obviously will work on to get forward.

If we then look the group, we know that our big ticket component is the headwinds in the revenue. We also know that megatrends are there, and in mid to long term, they will support the growth, but as stated, the market sentiment at the moment is exceptionally weak.

If we then look on different segments, we will go a bit further into details, but in the Healthcare Services, the big thing is occupational health. In the Portfolios, it is the public sector.

Sweden, we are now evening out. Then if we look on the group level and think about positives in here, our efficiency is strong.

No matter how you view it, in an exceptionally weak market, we have been able to adjust our operations towards the lower demand, and we will continue to do that one. All in all, with the efficiency, we will get forward.

If we then look on the EPS-impacting adjustment items, we have €7 million of these ones. It is slightly more than I would like to see in there, but if we double-click those ones, we have a €1 million related to divestment of child welfare, which was a strategic move, and we have now closed that deal at the end of January.

We have a €1 million related to reevaluation of the values in the real estate assets. We are doing investments in those ones, and this is something that when you reevaluate, this will take place.

Then finally, €1 million related to restructurings, and it's good to note that structural restructurings, items that impact us in the future, not the demand-facing restructurings. Then finally, we have €4 million in the strategic projects, which we have been communicating earlier that we have, and we have guided how much annually is coming.

This is slightly front-heavy now, facing a bit more in Q1 than I was anticipating. All in all, then we end up into reported EBIT of €26.6 million.

If we then go deeper into the Healthcare Services, margins are on a historically good level, if we take any period of time and if we look the Q1s of the history, the actual EBITDA and EBIT margins are solid, but obviously they are coming materially down, we come into the discussion of relative weakness and absolute weakness. Then if we look further where this is coming, this is coming from demand.

The visit growth is -9.6%, and then everything else is basically flat. The visit growth, we will double-click that one on the next slide, but basically low morbidity impacts us through two different parts.

We have the less appointments and weaker mix as the diagnostics are lesser than in a higher upper respiratory disease situation. Then obviously, the occupational healthcare has been contributing to that one.

At the same time, as said, we are continuously adjusting for the lower demand, and we have also during April announced statutory negotiations towards the demand situation. However of these ones, once again, in absolute terms, we are in a good place, and we will continue to invest, for example, digital transformation, like Ville explained.

Then looking on the patient visits, we have the same factors we have been now going through in couple of different quarters. We have the seasonality.

We do know that we have some 43,000 fewer upper respiratory diseases than previous year. This is part of normal variation and changes annually.

This is the lowest prevalence since the COVID pandemic, if we take it on the curves. Then if we look on the occupational health, it is very good to note, like Ville said, that we are now -5% in the connected employees, but it is now bottoming out, or has bottomed out.

Then the underlying impacts in there are still the same. We have the macro and the macro component where there is less employed, and then in the dire times, employers are spending less into employee well-being.

Then we have the actional part where we have the ongoing strong program to address this one, but at the same time, the connected employees and the large account sales cycles are longer, we are getting back on growth in the second half of this year. Public sector has been now bottoming out, like we see that it's a minuscule bar in the chart, and consumer is having positive momentum in the total, supported by the Kela 65, and general tendencies are there.

If we then take a segue with that one to the Portfolios, we already now see that in the consumer part, dental business has been actually the best-performing, in relative terms, of our businesses. They are basically flat, while other modalities have been clearly down.

This is a positive and then hopefully reflecting the future demand environment also. We have then good to know that in the portfolio numbers, we have the divestment of child welfare, it's visible in the bar Other in here.

Outsourcing is down 50%, this one we have known, the contracts are expiring and ending. Staffing is still having negative momentum in the well-being county market, but also that one is now little by little stabilizing out.

Dental, as said, positive in relative terms in the performance, and we have announced the Hohde acquisition. That one is progressing well in a very good and positive dialogue with the authorities, and we are expecting the closing in the second half, and now based on the current visibility, it looks like it will be rather third quarter than fourth quarter, but obviously, in these processes, there are variables that are beyond our control, but as said, solid, positive dialogue with the authorities, and if I would need to guess, it would be rather in Q3 closing than in Q4 closing.

Going to Sweden, we are having a weak market, it is a continued weak market, and Sweden as an export-oriented nation is also having their share of the market environment. At the same time, it's good to know that our efficiency is in place.

We have the EBITA margin is now improving, absolute numbers 50% up, give or take, almost 60. Obviously, within our scale, that is peanuts in the total absolute numbers, but it's signaling that we are going to the right direction.

If we then look beyond the efficiency, our next battle in here is the growth, and we already now see that our connected employees are increasing, but at the same time, the behavior is similar by the employers as in Finland, their behavior is dampened by the weak macro, but we have the means and the tools for growth in here, and we are confident that this will improve, as we have iterated many times earlier. When talking about investments, we continue our investment cycle.

We are now at 56 million on the LTM. I think that it's good to highlight from here that what we are doing is facing the real world.

It is in production, it is in use. Our brightest investments, Ella, it's the user interface for professionals, it's already live.

We have been rolling it out to wider user groups with improved functionalities, and we are seeing continuous growth on the usage rate. This is live, this is not something that happens at the back office, and then one day comes somewhere.

We are doing this one. The same applies to our joint venture Medhelp.

We have, in March, rolled out this to customers. We have paying customers on this one, and we are continuing this one, what we are doing is already now impacting us positively.

If we then look on the balance sheet, we continue to have a positive balance sheet position. Our net debt to EBITDA is at 2.4.

It has been increasing due to weak cash flow in Q1 and reduced profitability in Q1, but if we double-click that one, we are in a good component, and on the cash flow perspective, it is good to note that in our cash, how our cash operates: first of all, we are a negative net working capital company, which is obviously positive from balance sheet perspective, but when the revenues decline, our cash flow also weakens because we don't actually release net working capital, we increase it. That one is impacting us negatively.

Then the second component on the cash flow is that if you look on the taxes paid now in Q1, we paid taxes from the record profits of 25, and that is having a negative impact on the cash flow. All in all, our balance sheet is strong, we can continue to invest, we are not limited by the balance sheet, but at the same time, we are working on the cash flow, and the key component in there is going back on growth.

Then before going to guidance, let's take a quick view on the market environment. If we look the red arrows, they are all pointing down.

This is weaker than we originally expected in February. We have had negative momentum through all payer groups, and then we have had incidents in the world that are also impacting, for example, the consumer confidence that Ville was showing, now referring especially to the Iranian war.

The market environment in Q1 has been exceptionally weak. However, then if we look on the next 12 months, and we look further the outlook, actually the arrows are the same we had in February, and based on the data we have, we believe that the bottom has been seen.

We do know that public sector, both in Portfolio Businesses and Healthcare Services, is on a lower level. They are still having stickiness in their system, but little by little, it will improve over time.

If we then look the consumer market, we have the dental is already performing well, as stated, in relative terms, it was the best-performing payer group and discipline. Then looking forward, we have the Kela 65.

We have recently heard the news on the widening of the scope of Kela 65, and widening the scope of the services within Kela 65, which are positive. Insurance market continues to be in a positive momentum.

Then we have Sweden, which still is having positive macro forecasts, slightly coming down compared to the February post-Iranian war, but they are still positive. If we look the market momentum, we believe that the market will improve.

Then at the same time, we do know that this is tilting towards second half and the latter part of that one. If we think about the developments, Q2 will definitely be difficult, Q3 is always seasonal low, and then Q4 is the place where we would see the impacts.

With these ones, we reiterate our guidance. We expect full-year 26 adjusted EBIT to be 135 to 165 million euros.

The estimates are based on the gradually improving demand environment, as explained earlier, and normalization of the upper respiratory infections in the second half. As stated, profitability in the first half is expected to be below the first half of 25.

Then further to that one, it is good to note that our scenarios at the moment are pointing rather below midpoint than above midpoint of our guidance. All in all, we have a difficult first half, but we have a strong, robust, and efficient motor, and we are investing in the future, we are confident that we are also delivering with those investments.

With these words, thank you, and let's go to Q&A.

Kati Kaksonen

Thanks, Juuso. We are ready now for your questions.

Do we have any questions from the phone lines?

Operator

If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad.

The next question comes from Iiris Theman from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.

Iiris Theman

Hi. I have a couple of questions, I'll ask them one by one.

Firstly, what data indicates that the market has bottomed out? Can you explain that?

Ville Iho

Over to you, Juuso.

Juuso Pajunen

Yes. Basically it depends how you look it on the market perspective.

We obviously continuously follow up our different type of data points, consumer behavior, visits on different intervals, on days, on weeks, and those ones, and at least our internal data is indicating that we have now bottomed out. Then you saw from Ville basically, the connected employees perspective, Ville mentioned already in the call that it has been now stabilizing, and gradually with the pipeline looking that we can capture going forward.

On the external market marks, we are especially referring to our own internal data.

Ville Iho

I think it's important to note that now we are talking about sequential improvement. Market has, if one a little bit cuts the corners, market has reset to post-inflation new normal, and now from that base, it starts slowly but steadily grow.

Iiris Theman

Okay. Why did you keep your full-year guidance even if your scenarios are pointing below the midpoint?

Juuso Pajunen

We have actually discussed this topic also earlier, that when we are within the range, and we see that both ends of the range are something within plausible scenarios, then we don't change it. That is how we have behaved earlier, and that is how we continue to behave earlier.

Iiris Theman

Okay. Can you still go through the drivers that will contribute to reaching the midpoint of the full-year guidance, which implies basically only a 4% EBIT decline?

Juuso Pajunen

I iterated that we are likely to be rather below midpoint than above midpoint, then it is up to you to decide on that one. Basically, the drivers that are pushing or that are impacting our guidance, and obviously you need to put your own finger in the air how you take them within your estimates, but we have the upper respiratory diseases, we have the consumer confidence and a general corporate behavior that we are expecting to improve from the current rock bottom, and then we are also confident that we have bottomed out in the connected employees and that we are getting forward with those ones in the second half.

These are the key drivers if we look our market. Then, of course, the public sector behavior is expected to have bottomed out at the moment.

Then

Iiris Theman

a question regarding Portfolio Businesses. The margin decreased significantly from Q4 and Q1 last year, is this a one-off or a level that we should expect for the coming quarters?

Juuso Pajunen

All in all, Portfolios is also facing the negative demand environment, especially from the public sector. Then it is good to note that now the outsourcing contracts have been also value-contributing, and decline in those ones will not anymore deliver margin expansion, but decline in revenues is negative for us in the total perspective.

We are expecting improved performance in Portfolios also now, sequential improvement, as Ville explained, for the full year.

Ville Iho

Question obviously is warranted, but if one looks at our plan and also our internal forecast, we are not expecting as a drastic drop for upcoming quarters as you see during quarter 1. As Juuso said, we are realistically looking for a gradual improvement from lower base.

Iiris Theman

Basically, the margin decrease, is that related mainly to outsourcing business?

Juuso Pajunen

They are impacts. It is mainly related to the public sector, but basically the overall market environment has been weak, so that has been contributing throughout.

Iiris Theman

Okay. My final question is related to the Finnish government's budget proposal that was just released.

Is there anything negative or positive that you would like to highlight regarding private healthcare service providers?

Ville Iho

If anything clearly positive, expansion of Kela 65 obviously is highly welcomed initiative from our point of view. We have been investing in this segment, user segment seniors, we have been investing in Kela 65, and now expanding the scope of the service to more diagnostics, and also allowing higher frequency of use, will most probably increase the number of users and also frequency of use.

That's a welcome news.

Iiris Theman

Okay. That's all.

Thank you.

Operator

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad.

Sami Sarkamies

Hi, can you hear me?

Juuso Pajunen

We hear you.

Kati Kaksonen

We hear you fine. Can you hear us?

Sami Sarkamies

Yes.

Ville Iho

Go ahead.

Sami Sarkamies

Yes. Okay.

Four questions, we'll take this one by one. You're calling first half to be down from last year, but how should we think about the second quarter relative to last year, given your comments regarding the market having bottomed out during the latter part of Q1?

Operator

The next question comes from Sami Sarkamies.

Juuso Pajunen

Thank you, Sami. We identified you already.

Ville Iho

Some stickiness online.

Juuso Pajunen

Basically, we don't guide per quarter, but it is clear that quarter 2 will be also weak, but what we think about is sequential improvement in total. At the moment, it is not against comparables as weak as quarter 1 was.

Sami Sarkamies

Okay. Then on connected employees, you're expecting these to start growing sequentially in the second half the year.

Have you already won these deals, and how are front-book prices looking relative to your current back-book prices?

Ville Iho

Very good question. Deals are won and equally lost all the time.

Then the real question forecasting forward is the funnel, how much renewals you have and how much new opportunities you have, and then against that one, win rates. Then, of course, you have the packages and scopes and price levels.

What we are seeing now is clear improvement in the new opportunities funnel. New opportunities bucket increasing all the time, and applying sort of average win rate to that one, we see clear increase from that source.

On the other hand, renewals from our existing customer base, that bucket is shrinking, and renewal win rates are improving and really high. Just mathematically looking forward, we can sort of with confidence expect growth.

It's not going to be sort of early on rapid and skyrocketing, but it starts to grow, and of course, we want to accelerate it over time. Then looking at the scopes, when these bids enter the tender space, and comparing those ones with our current portfolio, the price levels are higher than existing ones, but then you need to, of course, do the full cycle of negotiations and go over the finish line, and only then you see what is the final package and what is the final price level on those agreements.

All in all, forward-looking picture is positive, finally bottomed out, and now looking forward and progressing to more positive.

Sami Sarkamies

Okay. Then I may have missed, but did you give any commentary regarding cash flow in Q1?

It was quite a bit below last year level, what are you expecting for the full year?

Juuso Pajunen

Yes, basically what I iterated on the balance sheet slide was that, first of all, cash flow was negatively impacted by the profitability. Then the second component is that we paid taxes from the record year previous year, all-time high profits lead to all-time high taxes, obviously.

Then the third component is that our net working capital is structurally negative, which means that decline in revenue impacts negatively our cash flow. These are the three components, and obviously, taxes we don't pay twice, but the growth component is very important for us for the cash recovery when we are going forward.

Sami Sarkamies

Okay. Then my final question is on Hohde acquisition.

Are you expecting to see any remedies from competition authorities, and what was your thinking on timing for closing when you sort of announced the deal at the year-end?

Juuso Pajunen

Yes, I also iterated that one on the Portfolios slide, but basically, first of all, we don't comment the ongoing process from the content perspective, so that one we don't state at here. On the closing, we have stated that the closing is expected to happen on the second half.

Based on the dialogue so far that we have had with the authorities, we believe that it's rather in Q3 than in Q4. We have a positive, constructive dialogue continuously ongoing.

Ville Iho

Maybe still, even though Juuso said we don't comment the content, I can say that against the assumptions going in, what process indicates and what is our current view on the sort of deal perimeter and the final package, I would say it's rational, it's rather on slightly more positive than we thought going in.

Sami Sarkamies

Okay. Thanks.

I don't have any further questions.

Operator

There are no more questions at this time, I hand the conference back to the speakers.

Kati Kaksonen

Thank you. We covered some of the questions from the webcast audience already earlier, but there are a few left, maybe starting from the cost structure and the adjustment made, what specific actions did we take, and what actions are we still implementing going forward?

Ville Iho

Of course, we are adjusting, as an agile company should, for the lower demand and lower volumes, especially in our sort of customer-facing activities in our operations. We have scaled down almost according to the lower volume in our ops in Healthcare Services, where the volumes were down by 11%, we were able to adjust FTEs by 10%, so that's a very very good and sort of robust achievement by ops team.

Then one needs to note and remember that, at the same time, we are also investing, we are increasing resources in product, customer service, sales, account management-related activities, especially in occupational healthcare, but also in consumer and insurance-related activities. All in all, we have been able to adjust nicely.

Looking forward, of course, given the negative cycle, we are using this window as an opportunity also to look at the overhead, and look at some structures. We have a separate program related to applying AI in the back office functions, and that has started, but that's not really now in the scope when we are adjusting for the lower volume, but during next 12 months, you will hear more about this project Nova also.

Kati Kaksonen

Thanks, Ville. Then let's talk about the outsourcings in the Portfolio Businesses, where we have seen the revenue decrease for quite some time.

What does the remaining outsourcing portfolio look like, and do we expect further planned reductions beyond 26?

Juuso Pajunen

Yes, basically, if we look the numbers, in 25, the outsourcings were delivering revenue of €55 million, give or take, and we have already in our guidance stated that we are expecting roughly €20 million or we are expecting €20 million reduction in the outsourcing portfolio revenues in 26, and currently we are very clearly going towards that one. Then

Kati Kaksonen

beyond 26, there's a slight—

Juuso Pajunen

Beyond 26, that remaining roughly €30 million portfolio will continue shrinking year-on-year.

Kati Kaksonen

Yeah. Exactly.

Ville Iho

There, we are of course talking about legacy outsourcing deals, and that's the focus for that sort of a sliding curve. We are of course interested in partnerships with the healthcare counties, and we are engaging actively.

Right now, sort of the sales funnel for larger outsourcing type of new type of deals is fairly thin, but sort of engagement is active, and I would say also according to our sort of data and interviews, some 50% of the counties are interested in increasing their purchases from private sector. As we have seen, it's very difficult to put a date on when that starts to grow.

Kati Kaksonen

Should be noted that the remaining legacy contracts are on a higher end in the margin as well, getting healthier from that perspective as well. Then a question on the connected employees in the occupational health.

We have seen a decrease for a few quarters for now. Can we just reiterate the reasons behind the decreases, and what are the sort of consequences from, for example, last year we had some negative media coverage, and had that any impact?

Ville Iho

It's a very very good question. It's a combination of a couple of things.

When we went into our profitability improvement program in late 23, one of the activities that we were adjusting back then was our very low price level in our main business, occupational healthcare, the market sort of had bypassed us in pricing for quite some time, and hence the gap was way too large to operate with adequate profitability in this business. We did the increases in two two steps, and in hindsight, I guess we could have done it a little bit more smoother, so that maybe three steps would have been the better option.

That sort of a latter price increase, coupled with the negative media coverage related to billing, was a negative trigger point for sort of many companies and additional tendering. Since then, of course, it has been rectified, and trust is back, but we saw the damage last year.

As said, important thing is that after negative development and cycle, now it's bottomed out, and forward-looking funnel looks positive.

Kati Kaksonen

Exactly. Then the last questions is related to the cooperation with the insurance companies.

We have talked about intensifying our cooperation and sort of next generation of insurance partnerships, and what's the plan there?

Ville Iho

We are doing fine with the insurance companies, actually looking at the market view, even though the absolute volume in use of insurance coverage for healthcare spend, all in all, for all of the operators is negative at the moment, our market share has been improving. We are gaining in that market, even though that one is in negative cycle currently.

What we're doing there, of course, we are in a way putting ourselves in insurance company shoes, and looking at what they are facing, what type of problems they are seeing, how they want our operations to serve the end customer, but also them, what type of transparency we want and need to give them related to effectiveness of our care chain, fluency of our care chains, and cost level. We are building that sort of more active engagement all the time, and getting positive feedback from that front.

With our capabilities, excellent capabilities, we can be better partner for insurance companies, guiding and steering the customers and patients to right modality of service, right care chain, measuring the care chain effectiveness, being very precise in billing, and also give transparency on that one, and also provide more transparency on sort of full scope of the population on those contracts. There are many things that we are doing and continue to do to further improve our relationship.

Kati Kaksonen

Thanks. With that, we don't have any questions left.

Any closing words, first from you, Juuso, and Ville?

Juuso Pajunen

No, thank you. We will continue pushing for 26.

Ville Iho

Absolutely, it's tough environment, but of course we are tougher, and now see forward building on a lower base, but with a very very positive view.

Kati Kaksonen

Thank you. On a personal note, this is my last quarter with Terveystalo.

It's been a pleasure working with you guys for the last almost 9 years. I have full faith in this company and the team, and I believe that Terveystalo will come through, as we know, from this cycle, and from this industry transformation.

Thanks. Have a great rest of the day and a weekend.